Ashley Dupre

After appearing in Scarlett Johansson's music video, Salman Rushdie says that acting is an "itch that needs scratching." [Vulture]

Don't call that thing wrapped around Miley Cyrus a bed sheet! It's a "duchess satin stole, Champagne, specially made," says Vanity Fair. [Radar]

Sting likes to tight-rope walk in his garden in England. [P6]  read more »

If Hillary Clinton doesn't make it this week, SNL's Amy Poehler will begin doing Ralph Nader impersonations instead. She's already been practicing, you see. This sounds funny, like the movie Baby Mama! [NY Daily News]  read more »

Tom Freston has put Andy Warhol's East 66th Street apartment on the market for $38.5 million, according to Page Six. The 12-room, six story apartment was originally bought by Mr. Warhol for $310,000 in 1974; Mr. Freston bought the property in 2000 for $6.5 million. [P6]  read more »

Bittersweet Symphony? Ashlee Simpson may not be welcomed back to Saturday Night Live after her 2004 appearance exposed her lip-synching talents. Also, Page Six hears that the young Mr. Simpson was not exactly a hit with the show's producers. [P6]  read more »

Elton John's fund-raising concert for Hillary might be a federal violation of campaign rules. [Washington Times via Radar]  read more »

Who would have thought that all you had to do to launch a singing career these days was hook up with the governor of New York? I mean, Tila Tequila had to steadily rack up more page views than any other artist on MySpace and host a trashy MTV dating show before people started to take her musical talents "seriously." Not so for "Kristen," a.k.a. Ashley Alexandra Dupré (birth name: Ashley Youmans), the former Jersey shore resident and aspiring songstress who recently made "The Luv Gov," well ... sing!

After the identity of the 22-year-old (or 32-year-old, by some reports) upscale call girl involved in the prostitution scandal that brought down Eliot Spitzer was revealed on Wednesday night, millions of viewers flocked to her MySpace page, on which she offered a sampling of what The New York Times described as "an amateurish, hip-hop inflected rhythm and blues tune that asks, 'Can you handle me, boy?'" (Her profile is now defunct.) The Times also reported, on its DealBook blog, that thousands of listeners have flooded the startup music site AmieStreet.com, where two of Ms. Dupre's tracks are available for purchase.

So is there a burgeoning star in our midst? Billboard asked some top A&R execs to weigh in on Ms. Dupre's prospects, and here's what they had to say:  read more »

Even the gossipy bit—Who's That Girl?!?—that all of the tabs were after all day yesterday (us too, in fact) is broken first by The Times: Spitzer's prostitute "Kristen" is in fact known as Ashley Alexandra Dupré, though she was born 22 years ago as Ashley Youmans, in New Jersey. [The New York Times]  read more »