This year’s Music for a Cure benefit event brought together good music, a good cause, good hearts, plus beautiful people, places and things.

“The Heart of Rock ‘n’ Roll” party Friday night, Nov. 2, featured a concert by Sugar Ray and Smashmouth; artfully tasteful food and cocktails; a silent and a live auction, all at the gorgeous, intimate Samueli Theatre at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. All the event proceeds go to Music for a Cure, the heart-warming charity started by Sugar Ray bassist Murphy Karges and his wife, Julie, to bring music into the lives of sick and financially needy children.

The Kargeses have done everything from bringing performers to hospitalized kids to providing instruments and music lessons to underprivileged children. And on Friday night, the Kargeses presented a $1 million check to Children’s Hospital of Orange County to endow a music therapy program there.

Last year, this event was held at the gorgeous Laguna Beach hillside home of Charlie and Brandi Hawkins, where a very rare rainstorm literally whipped the canopy off the backyard “stage” where Sugar Ray had just started playing and sent cold, wet guests — most laughing, some yelping — into the house. That led to some great mingling with strong drinks around a fireplace and eventually drew Sugar Ray and Smashmouth out with a couple of guitars for a fantastic, one-of-a-kind singalong session.

This year’s event was a tad more formal and sophisticated, but not overly so. There was still a cozy, house party vibe, with the beautifully dressed guests (lots of perfectly coiffed women in clingy, cleavage-bearing gowns) mingling in a familar, friendly way.

There’s a long list of local businesses and individuals (that I don’t have space to detail here but include the Orange County Register, Patina Restaurant Group and Saks Fifth Avenue) who generously supported this event by providing money, auction items, food and other support services.

As a result, there were lots of cool things to bid on both in the silent auction (guitars signed by Sugar Ray and Social D; a gorgeous, fully stocked golf bag; some cool custom Nirve cruiser bikes) and in the live auction (The Lakers Luxury Suite went for about 4Gs; “The Ultimate Race Experience” - a day in a Roush Mustang with an autographed Dale Jarret race suit thrown in - went for a bit more than that).

Sugar Ray played a great, fun set (including “Every Morning,” “Someday”) that had most everyone on the dance floor. Even the VIPs stood and boogied at their special tables on an upper landing: I actually caught sight of some Orange County Register execs shakin’ it! Sugar Ray pals Smashmouth followed with an energetic set to close the evening.

For lots more party pics, click here.

For a video clip, click here.

I continue to be impressed by Sugar Ray not just as a good band, but as a group of good-hearted, sincerely nice people. Besides Murphy and Julie Karges, who are always warm and charming and obviously generous, drummer Stan Frazier and his wife, Jennifer, (at right in the picture below, with friend Jennifer Davis of the Orange County Register) are likewise always warmly welcoming and thoughtful. After Sugar Ray’s set, Stan happened to see me standing near one of the humungous speakers and came over to say “hi” and express concern about my ear drums.

Most of the band still lives in Orange County and are devoted to local communities. These grounded guys, and their lovely wives, prove you don’t have to be a sloppy, selfish, immature celebrity like so many we’ve been hearing about in the news lately.

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As an adult, the pumpkin carving is probably the best thing about Halloween since you’re now too old to be trick-or-treating.

These are the ultra creative designs that my friends and I came up with (mine is the little bat looking one).

NOTE: This pumpkin masterpiece just came in (designed by Roxanne) and it’s awesome!!

If you have any awesome pumpkin photos send ‘em to me and I’ll post ‘em up here today!!!

-KELLI SKYE

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We’re letting YOU decide this year’s Best and Worst Halloween candy.

Vote within the categories below or add your own to the list.

The results will appear in the Life, Etc. section of the Orange County Register on Monday, Oct. 29 and online at www.squeezeoc.com.

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Sharon is even auctioning off some designer dresses, jewelry and miscellaneous dinnerware. Following a nasty ATV accident - it’s no wonder that they are giving up a slew of motor sport items including dirt bikes, and four-wheelers. They’re even offering up a BATHTUB - if you can’t be a bat-head biting rockstar, you might as bathe like one!

A public exhibition will be held on Monday, Nov. 26-Thursday, Nov. 29 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The live and online auction will take place on Friday, Nov. 30 in two sessions, one at 10 a.m. and another at 2 p.m. at The Gibson Guitar Showroom, 9350 Civic Center Drive, Beverly Hills.

Interactive bidding will be available on juliensauctions.com.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Foundation which provides at-home help, childcare, transportation, access to support groups and patient care services offered within Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

- KELLI SKYE

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The awards dinner, held at The Balboa Bay Club & Resort, is hosted by Arts Orange County, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting local visual and performing arts.

Ed Arnold of KOCE-TV’s’ “Real Orange,” and community visionary Julia Argyros hosted.

Guests enjoyed a colorful performance by contemporary dance company, Backhausedance, a nominee for Outstanding Arts Organization. Also, a surprise performance by Tony Award-nominated performer, Matt Morrison, a graduate of Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA) in Santa Ana.

Three key figures in the art community were honored with a Cultural Legacy Award. Ralph Opacic, founder and president of OCHSA, was honored as Artistic Visionary. Ramya Harishankar, classical Indian dancer and artistic director of Arpana Dance Company, received the Artist award. And writer, philanthropist, and civic leader, Joan Irvine Smith, was applauded as Community Visionary.

If you didn’t attend last night’s event, you can still take part. Arts OC has this year set up an online auction that’s open to the public.

But hurry! Bidding closes today, Thursday, Sept. 27, at 5 p.m. To browse items and place your bid, visit ArtsocAuction.org

To view photos from the awards dinner, click here.

–CYNTHIA RUPE

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Michaels is still breakin’ hearts, but not only by playing music, the guy has his own show on VH-1 called “Rock of Love.” Michaels claims he is in search of the perfect “rock ‘n’ roll girlfriend,” which, judging by the contestants who are trying “win his heart” on the show, must be code for “young, big breasted, crazy and blonde.”

Poison is currently on tour and makes a stop at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. 949-855-8095). Tickets are $15-$49.50 and available at ticketmaster.com.

- KELLI SKYE

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Professional tennis usually is a shhh sport. Whispers are all that’s allowed. Not so at Newport Beach’s World Team Tennis match Wednesday between Maria Sharapova’s Newport Beach Breakers and John McEnroe’s New York Sportstimes.

The fans were boisterous, the 1970s music loud, and the players loved it.
I’ve been to many pro tennis matches, and this is the first time I’ve seen Sharapova’s personality on the court. She had fun, laughed, talked, smiled … and oh yeah, still grunted on every serve.

Click here to view the embedded video.

She looked like a runway model in a tennis skirt, a 6-foot-1 blonde beauty who towered over her female counterparts and looked eye to eye to most of the men. Living in Manhattan Beach, she made the easy drive to Newport on Wednesday to play WTT. She teased McEnroe about his ‘two shades of blue’ pregame outfit, and McEnroe amazingly took it quite well.

McEnroe, now 48 years old, showed a bit of humbleness before the match, saying for the first time in his life he feels like Father Time has a two-set lead on him. He still posseses those magic hands at the net, and his sweet backhand volley in men’s doubles secured the match that gave the Sportstimes an easy victory over the Breakers in the final match of the season.

McEnroe, once known as The Brat for boorish attitude on court, was as sweet as could be Wednesday. After hitting a 116-mile serve for an ace, he rolled up his sleeve and flexed his muscle for the sellout crowd. A fan yelled ‘Johnny Mac!’ and McEnroe turned and said ‘(Rafael) Nadal is jealous.’

There were six other players on the court on Wednesday, four on each team, including Laguna Beach’s Rick Leach who played for the Breakers, but no doubt the fans bought tickets to see Sharapova and McEnroe. And they didn’t disappoint.

Every fan 16 years and younger received a free tennis racket and ball. After the game they were invited to get autographs.

The line lasted 25 minutes. The players didn’t seem to mind.

The three week WTT season will resume around this time next year. Sharapova plans to return but McEnroe wasn’t as sure.

- SCOTT ALBERT and LAILA D.

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Since we’re already on the subject, I found a website dedicated to “facts” about Mr. Norris. These facts include, “Guns don’t kill people. Chuck Norris kills people,” and “Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.” For more Chuck Norris “facts” and some pretty sweet looking T-shirts check out this website.

- KELLI SKYE

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I’ve been trying to take pictures of the visor-wearing ladies I’ve seen all over the freeways, but they drive either too fast or too slow.

Not knowing what these things are actually called, I Googled the words “face visor” and behold…facevisor.com.

These images are borrowed from the site where you can buy a face visor of your own for just $14.95– a bargain if you consider they provide four times the coverage of sunglasses– and are sure to get you noticed.

You can also buy them from suncapcompany.com for $29.95.

And, of course, the face visor craze has been around a few years now. Here’s some good stuff from around the net.

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Like we don’t have enough distractions around here, this afternoon Ducks left wing Chris Kunitz stopped by the Register building (which SqueezeOC occupies a small corner of) with the Stanley Cup.

The wait was about an hour long, which seemed longer if you’re a Kings fan, but this is the Stanley Cup and it came to us, so we waited. All of us except Matt, Brian and Devin who were lucky enough to have an interview with the official Keeper of the Cup. They sailed straight through to the front.

So, Mike Bolt’s job is to guard, protect and escort the Stanley Cup wherever it goes, and we hear it’s been to some interesting places. Stay tuned for the video interview.

While the boys were busy interviewing Bolt, the rest of us passed the time admiring the flashy decorations they had set up for the event.

Kunitz was nice enough to sign Ducks rally towels, photos and other memorabilia, despite the fact that he’s still nursing his hand, which he broke during the Western Conference playoffs. Kind Kunitz didn’t even bat an eye when one lucky fan asked him to write out “Derakhshanian. ”

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