Lady Gaga Spent a Very Interesting Weekend With Lisa Vanderpump and Fred Durst
If you’re wondering how Lady Gaga spent her third full week as an official Oscar winner, well, she spent it in such a way that we can now publish what we’re almost certain is the world’s first headline to include both the reality television sensation Lisa Vanderpump and the former TRL rock bad boy Fred Durst. Oh, and you thought that post-Oscars portrait with Madonna would be the most surprising thing Gaga got up to this year? Nope. With her “Enigma” residency in Las Vegas on hiatus until May and the marketing for a purported sixth studio album still only in the hints-and-teases phase, Gaga was free to take Los Angeles by storm this weekend in a distinctly Fame Monster–esque way.
The notable events kicked off on Thursday night (the beginning of the weekend, in our books) at the Black Rabbit Rose, off Hollywood Boulevard. It’s a multiroom, retro-outfitted venue with craft cocktails and Thai-Chinese small plates that hosts magic shows (yes, actual magic shows) but also burlesque and live music. Indeed, if you happen to stop by after 10:30 p.m. on a Thursday, you can catch a revue entitled “Fred Durst Presents the Tyler Hammond Jazz Experience.”
As it turns out, the Limp Bizkit frontman, who once so famously got into ugly tiffs with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, is now spending some of his time promoting jazz nights at a magic bar in Hollywood. (He also recently directed a movie starring John Travolta and Devon Sawa. Who says there are no second acts in America life?) The night routinely brings out a cast of talented L.A. jazz musicians, but on this most recent Thursday it boasted a surprise appearance by Gaga herself. The singer showed up to the club in a black minidress and a tight bouffant to do a quick two-song set of Frank Sinatra covers that included “Call Me Irresponsible” and “Fly Me to the Moon” (both are on the set list of the “Jazz and Piano” component of her Las Vegas residency). Naturally, the performance was caught on YouTube.
Gaga has been known to crash jazz bars in New York City, and otherwise seems to love belting out standards in intimate settings. It was a small party performance of “La Vie en Rose” that convinced Bradley Cooper she’d be perfect for his remake of A Star Is Born, after all.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this part of the weekend, then, is that Fred Durst organizes a jazz night at a magic bar.
Gaga wasn’t done for the weekend though. On Sunday night, she accompanied her longtime hairdresser Frederic Aspiras to the Daily Front Row’s 5th Annual Fashion Los Angeles Awards, where she presented him with an award. Gaga wore a black and white Rodarte gown that was somewhat in line with the more classic old Hollywood glamour she channeled during awards season, though it’s bold, graphic design and her crystal-enhanced eye makeup certainly harkened back to wilder Gaga fashion moments of yore (the perfect transitional dress for a moment in between eras?).
It turns out the fashion function wasn’t Gaga’s only stop of the night. According to Page Six, later that night Gaga was spotted doing a tour of some of reality TV’s most famous hospitality venues. She met up with the Bravo doyenne Lisa Vanderpump at her Pump restaurant and lounge before moving on to Vanderpump’s latest venture, Tom Tom. “They sat in the garden and [Gaga] loved it,” a source told the gossip column. “It was a night of girls being girls after Lisa had just landed from Las Vegas working all weekend and last week.” The pair also apparently DJ’ed at the restaurant.
Of course, Gaga and Vanderpump are old friends. Vanderpump and some of her Real Housewives cohorts appeared in Gaga’s 2014 video for “G.U.Y.” Gaga and Vanderpump were also spotted hanging out at Pump quite a few times back in 2015. Oddly, we can’t seem to find any evidence that Gaga has ever been to Vanderpump’s other L.A. venue, Sur, or that Vanderpump has been to Gaga’s family’s restaurant Joanne Trattoria. Oh, well, there’s only so much time. Whatever the case, Vanderpump confirmed the most recent hangout on Twitter, with the hashtag “#naughtychildren.”
Gaga may or may not have a lot of time to fill over the next couple of months. She’s not due back in Vegas until May 30, though her recent promise that she’s “pregnant” with her sixth studio album may indicate that a rollout is imminent. Maybe she was just getting in one fun personal weekend before the hard work of album promoting commences?
Related: Lady Gaga Says She’s “Pregnant” With a New Album, Not a Child
