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Blues Brothers Rock the Night to Remember

Marvin R. Shanken is joined by Aykroyd and Belushi at the end of the night's festivities.
As Shanken prepared to move to Lot 5, Aykroyd stepped to the podium with a large smile on his face. "Marvin, you are not a holder of the TCAC." Shanken smiled -- "what's the TCAC?" he asked.

"The Texas Cattle Auctioneer Certificate," said Aykroyd, in the staccato voice made famous on "Saturday Night Live" and in myriad films. The actor took over the auctioneer's duties, and quickly picked up the pace of the bids, rattling off numbers in impressive form for Lot 5, a 105th Anniversary Harley-Davidson motorcycle in copper and black donated by Tom Celani of Motor City Harley-Davidson. A bid of $20,000 by Pier Luigi Tolaini won the bike, but there was minor controversy -- Carlos Fuente Jr. raised his hand late, intending to raise the bid to $25,000. Shanken stepped back to the podium, and announced that Celani generously agreed to donate a second bike, making this lot worth $45,000.

Aykroyd talked up the sixth lot, a collection of nearly 600 Ashton and San Cristobal cigars, plus an Ashton humidor, which sold for $17,000 to Jacques Moore. It was donated by Ashton brand owner Robert Levin. A vacation to the One & Only Palmilla, donated by Edward T. Steiner of One & Only Resorts, with airfare donated by Levin, sold for $26,000 to Coulter. Coulter also bought the eighth lot, an offering for lovers of strong cigars -- a collection of every Fuente Fuente OpusX (including the rare "A"), limited-edition tins and dinner for 10 at the Grand Havana Room with Carlos Fuente Jr., donated by the Fuentes. It sold for $25,000.

Rudolph W. Giuliani with his wife, Judith.
Lot 9, which allowed the winner to be one of the first to own the new 2009 Cadillac CTS-V, went for $76,000 to C.A.O. patriarch Cano Ozgener. The car was donated by James Taylor of General Motors and Cadillac. Lot 10, a vacation at the Four Seasons Punta Mita, went for $15,000 to Litto Gomez. The trip was donated by the Four Seasons Punta Mita, with airfare donated by Hazel and Marvin Shanken. Lot 11, a collection of Partagas cigars, including the long sold-out Partagas 150, sold for $7,000 to Richard Berkowitz. It was donated by General Cigar. A party for up to 60 guests in a Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House, donated by Del Frisco's, went for $22,000 to Mike Goldstein.

Ira Walker splurged on Lot 13, up to five hours on a NetJets Gulfstream 450, donated by Richard Santulli of NetJets. It went for $60,000. The Padrón family donated an extraordinary lot of cigars, including Padrón Serie 1926 80 Years, Padrón Millenniums and the commercially unavailable Reserva d la Familia. It went for $33,000 to attorney Doug Wood. The final lot, a vacation on Coulter's extraordinary yacht Relentless, went for $85,000 to Brett Seltzer. Milken, in a special bid, pledged $200,000 for the Blues Brothers to play a special concert, adding to the total raised.

Michael Milken (right) with Marvin R. Shanken.
The entrée of rare steak in black truffle sauce with stuffed zucchini flowers was paired with a gorgeous 2001 Caymus Special Selection, which the diners sampled as the speakers took to the podium. John Sally joked about being chased in his youth in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn--given his size, it's hard to imagine he was chased for long. Jeff Greenfield made the importance of the night crystal clear. "There is a presidential debate on tonight, the Yankees are playing the Red Sox, but Rudy Giuliani and I are here, which shows you we have a decent set of priorities," he said.

"I look forward to this every year," said Giuliani, speaking to Shanken. "I will come here and help you with this, no matter what."

Milken took to the podium to speak of the impact of the dinner, which is enormous. "Our goal is to eliminate all cancer," he said. "For every dollar raised at this dinner, we've been able to leverage that 30-fold. We have raised effectively $400 million." The room broke into hearty applause.

As Milken concluded, the waitstaff appeared with artisinal cheeses and filled glasses with 1977 Taylor-Fladgate vintage port. They would soon return with Humidipak bags filled with premium, handmade cigars, including Padrón Serie 1926 No. 9s and Fuente Fuente OpusX No. 2s, Cigar Aficionado's No. 1 and No. 2 Cigars of the Year. Shanken returned to the podium. "It's time to relax and light up," he said, putting fire to a large cigar. The Night to Remember had only begun.