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• Good Life Guide
  The Mozzarella Bar
• Good Life Guide
  Kayak Fishing
• Celebrities
  Kevin Costner Charts His Own Course
• News & Features
  Jaguar Lands On Its Feet Again
• Up Front
  Beyond Belief
• More from this Issue

A Night To Remember

A high-energy evening for charity.

David Savona
From the Print Edition:
Kevin Costner, July/August 2008

Aykroyd stepped to the podium with a broad grin. "Marvin, you are not a holder of the TCAC," he said solemnly. Shanken smiled and replied, "What's the TCAC?"

"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 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, hoping to bid $25,000. Shanken announced that Celani generously agreed to donate a second bike, making the 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. The entire trove 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 provided 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 in New York City with Fuente Jr., donated by the Fuentes. It sold for $25,000.

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 Jim 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 compliments of Hazel and Marvin Shanken. Lot 11, a collection of Partagas cigars, including the long sold-out Partagas 150, went 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 Michael 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 de la Familia. It went for $33,000 to attorney Doug Wood. The final lot, a vacation on Coulter's luxurious yacht Relentless, went for $85,000 to Brett Seltzer. Milken, in a special bid, pledged $200,000 for the Blues Brothers to play a concert.

The entrée of rare steak in black truffle sauce was paired with a gorgeous 2001 Caymus Special Selection, which the diners sampled as the speeches began. John Salley 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 enormous impact of the dinner. "For every dollar raised at this dinner [over the years], we've been able to leverage that 30-fold," he said. "We have raised effectively $400 million." The room broke into hearty applause.

As Milken concluded, the waitstaff appeared with glasses of 1977 Taylor-Fladgate vintage Port. They would soon return with Humidipak bags filled with fine, premium 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, respectively. 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.

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