Soon to Hit the Hamptons: Madonna, Matt Lauer, and a Real-Estate Crash or Two

Madonna will chair the August 9 benefit for Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue at the Bridgehampton digs of photographer Steven Klein. Stella McCartney and Kevin Klein will co-host. East Hampton’s bond rating has tanked, while the local real-estate market seems to have crashed and buyers want smaller homes. Some people say that the recent arrest of gallery owner Ruth Kalb for serving wine without a license signals East Hampton’s crackdown on a bloated summer scene. In happier news,
a U.K. outlet has listed Coopers Beach in Southampton and East Hampton beach among the top ten sand strips in the U.S.

Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, and their three kids will chill here this summer, in their new boat. Matt Lauer usually golfs at Sebonack. As a stunt of sorts, some guy will live off the land here and forage for food all summer. Hypothermia or illness may have accounted for the pretty dolphin that washed ashore dead late last week near Little Plains Beach in Southampton. Trata in Watermill is civilized for a drink in the early evening, but drunken thirtysomethings throw napkins as confetti in the later hours. And every summer, Dan Rattiner fights with the bees.