New Yorkers are typically not very impressed with celebrity sightings. But that was certainly not the case Thursday night at Morandi, Keith McNally's latest establishment. While dining with a friend at the trendy Italian trattoria, the one and only Madonna graced us—and the entire restaurant—with her presence. Dressed in a slinky dark dress and sporting her signature wavy tresses, Madge was seated right next to us in the back alcove. Joined by a large entourage (sans Guy Ritchie) that included fifteen stylish friends and two bodyguards, the ultimate queen of reinvention appeared to be having a private celebration: She toasted, sipped wine, nibbled on tomatoes and mozzarella, and seemed generally unfazed by the chaotic fanfare surrounding her. One enraptured diner in particular, who was sitting nowhere nearby, actually made several laps around the area, eventually stopping at the superstar's table in a silent stare, prompting a hostess to tell him to "sit down or leave." Obviously unable to contain himself, he chose the latter option.

Wednesday night, I caught indie duet She & Him, the collaboration between actress Zooey Deschanel and Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter M. Ward, at the Skirball theater at NYU. It was their second and final show in New York on a brief bi-coastal tour—now, they're off to L.A. for two more sold-out dates.

Their new album, Volume One, features songs written by Deschanel and produced by Ward, along with Beatles and Smokey Robinson covers. At Wednesday's show, they also performed Maxine Brown's "Oh No Not My Baby"—a perfect fit for Deschanel's sound. Vocally right at home with the soulful, imperfect female country and blues voices of the 1940s and 50s, Deschanel's influences also include other actors/musicians like Doris Day, Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, she told Women's Wear Daily.

The project has served as a chance for Deschanel, who has much less creative control as an actress than as an indie chanteuse, to wear her heart on her sleeve and for Ward, to play the supporting role to someone he clearly adores. The music is precious, and in the role of modest, innocent, girlish crooner, Zooey Deschanel is perfectly cast.

Give them a listen on their myspace page and hear some lovely exclusively recorded tracks on NPR's website.

Some friends and I headed to MoMA on Saturday night anticipating the usual chardonnay, crudités and museum crowd that accompany most of its events. We didn't get the memo that the fête—celebrating the new Color Chart exhibition—would be a raging dance party.

After talking our way in (the soiree sold out on Tuesday and Craigslist did brisk trade in tickets the day of) we entered a museum transformed. There wasn't a carrot stick in sight as throngs of twentysomething partygoers clad in primary colors and wild makeup broke it down to the music pouring through speakers lining the main hall. (The DJs, all signed to the dance-punk indie label DFA Records, had set up shop beneath Rodin's statue of Balzac.) One flight up, gaggles of hipsters fueled by pink rum concoctions were playing Twister.

A few of the 1,500 guests even managed to gaze at the Warhols and Richters on display—the exhibition stayed open until the party ended at 1 a.m. The party was part of PopRally, an event series aimed at MoMA and PS1's younger patrons. The next PopRally event is on March 14 at PS1. For details, see http://moma.org/calendar/poprally/

Photos by Fred Benenson / www.fredbenenson.com

They're keeping their day jobs, but on the heels of last fall's multi-city "We Are Not A Rock Brand" tour, British design duo Richard Ascott and Philip Colbert of Rodnik are taking to the stage again. This time, the kitsch-rockers are hitting the New York hotspot The Box on Sunday, February 3, for their fall 2008 presentation. There will be pretty clothes to gawk at, sure, but chances are if you find yourself at the LES boite that night, it'll be for the boys and their performance. Marketing maestros that they are, the designers-slash-musicians have created their own eponymous rock band to plug their goods. (Ascott plays drums, Colbert sings). Last season, they enlisted Peaches Geldof as chanteuse on their six-city tour. Geldof is back again, now joined by fellow actress Jamie Winstone (keyboards) and possibly Riley Keough and Daphne Guinness (backup vocals). "The band is a way of expressing the brand, it's an example of how Rodnik is about a lifestyle and attitude," says Colbert. "But we're not taking ourselves too seriously. The actual band is more of a funny roadshow of clothes. Sadly, we're too tongue-in-cheek, I think, to command serious music respect." You can be judge of that. Here, listen to a snippet of "Rodnik Faces in Space," a new song the pair will be debuting on Sunday.

Rodnik.co.uk