Steve Cohen: Lawmaker-turned-lounge singer

Rep. Steve Cohen (D), the 59-year-old single lawmaker from Memphis, Tenn., knows music is a great way to win a woman’s heart. Cohen was spotted at the posh Brown Palace Hotel serenading an attractive woman next to the lobby’s grand piano.

Most guests paid little notice while the piano player reeled off old standards such as “Anything Goes,” “Satin Doll” and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

Cohen softly crooned while holding his lady’s hand. After about 20 minutes the happy lawmaker left the lobby humming jazz tunes to himself, but when asked what he had sung, became suddenly shy.

“Oh, whatever was playing,” he said.

But the keyboardist gave the old romantic away.

“He requested ‘Love Me Tender’ because he’s from Memphis,” said the source, referring to the Elvis Presley classic.

D.C. Palm waiter comes to Denver Palm

If regulars at the Washington, D.C., Palm restaurant do a double-take when they visit the Palm’s Denver location this week, there’s a good reason for it.

It’s because they’ve just spotted a familiar face — that of Larry Cheramie, one of the D.C. Palm’s most popular waiters. He’s working at the Denver Palm during convention week.

Cheramie was working at the Palm in New Orleans when it was hit by Hurricane Katrina, and moved to Washington shortly afterwards.

Cheramie said he’s seen a lot of his D.C. customers, including many lobbyists and journalists.

“And they tip even better here than they do in Washington,” he said.

Cindy Adams not so hot on Denver

“Oouuch.”

This was Cindy Adams’s, the grand dame of celebrity gossip for the New York Post, verbal utterance for “yuck” when asked what she thought of Denver, the site of this week’s Democratic National Convention.

When asked to explain her dislike of Denver at a red carpet event for HBO host Bill Maher’s show, “Real Time with Bill Maher,” late Monday night, Adams replied, “Because it’s not New York. I’m lost when I’m not in New York.”

“What’s yuck?” a reporter asked her.

Her reply: “I don’t know where I am.”

A little later she returned to the press gaggle and refined her reply. “What I meant to say is that everyone is so nice,” she said. “I’ve never seen people so nice to people who come into town like we have.”

Joey Pants hosts reception at The Loft nightclub

Joe Pantoliano, who has been lobbying Congress on behalf of his organization, No Kidding Me Too, which aims to remove the stigma from brain diseases such as depression, hosted a reception Monday night at The Loft Nightclub. At the reception, the actor, known as “Joey Pants,” showed a clip from his documentary on brain diseases.

Pantoliano is best known for his role in HBO’s “The Sopranos.”

Unlike many receptions here, this one was low-key, with no red carpet or people clamoring to get autographs. A host of stars showed up and relished the opportunity to party in a relatively quiet manner.

Those attending included actress Dana Delaney, “Oz” producer Tom Fontana, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch. “For a convention event, it was very relaxed,” remarked John Hook, who works with Pantoliano. “There weren’t 300 hangers-on who were trying to shake hands with everyone and their mother. They were chillin’ and could talk.”