Continued: C.J.: A snarky remark from Anna Wintour, charm from Chazz

A "Senator Coleman" I am now following on Twitter.com wrote this May 15: "A 'little' knee surgery today. It's the perfect vehicle for taking your mind off politics, recounts and appellate briefs."

I started following Coleman after getting an e-mail Friday about a sighting of him on crutches at D.C.'s National Airport.

Tom Erickson, Coleman's spokesman, confirmed that Norm is recovering from surgery. "He had arthroscopic knee surgery last week," said Erickson. "I think he aggravated [his knee] playing tennis. Hopefully he'll be back on both feet soon."

Happy healing, Norm. When you get back on your feet, you might want to tweak that Twitter handle.

Chazz Palminteri ate at Bellanotte, the downtown Minneapolis restaurant that probably has the greatest Bronx feel for a guy who must like that as the star of "A Bronx Tale."

I caught up with Palminteri when he stopped by Fox 9 to do a little publicity on his biographical one-man, coming-of-age play during a June 2-7 stop at the State Theatre.

"You have gossip in Minnesota, I didn't know that," teased Palminteri, who moments later would start to feel as if I were stalkerazzi. "How'd you know I was in Bellanotte [Wednesday night]?" he said. I heard, I told him, adding that Carson Kressley described the atmosphere at Bellanotte as a "breast buffet."

"Really. Why'd he call it a ... because of the girls?" asked Palminteri. Yes, because some of the female patrons are not reluctant to showcase their décolletage. "I thought it was very nice," he said.

What'd he have, I asked, volunteering that I have had some good fish there. "I had great fish there. You know I had fish?" said Palminteri, sounding slightly paranoid.

Palminteri caused a bit of excitement for staffers at the Fox 9 set, not coming a second too early to get mic'd up. The Oscar nominee remained chill, while anchor Alix Kendall dealt with his mic. As you can see at startribune.com, Palminteri flirted, noting her "pretty outstanding eyes."

"Kiss our butts, Anna Wintour," Fox 9's Jason Matheson, said enthusiastically Thursday to open his FM107 radio show. Surely he meant that kindly.

The editor of Vogue mag has riled Minnesotans by telling "60 Minutes" co-anchor Morley Safer we inspired an article on obesity. "I had just been on a trip to Minnesota, where I can only kindly describe most of the people I saw as little houses," Wintour says in a clip that aired only on 60minutes.com.

Kudos to KARE11's Joe Fryer for digging up this video insult (which I looked for hard but could not find). "In the rest of the clip, Wintour stresses obesity is a national problem, and that we need to spend time and money to fix the problem and teach people to exercise and eat better," Fryer told viewers.

That's better. But someone as discerning as Wintour certainly knows her healthiest weight is some between that of her waifishness and her colleague André Leon Talley's outsizedness. Talley (yeah, I'm still miffed about him sabotaging Jennifer Hudson with that metallic bolero monstrosity the night of her Oscar win) is Vogue's editor-at-large.

Considering Wintour's penchant for pointing out weight problems, even notoriously going after Oprah, I wonder if Talley's title might be another kindly Wintour suggestion.

Fine garments, not millinery, would seem to be the favored fashion statement of Audrey Geisel, widow of the "Cat in the Hat" author Theodor Geisel.

The owners of Jean Stephen Galleries, Jean & Steve Danko, recently spent time with Mrs. Geisel in San Diego. They were attending the dedication of the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden and the life-size Lorax sculpture at the Preuss School at the University of California, San Diego.

"We talked to her about how she almost came to the Twin Cities years ago when she was training to be a nurse. She looked at some different schools but she made the mistake of coming up in the winter to check out the University of Minnesota," said Steve. "I think she went to school in Indiana [instead]."

Talk any business, since Dr. Seuss artworks are a staple at Jean Stephen Galleries? Jean said not really, because Mrs. Geisel has limited contact with that part of the empire. "We are having something [Dr. Seuss-related at the gallery] in early summer," said Jean. "It sells very well, extremely well, even in these hard times."

As best Jean could recall, Mrs. Geisel's suit included a skirt, as opposed to pants, "probably in the same fabric." Looks like a nice garment. "You know, I think she's doing OK," said Jean.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on Fox 9 Thursday mornings.