Should you spot Salman Rushdie at the Asia Society tonight, where he is one of the hosts of a fund-raising event for South Asia earthquake victims, you may want to ask him about his son, Zafar, who in the December issue of Tatler writes about growing up under the fatwa.

He was 9 years old when the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini threatened his father with death for writing “The Satanic Verses.”

On his father: “I think people often assume that I can’t know my father too well. … In fact, quite the opposite is true. … We have formed a bond and a common experience that practically no one else can relate to.”

The younger Mr. Rushdie is involved in event planning. His London-based firm, Rushdie Entertainment, organizes weddings, launch parties, and club nights in London and, soon, New York.

Tatler reports that his immediate plans include ensuring his company’s success and enjoying cigarettes, dim sum, and Jack Daniels.

Senator Clinton is scheduled to speak at tonight’s earthquake relief event. Tickets are $250 with proceeds supporting the International Rescue Committee’s relief fund. Potential sightings include Richard Holbrooke and Kati Marton, Aasia Arif and Bucky Khan, Asema and Zafar Asghar, Mukang Cho, and Blair and Fazle Husain, all of whom are joining Mr. Rushdie as hosts.

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The nonprofit group in Motion Incorporated tomorrow presents its annual Commitment to Justice Awards. The organization provides free legal assistance to low-income women and children in New York City. Lawyers being honored for their pro bono services include Joshua Brook of Arnold & Porter; William Clarke Jr. of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Jeffrey Federman and Christopher Kiplok of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, and Margo Ferrandino of Kaye Scholer. They have helped women obtain custody of their children, child support, divorces, and orders of protection from abusive spouses. The reception will be held at the Dahesh Museum of Art.

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New York could benefit from better public bathrooms, and this week New York sculptor Dennis Oppenheim debuts an amusing design alternative in an outdoor installation at Miami’s Design District. “Aerial Water Closets and Fixtures” consists of six 20-feet sculptures in a tree-like formation. The “branches” are steel plumbing pipes. The “flowers” are toilets, sinks, and bathtubs in tropical, South Beachready colors. The sculpture, sponsored by a real estate developer and collector of contemporary art, Craig Robins, will be on view for six months at the design district, which will fill with Art Basel Miami Beach revelers for an official opening Saturday night.

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During Art Basel Miami Beach, Mr. Robins and other luxury condo developers will be hosting parties to attract New York buyers. Meanwhile, designer Donna Karan will be in Miami for a party to celebrate an old piece of New York real estate that isn’t up for sale: a brick-lined elevator shaft at 162 Charles St. belonging to photographer Mark Seliger. The occasion: Mr. Seliger’s new book, “In My Stairwell” (Rizzoli), which collects 82 portraits of actors, musicians, and artists posing in the shaft, such as Julia Roberts, Bruce Springsteen, Giorgio Armani, Bill T. Jones, Cindy Sherman, and Heidi Klum. The book includes brief biographies of each subject. Lou Reed and Matthew Barney contributed interviews. Proceeds from the book, priced at $75, support the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in acknowledgment of Director Joseph Melillo’s counsel on the project. (BAM supporters received the first signed copies at the organization’s fall benefit last month, sponsored by Armani.) Currently working for GQ and Vanity Fair, Mr. Seliger worked for more than 10 years as the chief photographer for Rolling Stone.

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One of Mr. Seliger’s subjects, Woody Allen, appears in the flesh tonight at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s screening of his latest film, “Match Point,” a tennis romance starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. The Cannes Film Festival favorite hits theaters in late December.

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Actor Russell Crowe, who threw a telephone at a Manhattan hotel concierge in June, milked the incident for laughs Saturday night at the Australian Film Industry Awards in Melbourne.

The Associated Press reports that Mr. Crowe, who served as host of the ceremony, came on stage holding a telephone.

“If there are any problems, and you do get up here and go on too long, then say ‘hello’ to my little friend,” Mr. Crowe said, referring to the telephone and a line made famous by Al Pacino in “Scarface.”

Mr. Crowe pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and paid a $160 fine earlier this month.

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To the ladies and gentlemen expert in all things black tie and charitable: I would like to ask for your help in deciding the best parties of 2005. Please submit your analysis of the year’s best fund-raising events for New York City nonprofits. What about these nights inspired you: the cause, the crowd, the goody bag … or was it the emcee’s witty banter? Did the food matter? Were you dancing until midnight or in bed by 10 p.m.? And what did you wear?

Some memory refreshers: “The Great Gatsby” come to life at the Museum of the City of New York’s Winter Ball; the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York Lawyers Division event at which guests donated their meals to the needy instead of eating dinner; the Tastes of Summer – eating orgies, really – presented by Lincoln Center and the Central Park Conservancy.

Please get in touch by e-mail (agordon@nysun.com) or telephone (212-901-2694), preferably before Monday, December 5.