Dan Gross: Kanye's new squeeze a South Philly girl?

KANYE WEST'S new bald girlfriend, Amber Rose, a model and music-video actress, is a South Philadelphia native.

Rose, 25, tells Smooth magazine that she is "half-Italian and half Cape Verdean," and that she was routinely "antagonized" by kids at school over her mixed race. Her interview, posted at SmoothMag.com, is accompanied by a sexy photo spread, which runs in the issue now on newsstands. Rose, who was photographed with West at London's Fashion Week and earlier this week shopping in Hollywood, may have also worked as a stripper at Delilah's (100 Spring Garden), a few gossip blogs have reported. When asked, the club said that its dancers are independent contractors and that it does not divulge info about them.

Tayoun's back on his feet

Philadelphia Public Record publisher Jim Tayoun is in a little pain, but feeling good after a recent double knee replacement.

"I'm walking better than ever," says Tayoun, who wrote an editorial headlined "We need our two dailies," about the importance of the Daily News and the Inquirer, on the cover of the current issue of the Public Record.

The former city councilman and legislator is looking forward to his Monday-night party at the Waterfall Room (Water & Snyder) to honor Geno's Steaks owner Joey Vento for his charitable contributions. Tickets are $50 at the door.

John Oates gives tune to charity

North Penn High and Temple grad John Oates contributes a track called "1,000 Miles of Life," to a new CD that benefits the Best Friends Animal Society, based in Utah, and several other animal-rescue groups in Vermont. The double CD, "Giving Animals a Voice through Music: The Best Friends 25th Anniversary Collection," will be released next week. For more info visit bestfriends.org.

B101's Tiffany wins radio award

B101's Tiffany Hill of the soft-rock station's "Morning Show with Tiffany & Michael," has won a 2009 Gracie Award for achievement as an outstanding host in the info and entertainment category. The Gracies are presented by the American Women in Radio and Television, and were named after comic George Burns' wife, Gracie Allen. Hill will be honored with other winners June 4 in New York.

Pearl prop pulling in $$$

Despite the recession, the Moet Gold Cage at Pearl (1904 Chestnut) seems to have taken off. Last week the nightclub debuted what it proudly calls "a symbol of excess, wealth and indulgence." The gold-cage structure costs $1,000 to rent and contains three bottles of Moet White Star Magnum, which slide in from a portal underneath the crate. You also get a key to the cage, a private room and a security guard to protect your party prop and help you pretend to be uber-important.

Cardwell columns for the Legal

Local dandy Thom Cardwell will launch Thom's Guide, a column in the Legal Intelligencer, published on Thursdays. Cardwell will cover restaurants, entertainment and travel. The writer, who publishes the newsletter QUEERTimes, also operates BUCKmonkey, an events-and- marketing company, and serves as development director for the Philadelphia Cinema Alliance, one of the producers of the Philadelphia Film Festival/CineFest (March 26-April 6) and the Philadelphia QFest (July 9-19), formerly known as the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Out and about

* Comedian Brian Posehn

hung out at Oh! Shea's (19th & Sansom) after playing Helium (2031 Sansom) over the weekend. The former "Mr. Show" actor was accompanied by a few other comics and left a generous tip, we're told.

Budding entrepreneurs sought

Bloblive, an event in which entrepreneurs share developing- business ideas with an audience to gain instant feedback and encouragement, and risk having their ideas stolen, will be held from 6 to 9 tonight at Rembrant's (741 N. 23rd) and on Tuesday at the Great American Pub (123 Fayette) in Conshohocken. The events will be streamed at Bloblive.com, which is related to ideablob.com ,where business ideas compete for a monthly prize of $10,000. *

Visit PhillyGossip.com for Dan's latest stories. Have a tip? Call 215-854-5963, or e-mail grossd@phillynews.com. For recent columns, visit go.philly.com/dangross.