Usher's Suburban Atlanta Manse

SELLER: Usher
LOCATION: Merriweather Woods, Alpharetta, GA
PRICE: $1,995,000 (increased from $1,950,000)
SIZE: 8,022 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Luxurious owners ste on main, exquisite detail thruout, terrace, features hair salon, exercise rm, fam rm w/ custom bar, billiard rm & bdrm. Recording std & guest.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Your Mama has never cruised the streets of Buckhead or Alpharetta, Georgia in our big BMW, so we really don't know what we're talking about when we say that we do not understand the pull suburban Atlanta seems to have on a myriad of rich and famous, particularly those from the music set. We imagine all the Georgians will proudly tell us that the better suburbs of Atlanta are filled with lush and lavish estates that rival those in Beverly Hills and Bergen County, NJ, only with much cheaper price tags.

Case in point is the suburban pile of hip hop crooner Usher. Yesterday, Your Mama received a call from Southern Sam, our man in Atlanta, who let us know that Mister Usher has put his Alpharetta mansion on the market for $1,950,000, a modestly priced abode given given just how rich this man is.

If we are being honest, and you know we always are, Your Mama confesses that we do not know practically anything about this Usher person, and we would easily fail any test that required we hum a few bars of any of his songs. What little we do know about this man, we have learned in the glossy tabs, so you know it's salacious and has little to do with his talents. All Your Mama knows about the 28 year old singer is that in late July 2007, he canceled his tremendous and expensive wedding at the Southampton spread of music mogul L.A. Reid just hours (hours!) before he was scheduled to wed a gal named Tameka Foster, a much older 37 year old mommy of three who also has Usher's bun in the oven.

Had we been invited to the nuptials, and strangely, we were not, Your Mama would have been one irritated guest after trucking our self all the way to the damn Hamptons in the humid heat of the summer only to be turned away at the gates with our lovely gift of a custom made and overly expensive fondue set. Now babies, Your Mama does not think that anyone should get married if they get the cold feet, but this Usher thing was some rude shit, especially since the couple ended up getting married just a few weeks later in a big ceremony in, surprise!, suburban Atlanta. Your Mama would NOT have forwarded that fondue set to Atlanta, we can tell you that.

According to a recent article on a website called Access Atlanta, the Usher residence occupies a large corner lot in a subdivision called the Country Club of the South, which appears to be a gated golf course community of tightly packed mansions. According to property records, Mister Usher paid $1,200,000 in December of 1998 when he purchased the property from none other than L.A. Reid, who quickly took his money and decamped for seaside Southampton, NY

The 8,022 square foot grey stucco mansion includes 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms according to the listing information. Also included on the property is a guest house, in ground swimming pool, den, office, recreation room, media room, music studio (natch), and a hair salon. A hair salon? Now babies, we know that the rich and famous ahve to be walking the red carpets and looking their absolute best just to go to the dman 7-11, but isn't a home hair salon just a little extreme for a man that could prolly cut his own hair with a good set of Wahl clippers?

Unfortunately, Your Mama really has very little nice to say about this house and it's decor. We are not fond of the faux Beidermeier/Versace cabinet work in the living room and the curved satin couch is just so wrong we don't even know what to say about it except that it really belongs in the dressing room of an aging Broadway diva who brings her cats to the theater. The dining room as a whole is just awful, but we do like the red carpet, and probably out favorite item in all the photos would be that strange planter with the gold hands that act as feet...now children, you might disagree with Your Mama here, but we think that thing is so crazy it's good.

Clearly the newly married couple need a larger home to accommodate their growing brood of brats and the necessary nannies that will be required to keep the kids in check while daddy Usher tours and mommy keeps pushing out babies. The question now is do they stay in suburban Alpharetta or pack their Louis Vuitton for another of the many upscale suburban Atlanta developments?

Sources: Access Atlanta, Show Buzz, People,

The $165,000,000 Mega-Estate of Leonard Ross (Part 3)

Your Mama apologizes for the delay in bringing the children more photos of the $165,000,000 mega estate of Leonard Ross. As anyone who is anyone already knows, the 6.5 acre property is located on bizzy N. Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. More discussion on the house can be found here and here. Today we're going to look over a few photos of the eating and drinking rooms in the mansion.

At the top left we see what we imagine is the formal dining room. If Your Mama is being honest, and we always are, we must say that we are a little disappointed with this room. No doubt the vaguely Chippendale table opens up with several leaves, but we expected something perhaps a little larger and longer with a table that comfortably seats 24 rather than the eight chairs we see in the photograph.

The walls have been entirely mirrored, a peculiar and puzzling choice. Your Mama is quite certain that was an expensive folly, but we can not imagine a more grotesque wall finish for a dining room. Who wants to be sitting down to a lovely supper of stuffed pheasant with a pomegranate glaze while being forced to watch all the Ernestines and Harolds that have been invited to dinner chewing their damn food reflected around the room like some sort of carnival fun house?

At the top right we see a smaller dining room that is adjacent to the larger, but not large enough, formal dining room. This room, more than likely used for family and casual dining occasions, is perhaps called the morning room, a term that is most often used by people rich enough that they do not prepare or serve their own meals. We confess to appreciating this room quite a bit. Certainly, it's stuffy enough that the Queen of England might be comfortable munching a scone and drinking a stiff cup of coffee, but the room maintains an casual and traditional elegance that is balanced by the quirky lighting sconces and the elaborate and funky tile pattern on the wall.

Just below, we see the wine cellar, a room that gives super rich folks an excuse to get drunk under the guise of high minded viticulture. Please. Your Mama knows these filthy rich people like to tie one one just like ev-er-ee-bod-ee else, only they do it with a few bottles of 1966 Lafite Rothschild instead of a case of Coors.

The room at the lower left appears to be a casual sitting room for family and intimate guests as opposed to the hordes that flock to the property for charity events. The ceiling appears to upholstered for good acoustics and the floors appear to be a salmon colored terrazzo which is perfect for that corporate CEO private sitting room look. The damask covered wing chairs only enhance that look. Your Mama's eyes fail us at the most inopportune moments, but do the children agree that there appear to be several televisions flanking the fireplace...more than likely for keeping track of the stocks and bonds.

Tomorrow we will continue our tour with a few of the rooms designed for entertaining.

Billy Baldwin and Chynna Phillips: Renters

RENTERS: Billy Baldwin and Chynna Phillips
LOCATION: S. Spalding Drive, Beverly Hills, CA
RENT: $14,000 / month
SIZE: 5,302 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Best lease in Beverly Hills. Newly updated, 2-story traditional. Great street - one block from Beverly Hills High School. Hardwood throughout. Fabulous kitchen with all new appliances. Master suite plus three additional bedroom suites. Multi-zone heat/air, pool, & garage.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A little birdie tells Your Mama that the least controversial Baldwin brother Billy and his wifey Chynna Phillips, formerly of the impossibly saccharine gurl group Wilson Phillips, have recently moved their family into a Bev Hills property where they are paying a whopping $14,000 per month.

The 5,302 square foot house, which coincidentally has the same house number as Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter's beach house, sits close enough to Century City to be in the shadow of the tall towers and backs up to fancy pants Roxbury Park. The property is also just a quick walk to Beverly Hills High School where loads of rich and famous have matriculated, and Your Mama has a relative who tirelessly works to educate the children of rich and famous who do not think they need to be educated simply because they are the children of the rich and famous.

Unfortunately Your Mama does not know much about the house or even why a couple as famous and well to do as the Baldwin/Phillips' would lease a house like this at such tremendous expense. Perhaps they are not as rich as we imagine them to be and can't afford a $25,000+ mortgage each month? Or perhaps they are renovating another property and need a place to live during the process? Or maybe they just do not want the hassle of having to hire, pay and monitor the landscapers, cleaning ladies, pool people, tree trimmers and etc., and prefer to have a landlord who handles all those mundane and expensive details of high end home ownership. Anyone know?

Before Your Mama signs out so that we can head out to the wineries where the Dr. Cooter and his mama will likely get smashed on not very good white wine, let's discuss the Baldwin brothers for just a moment, because they are really just so chaotic and interesting.

First there is the oldest and arguably best looking Baldwin, Alec, who Your Mama used to see wandering the streets of the Upper West Side of Manhattan lookin' all sultry, disheveled and celebrity like. This Mister Baldwin has ongoing, very public, and never ending baby mama drama with the ex-wifey ack-tress Kim Basinger. These two once married people would sooner disembowel each other than act like mature adults who are capable of being civil to each other at their daughter's birthday parties. People, is it really that difficult to be civil? There are no winners in this situation babies, least of all the child, who Your Mama wishes fortitude, a clear mind, and a very good psychiatrist.

Next comes Daniel, perhaps the least well known Baldwin brother. This Baldwin brother, who is basically a very bizzy b-movie actor, has at least three children by three different women, was once arrested for running naked and cracked out through the halls of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, was more recently arrested after plowing his automobile into two parked cars in Los Angeles, and just six months later was arrested for allegedly stealing a car (since cleared of the charges). Can you spell drug problem? He does seem to be on the mend (good for him) and even offered that train wreck Britney Spears support while she did her apparently not very successful stint in rehab and the uber-posh Promises in Malee-boo.

And let's not forget the youngest Baldwin brother Stephen. Although baptized as a Roman Catholic, Stephen converted to a born again evangelical Christian on a mission to save the wayward youth of America. The one-time actor reportedly teamed up recently with Little Lindsay Lohan's ex-con daddy Michael to form some sort of religious detox center in swanky Southampton, NY. Children, this is an unholy union if we've ever seen one and Your Mama predicts this will end in tears and law suits.

And that does not even begin to discuss the other side of the Billy Baldwin/Chynna Phillips family which includes the lovably whacko Michelle Phillips, who shuns direct sunlight in order to help retain her youth, beauty, and supple skin. The extended family would also have to include the former members of the Wilson Phillips band which includes that cry baby Carnie Wilson who has made a career out of her vacillating weight. Hunny, we appreciate that you struggle with your weight. Seriously, we do. But gurl, you gotta stop embarrassing yourself by forever talking about it and making your weight issues the hub of the wheel of your career.

Phew! We know y'all tune in to our little blog to look at fancy celebrity real estate and not to have Your Mama expound on the daily dramas of celebrities, there are many thousands of blogs for that after all. So we appreciate you allowing us this indulgence this morning.

Be assured we'll be bringing you more celebrity houses today and in the days to come including more photos of the $165,000,000 Lenny Ross mansion in Beverly Hills.

Sources: NY Post, Internet Movie Data Base, People, Hecklerspray, Contact Music,