Gilt Groupe, the bargain luxury e-tailer, is expanding further into Groupon's local shopping business. Emailed coupons still seem like too much trouble for Gilt's upscale customers, but apparently the grinding recession has even the rich looking for deals.

VillageVines.com will shave 30 percent off fancy restaurant meals without a tacky coupon—the discount is discretely applied to your bill. But, oh, the hoops you'll have to jump through. It's the online discount club model taken too far.

• Both Google and Facebook are getting into the music biz, apparently. [NYT]
• ESPN's Steve Phillips has a pretty messy sex scandal on his hands. [NYP]
• Condé Nast's latest effort to branch out: It's starting discount travel site called Jetsetter in partnership with Gilt Groupe. Meanwhile, this week's Observer recaps Condé's recent problems and reflects on the good 'ol days. [NYT, NYO]
• People's decision to pay big bucks for exclusive pics of kidnapee Jaycee Dugard sure paid off. The issue sold 2 million copies last week. [WWD]
• Who will be the next editor of BusinessWeek? Jon Friedman thinks former Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman would be a "fine choice." And she may be, provided Bloomberg is looking to destroy what's left of the magazine. [MW]
• Michael Steele is now (officially) Us Weekly's editor-in-chief. [NYT]
• How many people despise cable news clown Glenn Beck? Enough that the network has hired a bodyguard to follow him everywhere he goes. [P6]
• Yet another book "by" Michael Jackson may be coming soon. Super! [Crain's]

• The Costume Institute Gala is a mere five days away. Fashion Week Daily has a roundup of who's going, who isn't, and what everyone will not be eating. (Chicken, in case you were wondering.) [FWD]
• The Observer on Alexandra Kotur, the "Viscountess of Vogue." [NYO]
• It seems some women are so addicted to the discount designer site Gilt Groupe that they're practically going bankrupt buying stuff they really don't want or need. [TDB]
• It's official: Madonna is attached to Louis Vuitton's new ad campaign. [Grazia]
• Isaac Mizrahi rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. The market has been having a surprisingly solid week so far. Could the two be connected? We'll say yes, if it's okay with you. [Facebook, WWD]

Times are tight for Web startups: Catalina Girald couldn't afford to hire a model for her fashion site's lingerie collection. So she stripped down to her designer skivvies.

Gilt Groupe, the invite-only high-end group-spelled-with-an-e-at-at-the-end e-commerce site you're not supposed to have heard of, got a new CEO today, former Martha Stewart CEO Susan Lyne. Cofounder Alexis Maybank, pictured here, will become chief strategist. Through AlleyCorp, DoubleClick cofounder Kevin Ryan owns both Gilt Groupe and Silicon Alley Insider, the tech blog which reported the news, citing "a source familiar with the situation," which we think is journalismspeak for "Kevin Ryan." Synergy! [Silicon Alley Insider]

In a post on Silicon Alley Insider about Gilt Groupe, a website which runs private couture sales for an invite-only clientele, disgraced stock analyst Henry Blodget includes the following disclaimer: