Gabriel goes solo; Salem runner is a cover girl
ON HIS OWN An hour or so before he sat down at a piano in Newport, Peter Gabriel confessed to a slight case of nerves. "I've never played solo, partly because I didn't begin as a player, and I sort of stumble my way through songwriting," said the ex-Genesis frontman, who's nonetheless managed to have a long and distinguished solo career. "I've always enjoyed having great players around me, having a great groove thing around me." (A partial list of Gabriel's past playing partners includes Phil Collins, Robert Fripp, Nile Rodgers, Stewart Copeland, Tony Levin, Kate Bush, and Laurie Anderson.) But for the sake of his daughter, Anna, and the folks at the Newport Film Festival, Gabriel agreed to go it alone Friday on a set that included "Solsbury Hill," accompanied only by a boom box. The gig, at a private residence called Gray Craig, was a $500-per-person fund-raiser for the film festival and Witness, Gabriel's human-rights organization. (Anna also screened "Growing Up, on Tour," her short film about touring with her dad.) So would he perform solo again? "I've quite enjoyed messing around, relearning and rearranging some of the old songs," Gabriel said. "If I felt I had enough stuff that was up to standard, I might do it again." We'll take that as a yes.
AFFLECK SEEKS TO KEEP BAN The Affleck boy we're not tired of reading about -- actor Casey Affleck ("American Pie 2," "Ocean's Eleven," and its sequel, "Ocean's Twelve") -- has written a letter to Massachusetts lawmakers on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In his missive to state Representative William Greene and state Senator Pamela Resor, cochairs of the Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture, Affleck, 28, asks the state to uphold the current ban on leghold and body-gripping traps. The Cambridge native and longtime vegan writes that some animals, "especially mothers desperate to get back to their young, fight so vigorously to get out of traps that they attempt to chew or twist off their trapped limbs." The letter, dated March 3, even offers a few alternatives to trapping. Like what, you say? Beaver "bafflers," which disperse water in such a way that beavers are not compelled to make dams.
OPENING BIDS There'll be a few names at tonight's fund-raiser for the American Repertory Theatre, including Newton native Julie Taymor, whose excellent costume designs and direction made "The Lion King" such a huge hit on Broadway, and actor Vincent D'Onofrio, whom we think the whole wide world of. The fun begins at 6:30 at the World Trade Center West. Auction items include a walk-on role in the remake of "The Pink Panther," starring Steve Martin and, best of all, filming in Paris and New York.
JUST GETTING GOING That might look like actress Jennie Garth on the cover of the latest issue of Runner's World magazine, but it's really Salem's Jennifer Toomey, an elite international runner. Unbelievably, Toomey, a Tufts grad, didn't start running seriously until she was 27, when one of her macho friends bet her he could beat her in the Boston Marathon. (He didn't.) Despite her fourth-place finish at yesterday's World Indoor Track Championships in Budapest, Toomey, 32, still has an excellent shot at representing the United States at next summer's Olympics. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.
