VIPs RSVP for GQ gala; Springer, Alexakis like to delegate
GAVIN A GREAT PARTY More than a few folks are likely to call in favors to try to get into the late-night party Tuesday at The Federalist when the slick men's monthly GQ honors San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, whom the magazine profiled in its July edition, asking if Newsom was "the next Bill Clinton." Already saying yes to their entry into the small, private party are Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, Kristin Gore, Karenna Gore Schiff, Ariana Huffington, Larry King, DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, Rob Reiner, Charlie Rose, Gloria Steinem, and clothing company Esprit's Susie Tompkins and Mark Buell. Outkast's Andre 3000 and music scion and gadfly Donovan Leitch, who will be in town during the convention shooting a documentary funded by Norman Lear, are also slated to be on hand.
CRANK CASE Even with a mouth full of Caesar salad and grilled chicken, Jimmy Breslin managed a few choice words for the journalists about to descend on Boston. "Media's the plural of mediocre," sneered the celebrated scribe, who's in town to promote his book "The Church That Forgot Christ." (Yesterday he taped a segment of Smoki Bacon and Dick Concannon's cable TV show, then ambled over to the Borders at Downtown Crossing.) Breslin isn't excited about the Democratic convention, but he plans to hang around to see what happens. "Somebody could get up and make an electrifying speech that we'll talk about 20 years from now." John Kerry, electrifying? "OK, maybe not. . . . My favorite is Jon Stewart's line: Kerry ought to tell his face to smile." Asked about the Massachusetts senator's chances against President Bush, Breslin sounded sure of the outcome. "Even a (expletive) statue could win," he said. Maybe one will.
SAY, AREN'T YOU. . .? Because delegates actually have to do a little work, celebrities rarely want to serve in that capacity. The exceptions this year are talk-show host Jerry Springer, a delegate from Ohio; rocker Art Alexakis, the Everclear frontman who's an Oregon delegate; and, of course, Tim Hagan. Also an Ohio delegate, Hagan's the hubby of "Star Trek: Voyager" 's Kathryn Janeway, a.k.a. Kate Mulgrew.
T-EED OFF When Susan Sarandon stopped by the Fine Arts Works Center in Provincetown the other day to check out an exhibition in the gallery, she was sporting a pink tank top with the words -- oh, how can we put this politely? -- well, words that would make Whoopi Goldberg happy.
THE MIGHTY JUNGLE It was a packed house for the opening night of "The Lion King." Among those spied at Wednesday night's events -- the performance at the Opera House and the after party at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers -- were arts patron Joan Parker; furniture guy Eliot Tatelman; Larry Cancro of the Boston Red Sox; Tony Pangaro of Millennium Partners, the developer of the neighboring Ritz towers; former Celtics player Cedric Maxwell; Clear Channel co-CEO Don Law; NECN's Phil Balboni; PBS honcho Jon Abbott; pianist Hershey Felder. . . . And when they say you need to be in your seats before the end of intermission, they aren't kidding. Boston Phoenix publisher and Provincetown arts supporter Stephen Mindich (there with his wife, former judge Maria Lopez) was quizzing Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole when he was almost run over by the performers storming the stage.
BEHIND THE MUSIC Speaking of Don Law, big changes may be on the way at Clear Channel Entertainment. According to an article posted on Billboard.biz yesterday, a shake-up atop the corporate giant's music division may cost Law at least his title. Quoting unnamed sources, the article states that Miles Wilkin, Clear Channel's CEO of Europe, and Michael Rapino, the company's music CEO for Europe, have been tapped to take over Clear Channel's worldwide concert and music business. Law, who was among several Clear Channel execs at Wednesday's premiere of "The Lion King," said through a spokesperson, "The article is not accurate and more information is forthcoming." Law and his co-CEO, Dave Lucas, have run Clear Channel's music division since 2002.
HUNTING GOODWILL Best known as a TV writer, producer, and director and friend of former president Bill Clinton, Harry Thomason said he knows he's open to criticism for making a documentary about how the right wing had it in for Clinton. "The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destory Bill Clinton" is a documentary Thomason made with Nickolas Perry based on the bestseller by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons. It opens today at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline and the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge. For Thomason it isn't about being right or wrong; it's about airing issues. "The whole country needs to quit screaming at each other," he said the other day. He added that it wasn't easy to make a documentary just because he's had commercial success with shows like "Designing Women." "It took everything we had and every person we know to get this made. Most of the country is so polarized . . . I think a lot of history is going to be lost." Thomason said he told Clinton he was making the film but never discussed it with him. "This was at a time when nobody wanted to hear anything about the Clintons," said Thomason. "It took a long time to make this, a lot longer than I thought. . . . I hope it opens a dialogue."
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