Gore picks pals over Cape Wind
Given his commitment to the environment, you'd think Al Gore would be a big booster of Cape Wind. Think again. Seems the former VP values his friendship with the Kennedys even more than the megawatts of clean, renewable energy the wind farm would yield. ''Based on what I know, I'm for it, but I also respect the opponents -- Bobby Kennedy Jr. is a friend of mine," Gore said after Tuesday's screening of ''An Inconvenient Truth," Davis Guggenheim's didactic documentary about global warming. Pressed by the invite-only crowd at Loews Boston Common to use his influence to push the project, Gore copped out: ''I didn't come to pick a fight." Bill Clinton's sidekick called himself a ''recovering politician," but he sure sounded like an unrecovered one bashing the media for ignoring important issues. ''Whether Russell Crowe threw a telephone at a concierge is important, apparently," he sniffed. The Tennessean also took a shot at MIT prof Richard Lindzen, who's questioned the science behind global warming. ''His views are wrong," said Gore. ''That's the most charitable I can be."
Howie has his day in court
Looking like a hipster on a job interview, pop singer Howie Day was in an East Boston courtroom yesterday, where he was given a year of pretrial probation for being unruly onboard an American Airlines flight in December. The deal allows the Maine native to avoid jail, though he has to continue counseling for alcohol abuse, avoid arrest for a year, and write letters of apology to the passengers and crew on the Dallas-to-Boston flight. (Alas, Judge Paul Mahoney said the contents of those letters will not be made public.) If Day, who looked sharp in a dark blue suit, manages to stay out of trouble, the charges will be dismissed. Prosecutors contend the 25-year-old singer was verbally abusive to the crew, kicked the backs of passengers' seats, and smoked a butt in the plane's bathroom. Day behaved better yesterday, saying nothing as he left the courthouse and walked up Meridian Street.Daly, Bush in town but not in tune
They were in town on the same day, but actress Tyne Daly and first lady Laura Bush did not cross paths. And that's just as well. ''I'd have to say something rude," said Daly, who spoke Tuesday at BU's Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, where her scripts and correspondence are on exhibit. ''If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, I guess." (While Bush visited the Gardner, the ''Cagney & Lacey" actress stopped to see the Sargent murals at the Boston Public Library.) The Tony winner said it was a relief to find a home for her papers. ''The stuff was piling up around me," she said. ''It was feeling like Marley's chains."Likewise, the stars of this weekend's Champions Cup Boston, the tennis tourney featuring John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, and others, let loose at the Copley Westin.
Actors Bill Paxton and Donal Logue, and singer Lisa Loeb, among others, are on the guest list for tonight's fund-raiser at the Roxy for Peace Games, a Boston-based organization that helps students create safe classrooms and communities. But the VIPs, including Brainz Davis, Jeff Timmons, founding member of 98 Degrees, and Bryan Abrams, founding member of Color Me Badd, got the party started last night at Eastern Standard.
Kelly Kaduce, who'll star in Boston Lyric Opera's production of ''Thais," opening Friday at the Shubert, stopped by Escada the other day to try on the gown she'll wear to the reception at the Four Seasons Friday. The comely Kaduce is a 1999 BU grad. . . . Former Sox shortshop Nomar Garciaparra's Charlestown condo is on the market for $1.2 million.
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