New bus tour stars Hub's movie sites

Founders of the fledgling Boston Movie Mile, the walking tour of sites featured in Boston-based films and TV shows, are back with a new scheme. Unveiled yesterday at a Fenway Park press conference, Theater-on-Wheels is a 2 1/2-hour bus tour through neighborhoods made famous in movies such as ``Good Will Hunting," ``Blown Away," ``Fever Pitch , " and ``Field of Dreams." Not only will passengers glimpse the gritty streets ofDorchester, they'll also watch relevant clips from ``Mystic River" while kicking back on a busoutfitted with five plasma screens. ``The issue is that you can't walk to many of these locations," said tour co- owner Jeff Coveney. ``Now you can go to the L Street Tavern, where Matt and Ben hang out in `Good Will Hunting.' " The tour, which will cost $35, will start July 29. The walking tour, which began a year ago, mostly meanders around Beacon Hill. Among its 30 or so stops are the house where Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway snogged in ``The Thomas Crown Affair" and the alley where James Gandolfini chatted in``A Civil Action."

Los Lobos saxman is loco about Sox

Steve Berlin has been a member of Los Lobos for 30 years. But it's baseball he loves to talk about. ``I have Ortiz and Manny on my fantasy team," he told us the other day. ``I love Ortiz!" Berlin's east LA band is bound for Boston -- Hyannis, actually -- to play the Reel Blues Fest on Aug. 2, and the sax player is looking forward to the show. ``Our Boston gigs tend to be memorable, whereas I can't tell you anything about our shows in, say, St. Louis or Pittsburgh, ." he says. (Could that be because hometown hero Barrence Whitfield often joins them on stage here?) But enough about the music, the ``La Bamba" boy's all about the baseball. ``Ortiz was in our minor league system, and we just let him go!" said Berlin, a Mariners fan. ``That's our cross to bear, I guess, like the Sox and Nomar . . . And don't even get me started on Varitek and Lowe -- we traded them for Heathcliff Slocumb!"

Garner totes baby equipment on set

The family-friendly folks atcelebrity-babies.com have posted photos of Jennifer Garner on the set of her new movie, ``The Kingdom," which is now filming in Arizona. There's no sign of baby Violet in the shots, but Ben Affleck's bride is toting anaccessory common among new moms: a breast pump. Celebrity-babies.com IDs the equipment as a limited edition Medela Pump in Style Advanced -- retail price $290 -- which the "Alias" star has stashed in a stylish periwinkle bag.

The press junket for the new movie "Step Up" pulled into Boston yesterday, and Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, and Drew Sidora were along for the ride. In the movie, Tatum plays a street-smart juvie who discovers he's a talented dancer.

Funnyman Will Ferrell threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches last night at Fenway. Ferrell is in town to promote his film ``Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which opens Aug. 4. Also throwing out a pitch to get things started last night was rocker Meat Loaf. . . . PETA has created a ``compassionate mechanic" award to honor ``Car Talk" hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi. The award's in recognition of Click and Clack's funny words of wisdom regarding animals. (When a caller was having trouble with with goats jumping on the hood of his car, the brothers suggested he put his car in the pen.)

Guess Hazel Mae's not headed for ESPN after all. The anchor of NESN SportsDesk since 2004 has signed a contract extension. ``There is nowhere I'd rather deliver New England's sports news than in the most passionate sports area in the nation," she said in a statement. . . . Boston Lyric Opera's Stephen Lord and BSO boss James Levine are among the most powerful people in US opera, according to Opera News. In its August issue, the mag's masthead says Lord knows ``voices as well as -- or better than -- any of his peers." (Too bad for the BLO Lord's leaving as music director after the '07-'08 season.) Soprano Deborah Voigt is also on the list, but not for her impressive pipes. Instead, Voigt, who achieved international prominence after appearing with the BLO in '91, is deemed a winner for her dramatic weight loss. Dubbed ``geniuses" are director/designer Julie Taymor and director Peter Sellars, both of whom have ties to the American Reportory Theatre.

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