Brown is out of hospital after heart scare

Roxbury's own Bobby Brown (inset) was released from an LA hospital yesterday after suffering what his attorney termed a mild heart attack. "He's recovering nicely and is surrounded by family and friends," Phaedra Parks told us. "We're grateful for the outpouring of support and hope that you'll all keep Bobby and his family in your prayers." However, Brown told Associated Press Radio that he did not suffer a heart attack. "None of it's true," Brown said. "I went in for a checkup. The doc gave me a clean bill of health." TMZ.com was the first to report that the former boy-band star had been hospitalized Tuesday, suffering a "heart-attack scare" that began with tightening in his chest and tingling in one of his arms. According to the website, the 40-year-old R&B singer was rushed to the hospital by girlfriend Alicia Etheridge, and even recorded a video message to his family in the event he didn't survive. Parks cited diet and stress as contributing factors, and said Brown's health has been affected by the "tumultuous divorce proceedings" with ex-wife Whitney Houston. (Parks wouldn't say if Houston had checked on Brown's well-being.) Brown is still hoping to perform as scheduled at Saturday's V100 Taste of Soul show in LA. "Bobby wants to uphold his financial obligations," said Parks, adding that Brown is currently up to date on his child-support payments to ex-girlfriend Kim Ward.

How cool can Harvest chef Mary Dumont stay in a hot kitchen? We'll see when Dumont faces Cat Cora in the Oct. 28 episode of "Iron Chef America." We can't tell you who wins because, frankly, we don't know and the Food Network types aren't telling. And Dumont, formerly chef at The Dunaway at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, N.H., isn't spilling the beans. Clio chef/owner Ken Oringer was in New York recently to tape an episode that we're told will air next year.

Deborah Hughes and Mary-Catherine Deibel know how to run a restaurant, but maybe they should go into the publishing biz on the side. Lately, their Harvard Square eatery UpStairs on the Square has been simply awash with literary types. "Now You See Him" author Eli Gottlieb and "Another Thing to Fall" scribe Laura Lippman were spied dining there on Tuesday with Harvard Book Store's Carol Horne. And Mary Gordon - in town with her memoir "Circling My Mother" - stopped by the other night for a post-reading nosh with poet Frank Bidart and novelists David Plante, Elizabeth Benedict, and Alexandra Marshall.

Chef Jody Adams and restaurateur Michela Larson opened Rialto together 13 years ago, but going their separate ways, it seems, has done them good. Adams's renovated Rialto and Larson's Rocca in the South End are the only two New England spots to make Esquire's "Best New Restaurants of the Year" list. Correspondent John Mariani singled out Adams's eatery in the Charles Hotel saying it's "not a rehab; it's a great new restaurant with a fine pedigree." Larson and partners Gary Sullivan and Karen Haskell opened Rocca in late spring.

Poet Maya Angelou was the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Women's Breakfast yesterday at the Hynes Convention Center. The benefit for Horizons for Homeless Children, drew 1,600 people and raised more than $700,000.

Former NBA player John Amaechi (inset) will be forever devoted to Celtics coach Doc Rivers. A friendship that developed when Doc coached him in Orlando was only reinforced last winter with the release of Amaechi's book, "Man in the Middle," in which he revealed he's gay. "Doc was among the people who said nice things," said Amaechi, who's speaking today at Northeastern as part of Pride Week. "Doc has proven time and time again that he's a good person, and you root for people you think are good people." Of course, not everyone reacted so well to Amaechi's book. Former NBA star Tim Hardaway, for one, was appalled. "I wouldn't want him on my team," said Hardaway. "If he was on my team, I would really distance myself from him because I don't think that's right, and I don't think he should be in the locker room." To be honest, Amaechi said he expected more of that sort of talk. "Given what we have to work with," he said. "I mean, we have a government whose policy suggests that gay people are not quite worthy, and in 33 states gay people can be fired." Asked if he regrets writing the book, Amaechi said no. "It's not something I feel every gay person has to do, but it was a way of projecting my authentic self."

A contingent of Back Bay couples caught up with Paris Hilton and other celebs at Andre Agassi's Grand Slam for Children benefit in Las Vegas last weekend. Among those who made the trek to Sin City for the fund-raiser (it raised a whopping $9 million) were Rachael Goldfarb, Maggie Gold Seelig, and Beth Madison, one of the chairs of this Saturday's StoryBook Ball, a benefit for the MassGeneral Hospital for Children.

Former Sox pitcher Bill Lee (center) was his animated self at this week's screening in Woburn of "High and Outside," a new documentary about the crafty lefty known as Spaceman. Beforehand, Lee swapped stories with WROR DJs Wally Brine (left) and Loren Owens.

Former Talking Head David Byrne joined psychologist Geoffrey Miller at the ICA last night to talk about art and culture. Both hung around afterward to sign copies of their respective books - Miller's is "The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature" and Byrne's is called "Arboretum."

Mark Wahlberg made the scene at the New York premiere of his new movie "We Own the Night." The former Dorchester juvie looked sharp in a blue suit and was joined on the red carpet by costars Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, and Robert Duvall, as well as director James Gray.

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