A little comic relief and another big hit

By Carol Beggy and Mark Shanahan, Globe Staff  |  November 1, 2007

Of course Red Sox ace closer Jonathan Papelbon danced during his appearance last night on David Letterman's talk show. In fact, No. 58 made his entrance to Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra playing his theme song, the Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping Up to Boston." The hurler addressed dancing at Fenway in his underwear and said he wouldn't mind Alex Rodriguez coming to Boston "so I don't have to pitch to him." And it turns out that Papelbon does a great David Ortiz impression, which he launched into when detailing how the team turned around after dropping a few games to Cleveland. "[Ortiz] kind of got us guys together . . . kind of held a team meeting and . . . he goes, 'Hey, guys, I've got to tell you some-sing, if you - Some-sing. If you wear a Red Sox uniform jersey, you're a bad [expletive].' " After the audience settled down and Letterman stopped blushing, Papelbon added: "And this is actually coming from a guy, um, not very many people know this, but David Ortiz happens to be a huge Bedazzler. So, yeah, yeah, see like this jacket right here? He couldn't wear this jacket normally. He'd have to put, like, Bedazzle a Lamborghini in the back, or something like that." . . . Earlier yesterday, Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis led a group of young patients on a Halloween parade through the pediatric oncology center at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In making the customary call of congratulations to the Sox, President Bush couldn't resist taking a good-natured swipe at team CEO Larry Lucchino. "Well, Lucchino," said Bush, a big baseball fan who once owned the Texas Rangers. "You finally made something of yourself." Lucchino laughed and then replied: "Yes, Mr. President, I'm making a habit of coming to the White House." By supporting John Kerry for president, and also contributing money to other Democratic candidates, the BoSox brass have not exactly ingratiated themselves to Bush. (In addition, Lucchino worked with Hillary Clinton during the Watergate hearings way back when.) In all, Bush was on the phone for 20 minutes and gave a special shout-out to fellow Texans Mike Timlin and Josh Beckett.

World Series MVP Mike Lowell kept Tuesday's party going into the evening with a dinner for 12 at Abe & Louie's in the Back Bay. Lowell - who asked the staff to take pictures of him with his family and friends - also signed autographs for diners. The All-Star's parents, Dr. Carl and Beatrize Lowell, asked the waiter for some newspapers to take back with them to Puerto Rico. . . . Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez opted for a more quiet evening Tuesday. The mercurial slugger was spotted at the Whole Foods on Cambridge Street at about 9 p.m. where he chatted - in Spanish - with some of the employees, posed for pictures, signed autographs, and then shopped for dinner.

Red Sox elation is so pervasive that even an event at the Boston Harbor Hotel for the New Center for Arts and Culture became a celebration of the team. The gathering to introduce the center's new executive director, Daniel Neuman, to the city's arts and cultural patrons was on the books for some time. As the center's board chair, Ron Druker, was updating the crowd about the center's progress, we're told he had a most welcome interruption: Sox brass John Henry and Tom Werner who brought along both the 2004 and 2007 World Series trophies.

JoJo, Lori McKenna, and Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls are just a few of the artists who'll headline the 20th Boston Music Awards on Dec. 1. The BMAs have also signed up Augustana, the Click Five, Matt Nathanson, Martin Sexton, James Montgomery, Special Teamz (rappers Edo G, Slaine, and Jaysaun) and baseball guru/rocker Peter Gammons. Even former New Edition member Bobby Brown is scheduled to make an appearance. But the recent news that Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer is the honorary chairman of the awards has led some to speculate (hope?) that Boston's biggest band might also appear. On that front, BMA bigwig Chip Rives is mum. "All I can say is that this year's show is our 20th and we're working on that. And we're going back to the Orpheum Theatre, where this all began."

By posting big numbers against overmatched opponents, the Pats sure are making a lot of enemies. As evidence, check out "Go Gillooly" on YouTube. The tongue-in-cheek tune by Ryan Parker suggests that someone should take a page from Tonya Harding's playbook and disable Tom Brady. (You'll recall that Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, was the one who organized the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.) Parker, who's written many such parodies - another recent example is "Shady Brady and Bill Belicheat" - insists he's just kidding around. Here's a sample of the lyrics: "Someone could go Gillooly on Tom Brady's knee/ Leave him lying on the ground just uttering 'Why me?'/ The cops would be suspecting it was Bridget Moynahan/ Just a woman scorned who beat up her two-time cheating man." A resident of Kentucky, Parker told us he's received a ton of hate e-mail since several websites, including the Boston-based barstoolsports.com, linked to his song. "Yeah, people say they're going to kill me," Parker says, laughing. "I'm not a fan of the Patriots, but I don't hate them. They give me something to watch now that my Bengals are the Bungles."

Details magazine has apologized to Ben Affleck for misquoting the "Gone Baby Gone" director in its current issue. Affleck was initially quoted in the cover story as saying: "I've gone out and directed a movie and made it really [expletive] good." Elsewhere in the article, the reporter implies that the Cambridge-bred actor might leave LA if the movie failed. Dan Peres, the monthly mag's editor-in-chief, said yesterday that Affleck never made either statement.

The marvelous Marian Heard was the center of attention at the Rogerson Communities' annual Welcome Home fund-raiser the other night. Among those toasting the former United Way of Massachusetts Bay CEO was Tina Turner. Wait. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that was actually Lakia Mondale impersonating the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll. To the delight of everyone, the Tina twin performed Turner's 1989 hit "The Best" in honor of Heard.

We don't know what the cards foretold, but when Celtics player Scot Pollard was in Salem on Tuesday, he and his dog Rufus made a side trip to have a psychic reading. What we do know is that Pollard stopped by the Plummer House, a group residence near Winter Island, where he talked with the young people there about the importance of working hard before he took the kids on a ghost tour and to a haunted house.

Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.