Two jolly Sox fans show up in the land of the Yankees

Who knew Santa was a Red Sox fan? Well, he is. St. Nick showed up at Cartier's in New York yesterday with our boy Ben Affleck, and he was wearing a green Sox hat. Affleck and actress Rachel Bilson were on hand to unveil Cartier's collection of holiday charity cards benefiting The Art of Elysium, a nonprofit organization that encourages actors, artists, and musicians to work with children battling serious illness.

The release of the 2007 Beaujolais Nouveau was an excuse to swill and schmooze at Brasserie Jo this week. Courtesy of Neiman Marcus Boston, guests were also treated to a fashion show featuring French couture designers. We'd tell you what the wine tastes like, but they didn't uncork it until midnight.

Harvard alum Natalie Portman cut a rug while appearing on MTV's "TRL" to promote her latest film, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium."

Young people have it tough today, Kanye West's late mother, Donda, told a Brown University senior in what's believed to be her last interview. Souleo, a Brown radio host whose real name is Peter Wright, had a half-hour phone interview with West just two days before she died after undergoing cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles. With the consent of West's family, Souleo gave us a portion of the transcript yesterday. "Kanye is in Generation X," said the rap superstar's mom, a former chairwoman of the English Department at Chicago State University. "So I wouldn't say it's like my generation or my parent's generation - we didn't have all of the distractions." Souleo's interview will appear in Sister 2 Sister magazine's January edition. . . . Kanye, meanwhile, has pulled out of a performance at Victoria's Secret's annual fashion show yesterday, and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas has agreed to fill in for him.

Boston Pops maestro Keith Lockhart recently sold the second of two South End condos he owned for $722,500. Last month, Lockhart married attorney Emiley Zalesky just a few months after the couple bought a 10-room Tudor-style house in Brookline for $915,000. Lockhart lived in the South End when he was married to violinist Lucia Lin. He moved to a Beacon Hill apartment after their separation in 2004 and sold the other South End condo last year for $1.8 million.

An impressive roster of A-listers - including Mark Wahlberg (inset) and James Woods - is pitching in to help raise money for brain trauma research this weekend in New York. They were recruited by the mother-and-daughter Long Island interior design duo of Annemarie and Rosemarie diSalvo, "The Sopranos" star Lorraine Bracco, and actress/director Penny Marshall, who all met while keeping vigil for a family member and a friend who suffered brain injuries. Wahlberg is offering tickets to his next red carpet premiere as part of the live auction. Woods, an MIT alum who hails from Rhode Island, has donated an autographed copy of the pilot for his CBS drama "Shark" and the DVDs from the first season.

We won't be rushing to see Bobby Brown at the Boston Music Awards Dec. 1. Reviewing his gig in DC the other night, The Washington Post deemed his pelvic thrusts "geriatric" and tongue aerobics "creepy." Even worse, the Roxbury-bred singer didn't know where he was. "Baltimore!" Brown shouted at one point. When Whitney Houston's ex figured out he was in Washington, he said, "They told me I was in Baltimore - I guess so I could come out here and embarrass myself." (Mission accomplished, Bobby.) Brown also made it clear his motivation is still money. "I can pay child support for another year - y'all won't be seein' my [behind] in jail no more!" The flacks for the Boston Music Awards are breathlessly hyping Brown's appearance, claiming the former New Edition singer has enjoyed "tremendous success in television." Huh? "Being Bobby Brown" was canceled after one season.

You know the city's on a winning streak when national travel magazines bestow top honors on Boston, and New York gets the shaft. But, wait, it gets better. We're told that as Pat Moscaritolo, CEO of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, walked up to accept the awards - at a black-tie function in New York, no less - someone played Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."

Award-winning lyricist and composer Adam Guettel (above) is at Emerson College this week as its first Waldman Professor in Performing Arts. (The chair was funded by a $1.5 million gift from 1946 Emerson alum Honey Waldman and her sister, Gladys Waldman Brownstein.) Guettel, who won two Tonys for "The Light in the Piazza," is the son of Mary Rodgers ("Once Upon a Mattress") and grandson of Broadway legend Richard Rodgers. His first order of business the other day? He listened to students perform his songs at the Semel Theatre.

Two Boston architects and a Somerville musician are among the 53 artists selected to receive $50,000 unrestricted grants to continue their artistic pursuits. Performer/composer Evan Ziporyn and the team of Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani, principals of the Boston-based firm Office dA, were selected as fellows by United States Artists, which for the last two years as been doling out direct support to living artists. Also on the list is Robert Woodruff, the former artistic director of the American Repertory Theatre. The three locals, who were chosen from 344 nominated applicants, are expected to attend a celeb-filled celebration tomorrow at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

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