Stars are Sox supporters

The newest members of Red Sox Nation are cute couple Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon, who wore matching BoSox caps while out for a stroll in Malibu, Calif., with Witherspoon's kids the other day. The actors, whose romance apparently started on the set of "Rendition," vacationed on Martha's Vineyard last summer.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin? So says the New York Post, which reports that the eco-activist - now on vacation in Aspen, of course - is telling friends that he's been enlisted by Putin to help clean up the heavily polluted country. Though he continues to oppose the wind-power project known as Cape Wind, Kennedy does have considerable cred among environmental types: He founded Riverkeeper, which is credited with helping to clean up the Hudson River. Kennedy's also talking about running for office - specifically for New York Senator Hillary Clinton's seat, should it become available.

Less than six weeks after emergency heart-bypass surgery, "On Point" radio host Tom Ashbrook was back on the air yesterday, devoting half his WBUR show to a discussion with his medical team about heart disease. "It was pretty weird to talk about something so personal . . . but the outcome was so good," Ashbrook said. "And it was a chance to talk about this issue during eggnog season when other people might be thinking 'What about my ticker?' " Actually, Ashbrook returned to the FM airwaves last week following the death of Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto. "Truth is, I was going a little stir crazy," said Ashbrook, a former foreign correspondent for the Globe, "and I felt like that was a story I couldn't miss."

For good reason, Boston likes to think of itself as a literate city. The Hub's home, after all, to Harvard and to writers too numerous to mention. So what's with the new ranking of America's Most Literate Cities, which puts Boston 10th - behind such centers of sophistication as Minneapolis, Washington D.C., St. Louis, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh? Compiled by John Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, the list is based on six key indicators - newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, education, and Internet resources. Miller wasn't available yesterday, but his spokesman said we shouldn't take the ranking personally. "It hurts me, too, because I lived in Boston for 15 years," said mouthpiece Mark McLaughlin. "But Boston was 13th in 2003, so you're moving up steadily."

Five years after the Station nightclub fire, Boston guitarist Tom Scholz, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, and Staind frontman Aaron Lewis will perform at a Relief Fund Charity Concert Feb. 25 to benefit those affected by the tragedy. Also slated to perform at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence will be bands Tesla and Stryper, drummer Carmine Appice, drummer Danny Seraphine of the band Chicago, singer Eric Martin, and guitarist Gary Hoey.

Tickets to the taping of "The People Speak," the TV miniseries based on Howard Zinn's influential 1980 book "A People's History of the United States," are available starting today. And in the spirit of the project, producers aren't gouging the public. In fact, believe it or not, tix to the celeb-heavy taping are free by calling the Majestic Theatre box office at 617-824-8000. In the works for over a decade, "The People Speak" will feature the likes Benjamin Bratt, Danny Glover, Darryl McDaniels, David Strathairn, Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Marisa Tomei, Mike O'Malley, and Viggo Mortensen. "The People Speak" will be recorded Tuesday and Wednesday in front of an audience.

When Pats tight end Benjamin Watson was in China last summer flakking for the NFL and Reebok, he wore a jersey given to him by Houston Rockets center Yao Ming. So before last night's Celts game, Watson returned the favor, giving the Rockets rebounder a No. 84 Pats jersey. Watson hung around to catch Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce , and the rest of Gang Green in action.

When his playing days are over, Sox third baseman Mike Lowell may have a career as a motivational speaker. The other night, the World Series MVP attended Gonzaga's basketball game against Utah, and afterward he addressed the victorious Gonzaga squad in the locker room. (Lowell was invited to the game with his former Florida Marlins teammate Mike Redmond, a Gonzaga alum.) Lowell's postgame soliloquy was cheered by players, although some were apparently confused about who he was. "It was just amazing to have somebody like that in the locker room," Bulldog Matt Bouldin told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It's funny, before the game David Pendergraft was saying, 'Derek Lowe is sitting right behind our bench.' I'm like, 'Where?' I'm looking for two minutes and I don't see him. Later I heard the announcement that it was Mike Lowell."

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