Milky Way and Bella Luna to merge and move

Unable, she says, to afford the hefty rent increase demanded by her landlord, the owner of the Milky Way Lounge & Lanes and Bella Luna Restaurant is moving to a new space. Kathie Mainzer told us yesterday that she's planning to merge the popular Jamaica Plain businesses, and reopen them at The Brewery on Amory Street within a year. "We've brought a lot of positive life to this corner over the past 15 years," said Mainzer. "But [landlord Mordechai Levin] basically didn't negotiate at all. He said, 'This is our price. Take it or leave it.' " She said Levin is raising her rent by 85 percent, from $13,000 a month - plus utilities, taxes, and insurance - to $24,400 a month. "We're very sad to move, but we can't afford this," said Mainzer, adding that she recently spent $80,000 to install a sprinkler system. The Milky Way (left), which opened nine years ago, is a bar and bowling alley that plays host to a variety of musical acts, from Ky-Mani Marley and Mr. Lif to Rick Berlin and the Upper Crust. Levin said he initially rented to Mainzer at "below, below, below, below market rate" in order to get the business up and running. "But at the end of the day, it's not a day-care center or a soup kitchen, it's a pizza joint and a bar," said Levin. "It's not the kind of thing that one needs to go above and beyond to rent below market rate." Mayor Tom Menino is now involved, trying to get the parties to work out a temporary lease that will allow the business to stay open while the new space is readied.

Several BoSox spouses took their star turns yesterday, filming a scene for "Bride Wars," the Kate Hudson/Anne Hathaway movie shooting here. The better halves played guests at a dinner - an engagement party, actually - in a scene filmed yesterday at Pho Republique in the South End. The all-star extras included Alex Cora's wife, Nilda; J.D. Drew's wife, Sheigh; Jacoby Ellsbury's girlfriend, Kelsey Hawkins; Javier Lopez's wife, Renee; Dave Magadan's wife, Monique; Jonathan Papelbon's wife, Ashley; Dustin Pedroia's wife, Kelli; Manny's wife, Juliana Ramirez; and Tim Wakefield's wife, Stacey. In the film, Hudson and Hathaway play friends who become rivals when they schedule their weddings for the same day.

Boston guitarist Tom Scholz says the band's new CD will be done soon and, with any luck, could be released in early 2009. Scholz told Billboard that the album - Boston's first since 2002's "Corporate America" - is a mix of "really straightforward rock 'n' roll songs and some things that are pretty esoteric." Boston kicks off a summer tour June 6 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with former Stryper singer Michael Sweet and Tommy DeCarlo taking over on vocals for Brad Delp, who committed suicide last year. (DeCarlo is a manager at a Charlotte, N.C., Home Depot, who Scholz discovered via a Delp tribute posted on YouTube.) Boston plays the Tweeter Center Aug. 3.

We're told Bob Lobel is resting comfortably after undergoing back surgery at Faulkner Hospital. The sportscaster, who just signed off at WBZ-TV after almost 30 years on the air, timed the surgery to coincide with his departure. A year ago, Lobel, 64, had four vertebrae fused because they were impinging on his spinal cord and causing his hands to go numb. . . . Sox CEO Larry Lucchino has been chosen to deliver the commencement address at BU. A Yale Law School graduate - he went to Princeton as an undergrad - Lucchino will speak to more than 5,000 grads and 20,000 guests at New England's largest commencement. The festive occasion at Nickerson Field takes place May 18.

Frantz Prenelus of Randolph and Lynn Lesperance of South Yarmouth were the "Big of the Year" honorees at this week's bash for Big Brother and Big Sister of Massachusetts Bay. Pats lineman Vince Wilfork focused on teamwork in his keynote address at the Hynes Convention Center. Familiar faces in the crowd included New England Revolution goalie Matt Reis, former Sox slugger Jim Rice, and Bruins legends Ken Hodge and Johnny Bucyk.

Alas, Maria Menounos did not qualify for this weekend's pro volleyball tournament in LA. Menounos, a Medford native and correspondent for both "Access Hollywood" and "Today," lost her qualifying match in straight sets - 21-7 and 21-20 - so she won't be playing in the AVP Crocs Cuervo Gold Crown Huntington Beach Open. Menounos's partner was pro player Jessie Cooper.

Former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro spoke at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Reaching for a Cure gala last night at the Westin Waterfront. Ferraro was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1998 and has since become an avid supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

About 80 students at MIT's Sloan School of Management took the field trip of a lifetime the other day, paying a visit to billionaire Warren Buffett in Omaha. What words of wisdom did the Berkshire Hathaway CEO share with the students? Choose good roles models. The guests were treated to a steak dinner and cherry soda - a fave of Buffett's, apparently - at Gorat's Steakhouse.

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