Stars travel to Garden

It was just like old times at the Garden last night: the nervous energy, the chants of "Beat LA," and a slew of celebs who traveled from near and far to watch the Celtics and Lakers revive their rivalry in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving, were in the house. Other familiar faces included Lakers lovers Leonardo DiCaprio, "Rush Hour" actor Chris Tucker, and actor Bruce Willis. (Oscar winner Jack Nicholson and soccer stud David Beckham were no-shows.) Supporting the C's were Senator John Kerry, New Kids Donnie Wahlberg and Joey McIntyre, "Grey's Anatomy" actress Ellen Pompeo and husband Chris Ivery, Kevin Garnett's brother-in-law producer Jimmy Jam, Sox owner John Henry, Governor Deval Patrick, Pats Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss, Rodney Harrison, Kevin Faulk, Adalius Thomas, Ben Watson, Vince Wilfork, Matt Cassel, Richard Seymour, Troy Brown, and ex-Pat Rosevelt Colvin, and Bruins Zdeno Chara and Shawn Thornton, and ex-Bruin Ray Bourque.

B-day with the C's
On the occasion of his 67th birthday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was also in the house with son, Pats president Jonathan Kraft. (We're told Kraft is having a bigger bash Sunday.) James Taylor, who can make just about any song sound good, performed the national anthem last night. "I just played last night in Detroit and tomorrow I'm in Chicago, but I couldn't pass this up," said Sweet Baby James. "I was experimenting with a minor-key version, but I thought people would think it was a political statement." Having said that, JT then made a political statement. "In times like this, there's a temptation to trade liberty for security," he said. "It takes courage to maintain liberty." The C's, who've captured the imagination of this sports-crazed city, dedicated last night's game to the recuperating Ted Kennedy.

Green wave
As you might expect, the stars of Celtics past were out last night in the persons of Bill Russell, John Havlicek, JoJo White, K.C. Jones, Tommy Heinsohn, Cedric Maxwell, Jim Loscutoff, and Gerald Henderson. "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno couldn't make it, so he sent Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh in his stead. (Bosh interviewed players on both teams earlier this week, and Leno was set to play clips of his QAs last night.)

Sweet seats
Others spied at the Garden included Boston Culinary Group bigshot Joe O'Donnell, who was sitting courtside with daughter Casey, Tudor Investments titan and Celtics managing partner Jim Pallotta, State Room sultan Jim Apteker, and a flock of flacks, including George Regan with his mom Ann, Joe Baerlein, and Charlotte Brewer of Filene's.

Tonight's special...
Say this about the Lakers: They have good taste. Wednesday night, Kobe Bryant and crew - 15 players and coaches, in all - walked into Locke-Ober. But, wait, it gets better. In what must have been some sort of hazing ritual, Lakers rookie Coby Karl was introduced to the 30 or so other patrons in the restaurant, and then sang an a cappella version of Britney Spears's "Oops! I Did It Again" while his teammates cheered him on. Kobe called it an "initiation." We call it showtime.

Inside look at 'Outtakes'

Ann Leary knows whereof she writes in "Outtakes From A Marriage," a novel about the life of a celebrity spouse. "The main characters do have lives that sort of parallel ours, but this is fiction," the long-suffering wife of actor/comedian Denis Leary says with a laugh. "Denis and I have kind of grown up together, though some of us have grown up more than others." The novel - her first - is about a woman who helps her husband become a star only to discover that she's become, in the words of her daughter, "nothing." Along the way, the author ruminates on fame and its effect on people, both good and bad. "Denis and I were so unsophisticated when we arrived in Hollywood," says Leary, who lives in Connecticut. "We didn't know what a red carpet was because they didn't show them on TV." The couple, who were married in 1989 and have two children, met while Ann was a student at Emerson and Denis was one of her teachers. "It's what everybody was doing in the '80s," she says of the student-instructor romance. "Today, it's against the law." Asked if she, like her novel's heroine, harbors some resentment about her husband's success, Leary chuckles. "I feel lucky, actually," she says. "Denis likes that I was a fan of his before he had any fans, and I'm still his fan."

Turning 'Sand' into platinum

They've collected kudos from fans, praise from critics, and, yesterday, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss received platinum plaques from their label, Burlington-based Rounder Records. Plant and Krauss were handed their hardware before performing last night at the Bank of America Pavilion. Their CD "Raising Sand" has sold more than 1 million copies.

Playing up 'WALL-E'

It's an unhappy coincidence that Andrew Stanton has a new movie coming out at the same time the Celtics are back in the Finals. "I was offered tickets to the game, but I can't go. I'm leaving to do more press," said Stanton, a Rockport native who's the writer and director of the new Pixar pic "WALL-E." (He also wrote and directed the monster hit "Finding Nemo.") In town yesterday to promote the film, Stanton isn't nearly the nerd you might expect. Before being hired by Pixar in the late '80s, he'd never even worked on a computer. Asked if his kids think he's cool, Stanton said they used to. "But they're teenagers now, so there's no way to be cool," he said. "Even if they do think I'm cool, they're never going to let on." "WALL-E," about a romance between two robots in the future, opens June 27.

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