Conversation starter

South African artist Nicholas Hlobo was surrounded by women in pretty summer dresses at Akris on Newbury Street last night, celebrating the opening of his first US solo museum exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Head of retail for Akris in North America Monika Rot even flew in from Switzerland for the soiree, which was also graced by ICA supporters Sandy Krakoff and Michelle Lefkowitz and by interior designer Meredith Basque. Hlobo, who will present a free performance piece on July 31, also makes a fabulous model, joked spokeswoman Colette Randall. "We recently launched our online store, and Nic wore one of our ICA T-shirts. He looked so cool." Hlobo describes his work as using industrial and everyday materials - rubber tubing, tires, lace, weathered wood - and exploring themes of gender, identity, and politics. His performance piece will involve roughly 6-foot-long rubber "hair" pieces that attach him to his sculptures and the gallery walls. In his mother tongue, Xhosa, the work's title roughly translates as "to lower oneself" and "pull a cord," he said. It's about respect, understanding, and creating conversation. "It's to let my hair down and really get to know myself," he said, grinning. "Sometimes the deeper I get, the more trouble I get." Next week, Hlobo will also work with about 15 Boston kids at the museum, helping them create their own pieces. "We'll be talking about using art and performance as a way of expressing oneself," he said.

There's no love lost between Don Felder and his former Eagles bandmates. Felder, who lived in Boston for a few years before joining the best-selling band in 1974, has written an entertaining tell-all in which he calls Don Henley and Glenn Frey a "dual dictatorship." (Felder will be at the Braintree Borders tonight signing copies of "Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles.") "Greed and power and control are destructive, and they started surfacing in the '90s when there were hundreds of millions of dollars sitting on the table," said Felder, who had his feet up at the Langham Hotel yesterday. "In the '70s, we were out to play music and conquer the world. In the '90s, my partners were less concerned about music and far more concerned about money." Felder, who wrote the song "Hotel California," says Frey and Henley despise him and each other. He finally left the band in 2001, and has been in and out of court with his former mates ever since. "Even in light of global warming," said Felder, "I've been unable to detect the slightest thaw."

Bruins star Patrice Bergeron paid a visit to the Jimmy Fund Clinic the other day, and gave an especially warm welcome to tiny Silas Merritt Webb of Penacook, N.H. Olympic swimmers Janel Jorgensen, Carlton Bruner, and Craig Beardsley also said hello, and then jumped into Boston Harbor for a 22-mile relay swim around the Harbor Islands to benefit pediatric survivorship programs at Dana-Farber.

James Taylor's former wife Kathryn Walker has written her first novel and - surprise, surprise - some of the characters bear a striking resemblance to the real-life men and women in Walker's past life, including Sweet Baby James. The New York Times reported yesterday that the book, called "A Stopover in Venice," is about a woman who leaves her husband, a famous musician, and their unhappy marriage to have an adventure in Venice. The author's bio doesn't mention Walker's connection to Taylor, and the publisher, Knopf, isn't dropping any names to hype the book. But Walker confirmed for the Times that some of the characters are drawn from Taylor, current wife Kim Smedvig, the singer's ex-wife Carly Simon, and others. (She also says she thinks James would be humored by the book.) "The protagonist's husband is not supposed to be one person," Helen Brann, the author's agent, told us yesterday. "But if you knew Kathryn had been married to James, that'd be a fair conclusion." Sheila O'Shea, who's flacking the book for Knopf, said it stands on its own. "It's a great read without knowing any of the back story," she said. "A Stopover in Venice" goes on sale Aug. 19.

Roxbury R&B bad boy Bobby Brown is running with a new crowd these days - hunters. Brown, who spent his summer filming the reality show "Outsider's Inn" with Maureen McCormick and Carnie Wilson in Tennessee, talked about hunting in the sticks at the TV Critics Association's press tour in California last week. "I just made sure I stayed in the back because, you know . . . sometimes . . . when you are going out in the woods with a bunch of - I don't know what to call them . . . rednecks? - usually, you know, the dark one gets shot," he said. "I just stayed back there with my gun ready just in case . . . somebody made a mistake and pointed it my way, I was ready to, you know, do my business."

When he's not winning NBA trophies, Celts managing partner Wyc Grousbeck moonlights as a drummer, playing in a cover band called French Lick. Over the weekend, Grousbeck and gang performed with Sister Hazel at Operation Swan Dive, a two-day skydiving and music fest in Pepperell. The event benefited Lyrics for Life, a nonprofit founded by Sister Hazel frontman Ken Block to pay tribute to his brother Jeffrey, who lost his four-year battle with cancer.

Congrats to Jon Kniss, the former BU flack who's now a teacher in New York. Kniss wed former Children's Hospital exec Tara Levine on Long Island, N.Y., on Sunday, and none other than '60s folk legends Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary performed. (Kniss's dad, Dick Kniss, has been PP&M's bassist for 40 years.) Yarrow and Stookey treated the crowd to a couple of tunes, including "Puff the Magic Dragon" and a rousing rendition of "If I Had a Hammer." Kniss and Levine met for the first time in Copley Square after hooking up on JDATE.

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