An electric experience

Those of us of a certain age remember with great nostalgia "The Electric Company," with its Letterman adventures and awesome Spidey stories. So naturally we were excited to talk to Foxborough native Chris Sullivan (left), who'll star in the new "Electric Company," premiering on PBS Kids on Jan. 19. "I know there's going to be a lot of people who say 'I loved that show, why are they going to ruin it?' " he said. "But it's kind of a reinvention." Sullivan's character, Shock, works at the Electric Diner and also appears in segments that highlight his beatbox skills. He got his start in vocal percussion during college at UMass-Amherst, but fell in love with hip-hop as a kid. Sullivan is a member of the group Freestyle Love Supreme, whose members also contribute to the kids' show. (Fellow crew member Lin-Manuel Miranda just won a slew of awards for his Broadway musical "In the Heights.") And, after befriending comedian Samantha Bee - who will appear on "The Electric Company," as will Jimmy Fallon and Wyclef Jean - Sullivan will pop up on "The Daily Show" in January.

And speaking of Foxborough: Stephen Massey (Chris Sullivan's former band leader) and the Foxborough High School's jazz ensemble have received a prestigious invitation from jazz great Wynton Marsalis to play the presidential inauguration for Barack Obama. The Foxboro Reporter says Massey and his kids will take the stage at the Kennedy Center in D.C. on Jan. 19 to honor the new president and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Massey told the paper that 22 young musicians will play a Duke Ellington piece. "I told the students that to me, this is one of those opportunities of a lifetime," he said.

Gisele Bundchen brought her mom and sisters to a photo op for Duracell this week. The supermodel, whose family is visiting from Brazil for the holidays, took a turn on Duracell's "snowmobike" that's generating the power to illuminate the "2009" sign after the ball drops in Times Square. (Other celebs who put the pedal to metal include Liza Minnelli, Katie Couric, singers Nick Lachey, Leona Lewis, Brandy, Sean Paul, Lady GaGa, Ne-Yo, and Natasha Bedingfield, among others.) Said Tom Brady's girlfriend: "We are going to pedal on the snowmobike in support of the Agua Limpa Project which was started by my father and provides clean drinking water to people in regions of Brazil." Meanwhile, TMZ.com posted video yesterday of Brady being trailed by paparazzi as he helped Bundchen's bunch get situated at her West Village abode.

Celtics guard Tony Allen got a little pre-Christmas surprise when he took his family to Kings for bowling Monday night and stumbled into the club's Bad Santa party, complete with several bartenders sporting barely-there fur-trimmed skirts and lots of cleavage. (We're sure his young nephew got a giggle out of that.) The bash was a chance for folks to make a last pitch for a spot on St. Nick's "nice" list by contributing gifts to Toys for Tots.

Celts 7-footer Patrick O'Bryant brightened up the holidays for one Boston family. The back-up big man and his girlfriend, Brandeis assistant softball coach Molly Bergeson, hosted a party at Jillian's this week for mom Lisa Inferrera and her seven children. (O'Bryant heard about the family from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which is a beneficiary of the C's Shamrock Foundation.) Seems O'Bryant got his hands on the kids' wish lists, and showed up bearing a whole bunch of gifts. "It was a phenomenal afternoon. The kids were so excited," said an MSPCC insider, who told us Molly had spent 12 hours wrapping all the presents.

If Kevin Youkilis is upset that Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees, he didn't show it yesterday. Youk hooked up with 32 kids from two Waltham homeless shelters at Kids U, a play space in Needham. The get-together was arranged by Birthday Wishes, one of three new charities supported by the first baseman's foundation. (The other two are Nativity Preparatory School and Lovelane.)

That was former Bruin Cam Neely (right) ringing the Salvation Army bell outside Macy's at Downtown Crossing yesterday. The Hall of Famer, who was wearing his Foster Grants, was joined by Major William Bode (left) of the Salvation Army, TD Banknorth Garden president John Wentzell (front), and Reebok's Paul Foster.

It's hard to believe MTV's "Real World" is still chugging along, but season 21 kicks off in Brooklyn on Jan. 7 and, of course, no reality cast is complete without a Boston accent. This time, 24-year-old Scott Herman, who grew up in Lawrence and Salem, N.H., happily did the honors. The hard-bodied former personal trainer joined seven castmates in a waterfront house in Brooklyn that featured a front-yard beach. "I actually built a barbecue pit out there," said Herman, who is now pursuing acting and modeling gigs in NYC. Unlike many past "Real World" characters, he doesn't drink much (he won an abs contest for Men's Health magazine, so go figure), so perhaps his humiliations will be minimal. His biggest problem in the house? Slobs, he confided. "I'm a little OCD about things," he said. "At first, everyone said if they used a dish, they'd wash it. That lasted like a day." . . . Congrats to David Bratton, son of former Boston police commissioner Bill Bratton, who married Shawn Regan at the Taj Hotel the other afternoon. The younger Bratton, a film student in LA, met Regan while she worked for former John Hancock CEO David D'Alessandro.

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