Gisele's secret to happiness

"Matty in the Morning" is Ocean-State bound. KISS 108 morning guy Matt Siegel told us yesterday that his show will also be heard on 93.3 Coast-FM in Rhode Island as of May 18. He says he won't be adding anything R.I.-specific to the show's content. "Without being indelicate to Rhode Island," he said, the show is "just about people. It's about us." Siegel said it's a one-state expansion for now - no plans to take over Connecticut. "I'm not sure that my goals dovetail with Clear Channel's," he joked. "My goal would be to be Ryan Seacrest and have 150 channels." Siegel will join former WBOS-FM DJ Kristen Lessard and the nationally syndicated John Tesh on the 93.3 roster.

None other than Natalie Merchant was the surprise guest at last night's Possibilities Gala at the Perkins School for the Blind. The former 10,000 Maniacs singer wowed the crowd with three songs - "Wonder," "Kind and Generous," and "Motherland" - performing with several Perkins students, as well as guitarist Livingston Taylor and keyboardist Brian Maes. The event was cochaired by Merchant's biggest fan, Corinne Grousbeck, wife of Celts CEO Wyc Grousbeck, and Dunkin' Donuts CEO Jon Luther. Guests included Highland Capital's Tom Stemberg and wife Catherine Chapman, and Celtic great Tommy Heinsohn, among others. Merchant took a tour of the school earlier in the day and said it was a treat to walk the same hallways as her heroine Helen Keller. "Today was pretty thrilling," Merchant told us. "I saw a poem she wrote when she was 12 or 13, and the globe she used to learn geography. . . . I studied Helen Keller in the third grade and have never been the same since." Merchant, who was supposed to perform at last year's gala but got sidelined by strep, may be back in Boston soon. She told us she had so much fun performing at Symphony Hall last spring that she and Keith Lockhart are thinking about doing it again in the fall. "Many of the songs on my new album have symphonic arrangements," she said. "So it's kind of the natural next step."

Guests were decked out for last night's Hot Pink Party, the local benefit for Evelyn Lauder's Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Revelers at the rosy soiree included Lauder, Larry and Stacey Lucchino, Tom Werner, and John Henry with bride-to-be Linda Pizzuti. Also expected were this year's Pink Party chairwomen, Linda Waintrup (daughter of Carl and Ruth Shapiro), surgeon Carolyn Kaelin, and Sara Campbell designer Elisha Daniels. The Red Sox front office guys were on hand to see Lucchino accept the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Boston Humanitarian Award from presenter Mike Barnicle. Kelley Tuthill, a Channel 5 reporter and breast cancer survivor, emceed the event.

Not only will Harold Ramis receive the Screenwriters Tribute at the annual Nantucket Film Festival, but organizers have added a comedy panel this year featuring Ramis, Ben Stiller, Peter Farrelly, and "I Love You, Man" writer and director John Hamburg. The celeb-heavy fest takes place on the island June 18-21. "Without Harold Ramis, the landscape of comedy in movies would look entirely different," the fest's artistic director Mystelle Brabbée said in a statement.

Comedian Leo Allen tells us that Tom Brady is funny, but Ben Affleck is funnier. Allen - who performs with Janeane Garofalo at the Somerville Theatre tonight as part of the AltCom festival - told us during a recent phone chat that when he wrote for "Saturday Night Live" from 2002 to 2005, he was pleasantly surprised by Brady's sense of humor. ("He was game. He was willing to do whatever.") He also said Affleck was one of his two favorite hosts - Alec Baldwin being the other. Allen's most recent gig is writing for Comedy Central "it" guy Demetri Martin.

Newton native B.J. Novak is lending his name to Kidz b Kidz, the Needham-based nonprofit that involves wee ones in the fight against childhood cancers. Novak, who'll next show up in Quentin Tarantino's WWII flick "Inglourious Basterds," has been wearing the Kidz b Kidz's Peace Tree T-shirt designed by 9-year-old Bernie Lougee. The charity was cofounded by Needham's Nancy Corderman and Jan Weinshanker of Gloucester.

California chef Bryant Terry, who hosted the PBS series "The Endless Feast" and has cooked up healthy soul food on a number of networks, was the celebrity judge at last night's collard greens competition at Haley House in Dudley Square. Terry told us before the event that meat-free entries might have an edge. He's not technically a vegan chef, but he comes close. "My values and ideals are in alignment with people who identify themselves as vegan." Talk about noncommittal. Terry is at Boston University tonight for the Cooking with a Conscience conference.

Mayor Tom Menino and Jim and Kim Pallotta were just a few of the well-wishers expected at the Greater Boston Food Bank's party for its new building last night. Running the show for the Food Bank's celebration of its shiny new distribution center on South Bay Avenue were WAAF's Greg Hill and "Phantom Gourmet" guy Dan Andelman.

Ray Romano and on-screen bro Brad Garrett were spotted at the InterContinental earlier this week. The two were in town for a comedy show at the Orpheum. . . . Cleveland players Grady Sizemore and Ben Francisco chowed at Sonsie while in town to take on the Sox.