Above: Bret Michaels of Poison greets fans Tuesday at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston. Below: He takes time with fan Melissa Rizzo.
(Photos By Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)
Names
Poison's Michaels gets up close and personal
Above: Bret Michaels of Poison greets fans Tuesday at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston. Below: He takes time with fan Melissa Rizzo.
(Photos By Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)
It takes all kinds, as they say, and most of them were at the Hard Rock Cafe Tuesday, crowding the front of the stage to get a glimpse of Poison singer Bret Michaels.
There was a diabetic goth girl who told us she prostitutes herself to pay her medical bills, a suburban mom who was hoping Bret would sign her breast with a Sharpie, a trio of tattooed young women whose favorite TV show is “Rock of Love,’’ and Ann Durkin, a waitress with long curly locks like Dee Snider who said she never misses a chance to meet Michaels, even if it means driving from Worcester.
“He’s so genuine,’’ said Durkin, dressed in tight white jeans and a black sleeveless T-shirt. “I met him for the first time in ’88. I’ve been in love with him ever since.’’
Michaels, whose band played earlier in the night at the
“He’s even more beautiful in person,’’ said Kathy Collins, a nurse from Winchester. “He said to me, ‘Thanks for coming’ and then he told me I looked beautiful, too.’’
Busy as he was signing bosoms and backsides, Michaels didn’t have time to talk to us. But it was clear that the singer, accompanied by his bodyguard Big John, has mostly recovered from his mishap at the Tony Awards, when a prop dropped from the rafters and hit him on the head, breaking his nose.
“So many celebrities are mean and nasty,’’ said Joel Scott, who drove from Connecticut to meet his rock ’n’ roll hero. “But not Bret. He doesn’t rip you off.’’
Michaels certainly didn’t cheat his fans, hanging around the Hard Rock until 1:45 a.m. Women wanting a little extra attention were likely disappointed when Michaels got back on his tour bus - alone - and promptly fell asleep. But every thorn has a rose: Word is Big John arranged to have a few lucky ladies meet him back at the hotel.
A sobering honeymoon
Red Sox owner John Henry is honeymooning far from Fenway, and, for the most part, far from the glorious beaches and mountains of South Africa. Instead, Henry and his bride, Linda Pizzuti, are experiencing up-close the country’s AIDS crisis. Based on their frequent Twitter posts, the couple is plunging into the poignant symbols of South Africa’s apartheid past and its present struggle with HIV and AIDS. From Robben Island off Cape Town, where Nelson Mandela was jailed, Henry tweeted: “Spent the afternoon at Nelson Mandela’s cell block with one of his fellow prisoners. Incredible stories of courage and unfathomable honor.’’ He added later: “27 years in a tiny cell for African freedom. Robben Island . . . penguins cavorting this afternoon where great men labored in a lime quarry.’’ Henry and Pizzuti visited in Cape Town with retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu and stopped at the storied Rustenberg vineyard estate in nearby Stellenbosch. After a meal with former President F.W. de Klerk to discuss the AIDS epidemic, Henry and Pizzuti traveled across the country to Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal Province, the epicenter of the country’s AIDS crisis. They were traveling with Mass. General AIDS researcher Dr. Bruce Walker. Henry tweeted: “Ground Zero. 200 babies are born with HIV infection each day in South Africa. 1000 per year in US. Doctors here are currently on strike.’’‘Moneyball’ strikes out
So much for Bill James transitioning from baseball to the big screen. The Sox statistician was expected to figure prominently in the movie based on Michael Lewis’s book “Moneyball.’’ But word from the West Coast is that Forever in blue jeans?
We can’t wait to see Neil Diamond. The 68-year-old singer, who performs with the Pops on Saturday, has had a radical makeover. At least that’s the word from designer Margi Kent, whose publicist e-mailed us yesterday to tout Diamond’s “sophisticated new image.’’ Diamond’s “festive yet timeless’’ new look will steal the show from the Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart, according to the e-mail. The “Sweet Caroline’’ crooner’s got the same ’do, unfortunately, but new duds, including “a shirt crafted with black on black textures’’ complemented with “deep wine-red embroidering and gun metal studding.’’ Ooh la la.Birthday boy
Boston party promoter Jeff London threw himself a shindig Tuesday to celebrate his 30th birthday, and Celtic Paul Pierce showed up to wish him well. Also reveling at Rumor were Celtic J.R. Giddens, Pats linebacker Shawn Crable, and a line that extended out the door. DJ Klutch flew in from Vegas to drop the beats.Aerosmith ailing
Aerosmith abruptly postponed its show at the Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati last night. The band’s publicist did not immediately respond to an e-mail, but the venue’s website cited “an injury within the band.’’ ZZ Top was also scheduled to perform. The band has been ailing of late, with Joe Perry recovering from knee surgery and Steven Tyler from pneumonia. Guitarist Brad Whitford has been temporarily replaced while he recovers from surgery on his head.Zand is back in
Hasidic hip-hopper Nosson Zand tells us he will, in fact, be performing with Matisyahu when the ultra-righteous rappers’ tour hits the Playing (not so) nice
Brad Pierce had to laugh. His 3-year-old grandson Stevie Ross was playing with Salma Hayek and her daughter the other day at the Benjamin Smith Playground in Gloucester. “They’d been playing for about 45 minutes. . . [Hayek] put Stevie on her lap and went down the slide with him,’’ said Pierce, owner of the Cape Ann Motor Inn. “At some point, [Hayek] leaned over and said, ‘Are you playing nice with my daughter?’ ’’ Little Stevie looked at the Hollywood actress and kicked her in the shin. Hayek’s bodyguard began to intervene, but she was fine and everyone kept playing. “Stevie thinks he’s Spider Man,’’ said Pierce, who shared the story at Rotary yesterday. A few days after the incident, the boy’s aunt ran into Hayek in Essex and said, ‘I think you met my nephew at the playground in Gloucester.’’’ Hayek didn’t hear her, but the bodyguard did. “Stevie?’’ he said, smiling. “Yes, we met him.’’‘Ted Williams’ debuts at Fenway
HBO Sports screened its new documentary about the Splendid Splinter at Fenway last night. “Ted Williams,’’ which debuts July 15, includes interviews with former President George H.W. Bush, baseball old-timers Jerry Coleman, Bobby Doerr, Bob Feller, and Johnny Pesky, and writers Richard Ben Cramer, Leigh Montville, and Dan Shaughnessy, among others. . . Actor Brendan Fraser, who’s in town filming “Furry Vengeance,’’ had dinner at Morton’s The Steakhouse at the Seaport. . . “Shield’’ star Michael Chiklis was spotted at Kingfish Hall. . . And Mitt Romney tried Il Casale in Belmont.James F. Smith of the Globe staff contributed. Read the Names Blog at www.boston.com/namesblog. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253. 
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