Fiddler on film; showing the Vineyard some Love
NOW SHOWING When Roger Ebert's annual Overlooked Film Festival kicks off today, Barbara Ward Armstrong will be there. The widow of musician Howard "Pache" Armstrong is traveling to Chicago from her home in the South End because Ebert's screening not one, but two movies about her late husband: Terry Zwigoff's 1986 documentary "Louie Bluie" and Leah Mahan's tender take on Barbara and Howard's life and love, called "Sweet Old Song." (Howard Armstrong, who died in July at 96, was a legendary fiddler, capable of playing everything from blues and bluegrass to folk and jazz.) "It's hard to keep a small film like this out there, so it's great that it's been selected for the festival," said Mahan. Ebert is such a fan of Armstrong's music that he's enlisted a band to play selections at the festival.
THE VINEYARD'S GONNA LOVE HER Between media appearances in New York to promote her new CD and a court date last week in Los Angeles, embattled rocker Courtney Love was house hunting on Martha's Vineyard. Love was making the rounds in Edgartown to check out properties on the market. . . . The island is also where Johnny Damon proposed to his girlfriend, Michelle Mangan. He popped the question when they were staying at the Thorncroft Inn in Vineyard Haven. The exclusive inn is among the most expensive on the island, and the couple stayed in one of its priciest rooms, which has a fireplace and a hot tub.
ALWAYS COOKING Any excuse for these two guys to cook. After returning from the Red Sox win over the Yankees at Fenway Park, Restaurant Clio's Ken Oringer and his buddy Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger set up a small grill for hot dogs and chili dogs on the lawn of the Eliot Hotel. That spot along the Boston Marathon route is the site of the former Eliot Lounge and for years has been the spot runners repaired to before and after the race.
BUSTA BEST BEHAVE Security at the Palace will be tight Friday night as the always unpredictable Busta Rhymes will be in the house. Rhymes, whose real name is Trevor A. Smith Jr., played the Palace a couple of years ago and kept the crowd waiting until after midnight. This time, expect the author of "Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check," among other hits, to be on his best behavior. After all, Rhymes is on probation for assaulting a woman at a gig in Fall River in 2002.
LOVE CONNECTION Saturday at the Comedy Connection, Dave Attell, star of Comedy Central's "Insomniac," abruptly stopped his set. Up walked New Hampshire resident Sean Donahue, who said: "Sandra, will you marry me?" In the audience, a stunned Sandra Laawe, tears rolling down her cheeks, stood up and said: "Yes, I will."
EMERSON TUNES INTO GRADUATION Emerson College has tapped
HITTING THE RIGHT PITCH Selling the official car of the Red Sox means a few perks for the folks at Ray Ciccolo's Boston Volvo Village. Before the start of Monday's game at Fenway, Volvo Village GM Tony Bartolotti threw out the first ceremonial pitch. "It was an unbelievable experience . . . and I even reached the plate," Bartolotti said. After him, Jim Calhoun, coach of the Connecticut Huskies, the NCAA men's basketball champions, showed his colors by throwing out a ceremonial pitch of his own. Calhoun recently declined an offer to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium.
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