Elvis will be in the house
The Boston Pops plan to ''Pump It Up" this season, beginning Opening Night when Elvis Costello will share the stage with conductor Keith Lockhart. Landing the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter is a major coup for Lockhart, who's struggled in recent years to attract A-list acts for Opening Night of Pops. (Unless you consider Lou Rawls, Art Garfunkel, Patti Austin, Al Jarreau, and Elaine Paige big names.) Contacted yesterday, the Pops' press people wouldn't confirm the deal with Mr. Diana Krall, but the artist's website leaves no doubt that the author of such classic LPs as ''My Aim Is True" and ''Imperial Bedroom" will be at Symphony Hall on May 10. (Tickets, we're told, go on sale March 13.) Why would Costello be interested in the gig? Just so happens the bespectacled Brit's embarking on a US tour in support of his full-length orchestral work, ''Il Sogno," and he'll be performing with symphonies in San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, and, yes, Boston. According to Costello's website, he'll also be playing a collection of his pop and rock hits. Lockhart was in Utah yesterday, and couldn't be reached for comment, but the conductor has made no secret of his desire to get younger, hipper crowds into Symphony Hall. Last season, he enlisted the scruffy pop band Guster to play with the Pops, and the two shows sold out in a matter of hours.
Berklee readies for a bash
The artist formerly known as Declan McManus isn't the only big shot coming to Boston. Berklee College of Music has a lustrous lineup set to perform as part of the school's 60th anniversary concert Jan. 28. The show's special guest performers will include Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, and alumni Gary Burton and Chiara Civello. Better yet, the evening's MC will be Bill Cosby, and Berklee has enlisted no less a legend than Phil Ramone to produce the show at the Wang Theatre. (Ramone's album credits include LPs by Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, and B.B. King.)
Everything's coming up Bobby
Roxbury's own Bobby Brown, the R&B singer whose inane reality show, ''Being Bobby Brown," has been an improbable hit for Bravo, is predicting big things for the new year. Whitney Houston's hubby tells the Associated Press: ''I'm going back to the top. I've got a new album, a new series, new everything. My wife has a new album. There's so much going on." The always-unpredictable Brown managed to upset some parents last week when he declared on his holiday TV special that ''there's no such thing as Santa Claus." But that's Bobby being Bobby. ''I don't change for nobody," he said. . . . With all the ruckus over Mariah Carey's eight Grammy nominations for ''The Emancipation of Mimi," it was easy to overlook Joe Perry's first nomination as a solo artist. The Aerosmith guitarist grabbed a Grammy nod for ''Mercy" from his self-titled CD. (With Aerosmith on holiday hiatus from the road, Perry and his wife, Billie, are spending some quality time at their new, 120-acre farm in Vermont.) The ax man is up against stiff competition in the ''Best Rock Instrumental Performance" category: Adrian Belew, Stewart Copeland, Les Paul, and Steve Vai.
She's eyeing the 'Bachelor'
Pictures of the 25 women who'll compete for the heart of Dr. Travis Stork on ''The Bachelor: Paris" are finally online, and just one of the beauties lives in Boston. That'd be blond-haired Jennifer Tammaro, who's 25 and lists her occupation as ''model." We wanted to talk to Tammaro, but a spokeswoman for the ABC show, which premieres Jan. 9, said: ''Uh, no!" We can tell you that one of Jennifer's rivals -- an oncologist from Delray Beach, Fla. -- is named Allie G. (Funny, right?) A third of this season's ''Bachelor" contestants are from California, and the average age is 26. Stork, by the way, is a handsome, 33-year-old ER doc who's completing his residency at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. The show was filmed last fall in Paris.
Young upstarts pitch in
The young studs who'll likely shoulder the load for the Sox next season will be signing autographs Saturday at Jillian's. A benefit for the Jimmy Fund, the signing session's called ''New Stars for Young Stars," and will feature pitchers Jonathan Papelbon, Craig Hansen, Lenny DiNardo, Manny Delcarmen, and Bronson Arroyo, as well as up-and-coming minor-leaguers Charlie Zink, Jed Lowrie, and Brandon Moss. The session's open to the public, but only 200 tickets will be sold.
