Director Salles tours Kerouac's Lowell

Writer-director Walter Salles and a film crew from Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope production company were in Lowell the other day to meet with author and teacher Dave Daniel and his students from the Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School to talk about Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. Salles, who directed ''The Motorcycle Diaries," has a documentary and a feature film about Kerouac in the works. (Coppola acquired the rights to the story from Kerouac's estate.) Daniel said Salles wanted to visit the sites of Kerouac's life and see the impact the author had on the city, nearly 50 years after ''On the Road" was published. ''I was impressed by the crew, their understanding of Kerouac," said Daniel, a Kerouac scholar who also writes crime fiction. ''I was impressed by our students . . . too."

Praise for ‘Kettle’ fills her plate

A tired but buoyant Laura Bernieri checked in yesterday saying she was elated by the reaction from the audience of 900 at the Tribeca Film Festival's screening of ''Kettle of Fish," starring Gina Gershon and Matthew Modine. Bernieri, the Boston-based moviemaker who served as an executive producer for ''Kettle of Fish," said her phone had been ringing all day with well-wishes. ''It's such a joy to listen to all those people giggling and laughing. . . . Comedy is a universal language, and people reacted very well to the film," Bernieri said of Thursday's premiere, which was followed by a party at the Bubble Lounge. Among those at the party were the movie's producer, Michael Mailer, his father, author Norman Mailer, Norman's wife, Norris Church Mailer, and their son, author-actor John Buffalo Mailer, who has a role in ''Kettle of Fish." (The elder Mailers split their time between New York and Provincetown.)

''Kettle of Fish" also marks Boston actress Christy Scott Cashman's breakout role. A slew of Cashman's supporters were on hand, as were many of the cast, including Fisher Stevens, Chuck Pfeiffer, and newcomer Ewa Da Cruz. ''Kettle of Fish" will show at the festival through next Saturday.

Morning is even better for Matty

Howard Stern's and David Lee Roth's losses are Kiss 108 FM morning guy Matt Siegel's gains. The most recent ratings rank Siegel's ''Matty in the Morning" show as the market's leader for all listeners over 12. It's his best showing in more than 15 years, and his best since before Stern's entry into the Boston market. Siegel led in four other categories, primarily capturing the ''adult" and ''women" categories. Roth, the former Van Halen frontman, replaced Stern on WBCN when Stern departed a few months ago from FM radio to satellite radio. Roth was dumped recently because of horrible ratings and was replaced by Opie and Anthony.

BC honoree Poehler to perform there

Boston College alum Amy Poehler returned to her alma mater yesterday for an ''Inside the BC Studio" appearance, a la Bravo's ''Inside the Actors Studio," as part of the eighth annual BC Arts Festival. The Burlington native will get the Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement and do two shows with her former sketch troupe. Poehler and her husband, comic actor Will Arnett, will be back in the area next month to film writer-director Dave McLaughlin's ''On Broadway."

Upheaval was on the agenda and globe-trotting on the plate Thursday night at a party celebrating Stephen Kinzer's new book, ''Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq." The guests at the Beacon Hill home of James and Cathy Douglas Stone included former governor Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty; WGBH radio personality Christopher Lydon; former Romney aide Douglas Foy; and Harvard's Rosabeth Moss Kanter. The food reflected the countries that Kinzer, a former reporter for The Boston Globe and The New York Times, chronicles in his book. The dishes, by caterer Ariadne Clifton, included Vietnamese spring rolls, Iraqi lamb kafta, Cuban pork, and Chilean black sea bass. . . . Students at Tufts University's Fletcher School weren't shy about asking questions of His Royal Highness Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States. At a forum Thursday night, the audience questioned Prince Turki about the price of gas, his country's refusal to recognize the state of Israel, and other topics. But the prince proved he had a sense of humor when the lights in the auditorium briefly went out. Said the prince: ''I didn't know the price of gas was that expensive." . . . Members of the Saugus Fire Department and former Patriots players Steve DeOssie, Russ Francis, Mosi Tatupu, and Max Lane were at the Kowloon Restaurant Thursday night after a fund-raiser in Saugus. . . . Nathalie Raetz, granddaughter of the famed choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, will attend next week's opening of Nijinska's ballet ''Les Noces" (''The Wedding"), which is part of Boston Ballet's ''An Evening of Russian Ballet."

Alison Arnett of the Globe staff contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.