Hard Rock opening a smashing success

"These guys don't do ribbon cuttings, I guess," quipped Bellevue Cadillac guitarist Doug "The Professor" Bell, one of the notables on hand yesterday to toast the Hard Rock Cafe at Faneuil Hall. And how better to christen the new digs than to smash 71 guitars in unison? (Why so many? The Hard Rock has been around since 1971.) Joining in the cracking-good fun were bluesman James Montgomery, Hizzoner Tom Menino, Noelle LeBlanc, Mike Woods, and the rest of the band Damone, auto magnate/rocker Ernie Boch Jr., Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau, former New Kid Jordan Knight, and the guys from Blue Man Group. Lest anyone think yesterday's event was an exercise in rock-star excess, all the crushed guitars were defective. Even better, Gibson guitars and the Hard Rock donated 71 intact guitars to the Boston public schools through the non-profit Peace Games, said org president Eric Dawson, whose daughter Veronica, 4, was the event's youngest participant. "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC said his hip-hop roots did little to prepare him for the mayhem. "Hip-hoppers and rappers don't smash guitars," said McDaniels, "I couldn't dream of this much fun."

Boston chef Michael Schlow, co-owner of Boston's Radius, Via Matta, and Great Bay, is the first to sign on to open a restaurant in the new MGM Grand hotel expected to open in the spring at the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut. The James Beard Award winner's plans call for a 10,000-square-foot venue called Alta Strada, an expanded version of the Italian eatery of the same name that he opened in Wellesley earlier this year. Chef Luis Morales, who has worked with Schlow at Radius, Via Matta , and Alta Strada, will be running the kitchen at the Foxwoods outpost. But it doesn't sound like Schlow's looking to expand too far beyond the area. "This is a great opportunity, but right now I want to operate in Eastern Standard Time," he said. "I don't like having to change my watch before heading to each restaurant."

Five Bay State boldfacers make ARTNews's annual list of the Top 200 collectors. Venture virtuoso Thomas H. Lee and ex-wife Barbara both rank among the world's most avid collectors -- he for his collection of contemporary art and she for works by wome n. Also on the list are TV producer Douglas Cramer, hailed for his '60s and '80s American art, and Dexter shoe scion Ted Alfond (inset) and his wife, Barbara, who win raves for their American art and furniture. Other notables on the Top 200 include: French businessman Bernard Arnault, movie-and-music mogul David Geffen, jeweler Laurence Graff, Emily Pulitzer, publisher Benedikt Taschen, and TV exec Dean Valentine.

Friends and former bandmates of Morphine's main man Mark Sandman are getting together tonight at Matt Murphy's Pub. On the eighth anniversary of Sandman's death, a pack of his pals will pay tribute to the Newton native. Among those expected to perform are Mike Rivard, Dana Colley, Mike Keenan, Mister Rourke, Tommy Benedetti, Monique Ortiz, Christian McNeill, and Jerome Deupree. "It wasn't really planned, but I made some calls and everything fell into place," said Rivard. "It seemed a shame to let the day go by without paying tribute."

The misanthrope known as Morrissey has rescheduled the show he ended last week after just seven songs. Moz, who blamed his abbreviated show at the Bank of America Pavilion on a throat ailment, will be back in Boston Saturday night, and tickets for the first show will be honored. Famously fussy, the former Smiths singer has said he harmed his voice taping an appearance in David Letterman's air-conditioned studio in New York. . . . As expected, the tribute to Brad Delp, the late, great singer for Boston, was officially announced yesterday. The Aug. 19 show will feature performances by the original members of Boston -- Tom Scholz, Barry Goudreau, Sib Hashian, and Fran Sheehan -- and a set by the current line-up -- Scholz, Gary Pihl, Kimberley Dahme, Jeff Neal, and Fran Cosmo. A film written and directed by Delp's daughter, Jennifer, will be shown, and special guests include Godsmack, Orion the Hunter, RTZ, Michael Sweet of Stryper, Starship's Mickey Thomas, and Sammy Hagar. The shindig will be MC'd by former Mix 98.5 minx Lynn Hoffman.

After his team took a second game from the Sox, Texas Rangers slugger Sammy Sosa stopped by Bar 10 at the Westin Copley Place Sunday night.

Fashion designer David Josef isn't leaving Boston, after all. A 30-year veteran of the city's fashion scene, Josef told the Globe recently he was closing his South End showroom and moving to New Jersey to become the in-house designer at Hartly, a specialty store in Westwood, N.J. But after receiving 171 phone calls from customers within 24 hours of his departure announcement -- published last month in this column -- Josef has decided to stay put. "I was honored by the things people said," said Josef, who heard from the mayor and Marjorie Claprood, among other muckety-mucks. "I decided that I can't leave my women. I would miss them horribly."

It wasn't your typical send-off party, but then again, it was a bash for Jarrett Barrios. More than 400 people -- including State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, City Councilor Felix Arroyo, and state Democratic Party biggie Phil Johnston -- turned out Saturday night to fete Barrios, the Cambridge state senator (until Thursday at noon) who's taking the helm at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. Organized by the Commonwealth Seminar's Joel Barrera, it began with speeches but morphed into a fab party that included music by David Morales, Governor Deval Patrick's deputy chief of staff, performing a spectacular acoustic bolero.

British author Salman Rushdie and his wife, Padma Lakshmi, host of the TV show "Top Chef," are getting divorced, his spokeswoman said yesterday, just two weeks after he was awarded a controversial knighthood. Rushdie, 60, is best known for his novel "The Satanic Verses," which outraged many Muslims and sparked death threats that forced him to live in hiding for nine years. He married Lakshmi, a former model born in 1970 in India, in 2004. She was his fourth wife, and the couple had no children. "Salman Rushdie has agreed to divorce his wife, Padma Lakshmi, because of her desire to end their marriage," spokeswoman Jin Auh said in a statement on his behalf. Rushdie hit the headlines two weeks ago when he was selected for knighthood by Britain's Queen Elizabeth, provoking renewed anger among some Muslims in Iran and Pakistan. (REUTERS)

The royal family will be a little larger by December, Buckingham Palace said yesterday, announcing that Prince Edward's 42-year-old wife, Sophie, is expecting the couple's second child. Edward -- the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II -- and Sophie, who are the Earl and Countess of Wessex, are the parents of Lady Louise, who was born in November 2003. (AP)

One of the last letters written by Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi has been pulled from a London auction so it can be acquired by the government of India, Christie's auction house said yesterday. Christie's had earlier insisted that the six-page document, which was to go on auction as part of a larger collection today, would be sold despite India's protests. But the collection's executors reconsidered, agreeing to withdraw the letter and hand it to the Indian government, Christie's said in a statement. The auction house did not give further details on the arrangement. Gandhi wrote the letter, which had been expected to sell for up to $24,000, 19 days before his assassination in New Delhi by a Hindu extremist in January 1948. Addressed to an Indian magazine, it pleaded for tolerance toward India's Muslim population. (AP)

'He hits off Coors Light cans at my house.' Kid Rock, talking about golfer John Daly at the Buick Open in Michigan.

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