Designs on a cancer cure

One of the biggest runway shows of Boston's Fashion Week also proved to be a successful soiree to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Designer Sara Campbell showed off her fall and resortwear lines last night before some 300 people at the Boston Harbor Hotel with WCVB's Kelley Tuthill, a breast cancer survivor, as the event's MC. For her catwalk-strutting models, Campbell recruited those affected by the disease including breast cancer specialists Carolyn Kaelin and Julie Silver. Both doctors are breast cancer survivors.

Interview has discovered what some of us already knew: Marissa Nadler has a silken soprano. In its new issue, the magazine that likes to describe itself as the "crystal ball of pop" pronounces the Needham nightingale worth watching - and listening to. The 26-year-old singer, who performs tonight at the Middle East, may sound like vintage Hope Sandoval, but she has a classic Stevie Nicks sensibility. Explaining her presence in Interview and also this week's Entertainment Weekly, Nadler giggles: "I have a publicist. She's shopping my music around and people are responding." A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design - "it's kind of a job security thing," she says - Nadler's on the road promoting "Songs III: Bird on the Water." "I'm driving a rental," she says. "The GPS tracking system has been a good extra $10 a day."

It's Sept. 11, and indie actors Lili Taylor and Andre Gregory are marking the date with a staged reading on the outer Cape of "The People Speak." Produced by the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, the show at Town Hall in P-town is a dramatic adaptation of Howard Zinn's book "Voices of a People's History of the United States." The lefty academic will be in the house.

West Bridgewater isn't the comedy capital of the world, but it's close. "There's John Davidson and me," says Spike Feresten, host of FOX's "TalkShow With Spike Feresten," whose new season premieres Saturday. "I heard a rumor that Gallagher also passed through West Bridgewater, but I don't know for sure." It's been a steady climb for the funny Feresten, whose first job in showbiz was interning for David Letterman. (Feresten had enrolled at Berklee, but wisely ditched his dreams of becoming the next Jimi Hendrix.) After a writing stint at "Saturday Night Live," Feresten headed west, where he found neither fame nor fortune, at least not immediately. "Basically, I moved to LA because I wanted a car and a dog," he says. It wasn't long, though, before Feresten landed a gig writing for "Seinfeld." (He penned the Emmy-nominated "Soup Nazi" episode.) Now, he's got his own half-hour show. "I always wanted to be the guy on stage," says Feresten, whose unique look - he's got glasses and an Ellen DeGeneres 'do. - fits in well with Letterman, Leno, and Conan. "If you're kind of funny looking, you're halfway there," he says of his late-night fraternity. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for those guys. I remember thinking it was easy, but it's not."

Boston was well represented at the Farm Sanctuary's annual gala held over the weekend at the Beverly Hills Hotel where Boston natives John Talbot and Dorr Begnal, founders of Boston Baked Bonz, were honored by the national animal rights group. South End writer James Costa (inset), a barnyard biggie who helped organize the event, was spotted walking the red carpet with Norwell-bred comic actress Jennifer Coolidge. Also on hand was Emily Deschanel (inset), the cover gal for the new edition of Boston Common. The BU alum said she'll be back in town at the end of the month for the magazine's party.

Director Gus Van Sant may finally get the Harvey Milk story to the big screen. Word out of the Toronto Film Festival is that Sean Penn will play Milk, the gay San Francisco politician who was assassinated in 1978 by Dan White, who'll be portrayed by Matt Damon. Filming is set to begin in San Francisco by December, but a fluctuating start date could derail Damon's participation, says The Hollywood Reporter. Damon has some five projects in the works including "The Fighter," the story of Lowell boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, in which the Oscar winner's slated to star opposite Mark Wahlberg.

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