A party planner to politicos; Glickman gets a top rating
DEMS GOOD PARTIES Rafanelli Events principal and director of marketing Mark Walsh has been named as the director of event services for the committee organizing the Democratic National Convention. (Read: Walsh's job is to make sure the official parties are officially great bashes.) Walsh has taken an eight-week leave from Rafanelli Events, the Boston-based design and events agency. "He'll be back," said Bryan Rafanelli, the firm's founder. "but this was just too good an opportunity to pass up."
GLICKMAN MAY RATE Dan Glickman, director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, is among the three most seriously being considered to replace Jack Valenti as the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, according to Sunday's New York Times. The paper also pegged former Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke and TV producer turned president of PBS Pat Mitchell as possible successor's to Valenti, who has helmed the lobbying organization for 38 years. Valenti, a former White House adviser, is credited with creating the MPAA's rating system that assigns an audience recommendation -- G, PG, R, for example -- to every film released. Since he announced he wanted to retire, the organization has had a hard time filling the job, even with its $1.2 million salary -- other lobbying jobs in Washington have significantly higher paychecks. Although neither Glickman nor the other candidates would comment to the Times, but a close friend of Glickman did tell the paper that he's "interested, but cautious. It's not an easy job."
NOMAR PITCHES IN At the recent event to support The Cushing School, it was businessman and philanthropist Lenny Florence's time to be honored and have someone show him a little kindness. The biggest surprise came from Nomar Garciaparra, who taped a tribute but appeared to be too broken up to finish the taping and walked off screen. He then walked into the event, gave a hug to Florence, whom the shortstop calls one of his favorite people in the city, and participated in the auction. Garciaparra offered up his four tickets to see the Sox take on the Yankees at Fenway. When the bidding rose to $28,000, Garciaparra threw in two more foursomes to a Yankees game to the other bidders for $25,000 each set. . . . A similar bout of instantaneous generosity happened at the Greater Boston Food Bank's inaugural fund-raising dinner held at their Roxbury facility. When the bidding started for dinner cooked in the winner's home by a quintet of Boston's hottest chefs -- Jody Adams, Lydia Shire, Gordon Hamersley, Jasper White, and Susan Regis -- guest auctioneer Mayor Tom Menino brought up Adams, who was overseeing the dinner that evening. The bidding for the five chefs hit $20,000, Menino and Adams conferred, and another dinner with only Adams cooking was offered to the second-placed bidder for $15,000.
GAUGUIN FOR FREE Nearly 10,000 visitors passed through the Museum of Fine Arts yesterday for a Tahitian garden party and free entry to the Gauguin Tahiti exhibition. Sofia Shenderovich was chosen from five finalists as the winner of a cruise to Tahiti. More than 23,000 people had entered the contest, sponsored by Fleet and the Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, since the show opened in February.
'TIS THE SEASON It might seem like summer's finally arrived, but for the folks behind the Children's Holiday Gift Fund it's time to raise money to give children in state custody presents come holiday time. Former "Baywatch" guy David Chokachi, Josh Meyers of "Mad TV," actor Robert Wahlberg, and Patrice Vinci, a Newbury hair stylist by day and a comic by night, will join Parents for Residential Reform and the Federation for Children with Special Needs for the sixth annual silent auction and dinner dance to benefit the fund on June 25 at Anthony's Pier 4. Boston radio veteran J.J. Wright will MC as the organizations honor WBZ/CBS4 sports reporter Steve Burton and his wife, Ginny, and state Auditor Joe DeNucci.
Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253. 