Boston film gets NYC premiere

Boston may be the backdrop for "The Departed," but, of course, it was the Big Apple that hosted Tuesday's premiere of Martin Scorsese's new mobster movie. Held at the Ziegfeld Theater, the red-carpet rendezvous attracted the film's A-list cast and assorted other celebs, including Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Ron Wood -- the band's classic tune ``Gimme Shelter" is featured in the film -- Lauren Bacall, Billy Joel and wife Katie Lee Joel, Mira Sorvino, Lou Reed, Dana Delany, Jon Voight, and U2 members Bono and The Edge. Cambridge boy Matt Damon, whose performance in the film isgenerating Oscar buzz, arrived with wife Luciana Bozan, while Jack Nicholson's date du jour was red-haired beauty Paz de la Huerta. Dorchester's own Mark Wahlberg was also there, butwithout girlfriend Rhea Durham. Scorsese's good-cop, bad-cop flick opens Oct. 6.

The secret to Riddick’s success? Work

Makeba Riddick hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with Jennifer Lopez' s "All I Have." And yesterday, the 2000 Berklee grad was tops with students at her alma mater. In a Q&A there, Riddick shared the secret to her success: Hard work. ``Work ethic is paramount," said the 24-year-old Baltimore native. It's sure paid off for Riddick, who toiled at temp jobs at Def Jam, Sony, and Interscope Records while honing her craft. She eventually signed a publishing deal with Sean "Diddy" Combs and has since placed songs with artists including Rihanna and Jessica Simpson. She has no less than six cuts on the new Beyoncé album ``B'Day." She told the budding artists to prepare for rejection, but work all the angles. ``You have to exhaust every resource available to you."

Movin’ out? Not according to Perry

Joe Perry's days in Duxbury aren't numbered after all. The Aerosmith ax man and his wife, Billie, told us they've decided to sell the Vermont farm they bought a few years back and will instead be sticking close to their Duxbury digs. The couple moved to the South Shore in 1988 and have grown attached to their impressive 8-acre compound, which includes a main house, a guest house, barn, garages, and ponds. During Aerosmith's Tweeter Center show Tuesday, Perry introduced ``Dirty Water" by saying: ``There's a rumor that I moved to Vermont." It ain't so. Boston, you're Joe's home. . . . Word out of Rhode Island is that Vanessa Redgrave's nearly finished filming her scenes for ``Evening," the movie based on Susan Minot's bestseller and adapted by Michael Cunningham. Directed by Lajos Koltai, the movie co-starring Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Claire Danes, and Redgrave's daughter Natasha Richardson will film in Newport and Tiverton until mid-November.

Sarah Rodman of the Globe staff and Steve Morse contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.