May 2009 Archives

Make reservations now. The cooking world's bad boy is coming to The Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Anthony Bourdain, best-selling author, chef and host of Emmy-nominated No Reservations on the Travel Channel, will be here just in time to heat things up next winter. He will speak for about an hour followed by a 15 minute question answer session on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010 at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $39.50, $49.50 and a $75 VIP ticket which includes a meet and greet with Bourdain after the show. The tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. and are available at the box office, 50 East Merrimack St., by calling (978) 454-2299 or visiting www.lowellauditorium.com. 

One is not the loneliest number for number 12. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says there's no baby on the way for him and his wife, supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen.

Brady married the Brazilian glamazon this winter in a pair of ceremonies in Costa Rica and California. RadarOnline.com reported last week that Bundchen is pregnant.

After practice on Thursday, the cutie QB talked about the importance of a wife and "children." But when reporters asked Brady, who has a son with actress Bridget Moynahan, whether another child was on the way, Brady shook his head and said, "No."
"One is enough," Brady said.

Want to know what Lowellita is drinking, thinking and well (insert any other verb here and add "ing"). Well now you can.

Lowellita has joined Twitter. Hey, better late than never.

Follow her at www.twitter.com/lowellita

There will be no encore for Jay-Z and Def Jam.

The self proclaimed best rapper alive confirms reports that he has left the record company where he made most of his biggest hits and went from artist to president, and back to artist again.

In an interview with the Web site RapRadar.com, he thanks the label's executives and calls his time at Def Jam "a unique and fulfilling experience."

Last year, Jay-Z and Live Nation struck a wide-ranging deal that included touring, publishing and albums. Jay-Z had owed Def Jam one more record.

Could Jigga go to Bad Boy?

Are you ready to rumble?

Boston Casting is holding an open call audition for The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg, on Saturday, May 30, from 10 am - 4 pm at the VFW Hall, 190 Plain Street, Lowell.

They are looking for people to play the following roles:
· Boxers and fighters in their 20's and 30's
· Trainers
· Women in their 20's and 30's with blonde or red hair
· Residents 18 years and older from Lowell and surrounding communities

The audition is open to everyone 18 years and older. No kids for this audition.
Everyone MUST BRING a headshot and resume or a current photo and bio to the audition. The audition is open to union and non-union actors.

I'm just throwing this out here, but did anyone spot actors Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale in Lowell this week?

We heard, the pair dined at Cobblestones in downtown Lowell and someone has the evidence.

C-stones is a hot spot for celebs that are in the area. Ricky Gervais had chicken and mash there on a regular basis when he was filming This Side of the Truth in town last summer. Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson popped in for buffalo tenders before the KISS 108 Jingle Ball at the Tsongas Arena a few years back. Barry Manilow, the Williams sisters, Jennifer Garner, Ray Romano and the list continues, have all filled their bellies at the classy eatery.

If there are any stoners out there who have proof Marky Mark and the Dark Knight dined there, send it our way!

The fight will continue, but for a short time it's between rounds.

Actors Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale were spotted at numerous locations around Lowell earlier this week and will return in July to begin filming The Fighter. The duo will portray brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, respectively, in the boxing epic.

"This story is about two brothers from Lowell who overcome great struggles, coming together for one moment in time that will last forever. Dicky helped his brother become a champion. It makes it a wonderful movie. There wouldn't be a movie without Dicky Eklund," says Lowell native Rich Farrell, who is part of the local creative team helping with the production of the film.

In a past life, Farrell was the producer of the HBO documentary High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell, which received the duPont Columbia Award and was nominated for two Cable Ace Awards. Eklund was one of the subjects of the project, which followed three people in their pursuit to get high.

Farrell will be very busy the next couple months. Besides lending his hand and knowledge of Lowell to the Fighter crew, his memoir, What's Left of Us, hits the shelves June 30.

Also, actress Melissa Leo, whose resume includes 21 Grams, Frozen River, Righteous Kill and a regular role in the late NBC series Homicide, will play Dicky and Micky's mom, Alice Eklund in the Fighter.

Farrell added, "This is a great story for Lowell. We've been working on it for a long time and we're going take it to the finish line."

Just this morning, actor Christian Bale got into character shadow boxing Dicky Eklund on the streets of the Highlands section of Lowell. Bale, who recently played Bruce Wayne in the blockbuster the Dark Knight, will portray the fallen Lowell boxer in the feature film The Fighter.

The half-brother and trainer of Lowell's own "Irish" Micky Ward, played tour guide to Bale, director David O. Russell, HBO documentary High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell producer Rich Farrell and other crew members. The group bobbed and weaved up and down streets in the Highlands making stops at the former Highland Tap and Captain John's both in Cupples Square, Eklund's modest brick home on Wilder Street and Ramos Package Store on Branch Street. They also took pictures outside of a few tenement style homes on Smith Street, Westford Street and Shaw Street. At one point, Eklund, Bale and Russell began pretending to jump rope -- a technique many boxers use to build endurance while training.

Just yesterday, actor Mark Wahlberg was spotted in the lobby of the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Lowell meeting with Eklund and other movie crew members. The group was discussing a half dozen or so possible locations to film scenes for the Ward biopic. Wahlberg will play Ward in what is said to be his passion project. The movie will chronicle Ward's boxing career from the gritty streets of Lowell and rocky relationship with his half-brother and trainer. Eklund once stepped in the ring with Sugar Ray Leonard before he lost his fight with addiction.

Filming is set to start in Lowell this July and will take several weeks.

For more photos including Christian Bale in Lowell, see tomorrow's Sun.

Watch out if Kiefer is at the party. The 24 star went all Jack Bauer on fashion designer, Jack McCollough's ass at a Manhattan night club.

Pick on the little guy...nice.

Sutherland head butted the Proenza Schouler designer reportedly coming to the defense Brooke Shields. Boy, I'd hate to see what he would do to Tom Cruise if he got ahold of him!

We think Ms. Brooke could take a fashion designer but who are we?

Kiefer was charged with misdemeanor assault Thursday. He was given a ticket, ordered to appear in court June 22 and released on his own recognizance. This case could create another major legal hassle for Sutherland, who served 48 days in jail on a drunken-driving charge in California last year.

Detectives were planning to question Shields as a witness because she was at the trendy SoHo nightspot SubMercer, in the basement of the Mercer Hotel, where the altercation took place.

Ya think that ticking clock is starting to get to him or what?

So Oprah is trying to feed us underprivileged, underemployed and under-paid, what's the word I'm looking for here...underlings.

Thanks Oprah, but we wouldn't eat KFC if you paid us. However, dire situations call for desperate measures. Customers at a Manhattan KFC hoping to redeem coupons for a free meal were disgruntled when the fast-food restaurant ran out of its new grilled chicken.

"Some customers were upset because they couldn't get their chicken, but there was no riot," said Laurie Schalow.

The coupons were available on Oprah.com for 24 hours beginning Tuesday after Oprah announced the meal promotion on her show. Each downloadable coupon can be redeemed for two pieces of grilled chicken, two individual sides and a biscuit.

KFC restaurants across the United States were bustling on Wednesday because of the coupon offer. And some KFC stores may have run out of some products, such as mashed potatoes and gravy or cole slaw.

This just goes to show that Oprah is the most powerful being in the universe!

Sorry Jay, Paris doesn't like you. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, naaaaah!

Miss Hilton cleared up a few things while on the stand. Hiltie is part of a law suit claiming she didn't do enough to promote the 2006 bomb Pledge This.

We learned these few tidbits from her deposition: she hates Leno and will only go on David Letterman's late night talk show; she doesn't know what a producer is or who pays her cell phone bill.

When asked who gets her bills, she replied, "I don't know. I'm assuming, like, whoever pays my bills. I never ask about that stuff."

The lawsuit was filed by the court-appointed receiver for a failed Miami investor in the film, Worldwide Entertainment Group. Receiver Michael Goldberg claims Hilton's failure to plug the movie's DVD release cost the investor more than $8.3 million -- the amount of damages he seeks. A trial is scheduled to begin by June 8.

Hilton was one of eight executive producers for the movie, though she acknowledged she was a bit shaky on what that meant.

"I'm not sure what a producer does, but -- I don't know, help get cool people in the cast," she said.

At one point, the Pledge This! producers suggested that Hilton could appear on Leno's Tonight Show. Hilton refused because during a previous appearance he "didn't follow particular guidelines with regard to why we were there and promoting. We would never do Leno."

Letterman must be flattered.