Radio talker Michael Smerconish has wisely called on Sid Mark to cohost his book club sit-down with Frank Sinatra biographer James Kaplan (Frank: The Voice) at 7 p.m. March 7 at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute; $20 tickets are available via www.smerconish.com
Keith Moreland, a member of the Phillies' 1980 World Series champion team, was announced last week as the new radio color analyst for the Chicago Cubs. He succeeds Ron Santo, who died in December. (Since you've asked: The Phillies say there will be no change in the radio and TV teams for the 2011 season. Scott Franzke, who during the off-season has been mentioned in the same breath as the Texas Rangers, is entering the third year of his three-year deal.)
Ardmore's MilkBoy Recording has a Grammy connection. Two tracks from Usher's Grammy-winning Raymond V Raymond album ("Guilty" and "Okay") were mixed there. Ian Cross, Tim Sonnefeld, Joe Gallagher, and Karl Petersen got credits.
The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia flashed back to 1967 at the group's monthly meeting Wednesday at Bala Golf Club. Some of the founders of album-oriented rock radio gathered to reminisce, including Rod Carson, the WDAS-FM jock from Hyski's Underground; T. Morgan of the old WIFI; Kal Rudman, founder of Friday Morning Quarterback; Michael Tearson, who was on WMMR back then; Bill Vitka, WMMR's first news director; and for good measure, singer Annie Haslam of Renaissance.
Lion ayes
The lion sculptures at the Philadelphia Zoo's main entrance will be covered in a bright yellow tarp starting Tuesday as part of a collaboration between the zoo and the National Geographic Society. The disappearing act is to call attention to the steep decline in the world's lion population. The sculptures will be reintroduced in a ceremony Feb. 28. This will coincide with a new National Geographic Entertainment documentary,
The Last Lions, which will open March 4 at the Ritz Five. The zoo has a pride of four lions - three females and a male.
Dogged
Eagles tight end
Brent Celek and his wife,
Susie, are in the doghouse with their South Philly condo association over their Bernese mountain dog, Bruiser - a no-no under the rules. The association's suit, filed in Common Pleas Court and first reported by eagle-eyed Courthouse News Service reporter
Reuben Kramer, alleges that the dog has caused damage to the development's common area. Celek's agent did not return a request for comment. A source close to Celek says Celek got Bruiser for protection last spring after break-ins in the neighborhood, choosing a dog because Eagles are not permitted to own guns. (Bernese mountain dogs, though, are more likely to lick than bite a prowler.) The Celeks went before the board to air their "bone of contention" - as association attorney
Wally Zimolong put it - arguing that Bruiser (spelled "Brusier" in the filing) should be allowed as a service dog to assist Susie Celek. Zimolong counters that she does kickboxing and has no disability. "This is not an anti-dog thing," says Zimolong, who owns two. "If you want a dog, you can't live in the community."
The circuit
To explain
William Shatner's recent trek to Philly: He is a partner in MyOuterspace, a sci-fi digital media and entertainment company founded with local automobile entrepreneur
Carlos Hoz de Vila, producer
Samuel Ortiti, and media mogul
Barry Layne. They were talking up investors Thursday over dinner at Del Frisco's in Center City.
Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and his wife, Bhavna, enjoying Valentine's dinner at the Japanese restaurant Zama near Rittenhouse Square, did some celeb spotting of their own. Their order included the Winston Justice "Justice for All" roll and the Ryan Madson "Mad Dog" roll; proceeds from each athlete's dish go to charity. Their server made out just fine, too, as the couple tipped 40 percent.
NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, visiting last week to speak at the William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs and to screen his film On the Shoulders of Giants, asked his driver to stop at the Wells Fargo Center on the way to the airport. To get a better look at the Spectrum demolition? No. As HughE Dillon of PhillyChitChat.com observed, Abdul-Jabbar posed for photos next to the Wilt Chamberlain statue. (Time has healed Abdul-Jabbar's dislike of his onetime rival, the pride of Overbrook High. In his 1990 memoir, he called Chamberlain a "crybaby and a quitter.")
Overbrook Park-bred actor Seth Green told Maxim how he'd like to spend his last day on earth: "Either peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, or flung from a massive slingshot into a helicopter."
Contact columnist Michael Klein at mklein@phillynews.com. Follow his blog at http://go.philly.com/insider and on Twitter @phillyinsider.
