The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 36

B8 LivingArts The Boston Globe MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2 003 Names Carol Beggy Mark Shanahan For Lou Reed, it's meat and greet; feeling at home in the Hamptons mil Ciif' GLOBE PHOTOSBILL BRETT HEALTHY TURNOUT The Boston Medical Center's seventh annual gala at the World Trade Center in Boston Saturday night drew 1,100 people and raised more than $1.25 million. Shown above is the event's cochair, the Rev. Dr. Ray Hammond of Roxbury, pastor of the Bethel African Methodist Church, and his wife, the Rev. Gloria White-Hammond.

And that's Boston Medical Center board chairman Marshall Carter and wife Missy (above right), who recently donated $5 million to support the center's proposed J. Joseph Moakley Medical Services Building. Boston Magazine's newly minted "Most Wanted Singles" use the car for the night, beginning with a donated dinner at Davio's Also spotted at Davio's Thursday night was Fidelity financial guru Peter Lynch. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT A runner-up two years ago, 23-year-old Melissa Silva of Fall River was selected Miss Massachusetts at a competition Saturday night in her hometown. Silva, who graduated from Rhode Island College with a degree in theater performance, was chosen from among 22 women at the Arts Center at Bristol Community College in Fall River.

Shell compete at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in September. Runners-up included Erika Natalie Ebbel, a senior at MIT; Miss Cambridge, Mo-nique Ashli Jones; Miss Middlesex County, Jaclyn Mullavey; and UMass graduate Alison Cze-lusniak. TOPS IN THE SOUTH END Several members of the Turner Construction team working at the Atelier 505 construction site in the South End traded in their hard hats for chef's hats and aprons the other day when they manned the grill for a celebratory barbecue marking the steel topping of the Atelier 505 building. Among the crew members flipping burgers were Gino Cuttone and Chris McCarthy. Less than a year after breaking ground, the construction team has installed 3,000 tons of steel.

The building, which has already sold 60 percent of its units, we're told, is scheduled to be completed in June 2004. WALK ON THE MILD SIDE Before his show at the Orpheum Saturday night, Lou Reed stopped by Newbury Comics in Harvard Square to greet fans and sign everything from cigarette packs to "copies of "NYC Man: The Collection," his new, career-spanning "two-CD set The famously grumpy songwriter was in good spirits, especially after wolfing down a medium-rare burger (no bun, just ketchup and onion) from Mr. Bartles Burger Cottage. "I feel ,,100 percent better," he said, before dispatching an assistant to get another. Clad in his signature black leather jacket, jeans, and T-shirt, the 61-year-old Reed was gratified to see so many young faces in the crowd.

"That kid looks like he's out of a James Cagney movie," he murmured before asking 14-year-old Nik Nemkov of rWeston to pose for a photo. gees from Reed's past also came by, among them Patrick Fleming, who was in four Andy Warhol films and partied with the Velvet "Underground. "I havent talked to Jx)u in a coon's age," said Fleming, who's lived for many years in "We used to stay up for days, hanging out at Max's Kansas City." For Reed, once one of the music business's most noto- rious junkies, those days have long since ended. He's clean, sober, and apparently committed to high-protein diet Polishing off his second medium-rare burger, Reed smiled. "I'm in unusually good form," he said.

CAPITALE GAINS Looks like Ca-' pitale, a cavernous event space and nightclub in a former bank on the Bowery in New York City, is making its two co-owners good -money. David Marvesi and Bos-fjton club guy turned New York im- Hpresario Seth Greenberg have purchased Southampton homes Jor more than $1 million apiece. Blakely. "If a little embarrassing when you know you're not performing on a level you know you should be." Wein is the CEO of Festival Productions, which also puts on the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, and music events worldwide. The Weins met when he was a BU student he was class of 1950 and she was at Simmons College.

NICE RIDE On Thursday night in Park Square, the valet area of Da-vio's was attracting more than a little attention. That's because car biggie Herb Chambers was dining there, and he'd brought with him a Mercedes-Benz Maybach, the new custom-made car that costs between $300,000 and $1 million depending on the bells and whistles. (The one outside Da-vio's had solar panels to operate the car's refrigerator and satellite TV system.) Chambers was letting 1 fore he begins writing, and he wants a historian to help him." These informal one-on-one chats, for which Widmer is being paid, typically last a few hours and take place either at Clinton's house in Chappaqua or at his office in Harlem. When they're done, Widmer, who grew up in Rhode Island, attended Harvard, and still owns a house in Central Square, flies back to suburban Maryland, where he's a history professor at Washington College. "I'm just someone who loves history, and so is he." NO BOCH-ING AT THIS DONATION The Boch Center for the Performing Arts in Mashpee has gotten (another) boost from the people it's named for.

Founding donors Ernie and Barbara Boch have added $500,000 to their initial commitment of $2.6 million, setting the stage (if you will) for the center to break ground this 4 1 Party Lines Globe Photos by Bill Brett The sweet sound of gratitude Names can be reached at namesglobe.com or at 617-929-8253. i if John and Cyndy Fish of Milton. 4 If it. 'V Two thousand guests attended the 22d annual Presidents at Pops celebration Wednesday night. The event gives the Boston Symphony Orchestra a chance to recognize and thank community business leaders who have lent their support to both the BSO and the Pops.

Guests enjoyed a preconcert reception and then a performance by the Pops at Symphony Hall. The event raised $800,000 which helps fund the BSO's free concerts. Tim DeLaughter, Polyphonic Spree lead singer and mastermind, directed Saturday's show with messianic glee. The Spree weaves it magic with glee fall. The Bochs' most recent gift brings the center to nearly 90 percent of the funds needed to pay for the first phase of construction, which includes a year-round theater for 900 people.

When completed, the theater would be the largest stage on Cape Cod. TAKING CENTER STAGE The founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, George Wein, and his wife, Joyce, are giving $1 million to Boston University to create the George and Joyce Wein Endowment in African American Studies. The gift will be announced at a ceremony Thursday to be attended by BU chancellor John Silber; professor Ronald Richardson, director of the African American Studies Program; and professor Allison Blakely, wholl be occupying the George Wein Chair. "The timing is perfect because we're in a mode where we're trying to raise our visibility," said 1 j. NEW YORK TIMES FILE PHOTO The Polyphonic Spree At: the Paradise, Saturday beautiful, but the concert is a happening, and Spree is being received like manna from heaven by jaded indie-rock denizens.

At the Paradise they soaked in the group's gigantic shiny sounds with the fervor of fresh converts. Spree maimind, singer, and spiritual lightning rod Tim DeLaughter a prophetic or well-chosen surname indeed orchestrated the proceedings with messianic glee. Lifted up on sweet, majestic tides of strings and horns, electric guitars and piccolo, voices and tambourines, and two sets of drums, DeLaughter glided around the crowded stage singing into the tiny microphone clipped onto the trombone's edge, bending over a few bodies to run his fingers across the harp's strings, smiling constantly and blissfully, and sounding like Wayne Coyne of the Earning Lips starring in a stoner production of "Godspell." It's a trip to watch, but above and beyond the eye candy the Polyphonic Spree's music is as complex in composition and arrangement as the message is simple and clear. There are about 18 unabashedly beautiful things going on at once a genuine embarrassment of riches that anoints the believers and probably annoys everyone else. Determined skeptics are advised to keep their distance: The good vibrations are highly contagious.

Joan Anderman can be reached at andermanglobefiom. Greenberg tells New York Magazine's Marc Malkin in the edition that hits stands today: "I was like, 'I'm going to buy one' and David was like, 'If you're getting one, I'm going to get Perhaps they got a package deal. LIVING IN THE PAST Boston rocker turned presidential speech-writer Ted Widmer has to update his resume yet again. Widmer, or "Lord Rockingham" as he was known in Upper Crust (remember them? the dudes who played power pop in ruffled shirts, powdered wigs, and is working with Bill Clinton on his memoirs. Once a month or so, the former president summons Widmer to New York to get this talk.

"We basically just sit and have long conversations about the history of that time," said Widmer, who was a foreign policy speechwriter during Clinton's last two years in office. "He's talking out his ideas be lilt IMIllMMinitlMIIHIIMHIIIMIIMM MIMM The winners Play: "Take Me Out" Musical: "Hairspray" Revival-play: "Long Day's Journey Into Night" Revival-musical: "Nine" Book of a musical: "Hairspray," Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan Original score: "Hairspray," music, Marc Shaiman; lyrics, Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman Actor-musical: Harvey Fierstein, "Hairspray" Actress-musical: Marissa Jaret Winokur, "Hairspray" Featured actor-musical: Dick Latessa, "Hairspray" Featured actress-musical: Jane Krakowski, "Nine" Actor-piay: Brian Dennehy, "Long Day's Journey Into Night" Actress-play: Vanessa Redgrave, "Long Day's Journey Into Night" Featured actor-play: Denis O'Hare, 'Take Me Out" Featured actress-play: Michele Pawk, "Hollywood Arms" Direction of a musical: Jack O'Brien, "Hairspray" Direction of a play: Joe Mantello, 'Take Me Out" Scenic design: Catherine Martin, "La Boheme" Costume design: William Ivey Long, "Hairspray" Lighting design: Nigel Levings, "La Boheme" Choreography: Twyla Tharp, "Movin' Out" Orchestrations: Billy Joel and Stuart Malina, "Movin' Out" Special theatrical event: "Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway" Special awards: Cy Feuer, Paul Huntley, the principal ensemble of "La Boheme," Johnson-Liff Casting Associates, The Acting Company Regional theater: The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis Oz." Joel opened the show with a low-wattage "New York State of Mind" from Times Square. Joel and Stuart Malina did deserve the award for orchestration for "Movin' Out," as did Twyla Tharp for her choreography of Joel's music "Movin' Out," along with "Hairspray" and "Def Poetry Jam," are all coming to Boston next season. The Tonys also tried to embrace a different kind of otherness by inviting on people who had next to nothing to do with the theater, such as Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters. At least they didn't sing.

Ed Siegel can be reached at siegeglobe.com. I Little drama as favorites take Tonys TONY AWARDS Continued from Page B7 baseball superstar. The extra on the "Hairspray" win-Miers were hardly a hindrance in Jtheir competition with more actors such as Peters and jAntonio Banderas. "Russell Sim-, mons' Def Poetry Jam on Broad-; way" celebrated other-ness in i (even when the poets re- "jected the term). Matthew Broder--.

ick and Sarah Jessica Parker also came out of the closet, admitting they were both geeks. Infidelity was never as inevita- T)le as when Jane Krakowski made presence felt in "Nine," and she won a deserved Tony as best featured actress. She and Red- -grave were particularly gracious in victory. Many of the winners' at--f tempts at humor and hipness fell 5 'flat, except for Fierstein sure tglad this isnt a beauty contest I i (want to have your I The best production number wasn't from any of the traditional musicals, but from "La Boheme," which was re-choreographed for all three rotating casts of the Baz Luhrmann's imaginative staging of the opera as a Broadway ishow captured three awards (en-lemble, set, lighting). Peters "showed why she should have won the best actress Tony for her re-J making the role of Momma Rose 1 in "Gypsy." Brian Stokes Mitchell's Dream" made you al-f jmost want to see "Man of La Man-J jcha." Host Hugh Jackman narrat-iicd a touching tribute to Al jHirschfeld, who died just short of -'his 100th birthday this year.

2 1 Jackman turned out to be an uninspired choice as host. He did make it evident, though, on just 4 "the opening bars of the Bernstein-Comden-Green "New York, New 1 York," what a fine singer he is. He starred as Curly in "Oklahoma" in 3 England and is coming to Broad- way next season in "The Boy From -vJT) 42349003 4 Happy Mirthday to youl hi A 1 By Joan Anderman GLOBE STAFF Now we know what happened to the French-horn player in school band who couldn't march in a straight line. He MUSIC wag onstage at the Review Paradise Saturday banging his head between glissandos. So were the soprano who got kicked out of choir for streaking her hair and the scruffy blond kid who didnt even try out.

He was the one holding his microphone up to the red and blue lights above the stage, presumably to see if he could add a little color to the music. It's just that sort of attention to otherworldly detail that makes the Texas-based, 24-member choral symphonic pop band Polyphonic Spree a visual and sonic taste sensation. Dressed in flowing white robes, the guys all looked like Jesus and the girls were alternative angels. An eight-member choir po-goed in time to celestial hooks. The brass section was barefoot.

Two dozen faces glistened with the sort of ecstatic joy usually associated with religious fanaticism or psychedelic drugs, but if you buy the Spree's lyrics variations on a theme of positivity ranging from "Follow the day and reach for the sun" to Celebrate and soon youU find the wonder" this delightful and delighted group of musicians is quite possibly high on life. The live Spree experience is altogether different from listening to the group's 2001 debut, "The Beginning Stages of which was reissued in the United States last year only after becoming a sensation jn Britain. The record is lrr Miiiiiiiiniiini rim-i i mu mw-mtmnKmmmmmimmtmmmnmmm From left: Kathy Smith of Southborough, Michael Pelzar of Boston, Julie Mallane of Charlestown, and Seleste Jankovich ofNorthborough. 1 Event chairman Bob Popeo (left) of Needham and Bob Davis of.