Archive: October, 2008
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Tabloids have been dancing around the issue of a romance between onetime reality stars Carrie Underwood (American Idol) and Travis Stork (The Bachelor: Paris). From the looks of things Monday night at Parc on Rittenhouse Square (patting on back, toasts, hand-holding...), sparks are flying.
They just happened to end up in Philly together. Underwood, 25, performed Sunday at the Liacouras Center. Stork, 36, an ER doc, emerged from the Sofitel on Monday morning to do interviews in support of The Doctors, the medical talk show that airs weekdays at 3 p.m. on CBS3.
At Parc Monday night, a patron in a birthday party got a rise out of Underwood, who joined in singing "Happy Birthday."
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Michael Klein, Philly.com
As construction proceeds 24/7 at Del Frisco's Double Eagle, the mammoth steakhouse at 15th and Chestnut Streets, GM Shang Skipper tells me that the first night will be Nov. 25. Lunch will begin the following week.
In other steakhouse openings: Butcher & Singer is up for Monday (10/27) at the former Striped Bass (15th and Walnut Streets) and Union Trust has early February penciled in at 717 Chestnut.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Brandy Bell, reporter/producer for Philly.com and a CBS3 alumna, says her boyfriend, Tom Truskey, popped the question Sunday at Morris Arboretum. He stopped in a rock garden, got down on one knee and offered up a rather blinding rock. Bell, 32, and Truskey, 44, who works with his family's mechanical-contracting company, have been a couple for a year. She's planning a September wedding.Michael Klein, Philly.com
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Director Frank Darabont bailed from Law Abiding Citizen, a legal thriller that will start shooting in Philly in December with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx.
Producers now confirm that F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, plus many videos) will step in. Gray is due in town late Sunday night. After this shoot wraps, Gray is supposed to shoot a biopic of Marvin Gaye.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Michael Klein, Philly.com
In a three-part series starting Sunday (10/19) on the 11 p.m. news, NBC10 morning anchor Terry Ruggles will talk about his battle with testicular cancer. This is a story without a clear ending.
Ruggles, who has worked for WCAU for 34 of his 62 years, told me that he discovered a lump late this summer while showering. "I knew what it is," he said. "What else can it be? It came out of nowhere." He went to the urologist, who sent him for an ultrasound. "When the tech came in with the doctor, I knew I was in trouble. 'Mr. Ruggles, you have a half an inch mass in your left testicle.'"
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Michael Smerconish lit up the phone lines and filled his in-box this morning at his WPHT show with word that he's planning to vote for Barack Obama -- marking the first time since he registered to vote 28 years ago that he'll pull the Democrat lever for president.
He'll explain all in his Sunday column in The Inquirer's Currents section -- as much as he can do in 750 words. The intro reads: "John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote."
In a chat this afternoon, Smerconish acknowledged that most of the callers and e-mails were scathing, capping months of criticism that began when Smerconish invited Obama to speak on the air. "They never wanted me to welcome Obama in the first place," he said. In the spring, Smerconish announced that if he were a Democrat, he'd prefer Obama over Hillary Clinton.
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Take your pick of auditions.
The Food Network will be at the Embassy Suites Hotel on the Parkway to scout out contestants for The Next Food Network Star. (Will lightning strike again for localites? Last season's winner, Aaron McCargo Jr., is from Camden, and runner-up Adam Gertler of Philly got his own show.) Producers will be here Oct. 29. See info here.
Playboy will be in Philly Oct. 28-29 to audition prospective models at an undisclosed location. (It's a Center City hotel.) Playboy says it gets about 30 women an hour at its casting calls. Besides photogs, Playboy will bring in models Shelly Riley and Mary Alejo. (You Google them; this is a family site.) Info for the casting call, which costs $49.95, is here.
