Inqlings | Not staying in Vegas - new Manilow tour to open here?

If Internet chatter among Fanilows is true,

Barry Manilow

is not only going to hit the stage but start a short national tour at Philly's Wachovia Center.

Expect the announcement tomorrow morning - fittingly, at the Copabanana on South Street, where the concert date (Sept. 8) and tickets-on-sale date (still secret) will be spilled.

Manilow, whose new hips must be working fine, has been set up on a permanent status at the Las Vegas Hilton. Both Barbra Streisand and The Who opened their tours last fall at the Wachovia Center.

The Wynnewood neighborhood of chef

Guillermo Pernot

was rattled shortly after 8 o'clock Saturday morning last weekend by the chants of nine activists protesting the foie gras served at Pif restaurant in South Philadelphia.

The protesters stood on Pernot's lawn. They chanted, waved banners and stuck flyers, branding Pernot a murderer, into his neighbors' mailboxes. A Lower Merion police official said the protesters were told that they were too loud that early in the morning. They left.

A big "however": Pernot does not work - and never has worked - at Pif. He's consulting chef at Cuba Libre and never has served foie gras, the controversial duck-liver dish. Pif, whose last day in business was yesterday, was owned by David Ansill, who's run afoul of protesters because he did serve it and still does at his other restaurant, Ansill.

This foie gras faux pas illustrates a rivalry in animal-rights land. Nick Cooney of Hugs for Puppies said Friday that the protest was the work of Philadelphia Advocates for the Animals. He said PAFA had received bad intel. Asked for comment, Christopher Semick of PAFA said it was Cooney who had tried to "throw us under the bus" by force-feeding "his unfounded research" to other activists.

"What happened at Mr. Pernot's home is an embarrassment and is going to do nothing but hinder the achievement of our goal," Semick said by e-mail.

Bill Weston

, WMMR's program director, spent part of Friday's

Preston & Steve

morning show in the back of a squad car. In anticipation of the Phillies' 10,000th franchise loss, sidekick

Nick McIlwain

rolled 10,000 marbles down the Art Museum steps. Without a permit. (Yes, it's a radio show. Video is at

» READ MORE: www.prestonandsteve.com

.) Weston was freed as interns picked up the marbles, which were bought Thursday in packages of 100 at the 5 Below store in Ardmore in a scene straight out of

Animal House

. (The one in which a trench-coated Flounder asked: "May I have 10,000 marbles, please?") The marbles will be given to Toys for Tots and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Weston says.

Voorhees'

Rocco Fiorentino

, 10, won cheers Monday night at the NYC jazz club Birdland when he sang at

Jim Caruso

's "Cast Party" accompanied by pianist

Billy Stritch

. Rocco, who is blind (and may be the youngest to croon at Caruso's star-studded cabaret nights), sang "All of Me" followed by "Fly Me to the Moon." Caruso's e-mail follow-up to friends and fans read: "Rocco sings like a bird, has perfect pitch, plays piano and drums . . . and has been blind since birth. You can't know how he captivated the crowd at Birdland. He made a very entertaining night extra-special, and we can't thank him enough." Rocco also is spokesman for the nonprofit Little Rock Foundation, which supports other blind or visually impaired kids.

6ABC sports guy

Gary Papa

- explaining his thinning hair - announced Friday that he had begun a second round of chemotherapy for prostate cancer, first diagnosed in 2003. Papa, 52, emotionally thanked his colleagues, his wife and two kids for their support. "At least for a couple of months, there's someone here who has less hair than I do," quipped anchor

Jim Gardner

.

Victoria Rowell, formerly Drucilla on The Young and the Restless, was at CBS3 recently promoting her book about foster care, The Women Who Raised Me. The station put her in touch with the Central Library of the Free Library, which has booked her at noon Tuesday for a free appearance. Rowell, raised in foster care for 18 years, founded the Rowell Foster Children Positive Plan.

Hipper-than-thou Clinton Kelly and Stacy London of TLC's What Not to Wear embarrassed student Annie Prewitt on the deck of the battleship New Jersey a couple of weeks ago. The makeover is expected to be on in six to eight weeks.

Imagine being a mascot during a heat wave. While distributing 300 fans (purchased and donated by Comcast-Spectacor) at the Philadelphia Senior Center, Phantoms mascot Phlex pulled one out of the box, plugged it in, and mounted it on a chair to stay comfortable. No real effect, says Mike Hart, Phlex's "personal assistant." When it's 90 degrees at a promotional event, Hart says, it's close to 110 inside the suit. But, he says, "one kid's smile makes it all worthwhile."