Inqlings | Dancing with . . . a local guy
Brian Fortuna's dance card is full: ABC announced yesterday that the Haddon Heights-er will partner with Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey on the next season of the ABC series Dancing With the Stars.
Brian Fortuna's
dance card is full: ABC announced yesterday that the Haddon Heights-er will partner with Miss USA 2004
Shandi Finnessey
on the next season of the ABC series
Dancing With the Stars
.
Fortuna, 24, a Camden Catholic grad now holed up in rehearsal in anticipation of the show's March 19 season premiere, has been part of Dancing's road show. He teaches private classes out of Universal Dance Center in Collingswood, owned by his mother, Sandra.
Finnessey, 28, regularly turns up to cohost the game shows Lingo and Playmania on cable outlet GSN.
It's shaping up to be a tall fourth season for Dancing. Fortuna is 6-foot-1, two inches above Finnessey in flats.
Sandra Fortuna calls her son a "born entertainer" who started dancing seriously as a 14-year-old.
"It's nice for any parent for a child to go into the family business," she says. Not that the field that Brian's dad is in is that far off: Andy Fortuna is a podiatrist.
Media activity
Moving trucks are expected any day outside the KYW building at Fifth and Market Streets. First out the door will be KYW Newsradio (1060), heading a block east into suites at 400 Market St. WYSP (94.1) will follow. Both are expected to be completely resettled by March 16. Sister TV stations CBS3 and CW57 hope to move into new space in the former SmithKline building at 1500 Spring Garden St. by the end of March. (So much for the stroll-of-a-commute for CBS3's Washington Square residents such as
Alycia Lane
and
Marc Howard
.) The KYW building will be leveled to make way for a new home for the National Museum of American Jewish History, due to open in 2010.
Terry Gross' Fresh Air, done out of WHYY (90.9), is a hit as a free podcast. National Public Radio recently started offering the 10 most recent episodes online each weeknight at 10:30, and Fresh Air is duking it out with A Prairie Home Companion as NPR's most downloaded show. Address is www.NPR.org/podcast.
The carnival life
Sunday marks the 30th annual Flyers Wives Fight for Lives Carnival, and for the 30th time, the Cunard family of South Jersey will be the clown act. The back story: In 1977, organizers hired
Al Cunard
, who'd begun a clown act with his wife,
Linda
, in 1962 with the Almonesson Lake Fire Company at a state firefighters convention. When Cunard showed up that first time at the Spectrum, he learned it was a fund-raiser and ripped up the check. He and his family have never taken a dime. The carnival, 1:30 to 6 p.m. at the Wachovia Center, will be televised over Comcast SportsNet from 4 to 6 p.m. By the way, the Flyers are saying
Mike Knuble
has every intention of showing up - though he probably won't be a pretty sight. On Wednesday, he had surgery to fix fractures of his right cheekbone and orbital bone. His wife,
Megan
, is one of the carnival's organizers.
Political notes
Campaign strategist/Democratic fund-raiser
Terry McAuliffe
will read from his memoir
What a Party!
at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Friends Select School (17th Street and the Parkway). Free to watch; Joseph Fox Bookstore will sell copies on site.
Gov. Rendell
, a longtime beneficiary of McAuliffe's work, will introduce him.
The political watchdog group Committee of Seventy plans to put on the dog and honor a nationally famous good-government type this fall. President Zack Stalberg says a panel is convening to set up a gala to raise funds and awareness. It's believed to be a first for the low-key Seventy. The group also needs to pick the honoree, says Stalberg, adding that those with suggestions can call 215-557-3600. (Oh, no, you didn't just say "Milton Street.")