A three-hankie encounter

Loosely Speaking by Nancy Gaines

No one in Newbury Street boutique Fresh recognized the Saturday-afternoon shopper stocking up on the sugar bath cubes until one twentysomething customer let out a howl. The face looked tired but unmistakably belonged to Carly Simon, who a few months ago purchased an in-town place on Beacon Hill to complement her Vineyard spread, which has been up for sale. Upon spotting Simon, who's battling breast cancer, the nearly overcome female fan burst into tears. Smiling, Simon gave her a hug -- "which was so sweet it almost made me cry," said another shopper -- before asking directions to the nearest Bread & Circus.

Filmdom's Dark Harbor has local anchors, seeks port Filmmaker Adam Coleman Howard's Dark Harbor, far from the pablum doled out by his famous grandmother, Ann Landers, serves up plenty of disturbing plots and twists. The psychological thriller earned raves at this year's film festivals in Seattle and the Hamptons. Howard, 32, a product of New England prep schools and Amherst College (where he dropped out to pursue an acting career), starred opposite Bernadette Peters in the underwhelming Slaves of New York before making DeadGirl in 1995. Though still unreleased (it's about necrophilia), Howard's first effort was sufficiently provocative to lure Val Kilmer, Amanda Plummer, and Emily Lloyd to take small parts in it for next to nothing. It stars Anne Parillaud (La Femme Nikita), who at that time was Howard's lady love. Filmed in Maine, Dark Harbor is about a Boston couple trapped in a suspenseful love/violence triangle. The producers have secured European distribution rights and are negotiating for US release, having turned down a Miramax feeler early on. Nonetheless, Harbor (which reviewers called "daring . . . complex . . . chillingly effective") may go straight to cable here, even though the buzz compares it to Dead Calm, which launched Nicole Kidman and became an indie classic. It stars Alan Rickman, newcomer Norman Reedus, and Polly Walker (of Enchanted April, and Howard's current significant other). Auteur Howard doesn't like to talk about things personal but has media in his blood, more or less. Besides his relation to Grandma Ann (and great-aunt Dear Abby), his mother is Margo Howard, a Cambridge writer who was previously wed to White Shadow Ken Howard, whose surname Adam adopted. While in his 20s, Adam, a serious young-man-about-town once linked with Calista Flockhart, lived with Gwyneth Paltrow, whose father, Bruce, produced Ken Howard's TV series. Gwynnie, as we know, has now hooked up with Ben Affleck, who grew up blocks from Margo and Ken. And Affleck, as it happens, is soon to appear in Forces of Nature with Primary Colors' Maura Tierney, who grew up in Hyde Park.

Guess that day was a sub-zero

After 25 years as a fixture on Boston radio, Darrell Martinie, the Cosmic Muffin, will be tracking the stars elsewhere. WZLX general manager Gerry Charm gave Martinie his walking papers a month ago, although word was kept mum. Martinie started with WBCN in 1973 and quickly developed a national following, reaching some 6 million listeners with his smart-but-silly astrological notions, trademarked by ranking every day and night from 1 to 10. After stints at WCOZ and WBOS, he returned to 'BCN, then sojourned with Charles Laquidara two years ago to 'ZLX. Relations with Charm were strained from the start, says Martinie, but the ax fell, he says, after he inadvertently neglected to say hello to Charm one day. Martinie will maintain his Internet sites and will be heard on Portland (Maine) and LA stations. He says he's also writing a book, Life Is Not That Complicated, with chapters including "Venus Is the Goddess of Love, But Remember, in Tennis Love Means No Points Scored."

Native intelligence

No, that wasn't a scene from a movie-being-made-in-Boston on Newbury Street, although startled, jostled shoppers at first thought so. The recent sight of security guard Bob Dionne chasing two culprits who'd had a five-finger shopping spree at Coach and French Connection was real-life and not at all pleasant for one alleged thief, whom Dionne nabbed in Louis's parking lot, retrieving all the goods. . . . From the "dog bites man" folder: after Doug Flutie's first loss as a starter for the Buffalo Bills, the Globe dispatched a reporter to find out whether fans had turned on the quarterback. "Everything indicates that Flutie is still beloved," the writer found, suggesting a kind of loyalty that, in Boston, would be newsworthy indeed. . . . Gossip lines in New York remain atwitter over the prospect of former Boston top cop Bill Bratton, now split from wife Cheryl Fiandaca, readying to wed ex-Bostonian Rikki Kleiman of Court TV, whom he's introducing as his fiancée. Bratton is also said to be gearing up for a mayoral run in the Apple in 2001. So Rikki could be Donna Hanover?