Dirty tricksters decorate DA's office

Loosely Speaking by Nancy Gaines

In a tasty case of playground payback, newly elected Norfolk County district attorney Bill Keating, upon taking possession of his new quarters, angrily ripped off the wall a picture of onetime DA Bill Delahunt. Keating, a former state senator who defeated incumbent Jeffrey Locke -- who filled the DA seat vacated when Delahunt was elected to Congress in 1996 -- was ostensibly pissed because Delahunt had been lukewarm to his campaign. At least that was the story according to the Herald's "Pols and Politics" column of January 17.

Hopper: Angel with a dirty face "Working with him was quite a trip," says William Gove, diplomatically describing the just-completed making of his first feature film, Michaelangel, starring Dennis Hopper. Gove, who'd owned the Shooting Gallery production company in Boston, wrote and directed the movie, in which Hopper plays an abstract painter. Shot in Puerto Rico, the film also stars Richard Grieco; foreign rights have been sold, and domestic distribution is in negotiation. "Hopper was terrific," says Gove, 42, who now divides his time between Los Angeles and Boston, "and I was extremely lucky to get him. He's an art aficionado and became interested in the script because it deals with the art world, which he knows a lot about. He also knows a lot, obviously, about filmmaking. I mean, he's 63, he was one of the original members of the Actor's Studio. He's a perfectionist." Yes, at times they clashed. "Bitterly," admits Gove, recalling how he once attempted to use a double in rehearsing some sequences that would have required Hopper's "lying on the ground with a boot in his face for take after take. I thought, I shouldn't ask a star like him to do that. And he got furious at me. He screamed that he had to do everything, every shot, no substitutes. The real thing. 'This is what we fought against in the '50s,' he said. I got the point."

Problem was, it didn't happen that way. What did occur was even sillier.

Because of an ailing back, Keating, it seems, had been on the job but not in the office since being sworn in. Just before he arrived, his chief of staff, Jon Rutley, noticed the decidedly unflattering picture of Delahunt on the wall. He asked around and ascertained that it had been up for only a few days. Rutley called Keating, who told him to take it down, lest people think Keating had put it up -- to insult Delahunt. Which appears to have been the idea, given that the picture was signed by a "G. Liddy."

The rabbit's invisible again

Look for Harvey to disappear as Brian O'Neill assumes ownership of the South End restaurant Harvey's, which was a landmark in the 1970s as the St. Botolph and will soon operate under that name again. O'Neill and the Lyons Group recently ended their two-year partnership in the bistro, and O'Neill is making chef Tanya Holland his partner. Originally, O'Neill said, he renamed the place to avoid confusion with Botolph's on Tremont (now defunct) and the private St. Botolph Club. "I was going in front of the licensing board and had to come up with a name," he says, "and it was the weekend Jimmy Stewart died, so Harvey, which I loved, was on TV." In the classic 1950 film, Stewart plays a tippler who imagines a giant rabbit named Harvey. "But everyone seemed to have happy memories of the St. Botolph, so it seemed a good idea to change it back."

Lest one think that the restaurant was named simply after the street it happened to be on, the street itself was named to commemorate the person for whom the city is named. Botolph was a seventh-century English cleric who supposedly did miraculous things upon a certain stone in a Lincolnshire town whence came settlers to these shores. Say "Botolph stone" several times fast and you'll understand where "Boston" came from.

Others say Botolph was more likely the name of some big local landowner. Now that we understand.

Partying shot?

With both Bill Clinton and Al Gore due in town next week to fête outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Steve Grossman, the spin is that the occasion will also mark the announcement of "something big" -- like Boston's being selected as the site of the 2000 Democratic convention. Boston was never considered a front-runner, despite its being Grossman's hometown; nevertheless, his resignation in December was occasion for increased optimism in rival host cities Denver and Los Angeles. Grossman, in town earlier this week for an investment-fund dinner, is mum. Although most people believe Boston is a loser, one insider of our acquaintance says victory is damn near a sure thing. If he turns out to be right, we'll reveal his identity.

Lansdowne Street: Tunnel vision

As the not-necessarily-smart talk had it, a Master Plan existed to revolutionize the Lansdowne Street club empire: it would become an indoor mall. When Lansdowne impresario Patrick Lyons stopped laughing, he had one word for the Master Plan notion: "Nonsense." Lyons is willing only to speak gingerly of changes' being subject to lengthy bureaucratic processes. Nonetheless, some plans are afoot. They portend a combined Lansdowne Street Playhouse and Music Hall, a renovated Avalon (which hasn't been spiffed up in nine years) and expanded "Avaland," with perhaps a tunnel through the alley linking Axis to Karma, plus a revamped Bill's Bar. And, as one source put it, "the single biggest thing in the works: new bathrooms at Karma." Also, Robert Redford's Sundance Cinemas is likely to buy the Lansdowne Street parking garage at the top of the block. Massive renovation, though, is premature, especially in view of possible Red Sox plans to expand into the area. "Not that we know anything about that," says a phlegmatic Lyons, alluding to the reams of speculation and scant facts on the topic. "I guess what you can say we're creating is mystery. It works, eh?"

Rack drops kick

Anticipation was high -- in some quarters -- over reports that Paul Barclay planned to institutionalize the use of his waitresses as an attraction at his Quincy Market nightspot, the Rack. But word is Barclay scotched the launch of the "Rackettes" as part of his new entertainment focus, which includes adding a dance floor, lighting, and a sound stage at a cost of about $65,000. Radio DJ Vinny Peruzzi now hosts disco sounds on Saturday nights in a move to retain patrons who'd enjoyed the snazzy pool-hall ambiance but later decamped to dance clubs.