Kiana Marie gets a little more time to show her stuff

Beyonce's two-second Minnesota co-star in the concert version of the "Single Ladies" video, Kiana Marie, below, had her first big singing gig this week, and an "American Idol" alum was there.

Paris Bennett was in the front row of Monday's sold-out event at the Lab Theater. Paul Douglas, founder and CEO of WeatherNation and famed former TV meteorologist, went as my guest at Kiana Marie's request. He's her all-time favorite media person.

Kiana Marie's band included keyboardist and musical director Tyson Williams (remember this name), sax player Willie Moore, and bass guitarist Dan Ristrom, whose band is The Big Throwdown. Singer Cameron Lewis and Tina Flewellyn, of Hype Dance Troupe, were among the warmup acts.

Kiana Marie opened with "Single Ladies," then paid tribute to Michael Jackson and sang a terrific song she wrote, "Reality Check." Very solid lyrics chiding an ex-boyfriend for immature ways.

Kiana Marie's cousin, Dale Topps, was threatening to bring tomatoes to the show. While leaving, Topps, who bore no fruit, said Kiana Marie had done a good job.

Paris, Paris, Paris. Princess P was pretending not to see me. She knows she owes me an apology, but I'm not holding my breath -- she thinks she's royalty. While Bennett couldn't see me, I could hear her. "Are you gonna really come to New York? You gonna come to all my shows?" she asked a young man. You can overhear it, too, at startribune.com/video. This may explain some gossip a source has promised to give me at a later date about a Twin Citian appearing in the Broadway production of "Shrek."

Kirk the jokester

By now, director Wyatt McDill is surely accustomed to the abuse flowing from the lips of his Children's Theatre Co. chum, Justin Kirk, right, the "Weeds" star.

Kirk, who plays Uncle Andy on "Weeds," was nominated for an Emmy for his work in "Angels in America" and is currently the lead in "The Understudy" at the Roundabout in NYC. He was back in town Monday at Nick & Eddie to press the flesh with potential investors in McDill's next indie project, "Pinky's Buffet." It's about a delusional fellow who's proceeding with preparations for a TV series and a wedding, despite both having been canceled.

Reflecting on their work in a previous project, Kirk said, "When Wyatt first asked me to do 'Four Boxes,' I was worried that the endless hours that I spent watching him as an 11-year-old in tights juggling at the Renaissance Festival would make it difficult to take direction. In fact, I ended up using that image a lot when I was angry with him." From the background, McDill responded: "That never happened." Kirk conceded that, saying, "But it still got a laugh, so what the heck."

What a verbal prankster. Google his name and Alanis Morissette's and you'll find an eonline.com story in which he said, "Well, she's a monster in real life." That crack inspired the headline, despite the fact that Kirk retracted it in the next sentence.

McDill thinks this movie could be a cult hit if there is the expected turnout by the fan bases of Kirk and Twilight Hours, who are doing the soundtrack. Twilight Hours' Matt Wilson and John Munson, both formerly of Trip Shakespeare, performed at the gathering and were largely ignored by the crowd, chattering rudely.

McDill gave the crowd a little insight into the pressure of producing interesting movie trailers. How about a trailer around Kirk's bedroom eyes and lush lashes, which he humorously explains at startribune.com/video.

Inside ESPN

"ESPN the Company: The Story and Lessons Behind the Most Fanatical Brand in Sports," contains none of the juiciness of the scandal that's prompted two firings, one trip to sex rehab and plenty of action at deadspin.com, which has been chronicling other alleged escapades.

I asked the book's St. Paul co-writer, Keith Hollihan, to tell me the raciest thing in its 232 pages. "The sexiest thing in my book? Oh, I wish I could do this for you," said Hollihan. "It's not that kind of gossipy book. That's the sequel." Don't tease. "This is a book that is very business-oriented: How they did it. The nitty-gritty stuff is interesting in that it was more of a hard scramble than people always get the picture of when they look at a business starting up. But the lifestyles of the sportscasters and the athletes and the producers are just not part of it, unfortunately."

Somewhere, someone is surely planning to make a movie out of former baseball analyst Steve Phillips' affair with production assistant Brooke Hundley, which is worthy of ESPN "Outside the Lines" treatment.

AP's revealing scream

My boys on ESPN's "PTI" finally took note Tuesday of that hit Viking Adrian Peterson, right, laid on Steeler William Gay under the two-minute mark on Sunday. But "PTI" missed the atavistic screams that Peterson released after being tackled.

It's official: Peterson is a beast. However, he's so otherwise engaging that I've decided to call him the "Sweet Beast," which will be the title of any portrait I'm inspired to paint of him.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on Fox 9 Thursday mornings.