The question made Greg Kinnear check to make sure he wasn't being followed.

I wanted to know about this violin he apparently is considering buying for his daughter. Readers of Sunday's column item about Dahl Violin Shop owners Bob and Debbie Black know the probable source of this question, but Kinnear did not.

"Who've you been talking to, exactly?" Kinnear asked softly, as though he were playing the role of a kind inquisitor during a break in filming at MOA Ramada. "A violin, funny enough, plays a very big role in this movie," he said, referring to "The Convincer," the project he's filming in Minnesota along with Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Billy Crudup and Lea Thompson. "My 6-year-old is quite enamored with the violin. ... We were shooting at a shop where they sell them. This movie could end up costing me a lot of money. We'll see."

Readers can see Kinnear and Arkin at startribune.com/video.

Beth Biersdorf ran into Greg Kinnear twice on Saturday.

"Just the funniest thing," said Biersdorf, exec assistant to Greg LeMond, three-time winner of the Tour de France. She and some friends were at a Minneapolis burrito joint, where "Kinnear was sitting right next to us. So I went up behind him and said, 'Welcome to Minnesota.' He was gracious and said in a silky voice Thanks. Then we were at the W. I was dancing, because that's what I like to do, and then he came in and HAD to go by me because -- I was dancing backwards right into him, knowing he was there -- and swerved on by." Biersdorf said it didn't take long for Kinnear to be surrounded at W.

"What a nice guy," said a Manny's Steakhouse insider when asked about Kinnear's visit there Saturday night.

In other "Convincer" sightings, Billy Crudup seemed to favor the coffee at the IDS Starbucks. I'm not clear on whether Crudup has left town for good or whether he'll return to the set of the Jill and Karen Sprecher movie. The Sprecher sisters are from Wisconsin, but they are not related to the root beer brewery that shares their name.

Keep those celebrity-watching eyes peeled for Rochester native Lea Thompson, who's due in town to shoot her part in the movie, although the breakneck shooting schedule doesn't leave room for lots of hanging at burrito joints.

WCCO-TV's Esme Murphy remembered a column item from years ago about Darcy Pohland chasing down a fleeing interview subject.

The uncooperative subject looked exceeding silly for trying to escape questions from Pohland, who got around with the help of a wheelchair after a swimming pool injury. I wanted to revisit the details of that column item as we celebrate the life and journalistic career of Pohland, but I can't find it in our electronic library!

"Darcy was not at all self-conscious about her chair," said Scott Libin, WCCO-TV's news director. "To her, it was a tool, just like her computer."

Trying to escape Pohland doesn't say much for the intelligence of anyone who ever tried to elude her questions.

"One of my favorite stories about Darcy, and it was in my first few months here," Libin said, "is that she had taken some time off to get her wheelchair frame rewelded because she cracked it going off a curb, going after somebody. She just couldn't take the time to wheel down to the corner [where the crossing was]. As recently as the last month or so, she talked to me about wanting a faster chair because she knew there were faster ones available."

Mim Davey, Fox 9 assistant news director, said: "Darcy's wheelchair doubled as transportation for Kelly [Huffman, Fox 9 managing editor] when they would go to Vikings games. And they'd fly down the street on their way to the Metrodome."

Expect to hear more such stories during Pohland's memorial service at 10 a.m. Friday at the Guthrie, one of her favorite places.

"I never said the Market Bar-B-Que statement, first of all," Denny Hecker said via e-mail.

Tuesday's column featured the indicted fallen auto mogul making a nice comment about the food at Market and a light-hearted remark about future takeout purchases depending on the outcome of his current legal woes.

"Well, he did, and he said it in front of other people," said owner Steve Polski. "I think he might just be [stressed out these days]."

In another denial, Hecker disputed the purported photographic evidence an e-mailer sent to me of a small tip Hecker allegedly left on a Champps tab.

That one "is an absolute lie! It wasn't me!" Hecker said via BlackBerry. Got it. While the tip wouldn't have pleased any waitron, one of the bankruptcy court officials watching Hecker's finances might have been impressed.

Thirty seconds of seriousness: My sympathies to Hecker on the loss of his buddy William Prohofsky, who killed himself after being accused of hiding assets for Hecker. Prohofsky was formerly married to the mother of Tamitha Hecker, Denny's ex-wife.

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.