Star made a fine (but hairy) impression

Steven Schussler may not be a preteen girl, but he gets the Jonas Brothers hysteria.

When the brothers flew to Minnesota for a recent concert, they were seated near Schussler, the restaurant savant behind concepts such as the Rainforest Cafe, T-Rex and Yak & Yeti.

Schussler's encounter with "the oldest brother," as he called Kevin, started off bumpy but got much smoother. Kevin tried to slide into the window seat until Schussler, who had been preoccupied by stowing his bag in the overhead, said: "'Excuse me, that's my seat.' Kind of awkward. My first reaction: 'Who is this kid?' He had two bodyguards in first class with him and his family [obviously including Nick and Joe]. He had the latest cell phone -- the seven hundred dollar cell phone. He had thousand dollar sneakers on. He was dressed like he's from LA; he was dressed like Liberace.

"His shirt was above his belly button. He had a really hairy stomach. He was wearing his jeans really low, like cropped down to his crotch. And I'm looking at all this hair and thinking, 'Man, that's almost like some of these people who wear their baggy pants below their shorts. This is the FRONT VERSION of that! Wow, that's kind of risque.' Not like I'm a prude."

Kari Honoroff, Schussler's exec assistant who was on phone Monday patching me through to Steve, noted: "The picture doesn't show his [Kevin's] furry belly."

Schussler explained: "When he was off the plane, he was wearing his coat and they were all wearing their jackets. But on the plane I could see [more]. He's good looking; he's in shape. That could be considered pretty sexy to the preteen."

After chatting about their respective jobs, Schussler and Kevin "developed a relationship on the plane, just talking about family. He was telling me how difficult it was; he is on the road all the time. They have all these sold-out concerts. It surprised me how sophisticated, mature these kids are. I wasn't able to handle anything like that at that age -- the press, the people."

Navarae was extremely excited. "She's a seventh-grader," said her mom. Navarae brought a photo of Uncle Steve and the Jonas Brothers to school instead of concert memories. Can't believe Uncle Steve couldn't score tickets.

"Me, either," Honoroff said, laughing. She admitted later that, like most parents, Uncle Steve is an excellent barrier to all the hormones those Jonas boys throw off.

Enough already Gretchen Carlson, Minnesota's last Miss America and her "Fox & Friends" co-anchors, got their ears boxed by an adult Friday.

"I have been watching the show since 6 o'clock this morning when I got up," said "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace. "It seems to me that two hours of Obama bashing on this 'typical white person' remark is somewhat excessive. Frankly, I think you are somewhat distorting what Obama had to say."

But Gretch told Wallace that she's up for a fuller discussion of race.

On CNN's "Reliable Sources" Sunday, Eric Deggans, media critic of the St. Petersburg Times, gave Wallace a "Bravo" and reminded Gretch & Friends that "one of the things we're supposed to do as journalists is be fair."

At blogs.tampabay.com/media, Deggans includes the Wallace clip as well as video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright that, when viewed in full, really takes the bite out off the clips, which have been aired on TV. Wright, who doesn't engage in my favorite style of preaching, spoke in defense of several minority groups that have been mistreated in America's history and also his roosting chicken's remark.

Noshing with Marjorie Marjorie Johnson is going to be on the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods" with Andrew Zimmern tonight, but you best believe she won't be eating anything weird.

No fried crickets, scorpions, worms or animal eyeballs -- not even if they're wrapped in blue ribbons.

This show isn't about one of his anthropological excursions to lands on the other side of the world. It's about Minnesotans, including Johnson, who is the Jay Leno correspondent and author of "The Road to Blue Ribbon Baking with Marjorie." She said she served Zimmern Swedish Oatmeal Crackers and Apricot Bundt Cake. They also enjoyed a couple of State Fair "corny dogs," as she calls them.