An 'Up'-coming movie: Can you hear me now?

May 6, 2009 at 10:25AM

Are you afraid of heights? FM107's Margery Punnett was asked Monday at a media event for "Up," a new Disney Pixar movie.

"Uh ..." she said, not adding another word quickly enough as her husband and morning radio show co-host, Ian Punnett, walked by, volunteering "Yes."

Given the opportunity to complete the thought later, Margery said, "Uh, not today."

She sucked it up, got strapped into the special chair attached to a bunch of helium-filled balloons tethered to four ropes that a crew used to ease Margery to the roof of the Dome, as she talked live on the air to FM107ers Jason Matheson and Alexis Thompson.

Margery was flattered by the crew, saying she was tiny and frightened by their instructions that if, for any reason, the balloons broke free of the ropes, Margery should use the scissors in the attached sheath to cut the red cord. She also had instructions for the crew: "Up, down."

In other words, she wanted to be floated upward and then IMMEDIATELY pulled back to the ground. In the end, it must not have been too scary because once down, she asked to go aloft again so she could take photos.

B96 FM's B-Right may have done more actual screaming than his Tone E. Fly Show colleague Danni Starr, but I'm guessing B-Right was feigning fear.

Matheson was not. He said he experienced a wave of vertigo and didn't like the sensation of his feet dangling. I not only didn't mind being up there, I tried to shoot video of my shoe in the same frame as the Kirby Puckett banner. Would have shot video of my head next to Puck's, but I wasn't positioned correctly for that.

A special guest When Adebisi Agunbiade and Joffrey Wilson formalized their eight-year courtship with a wedding at the St. Anthony Main Event Center, the dinner was attended by family, friends and "an uninvited crasher," reads the spring issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

While page 76 of the magazine includes lots of details -- bride's gown by Mori Lee, bridesmaid dresses by Melissa Sweet, hair by Ebony Davis for Brian Graham Salon, makeup by Andrea Holton of Moore Creative Talent, catering by Three Sons Signature Cuisine -- I couldn't find the explanation of the "uninvited crasher." I'm told that some guy, maybe homeless, just decided he'd stick around for dinner and they let him.

The bride is an associate to the director of diversity in the Minneapolis Public Schools, according to its website, and the groom is finishing up graduate school in Michigan.

A tough interview The good news for former Strib sportswriter Selena Roberts, now of Sports Illustrated, is that NBC's "Today" wanted to have her on Monday, the day her "A-Rod" bio was released.

The bad news was that Matt Lauer was in the mood to do a hard-hitting interview. I thought Lauer was much rougher on Roberts (see msnbc.msn.com) than former N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer (youtube.com), who has decided that despite that hooker scandal he wants to weigh in on what looks like the country's economic quicksand. Lauer didn't come hard at Spitzer when he wouldn't be specific about how long or how frequently the modern-day Eliot Ness indulged a taste for high-class prostitutes. But Lauer was all over Roberts, hammering away at her use of anonymous sources; sources she could not locate for follow-up questions, and sources who reportedly recanted on previous allegations.

Roberts was a pretty cool customer for somebody who is usually on the other end of questions.

20 years of Fancy Ray Video of Lisa Lillien, author of "Hungry Girl: 200 under 200," shot while she was in the metro last week has now been posted at startribune.com.

Coming later this week, a video interview with Fancy Ray, who is celebrating 20 years as "The Best Lookin' Man in Comedy." I knooow! It seems like he's been doing comedy 200 years! The startribune.com interview will show me being a lot less reserved than I am in the interview now airing repeatedly on cable channels 6 and 16. I tried to behave because that cable interview was done on Fancy Ray's dime.

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.

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