Curtiss A's John Lennon 70th birthday celebration

Crying foul It doesn't matter which team -- or political party -- you're rooting for. Everyone loves a good post-season baseball game. I.W. spotted author/columnists George Will, who leans to the right, and Garrison Keillor, who leans to the left, at the Twins-Yankees playoff on Wednesday at Target Field. No, they weren't sitting together. And we're guessing they weren't rooting for the same team, either.

JON BREAM

Reel time A couple of interesting developments on the Twin Cities film front:

Minneapolis-based Werc Werk Works, the indie production company headed by Elizabeth Redleaf, will co-produce "Darling Companion," writer/director Lawrence Kasdan's third film chronicling the Baby Boom generation, following "The Big Chill" and "Grand Canyon." Kevin Kline stars (for the sixth time in a Kasdan film) alongside Diane Keaton and Richard Jenkins in the comedic drama about a woman who loves her dog more than her husband. Shooting commenced last week in Utah on the project, the fifth production for Werc Werk Works, whose drama "Howl," starring James Franco as Ginsberg, opens locally on Oct. 15.

Meanwhile, word is filtering back from the Toronto Film Festival about Josh Hartnett's latest, a seriously weird action/animation fantasy titled "Bunraku." It's a futuristic tale of revenge, set in a world that has long outlawed guns, where scores are settled by the fist and the sword. Ron Perlman, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson and Japanese pop superstar Gackt also appear, but the film's real star is reportedly its candy-colored production design, which emulates pop-up books and Japanese style Bunraku origami puppeteers. Here's hoping the stunt crew was prepared for paper cuts.

COLIN COVERT

Put a bow tie on it If you did a cartoon sketch of sketch-comedy impresario Dudley Riggs, it would feature a big bow tie. And that's exactly the look worn by a large cluster of men in the audience at last Saturday's premiere of "Dudley: Rigged for Laughter" at St. Paul's History Theatre. Attendees included Pat Proft, the former Brave New Workshop mainstay who went on to write such films as "Naked Gun" and "Police Academy"; Riggs' neighbor Krista Tippett, host of public-radio's "Speaking of Faith"; and State Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, who said: "It's a super-busy campaign season but I couldn't miss it."

Parlez-vous kimchi? Listen up for that je ne sais quoi French accent of Philippe Vergne, the former deputy director of Walker Art Center, who will be back in town for this month's opening of "Yves Klein," the show he's co-organized with Kerry Brougher from the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Never mind that Vergne has lived in the States for decades, he can still charm and mystify I.W. with his Franglais cassoulet. Now director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York, Vergne was packing for a fast trip to Seoul earlier this week. Why? "I love Korean food," he said. Mais, bien sur. You can check out the accent Oct. 23 at the opening-day talk.

MARY ABBE

In demand Harry Bicket finishes a whirlwind week with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Friday and Saturday. The British conductor conducted the SPCO last weekend in Minnesota Opera's production of "Orpheus and Eurydice." Then, midweek, he was tapped by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to sub for ailing maestro Ricardo Muti. So Bicket flew down to the Windy City on Tuesday, then returned to St. Paul for a rehearsal with the SPCO at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Bicket is leading the orchestra in a program of Baroque and new work this weekend. The curious part of this story is Muti, who has withdrawn from the entire fall series with the Chicago Symphony because of "extreme gastric distress." Too many Chicago Vienna beef hot dogs? Muti has flown back to Milan for medical attention.

GRAYDON ROYCE

Imagine that When some people call, I.W. just has to shut up and listen. One of those people is local rocker Curtiss A, who rang the other day about his John Lennon 70th birthday celebration, going down Saturday night at the 331 Club in northeast Minneapolis. How will it be different from Curt's annual Lennon tribute in December? "We're only going to play covers that John performed. If we played his songs, I think it would make him self-conscious. 'Cause he'll be there in spirit -- I've made sure of that. All the other Lennon concerts going on around the world will suck. It'll be a bunch of guys singing 'Imagine.' That's my quote."