Item World: Local news and views 3/2

Hair raising TV

Note to screwed-up small businesses: If you're not willing to change for the better, don't go on "Tabatha Takes Over." One Minneapolis business, H Design hair salon, found that out the hard way Tuesday night. The salon's owner, Brian Honn, endured the full wrath of Bravo TV's foul-mouthed fixer, Tabatha Coffey. As she does in every episode, the former "Shear Genius" star took over the failing business and put a butt-whipping on its owner. In the end, Honn didn't take the style maven's advice, resulting in the business looking even worse than when the episode started. Apparently, the salon held a viewing party at Stella's in Uptown the same night. MyTalk 107.1 FM radio personality Alexis Thompson was on the scene and tweeted: "Sat next to salon owner as @tabathacoffey ripped him a new one!!! One word: AWKWARD!" -TOM HORGEN

Striking out

Ch. 11 anchor Mike Pomeranz took a new job this week: Pre-game and post-game TV host for San Diego Padres games. We know about the unbeatable weather in San Diego but I.W. was a little surprised that Pomeranz is leaving a high-profile gig for a chance to be the Robby Incmikoski in America's finest city. Turns out Pomeranz is a former Twins minor-league pitcher who didn't immediately jump to the press box after an injury ended his big-league dreams. "For me personally, it would have been difficult. It gave me a chance to get some separation and not be thinking if I could still make it," he told I.W. "When I went back to school, I realized there would be more opportunities in news. It wasn't like ESPN was going to hire me because I was some big-shot baseball player. I mean, I wasn't that good anyways, and the shoulder injury made me flat-out worthless." -NEAL JUSTIN

Sleeping on floor 'Mats

Despite the weather this week, reunited 1980s Boston rockers the Del Fuegos certainly have a warm spot for Minneapolis. At the Varsity Theater Tuesday, frontman Dan Zanes reminisced about the band's first trip to Minneapolis, home of their friends the Replacements: "Some of us slept on the Stinsons' floor [guitarist Bob and bassist Tom] and some on [manager] Peter Jesperson's floor." Zanes appreciated the hospitality of Tuesday's opening act, Jeff Arundel and the Bahama Boys, who took them to the Aster Cafe the night before. But he was frustrated when the openers wouldn't hit the dance floor near the end of the Del Fuegos' Varsity set. Said Zanes: "That's them sitting back at the bar judging us." -JON BREAM

National finalist

Pick of the Litter

Zip Caplan, guitarist for Twin Cities '60s garage-rock band the Litter, long ago stopped trying to figure out how songs plug into movies. But he's glad that the Litter's 1967 tune "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" ended up in a party scene in last year's "Beginners," the film for which Christopher Plummer just won the Oscar for best supporting actor. That wasn't the Litter's first go-round with Hollywood. The band portrayed a rock band in the 1969 film "Medium Cool" about a TV cameraman covering the 1968 Democratic National Convention. "We recorded a half dozen songs," Caplan told I.W., "but they didn't use any of them." The Litter still appeared in a scene, rocking out in a bar, but they were in effect miming because their music dubbed into the film was actually played by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. -JON BREAM

Opera opportunity

As a playwright, he has won a Pulitzer and a Tony. As a screenwriter, he won an Oscar. But John Patrick Shanley is a novice in the opera world. The Minnesota Opera commissioned Shanley to adapt his celebrated play "Doubt" with composer Douglas Cuomo for a world premiere in the 2012-13 season. Shanley and Cuomo will be in Minneapolis on Friday for the first (private) workshop of the piece. Another workshop is set for mid-year. -GRAYDON ROYCE

For the Common Good