Tom Blair: There’s no business like show business

Tom Blair is an SDNN columnist.

ADD IT UP: Ted Neeley, who’s announced his return to San Diego next January in a “farewell performance” of  the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar, can make an unprecedented show business claim. Neeley, who first starred in Superstar in the early 1970s, has now been playing Jesus longer than Jesus was Jesus . . . On the other hand, some things move fast in the entertainment world. Kendra Wilkinson, San Diego’s contribution to Hugh Hefner’s TV Girls Next Door, got over the Hef months ago. She moved on to Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett about the same time, and there’d been talk of a wedding next Dec. 23. But the schedule abruptly changed when the date was moved up to June 27. December was probably starting to look like a crowded month. Kendra announced over the weekend that she and Hank are expecting a baby Dec. 25.

THE GROUNDED EAR: Bill Sheffler, the last remaining appointee from the reformed San Diego pension board when Mayor Jerry Sanders declined to reappoint him in April, might come back to haunt the mayor. Sheffler’s reportedly mulling a race for the 6^th district city council seat being vacated by Donna Frye. Former assemblyman Howard Wayne is already in the running . . . Frye, meanwhile, is expected to run for Ron Roberts’ supervisorial seat . . . Former San Diego councilwoman Toni Atkins has begun a marathon of fundraisers in her bid for the state assembly. Next up: “Tango with Toni” on June 23. Not a dance; a tasting at Tango Wine Company. It takes more than two to tango with Toni; $125, minimum . . . Hollywood mogul Sherry Lansing comes in Wednesday afternoon for a Connect “women only” high tea at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel. Lansing, a UC regent and Qualcomm board member, will talk about her Sherry Lansing Foundation, focusing on cancer research, health and education.

More from Tom Blair in Opinion

BY THE NUMBERS: The Preuss School, a charter school on the UCSD campus for highly motivated students from low-income families, has cracked the top 10 in Newsweek magazine’s ranking of 1,500 U.S. high schools — for the third year running.  Among the top 300: San Diego High School for International Studies (59), Westview (178), La Jolla (237), Torrey Pines (257), University City (290) and Serra (297) . . . Altitude Skybar and Garden Lounge, atop the Gaslamp Quarter Marriott, ranks first on Sunset magazine’s new list of the Top 10 Rooftop Bars in the U.S. . . . The greening: Owners of the new boutique Hotel Indigo, opening this summer in East Village, expect it to be the first 100 percent LEED-certified hotel in Southern California.

PLAYING CONSERVATIVE: Twenty-five years ago today, from my city column: “Padres pitchers Eric Show, Dave Dravecky and Mark Thurmond will be at the Del Mar Fair this afternoon autographing baseballs. Not much of an item there. It’s where at the fair they’ll be autographing baseballs: the John Birch Society propaganda booth. According to Birch coordinator George Sechrist, all three pitchers are members of the society. And these three anti-Communists may be on to something. I checked the stats. The trio boasts a 7-4 lifetime record against the Reds.”

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 6:26 am and is filed under Columns, Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.