And Call Me in the Morning

BEST MEDICINE: Paramedics from the Valley Center Fire Department responded promptly to a call from the Pauma Valley Country Club after an elderly guest took a spill in the dining room. But despite their urgings, the woman, who’d scraped a knee and cut the bridge of her nose, refused to go to the hospital. That is, until a familiar-looking, middle-aged fellow walked up, greeted her by name, let loose a few wisecracks and proved persuasive. While the paramedics went to work, the man left momentarily and then returned with a gift. “Take these,” said comic Bill Murray, handing her an unopened bottle of wine and a wineglass. “You might be there a while.” When paramedic Joe Basinski suggested doctors might not take kindly to BYO wine, Murray shot back: “Oh, sure, listen to the Eagle Scout over me.” Murray the psychic? Basinski won his Eagle Scout badge in 1998.

NAME’S SAKE: For author Joseph Wambaugh, the recent death of singer Frankie Laine made a prized possession even dearer. Says Wambaugh, who has childhood memories of Laine’s hit “Mule Train”: “It was the first record I ever asked my parents to buy for me. I played the 78 over and over on an old Victrola that had belonged to my grandparents. And now that Mercury gold record hangs on my living room wall, a precious gift from my friend and neighbor.” . . . Sean Lennon, who’s never quite managed to move from his Beatle father’s shadow into his own spotlight, keeps paying his dues. Young Lennon comes to the Belly Up Tavern April 25 . . . La Mesa’s Amy Finley, a freelance writer and caterer, has been tapped by the Food Network as one of 11 finalists on The Next Food Network Star when the new season starts in June . . . Future NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith has signed a fouryear endorsement deal with Carlsbad-based The Good Feet Store. Good Feet manufactures and sells arch supports and shoe cushions. And those could come in handy for Smith, who’s fresh from his winning turn on TV’s Dancing with the Stars.

IN MEMORIAM: Preston Turegano, the former San Diego Union-Tribune arts writer, had one brush with the famed Anna Nicole Smith. He was at a Television Critics Association meeting in Pasadena, and she was there promoting her cable-TV reality series. A working lunch began with Smith at the podium with her cast doing a Q&A, and, Turregano recalls, she was looking “quite fat——and wearing a dress that was much too tight.” Noting that she was a former Playboy playmate and had undergone breast implants, Turregano says, “I asked her what her measurements were. She declined to answer, saying she thought it was an inappropriate question. ‘But isn’t that your claim to fame?’ I pressed on. Still, no answer. At the end of the Q&A, I discovered why there were four empty seats at the table of eight at which I was seated: The four seats were reserved for Anna Nicole, Howard K. Stern, her son and some other strange person. She took the seat right next to me. I thought she was as dumb as a box of rocks. I told her I was 46-36-46.”

THE GROUNDED EAR: Democratic Senator Barack Obama’s little raid on San Diegans’ pocketbooks in February——in a marathon trio of wine, cocktail and dinner parties——netted more than $400,000 for his presidential campaign. That’s in a addition to a less-publicized foray into La Jolla last year when he gobbled up his first $250,000 . . . The posh Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad has a new ownership consortium that includes Bill Gates and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal. Actually, the prince and the Microsoft mastermind acquired the entire Four Seasons chain, but the Aviara is closer and dearer to Gates, who has a home just down the road in Rancho Santa Fe . . . A Wall Street Journal piece on the demise of newspaper book-review sections puts The San Diego Union-Tribune’s section on the “endangered” list . . . It’s a movie mega-hit, so probably this was inevitable. Loews Coronado Bay Resort is offering a new “Wild Hogs” package. Biker wannabes get a two-night stay, choppers from San Diego Harley-Davidson and a field trip to a local dive bar.

FLASHBACK: The recent deaths of former President Gerald Ford and Congressman Clair Burgener, and recollections of their wit and wisdom, prompts Lee Grissom to share a favorite story about another legendary congressman. As Bob Wilson, who represented San Diego in Congress for 28 years, passed his 20th year in the House, Republican leadership removed him from one of his committee posts. “I guess they felt my service on the Committee on Aging was a conflict of interest,” said Wilson. “So they placed me on the Committee on Intelligence——where they were sure I had no conflict whatsoever.”

THE BOTTOM LINE: With the addition of Miniland Las Vegas to Legoland’s collection of miniature cities, Walt Preston suggests the kiddie park adopt a new marketing pitch: “What Happens in Legoland Stays in Legoland.”

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