Bill Walton Disc Jockey?

12/7/04

THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED Add disc jockey to former Celtic Bill Walton 's list of accomplishments. The man in the middle during the C's 1986 championship run is host of a new show on Sirius Satellite Radio called "One More Saturday Night With Bill Walton." (The show, which premiered over the weekend, airs Saturdays from 9 to midnight.) As you could have guessed, Big Red spins a lot of Grateful Dead, with a few '60s icons Neil Young , the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan   thrown in. The only person inducted into both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Grateful Dead's Hall of Honor said his mantra is "too much of everything is just enough." "I play what I want," he said. (The inaugural show was dedicated to Frank Rich of The New York Times, who Walton believes has a rare ability to "tie it all together . . . I'm a huge believer in the intergalactic relationship of sports, politics, business, music, and the world.") So did the big guy ever take his Celtics teammates to see the Dead at the Garden? "Yeah. We all met at Larry [ Bird 's] house," he said. "We all went except for Danny [ Ainge ]  his wife wouldn't let him go."


        COOL COUNSEL The hotshot lawyer who represents the artist currently known as Prince   not to mention Spike Lee and Stevie Wonder   was a guest instructor at Harvard Business School yesterday. L. Londell McMillan , who at 38 runs the largest African-American law firm in New York, talked to the kiddies about the first-of-its-kind deal he cut for the former glyph for his "Musicology" CD. (Prince licensed Sony to manage the distribution and marketing, but he retained the rights to the music.) Would these postgrads make the grade on "The Apprentice?" "These kids were very astute and clever," McMillan said. "That's one of the reasons Kwame [Jackson] got so far."

   ROCK ON Since the theme of Newbury Comics' annual holiday party Sunday was "Prom Night," carnations were passed out, a photographer snapped pictures of happy couples, and rock 'n' roll jokers Rock Bottom played lame hits like "Hold On Loosely" and "Carry On My Wayward Son." Newbury Comics' co-owner Mike Dreese , who's made dire predictions about the music biz in the past, said his record stores are "moving sideways at a good clip." Dreese said the company's Christmas bonuses would be "significant," adding later that "none of us expected the year would go as well as it did. This year the profits allow us to take risks and to reward the people that do such a great job."

   A FINE HOW DO YOU DO A reception at New York's University Club for Boston Symphony Orchestra music director James Levine attracted upper crusties Phyllis Redstone , former wife of Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone ; US News & World Report editor in chief Mort Zuckerman ; Clare Gregorian , wife of Carnegie Foundation president Vartan Gregorian ; Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Perle ; and Priceline.com CEO and Lincoln Center director Richard Braddock.

   THIS JUST IN Former CBS News president Dr. Frank Stanton , Walter Shorenstein , and other newsies too numerous to mention were expected at last night's forum at the JFK Library titled "What's Happened to the News?" The evening's featured speakers were former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and "60 Minutes" creator Don Hewitt . Moderating was Meredith White , a former executive producer with ABC News and onetime senior editor at Newsweek.