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Dan Gross: Vince DeMentri on 'vacation'
By Dan Gross
Philadelphia Daily News
Jul 29, 2008
NBC 10's Vince DeMentri picked a good week for vacation. The 4 p.m. anchor was previously scheduled off this week; however, in his absence, the station is figuring out how to handle some type of off-air situation that led to DeMentri's being kept off his scheduled shifts last Thursday and Friday following a meeting with news director Chris Blackman .
"He is on vacation," said a station spokeswoman yesterday, declining to comment on what happened last week or on when DeMentri may return to the air. The anchor, who is known to have a hot temper, was suspended for a week in 2006 after nearly coming to blows with meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz .
* In other NBC 10 news, the station will
pre-empt "Extra" tonight to air "War at the Shore," a 30-minute special, at 7 p.m. detailing sports director Vai Sikahema 's training as the "Tongan Terror" gears up for his fight against Jose Canseco , the bad boy of baseball, Saturday night in Atlantic City at the Bernie Robbins Stadium.
Rouge coming to Boston
or to D.C.?
Rouge (205 S. 18th) owners Maggie and Rob Wasserman are looking to open a second location in Boston or Washington, D.C., Rob confirmed yesterday.
The couple want to keep the same concept and menu as the Rittenhouse hot spot, which Maggie's father, Neil Stein , opened 10 years ago.
Ad man fired on eve of hire
Former 94 WYSP ad sales rep Blake Ammons says 93.3 WMMR rescinded a job offer the day before he was to start working at the station because of his affiliation with the Kidd Chris show on 'YSP. Kidd Chris was fired in May over a guest's racist parody song, but his show routinely mocked 'MMR's franchise talent Preston & Steve 's morning show.
Ammons quit 'YSP in late May to protest the firing of Kidd Chris. The 27-year-old Yardley native and graduate of Pennsbury High was known as Blake from Sales on the Kidd Chris show and also plays drums in Chris' band The Beatoffs .
According to e-mails between Ammons and the 'MMR sales staff, he was to start a job there July 1. Ammons said he had disclosed his involvement with the Kidd Chris show to 'MMR, but it wasn't until the company sent out an internal memo to welcome him that station staffers complained and he was told that he would not be hired.
"I wouldn't have cared so much if they hadn't been leading me on for about a month," Ammons told us yesterday. A call to the 'MMR advertising department was referred to a spokeswoman for the station, who said she couldn't comment on any matters of personnel.
Gay-porn purveyor honored
Gay-porn director Chi Chi LaRue , a drag queen who dabbled in straight porn a few years ago, will be a guest at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival tomorrow. At 7:15 at the Prince Music Theater he'll appear at the "Showcase of Smut," and later that night will be at Pure (1221 St. James) for a dance party along with two of his male performers, Blake Riley and Johnny Hazzard . Visit phillyfests. com for more
info.
Songwriter showcase
Songwriter Scot Sax , who won a Grammy for "Like We Never Loved at All," which he co-wrote for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw , has started a music-publishing company, Songlife Artists Inc. Sax, the former Wanderlust front man, will have an artist showcase July 26 at Milkboy Coffee (2 E. Lancaster) in Ardmore. Performers include some who are signed to write songs for Sax's company, including Paulette Dixon , John Stanton and GoldenCarr , consisting of 12-year-old Jeff Golden , a student at Drexel Hill Middle School, and 16-year-old Tom Carr , a junior at Monsignor Bonner High. The show starts at 8 p.m. Info: MilkboyCoffee.com. *
Visit PhillyGossip.com for Dan's latest stories. Have a tip? Call 215-854-5963, or e-mail grossd@phillynews.com . For recent columns, visit go.philly.com/dangross.
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