Item World: Local news and views

Although some fans were bummed about walking in late for opening band DeVotchKa — especially since it brought back those babe dancers who hang from the ceiling — Gogol Bordello had a good reason for bumping up the set times a bit for their second of two sold-out, hyperactive shows Sunday at First Avenue: The gypsy-punk band had to be back in New York City Monday to perform on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.” Those guys (and one gal) simply seem tireless. After playing an especially long encore Saturday, they hosted an after-party at Nick & Eddie where frontman Eugene Hutz DJ-ed until 2 a.m., and the band hung out with staff until about 5. “They were really a fun group to have, a lot more friendly than the usual alt-rock-guys-with-attitude,” manager Doug Anderson said. It’s a good thing for Fallon the after-party wasn’t on Sunday.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

While leading fundraising efforts for her team on this week’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” Sharon Osbourne said her biggest donor gave $25,000 and she gave them a shout-out: Minnesotans Bill and Tani Austin of Starkey Hearing Foundation. It wasn’t enough to lead her team (including Maria Kanellis and Bret Michaels) to victory, but Donald Trump didn’t fire Mrs. Osbourne or anyone else. IW can’t help but wonder if that’s enough to entice her to make a cameo at the nonprofit’s annual “So the World May Hear” gala on July 25 at RiverCentre with Steve Martin, Frankie Valli and Muhammad Ali.

SARA GLASSMAN

I.W. was glad soloist Adam Kuenzel gave a pre-concert explanation of the avant-garde techniques found in pal Manuel Sosa‘s brand-new concerto “Eloquentia,” which the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal flutist said expressed his “inner monster.” They included using tongue vibrato and “percussive note attacks” and even speaking a line from an Octavio Paz poem through the flute. The brilliant and hypnotic piece had an almost tropical feel. The composer, who left Caracas at age 16 to study in the United States and now teaches at Juilliard in New York City, enjoyed a late supper at Zelo with his family and Kuenzel after Saturday’s concert. “I didn’t realize as I was writing it,” Sosa said of the piece, “but after I heard it, I realized: It sounds like Venezuela.”

MARCI SCHMITT

One of the survivors of the recent fatal fire at the McMahon’s bar building on Lake Street was KFAI-FM deejay Tom Stinchfield — aka Mighty T-Bone. Stinchfield was unharmed, but lost his cat and all of his possessions, including decades of homemade bootleg tapes. “I had over 2,000 hours of live Grateful Dead, plus lots of Allman Brothers and Gov’t Mule stuff,” he tells I.W. No one had a closer connection to the building than Stinchfield, who lived in the second-floor apartments for nearly 20 years and worked for a decade as a bouncer, waiter and cook at the former Poodle Club downstairs. Sunday evening, the Cabooze is hosting a benefit for Stinchfield and all the other survivors of the fire. At least eight bands are lined up to play, including a high quotient of acts with witty names: Emerson, Lake & Lyndale; High Strung String Band; Jason Dixon Line, and the very appropriate Not Quite Dead. (5 p.m. Sun. $10.)

No surprise that last week’s Security Ball — a night dedicated to the scene’s big men (don’t call them bouncers) — came off without trouble. But organizer Courtland Steele said there was one hitch. Due to a late Twins game, security staff from several clubs were stuck at work, dealing with post-game partiers. Steele was bummed that they missed the event. But he’s already planning next year’s ball, which “definitely won’t be happening on a Twins night.” Trust us, even the Twins don’t want to mess with these guys.

TOM HORGEN

CBS News anchor Katie Couric began like David Letterman and ended like Oprah Winfrey Saturday at the University of Minnesota. Couric cracked wise at the U’s alumni meeting, talking about baseball at “Tar-zhay Field” supplanting the statue of Mary Tyler Moore as a top attraction. She then launched into the inspirational meat of her address, speaking about her early setbacks in the news biz, and the loss of her husband and sister to cancer. But the theme of her talk was resilience, and with her wit and winning smile, it was easy to be a Katie Couric believer.

ROHAN PRESTON

When guitar hero Mark Knopfler told a sold-out crowd Sunday at the State Theatre that “I always associate this town with good times,” it sounded like a pat line that he recites everywhere. But then he plugged “A Prairie Home Companion,” on which he’s appeared. He said Garrison Keillor told him, “You could come here. We could get you a house.” The softspoken Brit demurred: “It’s a real shame I couldn’t stay longer. I thought it was as good as it gets.” Without missing beat, he then sang his “Prairie Wedding.”