Copious Notes

• Check out Jonathan Palmer’s slide show from the party.

Paparazzi darlings Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson, shown at Rolling Stone's 40th anniversary party in 2007, will be marquee guests at this year's Barnstable-Brown Gala. AP Photo by Matt Sayles.

Several guests on the list for the 2010 Barnstable-Brown Gala are known for being able to cut a rug. But they all could get pointers on the John Wall Dance from the man himself when he and teammate Patrick Patterson and coach John Calipari turn the red carpet blue at the annual Derby Eve bash.

John Wall doing his dance at Big Blue Madness in October. Photo by Mark Cornelison | Herald-Leader staff.

The players will be enjoying one of their final Bluegrass throwdowns before the NBA draft along with some other sports luminaries, including flashy figure skater Johnny Weir and fellow Olympian Bode Miller. Representing the NFL will be Barnstable-Brown perennial Tom Brady and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, along with MLB slugger Barry Bonds.

Of course, if there is dancing to be done, there will need to be music. Last week, Patricia Barnstable-Brown, who co-hosts the gala with her sister Priscilla Barnstable, announced three members of the Jackson Five - Tito, Marlon and Jackie – will be coming. They’ll be joined in a tribute to their late brother Michael by R&B and Broadway star Jennifer Holliday.

There are plenty of other returning party regulars who know all about getting the party going by spending a few minutes on the stage, including country starts Travis Tritt, Rodney Crowell, Nicholasville’s John Michael Montgomery, and Little Big Town, who will be fresh off performing the National Anthem at the Kentucky Oaks.

Party regulars and boy-band veterans Joey Fatone and Nick Lachey will be back along with R&B stars Smokey Robinson, Taylor Dayne, Salt-n-Pepa and rap icon Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, whose band name, Run-DMC, was invoked by the Thoroughbred Daily News as the headline for the story announcing filly Devil May Care will be in the Derby.

Over the past decade, the Barnstable-Brown Gala has grown from a big local party movie stars attended to a national event for the celebrity media such as People magazine and Access Hollywood. No doubt, the paparazzi will have their zoom lenses trained on Ashlee Simpson and husband Pete Wentz, bassist for Fall Out Boy, which is currently on hiatus.

There will probably also be plenty of questions for Terry O’Quinn as Lost heads into its final episodes, and if anyone wants to talk politics, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer will be there to moderate.

Rounding out this year’s guest list, as reported in the Louisville Courier-Journal this morning, will be beautiful people Marisa Miller, Rebecca Romijn, Vanessa Minnillo and actor Jerry O’Connell.

Big Cuz and Coach Cal: who should play them in a movie. Photo by Ron Garrison | Herald-Leader staff.

The University of Kentucky men’s basketball team has had a great season, dare we say cinematic?

Seriously, think of the storylines that could play out on the big screen:

• John Calipari in Memphis, deciding whether to take the job.
• The comeback story of the Cats, after having to settle for an NIT bid in 2009-2010.
• Recruiting John Wall and Demarcus Cousins to join the team.
• Wall’s meteoric rise to superstar.
• Calipari struggling to tame Cousins’ temper, and combating the refs who’ve made up their minds about him.
• All the high points: The visits by LeBron, Magic and, of course, Ashley. ESPN Gameday and a march to the … the … Well, we don’t know where the story ends yet. But, at Weekender Central, we’ve been kicking around some ideas of how to cast a movie about UK’s magnificent season.

Alec Baldwin as Calipari? We’re kind of liking it, but there have to be other ideas. How about Wall and Cousins – who could step into their Nikes? And Ms. Judd – does she play herself? We’re thinking maybe newly ordained best actress Sandra Bullock. After all, sports movies have been very, very good to her, lately.

Well we want your ideas for the UK movie cast. Here are the roles we want to fill:

John Calipari

Ellen Calipari

Mitch Barnhart

John Wall

DeMarcus Cousins

Ashley Judd

Dick Vitale

Lee Todd

Tom Leach

A scalper

Mascot

Rick Pitino

Billy Gillispie

Are there other characters we should include? Either comment here or send me an e-mail at rcopley@herald-leader.com, and have fun with it.