Rock star, punk poet and bestselling author Patti Smith played a private show Wednesday night as part of KCRW’s Berkeley Street Sessions, and FishbowlLA was lucky enough to score an invite. We rocked out with a crowd of approximately 175 public radio supporters including Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Ellen Page, Tim Robbins, Amy Madigan and Jason Bentley‘s mom. We sat next to Bookworm‘s Michael Silverblatt, who was getting his groove on, and watched Ed Harris bark like a dog during Smith’s performance of “Banga.” Magical.

Halfway through the show the music stopped and Smith was joined onstage by KCRW DJ Anne Litt for an interview that touched on a number of topics, including music, motherhood and Smith’s award-winning book, Just Kids. When Litt mentioned how much she’d been enjoying the audiobook version, narrated by Smith, the author revealed that publishers had so disliked her South Jersey accent that they told her to re-record parts of the book speaking “normally.” Thankfully, Smith declined, and her drawl remains on the audio version.

The event was recorded for Morning Becomes Eclectic and will air on November 14. The full recording of the event will become available in the station’s archives that same day.

Photo by Larry Hirshowitz

Remember those halcyon days when a “Two Thumbs Up!” quote from Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel was the kiss of life for a Hollywood studio publicist? The only way it could be better was if the iconic pair threw a “Way” into the middle of the expression.

Well, those days are long gone. When At the Movies rebooted at the beginning of the year under the banner of “Ebert Presents,”  with AP film writer Christy Lemire and newcomer Ignatiy Vishnevetsky sitting in the balcony, a big part of the deal was their ability to use the Ebert-trademarked phrase. But as a sign of both the weak imprint of the new show and the general splintering of film criticism, the expression now carries far less weight than it once did.

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In 2003, it was New Zealander Keisha Castle-Hughes; in 2007, Canadian actress Ellen Page. But in 2010, the emerging young female star of awards season is from our very own backyard.

Fourteen-year-old True Grit newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who calls Thousand Oaks home, is being showered with praise by reporters and co-stars. In yesterday’s LA Times profile piece by Amy Kaufman and Geoff Boucher, for example, Matt Damon was extremely complimentary when comparing her to other young actors he has recently worked with.

Via MSN.com, Steinfeld tells LA freelance journalist James Rocchi how haphazardly her path to beating out 15,000 other hopefuls began:

“I heard about the audition from my second cousin. Her mom had just learned how to use [online casting service] Actor’s Access, that’s how she heard about the True Grit audition… She passed it onto my mom and then we called my agents out on it and said, ‘Why aren’t I going out on this?’…”

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HBO has picked up Academy-Award nominated doc. A Taxi to the Dark Side, after Discovery chickened out.

Barbara Walters will interview Ellen Page, Harrison Ford, Vanessa Williams, and Mylie Cyrus. Pick the two with shows on ABC.

Who will be forgotten in the Montage of Dead Stars this year?

Joel Stein invites George Clooney home for dinner, and alas, merriment does not ensue. Stein claims Clooney is the only movie star “we have now”, rather than telling the truth–Clooney’s the only star on Stein’s sofa. When Liz Smith eventually passes on, Joel Stein will be ready.

Drew Barrymore To Direct: Juno beauty Ellen Page is set to star in Whip It, which means her big Hollywood projects to date have been written by a stripper and a roller derby queen. We can’t wait to see what Heidi Fleiss is cooking up for her.

Mum’s The Word: Reporter John Horn explores the eerie silence surrounding J.J. Abrams’ (probable) smash-hit Cloverfield.

Patt’s Just Wondering: In a column about the late Johnny Grant, columnist Patt Morrison says “It falls to me to broach the suggestion that Johnny’s passing is an opening to even more openness. Should the city have more say-so over the sign and the walk? Can more royalty money be made? And should it be shared with the rest of Hollywood?” Well, Patt, should it? She never says.

O.J. Simpson back in court: The alleged armed robber was dragged back to Las Vegas from Miami by a bail bondsman who claims Simpson violated terms of his bail. Also, Simpson owes the guy $18,750. So, there’s that.

Cloverfield As Studio Model? We’re hearing nothing but good things about Cloverfield, and we wonder: can a movie that incorporates footage shot by the actors themselves become the new Hollywood model? Would Juno have been any different than if Ellen Page held a camcorder and posted the whole thing on YouTube? Just a question.

Brad Renfro, Dead At 25: Cause still unknown, but the guy had a drug problem — one that ended up on the front page of the LAT in 2005, when reporter Richard Winton and photog Mel Melcon did an LAPD ride-along the day the actor was busted in a drug sweep on Skid Row.

Golden Globe Nominees: This year’s field is larger than usual, with categories that normally filled up with five now fetching seven nominees. We’d compute exactly how much longer that will make the award show drag on, but we’re not that good at math.

Print This Out For Your Office Pool: We always appreciate the LAT handy-dandy scorecard to help enable our gambling habit.

Says Who? We have no idea what this Elizabeth Snead story is — unless it’s not a story at all, but an accidental publishing of her internal story pitch (a story in which she sets out to find out who will be dressing Hollywood’s top actresses for this awards season). A sampling: “What about Juno star Ellen Page? Will a new designer snag this newcomer? They’re all gonna try.” Why didn’t you try and find out? Oh, and your headline should say “whom.”

Screenwriter Diablo Cody, aka Brook Busey-Hunt, has declined to attend a FOX screening for her new film, Juno,that would have featured a Q&A afterwards. The comedy was directed by Jason Reitman and stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera.