Whispers – Chit-chat, scuttlebutt and scoop

Chris Lundgren, the longtime talent buyer for the Varsity Theatre, has left the venue to begin work as the entertainment and sponsorship manager at L’Auberge Casino, opening soon in Baton Rouge. For 10 years, Lundgren oversaw concert booking at the LSU-area venue that has won several Best of 225 awards for live music. K. Alex Bowen Jr. of SimplePlay Productions and Brent McLellan, the Varsity’s general manager, now handle booking. Local musicians and younger music fans have already taken to social media sites to express hopes that Bowen and McLellan will take more chances on lesser-known indie artists rather than the cover bands and retro acts that became more common during the Lundgren era.

Dunham School varsity girls basketball coach and longtime Better Than Ezra fan Chad Myers got the chance of a lifetime when he was invited to join the popular band on stage, cowbell in hand, during a raucous performance at the Shaw Group’s recent 25th anniversary bash. “Chad’s gettin’ crazy, y’all,” singer Kevin Griffin shouted to the crowd during an extended, cowbell-laden version of “In The Blood.”

“They’re my favorite band, and I got to live out all of [my friends’] wishes on stage with them,” Myers says. “It was something that I will never forget. After playing, I got to talk to the band backstage, and they were really just cool, down-to-Earth people. It was a great experience.”

LSU student Darian Ellis has been cast on the new college edition season of America’s Next Top Model. The series, hosted by supermodel Tyra Banks, airs Aug. 24 on CW. Ellis’ modeling career began only six months ago when she saw a local ad for New Orleans Fashion Week. Beating out countless other models with more experience, Ellis’ appearance on the show is a triumph for the 22-year-old senior studying biological sciences. Unlike past seasons in which Banks and a panel of experts consulted on contestants, now viewers can vote weekly to keep their favorite model on the show at cwtv.com/thecw/antmvoting.