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Hold on, Kerry. It seems there is something there

Date

Suzanne Carbone and Lawrence Money

THE big fella in the sky, Kerry Packer, famously said: ''I've been to the other side, and let me tell you son, there's f-----g nothing there'' when his heart stop beating in 1990 but now someone says there is something there. Believe it or not but psychic medium Michael Wheeler was talking on the phone with a client, a woman in Melbourne, and suddenly ''He'' appeared - as in Packer. Wheeler told Diary: ''He was critical about Channel Nine and said 'They don't know what they're doing.' '' Packer continued: ''They're fussing around - let's do this, let's do that.'' Nine CEO David Gyngell and programmer Michael Healy might not be reeling from KP drifting in but he's not wrong. There have been some laughable flops, like fatties jiggling in Dance Your Ass Off, the show that was given the ''ass'' after one episode. Media watchers have noted that KP would be turning in his grave if he knew what had become of his network, the demise captured in Gerald Stone's riveting read, Who Killed Channel 9?. Wheeler claims Packer has been turning: ''He was very restless.'' It would be handy if Wheeler could ask Packer about claims by Teresa Jagla that she was the ''twin sister'' of James but Wheeler isn't able to summon KP in a ''Dial-a-Kerry'' way. Wheeler said Packer's spirit appeared because he was connected to the client.

But one thing's sure: ''He was bullish and strong. Direct and gruff.'' Hasn't changed a bit.

Jailhouse rock

SINGER Tex Perkins will stride into Port Phillip Prison today to perform some Johnny Cash tunes from his Man in Black show but he already knows what it's like to be behind bars. Perkins was once locked up overnight in Queensland for swearing in public, an experience he shares with the real man in black. Bad-boy Cash had seven overnight stays in the cells for misbehaving, one of the stints inspiring Starkville City Jail. The large media contingent following Tex into jail have to declare all equipment and one journo isn't taking chances with security, listing paper and pens. Earnesty is the best policy.

An elite bunch

WITH Eye of the Tiger blaring, retired boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard glided into the Sofitel ballroom last week and while Sylvester Stallone wasn't there, comedian Paul Martell impersonated slurring Sly. Martell is so talented that he mumbles better than Sly mumbles. Sugar was here to raise dollars for Olivia Newton-John's cancer centre and her niece, Tottie Goldsmith, spoke for the out-numbered women. ''Boxes are the things that jewellery and shoes come in.'' You can't mention boxes/boxers without mentioning Mick Gatto and he was with the ghost-writer of his upcoming bio, Tom Noble. The MC, Eddie Everywhere, also played comedian: ''If I don't get paid my fee, Mick is my manager.''

We Hart fashion

IT'S the last day of winter but the start of Spring Fashion Week. Just one of the quirks was launching the extravaganza on August 4 in ''M'' for Melbourne while its ''face'', Jessica Hart, was in the Big Apple. But the Chadwick model jetted in to show her beautiful face at last night's opening-night bash at fortyfivedownstairs in Finders Lane. The week is meant to spur fashionistas to splash their ''M'' for money on frocks but Jessica has spent up on wheels, buying a sleek black sports car for her mother, Rae. She's all Hart.

Dolce vita

IT MIGHT not be a party favourite but there's no shaddap for Joe Dolce's Shaddap You Face, the tune that unleashed the cultural cringe in the 1980s and was described as ''Australien'' on the album cover. Someone still loves the ditty because it's been included in The New Italian American Songbook along with the classics O Sole Mio, That's Amore and Arriverderci, Roma, spurring Dolce to comment: ''Some people are still under the illusion that many Italians find the song embarrassing.'' Those people gotta no respect.

The heat is on

YOU hear the term ''lifestyle living'' in real-estate spiels so when a flyer popped into the letterbox of a reader named Rodney, he thought he'd ask Mark from Hocking Stuart what it means. Mark wrote: ''It refers to the fact that you can walk in the door and melt into the home, tossing away all of your worries and cares for the rest of the day.'' Well, if you melted away, you wouldn't have any worries or cares to worry about.

Cat's whiskers

ACTOR Stephen Curry won an AFI Award for his stellar performance in The King playing Graham Kennedy, he of the infamous ''faaark'' crow call. Elsewhere in the animal kingdom, Curry is posting a snap of his cat, Gaylord, on the Global Pet Gallery to create a Guinness World Record of the largest pet mosaic and raise funds for Australian animal charities. Curry says he has been Gaylord's devoted ''slave'' for five years: ''Some of the spontaneity is gone. But we still get along.'' The gallery features a Noah's Ark of creatures, from monkeys, reptiles, rabbits, cats and dogs. Maybe even crows.

HuffPost Australia

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