O.A.R. Brings It Home for MoCo Education

How to bolster the hometown-hero credentials: O.A.R., the rock band that got started at Rockville's Wootton High, quietly decided a couple years ago to give to charity 50 cents of every concert ticket it sells, via a hometown organization, the Montgomery County Community Foundation.

This matters because O.A.R. (Of a Revolution), despite precious little radio play, sells tickets like crazy, famously filling Madison Square Garden. "A lot of our business is derived from our touring," said bassist Benj Gershman.

The band members asked the foundation to help them set up a fund they call Heard the World and find worthy beneficiaries: the Sharing Montgomery fund for low-income families; a private school scholarship fund for low-income children; and Classroom Wishlist, which helps teachers take on lesson plans that school budgets can't cover. Thus far, the ticket sale donations have totaled about $80,000. "We're trying to show that education is important," Gershman told us, on the phone from last night's Sioux Falls, S.D., tour stop.

The band plays Merriweather Post Pavilion on Saturday. "I went to concerts there growing up," he said. "It's always nice to have a crowd from your home town, seeing familiar faces." All the O.A.R. guys have since left MoCo (though guitarist Richard On lives in NoVa), but Gershman, now living in N.Y.C., still has another way of representing the 301: He's still got the same old cell number. "I'd be hard-pressed to let it go."

This Just In . . .

· In an ill-timed bit of family dysfunction, Christian Bale was questioned and then released yesterday by London police after being accused of assaulting his mother and sister. The star of "The Dark Knight" denies the claim. Bale, 34, was in Britain for Monday's European premiere and met with relatives Sunday at the Dorchester Hotel, where a family argument broke out, his sister told reporters. The next morning, the two women filed a report at the local police station. Bale was allowed to attend the premiere, then turned himself in yesterday. He was questioned for four hours and released without being charged; he'll meet with police again in September.

But Will People Know It's Satire?

This week's bound-to-offend-someone campaign image: Vanity Fair has posted a John and Cindy McCain parody of the New Yorker's controversial Barack and Michelle Obama parody cover. (Got a problem with it? Tell them, not us.) Can Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman fist-bumping Hillary Clinton be far behind?

Hey, Isn't That . . . ?

· Nick Cannon (Mr. Mariah Carey) meeting with Sen. Barbara Boxer and her staff yesterday. The actor/rapper (olive green suit, huge ring of emerald-cut diamonds) and his dad were in D.C. for the Department of Education's "Gear Up" scholarship conference.

· Michael Bolton hanging with Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday in her Washington office. The singer (black suit, diamond stud in one ear) was on the Hill lobbying for domestic violence services.

· Luke Wilson creating a stir in Bethany Beach, Del., last week. The actor, currently filming "Tenure" in Philly, came into Mango's restaurant eight times, where he always ordered a tuna appetizer (seared tuna, seaweed, wasabi) and rice and beans; he watched the British Open, signed autographs and tipped big.

Quote

"Wall Street got drunk. . . . It got drunk, and now it's got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up, and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments."

-- President Bush talking off the cuff at a Texas congressional fundraiser last week. Reporters were not admitted to the event, but Houston's KTRK-TV obtained a bootleg video of POTUS's remarks.