Inqlings | Cyrus tix a scalper bonanza

One of this year's hottest tickets might not be those old-time acts such as

Barry Manilow

,

the Police

and

Bruce Springsteen

.

Get a load of the box office generated by 14-year-old popper Miley Cyrus, star of the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana and daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus.

Saturday's on-sale for her Dec. 17 concert at the Wachovia Center (12,400 tickets) and her Jan. 5 show at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (nearly 5,000) lasted minutes. And despite a four-per-person lottery system designed to thwart scalpers in Philadelphia, tickets are sporting huge price tags already.

On StubHub.com yesterday, one opportunist was asking $3,334 each for a pair in the 12th row of the floor. That's more than 50 times the tickets' face value of $66 each. That's an extreme example; most other tix were marked at only $200 to $400 each. Wachovia Center rep Ike Richman urges caution when dealing with unknown ticket agents.

WMMR's

Preston & Steve

morning show is all about those reality-TV giveaways.

Preston Elliot

got a free makeover on

Trading Spaces

.

Steve Morrison

got a comp kitchen on

Spice Up My Kitchen

.

Casey Fosbenner

got a gratis new bathroom on

Bad Bad Bath

.

Kathy Romano

and husband

Dennis Best

, an assistant principal, will turn up Saturday on HGTV's new series

Rip + Renew

(9:30 a.m.), produced by

Nancy Glass

. Host/builder

James Lunday

and interior designer

Michelle Carano

showed up a few months ago at their Conshohocken spread - which had been redone by the previous owner - and in six days worked with Kathy and Dennis to add lovely architectural details, including chair rails, crown molding and a wooden floor. Show's premise is to show homeowners how they can do it themselves, says Carano.

Jessica Simpson

long-lunching yesterday at Alma de Cuba in Center City with a friend over calamari salad, empanada and vaca frita, washed down with a vodka with mint and splash of soda. (Guess it's a low-carb mojito.) Simpson wore jeans and a T-shirt and declined offers of photo-taking. . . . Flyers

Danny Briere

and wife

Sylvie

, and

Simon Gagne

with wife

Karine

, rolling into Swanky Bubbles in Cherry Hill after Saturday's game for wine and sushi. . . . Phillies

Pat Burrell

and fiancee

Michelle

and

Chase Utley

with wife

Jennifer

dining at Los Catrines/Tequila's on Saturday. (Burrell's wedding will be Nov. 10 in California.)

Gil Edwards

, former program director of WYSP (94.1), will host the 4-to-8 p.m. Thursday shift on Y-Rock on XPN (

» READ MORE: www.YRockOnXPN.org

). This reunites Edwards with Y-Rock PD

Jim McGuinn

; they worked together in the mid-1990s at the old WDRE.

That hammering at the Academy of Natural Sciences should be finished by Friday, in time for the Philadelphia Shell Show. The building is getting new doors based on the originals from 1908, bronze railings and hardware, the exposure of the original ceiling, and a renovation of the marble mosaic floors and solid marble steps.

After two girls, it's a boy for 6ABC weathercaster Karen Rogers and husband Kevin Lee. The baby, Kevin, was born Saturday.

If you've booked a table at the Palm in Philly over the last decade or so, you went through Raju "Raj" Jamil, the longtime assistant general manager. Word is he was let go after 28 years with the company (starting in Dallas), in a cost-cutting move. He and Palm officials did not return calls for comment.