The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 20

C2 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1994 People Critics cant agree on who Crows sound like Compiled from wire reports by Dorene Jackson Caudiil I HQ-WAIT WAITERS yr Jit 1 ft 4 y.j f'i 5 1 I jr Would Star say: 4No more races for Circle City'? Journalists will do Just about anything to avoid honest labor. So, Scripps Howard News Service Journalist Mike Harden was not surprised recently when he learned about a group of them who while huddled over lunch at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. began brainstorming about how various publications might announce the impending end of the world. Several of their gems: Sports Illustrated: THE FAT LADY SINGS New York Daily News: GOD TO CITY! DROP DEAD! Los Angeles Times: NO TRAFFIC ON FREEWAYS TONIGHT The Wall Street Journal: MARKET CLOSES EARLY USA Today: WE DIE! (Late Sports. 1C) After perusing the newsstands, he decided that the best and brightest at the National Press Club missed a few.

Consider: Guns Ammo: GUN REGISTRATION ENDS Star: BURT TO LONI: "NOW LET'S SEE YOU COLLECT YOUR ALIMONY!" Entrepreneur: ASH TO CASH: 50 NO-FAIL OPPORTUNITIES Hairstyle: SAY GOODBYE TO BAD HAIR DAYS Playgirb FOUR HORSEMEN LET IT ALL HANG OUT Modern Bride: QUICKIE WEDDINGS National Lampoon: DOOM SCHLOOM Organic Gardening: COMPOSTING THE FAMILY Head Bangers: YES! YES! THIS RULES! Sierra- NOW THE CLEANUP People: DI REALLY SAYS GOODBYE TV Guide: THE PROBLEM IS NOT IN YOUR SET Ladies' Home Journal FALLOUT: BLESSING IN DISGUISE FOR YEAST INFECTIONS? GQ: MEL GIBSON ON DRESSING DOWN FOR THE ULTIMATE DOWNER Southern Living: DANG Parents: HONEY. THEY BLEW UP THE KIDS Cosmopolitan: WHAT TO DO WHEN THE "END" ON HIS MIND ISN'T YOURS Seventeen: THE BIG DAY. AND YOU'VE GOT A ZIT! aji Associated Press her Michael Jackson interview and for the premiere of The Color Purple in 1985. More than 900 other articles sold for $10 to $1,000. Two charities will split the proceeds.

Tale of Clinton's mom spurs a bidding war The Divine Miss M. playing a presidential parent? Sure, if some of Virginia Kelley's friends get their way. Members of the one-time "lunch group" that dined in Arkansas with President Clinton's late mother say Bette Midler is their choice to play Kelley. TV Guide said in the June 25 issue. Kelley's autobiography, Leading With My Heart, was published If'-' I JL i It Three French waiters struggle to keep their trays stable during the annual cafe waiters' race in Paris.

On Sunday, about 500 waiters and waitresses participated in the contest. a few months after her death in January. It set off a bidding war, TV Guide said. Barbra Streisand and Meg Rvan have inquired about theatri cal rights, and actress Rue McClanahan. who recorded the audio version of the book, is vying for TV rights.

Producers Harrv Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, both friends of the president, are interested in turning the book into a TV miniseries. Shocker: Van Damme's next flick is violent What if you went to a hockey game and a movie broke out? Kickboxer-turned-actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is about to find out. Van Damme is using hockev Van Damme as a backdrop for his newest move, Arena. Pittsburgh Penguins owner Howard Baldwin developed the script, which is about surprise! an outbreak of violence that threatens the National Hockey League finals. Jennings is pickin' but sure ain't grinnin' Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be country singers.

Some, like Waylon Jennings, get carpal tunnel syndrome from all that guitar pickin'. "How y'all doing?" Jennings said Saturday as he greeted the crowd in Omaha, Neb. "Well. I'm not doing so hot." Jennings' arms were bandaged during his concert with Willie Nelson. Jennings Joked he hurt himself while trying to help Nelson fight off police who arrested Nelson in May for marijuana possession.

Jennings recently had surgery for a finger problem and carpal tunnel syndrome, a nerve injury from repeated bending of the wrist. A year older Guitarist Chet Atkins is 70. Actor John Goodman is 42. Actress Olympia Dukakis is 63. been sold in the United States, Canada, Australia and Guam.

Frechtman advertises the books in twin publications and also sells them in bookstores. The books are available in some libraries. Numbers are growing "It's been a very busy eight months," since the books came out last year, says Frechtman, who Is a visiting professor at Butler University, where she speaks about children's literature. Frechtman books are aimed at a small but growing market niche. MTV Continued from Page 1 MTV professes not to be worried by the potential competition.

"You have to stay ahead of the curve. We have never stopped planning and experimenting," countered Judy McGrath, president and creative director of MTV. MTV launched in 1981 with 250 music videos. For a number of years, when there were few cable channels and music videos were a novelty and Michael Jackson was a thriller, MTV's ratings were competitive with other major cable networks. But while MTV's prestige soared, its ratings plummeted.

They only started to show signs of recovery in the last two years, when the network really started pushing different forms of programming. MTV executives say all Uieir alternative programming Serves While copies of Counting Crows' surprising multiplatinum debut album August Everything After have flown off the record racks at a shockingly rapid rate, rock critics have remained at odds over just who the band reminds them of. Not that the Bay Area-based classic rockers care who the scribes think they sound like, but according to Rolling Stone magazine, the popular band has been compared to, among others: R.E.M., Bob Dylan. Pearl Jam. the Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen and the Street Band, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dion, Joe Cocker, Peter Gabriel, U2.

Terence Trent D'Arby. the Rolling Stones, 10,000 Maniacs, Soul Asylum, the Grateful Dead, Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison. However. Rolling Stone says, there Is one band conspicuously absent from that list. "Ironically, considering the group's ornithologically oriented name," David Wild writes about the band, whose singles Mr.

Jones and Round Here have received extensive radio and video exposure, "Counting Crows may be the first band in all of rock history not to be compared to the Byrds." Rockers not to blame Nearly 24 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, with the majority associated with aging, according to the American Association of Retired Persons. Proposal no secret Seeing messages on roadside billboards, stadium scoreboards and airborne banners trailing low-flying planes is no longer surprising. Not that these conspicuous, largely public marriage proposals have become the norm; it's Just that they've become Increasingly common. John Scalzi, however, may have found a new twist. Scalzi, who writes a weekly column for the Fresno Bee, proposed in it last week to his then-girlfriend, Kristine Ann Blauser.

Blauser and Scalzi are now engaged. "I didn't have any reservations about writing it," Scalzi says, "(because) I wanted Krissy to have a proposal she would remember, and fortunately my editors were amenable to the idea. "What I did worry about was if I was going to be able to write something that was going to say what I wanted to say. I have a The number of twins is Increasing by about 5 percent a year, she says. About 47,390 sets of twins were born In the United State3 in 1991, compared to 40,889 sets in 1987, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The increases are the result of fertility treatments, more live twin deliveries, and more pregnancies among 'older women. The popularity of the books has inspired Frechtman to develop other products. This summer, she will begin selling a puzzle book and a coloring book featuring Illustrations from her books. Earlier this month, she read for audiotape versions of the first four books. And the company has just approved a licensing agreement for products for twins, including birthday party decorations and birth announcements.

The business has grown more rapidly than Frechtman expected. "This is like a train that's going down the track and I don't know if I can pull the brake." she says. That doesn't stop her from looking ahead. Frechtman Is planning four more picture books in The Browne Twins series, culminating in the twins' first birthday. Then, she plans to write storybooks for older twins.

The books will grow with the twins. Frechtman says. one purpose: to encourage viewers to stick around and watch music videos. "Music videos are our bread and butter." McGrath said. She vows that they will never dip below 80 percent of the channel's total programming.

The record companies are not the only ones that believe MTV is vulnerable to healthy competition. In anticipation of a 500-channel cable universe, the marketplace for music videos is suddenly spinning at high speed. On July 1, the country's sixth-largest cable operator, Cablevision Systems, will begin feeding the Canadian music video network MuchMusic to its 3 million subscribers. Black Entertainment Television is planning a separate Jazz network in October. And the easy-listening MOR Music TV, now available in 10 million homes.

Is launching a second music video channel with home shopping. Coming Up Friday: Movies opening: Wy-att Earp and The Lion King. Number Ones Movie: Speed TV: Grace Under Fire, ABC Video rentals: Mrs. Doubt-fire Video sales: The Return of Jafar Pop single: Swear, AII-4-One Pop album: Purple, Stone Temple Pilots Fiction: The Chamber, John Grisham Nonf iction: Embraced by the Light, Betty J. Eadie, Curtis Taylor Concert grosses: Eagles, $5,077,875.

Irvine, May 27-29, May 31 to June 1. tendency toward glibness, so I wanted to rein that in if I could. My only other fear was that Krissy would somehow find out about the column before I wanted her to." The wedding, Incidentally, will take place sometime next year. No word yet on whether the newspaper will send anybody to report on it. Critical omission Of the 500-plus full- and part-time film critics In the United States reviewing for newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, fewer than 10 are Latino.

AfricanT American or Asian-American. Knight-Ridder Newspapers reports. Copyright 1994 the Sacramento Bee Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate BARRY Continued from Page 1 get my 13-year-old son out of bed on school mornings. Contrary to what nuclear scientists will try to tell you, the most powerful force In the universe is not the one that holds the nucleus of the atom together; It's the force that develops between my son and his bed overnight. By morning, he and the bed have bonded into a single biological entity.

Sometimes he has to go to school with his bed still attached to his body; this has really hurt his gym grade. Speaking of beds, I have here another news Item concerning the rural crime wave, sent In by Dawn Kiechle, from the April 10 issue of the Watertown (N.Y.) Dally Ttmes: "Theresa, N.Y. State police and Jefferson County sheriffs deputies were called at 8:03 p.m. Saturday to a report of a man shooting his bed with a shotgun In his house. A radio dispatch said the man then dragged his bed out In the yard and shot It again." No alternative Obviously we should not judge this case until we have heard both sides, the man's and the bed's.

But my Initial reaction Is to side with the man. Sometimes you have no choice but to shoot furnl ture. For years my family has been stalked by a hideous old mucus-colored armchair that we bought at an auction tor 25 cents long ago when we could not afford human furniture. Each time we moved, we'd tell ourselves we were going to get rid of this chair, but each time we got to our new house the chair would be there, squatting In a corner, chuckling softly. It was a Stephen King chair.

Finally, on our last move, I put the chair out by the curb with a bunch of other stuff; scavengers took everything else including some really pathetic Junk, such as aerodynamically impaired Frls-bees with sectors chewed off by dogs but they left the chair. As we drove away, I could feel it staring at us. We haven't seen It at our new house yet. but I know it's out there somewhere, watching, waiting; and I know that, some night, I may have to exercise my right to defend my home, as clearly stated in the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution OK to shoot a Because sometimes you have to take a stand.

Sometimes, In the fight against crime, you have to take matters Into your own hands. And then. In accordance with the law. you have to call Used Chair Dealer. Knight-fijJer Newspapers Oprah's clothes cache brings in $150,000 Lucky bargain shoppers got a crack at Oprah Winfrey's wardrobe in a charity sale of her cast-offs that raised $150,000.

The talk show host said in Mav she Winfrey would sell a cache of clothes ranging in size from 8 to 22. Fifteen items were offered in a silent auction In Chicago. They included clothes she wore to the 1987 Academy Awards show, for pages. They also said the illustrator should make the mother chubbier and the house messier. Real-world reactions "They keep me very honest," says the writer, a slender 58-year-old woman with a quick smile.

Kim Shepherd, mother of 3lh-year-old identical twin boys and past president of the Southside Mothers of Twins club, Is a fan of the books. "My kids like them. I think she's done a very good Job." "I think it's really neat, too, that she's put them out in board books that are good for the little kids," she says. The books have thick, toddler-proof pages. The Browne Twin books are "a fine addition" to the literature about twins, says Adam P.

Math-eny, director of Twins Study at the University of Louisville. "She (Frechtman) did her homework." By providing good stories, Frechtman hopes to encourage reading aloud, which promotes reading skills and closeness in families. The Browne Twins stories provide opportunities for parents and twins to talk about their own lives. At the end of Book 1, the author encourages parents to tell their twins about the day they were born. "That is every child's favorite story," says Frechtman, the mother of four and stepmother of two.

i f. 'Si -N iT-fflMi lifii MniWiiii iirnr -r- a. irrMIr "TrrrM imitur Star Staff Photo Frank Esptch TWICE THE FUN: Dad Darrell Davidson has two reasons to enjoy reading: 1-year twins Chris (left) and Anne. TWINS Continued from Page 1 consultant to the private employment agency Industry. She enlisted her brother, Ric Harbin, an Indianapolis ad agency owner and artist, to create the illustrations for the picture books.

Then, with help from her husband, a corporate franchise lawyer, she formed Twin Pleasures Publishing Corp. They published the first two books. The Twins' Beginning! and The Twins Come Home, in November 1993. The next two. The Twins' First Walk and The Twins' First Visit to the Doctor, are scheduled to come out at the end of this month.

Nanci Browne says she is thrilled with her mother's books, because they are fun for kids and real for parents. The books serve as a "manual" of sorts to help parents explain how twins are special, she says. Browne says other mothers of twins tell her they have had experiences similar to episodes in the books. Many of them laugh about the picture showing mom bathing one twin while rocking the other. Parents also offer good suggestions for future books, Frechtman says.

Mothers told her the first two books weren't long enough, so the next two have four more Cabinet fill Ref adng by Pioneer Multiculturalism is another theme in Frechtman's stories. "This is not a vanilla world," she says, adding that twins are more common In African-American and Hispanic families than in white. So her books include details such as a set of black twins, Hispanic triplets, a black nurse and a female doctor. While Frechtman hasn't recovered much more than her publishing expenses yet, she is pleased with book sales. She estimates 3,000 sets of Books 1 and 2 have The beautiful kitchen you've dreamed about I without the high cost.

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