The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 31

wwwtennessaancom THE TENNESSEAN Satutday. April 1 2000 3D ENTERTAINMENT iMMJMM.t 1 oes to B.C, Wis New series follows young, beautiful to nation's capital t) I X) (3 ttl 0 fc ir mA Li i i 'in Today's Hot Spots Our picks A few years ago, Greg Garing's shows at Tootsie Orchid Lounge helped enliven what had been a dank and shadowy scene on Lower Broadway. In print, Garing was often depicted as a throwback, a retrobilly who could convincingly ape the country music of a simpler, more soulful time. That summation did nothing to convey the intensity of a good Garing performance, though, nor did it do justice to a highly evolved (to continue with the ape metaphor), invigorating stage presence or to a spectacular, otherworldy singing voice. Garing confused longtime Nashville listeners by moving to NewVbrk City and by making a 1997 Warner Brothers CD called Alone, a disc that combined urban dance beats and rural instrumentation.

Now Garing is back in Nashville, back playing rootsy music with a phenomenal band (Kenny vaughan on guitar, former Planet Rocker Mark Winchester on bass and Los Straightjacket drummer Jimmy Lester), and back on Lower Broad (at the Bluegrass Inn) every Friday and Saturday night. The shows start late, normally around midnight, but a late-nighter spent listening to Greg Garing is worth a bleary-eyed Sunday. Besides, parking in the area is a lot easier once the tourists go back to their Opryland-area hotels. The Bluegrass Inn is at 418 Broadway. Information: 726-2799.

Another grand happening as Saturday night becomes Sunday morning: Leona Williams, who spent years singing lovely harmonies on Merle Haggard records, performs at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop's Midnight Jamboree. Admission is free, the venue is at 2416 Music valley Drive and the phone number for information is 889-2974. PETER COOPER, STAFF WRITER Other happenings Among the best bass players on the planet, Victor Wooten plays 328 Performance Hall, 328 4th Ave. tonight at 8. Tickets are $12 advance and $15 at the door and are available by calling Ticket-master at 255-9600.

Information: 259-3288. The Nashville Bluegrass band plays good songs right at the Sta- By SUSAN KING Los Angeles Times HOLLYWOOD The WB's latest series, D.C, should fit easily with the network's popular youth-oriented shows such as Buffy the Vampke Slayer, Angel Dawson's Creek and Felicity the cast is young, beautiful and buffi D.C, set in the nation's capital, is an ensemble drama focusing on five young adults in their early 20s who are housemates in a Georgetown brownstone. It premieres tomorrow and is the latest series from Emmy Award-winning executive producer Dick Wolf of La Order fame. Mason (Gabriel Olds), who has dreamed all of his life about coming to Washington, is a congressional staffer. His best friend Pete (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) works as a low-level lobbyist for an environmental group.

The serious-minded Lewis (Daniel Sunjata) is a Supreme Court clerk. His girlfriend, Sarah (Kristanna Loken), is a junior field producer at a cable news station. And the vivacious Finley (Jacinda Barrett), Mason's twin, has just quit graduate school and is on a voyage of self-discovery. Wolf said the network approached him about doing the series in the summer of 1998 when the Monica Lewinsky scandal was on everybody's mind. "I sort of thought Washington would be a terrific venue and show that the government and public services were getting an incredibly bad rap," Wolf said.

"I knew it was a place where the best and the brightest were going," he adds. "It seemed like it was really a great venue to take this WB (demographic), which is sort of exemplified by Dawson's Creek and hopefully expand their audiences upward." But not too far up. "It is not a show that was designed to really attract 45-year-old hard-core cyn- GANNETT NEWS SERVICE The new WB series D.C. stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, left, Jacinda Barrett, Gabriel Olds, Kristanna Loken and Daniel Sunjata. Besides the personal life of the ensemble, D.C will explore hot-button issues such as gun control.

"We had one period where one of the people in the house wanted to bring a gun in for protection," Miller said. "Obviously, there were a lot of different opinions over it. We had an issue about parental responsibility of children with guns." Miller said that D.C. isn't in competition with prime-time's other political drama, NBC's acclaimed, The West Wing. "The West Wing is a wonderful show," Miller said.

"But the characters are all franchised. The power is solidified, and it is is about what they do with that power. Our show is about the people who really don't have power. It's about a very interest- ics. It was designed to have these kids as role models for what can happen," Wolf said.

Co-executive producer and head writer James Andrew Miller spent seven years in Washington, eventually becoming a special assistant to Sea Howard Baker, R-Tena "I'm always an outcast at dinner parties because I am incredibly cynical about the world," Miller said. But he's not cynical about Washingtoa "When I used to walk on the Senate floor, there was never a day where I didn't take a deep breath and say "Wow. This is When you are in a place like that at such a young age and you have the opportunity to do things, I found it is mind-blowing. The other thing is that it stays with you forever." Tuning in D.C. premieres at 7 p.m.

tomorrow on WNAB-Channel 58. Also new tomorrow: Movie Stars, a half-hour comedy starring Harry Hamlin and Jennifer Giant as the picture-perfect Hollywood power couple who, offscreen, face the same challenges as any other couple trying to raise a family. The show airs at 8 p.m. Sundays on WNAB-Channel 58. ing niche in Washingtoa What do you do without power in a powerful town?" The series breakthrough character is Barrett's Finley.

A former model, the Australian-born Barrett is known to MTV fans from the London cast of The Real World five years ago. Barrett said she immediately fell in love with Finley when she read the script 'As the show goes along she'll do something or say something and get people going on an idea that will set the ball rolling for the rest of the episode," Barrett said. "She says things totally inappropriate most of the time. She's sort of the fish out of water." The actress said that what sets D.C. apart from other youth shows is that it deals intelligently with the issues.

"I mean, some shows that you see now that are for young people are only about relationships," Barrett said. "We have to deal with a lot of things in life moral issues, for example." Unlike most of her fellow flatmates on The Real World, Barrett said, the characters who inhabit the brownstone in D.C are so driven they already have their futures mapped out. "I know most of my friends are like that too," she said, "and I think they need to be represented on television." and mattress Save Greg Garing's back and he brings his rootsy sound to Lower Broad every Friday and Saturday night Catch him at 9 tonight at the Bluegrass Inn. tton Inn, 401 12th Ave. S.

Show starts at 9 p.m. with a $10 cover. Information: 255-3307. Cumberland University student Jason Deathridge is produc1 Ing a multi-artist outdoor concert this afternoon to raise awareness about Cumberland's 500-watt campus radio station, The station offers a variety of music, and the concert should do the same. Deathridge's schedule: indie rockers Old Grey Whistle Test at 1 :30, energetic singer-songwriter Jennifer Helle at 2:35, alternative rock band Hangman's daughter at 3:30, sultry acoustic popster Kathleen LaGue at 4:35, pop rock quartet Mass Transit at 5:30, Stone Temple Pilots-esque Somethings at 6:30 and more rock from Mink at 7:30.

The concert is on the Memorial Hall lawn at the Cumberland campus. Admission is free. Information: 444-5147 Southern California rockers Backbone 69 play tonight at the ExitIn, 2208 Elliston Place. Information: 321-4400. Bonepony melds roots rock, pop and hillbilly music then blends it with a twinge of psychedelia at 3rd Lindsley Bar and Grill, 818 3rd Ave.

at 9 tonight. Cover is $8. Information: 259-9891. Up-to-date club, restaurant, movie and concert listings at www.tennessean.com Beyond. SELECT COMFORT it 2) OmI I UDtOHfl un pillows i i A II I On a Select Comfort bed set Experience the Select Comfort Advantage Adjustable firmness for personalized iitt? 7 LUIIIIUIiailU 3UUUUII.

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