The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 15

cv THE COURIER-JOURNAL LOUISVILLE, KY. MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1992 TIPSHEET KEN NEUHAUSER mmlm warm tfiimif liff 1 i -iwirmmtii -f, HI A 'riy v- it fl fa A Vil -Wi ilti l-i t-j I i 1 I a .1 'J! ,,,,1. i it 4n '-M I S. If A5f 4 I mi, i.iiiitit Hf I a -'fMmtm Ww- I klVtsal" Id 7 If s' fl 1 I 4 1 -n tf I 7 Today's best bet: Send in the clown In 1990, during the Classics in Context Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, master clown Geoff Hoyle wowed audiences with his three-legged routine, a battle with a menacing chair and other silliness. Well, ATL is no fool.

It knows a good thing when it sees it. So it's bringing Hoyle in for a return engagement, with performances at noon and 8 p.m. today in the Pamela Brown Auditorium, 316 W. Main St. The one-man show is called "Fool," and you'd be foolish to miss it.

It's not recommended for children under 12 years of age. Tickets for today's noon performance, which runs about an hour, cost $14 ($9 for ATL subscribers and $6 for students). Tickets for tonight's show, which runs about 90 minutes, cost $15 ($10 for ATL subscribers and $7 for students). Call (502) 584-1205. Hear all about it Actor-storyteller and former Peace Corps worker Gregory Acker will keep parents and children well entertained with his program at 3 p.m.

tomorrow at the Middletown branch of the Louisville Free Public Library, located in the East Government Center, 200 North Juneau Drive, off Shelbyville Road. "Ananse Tales: The Spider Speaks" will feature Acker performing folk tales from West Africa and using musical instruments, songs, mime and audience participation. His stories usually include clever creatures from the African jungle who fool each other in delightful ways. Admission is free. A Tosca' talk Prior to Kentucky Opera's opening of "Tosca" on Friday at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, opera buffs can learn more about Puccini's tragic classic at tomorrow's Lunch and Listen program, sponsored by the Kentucky Opera Guild.

It will be from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. at Vincenzo's, 150 S. Fifth St. Thomson Smillie will present a talk and slide-and-video program about how the drama is played out against three Roman backdrops a baroque church, a Renaissance palace and a classical ruin. The talk is free.

Reservations for an optional lunch ($6) are due by 5 p.m. today. Call (502) 584-4500. Swinging for charity The American Cancer Society is sponsoring a fund-raiser that enables golfers to play more than 140 rounds of golf at 76 courses in Kentucky and Tennessee practically for free. The 1992 Golf Card costs a minimum donation of $30.

Each additional card costs $20. The card, which entitles golfers to free greens fees, is valid through Dec. 31. For more information, call (502) 584-6782 or, toll-free, (800) 659-4227. "Tlpsheet" appears Monday through Thursday In the Features section.

31, I A 1 By DICK KAUKAS, Staff Writer T'S NOT UNCOMMON for Robin Wolf to figure out a problem in his sleep. When that happens, even if it's 2 or 3 a.m., he'll get the portrait he's working on, settle SI AK PHOTO BY GARY S. CHAPMAN Wolf, 55, has deep-set eyes, a long white beard and shoulder-length gray hair that he sometimes pulls back into a ponytail. He likes to draw the way most people like to lie on the couch, or watch television, or play golf, or go fishing or eat ice cream. "If I don't draw, I'm not a real pleasant person to be around," he said.

"Drawing is part of my life, and it's something I'm supposed to be doing, and, you know, I mean, I'm not terribly social anyway. "But there's an absolute joy in drawing that has nothing to with the subject matter, that has nothing to do with being an artist, has nothing to do with any of that. "It has to do with being. It's like meditation." into the soft chair in his tiny studio apartment off Frankfort Avenue, grab one of his charcoal pencils and start right in. He sketches with his right hand, but he uses all his fingers to smudge, erase, highlight and darken.

"I get so involved in the process," he said, that he might sit there working until long after the sun comes up, maybe even until it goes back down. Drawing totally engrosses him. "Sometimes I'll be out on the street, taking a walk or something, and suddenly somebody'll try to talk to me, and I'll realize I'm still back in the studio, trying to figure something out. "Sometimes I'll do that in my sleep. I'll wake up knowing how to do something, and I'll come down and start working on a piece.

I work every day, all the time. I'm rather fanatical about it. I put in tremendous hours in terms of drawing." How Robin Logsdon, Louisville TV adman and promotion personality, became Robin Wolf, artist, and came home again. Or did he? INSIDE Ann Landers. Comics 6 3 5 3 2 Helping Hand Shelnwold on Bridge Show Clock TV listings Missing GED diploma is replaceable See "Lemme Dolt," Page 6 of bronze TOM DORSEY TV-RADIO CRITIC Anchors aweigh for newscasts with students The newest TV anchors in Louisville are Melissa Wheatley and Sarah Longest.

They'll make their debut today in a 60-second newscast aired on WAVE-3 andWKPC-15. WAVE newscasters Jackie Hays and Don Schroeder don't have to worry about the competition at least not for a few years. Wheatley and Longest are students at duPont Manual High School. They're the first participants in a joint school-media project called "NewsWhys." The student anchors are chosen by communications teachers in Jefferson County public high schools for the on-the-job internship. They will spend a few days sitting in on news meetings at WAVE before selecting stories from a I OR THE PAST COUPLE of years, Wolf has been focusing his artistic attention primarily on charcoal portraits of American Indians.

His drawings look more like copies masks than simple black and white See ROBIN Back page, col. 2, this section 4 rif; WW 'Ud i. jL STAFF PHOTO BY PAM SPAULDING New TV newscasters Melissa Wheatley, left, and Sarah Longest. Channel 3 newscast to be adapted for their own mini-newscasts. The rotating weekly anchor team will rewrite and tape their versions of the WAVE report at Channel 15.

It will then be broadcast twice the following day over channels 3 and 15. "They will be selecting stories that See ANCHORS Page 2, col. 1, this section IT i i 4 rimmmrm Some stores devote entire sections to massagers. Here's what we found in our survey of local stores and a few catalogs. Hand-held massagers may be battery-powered or corded.

Most are "wands," some of which have a crook in the handle for do-it-yourself back massages. Some have four or five different massage heads, and some have nodules that claim to imitate the feel of fingers. Some emit heat while some use sound waves to reach deeper muscles. Some foot massagers look like small baths with water that swirls or bubbles, while others have contoured massage pads and vibrating units. Some resemble slippers or athletic shoes.

Back massagers may offer vibration and heat, and they're portable enough to tote to the office. Some fit only in the small of the back, while others run from the waist up to the shoulders. How much can you expect to pay? Anywhere from $20 to $250. A few tips if you're tempted: Don't believe all the hype. We've seen one massager, for example, that was promoted as being able to relieve almost a dozen kinds of aches and pains.

No one product can do all that, said Brian Woodruff, a physical therapist with Sportsmedicine Louisville. Check with a health-care professional, such as your physician, chiropractor See BUYING POWER Page 3, col. 1, this section BUYING POWER LESLIE ELLIS CONSUMER WRITER Do you need a kneader for muscles? Looking for a way to relieve a sore muscle or knots of tension in your neck? Lots of people are turning to the expanding variety of massagers models tailored to your feet or back as well as hand-held styles. Sales have been climbing for the last several years; in 1991, they were expected to reach about $150 million. Once relegated to mail order from the backs of magazines, massagers can now be purchased through discount or department stores, warehouse clubs and high-profile catalogs.

They are particularly popular with stressed-out baby boomers who are tuned into healthful lifestyles and want a drug-free way to unwind, according to Home Furnishings Daily, which recently surveyed the massager scene. A 1.