The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 62

I ABIGAIL VAN BUREN What's up w'h word 'up'? I I page2F Horoscope 2F Bridge 2F Brides M7TlT0 JUL SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 1994 -Darnell WHAT'S WROI I' tiki ill 3 PICTURE? Lackluster programming, poor financing and weak equipment hamper WDCN-Channel 8 By SANDY SMITH Staff Writer arney, public television's mascot, is a gawky dinosaur. In many ways, so is public television itself and Middle Tennessee's WDCN-Channel 8. MacneiVLehrer I yjv, I I Masterpiece 1 I Theatre mid-70s that became PBS' highest-rated program in a decade. Providing gavel-to-gavel coverage of Metro Council meetings twice each month 46 hours on the air in the last fiscal year means WDCN pre-empts PBS programming such as Great Performances and The Charlie Rose Show. The station's largest contributions to local programming have been fundraisers.

In the last year, the eight-day Action Auction took up 60 hours, with another 30 minutes devoted to an auction preview. Membership breaks took up another 60 hours, and on-air promotions ate up 22 more. The on-air promotions were surpassed only by 25 tyj hours of the local newsmagazine Tennessee Crossroads and another 24 12 hours of the locally produced Tennessee Outdoorsman. Despite the problems, the station's I Turn to PAGE 8F, Column 1 While the rest of the broadcasting world is revving up its satellites in an expanding universe, many public television stations are stalled by budget cuts, outdated equipment and programming that is no longer unique. WDCN-Channel 8 has all those problems and more: WDCN's transmitter, which delivers the station's signals to homes in the Midstate, has exceeded its 20-year life expectancy, and not even tender, loving care will save it Hampered by a programming policy written 20 years ago, the station has passed up shows such as Tales of the City, a saga of life in San Francisco in the COMMENTARY Flim Flam launches 007 theme Film Flam XVI was launched last week at Sunset Grill with a James Bond-style reception, which makes sense if you know that the Aug.

20 Sinking Creek benefit has a James Bond theme for its combination 1 party film viewing. Janice and i1-" Manuel Zeitlin, ON THE BALL Elizabeth and More Scene and Daniel Scokin, Heard, on 4F. Meryl Truett and John Meyer, Randy Rayburn L'. and Jane Pittman were hosts for the kick-off, which included a nice mix of Film Flam die-hards and new faces. i We thought it was really cool that they had a martini bar, but that wasn't the coolest thing about the party.

Elizabeth Scokin was. The event chair got things revved up by wearing a gold leotard, the biggest gold hair-do we've seen since our senior prom, gold lashes, gold makeup and gold fingernails. If you haven't figured out she was Goldfin- ger by now, you need to get a life. Imagine the surprise from the Vogue magazine folks who later spotted Elizabeth and Dan having dinner at the Grill. We heard they shot a bunch of photos of Elizabeth, who is gorgeous and does not have an ounce of fat on her body.

Appar- ently, Vogue was in town during Fan Fair to do a piece on how Nashvillians dress. Boy, are we going to make an impression. Anyway, seen bonding at the re- ception were Bell Lowe and Steven Crook, Hattie DeWalt and Mark Whitaker, Mary and Walt Schatz, Susan Knowles, Gloria Houghland and Pat Patrick, Anne Rlst, Caro- lyne and Tommy Hadden, Diane Neff, David Ribar, John Baeder, Mary Entrekln and Kent Agee, LaRawn Scalfe and Jerry Smith and Amy and Owen Joyner. TWO SIZES LARGER Talk about a major growth spurt Attendance at the Grand Ladies of the Grand Ole Opry fashion show Monday jumped from last year's 270 guests to a whopping crowd of 700. It was another interesting mix: local men and women and Fan Fair out-of-towners.

It easy to spot the difference. The out-of-towners were the ones asking Lorrie Mor- gan for her autograph. We wanted to ask her what brand of bubble gum she was chewing on, but thought better of it We sat next to singer Paulette 1 Carlson, who was delightful. When she first moved to town, she was in a music store getting the action checked on her guitar. There was a tallish, rangy guy in there, fiddling around with one of the store's un- usual guitars.

"Oh, do you play?" she small- talked. "A little," he said. When she left the store, she real- ized she had just asked Chet Atkins whether or not he played guitar. In the crowd at the TJ. Martell Foundation benefit at Opryland Hotel were Kathy Dozier, Bonnie Nelson, Dianne Petty, Barbara Dunn, Marie Fuqua, Susan Cone, Helen Kennedy, Kate Wilson, newcomer Gail Aspley, Frances Preston, Joyce Rice, Pam Howard, Sue Sturdivant, Sharon White, Cheryl White, Faith HilL Tommy Boyce, Patti Carr, Anne Layman, Lisa Hughey, Elaine Miller, Patsy Bradley, Katherlne Bradley, Michael Ann Robinson, Janet Tyson, Doris Medlin, Adell Bernard, Sharon BelL Victoria Traver and Gene Turnage.

Catherine Darnell is a columnist for The Tennessean. Essays Fashion ligh-ertd clothes find home In Nashville pi. excitement there." Caldwell and co-owner Lisa Spiva requested the boutique, and Lee said he agreed because the store was "very beautiful, professionally run, with a real commitment to designers." And some in Nashville will say they're not alone. Gus Mayer, for example, in the Mall at Green Hills is hosting no less than eight trunk shows this month. That's when lines of clothing for the next season appear for a limited time.

Clothing lines carried by the store include Lauren Sara, Yeohlee, Joseph Abboud, Badgley Mischka, Louis Feraud, as well as "bridge lines" those between ready-to-wear and designer like Anne Klein II and DKNY. Grace's, at 4005 Hillsboro Pike, a Nashville institution since 1925, exclusively offers Alfred Fiandaca, as well as Raoul Arango, Aurora Ruffolo and the Jaywein suit line. And Rebecca Jayne, 4009 Hillsboro Pike, offers about two trunk shows a month from a variety of designers, the most recent being Claude Bert and Claude Rap from France. Then there's Jamie, 4317 Harding Pike, and McClures, in both Brentwood and Belle Meade. "There is a market for these clothes, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's a large market," said D'Lisa Reynard, store manager for Rebecca Jayne.

"Anyone in Nashville could appreciate it. Maybe they can't afford it, but they can appreciate it" So how much will Nashville appreciate Armani? Caldwell said customers are already "coming out of the woodwork" to ask about the new line. "Judging from the response, it's going to be very well received," she said. By FIONA SOLTES I Staff Writer High fashion? High time! Looking for style in Nashville, in case you havent noticed, no longer means simply looking past the city limits. Increasingly over the last few years, designer clothing stores have been attracting local clientele.

And this week, another player broadens the horizons: Giorgio Armani. Harry B's in Belle Meade opens a top-of-the-line Black Label boutique, one of only 25 Armani points of sale across the country. "It's nice that Nashville is becoming a place where you can find whatever you want," said Betsy Caldwell, Harry B's co-owner. If you're an Armani customer, that means jackets in the range. Granted, it's not for everyone.

But if Armani's representatives didn't believe the clothes would sell here, the boutique wouldn't have come. "I think Nashville, within the last few years, has taken on very much of an international character," said Mark Lee, Armani's commercial director for the United States. "And if we can add to that in any way, that's great We feel a real Getting there The Giorgio Armani Black Label boutique kicks off at Harry B's, 4313 Harding Road, with a trunk show Thursday and Friday. Hours are 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and a portion of the proceeds will go to Nashville CARES. Sleek and sophisticated: Giorgio Armani fashions come to Nashville's Harry B's store this week.

FASHION SCOOP FITNOTES SHI HATS OFF Catherine Darnell's Touch, a mail-order The Right Hats Off acces- catalog, offers LIVING WELL Women are still stereotyped by their hair color, so reports a recent issue of Glamour magazine. Writer Maria Everett surveyed a number of recent films and found that, despite the women's movement, Hollywood still uses hair color to determine a female's type of character. Blond hair still "signifies one of two types of personality: icy or dumb," states the article. Brunettes assume the roles of loving wives and good mothers. Redheads, however, are seen as mercurial, dangerous women.

sorles for the 35 million American women who wear a size 14 or larger. Included are woven and lizard belts and stretchable pull-through sashes. They Fruits and veggies may Improve heart attack outcome. Studies have shown that adding extra fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates to a diet can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. But a recent study, done for the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, found that heart attack patients who follow low-fat diets full of fruits and vegetables are less likely to die or have another heart attack in the following three months.

The reason? Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants and fiber. Award goes to Willie McDonald, who, as volunteer chairman of the BellSouth Senior Classic Tuesday-next Sunday at Opryland, is responsible for recruiting, organizing, training and managing volunteers for Nashville's first PGA event. More on Hats Off, 4F. SECTION EDITORS Catherine Mayhew, Managing EditorFeatures, 259-8058. Gloria Ballard, Weekend EditorFeatures, 259-8042.

Pat Swingley, 259-8046. (Monday-Friday) Living Department fax: 259-8057 also offer Western-style belts with silver rhinestone or metallic buckles for 31- to 50-inch waists. For a catalog call MCDONALD 1-800-233-2883. More fashion, 5F..