Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 14

FINAL (mm mm The Arizona Republic Tuesday, January 13, 1981 and the Arts Hardy 1 1 Price II I LMJLJJi- ilJHi John Willard Republic Itzhak Perlman: 'I feel a great deal of responsibility the minute I walk on the stage. I have to give the very best I PEOPLE AND PLACES Nancy Sher, who used to manage the Valley Art Theater in Tempe, was in town for the weekend visiting friends. Ms. Sher is now with the American Film Institute in Washington working on a program of touring films and another program dealing with independent film makers. KNXV-TV, Channel 15, claims to have the fastest news chopper in the Phoenix area, the Bluebird of Happinews, piloted by Elroy 'Buzz' Towers.

Because of the chopper's speed and color, sky blue, few people have ever actually seen the chopper, which is a regular feature on the station's Monday through Friday 12:55 p.m. Good News Only show. To remedy this situation, the station is conducting an art contest for viewers. Submit your drawings andor paintings of what you imagine the news chopper to look like. Deadline is Jan.

31. The art works will be featured on Good News Only during February. Winners will receive T-shirts. Phoenix Little Theater has organized a speakers' bureau open to schools and other organizations. Subjects available through the bureau include scenic design, theater lighting, costuming, set construction and painting, theater architecture, directing, acting, musical production and theater management.

THIS AND THAT Comic-magician Friedhoffer is back at the Playboy Club through Jan. 31. "New. York was too cold for me," the popular Friedhoffer. "I had to get back to the sun." My How Things Change Department: While going through the office photo files the other day, I found a front page from the April 19, 1964, edition of the Republic's entertainment section.

The ads on Page 2 grabbed me right in the wallet. For instance, a Peter, Paul and Mary concert the next month at the Encanto Park band shell advertised tickets ranging from $2.25 to $3.25. Newton's Beef Eaters at Third Avenue and Camelback advertised a prime rib dinner, carved at your table and complete with Yorkshire pudding and a salad, for $3.95. The old Smokehouse (now Club Phoenix on 16th Street) was even better. Prime rib dinner, soup or salad, potatoes and hot bread $2.95.

The No. 1 best seller this fall and winter has been Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It was such a best seller, most book stores ran out of copies well before Christmas. Some suggested a Cosmos gift certificate. Book buyers didn't buy.

"People wanted the book in their hands," said Donna Atkins, manager of the Park Central B. Dalton's. LINER NOTES The winter concert scene is getting off to a slow start. Miriam Boegel, managing director of Gammage and ASU's Activity Center, says calls about possible dates and artists have been few and far between since December. On the list of maybes for later this year are Chet Atkins, Dan Fogelberg, Eric Clapton and perhaps another Billy Joel show.

Hugo, Caesar and Fred are back on the bandstand at Camelback Inn. Yes, Fred. Wayne the third member of the popular trie; -now in its 11th winter season at Camelback retired last year. The trio plays for dancing and drinking pleasure Monday through Saturday, from 8:30 p.m. The Musical Affair continues its Sunday evening stand.

Dtislhlfflk IPWrtafflDB To be hooked on me is to be hooked on the music' "And I like to talk to audiences. I feel there is a natural barrier between the stage and the audience, and the moment you talk to them it helps them relax, so not only am I going to have a nice time, but they are going to have a nice time." There is another form of barrier Perlman would like to see abolished the physical kind, the kind that impedes the handicapped and forces people like him "to take a freight elevator to get to a dressing room." "I really haven't scratched the surface in this," he said, "which is trying to. improve the situation and lifestyle of the handicapped population in the United States. "If I can get to every concert hall in the country and make it barrier-free, front and back, I would feel that is a real accomplish "The point is that to be hooked on me is to be hooked on the music. You cannot separate the two.

Maybe they will say, 'Well, I saw him do it, now maybe I can see somebody Only for the most part, though, they really want to see him, not anyone else. His performances with the Phoenix Syphony Monday and tonight, as well as his recital on Saturday, were sold out. When the symphony first placed him on its season schedule, it had to prohibit sale of individual concert tickets, not only to prevent his shows from immediately selling out, but also to get patrons to buy the season's book. "The danger with all the publicity is that you forget what you are supposed to do," Perlman said. "That is what I keep reminding myself of everyday.

With all the other things, I am basically here to make music. "You can lose your purpose. The minute people have an idea of what you do 'Oh, yes, I saw him, he was wonderful' they don't really listen. And when they stop listening, it is very easy to give great concerts, because anything you do is OK. That is the great danger for me.

That is what I try to avoid. I try to work even harder now that it is easier." Included in that desire is a great deal of travel. This year Perlman estimates he will do about 120 personal appearances, plus television, plus recordings. "I feel a great deal of responsibility the minute I walk on the stage," he said. "I have to give the very best I can, and it doesn't matter if I am in New York's Carnegie Hall or in Toledo, Ohio.

By Ed Montini Republic Staff Television crews taping violinist Itzhak Perlman's 30-minute press conference at the Arizona Biltmore Monday had just switched off their big white lights. "This sort of reminds me of Japan," he said to a small cluster of news people gathering around him. "Only there the journalists sit around for 10 minutes or so before they say anything. They are so polite. Then when they He contorts his face into a roughly squint and starts speaking from the corner of His mouth in a "Ong-wong-ghong-ieee-yang-hoo" mimic ending with, "And then the translator turns to me and says, 'Mr.

Perlman, how bid are He is 35. He is according to Newsweek, Time, the New York Times, NBC, PBS and just about everyone else in a position to make such pronouncements the foremost violinist of his generation. He is a first-string celebrity, the kind that brings out television cameras an almost unheard of position for a classical musician. And he is what people in the news business call "good copy." He knows this, and he uses it to promote himself and his art. "It is the fear of the unknown that keeps people away from the concert hall," he said.

"When people come to a concert, they do so for basically two reasons: to hear and to watch. If they see you on television, I feel they will get hooked. Whether they are hooked on me or hooked on the music is no longer the point. ment. If I could see every architectural school in the country require a six-month or year program in barrierrfree design, that would be something.

And there is also the matter of improving the lot of classical music on two basic levels the home and in school. Silverman's job safe, NBC official reports "You have to have the music in your house," he said. "It is not force fed, but just around. All kinds of music. It is when nothing goes on in the house that we get in trouble.

And in schools, the teaching there is pathetic. Television may help with this. It is sad. My son comes home and tells me, 'Daddy, I had to play the bells today. "Well, you know they have about 10 kids and thev are going to play the bells.

They stand around, and each one them every four seconds or so gets to go BOINGGGGGGG. Violinist inspires emotional performance soloist's own violin, perhaps even a bit softer and warmer in the higher register. PHOENIX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conducted by Theo Alcantara, with Itzhak Perlman, violin. Symphony Hall 8 p.m. Monday and today.

The orchestra also seemed inspired by Perlman's interpretation. It accompanied the artist with total understanding and commendable discretion, complementing the soloist per By Jay Arnold Associated Press LOS ANGELES NBC has "no intention of getting rid of (NBC President) Fred Silverman," according to a top network official, who claims the network has finally pushed its way into second place in the three-way ratings race. Robert Mulholland, president of the NBC-TV division, reaffirmed the network's confidence in Silverman, who has been there for two seasons. Mulholland made his remarks to about 100 television reporters, who attended a three-day, NBC-sponsored gathering that ended Sunday. During it, they saw clips of upcoming shows and "trailers" featuring the high points of NBC's season.

"The three networks are closer in ratings today than they have been in ratings history," said Mulholland, using NBC figures. NBC claims it is now second to CBS but NBC, unlike the other two networks, says the 1980-81 season began the week of Sept. 15, when NBC rocketed out of the starting gate with Shogun and the World Series baseball telecasts. CBS began counting the new season, which was delayed by the 10-week actors' strike, the ending Nov. 2, when many of its hit comedy series returned with new episodes.

According to CBS, that network maintains a commanding lead over its rivals, with ABC fectly. The standing ovation at the end of the concerto was truly deserved by soloist, conduc tor and the entire orchestra. Too bad that Alcantara did not shape Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in minor with the same care. The violins sounded as strident as By Dimitri Drobatschewsky' for The Republic Itzhak Perlman, the "hottest" violinist around, returned to Phoenix and disappointed no one.

From the moment he began the first solo of the Elgar Concerto in minor Monday night, he had conquered his audience, and he managed to keep the sold-out house spellbound until the last chord. And what an eventful performance it turned out to be. The first movement began with only one surprise: Perlman's interpretation was a lot more romantic than one would have expected, based on his numerous recordings. And he even proved he was human: a couple of exaggerated glissandi and even a dropped note or two in a tricky passage. Then, halfway through the movement, the soloist's string broke.

He exchanged instruments with concertmaster Max Wexler for the few minutes it took to replace the string. Not only did Perlman not lose his composure, but he continued the concerto without missing more than a measure or two. as if the incident shook everyone on the podium into a new awareness, the rest of the concerto was played with incredible intensity and rarely heard emotion by soloist and orchestra alike. This performance became a truly unforgettable event. Perlman's technical prowess is too well-known to spend much time on.

Any doubter would be convinced after hearing the artist's encore, Paganini's Caprice No. 5, played in a way that seemed to ignore the enormous technical difficulties of the piece. But rarely has the Elgar concerto been played with such deep feeling and romantic beauty, and the lyrical second movement was so stirring and emotional that it simply took one's breath away. Incidentally, I found the tone of Wexler's instrument, in Perlman's hands, at least as beautiful as the ever, and the interplay between strings and woodwinds was disjointed, especially in the third movement. And there were enough false notes from the French horns to last an entire season.

"Siegfried's Funeral Music" from The Goetterdammerung, by Wagner, at least Fred Silverman ranking second and poor third. Also speaking at the meeting was NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff, Silverman's 31-year-old protege, who took control of NBC programming last season. Tartikoff restated a pledge that NBC would de-emphasize its past erratic scheduling and quick cancellation practices and concentrate on building bread-and-butter weekly series. showed the contrasts and colorations that evoke the drama of Siegfried's life with great effect. but here, too, the harshness of the violins and some strange accents by the trumpets left one wondering.

Grammy hopefuls await announcement MGM imDOses cost Names faces of $15 million a movie Associated Press i Associated Press MGM's move appeared to be They're called Lipographs. Mick Jag-ger's lips alone earned $1,500 at auction at Sotheby's in London. Now copies of all of them are collected in A Publishers' book With Love From Republic Wire Services Roberta Flack, Melba Moore and Gerry Mulligan will be on the big stage at Radio City Music Hall tonight to announce nominations for major Grammy Awards. This is the 23rd year the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is presenting its prestigious awards to members of the recording field. The winners will be announced Feb.

25 at a gala at the music hall, marking the first time the awards have been presented in New York since 1975. The ceremony will be carried live by CBS-TV. COSTLY KISSES It all started when rock star David Bowie thanked a friend for a favor by sending him a print of his lips on a card. So many people wanted to buy the original that the Save the Children Fund got such stars as Jack Nicholson, Luciano Pavarottl, Marlene Dietrich and Audrey Hwpburn to have prints of their lips made to raise for the international organization. lected honorary degrees from religious academies in Poland and Hungary.

LOVE STORY The 63-year-old mother superior who abandoned the South African convent where she had spent 40 years to elope with her 72-year-old sweetheart will settle in West Germany, it was reported Monday. The marriage of German-born Sister Johanna Laudenklos and Dr. Christian Hamilton, a Canadian, in a secret ceremony in Johannesburg last week caused a storm inside the Roman Catholic church in South Africa. Now the couple plan to "build a new life" in the West German town of Heilbronn, West Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper reported. South African Catholic Church spokesmen called the episode a "scandal" but friends of the couple said they were "deeply in love" and had been, planning marriage for some time.

A nuri who said she was a close friend of the couple said, "I thvrik mother superior made the right choice. They made a lovely couple." Roberta Flack iu CULVER CITY, Calif. MGM officials have announced that a $15 million cost ceiling has been set for future movie productions. Frank E. Rosenfelt, MGM chairman and chief executive officer, told stockholders Saturday, "Although it is neither feasible nor practical to impose an arbitrary limit on production costs we will not embark upon a production which has a direct cost in excess of $15 million.

"The average cost per picture for our production schedule as a whole will not exceed the industry average of $10 million," he said. the first time a major studio had announced a spending limit for film productions. Rosenfelt said MGM has attained its goal of increasing film production to approximately 12 to 15 features 'r, David Begelman, president and chief operating officer, was re-elected to that office and reelected to the executive committee of MGM's board of directors. Begelman was toppled from power at Columbia Pictures in a 1978 forgery scandal but bounced back in December of 1979 when he was obosen as president of MGM's Motion picture division. CORDIAL TALK Pope John Paul II and American evangelist Billy Graham had a long, cordial meeting in the pope's private study Monday, Vatican sources reported.

The private audience had been requested by Graham through the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity, the sources said. The crisis in Poland and the world ecumenical movement were among the subjects covered by the Polish-born pontiff and Graham in a two-hour meeting the sources said. Graham went to Rome after a tour of Eastern Europe, during which he col Melba Moore.