The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 37

Tops on TV A seasoned hit man (Sylvester Stallone) keeps having his thunder stolen by a wild young rival (Antonio Banderas) in J995's "Assassins. 8 p.m., ABC Relationsliips Support from fa ily und friends van help break a bad habit. Page 3T Ann Landers Comics j3 Crossword Sljc iDcjj liloincs Jfr gistcr His feet were killing him. Joanne Abbott Features Kditor fr) 2U-M12) Thursday OttolxT 13. YM Kalhy Ilerdan.

Today Mlilor t)0W 1 Outer Info on the edge to give you the edge. POP The Twain shall meet By KYLE MUNS0N Un.lsi Kit Mimi: Citinc: hich gets more exposure: Shania Twain's nun 1.1 1 1:1 anatomy or her i i i if country-pop songs? Either way, both her 1 1 1 I i i glamorous image and Nashville-meets-Los year's follow-up, "Come on Over," has so far logged 5 million sales. But if Twain has an image and sound that sells, fans complained after the release of "The Woman in Me" that they couldn't see and hear their favorite star live in concert; Twain stood by her pre-success decision not to tour. She reportedly didn't want to rely on just one album's worth of songs in concert. So that's why Twain's tour is causing such a stir, even though she conquered the music uiuverse a couple of years ago.

This is her maiden voyage, and her fans want to hear, up close, their crossover diva (to use one of her song titles) "Rock This Country!" Pianist Erin Leahy, who plays and tours in a band with eight of her siblings that's opening for Twain tonight, can identify with the headliner: both are Canadian and both make music that is a popular Angeles sound are responsible for catapult ing Twain into regions beyond country star dom. Maybe country gi ant Garth Brooks recently sold out an unprecedented string of concerts at the Target Center in Minneapolis, but even he hasn't been Dictured on the cover of IN CONCERT Shania Twain with oDenine act hybrid of styles. "She's a bit of a controversy," Leahy said of Twain, speaking i- i 1 1 Leahy, 8 tonight, i I V- i- irom ner laiuuy iuicu 1aim near Lakefield, Ames. I tenets: dqi crt It's the first tour for singer Shania Twain, who wanted more than one album in her repertoire before she hit the road. $34.

through Luisa Conlon in movie opening Friday. 'Daughter' of Iowa We've found Iowa connections in the new Merchant-Ivory film "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," starring Kris Kristofferson and based on the life of Kaylie Jones, daughter of "From Here to Cternity" author James Jones. Nine-year-old Luisa Conlon, daughter of Jennifer Ringo, formerly of Iowa City, plays the starring role of character Channe Willis as a child. Luisa now attends school in Paris, where her father, James Conlon, is the principal conductor of the Paris Opera, She is the granddaughter of Geor-gina Ringo and the late Elbert Ringo of Iowa City. The movie is scheduled to open Friday at the Varsity Theater in Des Moines.

G.T. Mcllius Murky glasses Spent a fortune on new eyeglasses but still can't see? Give it time. It often takes a week or longer for eyes to get used to a new prescription, the American Optometric Association reports in Health magazine's October issue. Even a slight change in the lenses' curvature, or in the distance they rest from your eyes, can temporarily cause blurred or double vision. But if your sight doesn't improve within about 10 days, check back with your eye doctor.

Your prescription could be off, or your frames may need an adjustment. Susan Kreimer Rabid Drac fan Could rabies be behind the legend of the vampire? According to Knight Ridder News Service, a Spanish neu Ticketmaster or at the Iowa State Center box of see Shania as borderline country-pop. Her popularity is growing as every day eoes bv. Just being a Rolling Stone, a feat that Twain achieved just last month. Precious few moments in Twain's career thus far have been on a small scate since she left Canada.

Her beginnings in Timmins, Ontario, were humble, as she sang and wrote songs while working a series of unglamorous jobs from serving fries at McDonald's to wielding a chainsaw as part of a reforestation crew. At 21 she lost her mother and Ojibway Indian stepfather to an auto wreck, leaving her with three younger siblings to raise. But by 1990 she was able to devote more time to following her music dreams and changed her first name from Eileen to Shania, the Ojibway word for "I'm on my way." Indeed. A demo tape of songs earned Twain a trip to Nashville and eventually resulted in her self-titled 1993 debut album. But stardom didn't come knocking until she met famed rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange (Def Leppard, the Cars, Michael Bolton) at Nashville's annual Fan Fair convention in the summer of 1993.

They married that December. The 1995 album resulting from the new Twain-Lange collaboration, "The Woman in Me," established the singer as a country sensation quickly heading for pop territory. Selling more than 10 million copies to date (surpassing "Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits" as the biggest female country album), "The Woman in Me" also racked up a Grammy and an Academy of Country Music Award. Last 199G. Released in this count ry last year, it has logged impressive sales for a debut album that was originally just an independent.

project sold at concerts. "I'm just proud that we have taken this album, an instrumental album, as far as it can be taken," Leahy said. "We didn't have any expectations." The siblings are now busily rehearsing for a more professional follow-up album, with recording sessions set to begin in January. BuJ if the band is on tour with Twain, when do thu Leahys rehearse? Whenever they can. "We rehearse in the dressing room at the concert while (Twain) is either doing sound check or performing," Leahy said.

And close quarters can make for tense times among a band of nine siblings, but Erin Leahy said they have learned how to constructively setr tie their squabbles: -J "I guess we get along fairiy well," She said. "We have to, or else it wouldn't work out." dancer Agnes) and four brothers (Donnell, drummer Frank, fiddler Doug and fiddler Angus), now from ages 19 to 32, started playing music and dancing at an early age, as family tradition. Parents Frank and Julie made sure that all of their 11 children became multi-instrumentalists, learning fiddle, piano and dance. Soon the Leahys were performing to enthusiastic crowds around rural Ontario. The group, aside from family gatherings and local functions, was put on hold when the Leahy children pursued college and careers, but the music eventually drew them back into professional performance earlier this decade.

Erin, studying to become a high school teacher, started booking regular gigs with just a couple siblings. "The response we were getting from the people encouraged us to play at other places," Leahy said. "Gradually more members of the band became committed again." And as a way to satiate its fans on the road and court the attention of record companies, Leahy eventually released a self-titled album in part of that whole process is incredible." Meanwhile, Leahy's group, which goes by the sibs' last name and is anchored by the considerable fiddling skill of brother Donnell Leahy, begins, but doesn't end, with its Celtic roots. "There are a lot of fads out there, especially with the Celtic wave," she said. But Leahy is informed by all the different styles of music that have been heard in the family's home since the first Leahy children were old enough to dance their first few tentative steps.

"We're a combination of Celtic and rock, not so much country," Leahy said. Classical music, blues and jazz also crop up in the Leahy mix, she said. "We're not particularly aiming to sound like any style or person or band." Leahy, 22, cited her own listening habits as evidence: Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, Def Leppard, ACDC. Leahy, the band, is very much a natural creation. Five sisters (Erin, singer Julie, bassist Siobheann, guitarist Maria and Reporter Kyle Munson can be reached at munsonknews.dmreg.com or (515) 284-812.

The race is on rologist says the legend of I 1 'Africans in America' t. ma. i-. the bloodsucking predator mav have if 1 The Saturday event is expected to draw 5,000 runners and walkers. f.

-St fi.lfflt According to the latest fig- a woman is diagnosed ures, 3 NT ON TV "Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery" 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, Iowa Public Television. i rfHtT is ft i 3 I A I 4 i vviXh a major rabies epi-defeuc in Europe in the 1700s. Reporting in the journal Neu-rojpgy, Juan Gomez-Alonso sajfs that "one day I saw a classic Dracula film and I became so impressed by some obvious similarities between vampires and what happens in rabies, such as aggressiveness and hypersexuality." Museum visit Students from 20 Iowa school districts are going to the Philadelplua Museum of Art on Monday via the fiber optic Iowa Communications Network (ICN). It's an interactive video conference where students can see some of the more than 400,000 objects in the museum, as well as talk to folks such as guides.

The program is part of Iowa Public Television's K-12 Distance Learning Demonstration Project. For more info, visit w.iptv adatabase or call (800) 532-1290. Do you have something for Outer tmit? CaH 284-8207 or e-mail berdankrtews.amreg.com with breast cancer every three minutes. One out of every eight women will battle b'reast cancer. In Iowa this year, 2,400 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and COO women will die from the disease.

As the problem grows, so does the fight to solve it. Case in point: the Race for the Cure, which takes to the streets of Des Moines on Saturday. When the running and walking event began in Des Moines seven years ago, it drew 750 participants. Last year, the local race had 3,200 runners and walkers'. More than 3,000 have already Signed up for said Janet Hill.

co-chairperson of Race for the Cure. They're expecting the total to be about 5,000. "We're substantially ther ahead, -Hill said. "It's kind of scary at this point." Hill, who works for Tomorrow's Health, a plastic By JANE BURNS Rkihstkr Staff Writer Television is such a powerful medium that names such as Kunta Kinte and Chicken George are etched into the nation's collective consciousness. Far less familiar are names such as Anthony Johnson and John Punch.

Those are also the names of long-ago African-Americans, who didn't have an epic such as "Roots" to bring them to the forefront. When "Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery" debuts on Monday, it will be the first television documentary to look at the struggles and contributions of the people stolen from their home land to help create the United States. The four-part, six-hour series begins at 8 p.m. on PBS. "Africans in America" dispels several notions about slavery in America and puts it into a context most Americans probably rarely consider.

It's narrated by actress Angela Bassett and was filmed on location across 12 states and in three countries. Each 90-minute episode deals with a different period in history, from the settlement at Jamestown until the Emancipation Proclamation. Jamestown was settled in 1607, and 21 years later a mysterious ship dropped anchor there. Its crew had robbed a Spanish vessel of its cargo of Africans, which was then sold to the colonists. It was one of the first recorded arrivals of Africans in British North America.

Laws at the time dealt more with servitude, not slavery. One of those original Africans, 1 RACE FOR THE CURE -m 7th annual Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's Race For the Cure Featuring a 5K run and fitness walk, a one-mile walk and a kiefs fun run. Warm-up begins at 8 a.m. and the runfitness walk begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Sec Taylor Stadium, 350 S.W.

First St. Calf 245-4167. surgery service, is a runner. She was asked to participate in the first Race for the Cure through Junior League. Although the race will be in its seventh year in Des RACE Turn to Puge 21 4 The first slave auction at New Amsterdam (now New York) in 1655 is illustrated by Howard Fyle.

AFRICANS Turn to Vote 21 V--'i. 4.