The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 55

The Beacon Journal www.OJun.mm Sunday, February 6, 2000, Page F5 DERBY Disney Channel plans movie on Indiana racer as TNN, ESPN and Fox Family Channel, but is still working out its plans. "It's a $50,000 investment, which is a pretty significant amount" Goodyear's Sinclair said. "You've got to look at getting some kind of a return on that '-T tool almost from its beginning. In 1935, radio announcer Graham McNamee was hurt in an on-track accident while covering the derby. A big name in radio since the '20s, McNamee generated national headlines with his injury -and with those headlines came stories explaining what the derby was.

Television appears to have made its first appearance in 1949, in what the Akron Beacon Journal then called "Akron's first live television show." But another report at the time refers only to WEWS (Channel 5) carrying filmed highlights of the race, and the Beacon Journal called a 1963 Wide World of Sports report "the first national telecast of the (derby) event" In any case, television has played a role in the All-American Soap Box Derby going back more than half a century. The Akron-area derby was also televised locally in the '50s and '60s, as were clinics for would-be racers. Looking toward the future, Goodyear has had talks with new broadcast network Pax TV, as well derby. General manager Jeff Iula said recently that participation is on the upswing, with at least 14 new cities involved this year, for a total of about 130. And Goodyear's connections to NASCAR could generate more promotion of the derby on the racing circuit On TV, the Disnev Channel has begun woi.

tentatively titled Miracle uane 2, based on the story of Justin Yoder, an Indiana boy who overcame paralysis from spina bifida to compete in the derby in the late '90s. Frankie Muniz, star of the hit new sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, will star in the movie, scheduled to premiere in May. Miracle in Uxne 2 is in the tradition of other derby-tied TV stories in sitcoms like BevMched and My Three Sons. But far more important is coverage of the derby itself, Iula said The public-television feed of the race would be carried live on 18 to 20 stations, but others would save the feed and run it later. "If Indianapolis ran it in October, we'd get 50 calls or 50 letters from Indianapolis," Iula said.

The telecast "is important in making (the race) more prestigious for the racers." In fact, the derby has used race coverage as an important publicity r. I tt. rsr 1 '-nf-rniMr1fwiT linn mi TW 'inr-T- -TUTii Graham McNamee smiles in the ambulance as he receives treatment after being hit by a derby car driven by Paul Brown of Oklahoma City. underwriter, along with Good-year's pursuit of other broadcast opportunities ending in the TNN deal, wiped out a full race telecast last year. All this comes during what is generally a bright period for the A- recent years.

The WVTZ telecasts were underwritten by Goodyear competitor BridgestoneFirestone, but that company dropped out last year after Goodyear became the event sponsor, The loss of a WVIZ Details Concert: Sebastian Bach Where: Agora Ballroom, 5000 Euclid Cleveland When: Thursday Cost: $12.50 and $15 Information: 330-945-9400 lion copies, which is roughly the sales figure for Skid Row's eponymous 1989 debut. It was the perfect album at the perfect time, deftly mixing aggressive, edgy hair metal with textbook power ballads like i8 Life and I Remember You. "We were the Christina Aguil-era of our era, I suppose," Bach said with a sardonic charisma reminiscent of David Lee Roth. "It was pretty crazy from the get-go. People say we were an overnight success, but that's not accurate.

It took at least two weeks." The Skid's second LP, Slave to the Grind, opened at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 1991. "At the time, I thought we were going to be popular forever," Bach said. "I mean, we released seven videos in a row that went to No. 1 on MTV.

We all thought we were going to be like U2." That of course, did not happen. The advent of grunge made Skid Row's style aesthetically unpopular by the summer of 1993. Things collapsed on Dec, 31, 1996, when Bach clashed with the other members of Skid Row over the possibility of opening for Ess (bassist Rachel Bolan didn't want to do it Bach very much Bach described his dismissal from the band as "horrible," "painful" and "really disappoint put it out on her own record label (Nice Records), which barely even exists. I'm not putting out an album on a label that's basically just her fax machine. Nobody controls Sebastian Bach.

I am not to be tamed." Since Bach has been famous (or at least semifamous) for over 12 years, it's a little surprising to discover he's only 31 years old. Skid Row's music is starting to seem like classic rock, but Bach has just recently grown into his adulthood "People always freak out when they find out how young I am," he said, "but I was only 19 when we recorded that first record." However, he has clearly had his share of hard miles: He toured with the likes of Motley Crue, Guns PT Roses and Pantera, and the rock 'n' roll lifestyle has taken its toll. The formerly insatiable frontman can now stomach only a few swallows of Molson Ice beer. Kelley Deal couldn't tame Bach, but perhaps his liver wilL "I can't drink the hard stuff anymore," said the man who once hit a fan in the face with a beer bottle, "I used to literally drink a bottle of whiskey every night because we never had to wake up until 7 p.m. the next day.

But now my body physically rejects Jack Daniels. I can't even stand to smell it. Sometimes I'll have a few beers after a show, but that's it These days, I just rock." 1 31 Navigating around the globe? Come home, to the new OKWcom Oliio.com'b fcsdesiencd Web site easy accesS'-an irenddess choices. i The intuitive vb site. I 1 www.ohiofcom Montrose 666-1002 3750 West Market Street Rosemont Commons Shopping Center) JV Mi) Continued from Page Fl best kind of TV coverage for the derby are all part of the final decision.

Goodyear's vision of a good telecast isn't the 90-minute live show of recent years, but a more dramatic, tighter taped package running 30 minutes or an hour, Goodyear spokesman Chuck Sin clair said recently. The full event was not really desirable from our perspective," Sinclair said. "I'm not going to say if not exciting but when you watch it all the way through, it's not that exciting." Goodyear has a major say in how the derby is telecast because it has the biggest wallet It sank a reported $100,000 into the event in 1999, and its deal for the next two years involves an estimated $175,000 a year. Producing a telecast, which was not part of the Goodyear derby deal, has cost about $50,000 in BACH Veteran rocker only 31, to surprise of followers Continued from Page Fl It's quite possible that Bach uses the word "rock" more than any other person in America. "Rocking" is sort of his catchall explanation for being alive: It's what he does, it's who he is and it validates everything in betweea Skid Row may have broken up in 1997, but Bach's heavy metal hunger remains relentless.

He just released an album of live material titled Bring 'Em Bach Alive! and is exhaustively touring the country (he will hit Cleveland's Agora Ballroom on Thursday). His show is an unabashed avalanche of classic Bach. "I don't really analyze what other bands are doing. If one kind of group gets popular, it doesn't affect me at all," Bach said. "There are two ways to live life: You can be like Madonna and carefully select a new hairstyle every two years, or you can be like Willie Nelson and just let your hair grow, hit the road and rock.

I'm more like the Willie Nelson type." Perfect for times There is at least one major difference between Bach and Nelson, however (well, there's actually a multitude of differences, but at least one cgn be empirically prov-ea): Willie never made a record that's come close to selling 5 mil WORM The Grocery Store is the busiest area Continued from Page Fl visitors age 2 through 10 to work, play and explore the wonders of everyday life in the company of such Sgarry characters as Flossie Bunny, Millie Mouse and Huckle Cat Fans of Scarry may find that the exhibit reminds them of one of his most popular books, What Do People Do All Day? Like most of Scarry's works, the book (and the Busytown exhibit) features fully dressed animals busily completing the kinds of tasks normally handled by human adults. Cunningham said the busiest busy area seems to be the Grocery Store, where kids count, weigh, sort and load all types of fruits and vegetables onto a hand-operated conveyor belt or into grocery carts. Another busy area is the Factory, which features gears, pulleys, another conveyor belt and other simple machines. Busytown also has a Shipyard, Power Plant and Construction Area. The most obvious thing about Busytown is that it's a colorful, hands-on playground.

However, exhibit designers say that the activities help very young children learn scientific processes, mathematical skills and confidence. They also help parents learn more about their children. Exhibit guides displayed throughout the area tell parents how to let their children set their own pace, pick their own activities and develop their own ideas without adult interference. The materials explain how children learn biases and stereotypes and how bad educational experiences snuff out interest in math and science. For the first time, Inventure Place is sharing the Busytown exhibit with other community organizations: the Akron Zoological Park and the Akron-Summit County (3 CGJU ing," But he still sings all those old Skid Row songs in concert, and he concedes that he'll sing them forever.

More importantly, he wants to. "God gave me a voice, and I'm fortunate I can make a living doing what I love," Bach said "It's any musician's dream to make songs other people can relate to. I've been lucky. To kids who were 18 years old in 1990, a song like Remember You seems like the Everly Brothers. And I think that's awesome." Bach in the saddle Bach's current band has Richie Scarlet on bass, a former sideman from the group Frehley's Comet Along with live versions of the best Skid Row songs (and a raw cover of Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla), Bring 'Em Bach Alive! features five studio tracks that Bach recorded with Anton Fig, another ex-member of Frehley's Comet who is better known as the drummer for the band on David Letter-man's The Late Show.

Particularly obsessive music fans might be curious about what happened to the side project Bach was involved with between the demise of Skid Row and Bring 'Em Bach Alive! It was an ill-fated supergroup called the Last Hard Men that included Kelley Deal from the Breeders and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin of Smashing Pumpkins. The group covered Alice Cooper's School's Out for the movie soundtrack to Scream and recorded a full album together, but the songs remain unreleased "I'm still arguing about this with Kelley Deal," Bach said. "It's totally finished, but she wants to Details Exhibit: Busytown Where: Inventure Place, 221 S. Broadway, Akron When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays, through April 30 Cost: Museum admission $7.50 for adults, $6 for children ages 3 through 17 and senior citizens 55 or older. Children under 3 free. Information: 330-762-4463 or www.invent.org on the Internet. 0 ED SUBA, JR7 Akron Beacon Journal Kevin Gentener (left) and Alexander Murat, third-graders at Woodland Elementary School in Stow, play at Busytown at Inventure Place.

Present this certificate at your neighborhood Max Erma's for $5.00 off your purchase of $10.00 or more on your next visit Hurry! This offer expire: March 2, 2000! Valid Sunday through Thursday. Limit one certificate per party. Food purchase required. Not valid with any other discount or on carryout Public Library. Scarry's works will be featured in the story-time programs at the library system's 18 branches.

In addition, the library has set up a reading room at Inventure Place, where visitors can look at books by Scarry and other children's authors. On March 4, the zoo will conduct a program featuring live animals at the museum. A limited number of free tickets are available at library branches. I I I..