The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 13

THE BEACON JOURNAL SUNDAY, JULY 10, 1988 ICMTF.R A TNMF.NT Channels Updates 2 Books 3 Travel 9-12 I Jil i JU. fk A A -A. 4. A SECTION 0 1 Donald Rosenberg Performer's stage high jinks a distraction Without the artist, there is no art. The reverse is just as true, especially when a work of art is to be performed.

Which is more important, then, at the Legends, lore behind station names( j''' crucial point when the observer (or listener) enters the picture? Isn it best that the performing artist meet the art on equal ground? James Galway's annoying shenanigans during a performance of Khachaturian Flute Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra last weekend at Blossom Music Center strongly pleaded the case for art over artist. At the concert July 2 (there was a repeat of the program July 3), the eminent Irish flutist constantly made it clear that he was in no mood to allow Khachaturian to have the upper hand. Galway came onstage and responded to the crowd's hearty applause with a wide grin and friendly wave. Fine. The music hadn't started yet.

But Galway didn't turn off his impish personality when resident conductor Jahja Ling and the Clevelanders dug into the concerto. The smile remained on his face whenever Galway wasn't tooting away, and he grinned to members of the audience and the orchestra while awaiting another solo passage. The Khachaturian Flute Concerto (originally a violin concerto) is hardly one of the great pieces of the repertory, but it does deserve to be treated seriously. Galway who remains one of the marvels of the flute world, by the way negated much of the score's expressivity by ignoring its changing moods any time the flute was silent. When the concerto's harmonies momentarily darkened or its lyricism oozed, the flutist often focused sparkling eyes on someone nearby or raised furry brows to show his admiration for the orchestra's playing.

In one instance, after a particularly treacherous flute line, Galway let out a little breath and shook his aybe it was ap By Bob Dyer Beacon Journal staff writer propriate that Akron's first commercial radio station was named WOE, because the little 5-watt opera flourishing in part because it offers up-to-the-minute computer printouts of available television and radio calls. For $60, you can get a list of all the available W's (assuming your station is east of the Mississippi River. If you're west, you can buy the K's for the same price). That may not sound like a huge moneymaker until you consider that approximately 25 U.S. broadcasters change their letters in an average week.

Recent deregulation by the Federal Communications Commission has made the changing of call letters relatively easy. The process has become so simple, in fact, that station owners sometimes apply for misleading letters as a head a tad, as if to tell us, "Boy, that was difficult!" Thanks for the information. All of these distracting details conveyed an unfortunate signal: By drawing attention to himself instead of the music, Galway was failing to dp his job. The flutist may be a charming fellow on television, but in the concert hall his mission is to convey what the composer intends when the solo part Is busy or not. He doesn't need to convince us that he's a regular guy.

Of course, the listener should never expect a soloist (or conductor) to stand or sit onstage like a lump. The fact that live concerts afford the music lover an experience that recordings can't offer is one point: At a concert, we're able to participate directly in the performance by matching the aural with the visual. It's always fascinating to see how musicians make music how Yo-Yo Ma there's much more to call letters than idle amusement. "They're everything," says Mark Biviano, vice president of Cleveland's "When you go and look at the (ratings) diaries, most people still write down call letters, even though we always say on the air, 'Easy 104. "They're your name and address," says Ward Holmes of WRQK (106.9-FM) in Canton.

Catchy or historic call letters can be so beneficial that stations have been known to buy them from other stations. A Maryland company, Dataworld, is take note." In the early days, WVIZ founder Betty Cope explained that when people asked. When she finished, though, she usually was met with a blank stare. So after a while she fabricated a simple alternative "Very Important Zebras." And that is where the station obtained its zebra logol You probably also weren't aware that Medina radio station WDBN (94.9-FM) stands for "Dog, Baker, Nan." Or that Cleveland's WZAK (93.1-FM) was named after Muzak, its first owner. Bet you didn't know country-music station WGAR (99.5-FM) took those letters from its founder, George A.

Richards. Fun facts to know and tell, eh? But tion disappeared soon after debuting in the early 1920s. A tale of WOE, indeed. The real meaning of those letters if any apparently has been lost to the ages. But you don't have to travel back in time to find plenty of other call letters that will leave you scratching your head.

The letters worn by Northeast Ohio broadcasters range from the obvious WAKR (1590-AM) means Akron to the truly obscure. In the latter category is Cleveland public television station WVIZ (Channel 25), which was named after the abbreviation for the Latin world videlicet, meaning "to wit, See RADIO, page BR sways this way and that with" his cello and uses facial gestures to mirror the music expressive rises and falls; how pianist Murray Perahia makes poetry with little or Amputee sends a message with TV role no apparent physical exertion; how Leonard Bernstein dances wildly and gracefully on the podium when he's IpctIpss Hprplirt conducting Mahler or Tchaikovsky (or just about anything else). In the end, though, the performer is merely a messenger for the composer. How individual that message becomes in the "The first day this big guy was chasing Sonny, and I threw out my skateboard and knocked him down," Wieland said. "I came out like a jaguar and hit him with a body roll.

It took all the fight out of the guy. They couldn't believe it. After that nobody wondered what I was doing on the show." Wieland, who had never acted until Sonny Spoon came along, said he nearly turned down the role. "I heard NBC was looking for a double-amputee who was athletic. I qualified for that.

But I had to read for executive producer Stephen Cannell and see if I hit it off with Mario. After I got the job and received the first script, I looked at it and it said I was 'a "I called the producers and said I wouldn't do that. I've been promoting a positive image since I came back from Vietnam. They told me that was the way Johnny Skates was written until they hired me. They said from now on they would write it around Bob Wieland and my personality.

"Now, Johnny Skates is a guy who ends up protecting the able-bodied." Wieland was about to try out as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies until he enlisted in the Army 20 See TV ROLE, page B7 By Jerry Buck Associated Press Los Angeles Bob Wieland, a Vietnam veteran, said some people were skeptical when he began work on NBC's Sonny Spoon, thinking he might be there just as window dressing. Wieland, 41, lost his legs to a booby trap in Vietnam while trying to save a buddy. He plays Johnny Skates, a sidewalk surfer and street-smart informant who helps private detective Sonny Spoon (Mario Van Peebles) in the tongue-in-cheek detective show. hands of the performer is what makes for great or mediocre artistry. No one is well-served when the artist upstages the art.

Donald Rosenberg is the Beacon Journal's classical-music critic. pSSST gACKSTAGE- MkiM' Urn The rumor is that actressentertainer Cher is pregnant and will marry Rob Camllletti, columnist Liz Smith writes. Actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates are so mad about each other that Kline flew to Mississippi while Cates filmed Heart of Dixie, which deals with '60s civil rights, bikers and good old boys. While rock singer Rod Stewart was planning his marriage to Kelly Embcrg, the former Mrs. Stewart Alana Stewart had all her jewelry stolen from her Los Angeles home.

Author Norman Mailer's son, Steven Mailer, will be in PBS' adaptation of Harold Brodkey's short story, First Love and Other Sorrows, which will air next season on American Playhouse. Actress Ava Gardner, 66, who had a mild stroke two years ago, wants to make more movies. "She's fit as a fiddle, feels strong, feels great," says Gardner's lawyer, Paul Caruso. Dennis Qaaid says he's a goon, not a geek, as Dig Easy co-star Ellen Barkin says. "A geek bites off chicken's heads and then drinks their blood.

I don't do that. She meant goon. A goon doesn't care how he looks and just has a lot Of fun." From Beacon Journal wire services Scrimm), who took a body away from a cemetery. Nobody believed the kid's tale, so he went off alone to investigate. He ends up in a Vault, where the Tall Man and a mysterious flying sphere go after the him.

Baldwin is not in the sequel, but Scrimm returns as the Tall Man. More importantly, Don Coscarelli is back. He directed and wrote the screenplay this time. That's nothing compared to his contribution to the original. He was producer, director, writer and cinematographer of the first Phantasm.

On the backside Radio stations often have been chided for staging sexist promotions such as a wet T-shirt contests. But nobody could hark about the recent stunt put on by Houston album-rock station KLOL, which proved to be an equal opportunity offender. The KLOL morning team conducted a search for the "biggest bohunkus," also known as rear ends. Both males and females were invited to submit to the, ah, tail of the tape. The overall winner, not surprisingly, was a man.

Fred Deats, a 500-pound collection agent, Was too big to be measured with a standard, 6-foot tailor's tape. His winning figure: 77 inches. Everything, as they say, is bigger in Texas. Akron dancer going to N.Y. Tiffany Kmet, a member of the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet who will be a junior at Akron's Central-Hower High School this year, has been chosen to dance in the Little Theatre Choreography Project at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in August.

Miss Kmet will be one of an ensemble of dancers many from New York's School of American Ballet who will participate in lecture-demonstration performances that highlight three promising choreographers: Christopher D'Amboise, a principal dancer with the the New York City Ballet; Daryl Gray, and Lisa Rinehart. New York City Ballet principal dancer Sean Lavery is heading the project. Miss Kmet has been a member of the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet for seven years, during which time she's been a student of artistic director Nan Klinger. She is studying this summer at the School of American Ballet, which is run by the New York City Ballet, on a full scholarship. More Phantasm There are sequels and there are sequels.

Phantasm is a sequel. Remember Phantasm? If you were a teen-ager back in 1979, you might remember the movie. It was about a 13-year-old boy (Michael Baldwin) who spied on a sinister Tall Man (Angus 1 Vr wA! i i i.V.V a MXi. jNSlDE RADIO: Rumors are that Medina's WDBN will tune in more on the immediate community. Page B2.

ART REVIEW: Sculpture predominates at the KentBlossom Summer Art Festival. Page B8. Angus Scrimm in Phantasm II mm.