Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 237

INSIDE Horoscopes 6 TV listings 6 Comics 8-9 DearAbby 9 Gridge 9 Crossword 9 TODAY IN 1885 Ferdinand Morton, the trailblazing jazz pianist and composer better known as "Jelly Roll" Morton, was born in New Orleans. He died destitute in 1941. Source: Chase Calendar 4 rv 1 Wednesday, September 20, 2000 Section 5 Write to: Tempo. 435 N. Michigan Chicago.

IL 60611: e-malt: mrf sffwH- v. Yes, ratings are low, but Marin and Co. deserve time to click You don't see it in the nightly broadcasts, but these are critical times for "The 10 O'Clock The station's Carol Marin-led experiment in a smarter, classier nighttime newscast has the corporate gun to its head. Nobody in authority will say it so bluntly, but if the severely ratings-challenged 7-month-old "10 O'Clock News" doesn't draw more viewers, and soon, it will have a hard time reaching its first birthday in February, or even the end of this calendar year. That would be a crushing blow to hopes for local-TV-news re- Steve Johnson On Television form nationwide and to Chicago viewers in particular.

Even if WBBM's newscast isn't always the city's best on a given night (and it often is), it is always the most interesting, the one that -itfrtirrtr Tribune photo by Charles Cherney Compay Segundo, 93, plays at Symphony Center Monday. Compay Segundo shares his gift with Chicago By Howard Reich Tribune Arts Critic It was more than a concert, more than a celebration of ancient Cuban song forms, more than a sweeping traversal of Afro-Caribbean musical culture. The historic event that took place Monday evening in Symphony Center summed up the charismatic power that Latin music can have on Anglo audiences (as well as anyone else), even though nary a word of English was spoken. American listeners have been smitten with sounds from south of the border for well over a century, but rarely has the distinct pull of this music with its sensuous dance rhythms, ornate melody lines and genteel instrumental accompaniments been more vividly clear than on this occasion. Perhaps only an artist of Compay Se-gundo's gifts could have persuaded an audience of Chicagoans to sing along in Spanish, clap precisely on offbeats and hang onto every deep and rumbling note he sang.

In effect, the Cuban legend transformed a spacious auditorium into a place of unmistakable intimacy, in the process bringing performers and listeners closer together than symphonic concert halls typically allow. Moreover, through song, a little dance and enormous personal magnetism, he transcended the political barriers that have separated two nations for roughly four decades. Were it not for the long-running American embargo of Cuba, the great Compay Segundo would not have had to wait until his 93rd year to make his Chicago debut. Then again, we're fortunate the slight thaw in Cuban-American relations during the past couple of years has enabled Compay Segundo and scores of other Cuban artists to remind us of how much we have missed. First and foremost, it is the man's voice, an uncommonly sonorous bass-baritone, that lures the ear.

Despite his age, Compay Segundo has lost none of looks and thinks and acts a little differently daring to ignore the crime-health-weather-and-sports playbook. Pulling the plug in the near future, something that the station's owners at CBS have the power to do, would not prove anything about local news except that, once again, the people in charge of it have the patience of houseflies. Building ratings momentum in TV news is like heating up the ocean, and it is unrealistic to expect the new broadcast to overcome in eight months the news viewer alienation plan that Channel 2 spent the 1990s acting out. "I don't have any white flags in my See Marin, Page 7 Illustration by Phil Disley See Compay, Page 2 You can't beat having to eat crow at the old ballpark IVouble brewing in Bayreuth? There's a Ring of truth to it By Mike Conklin Tribune Staff Writer Several years ago the White Sox used a daring formula to put together this season's highly successful baseball team. They built toward a pennant by giving younger players a chance.

It paid off. If the Sox had used a similarly bold approach a decade ago to build their new stadium for which an $8 million retrofitting has been necessitated only nine years later it's likely the team wouldn't be seeing pitifully small crowds this summer despite challenging for the best record in Major League Baseball. The option was there. In the din surrounding the 1980s effort to save old Comiskey Park, Chicago-based architect Philip Bess quietly put forward a plan that, in retrospect, would have been as good for the city and the South Side as winning a World Series. Bess advocated building a new White Sox stadium just north of old Comiskey in Armour Park.

Three sides of this cozy new ballpark would be framed by fresh, multiuse buildings containing commercial, office and residential space. The old ball yard would then be turned into a public park. The baseball diamond itself would remain for recreational use, but the old stadium structure around it would be razed and the added space become tennis courts, shrubbery and a fieldhouse or library with part of this building possibly set aside as a White Sox museum. Under Bess' plan, the area immediately south of old Comiskey across 35th street, where the new stadium was ultimately built displacing numerous resi- Bob Greene is on assignment. By Susan Shineberg Special to the Tribune BAYREUTH, GERMANY In this sleepy provincial Bavarian town, Germany's top music festival has drawn to a close.

For four weeks this summer, legions of faithful Wagnerians steeped themselves in the music of Richard Wagner at the legendary Bayreuth Festspielhaus, spiritual home of Wagner opera. The highlight of this year's festival was the staging of a new produc- tion of the four-part, opera 16-hour "The Ring," j.T dubbed the "2000 Ring" staged by the by the media. This pro- Wagner family is duction of the saga of Rhinegold, Valkyries obscure and assorted dwarfs, the real question: Rhinemaidens, heroes, MMVBmi. villains and gods will wnat Wl" "ec1 run each summer for of the Bayreuth another three years. tocMval? With the razzmatazz rK a over for this season, the way is now clear to revive the ongoing struggle for leadership of the 125-year-old Bayreuth Festival.

At present, Wolfgang Wagner, the famous composer's grandson, is in charge, and many in the opera world believe it's time he See Bayreuth, Page 4 Illustrations from "City Baseball Magic" by Philip Bess Where the kids could have played At left is a model of Chicago architect Philip Bess' proposed Armour Field, which would have saved much of the community surrounding the White Sox's home field. Bess envisioned a thriving adjacent area, such as shown in the scene above looking north on Wells Street. 1 if: k'- 1 1 rf -timm ti ft fc-ifl Wf, rrnwii and overall seating for 41,000 fans, who would have been closer to the field than in the new, mostly cookie-cutter stadiums that were then the rage. The upper deck would not have enclosed the outfield and, in a nice touch for neighbors, would have allowed views of the field from adjacent residences. Interestingly, the Sox's new plan to make the cut-See Sox, Page 5 dents and McCuddy's bar, a renowned Sox fan hangout would have been developed into still more business and residential space.

This, in turn, would have eliminated the expensive relocation process that followed the opening of the new park and have kept a viable neighborhood intact Inside Bess' proposed Sox stadium, which was to be named Armour Field, the emphasis was to be on intimacy. There would have been ample skyboxes.