The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 37

THE SUN SECTION Movies Crosswords Comics Television 2E 4E 5E 6E MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1992 mm An unlikely star, James Woods hopes 'Diggstown' is a hit U2 reigns in the rain ''Tv i weather scarcely dampened the audience's enthusiasm, as most of the more than 50,000 listeners were totally entranced, hanging attentively on every note and gesture. Of course, it hardly hurt that U2's "Outside Broadcast" version of Its ZOO TV Tour boasts what is undoubtedly the most dazzling multi-media display ever trucked into a football stadium. Never mind the million-watt sound system; that was almost the lesser part of the massive stage set. In addition to the towering steel-frame antennas and colorful "ZOO TV" neon, there were also video message boards displaying news briefs and other text, Times Square-style, as well as such oddities as hand-painted Trebants (an East German economy car) mounted on hydraulic lifts as lighting devices. SeeU2, I KARL FERRONSTAFF Bono, left, and U2 performing at RFK Stadium for more than 50,000 fans.

Lmd LIUl ty L. hot visuals and musician-correspondents of MTV, but they had one thing in common: Each was trying to offer coverage honed to the needs and Interests of its audiences. And while eyebrows were raised in some stodgier newsrooms about MTV having Mus-taine and rapper MC Lyte as their reporters, for example, the experiment seems to have gone Just fine across the board. Viewership was up for the "Day In Rock" show where most of the reports from Mus-taine, MC Lyte and Tabitha Soren. the 24-year-old political correspondent for MTV.

aired the week of the Democratic convention. In terms of reporting and analysis, it is safe to i i (mm "ir By Stephen Hunter Film Critic Washington Most movie stars travel with an entourage. There's the advance man, the publicity coordinator, someone to keep the Imported mineral water cold, two or three guys who Just stand around and look dangerous In $800 suits, the studio rep and his assistant and the local advertising rep. The message is control, control, control. James Woods showed up In a Washington hotel bar with his mother and his stepfather.

There's no control, control, control. But that's Woods: he does It his way, and somehow he makes It pay. It doesn't bother him that In mid-Interview, Mom leans Into the alcove, and begins to go through an envelope that has Just been given him, and uncovers his face on the cover of the Washington Post's TV magazine for an upcoming HBO movie on Roy Conn. "Oh," she says, "that's wonderful. The cover!" He Just smiles, and after she leaves says That's my mom.

Isn't she terrific?" One somehow never thinks of him having a mother, however: he's too far out on the edge to have such normal things as parents. One of the most unlikely of movie stars, being neither particularly handsome nor spectacularly comedlc. he has never had a runaway hit. a big movie. He Just keeps working, In big pictures or small, almost always getting good reviews and handing out Interviews as laced with profanity as they are with truth.

"When we first got the script," he says of his new film "Diggstown," "the first thing we did was go through It with a machete and cut the crap outl It was full of crap, all this sexist stuff. They couldn't describe a woman without saying. 'As she moves, her fanny that kind of crap. And the dialogue. It was horrible! We cut It out too." Yet, when the surgery was done, he was pleased.

"We had a powerhouse story. It was a great Idea for some film people to get together and have some fun and I think our sense of infectiousness carries over Into the movie. I've known Lou (Gossett Jr. for ages and we had a good time, and, even though we didn't know it then, Heather Graham, the female lead and I were falling in love. All that's on the screen." Woods says this fast.

Very fast. His words splurge out like quarters flooding from a slot machine after a winning crank at Atlantic City. He's the original fast talker and what has vouchsafed his career Is exactly that feral edge, that city boy's sllck-ness and hustler's cool, the mouth hammering away at a 100 miles per while his shifty dark eyes flicker with crafty Intelligence. He seems like a born con man. And that's why "Diggstown" may be Just what the career doctor ordered for him; he gets to fast-talk his way Into a $2-mllllon bet against creepy Bruce Dern as part of a scam to separate Dern from his dough.

"I hope It's a hit," he says. "I don't exactly have a gift for picking them." In fact, he has a gift for not picking them. When Jack Nicholson was diddling over whether or not to take the role of The Joker In "Batman," the part was offered to Woods. He turned It down. "I'm kind of leery.

How do you live something like that down. You're always somebody In That poor Michael Kea-ton. He had an offbeat career going, really Interesting, now he's Batman forever. So he's got some money, so what? Nicholson did it right. Be weird, take the money and don't do the sequel." By those standards, hitless or not, Woods has had a fabulous career.

"You have to be honest with yourself, even If you're cursed with good taste. I was looking at the posters In my office and I thought I really did good. 'Once Upon a Time In America," 'The Onion 'True 'The I never had a major hit but all the guys who did are on the street. I'm still working." v. BY RICHARD FOREMAN Jitmes Woods stars In Diggstown." 17 i I Music is a match for dazzling stage ByJ.D.

Considine Pop Music Critic NOW, I don MUSIC know about you," saia uz ironiman Bono to the crowd at RFK REVIEW mimujamm Stadium Satur day night, "but I can only dance in the rain." Maybe so, but It rained far more than he danced. Indeed, the misty drizzle that hung In the air at the start of the show turned drenching by the time the group got to "One," leaving everyone both band and fans skin-soaked and sopping. Even so, the wet PHOTO BY CRAIG BLANKENHORN Comedy Central to offer offbeat coverage. say that they offered their core audience of viewers 18 to 24 the most relevant Information anywhere on TV. Soren, for example, took a light feature approach to spending a day with an 18-year-old delegate from Georgia and turned It into a remarkably Informative report on what political parties, delegates and conventions are all about.

And it never stopped being fun from Soren and her camera crew literally waking the poor guy up in his hotel room to the delegate's earnest analysis of the various freeble buffets offered at convention parties. Soren will be back for MTV this week in Houston. Instead of Mustalne and MC Lyte, she'll be Joined by Nugent, a man who has earned the nickname "Motor City Madman" both on and off stage. (Mustaine and MC Lyte continue to be involved In MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaign to raise the level of political awareness and voting among its 18- to 24-year-old core audience. They hosted a "Choose or Lose" MTV telethon Saturday.) On the other end of the demographic dial, the Nostalgia channel, which Is geared to viewers 55 and older, will have to do Houston without Dr.

Ruth, who teamed with former NBC news correspondent Jim Hartz to cover the Democrats In New York. It's not that Dr. Ruth has anything against Republicans or didn't like the experience of working as a floor reporter In New York. But I going to be in the Alps of Switzerland with my grandson, my daughter, her husband and my son," she said. "So, I'm not going to be in the country, and I'm not going to forgo that hiking va cation.

But I would otherwise go." Nostalgia will be in Houston with Hartz and Arlene Hereon, host of an interview show in New York City. "Herson will use her interviewing expertise to address pertinent Issues for Nostalgia's audience such as Social Security and health care," Cheryl Dlfatta, a spokeswoman for the network, said. BET will be in Houston with award-winning Journalist Ed Gordon and Sabri-na Dames reporting. The network enjoyed such success with the Democrats that It is expanding its coverage for the Republicans this week. In addition to several daily reports today through Thursday from Dames and Gordon, BET will offer a 30-minute special at 8 Thursday night on the convention and "special concerns of African American voters." "Our coverage In New York was a great success for us," said Deborah See TV, 3E, Col.

1 MADHOUSE MANAGEMENT Ted Nugent, the Motor City Madman. AND THE Cable coverage of convention targets special groups David Zurawik Television Critic r. Ruth Westheimer and Megadeath's Dave Mus-talne won't be there this time. But Ted Nugent, a.k.a. the Motor City Madman, and Joe Bob Briggs, from Texas, will.

Are you ready for cable covers George Bush, Dan Quayle and the Republicans starting today as the GOP National Convention convenes In Houston? if On one level, cable TV has been ine name oi me game in conven- rlnn anrl nvprall nnlitlral cnveraue 5 1 ii i 9 since 1988. That's when the party gatherings were first termed the', "cable conventions," because of the blanket coverage offered by CNN and C-SPAN. But as the traditional broadcast net works of ABC. NBC and CBS cut their convention coverage to the bone last month with the Democrats, cable raised Its game to the next level. CNN and C-SPAN were Joined in political coverage by several highly targeted niche-programmers.

Their approaches ranged from the more traditional TV Journalism of Black Entertainment Television (BET) to the f. Tabitha Soren, right, MTV news reporter, Walters director is top contender for Cleveland post By John Dorsey Art Critic Robert P. Bergman, director of the Walters Art Gallery since 1981, is a leading contender for the soon-to-be-vacant post of director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Mr. Bergman was named by the Cleveland Plain-Dealer's art critic In an article on Saturday on potential new leadership at the large, well-endowed museum there.

Another man considered a candidate for the Cleveland Job agreed yesterday on Mr. Bergman's status as a leading contender. And a knowledgeable Baltimore source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Bergman Is a top contender, or one of the top contenders, for the Cleveland post. The same Baltimore source said that the Walters director also Is a contender for the director's post at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

whose last director. Earl A. (Rusty) Powell III, has been named to head the National Gallery in Washington. if Mr. Bergman Is offered the Cleveland position, the Baltimore source said, it may be because he has overseen two major renovations at the Walters, and the Cleveland museum Is due for a plant renovation.

Mr. Bergman Is vacationing In the south of France and could not be reached for comment. Nor could the Walters' board president, Jay M. Wilson. In his 1 1 years at the Walters, Mr.

Bergman has become known as a tough and effective leader, able to get difficult Jobs done and willing to drive himself and his staff hard. He supervised both the $6 million renovation of the Walters' original, 1904 building, and the $7 million conversion of Hackerman House from a 19th century town house into the Walters' museum of Asian art. Both projects were widely hailed. Near the outset of his tenure In Baltimore, in 1983-1984, he created a furor In the world of art scholarship by eliminating the Jobs of two curators of ancient art and replacing them with a third. One of the curators who lost her Job, Diana Bultron-Oliver, is the guest curator for a major exhibit of See WALTERS, 2E, Col.

1 "4 -v. L1 -I SUN FILE PHOTO Robert Bergman, Walters director. 1 MU8IC TELEWSIO'.