Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 63

ffjc iHartforb MONDAY APRIL 20, 1998 SECTION sighting Colin McEnroe sharpens his quill at: http:www.courant.com Darden Speaks Out On Topic That Hits Closer To Home: AIDS By HELEN UBINAS Courant Staff Writer All the world was watching O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden, and yet no one could see the depths of his pain. His older brother, the brother he looked up to, who taught him so much through his own failures, was dying of AIDS while Darden was trying the biggest trial of his life. AFTER THE SIMPSON trial, Christopher Darden decided to step out of the limelight, but recently decided to speak out about his brother. FILE PHOTO Funny thing, though, at the end of each day, it was Darden's brother Michael who would call and say: "Hang in there, bro." "When I think of the courage he showed those last 24 months," Darden recalls in a recent telephone interview.

"I'd be in the trial and he'd call trying to console me. He was an inspiration." Which is why, even though Darden made a conscious decision to step away from the limelight after the trial, he recently decided it was time to speak out about his brother. Darden will speak Saturday at an AIDS Project Hartford benefit at Bulkeley High School in Hartford. "I've had a lot of opportunities to speak about my brother and AIDS," Darden says. I chose now, I'm not entirely sure not that I haven't been supportive of this cause in the past.

I just think that to speak about it, well, that's different We'll see what happens. Maybe in the end it won't make any sense to anyone but me. Maybe I won't have any effect at all. Maybe it will just remind me of how angry I was." At the time, Darden's anger was not directed at the former football star accused of killing his wife and her friend, or even at the disease that was killing his brother, but at the media. Darden says his family was besieged by reporters when they learned of his brother's illness, trying to get pictures of the family, of Michael Please see WHILE, Page F3 I- 1 I "ijLJt" 'I, Oj" A WVIT Playing Up Ownership By NBC fir 1 ESS CONNECTICUT 1 'w Ji i.

if i it lit i i OLIVER UPTON NBC THE LEGENDARY MAGICIAN is played by Sam Neill, at top right, in NBC's "Merlin." At his side above are the Soothsayer (Peter Woodthorpe, left) and Lord Vorti-gern (Rutger Hauer). A Fantastic Fantasy Through The Eyes Of 'Merlin' By BILL KEVENEY Courant Staff Writer If you didn't know that NBC now owns local affiliate WVIT, Channel 30, a viewing of the station's 6 p.m. newscast today will make the point clear. From a new ID NBC30 Connecticut to plentiful peacock plumage, the West Hartford-based station is visually tying itself to the top-rated network, which acquired Channel 30 late last year. It's not just spiffed-up graphics.

Gone is the motorcycle-rewing (or is it chainsaw-starting?) Connecticut News music, and in its place is a new theme, one that starts with the familiar three-note chime: N-B-C. The sophisticated, computer-generated graphics and the new logo are designed to complement the bright colors of Channel 30's news set, which was revamped less than two years ago and will not be changed. The news programs also are keeping the "Live, Local and Late-Breaking" slogan, which has become synonymous in recent years with the station's in-your-face news style. Channel 30 already had promoted the network affiliation but decided to make it stronger after its acquisition by NBC, said Tom O'Brien, station president and general manager. (Most affiliates are owned by other companies, not the network.) "We wanted to take advantage of the brand," he said.

The new logo features NBC, the peacock and the number 30 prominently, but it drops the station's call letters, WVIT. Research shows viewers have a much stronger recognition of channel numbers than of call letters, O'Brien said. After Channel 30 came up with the concepts, the graphics were developed by EGAD (Electronic Graphics and Design) of Dallas and the music was composed by Pinnacle Music Group of Utah, said Chris Gallagher, creative services director. Promotional identification, known as branding, has become more important in television, with the rapid growth of channel choices. For example, WTIC, Channel 61, for some time has promoted its Fox affiliation by calling itself Fox 61.

NBC is generally regarded as the network king of branding, winning awards and praise for its promotional efforts. "NBC is masterful, and we wanted to capitalize on a good thing," said Liz Grey, vice president of news. The graphics and music also mark the first significant expenditure O'Brien would not say how much since NBC acquired the station from Paramount. Channel 30 also is spending to open a southern Connecticut news bureau in the newsroom of the New Haven Register. The news operations will be separate.

leight of hand is not uncommon in television, but there's nothing slight about the NBC miniseries V. JL-v It has heavyweights working behind the scenes, including executive producer Robert Halmi who brought NBC's Emmy-winning "Gulliver's Travels" and "The Odyssey" to the small screen. And, naturally or rather super-naturally it has magic, care of London's FrameStore and the Jim Henson Creature Shop. Want to see a network pull some critical raves and a few million extra viewers out of its hat? "Merlin" looks like it could do the trick. With about 500 special effects, more than any other movie for television, says Halmi, and more than most effects-oriented feature films, "Merlin" morphs and manipulates, enchants and bedazzles.

It's a mystical love story, one that begins before Excalibur, the knights Please see SPECIAL, Page F3 James Endrst On TV It has big-name stars: Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Sir John Gielgud, Rutger Hauer, Isabella Ros-sellini, Miranda Richardson, Martin Short and the voice of James Earl Jones. In A Groove: Medeski Martin Wood Add A DJ To The Mix By ROGER CATLIN Courant Rock Critic The instrumental makeup of leading "groove band" Medeski Martin Wood is unusual enough organ, drums and bass. But on their upcoming album and current tour, they add a fourth collaborator on a few songs a disc jockey. The use of New York's D.J. Logic is, well, logical, says keyboardist John Medeski.

"He's been playing with a lot of people," Medeski says of Logic, who was introduced to the trio by guitarist Vernon Reid, a founding member of Living Colour and Black Rock Coalition. "And he's one of best in terms of being able to play with musicians." It's one thing to scratch and mix on turntables, Medeski says. It's quite another to interact with musicians and contribute. "You have to have the skill to go where the music needs to go, as opposed to where you feel like going," Medeski says. "And that takes a certain level of musicianship.

Logic had lot of experience playing with a lot of musicians. He adds so much, it's amazing." One thing added is a modernization of the sound "a hip-hop feel," he says, "but there's something so otherworldly to it." Fans of the trio will find out when "Combustication" is released June 16 on Blue Note Records, using D.J. Logic on three cuts. Until then, there's a preview on the current East Coast Please see ADDING, Page F3.