Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 27

Lansing State Journal Tuesday, June 8, 1993 Kathleen Lavey, Features Editor 377-1251 Page 1E BAY BEHI0RS It'snever too late tUti OUl I (C Cl LI 51C ICO to let the Games begin. i iw i 3 Your daily guide to what everyone's talking A about and what's happening around town. Liven up meals with royal color Everything's coming up purple at produce Associated Press 6:30 a.m. (5:30 p.m. EDT June 8): Imperial limousine arrives at Owada residence to take bride to Imperial Palace, where she purifies herself with water and changes into traditional clothing.

10 a.m. (9 p.m.): Main wedding rite, or Kek-kon no Gi, begins at the Kashikodokoro, a shrine to sun goddess on palace grounds. Led by palace priests, Naruhito offers prayer before shrine's sacred mirror. He and bride sip rice wine to seal marriage. 11 a.m.

(10 p.m.): Couple pray at the two other palace shrines, one to imperial ancestors and other to gods of Shinto, Japan's native religion. 3 p.m. (2 a.m. June 9): After changing into 4:45 p.m. (3:45 a.m.): Newlyweds driven in convertible limousine from the Imperial Palace through downtown Tokyo to new temporary residence.

6 p.m. (5 a.m.): Royal couple exchange drinks of rice wine and hold chopsticks over meal of rice, fried fish, soup, cooked vegetables and sweets, but again do not eat. 9 p.m. (8 a.m.): In day's final ritual, called Mr-kayo no Mochi no Gi, the couple eats one bite-size-' rice cake from each of four small silver plates brought to the bedroom. Each plate has 29 cakes, which equals the bride's age.

On fourth morning I after wedding, the remaining cakes will be buried near palace. Ceremony, about 1,000 years old, believed to ensure birth of healthy son. Associated Press Crown Prince Naruhito and his bride-to-be, Ma-sako Owada. Western-style clothes, newlyweds announce marriage to his parents, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, who by custom do not attend wedding. Naruhito and bride offers parents cups of rice wine.

Before each is a meal of fish and rice. To conclude ceremony, called Choken no Gi, they go through motions of eating without actually doing so. counters. Basil, wax beans, even pearl onions are being grown in the royal color. This likely is just a momentary curiosity, but "people are always looking for new ways to liven up their meals." says Andy Arons of New York's Gourmet Garage.

"The purple Holland peppers are selling really well because they look great grilled. We enjoy food through vision as well as taste." Specialty grocers are getting in on the purple reign with violet cauliflowers, pepino melons, even asparagus. French haricots verts (bean pods) are now pourpre, and Oriental kale is now available in plum. Sometimes it's fun to fool Mother Nature. Lock up the mouthwash Some brands of mouthwash contain more alcohol than a bottle of wine from 14 percent to 27 percent.

They can be deadly to children. Ancient ceremony will have: something old and new I By ERIC TALMADGE I Associated Press Makers of mouth rinses with more than 5 percent alcohol now have to use childproof safety caps and child warning labels if they want to keep the American Dental Association's Seal of Acceptance. The cam xcitement in Japan is reaching a fever pitch as Crown Prince Naruhito and Masaka Owada prepare fwv'; 0 ililf Jf 9 'J" 3 srJ I I l-tSfl I rt -1 -s to marry. The ceremony begins tonight. (U.S.

time) and stretches into early hours of Wednesday as the; prince and American-educated! Owada wed with pageantry matched since Britain's Prince Charles and ana Spencer married in 1981. Crown Prince Naruhito's bride will take a step far into the past, joining a royal family that has reigned for 1 ,500 years. Onlv an elite, official group of 800 will paign is spearheaded by a University of Michigan dentistry school professor, Nathaniel Rowe. For a 20-pound child, potentially lethal doses of mouth rinses can range as low as 4.5 ounces with 27 percent alcohol. Even lower amounts have been know to cause hypoglycemia, or lowering of blood sugar level.

Over five recent years, the American Association of Poison Control Centers received more than 10,000 reports of children under 6 who swallowed mouth rinses. At least 3 died. i tend the ceremony Wednesday. But live television will take Japan on a vicarious journey behind the moats and stone walls of the Imperial Palace in downtown Tokyo to a quiet, -wooden shrine tuCked away in its most sacred corner. There, Naruhito, clad in a sunrise-orange robe and crown of black lacquered gauze, will walk slowly to the altar of Amaterasu, god-dess of the sun, from whom Shinto religious legend says the imperial line descended.

Masako Owada, wrapped in a rainbow of nine silk kimonos styled after court fashions of a Associated Press Masako's wedding dress is a a multi-colored kimono in a centuries-old style. It's made of nine layers of silk. She'll also wear a wig with a floor-touching ponytail and gold baubles. Dead heads awaken Those guys that are happy to be dead, The Grateful Dead, will set up camp at the Palace of Auburn Hills tonight. The gates of the graveyard shift will be open early, but the show doesn't start until 7 p.m.

If that's not enough, there will be space available for rotting bodies at the Wednesday night show. Same time, same place. Tickets $24.50 are at Ttcketmaster, 484-5656. 'The Heat is On' Wednesday night If you're not a Dead fan or you just love music, then Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey may be the style you're looking for at the Knob Wednesday. In case you didn't know, the Knob means (Pine Knob).

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. with tickets costing $21.50 pavillion, $12.50 lawn. For more information and to order tickets, call (313) 377-0100 or call Ticketmaster at 484-5656. A musical summer at the barn The Augusta Barn Theatre opens for its 48th season of summer stock with the musical revue "Music, Music, Music HI" in The Rehearsal Shed, through June 13. Show times are 8:30 p.m.

Tuesdays-Fridays, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Sundays at the theater, on M-96, 1 mile west of Augusta.

Tickets are $20 and $17.50, with info at (616) 731-4121. 1 i millenium ago, will follow close behind. Gold ornaments will glimmer from the bride's hair a wig, actually, with a ponytail longer than she is tall. Inside the shrine, the 33-year-old prince will wave a branch of Japanese cypress and prostrate himself four times before a sacred mirror. He will read a prayer.

Only 10 minutes after the ceremony begins, the two will seal their marriage with sips of rice wine. Fuji TV, a major commercial broadcaster, is flying in American actress Brooke Shields the Japanese media once speculated she was a heartthrob of the prince to be a color commentator. Rival NTV will devote 13 hours of programming to the wedding and related events. TV Asahi is preparing computer graphics to simulate portions of the ceremony not shown on camera All will spend much time and I effort explaining the rites, which are full of symbolism unfamiliar to most Japanese. "There are very few events -other than telethons or major catastrophes that networks would de- The wedding's timing during the prime hour of 9 p.m.

to 10 p.m. locally complicates chances to see it live: CNN hasn't decided whether to interrupt "Larry King Live" (9 p.m.) or to simply wait and show footage during tis newscast (10 p.m.). For others, the footage can be expected to show up during 1 1 p.m. newscasts and beyond. The network morning shows expect to preview the ceremony today and to cover the ongoing celebration Wednesday.

That's from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on "CBS This Morning" (channels 3 and 7), "Today" (channels 8 and 10) and "Good Morning, America" (channels 12 and 53). Associated Press Some facts about Japan's imperial family: History: World's oldest surviving hereditary monarchy. Most historians agree the imperial clan can be traced to at least 5th century.

According to a traditional count, Akihito is the 125th emperor. Role: Few emperors since about the 10th century actually ruled Japan. Imperial powers were greatly strengthened by constitution in late 19th century. After World War II, the emperor was legally made a largely ceremonial figurehead. Emperors are regarded as intermediaries between Japanese people and gods of indigenous Shinto religion.

Religious rituals and praying for prosperity remain central aspects of imperial role. Image: Imperial family generally is regarded with great respect and has been virtually free of scandal. Succession: As Emperor Akihito's eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito is automatically heir to Chrysanthemum Throne. Imperial women: Since about 100 years ago, only males have been allowed on the throne. Several empresses reigned before that, including Go-Sakuramachi, who died in 1813.

Upon marriage, emperor's daughters are no longer considered members of the imperial family. 0 Studio 108 presents "Twain By the Tale," a In Japan, the royal coupling is omnipresent. In the U.S., live viewing will be difficult. vote this much time to," said Fuji spokesman Haruhisa Yoshino. See WEDDING, Page 2E collection of sketches adapted from Mark Twain Stories.

Tonight's dinner theater has a 6 p.m. dinner in the Eaton Rapids Middle School cafeteria. The show is at 7 p.m. in the school's studio theater. Cost is $4 for students (K-12) and $6 for adults.

For more information and reservations, call 663-8151. On this day in 632 A.D., the prophet Mohammed died. Mohammed's teachings, recorded in the Koran, forged a new religion, Islam; in 1845, Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, died in Nashville, in 1915, Secretary State William Jennings Bryan resigned in a Channel 6 chief skips over to 10 By MIKE HUGHES Lansing State Journal The overhaul of WILX (Channel 10) has taken another IT 5sg disagreement over U.S. handling of the sinking of the Lusita- nia; in 1953, the U.S. Su-" preme Court ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks; in 1966, a merger was an- nounced between the National and American football leagues, to take effect in 1970; in 1967,34 U.S.

servicemen were killed when Israeli forces raided the Liberty, a Navy ship stationed in the Mediterranean. Israel called the attack a key step: Grant Santimore became the station's president and general manager Monday, jumping from the same job at WLNS (Channel 6). As a species, humans probably are at midlife The Washington Post Go ahead and wash your car this weekend, -but you might not want to make any really long--term plans. Princeton University astrophysi- cist J. Richard Gott III has calculated at a 95 percent confidence level that our species has a total life expectancy of between 8 million years at the high end and 205,000 at the low.

Gott's conclusion, in Nature magazine, springs from ideas described by Copernicus, who showed that our planet could not occupy a "special place" at the center of the universe. By similar logic, Gott argues, it's unlikely we are at a special time in our species' lifespan, such as the very beginning or the very end. Gott assumes the human species is about 200,000 years old, we are not living in the first or last 2.5 percent of our existence and we are somewhere in the middle time. Our earliest possible location in that middle is 2.5 percent of the span away from the beginning one-fortieth of our total. Multiply the 200,000 years we've been around by the 39 remaining incre-O; ments, and you get 7,800,000 years before our fade to black.

At the far end of our middle: time, we have a mere 5,100 years to go. He dropped the 5:30 p.m. newscast, put the station up for sale and lost his longtime hold on "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy." Now Brissette has reversed direction. He broke ground for a Lansing studio, promoted Tim Staudt to news director and smoothed union troubles. Brissette also put general manager Bill Snider on leave, then decided he won't be back.

Now Santimore will compete with his former boss. "We're still good friends," Kwasnick said. Locally, Santimore managed WFMK radio (99.1 FM) during its brief stretch at No. 1. He managed a Detroit station, then bought the WJIM stations (97.5 FM and 1240 AM) in 1985 and sold them in '88.

Meanwhile, the long-sleepy local TV scene had heated up when Kwasnick became general manager of WILX. He hired Staudt from WLNS, created a strong challenge and then was hired as the general manager of WLNS. Kwasnick was promoted to president of Young Broadcasting, the group that includes WLNS. In April 1989, he made Santimore the station's general manager. This has been a plush period for WLNS.

Ratings for the 6 p.m. newscast have soared past a 20 (20 percent of TV homes). That's huge by national standards. Syndicated shows that flounder elsewhere including "Maury Povich" and "Hard Copy" have done well at WLNS. There will be no rush to hire a new chief, Kwasnick said.

The station still has its former general manager (Kwasnick) and its station manager (Ross Wood- stock, who is also news director). At WLNS, Santimore's big concern was whether to air David Letterman's show. (He finally agreed to, moving Arsenio Hall to 12:30 a.m.) "Now I guess I have to worry about Leno's numbers." Santimore Why ex- Ray change the No. 1 station for the No. "It's a long-term commitment," Santimore said.

"I thought it was a good opportunity for me and my family." Ron Kwasnick, his former WLNS boss, agreed that the move is logical for WILX: "Clearly, they have an agenda to change." Last year, WILX owner Paul Brissette was in a cutback phase. tragic mistake; in 1968, authorities announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Lu-l ther King Jr. in 1978, a jury in Clark County, ruled the so-called "Mormon will," purport-l edly written by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, was a forgery. Compiled from staff and wire reports.

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