Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 33

Features Editor Kathleen Lavey 377-1251 Lansing State Journal Home There is money in old beach toys Today 6D Woman's job is ferreting out facts the Michigan State University library and plenty of reference books. Most of all, she has her own way of looking at things. "I wasn't normal," says Rosemont, whose toenails are lime green this week. "I was interested in things people weren't interested in." Roy Saper, of Saper Galleries in East Lansing, is familiar with her photography; he says that's what makes her a true artist. "An artist can see things that the rest of us don't see," Saper says.

"Jane sees that which most of us walk by. Asking the question is the thing most people aren't getting." A few weeks of every year, she packs up her lap top and moves to a house in Oregon to work by the ocean. "Because I can," she says. "People allow things to happen to them. People who are lucky allow themselves to be that way." The rest of us get in the car and go to work every morning.

riace a Entertainment Festival time? Take your pick Want to go to a festival today? You have choices in: Howell: The Melon Festival parade starts at noon. It includes kids' rides, music, a comedian and an art show. Lansing: The Car Capital Celebration wraps up today, with about 500 classics downtown. You also will find retro music starting at 1 p.m., including the Fabulous Oldies But Goodies Band, Metro Johnny and Swinging Daddie's. Ypsilanti: The Heritage Festival parade starts at 10 a.m.

There's much more in the Frog Island area downtown, including a circus (1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.) and saxophonist Paul VornHagen (7:45 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.). North Lansing: The Old Town JazzFest has the second of its three days. See next item.

It's Sunny day for jazz fans This is a good day to head to the Old Town area. Alongside the arty shops and galleries, you'll find free music at the corner of Turner Street and Grand River Avenue. Today, that includes top local singers (Sunny Wilkinson, Koke McKesson) and the salsa sound of Ritmo; that wraps up with Eric Reed, who's also a pianist for Wyn-ton Marsalis' Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The lineup is: 1 p.m., Schu-makers; 2:30 p.m., Byron Lyles and Adventure; 3:30 p.m., poets Sam Mills and Mark Grafe; 4 p.m., Layers (with Mike Daniels and McKesson); 5:30 p.m., Ritmo; 7 p.m., Wilkinson; 8:30 p.m., Peace 2000; 10 p.m., Reed. Folk fest has guitar overload Remember when Joan Baez was a sensation, the purest voice of a folk generation? a well-lovec Sheila Schimpf People News books based on the column, "The Straight Dope." Adams answers questions from readers on topics such as, "Do tumors have hair?" and "Is it true the quack of a duck will not echo?" Rosemont and her husband, Dick, were fans of Adams, who has been writing since 1973 for about three dozen papers, including the Chicago Reader, the Boston Phoenix and the' New York Press.

Of course, whether Adams really exists is a question no one will answer. No one has interviewed him. Questions about the book are answered i i I i V'v IIIMJ IU IMIIIIL II. UP 'MW'J A TV memory It aft J- Oi Saturday August 22, 1998 KATHY KIELISZEWSKI Lansing State Journal Seeing clearly: Jane Rosemont, a researcher for a syndicated columnist, uses a magnifying glass to read the Oxford English Dictionary. Know a person who should be in a profile? Send the name and phone number to Sheila Schimpf, Lansing State Journal, 120 E.

Lenawee Lansing, MI 48919 or fax it to 377-1298. Dia c' ix Dove Brothers What a buy: The H.R. Pufnstuf road show costume is expected to fetch a bid of $10,000 to $15,000. Auction Krofft items 3 p.m. Sunday Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles To try to arrange phone bidding, call 1-800-525-3683 at least 24 hours before the sale Yes, Laimbeer, who was a menacing basketball player.

In the summer before he left for Notre Dame, he was working inside a Sleestak costume. A lot of people have worked for the Kroffts over the years, from Donny and Marie Osmond to the infamous Pink-lady. This was a duo that was hot in Japan. Both young women were beautiful and sang well; NBC asked the Kroffts to produce their primetime show. "The one thing they guaranteed me was they could speak English," Marty Krofft said.

They couldn't, but Sid thought the show could be saved. He talked to NBC chief Fred Silverman. "I wanted to do a show that was so bizarre that everyone would talk about it," Sid says. Please see KROFFT, 2D they are and you cannot move the furniture, attach cheap plastic air deflectors on the registers. If the ducts near the blower, in the basement or utility room, have dampers in them, close the dampers slightly in the ducts leading to other rooms.

This will force more cool air through the living room duct. Write to James Dulley, Lansing State Journal, 6906 Royal-green Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244. His Web site with an instant download offer and previous bulletins, is at www.dulley. com. His column appears Saturdays.

iV mi or -jjogg by its editor, Ed Zotti. "Many topics are shrouded in mystery," is all Zotti will say when he is asked about Adams. If you ask him about Rosemont, it's a different reaction. He can't say enough. "Jane is wonderful," Zotti says.

"I've been editing the column since 1978. I had gotten along all this time on my own. All of a sudden, Jane showed up, and she had this knack for making herself really useful. There would be things I wouldn't have much a clue how to pursue, and she had a lot of contacts. It was a natural." So how do you get this perfect job? Cruising the Internet.

Yep. Rosemont started talking to folks on the Straight Dope message board (www. straightdope.com) Pretty soon she got a message to call Zotti. He was impressed with her intelligence and humor. "As an adult, I've developed llllLIUIJMIHilJ.

"I IUIWU- JliI 9 1 Li '''ZLy M'iAii llTI i covered with cord and coated with lard. As one person cranks the spit, others take turns dribbling batter from spoons to form layers. While the spit rotates, the batter browns, sets and drips into branch-like shapes. What falls into pans makes a tasty and immediate reward for bakers. What hardens mid-fall creates the cake's tree-shaped appearance.

Fourteen layers of batter usually make up one cake, according to directions from unique varying temperature source, from 95 to 110 degrees, to attract a broad range of biting mosquito species. A small fan, on a pole-mounted model, simulates breathing. When mosquitoes get close to it, the air flow sucks them inside and they are electrocuted. There are also ground models that use the same basic varying temperature design. These have an electric eye to automatically shut off during the day.

One unit (handles a normal yard) uses about $8 of electricity per month. Electric and battery mosquito repellers also help. They emit high-frequency sound to repel biting female mosquitoes. 6 Jane Rosemont of Okemos just might have the perfect job. Of course, you have to like working at home.

You have to like flexible hours and some freedom in choosing your work. Oh, and for a few weeks of the year, you have to be able to work on a laptop in a house overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Think you could handle it? That's what I thought. "How can you say no to something like that?" Rosemont says. "It's been a blast." Rosemont spends her days answering questions such as, "Is it true a munchkin committed suicide during the filming of 'The Wizard of (Answer: no.) A photographer, Rosemont is the author of "Saving Faces," a book of portraits and musings that has won two awards.

A couple of years ago, she was offered a job as researcher for Cecil Adams, a syndicated columnist and author of four 1 1 4- 511: 1 Outdoor baking: Doug Mernitz and Bonnie King apply a layer to their wedding cake as they catch drippings in skillets (right). Above, Gerald Grambau holds the finished product. German tradition results in a unique cake for a wedding By Elizabeth Don-Lansing State Journal Bonnie King's wedding cake took five hours to create. At first, there were typical hours of separating eggs, measuring flour and stirring sugar. Then there was the splitting wood, building a fire and cooking the batter on a spit over an open flame.

Following a family tradition brought from Germany in the late 19th century, King and her husband-to-be, Doug Mernitz, joined 28 relatives and friends Aug. 8 in the laborious process of creating a baumkuchen, or tree cake. They baked the cake at a centennial farm owned by Bea and Gerald Grambau of Metz. Made for weddings, anniversaries and other celebrations, this cake requires careful hand preparation. The baumkuchen gets its tree-like shape when gravity pulls the batter down as it turns on a spit.

Baking usually is done at a family farm and with fresh ingredients. The process begins Control Qj UESTTON: Mosquitoes 'are eating me alive. I use two electric bug zappers all night, but they don't help much. It I use more, how much will it push up my electric bills? Are there other effective gadgets or options? ANSWER: Controlling mosquitoes is neither a hopeless nor an expensive task. Lighted-type bug zappers are not always effective against mosquitoes.

The loud snaps that you hear are often larger, beneficial bugs being fried. A large electric bug zapper uses up to 100 watts of electricity. If you switch on two units and leave them on all night, they use 20 cents worth of elec- 4 -3 i ri "As an adult, I've developed an insatiable curiosity about everything." Jane Rosemont researcher an insatiable curiosity about everything," Rosemont says. At 45, she admits her gut is soft. "But there is no way I want my brain to get flabby," she says.

She picks questions that appeal to her, questions she knows somebody who knows somebody who knows something about it and questions Zotti I mean Cecil will go for. She has a file of phone numbers, a working knowledge of Alma Dramburg Grambau, King's great-grandmother. King's had 15. Four to six hours are required for the entire process, King said. The final step involves removing the baumkuchen from the spit, which may be done after the cake has dried for hours or days, depending on humidity.

Flowers on the top and at the base serve as decorations. Often the cakes are made at a family farm and shipped away, but those who help with King's cake also will get the pleasure of consuming it in small chunks at her wedding Sunday. The Grambaus are generous keepers of the Baumkuchen tradition. "You must have a tree cake," Gerald Grambau told King when he found out she was getting married. For her, it wasn't even a question.

King attended her first baumkuchen baking at age 4 and has been part of about 10. The custom is a strong one that she hopes will continue. "It's family, tradition, communion of spirit, coming together to create the foundation of a marriage," she said. "When you get to the ceremony and the reception, you've helped create it." Small (size of a lipstick tube) clip-on battery models (cost about $8) can protect a person outdoors. Attracting bats, birds (eastern or western bluebirds and purple martins) and toads to your yard is an effective complement to an electric mosquito-control device.

To attract bats and birds, either buy or build bird houses specifically designed for them. An overturned flowerpot makes a good home for a toad. The most effective, no-cost mosquito control tip is to empty all standing water. Check carefully after the next rain. Write for Update Bulletin No.

851, a list of mosquito-spe By Mike Hughes Lansing State Journal Some strange chunks of TV history were hiding in a Los Angeles warehouse. There was his honor, H.R. Pufnstuf. There was Freddy, the talking flute. There was an evil Sleestak, a nasty Nim and a conniving Witchiepoo.

Then there were Ronald Reagan and Whoopi Goldberg and Michael Jackson and a naked showgirl. It was a crowded place. Now those have been brought out: On Sunday, Sid and Marty Krofft will auction off part of their world. You can fly there or try to bid by phone. Either way, bring money.

"A few big stars have tried to buy up the whole thing," Marty Krofft said. "That wouldn't be fair, though. Rosie (O'Donnell) called; she said she's got to have Pufnstuf." She'll have to bid like the rest of us. The auction book estimates that Pufnstuf actually, just the costume for a road show will go for between $10,000 and $15,000, It guesses that Freddy will go between $10,000 and $12,000. Reagan and Saddam Hussein (torso puppets from "D.C.

will be $3,000 to so will that naked showgirl, a marionette from the Kroffts' Las Vegas show. The list goes on, from a "Wonderbug" car to a "Krofft Supershow" lunchbox, complete with Deidre Hall in all her DynaGirl splendor. Can we assume that the Kroffts have been great savers? "A lot of out stuff did get away," Marty Krofft groaned. "We get calls about the Bay City Rollers all the time, but we don't have anything." Things happen. One of the Pufnstuf costumes was eaten by the dog; one of the Freddys was given to "Pufnstuf star Jack Wild.

The Kroffts liked him; they didn't like the Rollers. Other future stars got away. They rejected Tom Hanks for "Kaptain Kool and the Kongs" and Phil Collins for "The Bugaloos." They didn't launch many stars, unless you count Hall (now big in soaps) or Bill Laimbeer. cific bug killers and repellers, simple mosquito control tips and plans for making bat, bluebird and purple martin houses. Please send $3 and a business-size, self -addressed envelope to the address at the end.

You also can download the guide from www.dulley.com QUESTION: We have a large living room at one end of the house. It does not seem to stay as cool as the other rooms. The cool air does not blow out with much force. What can I do? ANSWER: Make sure that the furniture or curtains are not blocking any of the registers. If You try it: Bonnie King (left) and Gerald Grambau turn the spit as Whitney and Heather Mernitz, daughters of the groom, apply a layer to the cake.

Remember when Rodney Crowell was a country star? Or when the Violent Fp Wilco and Baez Rickie Lee Jones were pop? Now all of them are in a touring edition of the Newport Folk Festival. So are Nanci Griffith, John Hiatt, the Staple Singers, Marc Cohn and Loudon Wainwright III. At 1 p.m. today, they have a marathon at the Pine Knob amphitheater in Clarkston. Tickets $35 pavilion, $18 lawn are at (248) 377-0100 or at Ticketmaster (484-5656).

Stern starts his 'Live' assault In some cities, Howard Stem and "Saturday Night Live" begin open warfare today. Stern insists "SNL" hasn't been funny since John Belu-shi died. Tonight, his show goes against it. "The difference is that we're real We don't have a lesbian skit; we bring in real lesbians." There's a catch, though: In many cities, Stern will follow "SNL," not face it; locally, tonight's premiere is at 1 a.m. on Channel 10.

That means he should want us to watch "SNL" except that's not easy. "This week, they're airing the best of Eddie Murphy, which I've seen about 9 billion times already." Quick hits Wanna feel smart? Watch "Rock and Roll Jeopardy" at 8 p.m. today on cable's VH1. The quiz show will help you put to use all of the useless information floating around in your head. This is your last chance to see 'Night Mother," the powerful Marsha Norman drama.

That's at 8 p.m. at Spotlight Theatre in Grand Ledge, with tickets at the door or at 372-0945. "The Rat Pack" premieres at 9 p.m. today on pay-cable HBO. It's a well-crafted and rather morose drama, fo Liotta cusing on the obsession by Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta) to get close to John Kennedy.

On this date in: 1485, England's King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending the War of the Roses. Written and compiled by Mike Hughes and Robin Swartz. I in two steps: mixing the batter and preparing the spit. Participants slowly create a concoction of 32 separated eggs, two pounds of flour, two pounds of melted butter, two pounds of sugar and one quart of sweet cream. Once the stirring starts, it can't stop.

Everyone present must stir, but only to the right. Traditionally, the men build the fire. The cake is cooked over this open flame, on a hardwood, cone-shaped spit that has been wrapped in paper, mosquitoes with inexpensive methods James Dulley ExPert tricity per day. There are several new designs of electronic mosquito-specific bug killers that are effective. Some designs produce a heat signature of animal skin (no light) or use cow's breath scent or both.

Some mosquito killers use a.