Lancaster Eagle-Gazette from Lancaster, Ohio • 23

L.Illg!M. i Hard teW ti The men of Chicago just cant stop making new music i -f I lad thing that we found ourselves sucked into during the '80s," keyboardist and vocalist Robert Lamm says. Apparently they did. "Even for me it's a very listenable disc. Usually, by the time a CD comes out, I've heard it, I know it, and I don't want to hear it anymore," he says with a laugh.

Parazaider says, "It was such a challenge for us to do. People always said, 'Why take a chance on something like Well, why not do something new?" Years earlier, Chicago performed for a legendary swing musician. In 1974, they were the only rock act invited to play with Count Basie, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan on the TV special "Duke Ellington, We Love You Madly." "To be in that company we just kept our mouths shut and our eyes open," Lamm says. "It was very hip." The gig also was hip for trombonist James Pankow and Parazaider, who remembers meeting Ellington outside his dressing room. "I said, Jimmie and I wanted to come over and shake your hand and thank you.

It's really an honor to be on your He looked us in the eye and said, 'On the contrary, it's my honor to have you on the show because you're the By PHILLIP ZONKEL kINCE striking up the band in 1967, the horn-driven group 'Chicago annually has hit the concert circuit, including a current 40-city tour. And over the years, the group has watched ticket costs escalate. But woodwind player Walt Parazaider doesn't think Ticket-master, accused of inflating costs, shoulders total responsibility for stratospheric prices. "The bands still control ticket prices," he says. "You know where the break-even point is and where a profit could be.

How much is enough? "We try to control ticket prices for ourselves over the years. I would like to think that we haven't priced ourselves out of any market." Including the album market. For their fourth record, Chicago released a live double album, 1971's "At Carnegie Hall." Initially, Columbia Records balked at the idea, saying it was too expensive. "We said, 'OK, fine. We believe in this so much we'll cut our royalties so that you can put this at an affordable Parazaider says.

Their 22nd recording, though not a double CD, is still special. "Night Day" showcases big-band hits and pays tribute to the era. "We had been wanting to get away from that kind of power-bal Morphine Big bad John In March, police in New York City charged salesman Joel Levy, 32, with assault. Police said Levy's live-in girlfriend arrived home unexpectedly after Levy had just asked a call girl to come over. Levy improvised a plan to intercept "Brandy" in his building's lobby, have a liaison, and then to dash back upstairs before his girlfriend got suspicious.

When he saw a good-looking woman in the lobby Levy assumed it was Brandy, nudged her into an elevator, and, police said, pawed and fondled her while waving a $50 bill saying, "You know you want it. You know you'll do anything for it." The woman was not Brandy but an assistant district attorney from Brooklyn. Double jeopardy Until July when the state passed a law to correct the problem, hospitals in Alabama were allowed to charge rape victims for the forensic exams from which evidence, such as fluid samples, were gathered against the perpetrators. In other Alabama crimes the forensic examination for blood, fingerprints, is paid for by the state. Peek-a-boo In July, an official in the office that supervises road construction crews in Minneapolis issued a directive, in response to complaints, that workers stop "eyeing," "staring at" or "ogling" women while on duty In a subsequent clarification, the official said "sneaking a look" Would be OK, and said men also should not be ogled.

Water, water, everywhere In July, the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed to liberalize its procedure for drug testing employees who have "shy bladders." Now such employees are given 24 ounces of fluid within 2 hours to encourage urination. The department proposes 40 ounces over 4 hours, and on July 25 issued a Federal Register notice explaining its proposal. Poor state of affairs According to records disclosed in July by an Associated Press inquiry, Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, who makes just more than $100,000 a year, has a lower salary than 796 other state employees, including his own chief of staff.

Premature congratulations In March, 12 hours before a massive, extensively planned drug raid was to take place in Washington, D.C., the D.C. Department of Public and Assisted Housing issued a press release praising its role in the raid. Officials thus had to call off the operation, rendering practically useless eight months' planning, coordination among four law-enforcement agencies, and a large number of arrest and search warrants obtained by thousands of hours of investigation, surveillance and undercover drug buys. Stepping on his toes In March, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a 1988 decision that Paul E.

Spragens, a quadriplegic man who earns money typing with his toes, be kicked off the Social Security rolls and ordered to return almost $20,000 he had received over a three-year period. During that time, Spragens averaged $350 a month working as a free-lance book indexer, as soon as his earnings hit $300 a month, according to law, he was no longer eligible for benefits. He's a smash According to records obtained by the New York Post in May, the New York City Transit Authority's worst bus driver, Leroy Goodwin, 56, is still driving despite 103 at-fault collisions over his 22-year career and even received a safe-driving award in 1986 sandwiched between collisions No. 68 and 69. The family way The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in July that Jim Harns-berger, 40, a Republican Party operative who founded the local Center for Family Values, has been married five times and owes almost $20,000 in child support.

According to the newspaper, a former girlfriend said of Harnsberger, "He said he would cut me up into little pieces and throw me into the ocean and no one would ever know." Mommy dearest In August in San Bernardino, Calif, Lisa Nester, 24, and her husband, 23, pleaded guilty to abandoning their son, Wolfgang, 3, on June 2 at a shopping center in California while they took off for a Grateful Dead concert in San Francisco and then went on to Maryland, where they were spotted 24 days later. Because of Lisa's previous, uninspired parenting, her mom and dad have custody of her four children from other relationships. 'm'; '-I" 14. 1 day. we'll want to be the last rock 'n' roll band on its feet.

We're sort of a band that won't go away" Parazaider says, laughing. "We want to do this, and do it till we get it right." Colley says he hungers for a level of acceptance that would be difficult to reach in jazz. "There's a point where you would give up the challenge for the attention. If anything is too esoteric to be grasped, why do it? You want people to enjoy the music you're making." When musician and audience attain an unspoken connection, a rare exhilaration takes place, he says. "Hopefully through experimentation, I can transcend my human body through music.

It's a continual process of seeking. Sometimes you hit it; sometimes you don't. But you're always going for it. When you get there, it's a euphoric, fleeting thing." Colley doesn't worry about where Morphine is going next. "If you put too much thought into it, you end up missing the point.

Being in the moment is what it's all about. The searching process continues. The future will come." 'i Cn nil ii inrl i A I' A Ltt Chicago is feeling stronger every next Duke Ellington was right about Chicago's longevity. And from the sounds of it, their endurance seems never-ending. "There's a pure Mid- western stubbornness that maybe 1 Hendrix.

"When I first got into bands in high school, I was influenced by rock guitarists. But if I played guitar, I'd still be in a rehearsal space somewhere. The world doesn't need 6ne more mediocre guitarist. So I do on saxophone what I'd like to have done on guitar. That's different." On the album "Yes" (Rykodisc), Colley's playing sounds assured and adventurous.

Though the music definitely rocks, jazz influences stream forth. "If I could play jazz, I probably would," Colley says. "But it takes hours of practicing every day I don't have great discipline. That's why I play rock," he says with a laugh. "To me, jazz is like the bible of the saxophone.

I try to understand it by osmosis, just listening and absorbing the intentions behind the music. In what I do musically in rock, I borrow the ideals of jazz." I I I ir forgoes guitar for smooth groove By PAUL FREEMAN kUTTARS, bass and drums: I That's been the prevalent I instrumental lineup rock bands for decades. Instead of guitar, Morphine, a Boston-based trio, features saxophone. The cool, seductive sound that results is addictive. "I'm not sure if people are ready to give up formulaic music," says Dana Colley (baritone sax), who is joined in the band by Billy Conway (drums) and Mark Sandman (bass and vocals), "but there's always room for something new.

"From the beginning, nobody seemed to miss screaming guitars. A lot of times people would go through a whole show and not even notice there wasn't a guitar." His insinuating sax seems to swirl up from an underworld. Some of Colley's playing brings to mind guitar greats. His idols include not only John Coltrane but also Jimi i Morphine OFF GASTROENTEROLOGIST SRINIVAS KOLLI, M.O. ANNOUNCES THE OPENING OF HIS PRACTICE.

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Droad Street, Lancaster, OH 43130 Business: (614) 687-9400 Residence: (614) 506-7796 Tech Heating, Inc. 420 N. Broad St. 654-3839 Mel Swinehart President Fox: (614) 687-9405 17 Lancaster Eagle-Gazette September 18, 1995, CoverSTORY 5.