Quad-City Times from Davenport, Iowa • 27

Section ODAY QUAD-CITY TIMES Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1997 Pages 5T-6T FEATURES EDITOR: Chris Juzwik (319) 383-2280 HOT Stallone: My life is no storybook NEW YORK -He's rich, famous and stars with Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel in "Cop Land," but Sylvester Stallone says his life "will never be a native makes a life put aphis love for song By Lee Nelson QUAD-CITY TIMES 1 WHEN he was supposed to be rucked in bed, Robert White Johnson would sneak down- stairs to play his oldest brother's drums. He was in third grade. "I still don't know how my parents didn't hear me," the former Moline resident said during a recent telephone interview from his home near Nashville, Tenn.His passion for drums began a lifelong music career filled with ups, downs, numerous awards and now his own music publishing company "I knew I loved music. It was all around me with four boys and one girl in my family.

I was very fortunate to learn 1 from my parents that you get a lot further in life being humble than being greedy or a know-it-all." 1 He has written and produced hundreds of songs for -dozens of entertainers and stars from Celine Dion to Lynyrd Skynyrd. He has sung background vocals with some of the biggest names in the music industry including Michael Bolton and the Beach Boys. And 7 A Moline 1 iiiilliMnflMiilr i'i Celine Dion, left, and 4 'V S4 1 just recently, he produced a Christ mas album for B.J. Thomas. Six years ago, he got involved with Christian music, and found remarkable success.

"I had never listened to it before," Johnson said. "I had no idea what it was all about. But I had always written songs that were i Hi about hope. This was natural swing for me." He is returning this 1J. 1 1 to diienu me naibe ror Life concert scheduled B.J.

Thomas are but two of the recipients of Robert White Johnson's Robert White Jonn5on for Saturday evening at LeClaire Park in Davenport headlined by Christian singer Kathy Troccoli. He co-wrote her No. 1 song on the adult contemporary charts this spring called "Love One Another." The song was dedicated to Johnson's late father, Carl Johnson, who worked for Deere Co. 43 years. "I came from a very conservative family, but I'm so lucky.

They always encouraged me. The guys in my bands almost always practiced at my house. I know I wouldn't be making a living at music if it wasn't for 5 my parents." One of the members of his first band was Stan Gustafson, minister of the Faith Baptist Church in East Molina Their first paid gig was in I fifth-grade in front of the former Turnstyle store in "7 "We were average kids," Gustafson said. "We sat in 7 Bob's room listening to Beatles' records, then we'd go shoot baskets outside. We had no cares in the world." MUSIC Please turn to Page 4T storybook." Stallone's wife, model Jennifer Flavin, recently miscar- riaH in nor fifth trmntli rf wran.

nancy and his close friend and Miami Beach neighbor, Gianni Versace, was gunned down. Two of his three children had serious medical problems. Stallone and Flavin's baby girl was born with a hole Stallone in her heart and had surgery last year to save her life. "It was horrible for her to have to go through, but she's fino nnur" no ccnrl in MnnHpv'c Daily News. Seargeoh, his teen-age son with the first of his three wives, Sasha Czack, is autistic.

Kennedys share lighthearted ribbing CHELSEA, Mass. -Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II was light- neartea Monday aoout criticism from cousin John in George that he's a "poster boy for bad behavior." "I guess my first reaction was, 'Ask not what you can do for your cousin, but what you can do for his he told reporters, mimicking a line from President Kennedy's inaugural address. Michael allegedly had an affair with an underage baby sitter and the ex-wife of Rep.

Kennedy accused him of bullying her for an annulment for political reasons. "John's got his own way of articulating his particular views on issues," he said. "He's a newspaperman; I'm used to dealing with newspapermen." Coming soon: Stern vs. 'SNL'? NEW YORK Howard Stern duking it out with NBC's "Saturday Night Despite one insider's concession that talks may have gone on between Stern and CBS, a network spokesman was tightlipped over the prospect of a Saturday late-night Stern series starring the shock jock. "We have no comment," CBS' Chris Ender said Monday He was responding to a report in the Daily News that CBS late-night host David Letterman has spoken with the network's president, Leslie Moonves, about producing Stern in what would be a faceoff with "SNL." Daisy Fuentes: L.

I searcn ui a uuigei '-NEW YORK Daisy Fuentes has a new job as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," a contract with Revlon and her own show on MTV. What she needs is a cheeseburger. "If there were a McDonald's Anonymous, I'd be a member," she told SHAPE magazine. Fuentes, 30, was born in Cuba and grew up in Spain and New Jersey. She began her TV career doing weather reports on a Spanish-language network.

"A front could have been coming from my house and I wouldn't know," she admitted. The Associated Press Rnd the familiar phrase, saying or name in this arrangement ot letters. Answer on Page 3T X. '( l1lj ROBERT WHITE JOHNSON Hometown: Moline. Graduated In 1970 from Moline High School.

i I I Address: Living in suburb of Nashville (near Johnny Cash), v. i Family: Wife, Mary, and three daughters, ill Occupation: Songwriter and music producer. Owns his own company called Radio Quest Publishing in Hendersonville, Tenn. iL I First music Job: In fifth grade, played with his band in front of the Turnstile store in Moline. I i Awards: Won Dove award in 1996 for best inspira-J tion album "Unbelievable Love" by Larnelle Harris; wrote "Brickyard Road" sung by Johnny Van Zant, which became the most performed rock song for all of 1 990; was named the Producer of the Year in 1 995 in the Christian category by the American Songwriter Magazine; and two Grammy nominations in 1994 and 1995 for producing Larnelle Harris' albums.

Who do you look up "My parents. They taught me that you get a lot further in life by being humble i then by being greedy or being a know-it-all." Who gave you a break? "Our band, Essence, ij opened for Dottie West at the Wells Fargo in Moline. Sam Gnatovich, owner of the Wells Fargo, and Dottie were the ones that got me to go to How have you lasted so long? "You have to find ways not to become jaded in this business. It is tough. I'm trying to help develop new artists all the time.

You; have to have a good business sense and just be a good people person Who is your favorite singer? "Tony Bennett. It's amazing that at 70-something years old, he still kicks butt. He loves what he does, and he is so just a weekend formality? shift is forced to resort to more talents. this Dhenomenon in the eauation "EMC2," where is equal to the eagerness to show one's misshapen anatomy, is equal to something: that begins with that letter and C2 causes your date to say, "Ooh, Daddy! The bubbles tickle my nose!" Now that I look at it, this may not be the right equation at all. This principle of "If you haven't got it, or even a veiny, bloated caricature of it, flaunt it," is a powerful one.

It also is the driving philosophy behind the phenomenal success of many of today's top entertainers, most notably Susan Saran-don. And if it's good enough for the free market, it's good enough for me. It was, that is, until the concept of "Casual Friday" swept corporate America which was due for a good sweeping including here at the Times. Now that the 9-to-5 weekday crew is allowed to dress down one day a week, the weekend Since when did casual dress become such a wish your mother had been right about that air rifle and your 8-year-old eyes. I'm not referring to you, of course.

You're a fabulously attractive specimen of human physique. Say, have you lost weight, you old so-and-so? No, I'm speaking of vague, unspecified people of indefinite heritage and with no particular religious beliefs, people whose public humiliation won't prompt a barrage of angry telephone calls or cancelled subscriptions. I won't mince words. (I won't mince meat, either. In fact, mincing-wise, I'm afraid I'm going to be a big disappointment to you, although I do sway a bit when the barometer falls rapidly.) There are some people perhaps people you admire in every other way who simply shouldn't offer certain parts of their bodies for scrutiny.

Invariably, these are the very ones who leap at any chance to do so. Behavralists have expressed AMERICAN industry used to live in fear that another "Black Tuesday" would 1 bring ruin. It seems more likely these days that demoralizing national collapse will arrive on "Casual Friday." We need look no farther than this very newsroom for a foreshadowing of pending societal chaos. (In fairness, a better example may well be found somewhere other than this newsroom, but that would require a few phone calls I don't feel like making right now.) It all began a few years back when the Quad-City Times relaxed its weekend dress code. This move was meant to be a morale booster for those of us required to give up our Saturdays and Sundays in the relentless pursuit of liberal bias.

(Or is it conservative bias now? It's hard to keep up with the memos from the diabolical Trilateralist Masons who regulate the media.) The new guidelines allowed dress drastic measures, like flip-flops and tank tops, to maintain their extra-casual status. And lycra. (Pardon me if my shuddering is causing this page to flutter.) The day is coming when casual wear will be allowed in the newsroom every day of the week. Monday through Thursday, then, everyone will be allowed to wear what previously only was tolerated on weekends. On "Casual Friday," we'll report to work in the laid-back clothing that currently differentiates Saturday and Sunday from the weekdays.

That will force those of us who work weekends, just to keep the boundaries clear, to sit around the office in thongs and strategically placed moleskin. Now, there's a reason those of us in print journalism didn't go into TV, and it's closely related to the reason you don't even want to CASUAL Please turn to Page 4T Chris Heely shorts and t-shirts as a contrast to the buttoned-down stuffiness of Monday through Friday attire. This was seen as a good development indeed, especially in a few isolated instances where it bordered on distraction. (If it weren't a violation of current workplace conduct, I might at this point interject, Still, experience should tell you that for every person you may enjoy seeing more of, there are no fewer than seven more who will make you.