Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 24

TIMES FRIDAY, JULY 15,1994 FLASH THIS DAY IN MUSIC 1992 Aretha Franklin sings the national anthem at the Democratic National Convention in New York City. 1980 Linda Ronstadt makes her theater debut in Pirates of Penzance in New York. 1970 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: Mama Told Me Not to Come, Three Dog Night. The song is written by Randy Newman.

1967 Jazz saxophonist John Coltrane dies of liver disease. Age 40. He is posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. 1963 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: Surf City, Jan Dean.

The song is co-written by Jan Berry and Beach Boy Brian Wilson. -BPI AND THE ARTS rl AP Selling 'Stock Dim Saugeirtiies Woodstock '94 So far, 'Seven Sundays' is coming up short Accent's on anger in French film fiasco has gone hightech. But what did you expect? i By STEVE PERSALL Times Rim Critic ON THE ROAD TO WOODSTOCK '94 By TONY GREEN Times Pop Music Critic For Joel Rosenman, talking Iff 1 t' It's taking a month of Sundays to pay off Seven Sundays in Sarasota, and a number of businesses across Florida aren't happy about it Sarasota resident Jean Bodon, producer of the French film Seven Sundays, lensed last year in the west coast community, is the man in the middle of a $200,000 dilemma of debt That is the estimated balance due to merchants and film-related businesses, left unpaid now for eight months after production of director Jean-Charles Tachella's movie wrapped. Creditors point a finger of blame at Bodon, who claims his film was underbudgeted by Erato, a production company owned by Daniel Toscan du Pantier of Unifrance, co-sponsor of the annual Sarasota French Film Festival. Bodon said Thursday that Erato is attempting to dodge the debt by claiming Seven Sundays went over budget causing the shortfall.

Tve been fighting a lot with Erato to get the money," said Bodon, a professor at the Florida State University film school in Sarasota. "Now they are saying if all my fault We decided not to attack each other, (but) try to work together on that problem. Tve been on the side of the vendors, although the vendors about the behind-the-scenes workings of Woodstock now and then is bonng. Not to mention irrelevant Part of his job is to create an illusion, and the measure of success is how well he does it Tm the kind of guy who nev jjttUt rlii-t 'MM HWl Hill III I I er wants to know how a magician does his tricks," said Rosen-man one-third of Woodstock Ventures Inc. by phone from BARBRA IN THE SQUARE: Fans in Times Square applaud Streisand's televised New York concert finale.

Streisand concert finale lights up Times Square Thousands watched Barbra Streisand's concert finale on the giant video screen above Times Square. The usually soundless screen blasted Streisand singing Somewhere and West Side Story as she ended the last of her sold-out shows in New York City on Tuesday night "Nowhere on this tour have I been so warmly welcomed as in the greatest city in the world, my hometown, New York City!" she said from Madison Square Garden. Cheryl Gross, wearing a Barbra The Concert T-shirt, attended one of the earlier performances and showed up in Times Square anyway. "I'd love to be there now," she said. This is the next best thing." Dizziness causes pianist to cut concert short Van Cliburn didn't have quite the 60th birthday he'd planned earlier this week.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based pianist embarked on his first national tour in 16 years, but a memory lapse and a sick spell marred the opening concerts. Monday night, before a crowd of 14,035 at the Hollywood Bowl, Cliburn cut short the official opening concert of his tour after suffering a dizzy spell midway through a strenuous program that included his signature piece, Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. On Tuesday, Cliburn said he was feeling better, and described what happened Monday night "I was very lightheaded. It was like I was going to faint I felt strange even at the beginning of the concert All through the Tchaikovsky it was like hanging on a bridge," he said before returning to Fort Worth on Tuesday evening. "I have a touch of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), and I have to watch my food intake," he said.

The national tour will take Cliburn to 17 cities with the Moscow Philharmonic and conductor Vassily Sinaisky. Hulk Hogan testifies against WWF owner In Uniondale, N.Y., pro wrestling star Hulk Hogan testified today that promoter Vincent McMahon secretary placed orders for steroids, which Hogan picked up along with his fan mail. Hogan also said he had discussed steroids with McMahon and had obtained the drugs for the promoter's personal use, but McMahon never directed him to use them. Hogan is testifying, under immunity, for the prosecution at the federal trial of McMahon, who is charged with conspiracy to distribute steroids and possession with intent to distribute them. McMahon, who owns the World Wrestling Federation, could be sentenced to up to five years on the conspiracy charge.

Times files DAY'S WORK: Carlos Santana's performance earned him $750 in1969's Woodstock. This year's incarnation could bring more than $1 -million. 1 the highest-paid act, Jimi Hen-drix, got for his appearance? The lowest paid act will be paid significantly more than 100 times Santana's $750," Woodstock promoter John Sherr told the Washington Post. Thafs three times what the entire lineup cost back in 1969. Just the insurance premiums for this concert, said Rosenman, are more than the total costs of Woodstock I.

It took 10 to 15 years for Rosenman and his partners to turn a profit on Woodstock '69. The investors had to sell the movie rights to Time Warner for $l-million (they bought back the movie and the logo from Time Warner two years ago) Time Warner remains a profit partici-; pant in Woodstock 94, planning to release a slew of Woodstock- -related articles, from a Wood- stock 25th Anniversary CD-Rom, as well as a four-CD boxed set of the 1970 and 1971 Woodstock I and II releases, respectively (on Atlantic Records). Apart from the Time Warner umbrella, MCA Records will also release a video and CD of Hendrix's complete Woodstock set There's a 60- to 65-percent chance, Rosenman the event will break even this time out Right now the tickets are going slower than some expected; with a month to go before the event just over half of the 250,000 tickets have been sold. Co-promoter Michael Lang expects the real profits to come from related projects, like the pay-per-view package and the scheduled movie documentary. "But no one gets into this line of work for the money," Rosenman said.

'You know how it is when you throw a party, when if over and it goes off you feel great There's nothing like the roar of half-a-million people ing a great time; and knowing that you have a part in making that happen is a feeling 111 always want to get" BONUS DAY ADDED Woodstock expected to attract 250,000 fans, has been expanded to include a third day, a spokeswoman for the organizers said Thursday. In addition to the planned appearances Saturday and Sunday, some bands, yet to be determined, would be playing on the 930-acre site Friday night Reuters New York. The actual entertainment is supposed to be the art form. And the illusion of the '69 concert was that it sprang from nowhere." aontreairyKnow The problem with this partic ular illusion is that it fuels a lot of the complaints about next month 25th Anniversary mat lm fighting to get the money. The speed at which the money will thafs the problem.

"On the other end, people are saying I'm a bad guy, which I understand; I'm the middleman. But if started to be a little iinspttinir Woodstock Concert in Sauger- ties, NY. Among them: That it lacks the spontaneity and the spirit of the original. If too calculated there will be 10-foot high fencing to prevent the wholesale gate crashing that boosted Woodstock '69 atten dance to 500,000 (Woodstock 94 promoter John Scher boasted to the Washington Post of the organizers' "great ability to cut time to make the first concert a success. Which is exactly what they are doing now.

One of the reasons they didn't have things like demographic polling and pay-per-view was that they didn't exist Shoot Coca Cola hadn't even taught the world to sing yet You do things according to the rules of the time, said Rosen-man. Part of the reason Woodstock seemed to be so loose and disorganized was that no one planned for 500,000 people, Rosenman said (their original goal was to break the mark of 28,000 set by the Monterey Pop Festival two years earlier). Resources were strained to say the least Now, you'd have to be a fool not to plan something this big. "In 1969 we said we would spare no expense to make it the best concert possible, thafs the same philosophy we have today," Rosenman said. When costs are so prohibitive, corporate involvement is a necessity, he added.

Can you imagine Carlos Santana and his band settling for the $750 they got for their appearance (as the Santana Blues Band) back in '69? Or any act not turning up their noses at the $18,000 that Folks like that, says Rosen-man, frankly need to wake up. It would be different he said, if there were complaints about the choice of acts, which runs from the Neville Brothers to Public Enemy to Green Day and Aero-smith. But all this other stuff flat gets on his nerves. He and his partners (Michael Lang, John Roberts and Artie Kornfeld, the last of whom is not associated with this year's event) heard the same complaint back in 1969, when they started planning Woodstock "in January." These days there are a lot of middle-aged journalists who believe that Woodstock was some kind of Close Encounters type thing, where half a million people just drifted in and rock 'n' roll just magically happened. That if a reminder of the good old days, when candy canes grew on trees, and everything was free.

What they are actually saying to the younger generation is that there was only one Woodstock and we had it and you can't, so there." Calling Woodstock 94 a reflection of the times is cliched but true. In 1969, the organizers did everything within the framework of rock promotions at that off access to people getting any where near the Most of all, the festival is comfortable with its corporate status. Polygram Diversified Ventures is pitching in $30-mil-lion worth of backing, and Pepsi and Haagen Dazs are official sponsors. Profits from the two-day, pay-per-view package could approach $20-million. Add in the $135 ticket price (up from $18 in '69), a documentary of Woodstock "94 and various retrospective packages, and it wouldn't be hard to buy the argument that Woodstock has bought into the establishment Fox president shoots for the top from the bottom line By JENNIFER L.

STEVENSON Times Television Critic Bodon suggested RINGWALD that some answers to this controversy may surface when he meets Unifrance executive director Richard Boidin, representing Toscan, today in Sarasota. Seven Sundays, starring Molly Ringwald and Rod Steiger, was nailed as the first result of the five-year cooperative effort between French filmmakers and the city's annual French Film Festival when three months of shooting began last August Tachella's romantic comedy (produced under the aegis of Bodon's Thalia Production Co.) pumped an estimated $2-million to $4-million into Sarasota coffers, according to Sarasota County film commissioner PamKfine. Several entrepreneurs said Wednesday that payment of bills for service including hotel accommodations, travel, cellular telephones and film equipment was prompt until Seven Sundays filming was completed. Then the cast and crew headed home, leaving Bodon in Sarasota to face his creditors. An escrow account of $72,000 was set aside to pay a portion of the bills, and businesses owed money have been promised full payment if, and after, Seven Sundays is sold to a film distributor for release.

Sandra Vernon of New Wave Cellular Telephone (owed $4,000) doesn't like that deal. "(Thalia) offered us 25 cents on the dollar, with the remainder on release (of the movie)," said Vernon, who banded together with 60 unpaid vendors to seek legal advice on the matter. "We didn't enter into this to be investors in a movie." According to interviews and a recent Variety article by Greg Evans, other businesses owed money include Longboat Key's Colony Beach and Tennis Resort (an estimated $42,000) Budget Rent-ACar ($26,000) and Travel Options of Orlando Film-related operations like Panavision of Florida (owed $47,000) and Best West Florida Productions ($9,000) know that slow payment by independent productions are an occupational hazard. A small business like Travel Options isn't as prepared to take such a heavy financial hit according to owner Sue Kelly. "At the time we lost it it was tough.

It stopped our growth," said Kelly, who admits she's "gun-shy" about getting involved with filmmakers in the future. This one was like the end of the rope," she said Wednesday. "If not worth it to me to work 24 hours a day to fit their schedules. We're very gun-shy, we don't touch a lot of (movie business) anymore." Wine downplayed the suggestion that filmmakers would be as reluctant to bring productions to Sarasota County as a result of the controversy. "One (location) scout did read the Variety article and asked if there's going to be a problem," said the film commissioner, "but I think most people in the business understand, as long as there's no intent to defraud." Bodon shrugged off that suggestion and offered his own situation as proof of good intent "I got personally riorjed off," he said.

Tm a Vlfu CRUISING Lacey Chalbert is blushing. The 11-year-old co-star of Party of Five has confirmed my female instincts. Her co-star in the family drama, Scott Wolf, is destined for that special stardom reserved for Hollywood hunks. At a party for the new Fox series, I pointed to Wolf who looks a lot like Tom Cruise with light brown hair and asked: "Would you want to see that face' on a poster in your bedroom?" She broke into giggles. "Yes!" she said.

"Now, you're going to embarrass me!" It was the 25-year-old actor's turn to blush. Not only is he handsome, he has the other crucial ingredients of a star. He's friendly and seems pretty humble about his first starring role. Wolf plays 16-year Bailey in the series about an orphaned family which is struggling to stay together. Although older brother Charlie is 24, Bailey becomes the father figure.

Party of Five is a strong, bittersweet drama that promises to be one of the season's best The entire ensemble cast works well, but Wolf will be the cover boy. Fox knows this. "I hope that doesn't become a distraction," sighs Richard Licatta, vice president of public relations. Wolf, showing off his dimples, doesn't seem to mind the idea. NEW GAMEPLAN Dann Florek is not Happy anymore.

I mean that quite literally. In the new Fox sitcom Hardball, the veteran character actor (LA Law and Law Order) was signed to star as Happy Talbot the coach of a hapless baseball team. Although gruff he doesn't like to see his players as humans because he knows he might have to fire them one day the coach loves the players and the game. Florek also loves the game and was thrilled at the idea of playing a coach. But suddenly this week, the actor was kicked upstairs to management Producers decided the sitcom needed a little more tension, so Happy Talbot became mean, business-oriented General Manager Ernest Talbot Florek, who has shot the pilot and loved Happy, now has to re-do almost everything.

Worse, Fox didn't give him much warning. "I know as much as you," he said with some frustration during lunch recently. "It was only during the press conference that I learned we had to re-shoot the pilot" He says he might abandon the Pioneer baseball team if he doesn't like the general manager role. All this bespeaks poor production and generally none too Happy feelings all around. Hardball is a good name for the series.

LOS ANGELES Now that Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch has promised his network will be in first place, if now up to his No. 1 to make it so. Forgive the Star Trek lingo (especially since if a Paramount series), but Murdoch is very much like the determined Jean Luc Heard and Sandy Grushow is like Riker a trusted young officer. If up to Grushow to push the fourth-ranked network past the Big Three. Grushow said candidly on Thursday he doesn't expect much movement for at least two seasons, probably more.

This is the first season that Fox has a seven-night line-up in place and can shore up its schedule instead of creating one. And for all of Murdoch's steely goals, Grushow readily admits Fox has declined in ratings almost every season since it started in 1986. This season, the network was down seven percent over last year. "Of course our goal is always rating growth, rather than rationalizing ratings decline," said Grushow, who, at 32, is the industry's youngest president Despite the seven-percent decline, Grushow noted there is reason for hope. Fall advertising sales are up 30-percent based on the fall line-up, which includes four one-hour dramas and two half-hour comedies.

Pivotal to Grushow's master plan is that programs will be developed and determined by both creativity and by a strict business sensibility. Quality will always count Grushow said, but if it gets in the way of profits, quality can be counted out For example, as good as The Adventures of Brisco County, Roc and South Central were, none ever developed an audience or following. As ratings disasters, they were canceled. A show that has promise or the promise of a cult following will be nurtured, such as Melrose Place and The Files. Another example of business as a guiding force was also seen in the controversial Melrose Place episode when a kiss between two gay men was cut Grushow said the kiss would have cost the network $l-million in advertising, a risk the network was not willing to take.

Although known for its "cutting edge shows," he made it clear Fox won't cut its own throat to make a point "We are a business," he said. "We are responsible to the bottom line. Somehow, you don't like to acknowledge that But the bottom line (in the Melrose Place case) was a million dollars. We could not afford to take that hit" (j Fox HARDBALL PROGRAMING: Fox's fall lineup includes the sexy sitcom Hardball Fox will remain true to its brand of programing for younger viewers even if that means pandering some lowbrow, sexy sitcoms, such as this fall's Wild Oats and Hardball. The network, however, is willing to take chances with this fall's outstanding drama, Party of Five, as it did with South Central (which was turned down by the other three networks).

So here's the bottom line, according to Sandy: On the quest to the Holy Grail called No. 1, Fox is willing to take a road less traveled. But it better not be a toll road and it better lead to profits. producer, my name goes big on the screen. For the whole movie I got $40,000 and I was sup posed to get $80,000.

working on the movie for three years. You can understand that Tm pretty unset too. The Colony is upset but the Colony has the money to make a living. I don.