The Dispatch from Moline, Illinois • 70

H6 THE DISPATCH AND THE ROCK ISLAND ARGUS SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 1997 ENTERTAINMENT Warhols are discoverihg second stab at success is just Dandy tempt, "was just unfinished. We didn't have the stamina to stay in there, with the variety of chemical mood shifters, personality alterers, and mind expanders, to be able to '(For this album) there was a good creative vibe to Courtney Taylor melodies are longer and more dens, and the pedals are whacked out." Taylor is a fan of early Pink Floyd, the Syd Barrett era when whimsical, albeit demented, pop and careening psychedelia were tossed in a blender. "I like songs like 'Good Morning and says Taylor of two mind-benders on Come Down." "It's something you need they were written because I needed them and (a listener can say) 'I'm emotionally as (messed) up as this It's really all about validation; it makes me believe there's a universal experience." What about that band name? Silly or genius? "It hit me with one stroke," says Taylor. "Couldn't believe it. I laid there, very excited about what I'd done." situation is waning.

We said: '(Expletive) The band, which includes keyboardist Zia McCable, went out on tour with Love Rockets, and, says Taylor, stunk up the clubs for two weeks. "We were confused, but then we pulled it out and we were ripping. After the tour, we took a month off. I spent that month in Los Angeles, and had a little affair, and hung with friends, had my own and felt this freedom. There was a good creative vibe to write." The Dandy Warhols went back in the studio and put together The Dandy Warhols Come Down," a brilliant disc that merges their experimental nature and their keen pop sensibility.

The latter is what you may be hearing on the radio now as the catchy, arch "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth" is a modern rock hit. It starts with its refrain: "I never thought you'd be a junkie 'cause heroin is so passe." Heroin chic is trashed. The video features dancing syringes OD victims on stretchers, and tombstones. Taylor is upfront about admitting a fondness for some drugs, but says, "being a junkie is a little embarrassing. When people from stupid frat-boy bands start OD-ing on in, it's just not cool anymore.

And that's great. People should not be addicted to anything except sex. You can't like sex too much." "Junkie is a cool song, but Taylor says by making it the first single, it may give newcomers the "misconception that we're a silly, snotty pop band. We're most comfortable when the tempo is about two-thirds as the chord changes are not as fast, the Warhols, who spent the early part of 1996 in a profound funk. What had happened was their 1995 debut album, "Dandy's Rule O.K." on TimKerr Records had created a major underground buzz.

The major labels came knocking and Capitol landed the group. But the Warhols first attempt at album No.2 was a disaster. Drummer Eric Hedford penned a brief bio, sent to the press, explaining how the Warhols had been excited by the deal, then subsequently ran up a big tab, got stymied by the recording process, had to scrap the work, ended up humbled, and then had to regroup to start again, playing in guitarist Peter Holmstrom's basement True story or tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation? "Both," says Taylor. The first at The Boston Globe Sometimes, you get to witness the changing of the guard. It was a year ago April and the English band Love Rockets was attempting a comeback, having been away from the scene for half a decade.

It was not to be. And what made seem even more superfluous was the sprawling, splendiferous opening set the Dandy Warhols, a young Portland, Oregon-based band. "We were going for it that night," Warhols singer-guitarist-songwriter Courtney Taylor. "The set list sat there and lasted about two songs." Taylor, on the phone from a recent tour stop, is not gloating. The satisfying gig was just one of a few turnaround gigs for the Dandy maintain focus on the aesthetic sensibilities.

It became too confusing and then it became too depressing. Nietzche said happiness is when you feel your control of your situation is waxing and depression is when you feel your control of the 'Deception On His Mind' is a fine Celebs wallpaper web Hunger for the latest juicy, tidbit on your favorite star? Hit the 'net work of mystery DECEPTION ON HIS MIND, by Elizabeth George; Bantam (640 if pages, $24.95) By Connie Ogle Knight Ridder Newspapers Imagine Arthur Conan Doyle banishing Sherlock Holmes and handing the reins to Watson. Would the case be cracked, and, more important, would readers revolt? in the same seaside town; the Pakistani population is on the verge of riot. Exactly what kind of "expertise" is Azhar planning to offer? Havers follows blindly, and perhaps unwisely, determined to protect her friends. George gets right to the heart of English and Pakistani problems, knowing the confusion and hostility that result when people don't understand each other.

There are few shades of gray in which is unusual for George, whose best work for the "A Great forces her characters to confront why it is hard to do that ever-so-elusive right thing. Deception is what this book is about, deception of the English and Pakistanis alike, as well as Havers' own lies, which escalate when she becomes liaison to the Pakistani community. That what British mystery au thor Elizabeth George is about to find out with her ninth novel, "De ception on His Mind." She sends Scotland Yard's 1 i charming, reasonable Inspector Thomas Lynley on holiday and leaves the detecting up to his side it" kick, the prickly Sgt. Barbara Havers. It's risky pushing aside the guy everybody loves, but, amazingly, George's plan works.

"Deception" falls smartly into place in her literate, impassioned series, one of "1 If you haven't met these characters, then take a break and make their acquaintance. Haves' growth as a character is astonishing. She's matured like none other in mystery fiction. You won't recognize her from her first appearance in "A Great Deliverance." A self-obsessed and bitter woman early on, she's learning to control prejudices that threaten her career, not to mention her mental health. "Deception" offers her more hard lessons: "Her tendency to blab, argue, accuse, and confront never a problem in working with the affable DI Lynley in London had undermined her self-control." Some things, it seems, don't change.

Havers' transformation will be more meaningful if you've read the earlier books, but "Deception" has no trouble standing on its own merits. By liberating Havers from second-banana status, George finally lets us know and love her as we know and love Lynley. today best. If you haven't met Lynley and Havers, take a break from our slightly-more-warped South Florida sleuths and make their acquaintance. "Deception" is wonderful but may not be the best place to start.

This isn't cozy, comfy Agatha Christie. George, an American who writes with an accent as British as scones and tea, has created a much more modern Holmes and Watson. Lynley may be an earl, but he knows who Sting is, too. Still, it's impossible not. to miss Lynley, whose romantic entanglements are as captivating as his cases, but the feeling is fleeting.

The more you read, the more natural it seems for Havers to lake over. Havers is supposed to be vacationing while Lynley's away, but she'd rather work. She finds the perfect excuse when her neighbor Taymullah Azhar and his 8-year-old daughter Hadiyyah leave London suddenly for the North Sea coast. The trip, Azhar explains, is to "offer my support and my expertise" to a family in "minor upheaval." Then Havers learns that the body of a Pakistani man has been found Dallas Morning News On July 27, the Artist formerly known as Prince invited his fans to participate in the design of a Web site to promote his next CD, "Crystal Ball." He did so using his Web site, www.love4oneanother.com.sk At a news conference a few days later, the now-independent artist he severed ties with Warner Bros, this summer announced plans to sell the CD only over the Internet His Web site, like many other celebrity sites, is buzzing with traffic and tidbits. For instance: Did you know that the Artist and his wife, Mayte, spend hours "talking" after his concerts using their laptops when he's on tour? Nowadays, the Internet is a big part of how stars reach their fans or fans reach their stars.

Look no farther than your, favorite Internet search engine (such as www.yahoo.com) to find information on your favorite celebrity. Type in the name and watch the hits roll off the screen. Celebrities such as Madonna have hundreds of sites. It doesn't matter if your star is dead or alive, young or old, hip or nerdy, human or animated. Almost anybody who is somebody can be found in cyberspace.

Many stars' pages even link to other stars' sites. One fan's Rosie O'Donnell page (www.bestware.netsprengrosie index.html), for example, hooks up visitors with buds Bette Miller and Madonna. (Not that Madonna needs help.) Madonna also can be spotted in a page dedicated to gap-toothed stars. There, she joins Laurence Fishburne, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sandra Bernhard and Alfred E. Neuman, to name a few, at Web sites come and go, and some disappear without fanfare.

One day we checked on a page just for redheads that included Nicole Kidman, Molly Ringwald and Sandra Bullock. Within a week, the same site contained nothing but a message from its Webmaster saying he'd shut it down because of high traffic. Fans worship their favorite icons on the Internet, but in some instances dedicated pages also spew hatred. To sample the level of meanness, search for Barney the Dinosaur. The anti-fans' true color comes out, and it's not purple.

One of these sites sinks so low that it lets visitors beat up on a line drawing of the dino celeb. On second thought, don't bother with this one. Susan Eisner Furman of Lyrick Studios in Dallas says it's too bad folks don't find more productive ways to spend their time online. The studio that produces the Barney TV shows, aimed at children 5 and younger, plans to launch its own Web site, www.barneyon-line.com,, Sept. 4, and it will be in good taste, she says.

Cheech working on kids' film based on childrens' recordings You can't take a 'Holiday from Madonna online, sites worshipping her are all over the web. HOLLYWOOD Move over, Barney. Cheech Marin is signing a deal with Warner Bros, for a feature hoax. Earlier this year an Internet service provider received a letter declaring that the Keanu.net fan site it was hosting (www.kea-nunet.com) violated copyright laws. The letter turned out to be a based on his popular "Cheech, the School Bus Driver" children's recordings.

Cheech is writing the film, in which he will star, while, he works his way through his third season of his "Nash Bridges" series English. He's also getting ready to start the DreamWorks film "Polly the Parrot," a "beautiful family picture in which I play a Nicaraguan guy who runs a lunch wagon and takes in this parrot that's been lost." As if that weren't enough, Cheech is working on his autobiography. It will detail, he says, "How I went from being a very straight altar boy on his way to the seminary until I encountered a strange light on the way out of the forest and became a counterculture, dope-smoking, anti-establishmentarian icon." He is currently preparing a presentation of the book "that will go to a select group of literary houses. I'll be very choosy about which one I choose," he says. "In other words, the one that pays me the most" i V--f-'mi Furman says it will have activities for the kids, as well as useful parenting information and a fan club area.

As for those online Barney haters, Furman adds good-naturedly, "May they somedayhave 10 children who love Barney." Because information can be updated instantly, it seems as if celebrity Web sites should have fresher approaches and quicker news than more traditional fan magazines and TV shows. But at least one Internet gossip columnist says no. Ted Casablanca, who writes a column for Online (www.eonline.com) and appears on Entertainment Television's Gossip Show, says those so-called tell-all fan pages don't reveal much. In a recent article in Web magazine, Casablanca said only true gossip columnists can be relied on to dig up ahd report stars' dirty laundry. After perusing listing after listing for stars such as Audrey Hepburn or Will Smith or Alicia Sil-verstone, you will find more repetition than news.

Despite fans' attempts to be original, there's only so much information to go around. One Keanu Reeves site was recently the target of an Internet fraud. According to Web, the ISP feared legal action and deleted the files. The site was not in violation, and fortunately the Web master had backup files. Cheech Marin The warning letter to the service provider had been sent and tub-thumps for the Sept.

23 release of "My Name Is Cheech, the School Bus Driver" in both Spanish and and signed by Al Coholic. 'Texas Chainsaw' sequel being buried around 15 theaters next Friday (829), with pub licity from the studio that might be called less than zero. (We had to convince a public relations rep that his company was indeed involved with the pic.) Producer Robert Kuhn tells us he and his col TOP OF THE POPS 2 (5) USHERYou Make Me Wanna (LaFaceArista) 3 (1) DRU HILLNever Make A Promise (Island) 4 (3) GINUWINEI'll Do AnythingI'm Sorry (550 Music) 5 (6) JOEThe Love Scene (Jive) 6 (11) MARY J. BLIGEEverything (MGA) 7 (10) ROMEDo You Like This (RCA) 8 (9) FOXY BROWN FDRU HILLBig Bad Mamma (ViolatorDef JamRALMercury) 9 (7) LIL' KIMNot Tonight (UndeasBig BeatAtlantic) 10 (15) MARIAH CAREYHoney (Columbia) COUNTRY 1 (2) TOBY KEITHWe Were In Love (Mercury) 2 (5) JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERYHow Was I To Know (Atlantic) 3 (1) KENNY CHESNEYShe's Got It All (BNA) 4 (8) ALAN JACKSONThere Goes (Arista) 5 (7) ALABAMADancin', Shaggin' On The Boulevard (RCA) 6 (9) COLLIN RAYEWhat The Heart Wants (Epic) 7 (11) LEE ANN WOMACKThe Fool (Decca) 8 (10) DIAMOND RIOHow Your Love Makes Me Feel (Arista) 9 (12) DAVID KERSHDay In, Day Out (Curb) 10 (13) NEAL MCCOYThe Shake (Atlantic) ALTERNATIVE 1 (1) SUGAR RAYFty (LavaAtlantic) 2 (2) SMASH MOUTHWalkin' On The Sun (Interscope) 3 (3) LIVETum My Head (Radioactive) 4 (4) OASISD'You Know What I Mean (Epic) 5 (6) SUBUMEWrong Way (Gasoline AlleyMCA) 6 (7) SARAH MCLACHLANBuilding A Mystery (Arista) Knight-RldderTribune News Service Radio Records' "National Airplay Overview" charts for week ending August 29, 1997: CONTEMPORARY HIT RADIO (TOP 40) 1 (1) THIRD EYE BUNDSemi-Charmed Life (ElektraEEG) 2 (3) BACKSTREET BOYSQuit Playing Games (With My Heart) (Jive) 3 (4) SPICE GIRLS2 Become (Virgin) 4 (10) JEWELFoolish Games (Atlantic) 5 (3) OMCHow Bizarre (HuhlMercury) 6 (5) WILL SMITHMen In Black (Columbia) 7 (6) HANSONWhere's The Love (Mercury) 8 (8) SISTER HAZELAII For You (Unl-vorsdl) 9 (7) ROBYNDo You Know (What It Takes) (RCA) 10 (9) MEREDITH BROOKSBitch (Capitol) URBAN CONTEMPORARY 1 (2) SWVSomeone (RCA) HOLLYWOOD Backstabbing. Skullduggery.

Things that don't add up right or are just plain weird. Get ready for "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation." We don't mean the feature. We mean the lawsuit The sequel to the 1974 cult hit slasher picture was filmed three years ago, just before the skyrocketing of the careers of its stars, Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger Its producers launched a suit against distributor Colum-biaTriStar in June, claiming the studio which reportedly spent $1.3 million for distribution rights was burying the movie because of pressure brought to bear by the actors' representatives, who felt would tarnish their newly upscale images. The feature is being released in Conaughey has said he had a blast making the movie, in which he does a gasp-inducing turn as a homicidal maniac. Zellweger has gone on record that she had nothing to do with suppressing it Kim HenkeL who wrote the first "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and wrote and directed the new edition, recalls that Matthew and Renee worked hard for him all through sweltering nights of filming in rural Texas, then cooled off at daybreak with swims in a nearby livestock water tank.

He says he'd be surprised if they personally had tried to squelch the picture. On the other hand, says Henkel, "I don't see them on the talk shows ballyhooing it." Matthew McConaughey leagues now hope to get the suit into court in September and are aiming to force ColTriStar to publicly divulge who exerted pressure against the film's release. So where do McConaughey and Zellweger stand on the matter? Mc-.