The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 12

B2 Wednesday, Feb. 19, 1997 LIVING The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta upstarts capture top national awards Peach Buzz Actress bonds with writer, city ON RADIO MIRIAM LONGINO rine Sneed says the distinct focus of the station (you won't hear Luther Vandross or Whitney Houston here) has created a buzz among people who want to hear their rap and rap only. "What a lot of people don't realize is rap is now an old format," she says. "It's been around for 20 years, longer than alternative music." Under Sneed's direction, has become a leader in breaking out new acts (Out-kast) and playing rap oldies from acts such as the Sugar Hill Gang and the Fresh Prince (before he did movies). Also a winner: WRAS-FM (88.5), the student station at Georgia State University, won the Gavin award for hip-hoprap college community station of the year.

It was cited for its shows "The Bomb" (8-10 p.m. Saturdays), "The 10 O'Clock Drop" (10-11 p.m. Saturdays) and "Rhythm Vibes" (10 p.m.-2 a.m. Sunday nights). NPR IN ATLANTA: Scott Simon (below), Us High School, where the longtime newsman answered questions in a mass-media class.

What was his toughest assignment ever? Not Bosnia. Simon confessed that it was an interview with British actress Diana Rigg, with whom he had been smitten since her days as Emma Peel on the 1960s TV show "The Avengers." ONLINE WITH V-I03: Atlanta's top-rated station, urban giant V-103 (WVEE-FM), launches its new World Wide Web site today. Check out www.v-1 03.com for station news and listener polls. GUITAR WARS: "Star Wars" is No. 1 at the box office, so classic rock station Z-93 (WZGC-FM) has decided to add to the Jedi frenzy this weekend.

Beginning at 3 p.m. Friday, the station will launch "Guitar Wars," pitting classic rock guitarists against each other. Listeners will have a chance to vote on their favorite artists in a battle-of-the-bands-like showdown. Listen for tracks from heavyweights such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan. There also will be tracks from lesser-known guitarists such as Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green and the Doors' Robby Krieger.

The voting goes on all weekend, with the winner selected between 8 and 9 p.m. Sunday. A TOUGHER SOUND: Speaking of Z-93, since new program director Dwight Douglas took over last week, the station is sounding a bit tougher and more diversified. After months of lightening up with pop songs such as "American Pie" by Don McLean, Z-93 is giving us more of the harder-edged tunes from the FM glory days. Douglas admits that the station had become "a bit of a wine cooler," and he's concentrating on pumping freshness into the classic rock format.

An example: He'll play Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat" is still a cool song," Douglas says). But Stewart's wispy "Time Nope. They've been on the air for less than two years, but WMLB-AM and (WHTA-FM) have made a big splash nationally. The young Atlanta stations have copped top honors at the annual and prestigious Gavin Report awards in New Orleans. (The Gavin Report is a radio industry trade publication.) WMLB-AM (1170), the hot little station in Cumming that plays folkalternative countryroots music, won Americana station of the year, beating out five competitors, including the giant WFUV-FM in New York.

Program director Chris Marino was named Americana programmer of the year. which came on the air in July 1995, was named rap station of the year, edging out established competitors in New York and Los Angeles. Officials from both stations credit their wins to aggressive programming and promotion. WMLB was the first station in metro Atlanta to gamble on the new Americana format, which plays largely noncommercial folkcountry tunes from a mix of artists. If you live on the Northside, you can tune your radio to 1170 AM and hear renegade country from Steve Earle and Johnny Cash, acoustic pieces by Jerry Garcia, tracks from the singersongwriter school of Townes Van Zandt and Jerry Jeff Walker, and classic country tracks from Dolly Parton.

Marino has made WMLB a favorite stopover for Americana artists to visit and has built the station's reputation and listener base in the process. He says he's capitalizing on the phenomenal growth on Atlanta's North-side (the AM signal fades around Midtown), and he is determined to make "a new, upstart format something that's really viable." Similarly, has aggressively created Atlanta's only all-rap format, aimed at ages 13 to 34. Program director Mary Cathe- Elizabeth Van Dyke (right), who opens a five-night run in Laurence Holder's "Zora Neale Hur-ston" tonight at 7 Stages, has portrayed the flamboyant writer in some memorable locales: With the Atlantic Ocean crashing in the background while performing at Ghana's Cape Coast Castle (where slaves were held in thel9th in the Florida schoolroom where Hurston once was a student felt Zora standing beside me," says Van Dyke). One of her favorites was her 7 Stages performance at the 1990 National Black Arts Festival. "At the end, everyone was standing and calling, 'Zo-ra! Zo-ra! and I was crying," Van Dyke says.

"So Atlanta has a special place for me." Information: 404-523-7647. 4 host of National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition," spent three days in Atlanta this week, meeting and greeting fans of his show. On Monday he held court at WABE-FM (90.1), where more than 100 listeners dropped by to chat and have their program guides signed. Then it was on to Grady By Garry Trudeau HOT DOONESBURY eoopinomm. mpumx THI5PISTIN6Ja OF THIS UHfTBHOUSB, It MAM, MANi MAYS IHtUHICHUe HAVE mty 'we HISTORY.

1 OH, iSAHT 1 V7 leY.UAITAMINUTB! WHS NOT HISTORIANS! JOURNALISTS! AHAT ilk THEKOU6H PS f7 ISP Overscene Boxer Oscar De La Hoya and ESPN exercise maven Corey Everson dined (not together) at Pricci, as did Collective Soul leader-singer Ed Roland. U.S. Sen. Max Cleland boxer Leon Spinks and former Los Angeles. Dodger Steve Garvey (not together) at Chops.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino and Olympian Carl Lewis (not together) and musicians Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson (together) at the Buckhead Diner. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana and Ab Roller pitchman Tony Little at Alumbo Jumbo. Rapper-actor LL Cool danced until 4 a.m. Sunday morning at Club 112. Tutu much While artists and athletes were once a well-paid part of the Soviet propaganda machine, they now face the same financial hard times as the rest of their countrymen.

So Sergei Radchenko, director of the 8-year-old Moscow Festival Ballet, has found that the best way to turn a profit is to take the show on the road. Traveling economy-style on a single bus and surviving on hearty portions of fast food, his 8-year-old company will bring the Russian classic "Giselle" to the Fox Theatre tonight. "We are profitable more than anybody else because all of our company is in the bus," Radchenko said Tuesday from College Station, Texas, where the 35-member touring company performed as part of its 64-engagement U.S. tour. Expect a performance in the unalloyed Russian style, with a bevy of tiny ballerinas fluttering in from the wings in diaphanous white gowns.

Info: 404-817-8700. Been there, done that Atlanta singer Francine Reed and Stockbridge song-writing duo Marvin and Donna Taylor are getting international attention. They're among the W.C. Handy Award nominees for "Artist of the Year" and "Song of the Year," respectively. (The Handys are the blues equivalent of the Grammys.) The Taylors' song "Been There, Done That," on Reed's latest album, "Can't Make It On My Own," zeroes in on bad pickup lines that women endure in bars and was written specifically for Reed after a 1995 tour of Switzerland with her.

"One day we told Fran, 'We're going to rent some skis and hit the slopes in the morning; do you want to explains Marvin Taylor. "She just kinda looked at us and said, 'Honey, been there, done My wife elbowed me in the ribs and said, 'That's a song. The awards will be given out May 1 at Memphis' Orpheum Theatre. Music of spring sings at CELEBRITY NEWS OUTSIDE ATLANTA Newbery, Caldecott prizes awarded ASSOCIATED PRESS Washington Children's book illustrator David Wisniewski went to bed thinking, "Maybe next year." The 1997 Newbery and Randolph Caldecott medals for children's literature were scheduled to be awarded Monday, and by Sunday night he hadn't heard from the American Library Association committee that awards the Caldecott Medal. "I thought they phoned you at night," he said by telephone from his Frederick, home.

"Nothing happened Sunday night. So I thought, 'Maybe next He was wrong. At 8:30 Monday morning, Wisniewski got a call that he had won the medal for his work illustrating "Golem," the story of a giant brought to life to protect Jews in 16th-century Prague. The association gave the Newbery Medal to author E.L. Konigs-burg for her book "The View From Saturday." The committee called her story of a sixth-grade Academic Bowl team and their coach "a unique, jubilant tour de force characterized by good humor, positive relationships, distinctive personalities and brilliant storytelling." BOX OFFICE Here are the Top 10 weekend box-office receipts for Atlanta.

Numbers in parentheses show how films ranked nationally. 1. "Absolute Power" (2) $274,510 2. "Star Wars" (1) $261,524 3. "Dante's Peak" (3) $202,051 4.

"Vegas Vacation" (4) $177,530 5. "Fools Rush In" (5) $122,377 6. "Dangerous Ground" (12) $90,733 7. "That Darn Cat" (6) $88,296 8. "jerry Magulre" (7) $87,303" 9.

"The English Patient" (8) $60,022 1 it Historic swimsuit issue Although she shared the honor last year, superbusy supermodel-actress Tyra Banks (left) becomes the first African-American model to pose solo for the cover of the coveted Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition that hits newsstands today. This year's theme: bikinis. Inside the issue's skin-filled pages: Tennis pro Steffi Graf and beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece. Banks, meanwhile, will be chatting up her magazine cover this evening on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." flower show Don't miss The Children's Division. Tadd Thomas' "Chanson de Fleur" large landscape entry includes three garden "rooms" one with a wall of water flowing from a moss-covered arbor.

Be sure to read judges' comments. Some are priceless, such as those at a pergola entry based on the Lynn Anderson country song "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." The judges summed up the jumble of pink flamingos, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans, clothesline and eight-track tapes with: "White has been used effectively as a unifier among such diversity of color. Setting very complex, nearly overwhelming floral material. Chaos." The Atlanta History Center's educational entry, a swept-dirt yard and rustic shack, won the overall education trophy and the Governor trophy. loggia planted with Mediterranean sun-loving plants.

RondaYoungblood of Temple, who has won the most awards in the flower show's history, appears to have retained her lead with ease. Among her many awards from first-round judging was the Johne Dodgen Swanson trophy for best exhibit in par class for her Philodendron radiatum. On the Internet, the Southeastern Flower Show's home page is http:www.seflowershow.org. At 7 tonight, DeKalb Extension agent Walter Reeves will hold a live chat about the flower show. Go to http:www.mindspring and proceed to the chat area.

it fjt WILLIAM BERRY Staff Southeastern Flower Show judge Felder Rushing of Jackson, plays the piano in Lifescapes' "House of Blooms." All If Southeastern Flower Show IOa.m.-7 p.m. today-Thursday, I0a.m.-9p.m. Friday-Saturday, IOa.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. $10 adults, $5 ages 4-1 6, younger than 4 free ($2 discount at Pike Family Nurseries or Kroger).

$6 parking. City Hall East Exhibition Center, 640 North Atlanta. 404-888- 5638. Blooms," which played off the show's "Rhythm in Bloom" musical theme with a piano keyboard pathway leading to a wrecked baby grand planted with colorful annuals and a saxophone fountain spilling water. The garden took three awards total.

Best rooftop garden was Boxwood Gardens Gifts' Italian By Jill Sabulis STAFF WRITER The Southeastern Flower Show flings open the garden gates today for a five-day run at City Hall East Exhibition Center. And at Tuesday night's preview party, off-duty Fulton County sheriff's deputy Rick Jones summed up the South's largest flower show, a benefit for the Atlanta Botanical Garden, like this: "I've been here every day, eight hours a day, eight days in a row. I've seen every blade of grass. I've seen all of it come together. And tonight I'm amazed at how beautiful it is." Jones tends houseplants in his southwest Atlanta apartment.

The flower show assignment suited him just fine. And he's quick to declare the new Children's Division area the best of show. At Tuesday night's preview party, packed with more than 800 guests paying $125 a ticket, Jones wasn't alone in his assessment. Partygoers flocked into the children's garden area, designed by Atlanta's Ryan Gainey, who took a break from competing in the major landscape division this year. For the first time, all gardeners younger than 18 competed against each other rather than in adult classes, and their entries terrariums, trough gardens and huge sculptures made of recycled materials are displayed on picnic tables in the children's area.

One blue-ribbon winner was 16-year-old Robert Candler, who crafted a birdhouse of pressed Coke cans. Another was an imaginative bottle tree by 9-year-old Jarrett Lynch. Other first-round winners from Tuesday's judging: Atlanta Botanical Garden Trustees award for best in show in large landscapes went to Lifescapes' "HWuse of Liz enters hospital Actress Elizabeth Taylor, 64, checked into a hospital Tuesday in preparation for surgery to remove a benign tumor on her brain. "She checked into the hospital this morning for tests and will remain there until after the surgery," said Maria Pignataro, publicist for the Oscar-winning actress. There was still no date for the surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but it will be sometime this week, she said.

Her doctor expects a full recovery without complications, Pignataro said. Christian group dc Talk gets 1 3 nominations Toby McKeehan, leader of Christian music trio dc Talk, was nominated Tuesday for 13 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, including one non-musical honor. Among his nominations were nods for best group, artist and rock album of the year for "Jesus Freak." He also was nominated for rock, rap-hip hop, pop-contemporary and urban song of the year. McKeehan also was nominated in the music packaging category for his part in illustrating the "Jesus Freak" CD. Steven Curtis Chapman (who will perform March 8 at the Omni) and McKeehan's songwriting and producing partner Mark Heimermann had seven nominations each.

The awards show, April 24 at the Nashville Arena, will honor winners in 37 categories. Peach Buzz writer: Richard Bdredge. Contributing: Wendell Brock, Dan Hulbert andriews services. If you have an item, call 404-222-503. or fax 404-526-SS09.

10. "The Beautician and the Beast" (11) $43,677 Sou ret: Entertainment Data Inc..