The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 20

LIVING The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution C2 Tuesday, Nov. 4, 1997 TheNewsstand it- i is i a IK. fc 'in MiMiiiiiiiiaiMi. li iiayiffti i 'eyas Peach Buzz RICHARD L. ELDREDGE Jakob piles up miles a la Bob The Wallflowers haven't spent anywhere near as many years on the road as frontman Jakob Dylan's father has, but they're covering ground at a pace that threatens to match Bob Dylan's relentless touring.

When the Los Angeles-based group, which plays tonight at the Classic Center Exhibit Hall in Athens, took some time ALAN PATUREAU tainment Weekly A reader poll found 52 percent of respondents think the show is slipping. Critics berate the "car-toonish" situations: Newman envisioning Kramer as a giant turkey, for example. True, the show has lost some key execs and writers, but even if it is less humorous, 51 percent of respondents say they'll continue watching. ROCKIN' WOMEN: The hefty 30th-anniversary issue of Rolling Stone ($4.95) spotlights influential female musicians not only Tina Turner, Madonna and Courtney Love, who grace the cover, but other "mothers of invention" such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Petula Clark, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, La Vera Baker and Ella Fitzgerald. LET ME 'EDU-TAIN' YOU: Most daunting mission facing Christmas shoppers this year, says Consumer Reports is finding computer software that will educate as well as entertain the children on their list.

Researchers rank Orly's Draw-A-Story (about $30) No. 1 in creativity. It features a hip Jamaican girl who encourages kids to draw pictures for her stories. For kids who hate math, there's Math Blaster Mystery: The Great Brain Robbery (about $34). It puts them in a haunted mansion where they solve word problems and compute fractions.

OH, BABY: People ($2.69) profiles 36-year-old "Melrose Place" star Heather Locklear, who joined Hollywood's new moms club recently, giving birth to Ava Elizabeth after 35 hours of labor. Her husband is Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. Other first-time mothers mentioned are Ricki Lake, Keely Smith, Gena Lee Nolin, Tracey Gold and Gina Thicke. WHERE TO RETIRE: New Choices the magazine for "living even better after 50," picks the Top 20 continuing care retirement communities, and Presbyterian Village, in Austell, is among them. In addition to wooded grounds, a lake and walking trails, "the cultural and commercial attractions of Atlanta are a short drive away." Brandon Wilde, near Augusta, and Bentley Village in Naples, are also on the list.

HAPPY FIRST: Some Atlanta magazine watchers are surprised that Dossier ($3.95) made it, but the plucky monthly is celebrating its first anniversary with an array of slick and short articles. Especially worthwhile is a profile of WXIA news director Dave Roberts, who vows to challenge a long-dominant WSB in the local TV news wars. 1 off last month, it was their hrst real vacation since their album "Bringing Down the Horse" was released in June 1996. Is being perpetually on the road a family thing? "I don't know," Jakob (right) said Saturday from his Los Angeles home. "But I have a good time, and I'm still young enough 27 that it's not ruining my body.

I see a point I'll be allowed to be set free from touring, but it's better than not having work I've been there." But he can understand why R.E.M. drummer Bill Berrv announced last week that he WHAT CRASH? In a colorful package on the stock market's wild ride, Newsweek ($2.95) notes that headline writers the world over avoided calling the problem a crash. Instead, dailies used words like dive, drop, tail- spin, tumble, turmoil, plummet, crisis, tremble and plunge. Should you buy or sell now? If you hold onto your investments for 10 years, the mag estimates your chance of losing money is only 4 percent. U.S.

News World Report ($2.95) is not so bullish, warning that "while the aging bull still has legs, certain dangers lurk. The market is still CHILD WATCHERS: On the heels of the furor surrounding a British au pair convicted of murder, The New Yorker ($2.95) runs a timely but quite favorable piece about the strangers who look after bur children. As a working mother herself, Stacy Schiff writes: "In many families these days, life imitates chil dren's books like 'Mary The fun begins when the nanny turns up, and the mother is safely out of the way." AULD LANG 'SEIN': Four episodes into its ninth season, NBC's top-rated sitcom, "Sein feld," is facing an unfamiliar chorus of dissatisfaction, says Enter BOX OFFICE Here are the Top 10 weekend box office receipts for Atlanta. Numbers in parentheses show how the films ranked nationally. 1 "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1) $166,365 2.

"Red Corner" (2) 3. "Devil's Advocate" (3) $87,031 4. "Kiss the Girls" (5) $58,516 5. "Switchback" (8) $53,866 6. "Soul Food" (14) $46,825 7.

"Fairy Tale A True Story" (7) $46,075 8. "Seven Years in Tibet" (6) $41,619 9. "Boogie Nights" (4) $39,438 10. "The Peacemaker" (17) $26,872 Source: Entertainment Data Inc. was leaving the band to enjoy life on his Athens-area farm.

"When R.E.M. goes on the road, it's a two-year world tour," Dylan said. "When you're in a group like that for IS or 20 years R.E.M. is 17 years old, you get tired. You get enough money, you want to have a different type of life.

I can see how it gets that way for a lot of peo-v pie, but it's still exciting for us, and we've been out there a year and a half." Show information: 404-249-6400 or 706-357-4444. DOONESBURY 1 ICANTSTANPm pipyouseewHO me Govern. APPCHhtWPTD oumnj, that xxifjs tdWiSSmfff-'' yfJ WHAT tM5 ITT Jl. I I Twain inviting fans to come on over Cover story Time ($2.95) calls Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan "the most powerful man on earth" after he steers the United States through a global market crisis. Best men In the second annual poll, GQ ($3.50) readers pick 1 7 "men of the year," including television's David Duchovny, the movies' Tom Cruise and the NBA's Grant Hill.

By Garry Trudeau would find in a Jackson tour or something like that." Neil McGinley, program director of WKHX-FM (101.5) says, "There is a lot of pent-up demand for her touring. She has been very well packaged and produced. She hasn't been over-saturated. Her husband is a veteran of rock, and he knows how this works." (Lange produced the rock group Def Leppard.) "They have avoided an awful lot of common mistakes." But no doubt Twain's live act will replicate the strutting, midriff baring, centerfold image she has so carefully cultivated in videos and the media. Even the CD cover features the 32-year-old artist in a come-hither profile pose, accentuating her, well, assets.

In conversation, however, Twain sounds anything but the -bimbo, talking like a CEO about her carefully controlled career. She has a quick response to peo-. pie who says she's not country: "It depends on how you define country." "A lot of people have such a narrow margin as to what country is," she explains. "Of course I consider myself country, those are my roots. That's the audience I relate to the most.

But the influences I've had over the years are so varied. I think today's country fans push the dial back and forth between pop' and country. They're exposed to all kinds of music. I think unless you actually live a country lifes-. tyle, it's nothing to hear a rap song one minute, then hear country or pop the next." Helton says he thinks Twain's secret is her appeal to women.

"She has led this explosion of women and attitude songs," he says. "I think a lot of times she doesn't get credit for her song- writing because she's overshadowed by how famous Mutt Lange is. But she wrote every one of these songs. And she's obviously struck a chord." And, more than likely, the button on the cash register. To hear "Come on Over," dial 511, punch in 8600 for Soundline and enter access code ISO.

Calls are SO cents. Tough crowd Richard Hyatt was under enough pressure while writing "Zell: The Governor Who Gave Georgia Hope," his biography of Zell Miller. But things got worse over the weekend, when Hyatt found himself following the crowd-pleasing John Ber-endt at the Mercer University 'authors' luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. Hyatt remarked that, with all the high-priced politicians and lawyers there, it looked as if he Icould find somebody who would change his name to make it higher in the alphabet. Joining Hyatt and Berendt at the gathering of about 300 people were former Miss America Heather Whitestone, author of "Listening With My Elizabeth Terry, author of "Savannah and Bill Shipp, author of "The Ape-Slayer and Other Snapshots." PALS, pal Atlanta magazine's senior art director, David Reilich, ended up snagging the best costume award and the $1,000 prize during the P.A.LS.

benefit Saturday night at the Atlanta Women's Club. Reilich came dressed as a "one night stand," complete with working lamp, alarm clock and used ashtray. The presence of honoree Lady Cha-blis, trading barbs with die mayor, helped the nonprofit organization raise $10,000. In the spirit of the evening, Reilich donated his prize money back to P.A.L.S. He told us Monday, "It just seemed like the right thing to do." 1 A I Overscene Gov.

Zell Miller lunching Monday at the politically themed Filibuster's in Midtown. The guv feasted on (gasp!) Yankee pot roast, then counterbalanced his entree with a healthy glass of that Southern staple, sweet tea. Kitchen kitsch Still have that avocado-colored refrigerator? You may qualify for "Peachtree Morning's" ugliest kitchen contest. The WXIA morning show is actively scouring the metro area for the most unattractive, out-of-date kitchen to be replaced with a fully renovated one worth $15,000, courtesy of the show and Home Depot. Viewers are asked to send in photographs through Nov.

21. One word of warning: Co-hosts Carmen Burns and Tom Clark will be showing the pictures on the air, and the winner will be chosen when the toothy twosome show up on your front step live during the program Nov. 26 broadcast. Send pix to: WXIA, 1611 West Peachtree St. N.E.

Atlanta, Ga. 30309. Stone update Readers trying to find out more about Wednesday's scheduled National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences-sponsored session with movie director Oliver Stone at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead were more than a little puzzled when dialing the number we included with Monday's column. The N.A.T.A.S. new hotline number is 770-414-8777.

in 1986. The gift comes from the robbery," said foundation director By Miriam Longino STAFF WRITER Country music fans, alert: Today is the Second Coming. At least that's what record label and country radio executives are hoping as the long-anticipated CD from million-selling chanteuse Shania Twain arrives in stores. The 16 tunes on "Come on Over" are trademark Twain: big drums, pop melodies, novelty studio tricks and enough hand claps and "ah-hah, nuns" to raise libidos on dance floors all over America. And if this effort comes anywhere close to the success of her last CD, "The Woman in Me" (which sold 12 million copies, more than any other female artist in country music history), the new album may be the jump-start country needs this year.

"There is great anticipation for this album. Anytime you have somebody who sold 12 million units on their last album, there will be tremendous expectations," says Lon Helton, country editor for the trade publication Radio Records. "I think it will be one of the top-selling albums of the year. The single 'Love Gets Me Every Time' has already gone No. 1 in seven weeks, and the next single 'Don't Be Stupid, You Know I Love You' comes out next week." Calling from her home in rural Lake Placid, N.Y., Twain says she isn't worried about a sophomore jinx.

She's been working on the tunes (all co-written with her husband-producer, John "Mutt" Lange) since the last CD, and says "it has been a slow process. I'm not feeling the impact of the new album maybe the way I should because I've been living with it for so long. I think what's helping me is the fact that the tour is distracting me from that pressure." Twain doesn't even pause when she brings up the T-word: "Tour." Yet it was her decision not to go on the road during the phenomenal success of "The CELEBRITY NEWS OUTSIDE ATLANTA O'Keeffe acquisitions warm up Milwaukee Visitors to the Milwaukee Art Museum will get a taste of the Southwest in the form of Georgia O'Keeffe's signature artwork. Eight oil paintings and two charcoal drawings by the modernist were donated to the museum. The acquisition gives the museum 21 O'Keeffe pieces, the fourth-largest collection of her works in the nation.

The gift includes a warmly rendered autumn landscape from her Lake George period, a signature New Mexico landscape and a small mule skull with feather. Museum director Russell Bowman said the 10 O'Keeffe pictures are valued at between $4 million and $5 million. The artist was born near Sun Prairie, NEWS OF THE WEIRD CHUCK SHEPHERD 'Real Dolls' fake; men don't care New York Gty special effects artist Matt McMullen, 28, has been offering his life-size, authentically detailed, silicone dolls under the name "Real Dolls" on the Internet for around $4,000 each. So far, Stacy, Natasha, Nina and Leah are available, with choice of hair color, skin color and height (either "supermodel" or voluptuous). His original doll was intended as sculpture until lonely men bombarded him with price inquiries.

Said McMullen, "There is no way this can compete with the real thing, but it can fill a deep void in someone's life." UNCLEAR VERDICT: In Ontario, a jury foreman announced, "We find the accused and here, the foreman cleared his throat guilty," but the judge and others heard, "We find the accused not guilty." Howard Burke, charged with attempted murder, did not wait around for clarification. But the error was detected in minutes, and Burke gave himself up three days later. BUT NO GREEN EGGS: Reports surfaced in San Francisco that poor kids in a summer lunch program were served moldy green bologna in sandwiches (for many of the kids, their main meal of the day). Dr. Johnson Ojo, the health department's principal inspector, said that what he saw was "not that bad," and anyway, moldy bologna will not cause food poisoning.

GEORGE HOL2 Mercury Records The come-hither pose of Shania Twain on her CD cover is carefully cultivated. Woman in Me" that made her somewhat of a controversial mystery in Nashville. Despite buying millions of her records, fans haven't had a chance to see Twain perform the tunes live. This glaring absence from the stage caused many to wonder if she was nothing more than a trick studio pony, a country Milli Vanilli. Twain resents the implication.

"Nobody really knows what you do before you become successful, and people don't realize I have spent my whole life on the road," she says. "Even at 8 1 traveled to gigs in clubs. I'm a bar singer. Once 'The Woman in Me' started to snowball, I thought, 'This is my But as the album got bigger and bigger, we obviously didn't need a tour because it was selling anyway. I can say I'm very satisfied with that because the album sold strictly on the music." Twain plans to go into rehearsal with a nine-piece band after the first of the year, then tour.

"It's not going to be as slick as what people are expecting," she says, sniffling from a cold contracted during a staged rainstorm during a recent video shoot. "There's not going to be a backup singer section or a lot of hydraulics. It's not about sets so much. And there won't be choreography per se, not like you in 1887 and died in Santa Fe, N.M., Jane and Lloyd Pettit Foundation of Milwaukee and the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation of Abiquiu, N.M. File this under Villainous' Video of a 16-year-old cancer victim's meeting with David Duchovny on the set of "The X-Files" was stolen from the family's car in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The footage, along with photo-" graphs of the meeting, were taken Saturday night during the fami-l' ly's weeklong visit to the set, which was arranged by the Make-A-! Wish Foundation of British Columbia. "The record of this young girl's visit is gone, lost through a April Hamilton, rwe wani to cnauenge me street peupie unu Dumpster divers to try to find this film." The family doesn't want their name used. 1 Contributing: ftuss DeVault, Don O'Briant and news services. If you have an item, call 404-222-8503, 404-614-2749 or fax 404-526-t 5509. i E-mail: buiiajc.com.