The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 61

fririrl7rir Tf fiyrBjyrytfr rry'iy iyn ymy jyrry 'fyv 1 I' The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. Sunday August 17, 1997 PageE3 i 1 i i i I I Spotlight KREM-2 caters to early bedtimes with 10 p.m. news By Jim Kershner Stuff writer Finally, the 10 p.m. news is returning to Spokane. KREM-2 will broadcast a 10 p.m.

news show on its new partner station, KSKN-22, beginning in mid-September. It will feature KREMs usual cast of characters: Charles Rowe, Nadine Woodward, Tom Sherry and Carlton Wing. In fact, it will be virtually the same broadcast as the 11 p.m. broadcast, which will, of course, remain on KREM-2. Its almost like a dress rehearsal for the 11 p.m.

news, in some respects, said Ron Comings, the KREM news director. A 10 p.m. news broadcast was attempted several years ago on KAYU-28, but it failed largely due to the fact it was the worst hews broadcast ever created (but thats just my opinion). This time around, the prospects for success seem better, since the broadcast will not be cutesy, but rather the same straight news youd get if you stayed up until 11 p.m. This is a go-to-bed-early market, no doubt about it, said Barry Barth, KREM general manager.

A significant portion of the market wants to get the news early and go to bed, and we hope to fulfill their wishes. The 10 p.m. news show was originally scheduled to debut on Aug. 25, but some transmitter-related delays have pushed the start back to mid-September, said Barth. Sylvester Stallone goes from Rocky to chunky for his heavyweight part in Cop Land the white socks Stallone wears, a touch he added to make Freddy as geeky as possible.

In fact, if hed had his way, Stallone says, Freddy would have worn shower clogs on his day off. Freddy, who is deaf in one ear as the result of his heroic teenage rescue of a drowning girl, is that uncool. Freddy is 99 percent of the planet, what I call deserving losers, Stallone says. Life has set such high standards for them, and if they cant reach it, they suffer in silence. Besides visiting an institute for the deaf and plugging one ear with silicone for eight weeks, beyond memorizing a script with actual dialogue, Stallone got to do something he hasnt done in decades: eat with abandon.

There were entire blueberry cheesecakes, stacks of French toast covered with quarts of whipped cream, peanut butter and oatmeal cookies all washed down with a half-quart of chocolate milk. And that was just for breakfast. It was heaven at first, Stallone says. But he soon learned that the road to stardom tastes like the road to hell. His cholesterol level soared, his heart started palpitating, and his veins felt as if they were corroding.

In time, he had to force himself to Continued. StalloneE3 By Lynda Gorov The Boston Globe ylvester Stallone hesitates, but only for a blink of those hangdog eyes. Then, in one swoop, he hoists his shirt. lie pokes at his chest. He prods his belly.

It jiggles, just like a regular guys would. So much for the washboard abs. For his new movie Cop Land, Stallone went more for the washtub look, gaining 40 pounds. I le plays Freddy Heflin, a sheriff best described as a good-hearted doofus, and the fat fits the character. Stallone has since lost most of the weight, but the body that built the Rambo franchise wont be deflecting any bullets any time soon.

Thats fine by Stallone, who has a new take on acting as well as on eating. I Ie wants so much to be taken seriously again that he allowed a lowly employee to yell Fat man walking to the set every time he stepped out of his trailer. He says the words kept him humbly in character. There was absolutely no respect whatsoever, says Stallone. When I came in, there were all these sidelong glances and even though people knew I was in the movie, it didnt matter.

It was, Hey, youre not so special. Which was great, exactly what I was hoping would happen. Now Stallone is hoping that Hollywood will see him as more than an action-adventure cartoon for the first time in two decades. Without quite denying his past choices (all the Rambos, all the gunfire and derring-do), he says he is a new man today, with a new wife, a new baby daughter, and a new chance at how he is depicted on the silver screen. Its all so new, in fact, that Stallone isnt certain that the risk he has taken will bring him anything but ridicule.

Oscar nomination for me, please, I cant even conceive of that, youve got to be joking, this is not fake humility, noooo, Stallone says, in a run-on sentence of uncertainty. Later, he says, I only saw 26 minutes and I wasnt sure I held my end up. Everyone is so very In buffer Stallone's was boxer in the Rocky movies. good. Such stars as Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta fill out the celebrity cast for a movie about the corruption of New York City cops who call a small town across the bridge in New Jersey home.

As Robert Patrick, who played the liquid metal cyborg in Terminator 2 and is another bad guy in Cop Land, puts it, These guys are the best of the best. You dont want to show up without your chops down. Or, as Stallone explains after admitting that he panicked when his first scene turned out to be with De Niro: They were the stars. I was kind of like the guest star. The film, not surprisingly, is packed with acting.

There is drama. There is action. There is a poetic speech or two. And then there are Sylvester signature role Balboa series of I I I 1 I i i i 4 1 i 1 I 4 -I 4 .1 il 1 il I i it i i i i I 1 1 I i 1 i i 4 I i I i I 1 I 1 4 4 4 4 i 3 I i i 1 i 1 I 1 I 4 4 I 4 4 i i i I i i i i 4 days: Rocky What is KSKN-22? KSKN-22 has been the Home Shopping Network channel in Spokane for several years, but that is about to change. Not only will the station carry KREM news at 10 p.m., but it will probably end up being the local affiliate for one of the new networks, most likely the United Paramount Network (UPN).

For about a year, Spokanes big three stations have been vying to see who could land a local marketing agreement with KSKN-22. KREM won the bidding war, and KREM will manage the station, provide the programming and do the marketing. KSKN remains separately owned, however. The owner is Judy Querio, president of KSKN-TV. She and the rest of the KSKN staff have moved into the KREM building.

According to Querio and Barth, the programming will probably include all of the UPN programming including the popular Star Trek Voyager. This is still tentative, since a contract with UPN has not been finalized. In addition, the station will carry syndicated -shows such as Ricki Lake, reruns of The Simpsons, Matlock and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and blocks of childrens programming in the afternoons and on weekends. Home Shopping Network programming will be phased out as the new programs come on line during the next few months.

KSKN is available on the major cable providers in the area, and is also available over the air on UI IF channel 22. Querio said the signal already covers the entire Spokane-Coeur dAlene area. The signal will be soon increased to maximum power, pending FCC approval, which means it will have the same coverage as KREM and Spokanes other major stations. The station has a new transmitter, which is in the process of being moved to the KREM tower. This has been a significant financial investment for this company, said Barth.

Symphony for rent; bargain rates (rehearsals exna) could hire yourself an orchestra. The Spokane Symphony comes in different sizes, from the 36 players who perform at The Met to the 85 or more who perform blockbuster classics at the Opera House. Lets suppose you want the Spokane Symphony to play, say, Beethovens Fifth Symphony and some other pieces requiring about the same number of layers. The cost for the musicians would be about 5,800 for the concert itself. Every rehearsal would cost the same, and, of course, you would want at least two rehearsals for music of any complexity.

Theres $17,400 on your bill. The symphony requires that you pay to have instruments moved and musicians transported, you might need to rent some music, you would definitely need a conductor (he or she is an additional expense). The bottom line is just shy of $25,000. Longer distances, more rehearsals, more musicians, a big-name conductor all these would increase your bill. But basically, this is a bargain.

Symphony orchestras in larger cities such as St. Louis or Atlanta would cost between $50,000 and $100,000 for the same kind of program. The very idea of an orchestra for hire offends some people. I can hear distant mutterings about the purity of the orchestras classical mission and even artistic prostitution. When you consider the things professional musicians have to do to make a living while playing in an orchestra like Spokanes, such objections seem puerile.

Many of the players have nice dignified musical jobs. They teach in private studios or in schools and universities. But other Spokane Symphony musicians have day jobs ranging from janitors and secretarial temps to lawyers and high-tech engineers. Continued SymphonyE3 Spokane Valley Mall. An audience of 1,500 to 2,000 listened.

Some even danced to tunes from Disney scores. The Symphony has hired itself out for a variety of concerts, from classics to rock. In January, Washington State University bought an all-Beethoven concert which the Symphony played in Beasley Coliseum. In May, the Symphony was hired to play at I lero's Day with Norman Schwarzkopf and Johnny and June Cash at the Spokane Arena, sponsored by Washington Water Power. Also in May, the Moody Blues hired the symphony as their backup band for a concert at The Gorge for more than 8,000 nostalgic rockers in May.

Some people think the orchestras performances at the Festival at Sandpoint are official symphony events. Theyre not. When the symphony played a powerful classical concert under the baton of Gunther Schuller to conclude this years Festival, the orchestra had been rented for four rehearsals and the concert by the Festival organizers. You could do the same. You would, of course, need to hire a hall, rent a tent or have an appropriate meadow at your disposal, and you would need liability insurance.

Your event would need to occur when the orchestra was not already committed to regular Symphony season engagements summer would be a good time. But with those details taken care of, you Commentary By Travis Rivers Correspondent sst! Wanna rent a band? Need something that goes beyond a grunge band or a jazz trio or a string quartet? What about a symphony orchestra? 1 lave I got a deal for you. If the plans for your festival, or convention, or corporate event or for that matter your birthday party require a big musical statement, hire the Spokane Symphony. It can be done. In fact it has been done.

Tuesday, the Spokane Symphony was playing in its usual home, the Spokane Opera I louse. But the 2,000 people in the audience were not the usual symphony crowd, they were mostly members of the spiritual organization Subud, in Spokane (and in the Opera House) for the 10th World Congress of the organization. Subud, which places high value on the arts, had hired the Spokane Symphony for the occasion. The Subud concert included some standard Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Rachmaninoff from the orchestras traditional repertoire. The performance also included world premieres of short, well-crafted works by Simon Lesley, and Ramon Roper as well as a fine, musically interesting cantata by composer-conductor Lucas Richman all members of Subud.

The very next night, the orchestra played Copland, Grofe and Sousa along with music from Broadway musicals and films for the opening of the new Somebody owes me $10 Not that Im trolling for money or anything, but I thought I would just recount the words of Todd McFarlane, the Spawn creator and former Spokanite, when I talked to him about his upcoming Spawn movie during an interview in June: I'm telling you, its going to be the No. 1 movie that week (opening week). Thats not even boasting. Thats a fact. Well make a $10 bet.

Well, Spawn opened at No. 2 at the box office, behind Air Force One in its second week. I say this only as point of information. Riverdance reminder Just a reminder: Tickets for Riverdance go on sale today at 10 a.m. for the Spokane Opera House run, April 7-12.

If you love that Irish stcp-dancing, call Select-a-Seat, 325-SEAT, or go to any outlet. Prices range from $20 to $50. I I ft i fo fr-i th lit rtti. hull.