The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 50

tvi 4 ww wkansascitycom THE KAN8A8 CITY 8TAR Thursday November 29 2001 STARGAZING U2 front man Bono gets a llltle help from front row fans at Kemper Tuesday TAKE NOTE Quickly the brown fox wrote Time is running out on National Novel Writing Month lot 2001 The Idea was launched three years ago by Chris Baty of Oakland Calif In tire first year 2 1 per sons tried to write a novel of at least 50000 words In a month for him and six succeeded Inst year 29 out of 140 hopefuls did it This year more than 1200 were attempting to tap Into their inner Hentingways The works collectively called NaNoWriMo novels can he found at wwwnanowrlmocom Most if not all of the novels are bad really bud but beside the point Baty says Amid the writing rubbish will be beauty" he writes on the Web site The point is to force people to take time to write something many people feel they have a bonk inside of them but don't have the structure to rip It out of themselves" Baty explains "They think they'll wait until they're wiser when they really have something to say (But) sitting down with it completely blank computer screen and the fear of not nav ing enough wool count at the end of the day the story just comes flying out of you" Writers have to agree to some rules such as no repeating the same word 50000 times and no starting before Nov and It has to be a novel: No memoirs works of nonfiction or screenplays are allowed Im Angeles Times Rubin on fllm The British Broadcasting Corp lias discovered fllm footage of the real-life Christopher Robin the boy who Inspired AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories The 10-second clip shot in 1929 shows Christopher Robin the author's son taking part in a pageant in Ashdown Iforest In southern England the rural setting BBC producer Helen Kent said she found the footage as she was researching a documentary to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the honey-lov ing hear tlvf from that pe so for this one film to be the flint that also showed Christopher Robin was virtually said company director Prank Gray The Associated Pms On sale Tickets go on sale today for the 2002 Conversations ami Celebrations series sponsored by The Star The guests: Sarah Ferguson on Jan 25 Cicely 'lyson Feb IT Lucie Arnaz March 28 and Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher April 23 Series tickets start at $99 Call (816) 931-3330 loo Ibis is the only film we have of Ashdown Forest from that period U2 gets to the heart of the matter Recent events add meaning to working of crowd CONCERT REVIEW U2 with Garbage Reviewed: Nov 27 at Kemper Arena Audience: 16000 Bye Bye 'By Lord Andrew Lloyd latest musical Jeeves" wont be around Broadway forever In fact after looking ut the 'ary auU- ence responses the show's pro- fl ducers figured it be worth it to keep Imd Andrew golng mo ary That means it will close Dec 3Q and with just 72 performances by then it will have the shortest run of any Webber musical on Broadway Webber had spent $800000 of his own cash to keep the production afloat in New York after several investors pulled out after the Sept 1 1 attacks Sex and the stars The in thing for stars these days is to do the sex scene first then tell reporters how much you regret it before the film comes out The New York Daily News says that at last I loUywood premiere of Halle Berry insisted that she dreaded her husband seeing her full-frontal romp with her co-star Billy Bob Thornton And during JM other pronto-dons Jennifer Aniston said she was "really ner-BwrY shooting her sex scene with Jake Gyllenhaal in Good while Hugh Jackman commented that before Ills love scene with Meg Ryan in "Kate and Ijeopold" made me drop down and do a bunch of pushups so I would glisten! 1 said This is why I became an If only he had a TV Guide cover Michael Jackson is apparently having some problems getting used to being just another topselling artist instead of Till: topselling artist As slips down the charts Jackson has reportedly complained directly to Sony Corp Chairman Nobuyuki Idei that the company do enough to promote his record He wants giant billboards like those used in spine cities for Potter" to goup now Shocking TV news CP Some people will be shocked to learb digital technology was used to make Jackson's skin appear darker and to enhance Jiis cheekbones on that Nov 13 self-tribute special 2ap2itcom says Whitney I louston also used computer tech to cover up some prominent bones that were visible under her skin On a less disturbing note TV executives were shocked this week toflnd out the Carol Burnett special on CBS Monday night drew HI more than 30 mon viewers By contrast Jack-mAM son drew 23 mil JG? Uon- "I think with everything that has happened a lot of people just want to go back to a time when maybe life was a littie more innocent" Burnett said was perfect just mindless silliness" And Reba McEntlrc helping to announce the Choice Award nominations Tuesday in LA said she was shocked to find out been nominated for her IV show The awards will be Jan No 1 Loves outpointed the NBC heavy weights last week and finished on top of the Nielsen ratings for the first time during a regular TV sea-soa It helped CBS to a slim victory In the final full week of sweeps On the down side Africa" continues to slip coming in at No 20 and the first-run is down to No 59 where it tied with the debut of "The Bernie Mac finished 68th That was enough for ABC to cancel it Monday birthdays Bluesman John Muyall 68 Jazzman Chuck Mangione 61 Actress Diane Ladd 58 Comedian Garry Shandling 52 Movie director beadle MCom 17 Actress Cathy Moriarty 4 1 Actress Kim Delaney 40 Actor Andrew McCarthy 39 KC bom actor Don (Treadle 37 Adtor Lucas Black 19 StarGazing is put together from wire reports by Ward TYiptett III Beach him at (816) 234-4767 or wtriptettQkcstarcom Theater in 1 979 or so when he was unable to buy a drink because he was only 18 (The moral: Never deny an Irishman his drink) The band followed that with anot her standard that detonated the crowd "Sunday Bloody Sunday" Toward the end as he stood at the point of the big glowing heart Bono buried his face In Irish and American flags gathered from fans 1 Iokey? OK but give he guy his due He can play a crowd like Les Paul could play a guitar There were more big moments to come: of "I Still 1 Found What Looking For" one of the most exciting cut of the night the Streets I lave No Name" in which the Edge let loose with several of his exultant guitar riffs After 1 5 songs the band split but quickly came hack for Its first encore: a raw blistering version of the Blue Sky" a brief cover of Marvin Gaye's What 's Goiri On" and then one from the new record York" which set the stage for the finale As he raised one finger high Bono led the band into Ai that point the screens behind the band turned blue and the names of Sept 1 1 victims airline workers and passengers firefighters police officers scrolled up and off the screen and over the walls and ceiling of Kemper Arena as Bono sang: One life but not the same We get to carry each other carry each The seemingly endless scroll of names continued as the hand segued into a few bars of On Earth" and then into On" a salve about hope and redemption that seemed trite and mawkish several months ago The difference between then and now though is precisely why Bono's "We love you Kansas City" felt more than cursory and why that Beatles' song fit so Indelibly into this stirring and memorable night Tb reach Timothy Firm pop music writer call (816)234-4781 ore-mail tflnnQkcstarcom By TIMOTHY FINN The Kansan City Star fhe theme this evening was fraternal communal and spiritual love not romance or lust you need is John Lennon and his fellow Beatles declared via the PA system just before U2 took the stage setting forth the agenda for the next two hours Older humbler and finished with all its adventures into camp and irony Ireland's best-known rock band Is touring a different America these days: a country feeling as patriotic aggrieved war-torn resolute and full of itself as ever are humbled and proud to be playing in America at this time" Bono said a line that was rehearsed of course but sincere and apropos nonetheless considering the gist of the show: Even the Spartan stage was shaped like a heart two red arcs rimmed in light which were recycled from the golden arch that was the garish idol of U2's 1997 PopMart tour It was a fitting transformation From the opening chords of the first tune "Elevation" fans showed plenty of love and zeal: They danced sang and waved arms flags and handmade signs bearing political and personal messages The 20-song set list covered a wide range of material from 2 1 -year recording career "New Day" the first pre-1990 tune got the first huge response until the Edge followed that with the opening two-note guitar riff to Will Follow" which prompt -ed an immense roar Bono tripped over the lyrics to that one but ended It with an amusing verse in which he re called a show at the Uptown He is Iron Man a brand new later day for Mason of clowns" Mason says Did it work? kind of 1 know what it is I know they do great work but always tried to stay away from downs" Whizzo wee! Cowtown kiddie show hosts loom large in author Tim Hollis new Hi There Boys and Girls! book (University Press of Mississippi $25 paperback) In fact own Whizzo the Clown graces the cover is simply no question about it: Kansas City Missouri has one of the most distinguished legacies of program mingofanyTV of his appeal seemed to be that he was so impossibly goofy that he made even the dullest kid seem like a junior genius" heard Migration alert After more than 1 0 years riding herd over Mexican restaurant in Stanley and more recently Brook-side Ed Hernandez is striking out on his own His new place will be at 2412 Iowa in Lawrence going to be called Hernandez says Get it? Hernandez hopes to open early next year Crystal hall time Fox News heavyweight Bill took time after his recent speaking gig here to peer into the somewhat bleak-looking future of the Cow-town's premier sports teams don't think lose the Royals" says "The attendance here is high As for the Chiefs keep the faith says Dick VermeU doesn't look like he has it together yet" says "They almost fired him in St Louis then the next year they went to the Super No more 2:50 am wake-up alarms for Fox Sue Mason The popular anchor who helped launch 'hannel4'searlyshowsev-en years ago is giving up hleary eyes and heavy doses of caffeine for fulltime motherhood Wednesday was her last day on the air A replacement will be named lat- HEARHE lt Honestly its CHRISTOPHER been the best job JR had in my 16 years ofTV" Mason says not a morning person but been fun" Some parts of Mason's 5 to 9 am gig were more fun than others What Mason will miss least the early rising Though she's only overslept twice and never missed a show mostly miss her coworkers on and off the camera Mason's high point? "Probably being part of the whole beginning of the morning show (and) when we first became No 1 beating all the other morning shows And keeping the ratings up Mason has accumulated plenty of oddball highlights And where better to begin than with Tiny Tim le was in the break room waiting to go on and he tipped over in his chair and couldn't get Mason reminisces Ie fell over Another precious moment: When a massive Great Dane from a local animal shelter took a chomp out of then Fox 4 weather wonk Gary Lezak While Lezak was administering a doggy treat less "Somebody let Windy out of the Weather Center too soon and they both went for the biscuit" Mason recalls don't think Gary ever did the biscuit trick again" Another animal misadventure went down when co-anchorhard-body Mark Alford attacked by a hairless cat on the air It was pretty funny This cat was alloverhhn tnd he ended up falling off the anchor desk" In her final month Mason came to grips with her longtime clown phobia Something about too many clowns being murderers in her youth she says couple weeks ago at the Shrine Circus I actually ended up dressing up as a clown to surprise the anchors back at the station and to show them I'd overcame my fear I Cal Ripken broke Lou record for consecutive baseball Keg played hut evert Iron Men to leave the game at some point Ripken retired after this season and now the writers and editors of The Sporting News and The Baltimore Sun are paying tribute to the Oriole who played 2632 games without a break In Cal: Celebrating the Career of a Baseball Legend (176 pages Tne Sporting News $2995) His career is ail here in words and picture John Mark BberhartThe Star In Sunday Books our annual word feast: Sun Books section Is our special four-page Christmas edition market in the country" Hollis writes That legacy be-Whlzzo gan around the early 1950s when first TV station WDAF Channel 4 portly WDAF announcer Frank Feely into a cowboy suit and introduced him to the kiddies Frito Frank' sponsored by guess which brand of com Hollis notes Whizzo Frank Wiziarde debuted on KMBC-TVin 1955 le was the 1 lollis asserts "The basis.