Newsday from New York, New York • 79

nf I ri rr B3 as5 -W a I--' An Unsung Star The man behind the curtain in Ozzland 3 Yit 'i if Now the Museum of Arts and Design wants to buy the building from the city and drape it in a textured shiny shawl of glased terra-cotta panels thrown over incrustations of detail The porthole windows at the borders the seamless white walls the ground-floor arcade the loggia of skinny arches all would vanish and be replaced by a shimmering veil designed by Brad Clopefil of the Portland Ore-based firm Allied Works Architects- (Or that is what is currently on the table Clopefil has Sromised to unveil a new version of his eaign early next year) endearing white elephant does not deserve a terra-cotta burqa and the preservationists are rightly ktwping up a campaign of howls First it tried to get the New York City T-miHnniA Preservation Commission to declare the building untouchable and when that failed it took the Bloomberg administration to court to block the sale (The city had agreed to the -plan but the transaction is not yet complete) Now this is an odd fight since those on both sides by and large agree that the original building never really worked and that the hew design all that bad Grenade like and do get tossed every now and then but this is not really a battle over aesthetic enthusiasms So far the preservationists have found it difficult to foment outrage over the fate of a building unable to elicit more than mild affection Fully aware of the weakness of aesthetic arguments they have turned to historical ones instead Two Columbus Circle is a document of an important conversion from the orthodoxies of mid-century modernism Earlier in his career Stone had helped popularize the severe geometries and spare facades of the International Style achieving heights of abstemious purity in the CongerrGoodyear House in See STONE on B9 it in IP tl 5t By Jeff Pearlman staft warns I is not supposed to be here Not now Not after all this Lewis La Medica is a star Perhaps not a superstar in the Barbra Streisand or Elton John mold But a star nonetheless I How many people do you know who sing the theme to one of TVs biggest hits? Whose voice has been heard by millions upon millions of listeners and will be heard by millions upon millions more? Yet on a frigid windy Wednesday night in November at the same time Streisand and John are surely kicking hack in their mansions Jt Madina is standing inside Temple Emanu-El in Closter NJ performing at the wedding reception of Dana Bloch and Joey Kipnis As La band The Projekt lets loose a rousing rendition of Edwin Could Not Ask for a small part of you wants to scream at Dana Joey and their 225 guests you know who this guy But you and like an invisible man La Medica blends in as part of the scenery a backdrop alongside the pink three-tier cake and white tablecloths Tm OK with my he says shrugging his wide shoulders do this for Indeed after nearly four decades in the music business La Medica a 49-year-old New Rochelle resident with spiked brown hair and a silver hoop earring is 999 percent content with his status But there is that part that small small part that wants more Nearly two years ago in a normally life-altering sort of moment La Medica was chosen by MTV to sing the theme to a new reality series titled The gig opened up when Pat Boone who had once recorded a swing version of metal hit refused to license his version of the tune to the show wanted someone able to dupli-' cate the crooner Sinatra says Melinda Gedman MIVs music supervisor heard Lewis sing on a tape in a music library and his voice was just perfect When he sings you can tell it comes from the Unaware that would become one of the highest-rated cable series in TV history La Medica flew out to Los Angeles and recorded Afew weeks later the show debuted drawing as many as 8 million viewers per episode (The third season begins early next year) Yet while sparked daughter career as a pop singer and mother as a talk-show host La Medica found nada His name appeared in the credits a grand total of two times that first season and he never even met the legendary Ozzy When MTV released a CD Osbourne Family it opted Lewis La Medica who recorded performs at tha Fox for rendition even Inhaling it Boone Theme from TV on the jacket Chalk it up to name recognition and marketing -La Medica hardly understands the slights from the network (MTVs public relations department foiled to return calls concerning La Medica) and he hardly cares From the time he formed his first-rock band as an 11-year-old in Mt Vernon NY La Medica dreamed not of superstardom but simply of making music his life His sound is of the Tony Bennett-Frank Sinatra groove an ode to the records he repeatedly embraced as a lad mother Grace Dell was a big-band singer who performed with Tommy Dorsey and sing-atangs were everyday occurrences in the La Medica household was a beautiful he says just sit around and go off where my love At age 21 after leading a handful of bands with names like Love Special Delivery and Joint Effort La Medica took a job with the Frank Terris Orchestras which stitched together wedding bands At the time he justified aim feelings of disloyalty to original hard rock and roll by looking at his wallet which was- usually empty Wedding singing paid the bills and what counted Eventually he thought the big gigs will come Yet 28 years later still here happily fronting The Projekt at 100 to 150 weddings a year In his capacity as singer to the newly betrothed La Medica who has been married to his wife Laura for 17 years sees everything Grooms ducking the shindig to catch the Meta-Padres game Brides making out with the best man the wildest one says La Medica grinning "It was a Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn at a Knights of Columbus playing the wedding song and as the bride and groom are dancing we invite the parents to the floor going smoothly and nicely and POP! the father just grabs the mother by the hair and coldcocka her in the face right on the dance floor The wedding ended right there That kind of thing makes you wonder if all worth It is Though be likely will never get rich off music La Medica whose license plate reads LV TO SING has had his moments Along with songs he has recorded have been used in shows including "Melrose and the 2001 Miu USA Pageant Better yet there are those highs that keep him floating Every so often La 14-year-old daughter Danielle will bring over a friend who will inevitably ask you really do the theme to a sign La Medica insists that his kid is proud know she brags about he says all an old singer like me needs to get Photo by Kaefaard Slattary Osbournes' theme song Hollow Inn In Woodbury Way of Life instrument panel including a tachometer feel small In fact the Mini is almost as high and almost as wide as a normal car What 1 it lacks is trunk space My dogs would have to ride Oh a roof rack Friends had warned me that the Mini safe but the Mini ranks high in safety tests both on the Insurance Institute for Safety charts and on the National Highway Traffic -Safety Web site (www-nrdnhtsadotgov) All cars are dangerous more than 40000 people were killed in automobile accidents last year in this country But really unsafe is when we buy a car as an expression of who we want to be rather than choosing it for practical reasons Perhaps we cant control our desires but we can control our actions How sane is it to acquire a 3000-pound hunk of steel in which we and our families hurtle from place to place because we like the way it looks or the color appeals to us? Fantasies are dangerous at any speed Cars are machines for transportation they are not friends or pets or belief systems and they should be assessed as ma- See CHEEVER on B9.