The Toronto Star from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • 24

is fcfcsr available copy B8 THE TORONTO STAR Sunday. July 12, 1998 Master of the phot Mayor Mel brings larger-than-life showbiz schtick to Mega-City Hall I i I I By Peter Goddard ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER Liberace. Charo. Bono. They were then.

Mel is now, the new one-name wonder. Mel everywhere. May 27: Click! Mel dishes up pizza in little Italy. Mel says yum and that we need a better GO Transit deal. June 5: Snap! Party Mel clowns with clowns, tub-thumping for his July 5 Celebrate Toronto street party.

June 7: Whim! Its Mel and the Mickster, as Mickey Rooney gets the key to the city. Mel says Oz Us. June 8: Click! Show-Mayor mugs, with a bonsai tree at an unveiling of a floral profile of City Hall along the Gardiner Expressway. June 10: What fresh new Mel is this? Cl ick-snap-whirr. Why, the Prince of the Photo Op snuggles with a beaming bevy of Caravans pavilion princesses.

Politics is showbiz and vice versa. You didnt need Sonny Bono or Ronald Reagan to tell you that. But presidents and premiers, not to mention mayors, need media to work their schtick the big picture for the big role, right? Thats why former British Columbia premier Bill Vander Zalm could sound so goofy (Economic recessions are a heaven-sent blessing.) and get away with it. He looked great. Big teeth.

Zippy suits. For TV that was, as he himself said, But being a big-city mayor is a live act. Once it was rather like vaudeville. Now its the mosh pit of politics. Its press the flesh, scarf down the hot dog, cut the ribbon, smack the back and do the har-de-har-de-ho with munchkins, leather boys and semi-famous celebs.

Thats why we iricreasingly have show-mayors. Big guys with big attitude like Romes Francesco Rutelli, breaking ground for a Roman mayor by pounding the piazzas, being human. Thats why New Yorks Rudy Giuliani is more in-your-face than any New Yorker. Yo, jaywalkers! And thats why London, England which will have its first elected mayor in the year 2000 wants showbiz candidates, including actor Glenda Jackson, pop novelist Lord Archer, broadcaster Trevor Phillips and Virgin Records founder Richard Branson. Policy schmolicy.

He is one helluva show-business guy, says Colin Vaughan, Citytvs City Hall maven (and Toronto Star columnist). And for this reason: He has the most common of common touches. He knows what they want. He is in touch. The Show-Mayor is the ultimate soother and schmoozer.

Mel knows. Mel always knew. Little did we know that North York Mel now our Show-Mayor Supreme had been so far ahead of his time. We are catching on, though. Mels seen to that.

Like, on this Spice Girls weekend whose name also comes up? Exactly. Mayor Spice. Hes kept the Spice story his, too. Its classic, all about love and glory. Once he loved them.

Now he doesnt. Once he wanted to get Geri Ginger Spice Halliwell back. Now hes anti-Spice because theyre doing TV for MuchMusic and not playing North Yorks Mel Lastman Square for hizzoner. Politics has long been in more earnest hands the politicians and the writers who love them. Together, theres no end to how little fun they can have.

To date, Mel has not been totally successful with this mind-set. So it came as little surprise when we recently read (in this paper) that Mel looked silly" at lak months Gay Pride parade. Come again? He doesn't look silly when he mugs it up with a plant? Thats what showbiz is, looking silly. People love it. And they love you for it.

For Lastman, the Gay Pride parade, the ultimate photo op, was like opening on Broadway. He was laying it all on the line here, outing his show-business genius, as it were, showing how serious reform could be done with flair. Politics made him do it, of course. (Privately, he and his family fretted about it for months.) But Lastmans sense of show made it work. And when not to go too far.

Some people say Im a homophobic dinosaur, he was going to say over a pre-parade breakfast. He decided not to, thinking it was a bit much. One, thats not true. And its an insult to dinosaurs. Barbara Hall (no slouch when it came to ribbon-cuttings) was going to save us from Mel, remember? She was going to protect showbiz in this town, or so her earnest supporters thought before she got blown away in last falls mega-election.

But so what if Barb loves entertainment? Mel is entertainment. Not by accident, though. Show-Mel knows how to hone his craft. He understands what line will work and what wont. Son Blayne Lastman still remembers the 1 a.m.

call he got from dad, about Blaynes nooo-body pitch for his Bad Boy chain of stores. It nooo-body, said Mel, not with one not with two Os, but with three Os. Why? Blayne wondered. Because, said Mel. To this day, Blayne is dazzled by this.

To him, his father is a shy man. Then, suddenly, dad can be totally on and hes 100 per cent brilliant. If theres any mention of a historical model around Lastmans office, its New Yorks greatest mayor, Fio-rello La Guardia, thought to be totally the wrong kind of guy to run the city in the booming 1930s a time comparable to Toronto now. Remember, LaGuardia used to read the comics to kids on radio, says one of Lastmans advisers. That was then.

His mayor gets to pepper the Spice Girls. MUGGING WITH MEL Promoting his Celebrate Toronto street-fest, trip, lieating the hushes to publicize eitys floral logo, taking a key opjxirtunity -with Mickey Roo- ney, Ixxzsting Gay lriile Day, cavorting with Caravan pavilion princesses and cooking up supjxirt in Little Italy. 'V V-v TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTOS leave the Princess of Wales Theatre (300 King SL today. Tickets, Call 872-1212. Family Matters Today's the last chance for an outing to the Toronto Outdoor Ait Exhibition at Nathan Phillips Square for an eyeful of sculpture, painting, prints, ceramics, glass, metal and textile works, photography and mixed media.

Call 408-2754. Roll up your sleeves for some restoration work as the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre Centre (189 Yonge St.) hosts its annual free Kldsununer Festival event Monday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Workshops on cleaning walls with raw bread dough and other his-toryrelated activities. Call 314-2874. Polkaroa And Friends invite you to a photo opportunity Friday from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

at Young Peoples Theatre (165 Front SL E). living In A Polka Dot World opens Saturday with special guests Bananas In Pyjamas. Tickets are $16. Call 862-2222. i i I 1 I I I ace (529 Bloor St when Sean Lennou hooks up with Rufus Wabiwilght Tickets are $12.

Call 8708000, 532-1598. Catch her while you can in a dub, before Holly McKarland adds her big voice to this years Lilith Fair, at The Phoenix Concert Theatre (410 Sher-boume St), 8 p.m. door. $15. Call 8708000.

THURSDAY No stranger to casino settings, singer Ton Jowes has the Hot Ticket" slot at Casino Rama in Canada's largest outdoor tent pavilion, fitted with theatre seating for 2,500. Tickets, S35S40. Doors are at 7 for an 8 p.m. concert Call 8708000. FRIDAY Blues waft over the lake at Heinekeu Soul Blues Fesitnl opening today with Jtamiu Vaughan and Thu TUt-AWhlrl Band from Austin, following rockin' blues act Toronto Guitar Monsters, featuring Jack deKeyzer, Danny Marks and Mika McKenna.

Doors are at 6:30 for those who want a seat in Moison Place (235 Queens Quay Tickets to the licensed event are $20. Call 973-4000. Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Cither-Im Zeta-Jones star in The Mask Of Zorn, opening in movie theatres today. SATURDAY The latest in the taptiance craze spreading out of Australia comes to die Living Arts Centre (44 Living Arts Centre Dr.) In Mississauga when the 17-member American touring company of Hot Shot Shuffle makes a threeweek appearance. Tickets are $40 to $70.

Call 872-1111 or (905) 3066000. Last Chance Needflra: Passion Of The Heart's Celtic strains 1 Toronto THIS WEEK A selective guide for the week of July 12-18 TODAY Queens Park will shake to the beat of Afrafest today for a free grand finale concert, beginning at 1:30 p.m. and running until 10:30. Headline acts include South African singer Lamine Klaasen from Montreal and Ghanaian vocalist Pat Ihoaus from New York. Toronto African acts Hltfdlfa Stars, Sou-kous Boys, Ann Nlyituags, Group Bassan, San-kofa, Moses, Adi ilia Orra, Talanta ChHdms Group and others fill out the concert bill.

All things African will be on sale at the all-day marketplace. Call 539-9366. MONDAY Poetry in the wild runs from 7 p.m. as Scream In High Park takes over the Dream stage in High Park. Bring a blanket and a picnic to hear Robert Kroetsch, LIHan Altai, Seta Virgo, Rhea Trego-bov, and 10 other poets as they are encouraged to let the Muse take them where she will.

Pay what you can. Call 532-6948. An edgf British artist who touched a nerve with his first single in 1994, Tricky brings his dark thoughts to the Warehouse (1 Jarvis St) for an allages concert at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22.50. Call 8708000.

WEDNESDAY Two sons of the 60s get together at Lees Pal- Compiled by Douglas Cudmore.