THE BACHELOR AND BACHELORETTE GET AROUND

1. Andrew Firestone and Trista Rehn with fiance Ryan Sutter were in Washington Saturday night to attend the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. Trista does want to do some on-air TV work so maybe she made some contacts. And maybe Ryan'll write a poem about their experience together in the nation's capital. And Andrew ... he's still handing out roses.
2. Did Scott Peterson use Just For Men on his hair? It wasn't all that good a dye job.
3. The new film Identity is just shy of a slasher movie. Lots of people get wet and whacked on a rainy night in a motel in Nevada. It's a whodunit and a who's-gonna-get-it-next "psychological thriller." Jake Busey's in it and boy does he resemble his father Gary. (He's got the teeth.)
4. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post says Billy Bob Thornton looks "a bit like Jesus with his shoulder-length locks and troubled but kindy mien" in the new movie Levity. (Are he and Angelina completely over?)
5. Basketball great Yao Ming's Visa Check Card Yo commercial is pretty funny. He's trying to cash a check in a store that doesn't take them and keeps saying Yao while the sales clerk keeps responding Yo in a street cred way, referring to a sign behind her that states the policy. It's Yao and Yo all over the place. And then "Yo"-gi Berra shows up at the end. Well, you gotta see it.
6. Somebody said the Dixie Chicks should stick to "pickin' instead of politickin'." And they oughta keep their clothes on too. The Entertainment Weekly cover of them in the buff with slogans stenciled on their body parts is a bit much. Lots of air-brushing going on there.
7. Fox TV is often spelled FOX, like the other networks. But ABC, CBS and NBC's letters stand for something. FOX doesn't.
8. ABC's Extreme Makeover did some work on those two women this past week. Lots of gruesome plastic surgery. But they ended up the way they wanted. Some wishes do come true. (Gimme a Break!)
9. Mr. Big Stuff's tired of those bags of broken tortilla chips that constantly show up on the bottom. He doesn't like eating salsa with the broken ones. He only likes to dip whole. So he throws the bag away when he reaches the bottom. Would somebody work on that?
10. A Broken Wind. Uh - I mean A Mighty Wind. Ha Ha Ha.
11. CNN's Miles O'Brien the other day opened his show by saying, "It's 2 o'clock at the White House, 10 p.m. in Baghdad." Well, was it 2:00 just at the White House and not everywhere else on the east coast?
12. James Earl Jones is now breakdancing in his Verizon commercials. Hearing the voice on everything is enough; we don't have to see him too.
13. DANCE PIONEER DIES. Cholly Atkins, 89, died last Saturday in Las Vegas. He had an illustrious career starting in vaudeville as a tap act with Honi Coles and then choreographed for performers at New York's Cotton Club and Apollo Theater. He worked with Sammy Davis Jr. and the June Taylor Dancers on The Jackie Gleason Show in the 50s. But for this generation he was best known for creating moves for many rhythm and blues groups including Motown's Supremes, Temptations, Gladys Knight & The Pips and Marvin Gaye. He was the one who created the forward hand Stop the Supremes used in Stop! In the Name of Love.
14. The Roone Arledge autobiography comes out May 13. Roone: A Memoir details the career and world of television told by the former president of ABC News and Sports. A must-read for many media types.
15. Hard to believe that Bethlehem Steel is kaput.
16. Catherine Zeta-Jones finally became un-pregnant. That seemed like a long one. (She had a girl.)
17. Fox News Sunday ended their show this week with an Earth, Wind & Fire song. How journalistic is that?
18. Larry King's kids with wife Shawn are named Chance and Cannon. He got a thing for C's?
19. An article in Men's Fitness, the magazine that perpetually puts six-pack ab guys on the cover, has an article inside called, "17 Hot Buttons ... She Wants You to Push" and arranges the tips around a blonde gal lounging around in black underwear.
20. Current Bachelor Andrew Firestone is full of freckles. You don't see them most of the time but when he's in the hot tub I guess he doesn't wear makeup and they show up.
21. Naomi Judd acts like a nut and just a bit off on Star Search, the poor man's American Idol. And Arsenio Hall is at his worst, fawning and hugging every contestant that walks through. Pathetic.
22. SHE'S BACK. Arthel Neville's delivering the news headlines on CNN. She looks good and does a good job but they need to use her more.
23. . . . CNN has so many anchors on the air at one time that I'm confused. They're all over the place. They need to narrow that down.
24. NEVER SATISFIED. Some journalists are saying "peace stifles news." Things've slowed down a bit since the war's almost over and people don't know what to do. Something'll crop up. It always does.
25. Do the masks the men of Mr. Personality wear freak you out? One online reader said they reminded her of something a Hollywood serial killer would wear.
26. . . . And what do we think of Monica Lewinsky on the show? I guess she acts like a guide through paradise for the woman ISO (In Search Of). They need to give her more to do. She says a little here and there and conducts the final elimination on each installment.
27. Something about Tim Robbins' lighter hair doesn't work. He looks washed out.
28. SWAP SHOW. According to E! Online, Jay Leno and Katie Couric will switch jobs on Monday, May 12. He'll do Today and she'll do Tonight. Why is this happening?
29. The Follies show at Arlington, Va.'s Signature theater is one worth seeing. The Stephen Sondheim play has a huge cast and the playhouse does a good job of bringing the nostalgic story of former Broadway Ziegfield-type girls back for a reunion that stirs up old memories and romances.
30. MORE NOSTALGIA. Denny Doherty, original Papa in The Mamas and the Papas, has a musical show in New York that tells the story of the 60s pop rock group. Dream a Little Dream: The Mamas and the Papas Musical is Denny's memoir of how it all began and how things ended up. Three actor-singers play John and Michelle Phillips and Mama Cass Elliott.
31. Roseanne Cash's new album, Rules of Travel, sounds good. She's easy to listen to and it's country-flavored with good songs. Last Stop Before Home is a good cut that even Mr. High Falutin likes. And papa Johnny Cash sings along with her on one cut. She's an artist. Faith Hill and Shania Twain she ain't.
32. All that footage on Michael Jackson's Private Home Movies this past week was old. Like 10 years at least. Liz Taylor never looked so good and Michael before the extreme nose jobs looked decent. Once, for his birthday, Liz gave Michael an elephant, for crissakes, and he gave her a huge tapestry with her painted on it. She said she might need to buy another house to hang it in it was so big.
33. Here's hoping the great singer Luther Vandross recovers from his stroke. He's still in a coma at New York's Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical but stable condition.
34. There are too many film festivals. I can't keep track of them all. Next up is Cannes on May 14. Meg Ryan's a judge this year. Whaat?
35. Is Sen. Rick Santorum a dead man?
36. Casey Kasem will be issuing three CDs featuring Top Ten hits from three decades: The 60s (Motown's Greatest Hits), the 70s (Classic Rock's Greatest Hits) and the 80s (New Wave's Greatest Hits). Each disc contains 20 cuts. Coming out May 20.
37. Saddam Hussein's birthday's today. He's 66. Add one more 6 and he's the sign of the devil. Part of his horoscope said, "Efforts made this year bring dividends. Real estate features strongly. Change of home possible or likely." Rings true, huh?
38. A friend (29-years-old) of mine went to see The Real Cancun in a theater in New York this past weekend and there were two other people in there besides him. That's all. Something backfired with that movie.
39. Everytime I hear the phrase WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), I think of the 1989 rap song Self Destruction by the Stop the Violence Movement featuring KRS-One, Stetsasonic, Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte and many others. "Self destruction, ya headed for self destruction ..."
40. We'll always remember Little Eva. Eva Narcissus was a babysitting teenager for singer/songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin and wound up having a huge pop dance hit with The Loco-Motion in 1962. She died April 10 after a long illness.
41. . . . UH . . . Also by Little Eva: Keep Your Hands Off My Baby, Let's Turkey Trot and Swingin' on a Star with Big Dee Irwin, all on Dimension Records, from 1962/1963.
42. And Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, was more interested in eating grass the other morning rather than a chicken-flavored treat.

rocci@roccifisch.com

Archives