TICKLING THE IVORIES

1. . . . That's what Hershey Felder is doing down at Ford's Theatre in Washington. He plays American composer George Gershwin in a one-man show he wrote called George Gershwin Alone. He talks, acts, sings and plays piano like him and tells the story of his life, family, work and how he was inspired. Interesting. (Gershwin died young at 38.)
2. The upcoming Civil War movie epic, Gods and Generals (it runs 3 hours and 45 minutes/opens February 21) is a "Ted Turner Picture." He's leaving CNN but is keeping his hands in his movie company.
3. J. LO, EAT YOUR HEART OUT. They have implants for your derriere now. VH1 had a special on that featured a girl/woman who wanted to have a behind that looked like J. Lo's and that's what she got. Filled out her jeans more.
4. I bet Joe Millionaire picks the dark, curly-haired woman. Think her name's Melissa.
5. American Idol's ready to start with the competition this week. There are 32 finalists who now will be whittled down.
6. TOO MUCH APPLAUSE. For the State of the Union. Someone said Bush was interrupted 89 times. That makes the whole speech a bunch of phrases. It's written that way. Drags things out too much.
7. Methinks British Prime Minister Tony Blair uses a brown hair rinse. The gray's peeking out the sides though.
8. . . . And Mr. Big Stuff suspects President Bush must be using Grecian Formula. He says his hair's darker now, less brown-ish. But, like Tony Blair, the gray's doing the peek thing on the sides.
9. Former ABC News correspondent for many years, Greg Dobbs, was a talking head panelist on CNN's TalkBack Live last week. He's now a syndicated talk show host. He obviously looks a bit older but was very good. Subject: What to do with Saddam Hussein. What else?
10. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met with Bush last week about Iraq. (He's supports an attack.) He's also one of the wealthiest men in the world and also happens to be on trial right now for corruption.
11. They say Dame Edna's show at Washington's National Theatre was a hoot. (Over now.) She/he's (Barry Humphries) been doing the character since 1956 when he created her for a Melbourne, Australia theater group. (Yes, s/he's from Australia. I didn't know that.)
12. NEW RUSSELL CROWE? Actor Colin Farrell needs to be knocked down a few notches. (He and Britney Spears have been seen out together recently.) He cusses and brags a lot and looks stubbly all the time. He's currently in The Recruit with Al Pacino. USA Today calls him a "Tinseltown tomcat."
13. THERE REALLY IS A DICK CHENEY. Yeah, we've been seeing a lot more of him lately. Guess the bunker gets old quick.
14. CNN morning anchor Leon Harris shops at Wal-Mart.
15. What kind of a logo is that green box square that H&R Block uses? It's a big nothing.
16. The Practice on ABC is floundering on Monday nights. It came in fourth and show producer David E. Kelley called the time-period change "an act of stupidity."
17. Nobody ever got back to me about how to spell "chili," but a friend of mine once saw a sign in front of the embassy of Chile in Washington that said, Parking Only For Embassy of Chili. So there.
18. Somebody said the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a major east coast storm in February.
19. That nose that Nicole Kidman wears portraying Virginia Woolf in The Hours makes her look cross-eyed. I guess it sorta gets in the way.
20. Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, watched Animal Planet's Pet Star Friday night but was more interested in begging for food.
21. The Rock has his head shaved now. Looks okay. He was on Jimmy Kimmel the other night. I wish we could see that show in the Washington area. Can somebody work on that before it's cancelled?
22. The new Dragnet TV show theme is pretty good. It has that familiar "dum-da-DUM-dum" (courtesy Tom Shales, The Washington Post) going through it and speeds along pretty well. Now we've gotta see if the show's any good.
23. Guitar-playing Bachelorette dumpee Greg Todtman was busted for cocaine possession (a very small amount) at JFK airport Thursday on his way to LA. Maybe he and bondage
24. flick actress Sarah Kozer from Joe Millionaiare should get together.
25. GROUNDHOG DAY. Today is. And a Penn State University researcher says that Punxutawney Phil and others of his ilk venture out of hibernation in February not to see their shadows but to check out the females and see what the selection is and where they're at. Lovey dovies.
26. Rap song The Message, by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (1982/Sugar Hill Records) made the Top 50 in the Library of Congress's newly established national registry of American sound recordings. Librarian of Congress James Billington admits that rap isn't his cup of tea but said that it was part of the "American cultural heritage". Very cool. Other "pop" songs on the list are Aretha's Respect, What'd I Say by Ray Charles, Elvis Presley's Sun Records sessions (1954-1955), How High the Moon by Les Paul and Mary Ford and Bing Crosby's White Christmas.
27. Jason Priestly doesn't even look like he was in that race car accident. His recovery's amazing and his face looks the same - just maybe a little weight put on. He was featured on Friday's 20/20. and took Barbara Walters out for a drive in a convertible in LA. He hasn't ruled out race driving again. Man, let it be.
28. Now there are 2 Michael Jackson TV specials coming up. ABC's is Friday, Feb. 7 and NBC's Dateline special is Feb. 17. The ABC show is actually a British TV documentary that features journalist Martin Bashir reporting and who spent eight months with Jackson and talked about the whole career thing plus the plastic surgery and child abuse allegations. At one point in it, Michael's up in a tree. How rustic.
29. Newsweek's roundtable Q&A with supporting actors and actresses in the running for the Oscars was a good read. It featured John C. Reilly, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chris Cooper, Christopher Walken, Kathy Bates and Dennis Quaid. Good luck to ‘em all. Good movies this year.
30. UH . . . It Was a Very Good Year - Frank Sinatra, from 1966 on Reprise.
    
    

    rocci@roccifisch.com

    
    

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