Rocci Fisch

June 3, 2005

"LADY AND GENTLEMAN, START YOUR ENGINES"

. . . That's what the announcer at this year's Indy 500 said. Because of Danica Patrick who wound up coming in fourth place, the first woman to ever do so.

. . . She made more front page headlines and photos than the winner, Dan Wheldon. Seemed the winner was incidental.

Where did Sharon Stone get that long hair she's got now, shown in the photos in last week's People, with her newly-adopted second son, Laird Vonne Stone? She usually has that short, cropped, sticking-up hair all the time that's her answer to punk style or something. Maybe it's for a more motherly look.

FAST TALKER. Pete Williams of NBC News. That guy's words per second rate is unbelieveable in his reports, usually about justice and national security and intelligence issues. NOTICED: Old news, but they're getting him out of the studio for his standup closes more. Used to be he'd end each report in the NBC Washington bureau but now he's more often on location with buildings or fountains behind him.

. . . A man who could talk as fast or maybe faster was Joe Templeton of ABC News. A longtime radio anchor and TV correspondent for the network, Joe died in early May. A very personable guy, totally unaffected and pleasant and unpolitical. A rarity in the business. I remember when he did the afternoon News Briefs that came out of the Washington bureau at just before 2 o'clock each day. He did everything in a snap and didn't make a big deal out of it. He will be missed. His friends called him Joe T.

I thought Linda Lovelace was Deep Throat.

It seems that John McCain's on TV more than he's in the halls of Congress. Every weekend he's on one of the talk shows (last Sunday it was CNN's Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer) and he makes a few appearances during the week on the morning shows and is always part of congressional coverage for the nightly network evening news. And over the weekend his story of being a POW during Vietnam was on A&E (Faith of My Fathers) So he gets around.

Local TV ratings for Washington show that ABC7 News at 5 is now number one in the market. So the station got all their big gun stars saying "thank you " on camera in a promo spot that's been running throughout the day and night to celebrate. But it's not entirely fresh. They're using the same thank you's that ran some months back in another promo made to celebrate another milestone. (They did record a new top to it, however, with anchorman Leon Harris saying a fresh thank you.) This one's got rerun written all over it. It's recycled, repurposed. Couldn't they make a new one? People notice.

So why did W. Mark Felt (Deep Throat) reveal himself and give his scoop to Vanity Fair instead of The Washington Post? He held his secret all those years and then didn't even tell the paper that birthed his fame? He doesn't know which side his bread is buttered on, or something like that.

NBC's Campbell Brown has changed her hairstyle. It's still brown (may have some highlights) and long (a tad shorter) but it's now parted on the left and she's made up more. She looks different from the way she used to look. I guess some New York stylist got to her. They always do change the do.

A TELEVISION EVENT. "Pitt and Sawyer," said a promo for it, as in Brad and Diane. The Interview, ABC calls it. (Doesn't Rolling Stone magazine call their exclusives, The Interview?) On Prime Time Live, Tuesday, June 7 at 10. And Pitt's on the cover of GQ plus he recently had his photo shot in a barn or somewhere for some magazine, wearing a very oversized pair of jean overalls, so big on him that it looked like he was wearing a barrel.

Paul Revere of Paul Revere & The Raiders fame is 67. Good God, how did that happen? The Washington Post mentioned his age in a NAMES & FACES blurb about him and Nancy Sinatra receiving awards from Harley riders Rolling Thunder for "dedication to American troops, veterans and POW-MIAs." His hit songs Kicks and Hungry (both 1966, Columbia) were popular with the troops back in ‘Nam.

MONSTER-IN-LAW. Jane Fonda's the star of that movie. It wouldn't be anything without her. Jennifer Lopez: Also ran. Fonda eats the scenery and plays her role as future mother-in- law to the hilt. Some funny scenes. For JLo, it's just another movie where she swoons over a man like some teenbopper and thinks she'll never get him but does. She needs to grow up. Small, silly, squeaky voice. She's an actress?

Some 19-year-old told me, "You can't take the rap out of crap." I enjoyed hearing that.

"OUR HOUSE" That song by Madness (1983, Geffen) is selling Maxwell House coffee now. "Make your house a Maxwell House," says the TV ad. The song is group-sung by a bunch firemen and women standing outside a station. It gets on my nerves, but then again, what doesn't?

. . . It's not the same calming Our House that Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang back in 1970 (Atlantic).

TALK ABOUT OVERLY EXPLAINED. The New York Times wrote this about the summer performance schedule for the Broadway play Sweet Charity, starring Christina Applegate, at the Hirschfield Theatre: "From June 20 through Aug. 28, it will play at 8 p.m. from Tuesday through Saturday, at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday and at 3 p.m.on Sunday. (It is currently playing at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, 2 p.m.on Wednesday, 8 on Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 on Saturday and 2 and 7 on Sunday.)."

. . . Is all that necessary? Talk about anal. I can't figure out when to go.

Sen. Sam Bareback, um ... I mean Brownback, was on This Week With George Stephanoupolos last Sunday.

. . . Stephanopoulos was expecting his second baby while he was doing the show on Sunday. Good Morning America weekend anchor Bill Weir asked him about it and Stephanopoulos held up his arm with his watch on it and said he was watching the clock and waiting. But it didn't happen during the show so he didn't have to leave in midstream. (LATER: It happened on Thursday. A second daughter.)

"I live in God's dream for me," said Oprah Winfrey at some dream function in Washington last week. So she's got a divine mission or something?

LEFT THIS OUT. A couple weeks ago I mentioned that Coke was using a variation on the song, Coconut (Lime in the Coconut) and that it was done by the Baha Men. That is true. But I neglected to say it was originally sung and written by Harry Nilsson (1972, RCA Victor) Thanks to one of you readers out there.

. . . I still never wanna hear it again.

Mr. Highfalutin caught the Modigliani exhibit at the Phillips Collection in Washington before it left town. He said he found the paintings to be a "revelation." Oh shut up.

American Idol judge and real life record producer Simon Cowell has a group of young guys he put together who sing pop opera ... Il Divo. They have a self-titled album out and were on Ellen last week and sang Unchained Melody, a great song. It was too much to bear. A co-worker of mine said they sang it with too much vibrato. All four of them were vibrato-ing all over the place.

I'VE ALWAYS ASKED THIS. Who was the bright SOB who decided NOT to put a cent character on the standard computer keyboard? You have to type 5 cents or 50 cents or do all this: $.05. They had time to put this - ~ - on it, whatever that symbol's for, but no time to put a simple cent sign on it? Who decided to retire the symbol? You have to go somewhere else in your computer to find the damn thing and it's too complicated and takes too long. So I'm mad about it.

WHAT WAS HE THINKING? Phil Spector. The famed record producer's hair last week was a sky high ball of weave in a picture I saw of him last week, somewhere in between an Afro and a bouffant. (He's the one charged in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson). His face looked small inside all of that mess.

MOVEMENT. Technology writer David McGuire leaves washingtonpost.com for the Center for Democracy and Technology and becomes their director of communications. The CDT promotes democratic values in the digital age and covers issues such as rights and governance on the Internet, intellectual property , etc. This is an up-and-coming area now. Good Luck Dave. He's also a yoga aficionado.

When Mary Kay Letourneau was in the news a couple weeks ago about her wedding to her former student Vili Fualaau, Mr. Big Stuff thought everybody was talking about the Mary Kay cosmetics woman. He ought to get out more.

LAYER CAKE. Decent Brit movie about a young man who's ready to retire and get out of the drug trade. He's only known as X in the movie but Daniel Craig plays the part. (It's been reported that he'll be the new James Bond) Well directed with all kinds of wild characters.

Looks like Tim Russert's hair's been lightened. Happens to the best of them.

. . . Russert and Tom Brokaw were on the Today show this week talking about Deep Throat. Brokaw's been back on the air several times since he left. Seems he's always showing up again. Why doesn't he just come out of reirement? He left too soon, if you ask me.

LISTENING TO . . . The Cameo-Parkway box set, with hits from the Philadelphia record company from 1957 through 1967. C-P pre-dated the Philly Sound of the 70s. It was home to pop icon Chubby Checker (The Twist) and has all his big hits plus those of teen idol Bobby Rydell (Kissin' Time, Volare), Dee Dee Sharp (Mashed Potato Time), the Orlons (Wah-Watusi), the Dovells (Bristol Stomp), the Tymes (So Much in Love) and many, many others. Those original hits are finally available after years of waiting. (Former Beatles manager and record exec Allen Klein has been holding them.)

Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, had a visitor last week. Her human grandfather (owner Sally's dad) was here from California. Pops also met Gidget, the bare-eyed cockatoo, for the first time. But he indicated that he liked Hanalie better than the bird and that made the dog happy. At least this is what I'm told.

TASMANIAN DEVILS FACE EXTINCTION. (Remember the Looney Tunes character with that laugh?) The real devils's population has decreased by half in the country of Tasmania (the only place that has them) due to facial tumors, a kind of cancer virus which spreads among the marsupials when they bite each other. So let's do something about it. They're cute.

This question came in to a Deep Throat online discussion at washingtonpost.com: "Did Martha Graham have concerns about Deep Throat?" WRONG.The dummy meant Katharine Graham. Martha Graham was the dancer. But then again, Martha Mitchell was around at the time. Maybe they meant her.

UH . . . Kentucky Bluebird (Message to Martha) - Lou Johnson, on Amy. Later done by Dionne Warwick and re-titled Message to Michael (Scepter, 1966).