KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE SPARROW

1. . . . (Baretta's Theme). Sammy Davis Jr. did it in 1976 and so did Rhythm Heritage the same year. And someone else did it too, but right now I forget.
2. . . . Rhythm Heritage, a studio group, also did Theme From S.W.A.T. Now what did those letters stand for?
3. Lilly, the drug company, is now offering a one month free trial offer for Prozac Weekly. How convenient.
4. The Rock's (Dwayne Johnson) sure got a set of choppers. Perfect white teeth. And in the cover story of the latest RollingStone he says he shaves his entire body once a week, "but for the booty." "In front of the camera, it enhances the muscles," he says. Currently shooting The Scorpion King. He'll be the big next action star. Guaranteed.
5. A friend of mine calls Christina Aguilera this: Christina Ugly Haira. Ha Ha Ha.
6. Robert Blake's real name is Michael Gubitosi.
7. Lou Dobb's Moneyline show on CNN is doing some heavyweight booking. Hard-to-get people and lots of high-up talking head experts. He's been all over the place promoting his rekindled show.
8. DISTURBING AD: Woman giving birth with a laptop computer on her stomach. Couldn't she take a break?
9. Mr. Big Stuff asks this: "Is Stevie Nicks a real witch or what? She wears those kind of vampirey clothes all the time."
10. Reality shows are killing newsmagazines.
11. How smart is it to move 20/20 on Fridays to another night?
12. Crickets are taking over Sedona, Arizona. They're hopping all over the place. The folks at Red Rock Park out there say a lot of rain and heat have made the grasses real thick and tall and that's what they thrive in.
13. . . . Jiminy Cricket!
14. Friday's NBC Nightly News held executive producer Jonathan Wald's credit up at the end of the show for a real long time. There's been a shuffle over there and he's going to the Today show. Nice thank you for his time.
15. It looked like 14 year-old Nathaniel Brazill's attorney was sobbing in the kid's arms when they announced the guilty verdict. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?
16. Cher's 55 today. This courtesy of Rhino Records' yearly fact-filled rock 'n' roll calendar.
17. That Coldwell Banker metronomic beat TV ad with the dad and the mom and the daughter and the son bobbing their heads incessantly is really annoying. And stupid.
18. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is now known as just Morgan Stanley. What happened?
19. TITILLATING "NEWS": Entertainment Tonight the other night did a whole piece speculating that Jennifer Aniston was pregnant in real life as a result of her watching her Friends' co-stars' wedding. Well, at the end of the spot, they quoted her spokespeole as saying it was definitely not true. So why do it? It's an example of reporting today. Go with the rumors first, grab the audience, throw in a few minor facts and then back off the premise of the story.
20. The Race for the Cure's coming up Saturday, June 2.
21. READING: Cheng and Eng, the story of two conjoined twins from Siam who settled in the South prior to the Civil War. They toured the world's stages as a circus act, an oddity. Darin Strauss combines fiction with the facts to tell their story.
22. . . . They married two sisters-not conjoined-and fathered 21 children between them and lived into their sixties.
23. FYI: Perry Como, recently deceased, earned the very first gold record ever awarded a single by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for Catch a Falling Star in 1958.
24. . . . "Dream along with me . . . "
25. "A bit dog always hollers." Ain't that the truth?
26. A friend of mine says digital cable is draining her life. She's addicted to all the channels. She can't break loose. 14 HBOs, 10 Showtimes, . . . She's going crazy choosing and watching.
27. Should I have liposuction on my love handles? That's what some guys are doing. Dr. James Reardon on Park Avenue in New York does it. (212-832-0770)
28. Does Moulin Rouge mean "red mill?" They say there's an old mill wheel outside the place in Paris.
29. When you call for directory assistance for the rock club CBGB's in New York, the operator asks you if you want the main number or the number for pizza. Great.
30. Ben Affliction, er ... Affleck.
31. . . . AFLAC! Get that duck outta here!
32. Somebody oughta tell Jenna Bush how to dress for court. Even Puffy Combs donned a suit.
33. DON'T LIKE . . . Jennifer Lopez's new short streaked bobbed hairstyle. Jack Ford interviewed her this past week on GMA.
34. George Stephanopoulos' new beat is race relations.
35. Kenneth Branagh looked convincing as a Hitler security man in HBO's Conspiracy which aired over the weekend.
36. When NBC's Chip Reid reported from California on the power shortage, he was LIVE into his piece after an intro by Tom Brokaw. As he was saying "Billions of dollars lost in the power shortage," he visibly spit when he said "Billions." Guess that happens sometimes.
37. DIDN'T KNOW . . . That James MacArthur, detective Dan "Danno" Williams in Hawaii Five-0 was Helen Hayes' son. He was recently at Washington's Helen Hayes Awards show.
38. BY THE WAY. Remember those Hullabaloo editions (Volumes 5-8) that are now available on DVD of the rock 'n' roll TV show a la Shindig? The announcer of that show was none other than Washington's Johnny Holliday. His voice on all of 'em. And he knows his pop music trivia too.
39. Oded Fehr who plays Brendan Fraser's sidekick Ardeth in The Mummy Returns looks like Beatle George Harrison in the movie.
40. UH . . . What Is Life- George Harrison on Apple, from 1971. The album it's off of, All Things Must Pass, is now available again on CD. Great production
41. THIS JUST IN: Shrek. It's unbelievable. What they do with animation now is almost not to be believed. All the characters are funny and good, especially Shrek's sidekick donkey, voiced by Eddie Murphy. Must-see.

rocci@roccifisch.com

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