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fanuaty /hrbtumry. 1**79
5
Ampersand
First, the Important News
Ft FFTWOOD MAC’S CHRISTINE Me V IE is
keeping Meads company with Beach boy
Dennis Wilson. Stephen Stills, poised to
l.uinch a nevt hand with Bonnie Branileil.
is hlisslul in Bel Air with actress Susan
Saint James. And Bill S|MM>ner. leader ol the
lubes, and wife ('indy, a Tube dancer, are
expecting their first child any minute. All
together now: a test Tutie baby! The group's
new album. Remote Control, produced by liidd
Kundgren, is also expected any minute.
Talk About Culture Shock
THE FIRST FILMS requested by China—now
that the arts of (he western world are avail
able to them — were those made by Charlie
Chaplin. The first recent American film the
Chinese people will see is . . . Futureworld.
Because American International Pictures
raced to Peking with a contract in hand,
that's why.
Transitions
Drummer Aynslev Dunbar has been
hired by Jefferson Starship to replace John
Barl>ata, who is still recuperating from in
juries incurred in a serious auto accident last
year. Dunbar is not temporary; the group is
not even pretending to wait for Barbata’s
ret livery.
J. D. SOUTHER was dropped by Klektra/
Asylum after he spent some $T00,000 on his
new alburn — and recorded only five songs.
But K/A has gained Martin Mull; his lirst
effort for the laliel (his third) is titled Mull
Nreomes F.lektra. It cost about $I.9H to record.
Cat Stevens has reportedly abandoned all
|iersorial ap|iearam e plans in the foreseeable
future; he’s living in Rio de Janeiro where he
recently joined the Moslem faith, changing
his name to Yusef Islam. That's his third
name so far; hr started out in life as Steven
Dimitri Ciorgio.
Animal-Hippie-White
House?
In a quick maneuver to match the
megabucks generated over at Universal by
Sational lampoon's Matty Simmons and Am
mat Home, Paramount Pictures signed Rolling
Slone editor and publisher Jann Wenner to a
three-picture deal to “develop” youth-
oriented movies. Obviously, no one at
Paramount ever saw The Rolling Stone Tenth
Anniversary TV Special. The first Wenner
project — which Wenner will not produce, so
his role in all this is vague at best — will l»e
scribbled by Slone's Senior Kditor Ben
Fong-'lbrres, to whom we wish boodles of
luck. Fong-Tixrex is not quite a movie virgin;
he recently did a brief acting stint in
Amencalhnn, in which he plays a Chinese
tourist stealing mementos from the White
House. “Type casting,” says Fong-'lbrres.
Amencalhon — which is not a Wenner
project — sounds like a logical successor to
Animal Home's mindless humor. It takes place
in PPM when America is $400 billion in debt,
liankrupt, totally kaput The Western White
Mouse is a condominium in Marina del Rey,
.ill our oil is dry, we’re a nation of bicyclers. A
journalist Hunter S Thompson in If here tht
Buffalo Roam, also starring Peter Boyle
California Rock Party
At a gala fete honoring publication of their new Ixxik, California Rod,
California Sound (which was the source of Ampersand's ()ctober Joni Mitchell
cover story) and also celebrating display of the Imok's photographs in the
Mirage Gallery, author Anthony Fawcett and photographer Henry Dill/
watched hungry press hordes devour insufficient quantities of enchiladas
and margueritax. Jackuin Browne, who is featured in the I took, (bopped by
and apparently surprised Dill/ (right).
hunch of crazy, nutty folks present a telethon
to pull America out of the hole; Harvey Kor-
man is the smarmy telethon emcee, Peter
Riegert I Boon of Animal Home) is a media
consultant, Fred Willard is the dastardly
Vice President, John Killer is Prez. F.lvis
Costello appears briefly, exhorting the
Fnglish to pledge money for America. This
bit of fun was filmed at Mount St. Mary's
College in downtown Los Angeles, mas
querading as London’s Hyde Park. Proving
we don't have to wait until IVH for a budget
crisis.
Remakes, Spinoffs &
Copies
After MONTHS of on-off bargaining, Neil
Diamond has finally agreed to play Aljolson
in a remake id The Jazz Singer, for which he’ll
earn $5 million — $1 million in cash, $4 mil
lion in soundtrack rights (to be forked over by
Capitol, not Diamond's laliel, Columbia).
STAYING Alive, THE television series based
nn Saturday Sight Fever, is now called Maim'It
alxiut a family’s survival or, as one spokes
person said, "Happy Days in the Seventies.'
The parents are played by law Antonio and
Tlllen Travolta, a name we’ve seen some
where before.
Barney Miller, one ni Ampersand's favo
rite television series, may have one less detec
tive in the squalid squad room: Maxwell
Gail, who plays Wojchowicz, will have his
own series if an hour-long spinoff segment
sells, half of the show will tie Wojo al work,
the other half Wojo at home . with a re
formed hooker, (hi less.
George Harrison’s new album, so far
called (ieotge Harmon, actually has a song
tailed “Here Comes the Moon "
Ample Ans^st
Michaf.lanclo Antonioni’S next
ret is called Suffer or Ihr, appropriate for this
angst-laden Italian director: it stars Gian-
carloGiannini (in a role turned down by Jack
Nicholson. Richard Gere, and Ryan O'Neal)
as an architect caught up in the eerie history
of a monastery he is hired to convert into a
mansion for rich owner Mick (agger 'The
screenplay by Anthony Burgess, an angst
laden Britisher, is being rewritten by Buck
Henry, who has no angst to grind at all.
You Mean We'll Actually
Have To Read Books?
CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED. “|(rrat lilrralurr III
comic Ixxik format,’’ a staple with students
since the Forties, is out of business. Collec
tors. take note: an original Classics Illus
trated Three Musketeers is worth a fast $75.
r
Do These Plots Sound
Familiar?
TAKE Down, a new film from Disney star
ring laoren/.o Lamas (son of Fernando), re
counts the hapless adventures of a losing high
school wrestling team which is sparked to
greatness by the prowess of I .a max. wholmds
self confidence and respect thtough sii|x-rioi
grappling.
THE RAMONES AND their music are featured
in Rock and Roll High School, a wild, silly battle
of “wits” betwen the "good” rowdy students
of Vince laimliardi High and the “bad” prin
cipal, all leading to an explosive conclusion:
the high school blows up.
F lick F'ax
Steve Martin’s first film. Money to Rum.
will be directed by Carl Reiner Peter
Frampton will star in two films for Orion
Pictures, the first described as a “comedy
drama concerning a rock star . . . but not a
musical.” Thanks for small favors . Mac
Davis makes his acting debut in Sorlh Dallas
Forty, starring Nick Nolle . Playwright
Sam Shepard, who made his acting debut in
Days oj lleaien, will co-star opposite Lllen
Burstyn in Ressurection, alxiut a female christ
. . Monty Python's l.ife of Brian is finally fin
ished. and Graham (Tiapman (the tall one) is
now in Los Angeles collalxirating on a new
film script and planning his first U.S. college
lecture lour . . Ralph Bakshi's next feature-
length animated film will lie American Pop.
with 17 musical numliers illustrating the his
tory of American music as witnessed by a
ten-year-old hoy who arrives in this country
in 1910 anti hops along to I‘MO . Bill Mur
ray of Saturday Night Live may play gonzo
Our Heroes
Bi dding historians, sociology
students and anyone with an abiding
interest in rock and roll would lx* well
adv ised to park themselves in front of a
TV set on Friday night. February 9.
when ABC will broadcast Heroes of
Ro*k and Roll, a two-hour prime-time
d(K'umentary (9 p\t nationwide) that
is light years ahead of the standards
normally assixiated with TV rock.
Narrated by Jeff Bridges. Heroes is a
chronological history of 25 years ol
rock and roll presented in a snappy,
fast-paced montage that’s highly
entertaining, often hilarious and
enormously informative. It’s the first
time the "Big Four”—Presley, Bea
tles, Stones and Dylan — have been
featured on the same show and the
action is spired with rare fixitage of
Hank Williams, Buddy Holly and
never-before-seen clips of the Beatles
performing at the Cavern in Liverpool
in 1952.
The program is particularly strong
in detailing the early years of rexk,
emphasizing its roots in black musn
and illustrating the stxial climate of
the era from which it sprang With
nx k and roll such an integral part of
the current cultural landscape, it's
Ixith amusing and eye-opening to wit
ness the fear and loathing with which it
was originally viewed by the guardians
of public morality and decency.
T he least interesting part of the
show — and the one containing the
most glaring omissions in terms of ar
tistic selection — is the section dealing
with the Seventies (which may relied
more on the quality of this decade's
performers than anything else) Still.
Heroes of Rock and Roll is easilv the most
knowledgeable and thorough hxik at
the subject ever presented on televi
sion. Don't miss it.
Don Snowden