From the Metropolis Planet (Metropolis, Illinois):

Metropolis will be full of bad guys and girls June 7-10 during the 23rd annual Superman Celebration. Villains will abound, as three heavies from the Superman movies will come to town as part of the festivities. Jack O'Halloran, Valerie Perrine and Sarah Douglas are all scheduled to appear.
     O'Halloran, who played Non in Superman: The Movie and in Superman II, will be among the headliners. O'Halloran, who is 6'6", has made a career of playing villains in, among other movies, the 1987 version of Dragnet.
     Perrine, who played the part of Lex Luther's assistant Miss Teschmacher, will also be on hand. Perrine has appeared in almost 50 movies, including the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. She won Best Actress honors at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Lenny Bruce's wife acting with Dustin Hoffman in Lenny in 1974. She recently appeared in What Women Want, with Mel Gibson.
     Another Superman: The Movie alumnus will be in town. Jeff East, who played the young Clark Kent, will come to this year's celebration. East's other roles include Huckleberry Finn in the 1973 movie Tom Sawyer and Klondike Fever.
     Douglas, who played the beautiful but deadly Ursa, is also scheduled to appear. Her other credits include several appearances in the television series Batman Beyond.
     The celebration will also include many of the popular events which have become mainstays over the years, along with some new twists. The festivities will kick off with the ribbon cutting at the Superman Statue on the courthouse square at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 7. The Superman Drama will be held at 5:15 at the tent on the square. At 5:30, the Lois Lane Award will be presented, along with other awards.
     On Friday night, Superman experts John Field and Jim Bowers will host the Superman Film Festival. They will show 10 of the best episodes of The Adventures of Superman television series. Also scheduled is the showing of the Superman: The Movie special edition on DVD. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.
     David Cassidy, best remembered as Keith Partridge on The Partridge Family television show, will perform on the riverfront Friday night.
     On Saturday, the sixth annual Superman JLA Celebration Auction and the George Awards will be held starting at 5 p.m. in Players Theater. The auction features Superman-related memorabilia. Last year, prices for the items ranged from $5 to $10,000 and included such keepsakes as an original Superman cape from the movie series and original artwork. Entertainment, as always, will cater to people with a variety of musical tastes.
     Bands include The Hoppers, a gospel group, at 7 p.m. Thursday; Brad's Backwater Blues Band, 7 p.m. Friday; and American Grease, an Ohio group which plays 40 years of rock and roll music. There will be disc jockeys, including Joe "Thumper" Murphy, entertaining the crowd at the main tent from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.
    There will be three tents this year. The main tent will be on the courthouse square and the children's tent will be located at Eighth and Market streets, as last year. There will also be a tent primarily for men's activities, located at the vacant lot at the corner of Ferry and Sixth streets.
    Returning favorites include magician Kal Kotter, the Little Miss and Mr. Superman Pageant, the road race and the bike trek. As last year, there will be a stunt bike show. Plans are for three exhibitions on Saturday. At the childrens' tent there will be exhibitions of baton twirlers, pom poms and a dance team. Metro Chamber director Becky Lambert also said organizers hope to get
artists or groups to paint the windows on vacant buildings uptown with Superman themes.
     Scott Cranford, who will reprise his role as Superman this year during the celebration, will also be getting married to his real-life girlfriend Marcella En-cinas on Sunday afternoon, after all the other celebration activities have been completed. A limited edition wedding album will be published after the wedding. There will be special prizes for the two first-place costume contest winners and one hero and heroine will be chosen to participate in the wedding as best man and maid of honor.
     Super Museum owner Jim Hambrick also said there will be some surprise Superman writers and artists, although the list was not confirmed as of press time. New this year will be a flea market of antiques and collectibles at the carpenters' union hall and a washer pitching contest.

Forget today's boy bands! David and Shaun Cassidy and Rex Smith made armies of young girls squeal with delight all by themselves! At age 21, with his hit song I Think I Love You and as star of the ABC sitcom The Partridge Family, dark-haired David was scream king of them all, with millions of fawning female fans willing to do anything for him.
     "Once I got them into my house or hotel room, I found I could tell them to get down on their knees and bark like a dog or act like a choo-choo train and they'd gladly do it," he reveals. "I did some things I now think are degrading toward women that I'm ashamed of.
     Among his many sexual conquests was his TV sister Susan Dey, who went on to star in L.A. Law. But David squandered his fortune in a series of bad business deals, burned himself out with wild partying and experimented with drugs, including LSD, cocaine and heroin.
     Of the $8 million he raked in between 1970 and 1974, he says he had less than $1,000 left when he got his second divorce in 1986.
     Today, david, 51, is raising a son with his wife Sue Shifrin. He also has a string of racehorses and is a smash hit on Broadway.
     Like his older half brother, Shaun Cassidy found fame in song with his smash hit Da Doo Ron Ron and on TV in the ABC detective drama The Hardy Boys.
     But Shaun just couldn't keep up with David and his attempt to break into serious rock failed in 1980. Today, Shaun, 42, is a TV producer and married to actress Susan Diol. He has two children with his first wife, model Ann Pennington.
     After leaving teenage girls gasping for air with his hit song You Take My Breath Away, Rex Smith became a stage star and played Darryl Crawford on the soap As the World Turns.
     Recently, Rex, 44, returned to Broadway in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun.
     He's married to his manager, Courtney Shrage Smith, with whom he has a son, Gatsby. He has two daughters from his first marriage and a son from another relationship.

Teen crushes can lead to depression and delinquency — but not in my neck of the woods
     They always seemed such innocent emblems of burgeoning adolescence. Posters of pop stars, ripped from a teen mag, curling at the edges and with lipsticked embellishments are the essential backdrop to the bedrooms of most 13-year-old girls.
There, in a blizzard of supercharged emotions, the young teenager will sit and pine for Robbie Williams or Leonardo DiCaprio, resisting all her mother’s attempts to get her doing something sensible. The teenage crush on a winsome bit of beefcake who is utterly beyond reach is an accepted rite of passage.
     Yet results from an American research programme show that puppy love in girls under 17 is linked to depression. Girls who experience such love are 30 per cent more likely to go on to exhibit symptoms of depressive illness, and more likely to marry early but unhappily. Whether the object of their crush is a real person or a celebrity, the risk to their mental health is just as great.
     With this in mind, I went into my 14-year-old daughter’s room to inspect the tableau of boy bands and Hollywood hunks. Her walls contained the statutory Leo pic and multiple offerings of Backstreet Boys trying to look mean and moody, but nothing that looked likely to trigger derangement. The four-year study by sociologists from Cornell University and the University of North Carolina, of 12,000 boys and girls aged between 12 and 17, found a “statistically significant” number of serious casualties of early romance. So why has my daughter apparently not suffered? She certainly exhibits most other side-effects of adolescence, such as a wearisome dissatisfaction with parts of her body. Susan Van Scoyoc, a psychologist who specialises in relationships, says that teen crushes which are carried too far are a clue to other problems rather than being the actual cause of depression: “We are not talking about the usual schoolgirl crush. It could be a symptom that this young person already has the kind of personality which fixates on someone.”
     The US study showed that boys are more likely to turn to delinquency and alcohol, girls to suffer from depression. Ms Van Scoyoc, who is clinical director of The Women’s Practice in Harley Street, says: “Boys and young men are more likely to turn to risk-taking behaviour when they are unhappy. They act out their role. Girls who are upset in love feel it is less acceptable to show their anger, so they turn it inwards.”
     My daughter last year dismissed Verona’s Juliet as rather sad and found Bridget Jones’s Diary hilarious but unreal. In our patch of Northumberland, crushes seem to be played out by the age of ten. Eight and nine-year-olds swivel their hips lubriciously to the latest pop craze. By 14 they are toughening up, perceiving the imperfections of real boys and predicting complete failure in their GCSEs (two years away) but planning their gap year just in case.
     As a post-feminist who spurned all but the mildest of crushes, I am relieved. We appreciated the delights of David Cassidy but were aware that working hard at our grammar school would allow us to play hard later on. Crushes on real boys were equally rare. A few opportunistic older men (all of 19 or 20) decided that they were the love objects of some of the racier girls. Any thoughts of David Cassidy were blown away as we listened, appalled, to the experiences of these girls who decided to leap on the sexual bandwagon of the post-Pill era before going on to conquer the world.
     Much later on, I found myself interviewing some of our heart-throbs. Past their prime, washed up, over-lustful and often surprisingly short of stature, they were the perfect antidote to any residual feelings of teen love.
 

At 40, I finally became normal," says Sheena Easton, who is now 42, and thereby spent about half her normal life working in Las Vegas last year.
     The Strip missed the pop tart of "Morning Train (Nine to Five)," the slinky diva from "Strut" and the Prince partner who riled Tipper Gore with a song called "Sugar Walls."
     These days, Easton's summer job at the Las Vegas Hilton isn't likely to generate the fodder Scottish tabloids are looking for back in her home country.
     "It's more mundane than glamorous to say, but (this) is what kind of predicates my life now: `Where can I have a normal family life and still work?'
     "The one thing I have this terrible fear of is being Judy Garland and my kids growing up with this wacky sort of distorted life."
     Still, some will try to snicker that the 330-seat NightClub is a comedown from the lofty heights of 1989 and its No. 2 single, "The Lover in Me."
     But even that won't rile her. For one thing, the singer may switch between the club and the larger Hilton showroom, depending on demand. And the Hilton asked her to sign up for a year.
     That was impossible because of commitments to promote Easton's Euro-disco album "Fabulous," which is only available in U.S. import bins.
     "I actually told my manager to call up and ask, `They're gonna say no, but ask if I can just come in for summer vacation? " she says.
     They said yes. Now, "I get to have my cake and eat it, too." Her two children will spend the summer in Las Vegas, but the engagement ends Labor Day weekend, just in time to get back for school in California.
     Family considerations also prompted Easton to join David Cassidy in the Rio's "At the Copa" early last year. It seemed like a good idea, a semi-"book" show with a light plot tapping into the retro-swing revival, with Cassidy as a singing waiter who falls for a gangster's gal (Easton).
     But the show was uneven, and attempts to rein it in sacrificed the wrong number: Easton's sterling rendition of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man." Gossip columnists wrote that she and Cassidy feuded.
     For the record, she and Cassidy "were neither friends nor enemies. I would see him when we were onstage." They would chat in the wings just before showtime, and when it came to his business as the producer, "I was pretty much kept out of the loop."
     "Sometimes I felt sorry for him" trying to be both producer and star, she adds. "I like having checks and balances. If somebody says, `I don't like your dress,' that's just a matter of opinion. But if 14 people don't like your dress ...
     "He locked into this semi-book thing and didn't really want to leave that, which wouldn't have been my choice. But it wasn't my show. I've got to give him credit. He had a real strong sense of what he wanted that show to be and stuck with it, good bad or indifferent."
     But she had no desire to sign on for a second year, which never materialized anyway because the show closed.
     Returning to Las Vegas just seemed more right this time. The first time, "I went through real emotional highs and lows. I hadn't made friends yet and I was away from my friends back in L.A. I felt kind of isolated because it was all about work."
     Now, "I'm excited to be coming back. My kids (Jake, 6, and Skylar, 5) have really good friends here. They've kept in touch. There's two or three mothers of  other kids (who) I've stayed in touch with."
     And the NightClub booking will be an opportunity to redefine Sheena Easton, who spent the past few years doing everything from an album of standards ("No Strings") to voices for animated films and TV shows.
     She took herself out of the race for hit singles 10 years ago.
     "Life is not about whether you can you sell an album anymore. If it was, my career would be in the toilet. I haven't made a commercial album in a long time," she says.
     "I look at somebody like Madonna and I say, `You go girl.' I don't know how she does it. She's my age, and she makes an up-tempo record and it doesn't sound stupid. ... If I tried to put out an album like Madonna, I couldn't take myself seriously."
     But then, Easton is the first to volunteer she never had Madonna's club cachet, not with a career that began with the pop single "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" back in 1981.
     Born Sheena Orr in the Glasgow suburb of Belshill, she was the youngest of six children in a small industrial town. People write of her "poor and humble beginnings," she says, but "I didn't feel I was deprived of anything because there were no class divisions. I didn't know anybody who didn't work in the factory."
     Still, by age 17, her sights were set on show business and she auditioned for everything from "Annie" to "Evita" while attending the Royal Scottish Academy of  Music and Drama on a scholarship.
     A talent scout for the British Broadcasting Corp. reached her through a teacher. "My career might have been different if they'd sent a man out," she notes, because the talent scout wanted Easton to come up to her hotel room and sing.
     "Can you imagine if that was some 25-year-old guy? I've been around the block enough times to know what that's code for."
     Instead, Easton ended up being followed around by camera crews for a documentary  "The Big Time: Pop Singer," which chronicled the making of her debut album.
     In 1981, "For Your Eyes Only" made her the only singer of a James Bond theme to be seen in the title credits of the movie. From there, her career yo-yoed from a  middle-of-the-road duet with Kenny Rogers ("We've Got Tonight") to a steamy Prince collaboration ("U Got the Look").
     By the time she was 30, "I was so burned out I almost quit completely," she says.
     "Because I'd been in high-pressure markets since I was 19, by the time I was 30,  I'd lived a life most people don't get until they're 40. I was already at the point where I had that cynical, `Is that all there is?' midlife-crisis sort of thing."
     However, "there was enough sanity in there for me to admit to myself I need to be out there working. It's all romantic to say I'm going to go off and string beads somewhere or join the Peace Corps, but I knew that wasn't going to be right for me."
     So instead she signed on for a national tour of "Man of La Mancha" with Raul Julia. That opened new doors outside the recording industry, which included the road tour of "Grease" that visited the Aladdin in August 1996.
     She also made sense of a personal life that had burned through three short marriages. "I'd say, `I'm in love. I'll get married so it gets it out of the way, so I can concentrate on my career.' "
     But she adopted her two children after "I reassessed my life and knew that what I wanted to do was have kids."
     Now it's the family considerations that make Las Vegas an attractive option. "I would move here if I thought I could stay here for a good solid five years and put my kids through grade school here."
     There is, however, one consideration beyond questions of her drawing power in the showrooms.
     "I also happen to have a fiancé now who is in Beverly Hills," she says. "Right now it doesn't make sense for him to move. Like all relationships, they have to be negotiated."
     A big smile of astonishment takes over her face. "I can't believe I'm talking like that. I have really changed, you've gotta understand. I hear myself talking  sometimes and go, `Who the hell is that?' Five years ago I would have gone, `Well, he wants to be with me, he's gonna have to move!'
     "Now I realize, `Would you really want to be with a guy who's like that?' "
     So for now, "my challenge this summer is just to be as honest as I can. Talk (to the audience) a little bit. ... Give 'em an idea of who you sort of are and not  what they read in the gossip columns. Then get up and sing your (butt) off."
 
 

ONE OF the world's first teenybopper heart-throbs David Cassidy is coming to the Manchester Evening News Arena. The former star of the Patridge Family will appear in November as part of his first major UK tour for more than 20 years. Cassidy, who recently hosted the BBC2 show I Love 1972, promises a spectacular stage show.
     It will feature How Can I Be Sure, Daydreamer, Could It Be Forever and all his other hit records when he appears on Friday, November 9. He said: ''I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to be coming back to Britain to tour once again and to be appearing in Manchester. I've been told the M.E.N. Arena has a great atmosphere. I can't wait to appear there. I have a great new show - and I'm very excited.''
     A week after the seventies sex symbol plays, some of the hottest stars of the following decade will rock the Arena on the Here and Now Tour 2001 on Friday November 16.
     Kim Wilde, Paul Young, Curiosity Killed The Cat, Nick Heyward, T'Pau, Go West and Heaven 17 have banded together to play the classic hits of the eighties including Kids In America, Wherever I Lay My Hat, Misfit, Love Plus One, China In Your Hand, King Of Wishful Thinking, Temptation and many more.
     Tickets for both David Cassidy and Here and Now 2001 go on sale today. The tickets cost £23 and £25, and can be obtained from the M.E.N. Arena box office on 0161 930 8000.

David Cassidy makes a welcome return to Britain in November to embark on his first major UK concert tour for over 20 years. The tour includes an appearance at Sheffield Arena on Wednesday 7th November.
     The international singing star who recently hosted BBC TV's I Love 1972 will headline his own dynamic concert which highlights the many varied and diverse facets of David's outstanding career, including all of his hit records and much more in a spectacular stage show.
     As lead vocalist with The Partridge Family, David Cassidy was responsible for seven chart-topping singles including the million-selling Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted, I Woke Up In Love This Morning, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, It's One Of Those Nights (Yes Love), Looking Through The Eyes Of Love, Walking In the Rain and, of course, I Think I Love You, the best-selling record of 1971 which sold over a million copies and topped the US chart for three weeks.
     As a solo artist in his own right, David had a raft of hits including Cherish, Could It Be Forever, How Can I Be Sure (a UK chart-topper in 1972), Rock Me Baby, I'm A Clown, Daydreamer/The Puppy Song (a UK chart-topper in 1973), If I Didn't Care, Please Please Me, I Write The Songs, Darlin', Lying To Myself and The Last Kiss.
     To coincide with the UK tour Universal Records will release a brand new David Cassidy Album Then And Now. He will also undertake a series of British television appearances.
     Says David: "I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to be coming back to Britain in November to tour once again and to be appearing in Sheffield. It's been a long time. The UK has always been a very special place for me over the years, so I am looking forward to it immensely. I have some very dear fans here and it will be good to see them again. I am very excited."
     Tickets for David Cassidy at Sheffield Arena go on sale this Friday 8th June at 9am from the Sheffield Arena Box Office priced 25 (may be subject to booking fee). Box Office 0114 256 56 56.

POP stars may be getting younger but away from the charts and on the stage some unlikely names are packing them in. DAVID DUNN looks at our unyielding appetite for veteran pop and rock acts.
     THEY may be getting on a bit but they've got an audience. And, in some cases, very big audiences.
     While the average age of the top 10 is pushing 19,  and the next set of wannabes even younger, promoters are enjoying a fattened purse courtesy of names from yesteryear. Tomorrow night sees vintage rock star Neil Young bring Crazy Horse and a 'sold out' sign to Sheffield Arena.
     An elder statesman of the circuit, this 55-year-old has enjoyed a reputation and following which has transcended generation gaps, not least assisted by such magazines as the NME touting him as a genius.
     And this winter it was announced that 70s sex symbol David Cassidy is set to return. He's now 50 and still a successful stage act in his native USA. Yet he seems almost as surprised to still be in demand as we are at seeing him playing Attercliffe.
     "I'm an optimist. I mean, you have to be with my career," quips the former Partridge Family heart-throb, in 1972 the world's highest paid performer.
     "I've never gone out and changed my style to suit the times. I have always stayed true to myself by trying to sing about human experience."
     Fellow Yanks The Monkees are booked in for a return to the region's largest indoor venue on October 23 after a previous "one-off" show at the 12,000-seater.  The Beach Boys also had recent success at the Arena.
     Next up is the Eagles on June 16. Again reformed for touring, many of the 30-something ticket holders will have been mere rugrats when their parents were listening to Hotel California.
     Roxy Music have likewise got it together again to tour, visiting the Arena on June 19.
     "Sheffield Arena has seen a resurgence in demand from both show promoters and concert goers alike for some of biggest stars of the 70s & 80s," says Arena marketing man Simon Bailey.
     Down a notch - though few stars can claim to have fans camping overnight to be first in the queue for tickets - is Daniel O'Donnell. Housewives' favourite and a hit with no shortage of grannies, the softly-spoken Irishman fills Sheffield City Hall every year.
     And if the word 'vintage' stretches to 40-plus - and most fans of S Club 7 or Steps would agree it does - then former Sheffield chart dwellers Heaven 17 can be cited as examples.
     They join other 80s pop icons for the Here & Now Tour along with Kim Wilde, now a mother-of-two, who takes a break from her new career as a TV gardener to grab the microphone again.
     Alongside her will be other 80s Top Of The Pops regulars Paul Young, Go West, Curiosity Killed The Cat and T'Pau.
     "People still love to listen to fantastic songs. Great tunes never die," says promoter Tony Denton.
     Former Hot Chocolate head honcho Errol Brown enjoyed a revival thanks to his music featuring in The Full Monty and has the City Hall in his sights for November 10.
     So, will the likes of Hear'Say, Westlife or even Oasis be able to claim similar box office business when they are the age of Cassidy?
     We'll have to wait and see.

These guys are brutal.
     Joey is teased about his lack of talent, Sammy for being a black/Puerto Rican/Jew with but one good eye and Dean for acting like the town drunk in a rented tux. A showgirl referred to only as "Candy" is passed around like a party prop.
     And Frank? No one screws with Frank. He is their leader, and during a 90-minute voyage on a Las Vegas time machine, he's ours, too.
     It is 1961, always, at the Sahara's Congo Room and "The Rat Pack is Back" tribute to Frank Sinatra (Steve Lippia), Dean Martin (Rick Michel), Sammy Davis Jr. (Doug Starks) and Joey Bishop (Mark Cohen). The spirited ode to classic tunes, vintage jokes and a macho old-school attitude celebrated its one-year anniversary at the Sahara in March. This week the hotel held a special state-of-the-Pack performance at the 550-seat Conga Room.
     Produced by David Cassidy and veteran TV writer Don Reo, the production has been a well-received fixture on the Strip since opening at the Desert Inn in July 1999. It gravitated to the Sahara, where it opened on March 25, 2000, and recently signed a contract extension with the Sahara running through March 31, 2002. The production has been marred by a trademark-infringement lawsuit, still pending, that the Sinatra family filed against the DI three months after the show opened, but recent reports indicate the matter will be settled out of court.
     Still, no last names or any likeness of the original Packers are used during the show and in promotional material. No matter. We get the point.
     Aside from an overahaul of the original cast, the most recent shift being Starks replacing Tony Tillman as Sammy in February, "The Rat Pack is Back" has hardly been tinkered with since it opened at the DI. The show is set on Dec. 12, 1961, the night of Frank's 46th birthday, and the show is effectively crafted as a typical Rat Pack performance of that era.
     Backed by the powerhouse 12-piece Lon Bronson Orchestra, the familiarity of the numbers and crisp execution (particularly by Lippia) are certain to entertain even tepid Rat Pack fans. Blessed with a voice that even former Sinatra musical director Vincent Falcone said was eerily reminiscent of Sinatra's, Lippia easily navigates through such legendary numbers as "Lady is a Tramp," "Luck be a Lady Tonight."
     Lippia, who teamed with Falcone and his orchestra as a headliner at the Rio's RioBamba Cabaret in 1998, has always stressed that he's not a Sinatra impressionist. He proves it in "The Rat Pack is Back," reciting his share of the script with a bemused grin but refusing to mimic any of Sinatra's mannerisms or vocal patterns when speaking (as Bobby Barrett does at the MGM's Brown Derby). That approach enables Lippia maintain his independence from the Sinatra role, but also leaves it to Michel, Starks and Cohen to supply "Legends"-like impersonations. They are up to the task.
     As Bishop, Cohen draws laughter on several fronts. He's funny-looking and acts goofy, as Bishop did when seemingly attempting to step out of his friends' long shadow. We laugh at the jokes in part because they are genuinely funny, but also because we appreciate the occasional dusted-off classic. Example: Cohen trots out the old joke about the man approaching another man in a casino, asking to borrow money for his sick wife and son. When the man is asked, "How do I know you're not going to go into the casino and gamble it away?" he responds, "Oh, I've got gambling money."
     (Take my wife ... please.)
     The slight Starks resembles Davis much more than did Tillman and is believable as the ever-willing foil for a cascade of personal barbs flung by his castmates, comments that deride his black/Puerto Rican heritage, lack of size and false eye (how fortunate for the original Rat Pack that so much harsh comedic fodder -- religion, race, even a physical handicap -- was bound in a single member). Starks taps his way into "Black Magic" and recites a line that has been a "Rat Pack is Back" staple since it opened, introducing "Mr. Bonjangles" by reminding the audience that the song "won't be recorded until 1968, but what the heck, we're going to do it anyway."
     Michel is a delight in his portrayal of the ostensibly inebriated Martin, swilling his way through "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You," and "That's Amore" with just the right measure of slur. Michel showed his affable ad-lib skills as well when a for-real drunk brought a drink to the stage and warbled something unintelligible. Employing a bit of a swagger and detectable lilt in his voice, Michel spied the guy with a cocked eyebrow and said, "I'll have what he's having."
     That's the mood of the room, and of the show. For a reminder of what it was really like, take in this guilty pleasure. Even once.

Sheena Easton is getting married ... again. The singer has announced that she will make her fourth trip down the aisle, this time with the Beverly Hills plastic surgeon she has been dating for the past two years.
     The usually private Easton appears to have loosened up in other areas of her life as well. In a recent interview with the Sun, Easton had a decidedly "bygones" attitude toward her former Rio co-star, David Cassidy.
     "There were certain problems," Easton said. "And there were definitely moments of tension ... But, we're never going to be great friends and we're never going to be enemies."
     She has also apparently developed a sense of humor about gaining weight, which was reportedly an issue behind the scenes during "At the Copa's" run.
     "It is true," Easton deadpanned. "I have definitely ballooned up from a size 2 to a size 4. I'm a hugely obese size 4." The 42-year-old singer continued with a laugh, "Well, I definitely don't have the (derriere) I had when I was 20, but I don't have the brain I had then either -- thank God."

Steve Lippia is a close-your-eyes sort of singer.
     When he's onstage, close your eyes. You might be stunned at what -- and who -- you hear.
     It's Frank.
     Blessed with a vocal range and timbre that even fervent Frank Sinatra fans concede approaches Sinatra's legendary voice, Lippia portrays the Chairman of the Board (and chief puppeteer) in "The Rat Pack is Back" at the Sahara's Congo Theatre.
     Lippia is joined by fellow faux-Packers Rick Michel (Dean), Doug Starks (Sammy) and Mark Cohen (Joey) for a snappy, crowd-pleasing musical tribute set in 1961. Backed by the 12-piece Lon Bronson Orchestra, a drink-toting, cigarette-puffing Lippia sings such Sinatra classics as "Luck be a Lady Tonight," and "Lady is a Tramp."
     Show producers David Cassidy and Don Reo recently signed a contract extension with the Sahara running through March 31, 2002, and Lippia is on board for at least six more months.
     Lippia has been a frequent Las Vegas performer over the past three years. In 1998 he teamed with Vincent Falcone, Sinatra's musical director, for a headlining run at the Rio's RioBamba Theatre. For his foray into Vegas, Lippia also retained the services of two other former Sinatra sidekicks, publicist Lee Solters and manager Tino Barzie.
     Falcone's ears perked after hearing a tape of Lippia a few years ago when Lippia was still performing at small clubs in Florida (Lippia is from West Palm Beach.) Said Falcone: "I couldn't believe it when I first heard it. I was with Tino and Lee when we heard a recording of Steve, and it had us totally fooled because we thought it was Frank."
     The 44-year-old Lippia discussed his portrayal of Frank after a recent "The Rat Pack is Back" performance:
     Las Vegas Sun: Do you consider yourself a Frank Sinatra scholar?
     Steve Lippia: You know, I don't really know enough about him personally, even though I have a lot of admiration for him, I'm really kind of lacking in all the Sinatra mystique and history. More of what I get is from people telling me, talking to me about this stuff, because they feel that I've studied him. I have a lot of respect for his music.
     My manager and conductor and publicist were all all part of his team. So I know a lot about his association with them and all of the experiences they encountered, all of the ... I guess you could say the breadth of his personality. He could be anywhere from magnanimous to downright difficult. But that's the extent of my direct knowledge of what he was like personally, just an idea of what he was like.
     Sun: What distinguishes your approach from his?
     SL: I'm not as hot. I have a slower-burning fuse. It can go, but it's a slower burn, takes a lot more for me to blow. There might be a little more snap, a little more edge to the Steve Lippia who portrays Frank onstage than there is backstage. That's really the big difference.
     Sun: You've been singing Sinatra's signature songs for years, but only recently joined "The Rat Pack is Back." How did you come to join the show?
     SL: When I was first offered the opportunity to do this show, which was two years ago, I shied away. Plus I had a lot of other things going on on the East Coast. And the offer came two more times and the third time was the charmer, and I accepted it.
     I'll tell you, what turned the corner for me was when David Cassidy called me and said, "Steve, look, I know who you sound like, other people know who you sound like, but when you're doing Sinatra's arrangements, or arrangements like his, and you sound the way you do, what are people led to believe? So come into the show and at least you can take a step back from that comparison and say you're portraying a character, because you are acting. This is a musical play."
     So it really kind of put me in a whole different frame of mind. Having considered that and thought, you know, I can still be myself and have parts of Steve Lippia emerge. I'm still going to sing the way I sing and move the way I move, but I am acting in a role that was created for this show.
     Sun: You've been careful not to present yourself as an impressionist ever since you arrived in Las Vegas, and now you're in a tribute show. Do you feel comfortable with that?
     SL: I never feel uncomfortable. There are times I talk to people who come out of the show and say, "Who else do you do?" Or if I mention that I'm performing somewhere else they'll ask, "Do you do Frank there, too?" No. I'm a singer. I'll be singing. This is a play, but I'm a singer at heart and I'll always be.
     Sun: You're somewhat of a road warrior. Are you still able to get out and tour as much as you'd like?
     SL: I've got a lot of road blood in me. The show is my anchor and this is what I'm doing now ... but I've got a lot of symphony dates I'm doing all around the country, with big pop symphonies. I've got about eight or 10 of those booked. I'll be in Europe in July and then I go back again in August. I like being on the road and staying busy, traveling to different places and entertaining for different people. But I like the show as an anchor.
     Sun: Can you recall when you first realized you had a great singing voice.
     SL: Well, I think with most people who are artists it doesn't just sort of appear as you would imagine. It's part of you just like any other part of your personality. When I was 2 or 3 years old I knew I was a singer, I just assumed that. I was like a compulsive singer.
     You know how a person might doodle? I hummed a lot. I'm still doing that, kind of doodling with my voice. I'll always be that way.

Vamping her way through such naughty singles as "Sugar Walls" and "U Got the Look," in the '80s Sheena Easton had the pop singer-as-vixen act down even as Madonna was beginning hers.
     It was such an effective image, in fact, that Easton performed a bit of self-mockery with the hit "Strut": "Strut, pout, put it out, that's what you want from women ... Watch me baby while I walk out the door."
     That was nearly 20 years ago, however, and a lot has changed for Easton since mainly her days as a sexpot.
     During a recent performance of her new self-titled show, which runs through Sept. 2 at the Las Vegas Hilton, Easton joked onstage about her former status as a sex symbol.
     Wearing a form-fitting sequined gown, a more motherly Easton kidded that her behind from the '80s has left her and is now firmly seated on Britney Spears.
     Later in an interview the Scotland-born and raised Easton said she's heard for a while questions and comments about her not looking as she did when she was 25. Her answer is simple and to the point.
     "Duh! I'm not 25," she said, sounding more American than Scottish. "I'm 42 now, for God's sake."
     But dont let her age and sense of irony fool you. Easton still slinks across the stage with the best of 'em, adding sizzle to her role as chanteuse as she romps through a play list that, while full of requisite hits, also features the necessary torch-songs to provide spark to the performance.
     The show has proven successful enough that the hotel recently announced plans to move Easton on July 3 into the larger Las Vegas Hilton Theater, which will offer 420 more seats than the NightClub's 330.
     Despite the show's popularity, though, Easton acknowledges that, for some, her new onstage demeanor may not replace the memories they have of the singer-actress from "back in the day."
     "People have these favorite times in their lives and they associate you with that," she said. "That's a minority. The normal, sane person who has grown (up) understands that you're going to be a grown-up, too."
     For Easton "growing up" began more than a decade ago, when she realized she wanted children but had been avoiding the subject "like the elephant in the room."
     So, from ages 30 to 35 she went through therapy and "self-examined."
     "All that typical California (junk)," Easton said.
     The end result: she adopted a boy, Jake, now 6, in 1994; and the following year a daughter, Skylar, now 5.
     Easton quickly settled into the role of motherhood and gave up the hectic pace of her career, with its constant tours and appearances, to focus on raising her children.
     Married three times before, Easton is now engaged to a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, although, she said she's "gun-shy" about setting a wedding date.
     "He wanted to do the romantic thing and get married on Valentine's Day," she said. "I said, 'On Valentine's, let's sit down and talk about when we might get married.'
     "He's very much a part of me and the kids' lives. The kids wanted us to get married yesterday -- they just love him so much. They're young enough to where he's practically raised them."
     It's obvious just how important Easton's family is to her as she sprinkled in references to trips to the mall to buy children's clothes and family outings to Chuck E Cheese's throughout the interview. Not a Kathie Lee Gifford-like story about children that beats you senseless with cuteness, but simple truisms that a mother learns as she and her children grow up.
     "I spent pretty much 30 years of my life before my kids came along with every opportunity to be as selfish as I wanted to be as far as getting up and doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it," she said. "Because I adopted my kids, I made a conscious choice of being a mother. I made a vow to myself that I was only going to do what was right for the family as well. This takes a lot of family discussions and big, long-term decisions."
     At the moment one of those decisions includes where to live.
     With her fiance's practice in Beverly Hills as well another in New York City, there are plenty of options. For now Easton divides her time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, she wants to "settle her roots" and Las Vegas is a leading candidate.
     "What I like about (Las Vegas) is it's creating itself around communities and families," she said. "It's one of the few places in the United States that has taken root and created this identity and is developing it."
     But even as Easton attempts to settle down and create a new life for herself -- in Las Vegas or elsewhere -- there are a few ghosts that haunt her. Mainly rumors regarding backstage squabbles with David Cassidy when the two co-starred in the now-defunct musical "At the Copa," which ran for one year at the Rio beginning Jan. 18, 2000.
     Stories of alleged screaming matches between the two, of egos run amok and catty remarks made by Cassidy regarding Easton's weight gain dogged the production almost entirely through its run.
     None of it, Easton insists, is true.
     "There were definitely moments of tension, when David would come to me and say, 'We're changing such-and-such a thing.' And I'd go, 'Aw, no, I like that. Why do we have to lose that? Why do we have to make that different?' " she said. "We definitely had artistic differences, but never, ever fights.
     "I'm not stupid. It's David's show. He wrote it, he produced it, he starred in it. If there was something that I didn't agree with on an artistic basis, just like anyone else, it's (the producer's) call. I have to go along with it."
     "At the Copa" was scheduled to run for two years, but Easton agreed only to one. Shortly after she confirmed her intention of not returning to the show, the production was canceled.
     During a press conference to announce the show's closing Cassidy failed to thank his co-star or even mention her name, which many took as a deliberate slight against Easton, adding veracity to the rumors.
     "Yeah, it was a little weird," conceded Easton, who wasn't present at the conference but was later told what happened. "I know at the time of the closing there was some problems there -- David went through some emotional problems. I don't know if he felt I should have stayed on for a second year. I don't know, we never discussed it."
     Nor have they talked since. Still, Easton fully expects to see her former co-star soon.
     "David and (his wife) Sue are in Ireland at the moment," she said. "And when they come back they are going to see (my) show."

Last Sunday's column talked about the trend of Las Vegas headliners having to share showrooms.
     That's nothing compared to the wacky idea of having them share the same stage.
     Steve and Eydie notwithstanding, showroom stars don't like to share the spotlight, even if it makes economic sense.
     You can see why, if you believe even the tip of the gossip about feuding at David Cassidy and Sheena Easton's ill-fated "At the Copa."
     But the experience must not have been all bad. Easton is willing to team up again, though not with Cassidy.
     "When I think about, `Who would I like to do a duets show with?' " it's Clint Holmes who comes to mind. "There's only so many people" she could get along with  onstage and Holmes is one of the few nice guys on the Strip whom people don't tell puppy-kicking stories about behind his back.
     The teaming could give Holmes the marquee value he lacks at Harrah's, where the trick is getting them in the door to see his talent. The singer says he's open to the idea, if only for a month or so.
     Even that would be more stage time than you're likely to see shared by a few others who ought to consider it:
     - Melinda and Steve Wyrick. He has the big theater at the Sahara with the really  cool sets and lots of empty seats. She has the ... name recognition. What did you maniacs think I was going to say? Besides, Melinda pays a lot of rent for the Showroom at The Venetian, just to hear a new rumor every week about what new show is going to kick her out.
     - Kenny Kerr and Frank Marino. Here again, drag star Marino has the zebra-striped La Cage Theatre at the Riviera, while Kerr still has name cachet. Marino also has the marketing savvy, while the itinerant Kerr bounces from one bad deal to another. Marino would consider it "in a heartbeat," but he doubts Kerr would. "Between our egos and our wigs, I don't think we'd fit through the door."
     - Bill Acosta and André-Philippe Gagnon. And maybe Fred Travalena. Or Bob Anderson. Or even Rich Little. Acosta has the Flamingo showroom and people asking, "Bill who?" Gagnon is virtually shut out of his Venetian venue. Travalena, a '70s mainstay, wants back on the Strip and puts on his best leisure  suits this weekend at the Stardust to rekindle interest.
     Two or three impressionists combined could give Danny Gans a run for his money. Besides, the same guy wouldn't have to mimic Dean, then put on the Sammy glasses.
     Why won't most of this happen? Spell it e-g-o, with or without wigs. None of these stars think they need each other. Come to think of it, Easton talked about Holmes back when she was booked into the smaller NightClub at the Las Vegas Hilton.
     Once she upgrades to Hilton's big showroom July 3, she might be saying, "Clint who?"

Never mind Steps verses S Club 7 or Oasis verses Blur, back in the 1970's the question was always - David Cassidy or Donny Osmond?
     The pair were rivals for the teen affections of their adoring fans. Both are still going strong and David's coming to Nottingham.
     30 years ago news of a David Cassidy concert in Nottingham would have sent the city into turmoil with fans rushing to queue up for those precious tickets.
     The rush might not be as frenzied in 2001 but the likelihood is the pin-up who secured hit after hit in the 70's will still play to a sell-out audience when he plays the Nottingham Arena on 15th November.
     What's more his audience is likely to be a mix of mums reliving their youth and daughters dragged along to show what life was like before Robbie Williams.
     What's in no doubt is that the show they'll witness will be top drawer, American razzmatazz.
     David Cassidy might not have had a big hit in this country since "The Last Kiss" in the mid 1980's but he certainly kept himself busy on the performing front.
     Most recently he's been performing in Las Vegas with Sheena Easton is a show with plenty of glitz.
     His Nottingham appearance will mark his first tour to this country in more than 20 years.
     And he's pretty pleased to be coming back. "I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to be coming back to Britain..and to be appearing in Nottingham. I've been told the Nottingham Arena is a brand new venue and has a great atmosphere. I can't wait to appear there."
     David Cassidy has quite a back-catalogue to choose from. As a soloist he had hits with "Daydreamer", "How Can I Be Sure" and "Could It Be Forever."
     Prior to that he was with The Partridge Family, who scored success with "I Think I Love You" and "Looking Through The Eyes of Love."
     It won't all be old material that's performed. David has a new album coming out called "Then and Now." Keep checking our competition pages. We hope to give you the chance of winning the CD in the weeks ahead.
     If you want tickets for the concert, contact the Nottingham Arena box office on 0115 853 3000 0r 0115 989 5555.

David Cassidy's back on the road performing, and his official Web site "www.davidcassidy.com" starts with a letter from the star "to explain the difficulties I've been having for the past number of years in regard to companies or individuals who have been illegally licensing, selling and profiting from products that they are not entitled to sell. "I ask you to do the right thing. Do not support these people and their actions." Elsewhere, there's a warning: "We understand that someone is claiming to be pursuing David for a
biography being written on him, however his publicist is investigating this, as no one has heard from or heard of this individual who has been elusive about identifying him or herself." Nice touch: Profiles of fans (and creators of www.cassidyland.com) who describe what it was like to have a crush on and actually meet him!

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