Sunday, September 12, 1999
Clooney sings at NY cabaret
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Merciful heavens, look who singer-pianist Michael Feinstein has to open his new cabaret. It's Rosemary Clooney.
Feinstein is opening the 150-seat Feinstein's Oct. 5 at the Regency in New York. Having toured with Clooney (they were at Riverbend together in August '96) and having flown in for her wedding (November '97) — it's not a surprise that he grabbed her.
She will do one show a night Oct. 5-16, and with only 150 seats it's already looking like a tough ticket.
Furthermore, says the industry journal MAC News, don't be surprised if Feinstein's at the Regency turns in to the place for top names in New York. Between Feinstein's contacts and more seating capacity than most NYC cabarets, it's almost a given.
DRAWING BOARD: Well dang, sometimes it's a full-time job keeping up with people. Local artist Chris Payne for example.
Even as we speak, the nationally-known illustrator (Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, New York Times) is hunched over his drawing board finishing 18 illustrations for a kids' book by actor John Lithgow, as in 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Lithgow wrote The Remarkable Farkle McBride, about a young musical prodigy searching for himself. When Lithgow needed an illustrator, his publisher sent him to Payne.
Payne then whipped out a batch of ideas — including the design for a sort of Alfred E. Newman-esque Farkle — sent them off and heard back almost immediately: “Everyone was happy with minor modifications . . . they wanted a little less Alfred E.
“This has not been easy. Most projects are one or two images, three at most. This is 18 and an organizational nightmare, juggling elements for 18 images.”
Drawings are due at the end of this month, but “publication is still a way off. I'm not even sure there's a date.”
Nor is he sure there's a date for his next major project, an illustration of Ronald Reagan for the cover of the New York Times Book Review section. “They have it, but you know the Times. It could run at any time.”
While we're being unsure, “They're turning my Playhouse mural into a poster for the public, but it's an engineering feat. It has to be shot in sections, then reassembled for a poster. A computer has to do it.”
SING IT: Normally Eye wouldn't stop here and ask for a round of applause for a woman who dresses like a cat and sings the Meow Mix cat food song (“meow meow meow meow meow”).
But we will on account of Carol J. Pixler of Southgate is about to go national. Turns out she participated in last weekend's Meow Mix Jingle Contest at Parky's Farm in Winton Woods. Dressed in black tights, black fur cuffs, collar and headpiece, pointy ears and black nose, she “won by a landslide. Way better than anything I saw,” says spectator Janet Frantz, who was afraid to participate but “loves cats enough even to watch people dress like them and, uh, sing.”
Pixler's next stop is Tampa's Busch Gardens in November, where the 15 regional winners will claw it out for $10,000 and a lifetime supply of Meow Mix (for her cat, not her).
But first, in her honor: ClapClapClap.
Knip's Eye View appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
KNIPPENBERG ARCHIVE
