Tuesday, October 05, 1999

Giovanni delights store full of fans

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BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Talk about a love fest. And profitable ones, too.

        Poet Nikki Giovanni was here to do a reading and talk at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. According to J-B public relations specialist Barb Kelly, 340 people showed up and bought every copy of her new Blues for All the Changes (William Morrow; $15), plus every other Giovanni book in the store — Love Poems and Selected Poems.

        “She had people in tears,” Kelly says. “Her bout with cancer (lung) was moving, and so was the way she talked about how you can't respect any life unless you respect all life.

        “What really moved people was when she talked about what an honor it is just to be listened to. To have an audience that wanted to hear her, and how she considers it a privilege to sign every autograph and pose for every photo.

        “She spent two hours signing and actually enjoyed it. We need more like that.”

        OUT AND ABOUT: So, you were wondering, why is it WKRP in Cincinnati star Gary Sandy was in town most of September and there were almost no sightings?

        Because he was making like Bob Vila, that's why.

        Turns out Sandy, here for Sideman at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (he leaves today or Wednesday for L.A.), is building a house on 600 rural acres off I-75 between here and Lexington.

        Not with his own hands — he's not that Bob Vila — but supervising. Free days and afternoons were spent there.

        But he did get out, says D. Lynn Meyers, his friend and ETC's producing artistic director.

        “Mostly it was places he could walk to from Garfield Suites where he stayed, — Nicholson's and Uno's a bit, and a lot of private parties.”

        Like the one at Nicola's that Sideman playwright Warren Leight flew in for?

        “Yeah, like that. We closed the place after 2 a.m.”

        Or the one in Mount Adams at Rookwood? “That, too. Mitch Meyers (ETC's board president) bought out the theater for a private party, then took everyone up for dinner. Another late one.

        “Oh, and he had, uh, dates. He said they were his cousins.”

        So where did he take his, uh, cousins?

        “Oh puleeeze.”

        Knip's Eye View appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.

        Psst! appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.

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