BOY GEORGE GRACELESS AT GRACELAND: Scores of rock stars have made the pilgrimage to Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion but Boy George probably won't be invited back. Graceland spokesman Todd Morgan says the British pop singer, who visited in 1984, was the worst behaved star to stop in at the tourist attraction. 'He was so rude and difficult,' Morgan said. 'He called a lot of attention to himself.' Not far behind George was comedian Jay Leno, Morgan said. Among the more gracious visitors have been Dolly Parton, the Beach Boys, Alabama, Phil Collins and members of the band Bon Jovi. Bruce Springsteen also made a memorable trip to Graceland in 1975 -- jumping the wall and running up the driveway in hopes of meeting Presley. Guards intercepted him and were unimpressed even though Springsteen had just had his picture on the covers of both Time and Newsweek. Elvis was in Lake Tahoe at the time, anyway.
STUDENTS EGG ON FORD: Attorney General Edwin Meese was the target but Gerald Ford was the one demonstrators hit with eggs and snowballs in a protest at the former president's alma mater. Ford and Meese were at the University of Michigan, where Ford was a football star in the 1930s, when they were confronted Wednesday night by more than 200 people denouncing Meese's record on civil rights, affirmative action and drug testing. In addition to the pelting, the protesters scuffled with Secret Service agents and campus security officers and broke windows but no arrests were made. Meese and Ford were in Ann Arbor for a series of seminars that were filmed without incident Thursday at the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor. The seminars, called 'The Presidency and the Constitution,' will be televised on the Public Broadcasting System.
HOLLYWOOD SQUARED: A group of Emory University students picketed an Atlanta television station to demand programming a little classier than 'The New Hollywood Squares' -- like, maybe, the old 'Hollywood Squares.' The nine students carried signs saying 'What would Peter Marshall say?' and solicited signatures for a petition. 'In this program, two bewildered contestants face a two-dimensional panel of bad, out-of-work celebrities who spout inane and immature quips of fourth-grade caliber,' the petition said. The group's spokesman, Michael Deely, a senior majoring in history and classics, called John Davidson's new version of the show 'the worst of the stupid game shows'and an insult to the intellect. 'They use some very bad stunts to get viewer interest,' he said. 'It desecrates the memory of the original show.' 'We don't want something too intellectual,' said another protester, Sam Shuber. 'Just something a little more intellectual than 'Hollywood Squares.''
'BLITHE' ON BROADWAY: Richard Chamberlain is thrilled to be Broadway-bound with a production of Noel Coward's 'Blithe Spirit,' which will mark Chamberlain's first time on Broadway since 'Night of the Iguana' 10 years ago. 'It feels like the first time for me,' he said. 'Going back to that city like this is like a dream.' Chamberlain, Geraldine Page, Blythe Danner and Judith Ivey currently are polishing 'Blithe Spirit' in Baltimore. 'I'm just incredibly excited,' Chamberlain said. 'Working with these people in a show like this -- it's a dream come true.' The original production of 'Blithe' ran for four years in London and for 650 performances on Broadway and it returns to New York at the Neil Simon Theatre March 19 after a 40-year absence. 'The play is timely in any era,' Page said. 'The play hasn't lost a thing over time. It's just as funny now as it was when it was written.'
GLIMPSES:The annual Boston Globe Jazz and Heritage Festival, which begins an 11-night run March 12, has an all-star lineup featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan and Oscar Peterson. Also playing will be saxophonist Sonny Rollins, the fusion group Spyro Gyra, percussionist Tito Puente, bassist Stanley Jordan, the Temptations and the O'Jays ... New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean collected on his Super Bowl bet Friday. A 1,200-pound Angus steer from Colorado Gov. Roy Romer arrived and Kean immediately changed its name from Pride of Colorado to New Jersey Giant to reflect the New York Giants' victory over the Denver Broncos. Kean then had the steer shipped to the Howell Living History Farm. 'There were two options -- on the steaks or on the hoof,' he said. 'And I think the bull is much happier this way.'
