People

MADONNA MAY NEED SOME NEW MATERIAL

The latest CD effort, "American Life," by mega-star Madonna is not getting the best reviews in its first week of release. Published reports say a check of major critiques shows many music experts think Material Girl might have run out of material. Not only are some, including Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Jim Derogatis, calling the CD short on anything new and bordering on "tired," the album was drenched in political controversy even before its release. A planned video never saw the light of day because it featured Madonna throwing a hand grenade toward a President Bush look-alike and had other anti-war images. The singer only recently put a series of bogus music tracks onto the Internet that actually were spoken vulgarities to "disappoint" people who used file-sharing technology to gain access to her songs without paying for them. A reviewer for the Philadelphia Inquirer noted over 20 years Madonna had fallen from being the queen of "re-inventing herself" into a "stinky artistic black hole."

TRAVIS FINDS GOSPEL THE NEW MUSIC ROAD

Singer-songwriter Randy Travis is riding high with a song he might not have recorded years ago, the gospel hit "Three Wooden Crosses." CMT says Travis first heard the song on a compilation of gospel music that just happened to be playing while he was doing an exercise routine one day. The lyrics confused the singer, who thought they couldn't be gospel -- but gospel they were and into his next album they went. The rest, as they say, is history. The diminutive, lean, deep-voiced singer has parlayed the unusual song into a major hit. It's still in the Top 10 of Billboard's country singles and it's the highlight of Travis's second gospel collection. The song tells the story of a hooker who receives a Bible from a preacher just moments before he dies. Travis says the first time he devoted a major portion of a live concert to gospel music he was afraid the idea would flop but now that kind of music is becoming an increasing part of his repertoire and persona.

SEATTLE PAYS TRIBUTE TO NATIVE SON HENDRIX

Look for a celebration in Seattle -- a tribute to one of the city's favorite native sons, the late guitar phenom Jimi Hendrix. Promoters of the early June event tell media the musician's music and personal life will be featured when a special gallery devoted to Hendrix is opened. The event will be hosted by the Experience Music Project and is actually an addition to the group's already open Hendrix exhibit. That archive has been open to the public for more than three years. In the new gallery look for many items and memorabilia from the guitarist's tours. Costumes, guitars and even some handwritten notes will be added to the exhibit. A published report says the group also is working on putting together a compilation of his music. A bevy of major stars -- including Earth, Wind and Fire and Carlos Santana -- has signed on to participate.

IS MARIO GOING TO RACE AGAIN?

Veteran racer Mario Andretti could make another try at winning the Indy 500. He went to the aid of his son Michael this week when the younger Andretti was left with a car in his stable but no driver. The assigned driver, Tony Kanaan, was badly hurt in a race in Japan last month and had to opt out of Indy. Because track rules required all entered cars be tested with the assigned drivers, Michael asked his dad to get behind the wheel and see what he could do. Mario won the race at the Old Brickyard in 1969 and has finished in the top 10 some 11 times. He's won nearly $3 million at Indianapolis and become one of racing's most loved drivers. He retired from Indy racing before the major shakeup that resulted in the formation of the Indy Racing League. If he does compete this year it will mean the first time he's participated in an IRL event. Ironically, he is a board member of the league's main rival, the CART series. Over the years, though, Mario has had the sad knack of having car trouble on numerous occasions and having to drop out before races are finished. One Indiana radio personality once quipped: "The four most often heard words at Indianapolis are not 'Gentlemen, start your engines,' they are 'Mario is slowing down!'"

ACOUSTIC EXPERT RUSHES TO NASHVILLE

World renowned acoustic expert George Massenburg has been given a heady assignment, fixing the sound at the Grand Ole Opry. Massenburg, who even won a Grammy for his production and engineering skills, has been tapped by the owners of the Opry to try to improve the quality of the sound coming from the hall when it's piped to radio listeners and TV viewers during weekly broadcasts. Even though Massenburg frequently is seen working on audio projects in Los Angeles and San Francisco, he maintains a home in Music City and commutes from there to the West Coast. The news provider country.com says over the years he's added his engineering expertise to sessions put together by Randy Newman, Lyle Lovett, Aaron Neville, James Taylor, Kenny Loggins, Billy Joel and Linda Ronstadt. Producers are anxious to get the sound problems fixed soon. The Opry will be a part of a new syndicated radio show starting in just a few weeks.

ZETA-JONES: DON'T DARE PUBLISH THOSE PIX

Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is protesting the Internet publication of some nude photos taken of her during a visit to Mexico. Gossip columnist Liz Smith says not only was Catherine sans clothing, she was very pregnant at the time and feels the pictures not only are invasive but are not very flattering. To make matters worse, the telephoto shots were splayed onto the Internet Tuesday by a group called gawker.com, but the link no longer is active. Additionally, it would appear from the shots the pregnant Mrs. Michael Douglas was smoking when they were taken. She subsequently gave birth to a 6-pound, 12-ounce baby girl, Carys. By the way, Smith points out that "Carys" is the Welsh word for "love."

UPI DAILY SURVEY QUESTION NO. 573

Prompted by a near-miss on the highway yesterday, here is today's question: "What was the last time you really thought you had met your demise in traffic? What happened?" Put UPI-TRAFFIC in the subject line and send to [email protected] via the Internet.

RESULTS OF QUESTION NO. 568 (CLEAN)

Last week we asked: How many items did you throw out? Anything interesting?" From our usual random dip into the e-mail in box here is what we found: 90 percent of respondents said they were surprised at the "stuff" they found lurking in the back of their fridges. As an example, JeannineS says she found a bad head of lettuce that had "gotten lost in the back of the drawer, leftover stew and a pint of sour cream left over from CHRISTMAS. Yuck!" Others told horror stories of finding things that were beyond recognition. LillyR says she used our suggestion as a time to complete clean out both sections of her refrigerator, disinfect and start over. And from GerilynM comes the comment: "When it doubt, throw it out!" TOMORROW: What price gas? GBA