Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, is showing her beneficent side. Franklin has offered a benefit concert to help Detroit raise $1.25 million needed to restore music instruction in public schools. Said her publicist:
”They are already working at it.” Meanwhile, ex-Detroit Piston Dave Bing is leading a fundraising effort to restore sports to Motown`s bony school program. So far Bing has committed $600,000.
THE BAD . . . If you`re a fan of rap, the news is good: Public Enemy is back. ”The show must go on. Brace yourselves for 1990,” said leader Chuck D, announcing a regrouping barely two months after stridently anti-Semitic utterances by the band`s ”minister of information,” Professor Griff, forced Public Enemy to announce its dissolution. The undereducated professor is back, too-albeit muzzled. Now he is the band`s ”supreme allied chief of community relations.” But Chuck D. says he won`t be available for interviews.
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AND THE UGLY . . . On St. Tropez, a onetime kitten is snarling like a dog, the mayor is barking back and, well, everyone says the beach is unpleasant. The setting:
Brigitte Bardot is raging over a dog ban on the famous Riviera beach. But her protest letter to Mayor Alain Spada focuses on two-legged beasts:
”Shamelessness, exhibitionism, vice, cash, homosexuality have become the sad and degrading symbols of the village for which you are responsible,”
wrote the onetime French sex kitten. ”Each year, as summer arrives, I have to flee . . . the invasion of tourists who are more and more numerous, mediocre, dirty, ill-bred and without shame.” Mayor Spada thinks Bardot, a noted animal activist in recent years, is just covering her tracks. Said Spada: ”Because we won`t let her dogs relieve themselves on the beach, she calls us all kinds of names.”
WELL, IT`S NOT A HAPPY STATE Speaking of bad names-that insurrection among Texans over license plates just won`t fade. A readers` poll by the Austin American-Statesman underscores angry opposition to the affable motto chosen by the Texas Highway Commission. Indeed, ”The Friendship State” got only 121 votes, compared to 7,636 for
”The Lone Star State.” Then were other candidates, too, some arguably more appropriate: ”The Bank Failure State,” ”Gateway to Oklahoma,” ”Don`t litterdamit” and ”Texas, the Insolvent State.”
IT TAKES A THIEF ”Coming to America” was a box-office hit for Eddie Murphy. But now there`s a third claimant who says the creative idea was stolen. Latest to join the lawsuit flurry is Johnny Osseni-Bello, who claims to be a Nigerian prince. Osseni says he gave the largely autobiographical story to Murphy in exchange for royalties, but that Murphy stiffed him. Another ”Coming to America”
lawsuit, by Canadian screenwriter Shelby Gregory, also alleges that Murphy stole the idea from Osseni-who allegedly stole it from Gregory`s copyright treatment called ”Toto, the African Prince.” Then there`s the suit against Paramount Pictures by humorist Art Buchwald, who says he authored the original movie treatment in 1983. Somewhere in this suit parade, there`s an emperor who wants new clothes.
JUST MAKING A LIVING There`s something about the way lawyer Charlie Campbell solicits clients that rubs Detroit`s top cops the wrong way. Maybe it`s too much brass for the brass. Campbell, who dons a suit, tennis shoes and a Detroit Tigers cap for court appearances, also has a mobile law office-a van that he parks next to police headquarters . . . along with lawn chairs, chess boards and the Bible for prospective clients leaving the police lockup, Deputy Police Chief James Bannon was outraged. He ordered Campbell`s arrest for loitering. On the day of reckoning, of course, the cops were no-shows. Case dismissed. ”The quicksilvered sparrow slipped the eagle`s claw,” laughed the slippery lawyer. Amen, said Campbell`s lawyer, Jay Nolan: ”We`ve made the street safe for loafers again.”
GERALDO: MORE, PLEASE Had enough of Geraldo? He hasn`t. The guy who also calls himself Rivera says his syndicated TV program will begin airing a sixth day a week by January. ”It`ll be precisely the same format, but skewed toward a male audience,” said Geraldo, mindful that such a program would be a real novelty on TV. He anticipates a late-night weekend show to end the week. On the 7th day, of course, he`ll rest.