Just Don’t Let Him Play the Saxophone

Viewers can expect everything from the sublime to the ridiculous from the more than 500 musical performers helping President Clinton ring in his second administration at the 14 various presidential inaugural balls. The four major networks, MTV and others will pick up coverage tonight from various sites around Washington, with acts including Hootie & the Blowfish, Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, LL Cool J, REO Speedwagon (!) and presidential favorites Aretha Franklin and the Isley Brothers. The most interesting show might be what goes on behind the scenes, trying to coordinate all the musicians and crowds without violating Secret Service dictates. The president will be scurrying between balls (similar to the way his critics say he shuttles between issues), and his schedule is a well-guarded national secret. At the center of the logistical nightmare will be event organizers Bill Kitchen and Bruce Orosz, who opted for a musical variety, but with special emphasis on the president’s taste as well as his allegiance with the young rock crowd. “Music is a national resource, one of the greatest exports this country has,” Kitchen said Friday. “Music conveys a message. This administration has used it for that, and the new crop of young musicians, through events like ‘Rock the Vote,’ have been able to use it as a high-profile forum as well.”

In This Race, Disney Is First Out of the Blocks

Disney’s “Prefontaine”--the story of Olympic track star Steve Prefontaine, who died in a 1975 car accident--opens on Friday, well before “Pre,” a rival Warner Bros. movie scheduled for a fall release. The two projects, as it happens, were originally one. Jon Lutz and Mark Doonan, producers of a 1995 CBS documentary on the subject, pitched the idea of a feature film to Kenny Moore--a Sports Illustrated writer and one-time training partner of Prefontaine’s. Writer/director Robert Towne (“Chinatown”) was also brought in. The four worked together developing a film in which Warners and Disney were interested. Though Disney studio chief Joe Roth wanted to split the rights, Warner Bros. ultimately won out. Roth--a former high school runner--got his chance, however, when the team split up. Towne is directing the Warner script, which he and Moore co-wrote. Lutz and Doonan went to Disney, where they got an immediate go-ahead. “We were very conscious that [Warner] was developing a similar movie,” said Charles Hirschhorn, executive vice president of Disney’s Hollywood Pictures. “And since there are only so many ways that you can tell a biography, we wanted to come out first. The golden opportunity for us was landing [‘Hoop Dreams’] director Steve James and producer/cinematographer Peter Gilbert.” Participants in Disney’s $8-million to $9 million movie, which stars Jared Leto (“My So-Called Life”), took less upfront in return for profit participation. The Warners project, produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner and starring Billy Crudup (“Sleepers”), is said to cost in the $25-million range.

Latest Brit Pop Invasion Is Tricky Business

Industry pundits are watching the current tour by Tricky to see if the highly touted new British pop invasion--which includes everything from the ultra high-beat-per-minute techno mixes of Prodigy to the ambient trip-hop stylings of Portishead--is beginning to catch on in this country. The rapper-producer’s Saturday night appearance at the El Rey Theatre is already sold out, so he’s added a Friday stop at Pomona’s Glass House--but insiders aren’t just watching ticket sales. The question is whether he generates the kind of strong presence on stage as he has on his critically acclaimed Island albums. MTV already has announced a shift in its video programming to include more of the British sound, and the race is on among U.S. labels to snap up acts as quickly as they emerge from the UK underground. Critics in England certainly think he has the magic touch live. Reviewing a recent show in Paris, Melody Maker said: “Tricky throws a series of stylistic punches and steps back while we reel in their impressive wake. This music is more than just magic. It’s very nearly . . . voodoo.” About Tricky’s progress here, Andrew Kronfeld, VP of marketing for Island Records, says, “The American audience is catching up to Tricky’s visionary genius.”

Fox’s Super Bowl: Will Ratings Be Out There?

Fox will televise the Super Bowl for the first time Sunday, which will undoubtedly produce the network’s highest rating in its 10-year history. Still, relative to past games, viewing is likely to dip, due to a combination of factors that include a less-attractive matchup (Green Bay-New England) than some recent games, another potentially lopsided contest (the Packers are prohibitive favorites) and Fox’s web of stations (still not quite as strong as the Big Three networks). Fox, meanwhile, has taken a page from NBC by scheduling an episode of its most popular series, “The X-Files,” following the game instead of trying to introduce a new program, as was done for years without much success. NBC last year offered a special one-hour “Friends” and ratings soared. In Sunday’s “X-Files,” agents Mulder and Scully investigate when a body disappears from a hospital morgue. Fox asked that the show not be too graphic because it will air at an earlier hour (around 7 p.m.) on the West Coast, but the episode in question nevertheless carries a TV-14 rating, meaning the network considers it inappropriate for children under 14.

Compiled by Times Staff Writers and Contributors