Gab

Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo has officially signed on for a Saturday- morning radio talk show. The show, due to start in June, will be syndicated by the SW (Sony Worldwide) Network, which announced the deal Wednesday and is talking with potential affiliates. "The competition was heated" for Cuomo, said David Rimmer, SW director of talk programing. "I think we had the right environment. " The three-hour show, targeted to air 10 a.m.-1 p.m., will include monologues, guests and call-ins, though Cuomo says he wants to spend more time with key issues.

Those so-called dial-a-porn and gab telephone lines have become harder to reach. Bell of Pennsylvania yesterday imposed new restrictions on the services, which let callers hear lurid monologues or have conversations with several anonymous strangers. And the local phone company's parent, Bell Atlantic Corp., also based in Philadelphia, said it planned to stop providing billing services for interstate gab and adult lines if long-distance companies didn't adopt similar restrictions.

Several years ago, before I was married and had children of my own, my parents, brother, and I were flying together. I don't remember the location, but I clearly remember the shameful exclamations of fear regarding what I do recognize as a commonplace and - yes - safe form of travel. There were three angsty cowards among us. But my mother, never one to be afraid for stupid reasons, and therefore the sole member of our family who has no qualms about taking to the skies, flipped calmly through a magazine and looked at the rest of us with semi-disdain.

For G. Love and Special Sauce, there's no better time to play for their hometown fans than the day after Thanksgiving. Everyone is home and, having finally worked through the excesses of Turkey Day and Black Friday, ready to par-tay. That convergence resulted in heavy doses of the frat-boy funk, rock and hip-hop the extra-crispy three-piece band does so well. Friday night at the sold-out Electric Factory, there were plenty of musical biscuits for everyone. Fans who managed to get tickets received a proper kick-start from one of the Bay Area's finest rap duos, Blackalicious - or half of it, anyway.

Officials for Mobil Oil Corp. are expected to begin meeting tomorrow with Paulsboro residents who have claims against the company resulting from an incident in which oil and soot escaped from a broken refinery pipeline. The emissions occurred after a Feb. 15 power failure at the plant forced a shutdown. When power was restored, a small pipeline burst under pressure and shot oil and soot into the wind, spraying about 470 houses and 400 cars, said Ida Walker last week. Walker is assistant manager of community relations for Mobil.

With Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore and André Benjamin. Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films. 1 hour, 55 mins. R (violence, profanity, nudity, inanity, adult themes). Playing at Ritz at the Bourse. Guy Ritchie's Revolver premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival two years ago September. That's 26 months on a shelf somewhere, depriving moviegoers the thrill of jaw-droppingly awful Ray Liotta line readings, of bloody shoot-outs, bags of money, cutaways to frosty babes sucking on lollipops, and even a bit of violent anime.

Bell of Pennsylvania yesterday announced a system for restricting access to dial-a-porn and chit-chat services that sometimes have left parents of teenagers with expensive surprises in their telephone bills. The plan, which must be approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission, would divide the pay-per-call services, which now all use a 976 exchange, into two categories. One category would include services such as financial and sports information, while the other would include those numbers that reach pornographic recordings or live group-conversation lines.

Public Enemy and Chuck D. may have invented preachy, socioconscious hip-hop back in the '80s; their new Revolverlution continues the tradition. And in 2000, the West Coast's Dilated Peoples debuted their aggro-reflective lyricism with the aptly named The Platform. But in between P. E. and D. P. came the literary-rap and Technicolor sound of The Gift of Gab and DJ Chief Xcel: Blackalicious. Since 1987, the Davis, Calif., duo has made tasty hip-hop that's good for you. Its sense of empowerment is based on peaceful rage made happy and holy in a bed of jazz-hop and fluid, gospel-fueled text, without ever losing what got you angry in the first place.

Guitarist Mark Kendall and singer Jack Russell, of the rock band Great White, have booked their first public performance since 99 people died in a fire at a concert by the group two months ago. Kendall and Russell will play an acoustic set at the Key Club in West Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday - a benefit to honor the memory of their guitarist, Ty Longley, 31, who was among those who died Feb. 20 at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I. Investigators suspect the band's pyrotechnics ignited soundproofing foam.

So whaddaya gonna do? Some guy owes you money big time. He shows up dead, but the wife says it ain't so. Says he rigged a fake demise and skipped town. With the dough. So now Elmore Leonard's gotta write his new book on it, and he does - big time. Called Get Shorty. Joe Mantegna reads it, but good, for Bantam (three hours, $14.95). You don't hear it, you missed something. What it is, see, is it's about this Miami hood, name of Chili Palmer, who figures, with a little persuasion from an old rival, that maybe it would be best for his health if he left town for a bit. And maybe it would be best if where he went he was looking for this guy who skipped out on a loan.

When my father was growing up, Santa stuffed coal in bad children's stockings. Today, St. Nick could take naughty kids to see the Media Theatre's unenergetic production of Dr. Dolittle . When 20th Century Fox remade its 1967 Dr. Dolittle in 1998, it cast a comedian, Eddie Murphy, to play the title role of the vet who can talk to animals. Bill Vargus, the former Fox29 sportscaster, can't even connect with the beachball-sized volleys of humor lobbed by Leslie Bricusse's 1967 book.

Several years ago, before I was married and had children of my own, my parents, brother, and I were flying together. I don't remember the location, but I clearly remember the shameful exclamations of fear regarding what I do recognize as a commonplace and - yes - safe form of travel. There were three angsty cowards among us. But my mother, never one to be afraid for stupid reasons, and therefore the sole member of our family who has no qualms about taking to the skies, flipped calmly through a magazine and looked at the rest of us with semi-disdain.

Normally, we here at SideShow write about celebrity news, not about news about celebrity news - least of all, something from academe. But we are nothing if not open-minded and curious, so let us note a new study by coauthors Amanda Hinnant of the University of Missouri and the University of Tennessee's Elizabeth Hendrickson (we know you two just did this study to get your names in boldface), which found that celebrity journalism might be an undersung communication channel for spreading health information.

With Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore and André Benjamin. Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films. 1 hour, 55 mins. R (violence, profanity, nudity, inanity, adult themes). Playing at Ritz at the Bourse. Guy Ritchie's Revolver premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival two years ago September. That's 26 months on a shelf somewhere, depriving moviegoers the thrill of jaw-droppingly awful Ray Liotta line readings, of bloody shoot-outs, bags of money, cutaways to frosty babes sucking on lollipops, and even a bit of violent anime.

RADIO BAD BOYS Opie and Anthony have been suspended for 30 days by XM Satellite Radio, one week after airing crude sex comments about Condoleezza Rice, Laura Bush and Queen Elizabeth and one day after making light of the incident in their broadcast. The pair's early-morning, airbrushed-for-mainstream-listeners stint on WYSP (94.1-FM) was expected to air as usual from 6 to 9 a.m. today, a spokesperson for the station's owner, CBS Radio, said. Those who pay to hear the show's uncensored commentary after 9 a.m. on XM will be out of luck.

The start of the red-carpet season showed that current styles in evening wear such as jewel-toned Grecian and frothy white gowns flatter curvy women. During Monday night's Golden Globes, full-figured winners Jennifer Hudson, who donned a soft, navy-blue short-sleeved dress by Vera Wang, and America Ferrera, in a deep purple, cap-sleeved Brian Reyes gown, looked fabulous in the goddess-style tucks and upper-torso gathers. Other Grecian-style hits included Salma Hayek's flowing white Dior by John Galliano (she just oozed nectar and ambrosia)

For G. Love and Special Sauce, there's no better time to play for their hometown fans than the day after Thanksgiving. Everyone is home and, having finally worked through the excesses of Turkey Day and Black Friday, ready to par-tay. That convergence resulted in heavy doses of the frat-boy funk, rock and hip-hop the extra-crispy three-piece band does so well. Friday night at the sold-out Electric Factory, there were plenty of musical biscuits for everyone. Fans who managed to get tickets received a proper kick-start from one of the Bay Area's finest rap duos, Blackalicious - or half of it, anyway.

So there was this New Jersey Irishman sitting in a corner at a Vermont classic rock station at 5:30 a.m. yesterday, talking sports, with occasional interruptions by Warren Zevon and Aerosmith. "Get up, you sleepyheads!" Tom Brennan, part of The Corm and the Coach Morning Team, shouted later in the show. "If you've got to be at work at 8, you've got 53 minutes!" And he had a plane to catch. The Coach really is one. After he left the station, WCPV-FM, the 18th-year head coach of the Vermont Catamounts was taking his team to Buffalo, to the NCAA tournament, for the second straight season and the second time in the school's history.

Guitarist Mark Kendall and singer Jack Russell, of the rock band Great White, have booked their first public performance since 99 people died in a fire at a concert by the group two months ago. Kendall and Russell will play an acoustic set at the Key Club in West Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday - a benefit to honor the memory of their guitarist, Ty Longley, 31, who was among those who died Feb. 20 at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I. Investigators suspect the band's pyrotechnics ignited soundproofing foam.

Public Enemy and Chuck D. may have invented preachy, socioconscious hip-hop back in the '80s; their new Revolverlution continues the tradition. And in 2000, the West Coast's Dilated Peoples debuted their aggro-reflective lyricism with the aptly named The Platform. But in between P. E. and D. P. came the literary-rap and Technicolor sound of The Gift of Gab and DJ Chief Xcel: Blackalicious. Since 1987, the Davis, Calif., duo has made tasty hip-hop that's good for you. Its sense of empowerment is based on peaceful rage made happy and holy in a bed of jazz-hop and fluid, gospel-fueled text, without ever losing what got you angry in the first place.