Kids Show

ONCE AGAIN, fielding a varsity football team has proved to be dicey for a Public League school with a small enrollment. For the second time this season, and fourth in 3 years, a program has vanished. Robert Coleman, the Pub's sports czar, said yesterday that administrators at Mariana Bracetti Charter accepted his suggestion to "dissolve the team" for the rest of 2011. Bracetti, new to the Pub in football, went 0-4 and was outscored, 153-18. Only 14 players were in uniform Friday during a 36-0 loss to Communications Tech, and that game was halted with 8 minutes left because of fighting.

Attention Kevin Roth fans, young and old! This sweet and sensitive singer/songwriter and master dulcimer player is about to pull a "Ben Vaughn" on us - picking up his belongings, indie music label and home-recording studio and moving the whole shebang to San Diego next week. Come Saturday, this musical split personality is bidding "farewell" with two concert appearances at Books Incorporated, 3856 Kennett Pike in Greenville, Del. (Get info at 302-652-3209). The 1 p.m. kids show will focus on high points from Roth's two dozen-plus "family music" albums, like "Lullabies for Little Dreamers" and "Unbearable Bears," that have won him critical acclaim and many awards, plus sold-out concerts and a plum TV gig singing the theme song for "Shining Time Station.

Izzadeen Burgos was only 2 last year when his father was arrested for trying to kill him. Little Izzy lost his left arm as a result of the rifle-shooting, and nearly lost his life, said Assistant District Attorney Charles Ehrlich yesterday. The bullet also pierced his lung. Is Izzy scared of his father, Dennis? Not at all, said his mother, Lisa, 29, during the first day of her husband's non-jury trial on aggravated assault before Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Bradley. To prove it, Lisa Burgos says she takes Izzy and her two other children to visit Dennis Burgos in prison.

Ah, Saturday morning. Once it was special: The one time each week when the TV dial was completely ruled by the kids of the house. Well, Saturday morning ain't what it used to be. With cable networks such as Nickelodeon and The Cartoon Network siphoning off viewers, the major networks and their local affiliates have had to insist that Saturday morning earn its keep. In some cases, that means kid-oriented programming is being shunted aside and replaced by news, paid programming or who-knows-what.

And now for something completely demented. Wonder Showzen (Fridays at 9:30 p.m. on MTV2) is a mock children's show, with the emphasis on mock. It uses the gentle conventions of tot TV - plush puppets, cartoons, songs, real kids - and tars them with sick humor. Shocking and funny, it's a big bad wolf in Baby Gap clothing. "The thing that attracted us to it is that it's like nothing else on television," says David Cohn, general manager of MTV2. That's for sure. Wonder Showzen makes South Park look like Barney.

Sex. Drama. Mystery and intrigue. They were all there last week at Springton Manor Farm as more than 150 students from 40 schools competed in the fourth annual Eco-Meet - a two-day event in which kids show off their knowledge about the environment. How do you tell the sex of a turtle? Give me a 90-second show on wetlands! What is that redheaded bird on the blood-stained scrap of paper? Who gobbles whom in the food chain? "You can tell the sex of a turtle by its eyes," eighth grader Karen Sieger said.

The Hatboro Summer Fun Festival and Carnival continues at Miller Meadow through Memorial Day, where families can have fun while supporting a good cause. There will be rides, games, musical performances, and other activities. Gates open Friday at 6 p.m. and the evening will culminate with a fireworks show. Saturday through Memorial Day, carnival gates open at 2 p.m. On Sunday at 6, a Hatboro's Got Talent showcase is open to all ages, with prizes or cash awards. Proceeds from the carnival will benefit the Enterprise Fire Company of Hatboro and the revitalization project of Elm Street Hatboro.

For the last 14 years, Germantown Academy has provided an alternative to the Delaware Valley Girls Track Association indoor meets in its fieldhouse in Fort Washington. Every other Friday afternoon, teams from the Inter-Academic and Friends Schools Leagues, along with a few PIAA squads, compete in a nonscoring, low-pressure meet. It helps teams with young athletes looking for some success or teams that find it inconvenient to travel to meets at Lehigh or Kutztown Universities.

For the fifth time in the last six years, Deptford High will have a new boys' basketball coach. Deptford athletic director Irv McFarland confirmed yesterday that Earle Bargerhuff's coaching contract had not been renewed. In his only season as Deptford's head coach, Bargerhuff directed the Spartans to a 4-21 record. It was Deptford's 11th losing season in the last 12 years. McFarland said that he had four applicants for the job - he would not name them - and that he expected to make a recommendation to principal Harry Gallagher by the end of the week.

I HAVE THIS recurring dream. I'm on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, poised to win the Oscar for best screenplay adaptation of a humor column. My tuxedo is perfectly tailored. My mustache is precisely trimmed. I look like the Hollywood phony I've always wanted to be. "How does it feel to be here tonight?" a reporter asks as I stop for the cameras and flash my newly purchased porcelain smile. "Wonderful," I say, turning to my lovely wife and co-writer, LaVeta. "How does it feel to you, honey?"

The Hatboro Summer Fun Festival and Carnival continues at Miller Meadow through Memorial Day, where families can have fun while supporting a good cause. There will be rides, games, musical performances, and other activities. Gates open Friday at 6 p.m. and the evening will culminate with a fireworks show. Saturday through Memorial Day, carnival gates open at 2 p.m. On Sunday at 6, a Hatboro's Got Talent showcase is open to all ages, with prizes or cash awards. Proceeds from the carnival will benefit the Enterprise Fire Company of Hatboro and the revitalization project of Elm Street Hatboro.

LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co. has become the first major media company to ban junk-food advertising on programming that targets children. Building on a healthy-foods initiative in its theme parks, Disney imposed new standards for food and beverages advertised on Disney XD and during the Saturday morning programs on Disney-owned ABC television stations. Disney Channel and Disney Junior, which are not ad-supported but receive brand sponsorships, would also be covered under the nutrition guidelines, officials said.

ONCE AGAIN, fielding a varsity football team has proved to be dicey for a Public League school with a small enrollment. For the second time this season, and fourth in 3 years, a program has vanished. Robert Coleman, the Pub's sports czar, said yesterday that administrators at Mariana Bracetti Charter accepted his suggestion to "dissolve the team" for the rest of 2011. Bracetti, new to the Pub in football, went 0-4 and was outscored, 153-18. Only 14 players were in uniform Friday during a 36-0 loss to Communications Tech, and that game was halted with 8 minutes left because of fighting.

Live music and more, tonight through Thursday, compiled by Shaun Brady, Tom Di Nardo, James Johnson, Sara Sherr and Laurie Conrad. Pop . . . plus Jimmy Eat World: They're certainly chomping around our region, playing two gigs back to back. Tomorrow's at Crocodile Rock in Allentown is sold out, but you might get lucky downashore tonight. The Arizona band's recently released sixth album, "Invented," debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Top 200. House of Blues at Showboat, 801 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, 8 tonight, $39.50 and $29.50, 609-236-2583, hob.com/atlanticcity.

How does a youth who stands out like a raisin on rice assimilate into an unwelcoming host culture? That's the hook of The Karate Kid , an appealing reboot of the 1984 inspirational that rethinks the American tale for the global age. Its star, Jaden Smith, spawn of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, is clearly a winner in the genetic sweepstakes. He's inherited Daddy's charm and Dumbo ears and Mom's looks and terrier tenacity. These attributes serve him nicely in the movie about the new kid who faces down bullies with the help of a martial-arts master.

A 13-year-old boy brings his little brother to the lone playground in their Camden neighborhood almost every summer day, but only in the morning, before fights start on the basketball court. Across the road, in a makeshift bicycle shop, a man teaches a few kids how to fix flats, a skill he hopes might save them from the neighborhood. And a few blocks away, two mothers simply keep their sons inside. The only summer games they know are on Xbox 360. This is summertime in Whitman Park, one of the most dangerous sections of Camden, where a 4-year-old boy playing around the corner from his home was gunned down during a late-afternoon shoot-out last week.

I HAVE THIS recurring dream. I'm on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, poised to win the Oscar for best screenplay adaptation of a humor column. My tuxedo is perfectly tailored. My mustache is precisely trimmed. I look like the Hollywood phony I've always wanted to be. "How does it feel to be here tonight?" a reporter asks as I stop for the cameras and flash my newly purchased porcelain smile. "Wonderful," I say, turning to my lovely wife and co-writer, LaVeta. "How does it feel to you, honey?"

The Beatles had their beat and the Wiggles, well, they have their wiggle. And it is "Greg Wiggle" - not John, Paul, George or Ringo - who is being thought of today. The Wiggles, an enormously popular children's music group, hails from Australia but has sold more than 15 million CDs and DVDs in the United States. The Wiggles' cable TV show is watched by legions of preschool devotees, and their parents. The music is simple and catchy and blessedly free of raunch or violence.

And now for something completely demented. Wonder Showzen (Fridays at 9:30 p.m. on MTV2) is a mock children's show, with the emphasis on mock. It uses the gentle conventions of tot TV - plush puppets, cartoons, songs, real kids - and tars them with sick humor. Shocking and funny, it's a big bad wolf in Baby Gap clothing. "The thing that attracted us to it is that it's like nothing else on television," says David Cohn, general manager of MTV2. That's for sure. Wonder Showzen makes South Park look like Barney.

Kid Rock would like you to know that he's a man of varied musical tastes. And, as the Detroit rap-rocker made clear at the Tweeter Center Saturday night, he feels no need to be subtle about it. When he mentioned Southern rock, his band kicked into Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird"). He boasted of his punk rock roots, and they played the Ramones ("Blitzkrieg Bop"). Metal meant AC/DC ("Back in Black") and hip-hop was Grandmaster Flash ("The Message"). Then again, no man willing to take the stage in a rhinestone-studded mink should mess with subtlety.