Talent Show

BRIAN UTAIN WAS one of a group of Temple University students who used to harmonize on the lawn or in Mitten Hall or even on street corners in the '60s, lending their own original take on R&B and soul numbers. A lot of their singing was a capella, but there was a piano in Mitten Hall, and a member of the group, Daryl Hohl, could play accompaniment. They called themselves the Temptones, the name taken from the school they were attending and the popular Temptations, whom they idolized.

Like the balloons surrounding them on stage, area young people rose to the occasion Saturday for a talent show in Coatesville. Though the acts were few, the entertainment was high-spirited as they performed for about 100 relatives and friends at the Young Women's Christian Association. Among the hits was a hula dance by the local Girl Scout troop, which brought a little bit of Hawaii to the Y with the dazzling leis, skirts and headbands. While they danced, the girls - under the leadership of Yvette Crichton - mouthed the words to an accompanying record.

A televised talent show to raise funds for the Marple Township Public Library will be held Feb. 22 with entertainment provided by amateur performers and local celebrities. The program, Televent, will be shown on community service Channel 10, available in Marple and Haverford Townships, from 2 to 6 p.m. It will be staged at Marple Newtown Senior High School. Auditions for the show will be held at 7 p.m. today and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Appointments for auditions are required, said Maureen Muehsam, co-chair of the program with Walt MacDonald, television traffic reporter.

Jamar Jackson was dressed to the nines as he clicked up to the stage in his tap shoes and sequined bow tie at the LaMott Community Center's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Talent Show. And when "La Bamba" began playing from an old stereo atop a dated RCA television, the 8-year-old Jackson began to strut his stuff. "Heel, toe, tap. Heel, toe, tap," he whispered to himself. As the music picked up, so did Jamar, strutting back and forth across the stage and bearing a smile that filled the auditorium of the community center, at Willow and Sycamore Avenues.

"Tis the "Season of the Arts" in Cherry Hill, and the township will celebrate on Friday with a variety/talent show starring township residents. The free event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Cherry Hill municipal building on Mercer Street. Free refreshments will be available. "Season of the Arts" is one of four seasonal art events sponsored each year by the Cherry Hill Arts Advisory Board, a volunteer arm of the township government that tries to encourage cultural pursuits in the municipality, according to publicity chair Elena Winter.

Baton twirling, flute tooting, tap dancing, classical piano playing, and operatic singing will have a place on prime-time television after all. The Miss America talent competition, which ABC banished last month from its Sept. 18 pageant broadcast, has been partly restored to the two-hour show, the Miss America Organization said yesterday. The evening's final two contenders will perform their two-minute routines before the judges in a reality-TV-style competition. The winner takes all - the tiara and title of Miss America 2005.

Dee Snider, the WMMR-FM (93.3) DJ and former '80s big-hair rock demigod, is making dreams come true for Pennsylvania kids at Hamburg Area High School. Well some of them, anyway. The former Twisted Sister frontman, whose "We're Not Gonna Take It" is a touching teen coming-of-age-and-rebellion classic, got angry when The Man tried to cancel a talent show next month at the Berks County high school. Authorities cited worries about injuries if kids moshed while the bands rocked out. (Moshing is what those darn kids do when they don't know how to dance, or are listening to music that demands spasmodic thrashing about.

"Jesus is love / He's up above / He'll do anything to keep your love," Daven Rowe chanted as he strutted back and forth in front of the communion rail at the Murphy A.M.E. Church in Chester. When 12-year-old Daven finished his gospel rap Saturday, the 100 people attending a talent show in the church stood up and cheered. Daven's rap, the only one in a show that emphasized gospel singing, won him first place among 25 contestants. The music director of the Grace and Truth Delegation, a Chester gospel group that sponsored the talent search, couldn't have been happier.

So there was Ms. Morales peeling off her shirt to reveal a slinky black tank top, and Mrs. Tuff prancing around showing some serious cleavage, and Tiffanie and Heather's mom shaking her stuff in a black sequined dress, and you just cannot possibly imagine how embarrassing it all was. "Teachers are supposed to be smart," 12-year-old Jennifer Williams said reprovingly. "Not silly. " Hey, kids, lighten up. Silly was the whole point. It was a talent show with a twist yesterday at East Camden Middle School.

By day, Jannie L. Blackwell is an oh-so-serious Philadelphia City Council member, known for helping the homeless people who show up at her office and for overseeing her West Philadelphia district like a fiefdom. But Thursday night, she was "Jannie from Cheyney. " Clad in a black-and-white Adidas track suit, bulky gold chain, and sunglasses, the councilwoman - a graduate of Cheyney University - and several staffers did their own version of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight. " "And in conclusion / I'd just like to say / I'm Jannie from Cheyney / have a blessed day," she rapped.

By day, Jannie L. Blackwell is an oh-so-serious Philadelphia City Council member, known for helping the homeless people who show up at her office and for overseeing her West Philadelphia district like a fiefdom. But Thursday night, she was "Jannie from Cheyney. " Clad in a black-and-white Adidas track suit, bulky gold chain, and sunglasses, the councilwoman - a graduate of Cheyney University - and several staffers did their own version of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight. " "And in conclusion / I'd just like to say / I'm Jannie from Cheyney / have a blessed day," she rapped.

BRIAN UTAIN WAS one of a group of Temple University students who used to harmonize on the lawn or in Mitten Hall or even on street corners in the '60s, lending their own original take on R&B and soul numbers. A lot of their singing was a capella, but there was a piano in Mitten Hall, and a member of the group, Daryl Hohl, could play accompaniment. They called themselves the Temptones, the name taken from the school they were attending and the popular Temptations, whom they idolized.

Cleve Duncan, 78, whose soaring tenor voice as lead singer for the Penguins helped propel the 1954 doo-wop ballad "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)" to rock 'n' roll immortality, died Nov. 7 in Los Angeles. "Earth Angel," which has sold more than 10 million copies, was the Penguins' only hit. But its rhythmic, wailing plea to an idealized young woman captured the spirit of the just-emerging rock generation. Rolling Stone magazine placed it on its list of the 500 greatest songs ever, and films like Back to the Future have used it to conjure an era. Cleveland Duncan was born July 23 of either 1934 or 1935 in Los Angeles, and learned to sing in his church choir and glee clubs.

Showing off your talent isn't the point of the student showcase Thursday morning at Neil A. Armstrong Middle School in Fairless Hills. The star turn bringing a parent to tears might be Jordan Perry standing before the crowd as master of ceremonies. Not long ago, the 12-year-old was so withdrawn that he couldn't look his teacher in the eye. Or it might be Leila Kelley, 7, banging a bucket with a drumstick. Only a few days ago, she was so anxiety-ridden that she hid behind a curtain.

Jennifer Lopez, have you no shame?! Steven Tyler, have you, um, no shame either? Having used American Idol to resurrect their careers, the pair have dumped the Fox talent show. With Simon Cowell long gone, does Idol have long to live? J-Lo, who was in Philly on Thursday, reportedly made $12 mil for her Idol-atrous service. She announced her treachery by phoning in to stalwart Idol host Ryan Seacrest's radio show Friday. "I really was dreading this phone call with you," she told him. "I honestly feel like the time has come that I have to get back to doing the other things that I do that I've put kind of on hold because I love Idol so much.

"Oh, there's all these rumors that I'm a lesbian," says Kelly Clarkson, who graces the cover of Lucky mag's first music issue. The Voice mentor is jocular, her lucky Lucky interlocutor says.  Well? Is she? "I have a boyfriend now," Kelly, 30, says. "Brandon Blackstock, my manager Narvel's son, Reba McEntire's stepson. " The blushing American Idol hopeful turned megastar is as all-American traditional as her music: She likes to shoot guns. "I just had my 30th birthday and we went turkey shooting," she says.

ONE COMMENT people will never make about Joey Gorman is that he's a one-trick pony. Out and about, he's known mostly for the skills that last year enabled him to earn Pitcher of the Year honors for the Daily News All-City Baseball Team. But inside the walls at Ss. Neumann-Goretti, he also receives respect for his academic prowess (top 25 among seniors), standing as the student council vice president, and wildly impressive singing talents. Oh, wait. The jury is out on that last one. Tuesday, the 5-10, 180-pound lefthander, who's bound for Saint Joseph's University and was making his first in-game throws of any kind this season, came within three outs of a shutout as the Saints bested visiting Archbishop Wood, 5-2, in a Catholic Blue opener.

Here's your chance to see huge dinosaurs up close, even some originals from the film Jurassic Park , at Granite Run Mall's new permanent interactive museum, Dino Don's Dinosaurium. The 6,500-square-foot museum, which is also a learning lab that combines science and education, showcases 12 rare dinosaur species such as the Yangchuanosaurus, Sichuanosaurus, and Velociraptor, the dino-villain in the Jurassic Park series. The exhibit has moving dinosaurs and a pit where kids can go on a dinosaur dig, searching for fossils.

First, Donald Trump bid for the White House. Then Alec Baldwin said he wasn't yet running for mayor of New York, but might. Martin Sheen fans urged him to run for president of Ireland. (He isn't.) Now it's Rob Lowe . Sheen's The West Wing costar tells Fox News' Fox & Friends he won't/might enter national politics. He won't because it's nasty: "When I see the [political] discourse, I definitely think it's better to play politicians [on TV] than actually be them," Lowe says.