Etc...

Don't drop the peels, OK?

If you had the task of grouping a lot of bananas - say, 30,000 - how would you do it? (And no fair stacking them in those big boxes that are delivered to supermarkets.) If you're London display artist Doug Fishbone and you're in Trafalgar Square, you heap them in the shape of "the dome on the National Gallery" - 15 feet across at the base and 8 feet high. For the sixth time in his career Tuesday, Fishbone mounded bunches of the yellow fruit to elicit public reaction. Which was? A dash for as many free ones as hungry passers-by could carry when the exhibition ended after 11-1/2 hours. But, see, that was part of the idea, too. Said the artist: "It [is] a reverse sculptural process. As the bananas are taken, the work is whittled away until it vanishes." In case you were wondering, the bananas were donated by a promotional organization. Otherwise, he (or the National Gallery) would have had to buy them at retail.

The music of Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and the Beach Boys will be coming to Broadway soon. Three musicals incorporating songs that became rock 'n' roll classics are scheduled for debuts next year. "Lennon" is about the life of perhaps the best-known Beatles star. "All Shook Up" bears the name of one of Elvis's greatest hits. "Good Vibrations" isn't intended to be biographical but borrows Beach Boys' hits to tell the story of some small-town teenagers who head to southern California. The musicals, their tentative opening dates, and some of the familiar songs they'll include:

"Good Vibrations" January "Surfin' Safari" "California Girls" "Fun, Fun, Fun"
"All Shook Up" March"Jailhouse Rock" "Love Me Tender" "Hound Dog"
"Lennon" July"Imagine" "Give Peace a Chance" "Whatever Gets You Through the Night"
- Associated Press/ Reuters/Playbill