The Post-Star from Glens Falls, New York • 34

Music Young trio Immature -trying a fresh approach i 3 12 17 ir mi i By David Bauder Tr-e Assoc Press SEW YORK The sing They np They ear underwear on their heads and joke about girls "big ol buns And they're only 10. Child stars in the 1 9v0s are a far cry from Shirley Temple. With puberty still on the horizon. Marques Houston, Don Fernando and Jerome Jones are plunging into a music business that seems to get younger every day. The trio is known collectively as Immature, and they dream of a day they can strike the "im-" prefix from their name.

On a Vtarm autumn day, they step out of a black stretch limousine and casually look around to see if anyone notices them. They stride into the lobby of a hotel overlooking Central Park. At a time in the afternoon vhen most of their friends are worrying about recess. Immature takes care of business. They try to sit still in a plush hotel suite for an interview and photo session.

A simple query where they're from gets a choreographed routine. "My name is Half-Pint, and I'm from Pluto," said Fernando, a native of the Philippines whose short stature earned him his nickname. "I'm Romeo, and I'm from the moon," said Jones, leaning forward so his mouth is inches away from a tape recorder placed on a table. "I'm Batman. I'm from the stars," said Houston.

Their real origins are less stellar. They're from Los Angeles. Manager Chris Stelkes, a 23-year-old music producer, met Jones at an acting class run by Beau Bridges and decided to get a group together. Virgin Records liked the results enough to put out a record. Youthful singers are nothing new, as Michael Jackson arid Stevie Wonder can attest, but they have rarely been as bankable as they are now.

The two 13-year-old rappers in Kriss Kross have sold more than 3 million copies of their debut album. Teen-agers Boyz II Out sir.g.ng so l.p.le girls wcn-Id l.Le us." G-css what, They all say they're single and av a. Don't laugh Immature already tells stones of girls who try to chase them into bathrooms and wait for them in hotel lobbies. Like Knss Kross, which created a style sensation by wearing their pants backward. Immature is try ing hard to draw attention with their clothes.

All three wear short pants so huge they look like midi-dresses, baggy shirts and granny glasses from Pans. They also favor huge, multicolored hats and seem willing to try anything like wrapping a pair of boys' briefs around one hat or holding a toothbrush in the mouth like a pipe. In the tradition of Maurice Starr, who was the backstage brains behind New Kids on the Block, Stelkes is the Svengali. He makes the career decisions, writes the songs and produces the music, or arranges for friends to help. The boys don't write music, but Stelkes insists he gets their spirit into the songs.

They're trying to learn instruments. Stelkes also hopes the trio's odd sense of style catches on, since he's planning to open a clothing store in Los Angeles. During an Immature interview Stelkes watches nervously like a teacher at an elementary school recital. He occasionally whispers advice, and the three boys continually spout public service announcements: "Buckle up for safety" and "Stay out of gangs." Stelkes sternly warns against tomfoolery when the boys pose for a picture. He directs them through three changes of clothing for a photographer ho's likely to use only one shot.

Members of Immature don't go to school anymore. They say they miss their friends and schoolyard games of basketball, and they are tutored three hours a day. Their favorite subject: math. "If you don't know math, you might get gypped if you go to places," Fernando said. "If you like money, you like math." 0 iWfa-in-ii ri I in- The Associated Press Members of Immature are, from left, Marques Houston, nicknamed Batman; Don Fernando, also known as Half-Pint; and Jerome Jones, also called Romeo.

The 10-year-olds say they are already fighting off the girls. Men have been at the top of the charts for Houston said. Forget the seeming innocence of their most of the year. On he debut album, "On Our Worst age; Immature know ho their audience Half-Pint, Romeo and Batman all say they Behavior," the Immature "sound" is a will be. like Kriss Kross.

"We say we're prepubescent version of new jack swing "We know girls like groups that sing slow better, but we're just as good as they are," that combines rap and sou. songs to them," Fernando said. "We came Acuff A hjUlb illy who always meant what he sang Acuff didn't sing about things he didn't know about. He sang a lot about Mama, the Smoky Mountains, family, love and Jesus. When Acuff sang 'I Saw the you knew he had seen one, and if you didn't like it, well, to hell with you.

Hall of Famers and warned: "All of us, let's watch our timing." As if Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson and Vassar Clements needed reminding. It was vintage Acuff. It might not have been the right thing to do, and he might not have been the most able person there, but he knew what he wanted and he' wasn't about to compromise. Scruggs, Jimmie Fadden, John McEuen, Doc Watson, Pete Kirby, Vassar Clements and Junior Huskey. These names might not mean much to people who are too sophisticated to know any better, but this was one high-octane hillbilly posse.

For pure musical talent, Acuff ranked about eighth in this group of eight. But before starting the song, he turned to the assembled group of Acuff sang "I Saw the Light" on the now-legendary album, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." He was backed up instrumentally by Earl jokes, politicked, proselytized and prayed on stage. He did this for a long, long time at the Grand Ole Opry, and the people who could put up with it the first time they saw it never tired of it. Other acts could do "Arsenio." Acuff was pure "Hee-Haw." Commentary strictest country music purist. Roy Acuff and Earl Scruggs were the only two I ever heard who could sing if that properly.

It's all in the way they pronounce "she's mighty tall and handsome" as "she's mahty fallen hayundsommme." The right blend of diction and enthusiasm is hard to come by. When Acuff sang "Wreck on the Highway," you had to laugh at him or cry with him. The emotion in the lyric, "There was whiskey and blood all around them, but I didn't hear nobody praaaaay is too honest to ignore. Acuff didn't sing about things he didn't know about. He sang a lot about Mama, the Smoky Mountains, family, love and Jesus.

When Acuff sang "I Saw the Light," you knew he had seen one, and if you didn't like it, well, to hell with you. He played the fiddle, balanced the bow on his nose, flirted with Minnie Pearl, yo-yoed, told corny ponosnosfl By Jake Vest Orlando Sentinel I don't know what Roy Acuff last words were, but you can bet the farm that they were spoken in a hillbilly twang and that he meant every one of them. Acuff, who died Monday at age 89, came out of the same woods I came out of, went on to hobnob with chiefs of state and fiddle around with the rich and famous, sold millions of records, performed around the world and had Nashville in his back pocket. While doing all that, he never made anyone think he was anything other than the cornbread-loving, Bible-thumping hick from East Tennessee who talked, acted and thought just like all the rest of us cornbread-loving, Bible-thumping hicks from East Tennessee. He never gooned it up on stage.

He never wore bib overalls or straw hats. He didn't need props you could tell he was country just by listening to him. Roy Acuff's performing style didn't fit well in an age when Garth Brooks was on the pop charts and Billy Ray Cyrus was invited to sing at political conventions. Roy Acuff never went for the crossover sound. If you wanted to enjoy Acuff, you had to cross over to where he was.

I've always said that on of the best things about country music is the kind of people it irritates. Nobody could irritate 'em the way Acuff did. If sung properly, "Wabash-h Camonball" should be able to empty a room of anybody but the Open Daily at Noon ARRISON FRIDAY PRIME Complete Dinner Specials Available All Evening WED. THURS. FRI.

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