Welcome to The Playground, where entertainment is the focus, and where once again I arrived fifteen minutes late. Mind you I'm not always late to work, it's just that I commute from a land far, far away. And there is nothing less predictable than traffic, especially when it involves taking seven separate freeways to get here! Yes, I said seven! The seventh of course is a bridge with a toll charge. It's usually around the fourth or fifth freeway that I begin the search for the crossing fee. This search can be both extensive and dangerous, testing to the limits both my sense of direction and my sanity. My sense of direction has kept me alive, but I'm sorry to report that it's really an underdog in a cruel world. Decaying sanity aside, let's get down to entertainment!

My endless search for the ultimate in entertainment has led me to some great discoveries, the first being that I will never be a famous actor. When I was nine or ten I was a child actor, and not a bad one, if I do say so myself. If it wasn't for this one little girl, I would have been a star! We competed for commercials with no one taking a lead until that darn M&M's audition. After two auditions each, they chose her. It was a devastating loss, because she would go on to star as the Captain's daughter on The Love Boat. I could have been Victor Stuebing, the son of the man responsible for bringing people together to rediscover love on the high seas....

It's time to lift anchor and sail into this month's featured sites!

*DRUDGE REPORT: I'm proud to say a club member brought this to our attention. However I must admit hesitation in posting it. You see, a site with this much information could threaten my job as Entertainment Editor. So in the future please limit your entries to the semi-informative. And to the person who sent this in, I knew about the site, I was just waiting for the right issue of Club WebTV! Yeah, that's it!

The Comic Strip:Unleash your inner child with this superb collection of comic strips. From classic Peanuts to the cubicle wit of that ol' ham Dilbert, loosen your belt and watch it jiggle. Some of the strips can be a little hard to read due to small text, so you might want to make believe you're reading the Sunday funnies and hold your TV right up to your nose. And be sure to look into the "archive" section for a listing of strips from previous weeks.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Online: Hmmm... no (printable) comment!

greatday in harlem:Fifty-seven of the greatest jazz legends can be found on this terrific page. By clicking on an area of the main photo, learn about the musicians and why they were invited to be in the famous picture. And if your favorite jazz musician is not included, you can search by name or by instrument for other jazz figures. The fact that I stink at bass didn't stop me from learning a great deal from this site. A jazz musician I am not.

ReelMusic: This site is dedicated to the great tradition of Irish music. Inside you will find a large index of Celtic music in MIDI format to tickle the fancies of all ages. You can even learn about the instruments behind the music, like the fiddle and the mandolin. So move the furniture, pad the walls, pour the whiskey, and set the volume to eleven, because we're fixin' to dance till dawn!

The Sporting News: At one point in my life I considered myself an athlete. I could run for miles at a time without hallucinating, and after thirty push-ups I was able to still use my arms the next day! Well those days are over and so are my hopes of inking a lucrative deal with Nike. Then again, why should I care if I have Nike's or not when I can barely see the end of my toes? For you former athletes out there, join me in my appreciation for a great on-line sports magazine.

Weird Fact of the Day: Did you know that Alexander Graham Bell set a world water speed record in a boat when he was 72 years old? I didn't. I'm not sure how useful these facts are but they sure make fun reading. Each day they have something new, and if you become obsessed you can look at each one going all the way back to October 1995! If you start feeling "weird", you should probably take a break and get some sun.

FestivalFinder: With the help of this site, you can locate a music festival anywhere in the country, and find a place to plop down your blanket and soak up the rays. Forget about your miserable week and float away with REO Speedwagon, or even a really rocking band that's still together. Categories include everything from jazz to alternative.

Melrose Place: It's not Magnum P.I., but it will have to do. Planning a Melrose party? Hungry for the inside scoop? It's all here! Join the feeding frenzy that's taking America by storm. By studying the information on this page you will be able to impress your friends the next time you sit down to watch Melrose. See if you can guess what Michael will do next or who Sydney will go after in her never-ending search for love.

Sun Studio: Visit the house that turned Elvis into a legend. As promised, here is my Elvis related site of the month, and with a lot more than just Elvis to offer. Learn the history of the studio that discovered such stars as B. B. King, Junior Parker, and Johnny Cash. About two years ago I visited Sun Studio, and let me tell you, the feeling you get when standing in the studio is overwhelming! The tour guide plays original tracks while you look at original pictures of actual recording sessions featuring some of the best artists of the 50's and 60's. This page is the next best thing to being there.

Ultimate Taxi: The next time you find yourself on a curb in Aspen, Colorado, don't just climb into any taxi cab. Hold out for the Ultimate Taxi! It's a discotheque on wheels, with lasers and everything. A camera mounted on the back of the seat takes pictures of some of Aspen's most famous visitors. This guy even has a fog machine under the front seat for those "John Travolta" moments. So come on in and take a ride in The Ultimate Taxi! And another thing; Jon Barnes is not just the Ultimate Taxi' s founder, he's also a Club WebTV member!

To send us a web site you'd like to see included in The Playground column in future issues of Club WebTV:

Go to the web page you'd like to see. Press the "Options" button on your remote control, or keyboard. Choose "Send". Type our email address: clubwebtv@webtv.net.

Please also include a short note, by choosing, "Edit Message". Make sure you let us know that your submission is for The Playground, and tell us a bit about the site and why you like it.

See you next month!

     Elvis!

(Sometimes also known as Joey Clark)