People in the News for June 6, 1997

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

Today is Mixed Bag Day here at People in the News, and rarely are bags more mixed than this: dueling dentists, Internet high jinks and, of course, a parade. But first, Bono and Frank working the swing shift: U2 singer Bono has long had a fascination with Frank Sinatra, with his finger-snapping cool, his swagger, the way he needled that Sammy cat. Bono wrote a gushy essay about Frank, introduced Frank at the Grammys and sang with Frank on Frank's "Duets" album. That, of course, is not enough. Bono has written a tune for Frank, "Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad." "Frank's the man," a sunny Bono said recently. "We're all guests on his planet." Bono sang "Two Shots" during an interview this week on "Access Hollywood." Thrillingly, Frank heard. Frank responded. Not with the anticipated Is this fruitcake stalking me or what?, but with finger-snapping, swaggering approval. "He's a good man," Frank said of Bono, "and I wish him many, many shots of happy."

Briefly

Tangled Web

British pop band Oasis and some of its Internetty fans are going at it like angry dentists. The band's management company, Ignition, has warned unofficial Oasis websites to stop using copyrighted material or face the ultimate penalty: talking to lawyers. Ignition is afraid that website owners -- many of whom are simply obsessive, musician-fixated oddballs (does Bono maintain a Sinatra home page?) -- will set a pattern of profiting from what we whimsically refer to as the band's "intellectual property." The deadline for compliance passed this week, but many site operators haven't cooperated, figuring Oasis will back down in the face of bad publicity. Also, claims a pro-website spokesman, "Almost all of the copyrighted materials used on fan pages fall under the concept of 'fair use."' Maybe so, but as band and fans come out swinging, it's time we ask, can't we all just march in the name of love? Shot of happy anyone?

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets