News In Brief... Al Wilson R.I.P, Quincy's 75th, Leroy Brown... the movie?

Sad news for fans of vintage Seventies soul... Al Wilson, best known for his 1974 #1 hit "Show And Tell," passed away recently at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, CA of kidney failure. Wilson, a Mississippian who also played drums, began in various California vocal groups (including the Rollers of "Continental Walk" fame) before auditioning for Johnny Rivers in the late Sixties and scoring with the standard "The Snake," beloved of many UK soul fans... Quincy Jones' 75th birthday party was naturally an all-star affair: Tony Bennett, Roberta Flack and Gloria Estefan were among the celeb celebrants spotted at the ASCAP-sponsored affair in New York. The highlights, however, were the performances -- Lesley Gore serenading Q with "It's My Party," James Ingram also changing the lyrics for "One Hundred Ways," and Gloria doing a tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Me and Mrs. Jones" with the gender roles switched. Patti Austin, Al Jarreau, and Savion Glover were among the other performers... It seems almost anything can be turned into a movie these days. But "Bad Bad Leroy Brown," the breakthrough hit for Jim Croce? Yep. Producer Warren Zide (American Pie, Final Destination) has optioned the rights, claiming that his uncle had expressed interest in a "Leroy Brown" movie 25 years ago but couldn't get the rights. Zide called up the Croce family and finally succeeded, leading Croce's widow Ingrid to remark, "We've always wanted to do a movie with one of Jim's character songs... we just want him and his memory and his music to live on. Most importantly, it sounds as if it's going to be a lot of fun. And Jim liked to have to have fun."