People

By Belinda Luscombe

THE BUCKS STOP THERE

You can insult his hair and poke fun at his syrupy songs, but unless you want bellyaching from MICHAEL BOLTON, don't cast aspersions on his charity. The New York Post reported that the Michael Bolton Foundation, which purports to help women and children in distress, in 1995 gave away only 15% of the money it raised. The 1996 figures were missing. Bolton, who said the allegations made him "sick to [his] stomach," immediately hired a crew of suits, including an emergency spin doctor, to clear things up. Meanwhile, the charity announced that expenses were high in 1995 because of fund-raising events but that administrative costs were below the industry standard. Stay tuned for an anguished ballad about being a good guy.

STARS GET BEHIND THEIR MASKS

Normally, when celebrities not famous for their artistic skills are left alone with the paint box, the results can be a real cringe-o-rama. So it's heartening to see that when Hospice of Metro Denver sent out a bunch of white-faced masks for big names to paint (the results of which will be auctioned off in May), the celebs didn't take their artistic selves too seriously. LARRY KING attempted a sweet self-portrait, as did Broncos quarterback JOHN ELWAY, although the face guard looks more like skull fractures. Author AMY TAN even displayed some ability, while WILLIE NELSON accomplished a breakthrough in the mask-art genre with his use of mixed media, i.e., the addition of a head scarf.

BREAKUP NO SCHLOCK FOR MURDOCH

Naturally, RUPERT MURDOCH gave the scoop that his marriage was on the rocks to Liz Smith of his very own New York Post, which politely said the Australian-born tycoon and ANNA, his wife of nearly 31 years, were trying to work it out. Somewhat less naturally, he broke it to most of his family at about the same time. How do the media cover the split of a guy who buys ink by the tankerful? Delicately. In Australia, the big tabloids, which are Murdoch-owned, ran teensy items on inside pages. In Britain, Murdoch's Sun, for whom this type of scandal would normally warrant huge headlines, ran a six-paragraph item on page 10. Its sister paper, the London Times, was equally discreet. The other British publications ran more prominent stories but, in a quaint show of taste, did not gloat. Oh, if only Ted Turner owned a newspaper.

Q & A JESSE CAMP

The 18-year-old beat out 4,000 other hopefuls in MTV's massive publicity stunt disguised as an open audition for a new veejay, largely on the strength of his voice (think of a cockatiel doing Marge Simpson) and spacy but undeniable charm.

Admit it, you never watch MTV. You've got the Nashville Network written all over you...

Oh sure man, I love all music, the country and the western, the rock and the blues, all the guys with the tattoos, yeah man. Down with that. I'm definitely a Nashville guy. Anything with huge trucks crushing little cars, man. That is the stuff.

Can you name five former MTV veejays?

Rikki Rachman. Um--sure I can. Rikki Rachman. Pauly Shore. Downtown--in the Brown--the Brown--Downtown Julie Brown! (Whispers from the publicist, which he ignores) Ed Lover and Dr. Dre.

What would you be doing now if one of the other guys had won?

Probably not a whole lot of much. Probably just scamming some girl or looking for a twirl to take me all 'round the world. My good time would be hanging with bros rather than like freakin' hanging out with Lennie Kravitz.

You've got a Sid Vicious meets Medusa vibe going on with that hair. What are you aiming for?

I'm not really sure. All I know is I don't wash it and it stands up.

Did people at school give you a hard time about your voice?

About my voice? No, never. No one really talks about it much. I just always sing.

No one ever mentioned it to you before this very moment?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, dude. My voice? Oh yeah, people talk about it all the time.

I heard being a veejay makes you into a bit of a babe magnet.

Not that I was a slouch before. But it's not hurtin'.