Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

It's a hectic time for Chris Noth, who's going back and forth between shooting his episodes of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and production of the big-screen "Sex and the City" movie — while lining up talent and otherwise working on preparations for his Nov. 10 Rainforest Action Network fundraising event at his New York club, Plumm.

"I do 'Law & Order: CI' for eight days and then go back to 'Sex and the City,'" notes the actor, known to "Sex" fans as Mr. Big. "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what it is I'm doing the next day. I have to get up early for the film, and I have a different schedule for the show. It's really interesting to go back and forth between the two of them."

He admits, "It's a crazy time to be doing this event we're doing, but, you know, with what looks to me like the total destruction of the planet going on, we can't afford not to act. I felt the time had passed to just be giving money. The Rainforest Action Network hand-delivers you issues you can talk to politicians about, alerts you to what the government is doing, where to write to protest — how to take action." 

Noth has his current "CI" leading lady, Alicia Witt, performing at the event and is talking to potential headliners. Last year, Norah Jones "gave a concert of her own free will." He's also "trying to get someone to streak through the streets of New York to get attention for us," he adds with a laugh. (For more information, go to www.ran.org.)

Noth isn't talking about the "Sex and the City" story, which producers are having a very hard time keeping quiet. On the series front, however, he's enjoying mixing it up with Witt in this new season of new "L&O: CI" shows on the USA network. Her character is full of the same kind of sometimes politically incorrect passion as his long-running Det. Mike Logan had — before being taught some tough lessons about the advantages of finesse.

BEAUTIFUL LADY: Superhot jazz songstress Nnenna Freelon says she wants to put a new face on late, troubled jazz legend Billie Holiday with Freelon's "Blueprint of a Lady: The Once and Future Life of Billie Holiday" show, premiering at New York's Apollo Theater Nov. 10.

"We glorify self-destruction and the blowing up of someone who is a creative genius, but I just wanted to look at her as a woman," says the five-time Grammy-nominee, who garnered her last nomination with the 2005 CD "Blueprint of a Lady: Sketches of Billie Holiday." 

To research the tragic life of the singer, who died from cirrhosis of the liver at age 44 in 1959, Freelon says, "I looked at what Baltimore was like in the '20s to get an idea of the environment this woman was coming of age in.

It was a rough port town, but through some real force of will, she decided she was not going to be a maid or a woman of the night or any of the very limited possibilities that existed for black women. She renamed herself Billie at a young age and decided she was going to be something fabulous. It was a hard road, and I'm not denying there were some self-destructive tendencies, but I was searching for the strength of will that got her to who she was. There was no such thing as a Billie Holiday until she invented herself and said 'You know what? This is who I am.' I call the show 'The Once and Future Life of Billie Holiday' because what a wonderful inspiration she is for us today in 2007, not just for me but for artists in all genres." Freelon says the plan is to eventually take the "Blueprint of a Lady" stage show on the road.

THE INSIDE TRACK: Sax phenom Jimmy Sommers says he got by with a little help from his friends on his new "Sunset Collective" CD, which features such guest artists as Macy Gray, Rahsaan Patterson and Paul Oakenfold. Though one other contributor was on the hush-hush: Sommers says Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti "is a good friend of mine, and he's playing on the record as Gabriel Johnson." He explains, "Chris is big time now, and his management's always trying to squeeze money out of every deal. But we're poor musicians, man, I'm not going to pay $20,000 for a trumpet solo. So Chris said, 'Just get everyone off my back and off your back and put a different name on it.' That's the way you get around labels."

Sommers says that as soon as he came up with the track for "Lovelife Remix," he knew it had to have Macy Gray's distinctive voice, which has been described as a drunken baby. "It was something funky, and I just heard Macy's voice. She did such a good job of coming in on this — she really pulled it off." Sommers plans to do a limited East Coast tour next month, chill at Christmas and then "go out hard the first part of the year."

RIPE FOR THE PICKING ON: Tracy Scoggins, who's been having a ball playing wicked on the here! network's "Dante's Cove," has a Warner Bros. film on the way called "Otis." "I got to play a character who's a spoof on the grief-mongering personalities on the 24-hour cable-news networks. You know, the mother is crying because the 16-year-old daughter's been murdered, and the woman says, 'Tell me, in your heart of hearts,' how you feel now that your daughter is dead and decomposing." The feature also stars Kevin Pollak, Jere Burns and Ileana Douglas.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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