April/May 1990
Just Messina-round
Admittedly, Jo Dee Messina is a girl with "not a lot of free time."
The red-headed dynamo has spent the past few months recording her third album, preparing to tour with the George Strait festival and contiuning to promote her second album, I'm Alright.
So when it comes to books, movies, and music-well, let's just say the heart is willing but the Timex is weak.
Still, Messina's got her eyes and ears open to a few hot titles these days. Here's what recently captured her interest:
Books
Messina is an avid reader-she's one of those people who's always in the middle of a dozen different books, most of them information-oriented.
"I'm looking at all these books lying around," she says, glancing around her Nashville home. "I've got The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, New Owner's Giude to Labrador Retrievers, WordPerfect for Dummies. And I've picked up 20 different magazines, Prevention and Runner's Magazine. I read all the time!"
Two novels are on her current "hot" list, both of them gifts from her brother: Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi (Simon & Schuster, available in paperback) and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (Harper Collins, available in paperback). Both feature larger-than-life characters-at first blush a perftect match for the exuberant Messina. But is this what prompted her brother to pick these titles? Nah.
"I guess he's been watching a lot of Oprah-they were both featured in her book club," Messina laughs.
Movies
Here's when a busy person really feels the time crunch. It's hard enough to make it to the video store when your home is a rolling tour bus; hitting the multiplex is well-nigh impossible. So right now, Messina's must-see list is longer than she's like. However, the self-described "sap" has her eye on Hollywood's current crop of chick flicks.
"I'm a huge Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon fan, so I want to see Step Mom. And I also want to see You've Got Mail and Patch Adams."
Music
Messina is a big fan of power pop and cites Celine Dion as a perennial favorite. But Dion's CD has been temporarily pushed aside by another female pop singer.
"I'm listening to the new Gloria Estefan CD" with the hit single "Don't Let This Moment End," says Messina. "We do a Gloria Estefan medley in my show where I do all the percussion. And one of my fans went out and bought her new album and waited in line forever and got it autograpghed for me from Gloria. I'm talking about the real record, the 33 1/3! I didn't even know they made those anymore. I mean, vinyl! Hello!"
