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Sinatra's hits make the Excalibur swing By day, Jim Paravantes is a mild-mannered software company sales manager. On Saturday nights, watch out. His performances have been known to inspire people to dance with such abandon that "I almost got knocked over a couple of times." Paravantes revives the hits of the late Frank Sinatra at 8:30 p.m. every Saturday night at Southfield's Excalibur restaurant. He categorizes audience reaction to his music as favorable but restrained. That's due to the stage presence of Marilyn, his percussionist and wife of 32 years. "I don't have too many wild female groupies," he says. Having grown up in Detroit during the Motown era, Paravantes, 50, took his time becoming interested in the swing-jazz genre. Now, he says, "It's a passion." One of his favorite songs to perform is "Polka Dots and Moonbeams." "Most of those songs are about someone who lost somebody or is looking for love." Paravantes said he especially enjoys singing at Excalibur because of its historical ties with the Chairman of the Board. Sinatra, as a friend of the restaurant's proprietor, was an occasional guest and treated the other diners to a song or two. Paravantes said he loves to perform "anywhere that there are a lot of people, because I enjoy people. This is a really giving profession." Web Site: Paravantes.com By Mary Beth Collver 'Roadshow' fears '60 Minutes II' crew An "Antiques Roadshow" insider says that Dan Rather and a "60 Minutes II" crew came to Tulsa, Okla., to film the show for a segment, and many of the appraisers were worried about some sort of expose. Most people interviewed thought his questions rather inane, says the source, but still worried that it was a setup. "They have sent crews to about three shows, and it is possible they have some negative material they are holding back while they gather footage and quotes to round it out." "Roadshow," PBS's most successful series ever, no longer has thousands of people waiting in line because it uses Ticketmaster to distribute a set number of free tickets about six weeks before the show comes to town. This, the insider writes, is "just as well, since we were turning away up to 15,000 people in some cities." The next local airing is at 1 p.m. Wednesday on WTVS-TV (Channel 56).
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