DIGITAL L.A. TIGRETT CAPTURES SPIRIT OF THE INTERNET.

Byline: David Bloom 

Isaac Tigrett started the Hard Rock Cafe at 22, then followed that hugely successful Act 1 of his life by founding the House of Blues, another sterling marriage of music and food and zeitgeist over which he presided until something of a palace coup left him pondering the future at the foot of his spiritual master in India.

Now Tigrett has undertaken another business venture that combines the spirit of the times with filthy lucre and in this case, real spirituality. Tigrett's new venture, still in its nascent stages, is called The Spirit Channel.

It ties in with a long-building interest in the Mind, Body & Soul Movement, which coalesced in the 1960s in California and elsewhere around such interests as health food, holistic medicine and metaphysics.

The spirituality has long been there for Tigrett, reared in tiny Jackson, Tenn., attending Southern Baptist church services four times a week. After his folks divorced in the late 1960s, he went with his father to shagadelic London, where he figured out that rock `n' roll was going to be a worldwide cultural phenomenon. He married music memorabilia, food and marketing savvy to create the Hard Rock Cafe chain, which soon spread to venues around the world.

Even then, there were little hints of Tigrett's abiding spiritual interests, such as restaurant walls festooned with such slogans as ``Love All, Serve All'' and ``Save the Planet.''

Some of that sensibility continued with the hugely successful Sunday gospel brunch series at the House of Blues, and more personally, by his studies with an Indian spiritual master and his long-running involvement with New York's non-denominational St. John the Divine Cathedral, known for its social activism.

In recent years he has worked closely with the cathedral's retired dean, James Park Morton, who founded the Interfaith Center of New York and helped organize the Parliament of World Religions.

Tigrett struggled to explain to his friend Morton how spirituality and the Web could be connected, until one day the minister had an epiphany.

``All of sudden, he said, `I know what the Internet is. It's the body of Christ,' '' Tigrett recounted. ``Chills went up my spine. It is the collective unconsciousness. If there is a God, this is a divine manifestation for the 21st century.''

The Internet lets people - such as Parliament of World Religions participants who communicate with each other on a private network - understand how much alike they are, Tigrett said.

``That sameness is the divinity, the human-ness that ties us all together,'' Tigrett said. But he's frustrated that the Web's evolution into a shopping mall and porn palace has done little to feed ``our higher nature.''

``People became seduced by e-commerce,'' Tigrett said. ``They're confusing e-commerce with e-culture. It's about community, the greatest thing to ever bring people together.''

Tigrett is building a virtual ``sacred city'' where like-minded souls can gather and learn about a broad range of interests, such as holistic and alternative medical practices, healthful food and vitamins.

Not surprisingly, it will feature metaphysics, from astrology to more obscure practices - and of course, religion.

``I don't think anyone should start a spiritual site without religion,'' Tigrett said. ``I looked at those 10 religions (represented at the Parliament of World Religions) and said, 'That's the whole world culture.' It's the world's music, travel, books, art.''

He already has launched a very small site, at www.spiritchannel.com, where you can link to 90 minutes of short films from the parliament's recent South African gathering and to The Word Foundation (at www.thewordfoundation.org), which helped establish the parliament.

``My goal is to be a guide for people on these journeys,'' Tigrett said. ``It's an opportunity to lead people to the type of lifestyle they want and need.''

Games of note

I've found some of the notable new game releases for those who've tired of their Christmas goodies. So just in the nick of post-St. Nick time, here are some suggestions:

I liked Activision's latest gussying up of a long-time shareware fave with ``Shanghai Second Dynasty'' for the PC. The title not only includes handsome variations on the tile-matching game, but a decent mah-jongg game (whose gorgeous tile designs are used in the original Shanghai). There's also a children's version in the game.

Microsoft has a huge winner with its civilization-builder sequel, Age of Empires II/The Age of Kings. The PC game provides a ton of options, tough computer opponents, Internet play and simply gorgeous design.

On the Playstation, I've enjoyed the offbeat adventure Tomba II: The Evil Swine Return, with its red-haired protagonist and unusual fighting techniques, and I'm still swimming through the wonders of Final Fantasy VIII, the definitive role-playing game (a PC version is now available).

For a platform game likely to appeal to younger players, you might try a weekend rental of The Smurfs, from Infogrames. My 7-year-old devoured it.

On Dreamcast (and Playstation and N64), I have loved Vigilante 8 Second Offense, the sequel to the hugely popular sci-fi car combat game. They've kept much of that Vig8 fun while adding such touches as nasty nonplayer characters and powerups that allow you to drive across water, snow and swamps. It's just plain fun.

On the Nintendo 64, Mario Party 2 is another great title for a roomful of kids. It plays best when three or four children are going at each other, with a boardgame-like interface that leads to 64 different kinds of mini-games. This is a perfect solution when the cousins visit some rainy weekend.

Among the flurry of new Game Boy titles, I've particularly loved Wings of Fury, a revived arcade and NES game whose charms are undiminished. You fly a World War II fighter-bomber from the deck of a wounded carrier you're escorting to base for repairs. The game deserves a Distinguished Flying Fun Cross.

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Isaac Tigrett tries his hand at another successful venture.