NEWS LITE : ACCORDION RENAISSANCE CLEARING AIR.

OK, so maybe accordionist Paul Gluck isn't way cool in his lederhosen, suspenders and bow tie.

But his squeezebox, which has been labeled the nerd's plaything since Jimi Hendrix's generation, is slipping back toward hip. Sales are up, and the humble instrument the French call the ``poor man's piano'' is regaining a foothold in music schools.

The unmistakable hee-haw of its bellows can be heard regularly in ethnic and regional styles like Irish or Cajun, mainstream popular recordings by Billy Joel, Paul Simon and others, commercial jingles, accordion festivals from China to Washington, D.C., and - where else? - in reruns of ``The Lawrence Welk Show.''

The accordion was hurt ``by people's image of some kid with too much Vitalis in his hair playing `Lady of Spain,' '' said Marc Savoy, a well-known Cajun player from Eunice, La. ``But now the rest of the world is discovering ethnic minorities playing this hot, spicy music on the accordion, and they like it.''

One recent afternoon, Gluck backed up a chorus as it performed such standards as ``Getting to Know You'' and ``Pennies from Heaven'' at a nursing home. Wearing a red vest with gold trim, he suddenly breaks into a choppy, stomping, mile-a-minute instrumental medley of songs with a 95-year-old banjo player.

``He does that shaky-shaky thing that accordions do. I love that!'' chorus director Peg Thomson said after the show.

Gluck, a 43-year-old Southampton, Mass., restaurateur, says even old folks get into the spirit.

``A lot of times, even in a nursing home, if I play something lively, a lot of them will almost get up and dance,'' he said.

Gluck took up the instrument about age 9 in the early 1960s. By then, the accordion was beginning to buckle under the weight of musical and social revolution.

``The decline wasn't really in the accordion. It was in our cultural attitudes,'' said Faithe Deffner, president of the American Accordionists Association.

Actress weds S.F.

editor

Sharon Stone made it easy to remember her anniversary by getting married on Valentine's Day.

The 39-year-old actress, who stars in the new Barry Levinson thriller, ``Sphere,'' exchanged vows Saturday night in Beverly Hills with San Francisco newspaper editor Phil Bronstein, her publicist said Sunday.

The Valentine party at her home hadn't been announced previously, and no details of the ceremony were made public in the brief news release by Cindi Berger of the PMK agency.

Stone starred with Michael Douglas in the 1992 box office hit ``Basic Instinct.'' Bronstein, 47, is executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner.

She was co-producer and starred in the western ``The Quick and the Dead'' in 1995 and in ``Casino'' with Robert De Niro the same year.

Hansons fans camp out at singers' home

No show of fanlike devotion could surprise the Hanson brothers at this point.

Taylor Hanson says in the Feb. 21-27 issue of TV Guide that devotees sometimes drive 10 hours to camp out in front of the singing trio's home.

``Four or five cars will just sit there,'' Taylor says. ``Having fans like that is what keeps you able to do it, having fans that will stay up all night to get tickets for a concert.''

Brothers Zac, 12, Taylor, 14, and Isaac, 17, skyrocketed from Tulsa, Okla., obscurity to the top of the teen idol scene last year with their upbeat, chart-topping ``MMMbop.''

During a recent trip to Indonesia, a crush of fans tore at the Hansons' clothes and hair. But the brothers took it all in stride.

``It's a humbling experience because you don't witness that often. So it's like, `Whoa! Why is this happening?'' said Isaac.

But there's still one group of admirers the Hansons don't want to attract en masse. The trio recently rejected a proposal to do a special with toddler-magnet Barney.

`Party of Five' star takes `wild' swing

Acting in a three-way sex scene requires concentration and skill - and a glass of wine doesn't hurt, either.

That's the advice of 24-year-old actress Neve Campbell, who has such a scene in the new thriller ``Wild Things.''

A high school student who seems to be setting up her sexy guidance counselor in the film, Campbell says breaking from her wholesome television persona on ``Party of Five'' was one of the reasons she took the part.

``Because it's so extremely opposite to anything I've done before. And it's the opposite of me in a lot of ways,'' she says in the Feb. 20 issue of Entertainment Weekly.

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Sharon Stone and newspaper editor Phil Bronstein wed Saturday.

Associated Press

(2) The Hanson brothers, Isaac, 17, Taylor, 14, and Zac, 12, get in tune.

Associated Press