NEWS LITE : ROCK 'N' ROLLERS PLUG IDEA FOR FANTASY CAMP.

The bar was well-stocked - with orange juice and croissants. Truly, 9 a.m. is a ghastly hour for rock 'n' roll.

Yet rock's over-the-hill gang struggled to the Hard Rock Cafe anyway Thursday, eager to plug their new jobs as camp counselors.

Stealing an idea from baseball, where overgrown boys pay big money to pull muscles with their youthful heroes, some impresarios are starting rock 'n' roll's first fantasy camp.

For $4,495, participants can spend a week at a hotel learning guitar, playing golf or hearing stories from classic rockers like Ringo Starr, Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals, Mick Jones of Foreigner and Nils Lofgren. For a couple, it's $3,995 per person.

``We've gotten a lot of calls from doctors, lawyers and Wall Street people,'' said John Phillips, an Arkansas supermarket magnate who helped develop the idea after meeting rock promoter David Fishof at a health spa.

This being rock 'n' roll, most of the scheduled events at the weeklong fantasy camp are parties. Promoters also promise serious instruction in things like recording techniques, keyboards, drums and singing.

Mostly, it's a chance to hang out with the stars.

``This is not going to be so structured that people will feel like they're shuffling from class to class,'' said Phillips' wife, Marsha. ``This will be a more personal experience.''

Two one-week sessions each are scheduled for next year in Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and New York.

Fishof is a promoter who helped piece together Ringo Starr's bandwagons in recent summers. Many of his camp counselors, like The Band's drummer Levon Helm, Billy Preston and The Who's John Entwistle, were veterans of that tour.

Their target audience is the wealthy 30- to 50-year-olds who grew up with rock's old guard.

The counselors are at that age, or beyond. Yet a dozen of the rock 'n' rollers managed to make it on time to a news conference-performance that began at an hour most were unacquainted with. The exception was Foreigner's Jones, who slipped in 40 minutes late.

After singing ``Nothing From Nothing,'' Preston joked that the only other time he'd played the song at such an early hour, he'd been up all night.

Nothing corny about Letterman's barbs 

Reason No. 1 on Sam Lovullo's Top 10 list for liking David Letterman: flattery.

Lovullo, who produced ``Hee Haw'' for 25 years, writes in a new book that Letterman's staff obviously watched the show.

``Through the years, David has continually poked fun at `Hee Haw,' especially George `Goober' Lindsey and Kenny Price,'' Lovullo writes in ``Life in the Kornfield: My 25 Years at Hee Haw.''

``Both, in fact, have appeared several times on his famous Top 10 list, which I always took as a compliment: It meant someone on David's show was a regular viewer of `Hee Haw.' ''

One of the longest-running programs in TV history, the country music-comedy show is in reruns on cable's The Nashville Network.

River wrapping

The artist who wrapped the Reichstag in silver polypropylene wants to blanket part of the Arkansas River now.

Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, have gained world renown for placing thousands of blue and yellow umbrellas in Japan and along the Golden State Freeway, surrounding islands with pink fabric, and executing other environmental artworks.

In 1994, he and his wife traveled through the Rockies, inspecting 89 rivers for a new project. On Thursday, Christo announced: ``We now think the project can happen in the Arkansas River.''

Christo plans to suspend translucent fabric panels six to 25 feet above the river. Steel cables anchored on the riverbanks would hold them in place. The fabric would be up about two weeks and cover five to six miles.

Christo still must get permission from various government authorities.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Veteran rockers jam at New York's Hard Rock Cafe during a press conference introducing a music camp for fans.

(2) Spirited screening

Michael Jackson arrives at a movie theater in Sydney, Australia, on Friday for the screening of his new music video ``Ghost.'' The pop star was married Thursday to Deborah Rowe, who is six months pregnant with his child. Jackson has not appeared publicly with his new bride since the nuptials.

Associated Press

(3) Christo

New art project