NEWS LITE : TOP 40 RADIO STAPLE ON NEW WAVELENGTH.

Erstwhile Top Ten List fixture Billy Joel doesn't expect to hear his latest stuff on pop radio.

The piano piece, called ``Soliloquy,'' is part of Joel's growing body of work in, ahem, classical music.

The Piano Man, in fact, hasn't finished a pop song in four years.

Joel said being a divorced dad has inspired his new style.

``I had this terrible feeling every time my daughter would leave, and I started to write a four-note motif based on the words, `We say good-bye,' '' he told The New York Times. ``The music was so evocative and expressive I decided I didn't need words.''

Joel, 48, divorced from beauty icon Christie Brinkley in 1994, ending a nine-year marriage. The two had a daughter, Alexa.

``I'm not saying I won't write songs anymore ever,'' he said. ``It's just for the foreseeable future.''

Stones shake off recording moss

Mick Jagger has dragged Keith Richards into the 21st century, musically speaking.

Jagger persuaded a reluctant Richards to bring in some young, hotshot producers to add some new studio tricks to the Rolling Stones' 39th album, ``Bridges to Babylon.''

Touches from the producers - the Dust Brothers and Danny Saber - are immediately evident. The album's first single includes a sample of rapper Biz Markie. There are drum loops, computer edits and overdubs - all decidedly un-Stonesy touches.

``I don't work that way,'' Richards said bluntly in a telephone interview during a break from band rehearsals in Toronto. ``I'm going hands on - you're going synthesized. I don't get a buzz from that kind of recording. At the same time, I like the songs.''

So does Jagger, who insisted on making this record ``slant in a different way'' than previous studio albums - particularly the straight-ahead rock sound of 1994's ``Voodoo Lounge.''

Jagger, in a separate call from Canada, facetiously recalls the band's reaction to his demand for a change after more than 30 years: ``They all agreed with me: `Gosh, Mick, brilliant

Thank God you're our singer, not Bono!' ''

Diana, Dodi had set date, paper reports

The Daily Mirror of London reported that Princess Diana was planning to marry Dodi Fayed and move to Malibu before the beginning of 1998. According to the newspaper, several members of her staff had been told of the move and had been asked to sort out her belongings in preparation.

Goldwater's wife assails

news report

A newspaper report that former Sen. Barry Goldwater is suffering from Alzheimer's disease has prompted his wife to protest use of information she said was given in confidence.

The story, written by Goldwater biographer Jack Casserly and published Sunday in The Tribune of suburban Phoenix, cited Susan Goldwater as saying her husband was diagnosed with the brain disease early this year.

She wouldn't confirm or deny to The Arizona Republic that her husband is suffering from the disease. Goldwater said Casserly's article was based on ``an off-the-record visit with an old friend'' and that she hasn't let her spouse see the story.

Barry Goldwater, 88, the 1964 Republican presidential candidate, suffered a stroke in September 1996 and had a relapse in December. After visiting with him July 31, Casserly wrote in The Tribune, ``Mrs. Goldwater called me in and said, `This is quite serious,' and she said, `You know, Jack, Barry has Alzheimer's.' ''

``She volunteered this information to me,'' he told The Arizona Republic. ``I will stake my reputation of 47 years as a reporter on it.''

Goldwater served in the U.S. Senate from 1952 until 1964, when he temporarily gave up his seat for his failed run for presidency. He won the seat back in 1968 and held it until he retired in 1986.

Miss America's paterfamilias too familiar?

The father of newly crowned Miss America Kate Shindle serves on the pageant's board of directors, a connection that is raising questions of favoritism.

Shindle, a 20-year-old former New Jersey resident who attends Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., was crowned Saturday night.

Her father, Gordon G. Shindle, who lives in Moorestown, took a leave of absence from the pageant board after his daughter won her local title - Miss Lake-Cook - but before she won Miss Illinois on June 21.

``The fact that he is so involved in the system, he knows the people in the system and they know him,'' said Ann Harmon, executive director of the Miss Holiday In Dixie Pageant in Shreveport, La. ``It would be easy for these people to know that she was this man's daughter, most definitely including judges.''

Shindle did not immediately return a call to his home Monday.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Joint celebration

Barbara Cain checks out the contestants in a men's knees competition Saturday, at the Winston-Dillard Melon Festival in Winston, Ore. Categories included hairiest and ugliest.

Associated Press

(2) Kate Shindle

(3) Mick Jagger with Keith Richards