Like this surprise at Zoofari Friday: Peter Frampton, listed as a host along with wife Tina, was onstage doing the door prize routine when all of a sudden the musical bug bit.

        So, says Julie Phillippi, one of his biggest fans and a woman who plays his CDs 'til they disintegrate, Frampton borrowed a guitar from the zoo's house band and charged into “Baby I Love Your Way” and “All I Want to Be is By Your Side.”

        “And you know what?,” Phillippi says, “his voice sounds as good as ever. The only difference is a whole lot less hair. Naturally, I had to have my picture taken with him.”

        On TV: The TV show went on as well. Specifically, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, where Reds Hall of Fame catcher and Fifth Third Bank spokesman Johnny Bench turned up Monday and won, brace yourself, $250,000.

        It was one of those special edition shows, this one for cream of the crop jocks, including Jeff Gordon, Charles Barkley and Martina Navratilova.

        So Bench, equipped with lifelines Erich Kunzel and Fifth Third CEO George Schaefer (he didn't use either) survived a plenty long time but couldn't get past the $250,000 question: In the original treatment of Gone With The Wind, what name was Margaret Mitchell going to give Scarlett O'Hara?

        He went the 50-50 route and got it down to Daisy or Pansy, both of which sound ridiculous. It was Pansy, don't you know, but that was the end of Bench's reign.

        The $250,000 he picked up goes to the Johnny Bench Scholarship Fund, a $1.8 million fund managed by Fifth Third and designated specifically for athletic undergraduates in Cincinnati and Bench's hometown of Binger, Okla.

        In Oktober: And the show, apparently, will go on with the postponed Oktoberfest. As of now, Tony Orlando is still on board, there's a revised entertainment lineup (lots of bands booked for last week were unavailable this week) and there's even a song written for the occasion.

        Well, more like re-written. Turns out Richard Schade, honorary consul of the Federal Republic of Germany and a UC faculty member, sat himself down with Beethoven's Ode to Joy and dreamed up some lyrics.

        He's calling it “Song for Oktoberfest” and is hoping to hear it sung either at opening ceremonies or maybe sometime around the gigantic chicken dance, though Oktoberfest organizers can't make any promises yet.
        Contact Jim Knippenberg by phone: 768-8513; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: knipenquirer@yahoo.com.

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