The summer concert season of '99 is all about equal opportunity. The 'rents got Springsteen, the teens and twentysomethings have everything from Ozzfest to Lilith, and now even the kids and preteens have a summer tour to call their own: Nickelodeon's All That & More Festival.| The kiddy-palooza, complete with multiple stages, multi-media attractions and a playground, features 98 Degrees, Monica, B*Witched, Tatyana Ali, No Authority, Aaron Carter and EYC. The forty-date tour kicks off June 17 at Indianapolis' Deer Creek Amphitheater and concludes August 21 at Washington, D.C.'s Nissan Pavilion . . .

If Geri Halliwell ever had trouble being taken seriously as a Spice Girl, the former Ginger Spice has had surprisingly little trouble being taken seriously as an ambassador for the United Nations. Halliwell, whose solo debut Schizophonic was released this week, landed in serious hot water with the Catholic Church in the Philippines Tuesday (June 15) for promoting contraceptives in Manila as part of her goodwill ambassador tour for the U.N.'s Population Fund. A spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said that they opposed the message Halliwell was bringing, and went on to link contraception education to abortion advocacy. The singer has yet to comment on the Catholic outcry, but she did praise a progressive sexual health program at a suburban college by saying, "Wouldn't it be great if sex education was this well accepted all over the world?" Halliwell was scheduled to return to London on Wednesday. . .

RICHARD SKANSE, DAVID SPRAGUE, JAAN UHELSZKI

(June 17, 1999)