CAPE NATIVES BRING TUNELAND TO INTERACTIVE CD

The product has been plugged on Arsenio Hall and CNN. And next month, it will be plugged into personal computers.

TuneLand, an interactive software program that Cape Girardeau computer giant George D. Grayson helped create, will make its way to retailers next month.

The software graphics cartoon combines the use of animation and sound effects that appears on a CD ROM. It can be inserted into most standard IBM compatible P.C. that are equipped with a CD ROM, according to Jon Greenwood, an official with 7th Level, the computer graphics firm formed in 1992.

TuneLand is essentially an interactive cartoon accompanied with music of all kinds including rock, reggae, pop and country and western. It features music of David Gilmour, lead guitarist of Pink Floyd; Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, former lead guitarist of the Doobie Brothers; and Scott Page, former tenor saxophonist for Pink Floyd and Supertramp. Page is also part-owner of 7th Level.

The cartoon offers eight scenarios that allows the user to manipulate. One of the games is to find comedian Howie Mandel in a barn. Mandel, who plugged TuneLand on the Arsenio Hall show in December, goes by Lil' Howie on the cartoon, and uses a boyish kind of voice.

"You can watch it like a cartoon, of you can click on your mouse and you can bring in characters and objects," said Greenwood, who also grew up in Cape Girardeau.

For example, in one scenario, the user can click open barn doors. When that happens, pigs appear singing songs like "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and "I'm a Little Teapot." The CD contains a total of about 50 songs.

The million-dollar program, which can also be inserted into a regular CD player, will cost between $47 and $57 each, Greenwood said. It will be available next month.

The Texas-based company, 7th Level, is an offshoot of MICROGRAFX Inc., a company started by Grayson, and his brother J. Paul Grayson in 1981. MICROGRAFX was the first to develop a graphics drawing program for IBM.

In 1992, Grayson and his brother unceremoniously split. Grayson said that he wanted to gear a product to the consumer instead of toward businesses. J. Paul apparently resisted, and that's when Grayson formed 7th Level, which employs 15 people, including some in Hollywood who have produced shows such as Beauty and the Beast.

"MICROGRAFX wasn't ready to move aggressively enough into consumer products," Grayson said. "We feel the largest market for computer software is in the consumer market."

After an unpleasant split, the 38-year-old Central High School graduate says that he and J. Paul are on better terms now. "He's my brother. He'll always be my brother. We do things like we'll go riding together," Grayson said.

It took 7th Level over a year to develop its first program. Tuneland can be educational in teaching kids how to use computers, but its purpose is entertainment, Grayson acknowledges.

And it's not just for kids. "We have found adults love to play this. They will sit down with it forever," Greenwood said.

Interaction, which many experts say is the wave of the future, has the potential to be used exclusively for educational purposes, says William Weber, chairman of the computer science department at Southeast Missouri State University.

"Professionally, I know we're going to see more and more of this interaction. I can see us using this to get the students to pay more attention," Weber said.

But even when interaction for education becomes available, that's only half the solution. "All this can help but educators have to have time to learn how to use it," Weber said.