Please: No More 'Bowling with the Stars'

Here at the seminar on "Voice," pop critic and entertainment reporter Ann Powers is urging writers to resist the editors' demands for random color: playing putt-putt golf with a band, say, or "bowling with the stars."

What makes musicians and actors interesting is not their love lives or where they live or what they eat, Powers said. It's what they make.

Focus on their work, Powers urged.

"If you editor asks you for color for a piece, try to find something that is relevant to the work."

Put a musician in front of a mixing board. Take an actor to a set. This kind of color will be truly revealing, Powers said, because it will help a famous person open up about what makes them truly extraordinary--the art that they create.