Oasis

The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band? Let the Stones keep that title. Oasis has something bigger in mind -- literally. As the quintet has made clear both onstage and in interviews, what it wants is to be the World's Biggest Rock and Roll Band.Already the most popular group in Britain, where gossip about the Gallagher brothers -- singer Liam and guitarist/songwriter Noel -- is followed as avidly as Kennedy clan doings are here, Oasis is out to dominate the international market. And how, exactly, does the band plan to pull off such a conquest?

A Grasonville couple has given the Magothy River Land Trust control over a wooded lot near Ritchie Highway that the conservation group considers an oasis in a suburban setting. The sloped 4.7 acres is at the headwaters of Buckingham Cove, an inlet on the east side of the highway on the Severna Park-Arnold line. Its century-old hardwood forest and wetlands are home to deer, raccoons, birds and bats. The land trust, which was given a conservation easement for the site through a small foundation which owns the land, hopes to improve the habitat for wildlife, stem erosion, build blinds and other observation sites with a goal of opening the property to the public, perhaps as early as next spring.

A dark green sedan waited outside our cottage in the misty rain, its driver prepared to whisk us away to dinner as soon as we exchanged jeans for dinner clothes. No matter that the dining room was only a five-minute walk from our door.After all, this was the Greenbrier, one of the premier resorts in America.A dental crisis delayed the start of the five-hour drive to White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., forcing my husband and me to reschedule our dinner three times. We arrived 20 minutes after the last seating, kicking ourselves.

We Americans may have left the Commonwealth more than two centuries ago, but in some ways, the United States still acts like an British colony. Take, for instance, our fascination with U.K. celebrities. Even though Oasis has never been more than a moderate success in this country, brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher have become gossip column staples, with Oasis making a much bigger splash with Liz Smith than it ever has on the Billboard charts. "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" (Epic 63586, arriving in stores today)

HOLIDAY GIFTS come in all shapes and sizes, but few are as unusual as the one Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke will open at 11 a.m.today.Oasis Station is the name of a drop-in center for homeless people that has been created at 222 N. Gay St.The three-story building for many years was the home of Simon Harris Sporting Goods, a Baltimore retailer that closed its doors in 1992 after 105 years.It was provided for the new purpose by a Baltimore businessman, Joe Hevia of Mass Transit Communications -- Wallscapes.

When Hale Irwin combs the rough, searching for an errant golf ball, he may be standing on land where, centuries ago, the Susquehannocks stalked deer. When Tom Kite lofts a tee shot, his ball will be flying over former plantation fields where slaves harvested tobacco. When Fuzzy Zoeller lines up a putt, he could be focused on a spot where Confederate troops camped to plot a raid through Baltimore County in 1864. Host of this week's U.S. Senior Open, Caves Valley Golf Club sits on the cusp of a natural basin rich in lore and wildlife.

My Best Shot A quiet oasis In September, my husband and I, along with two couples, visited the Northwest and parts of Canada. This photo was captured at Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. Sally Lederer Grasonville

Oasis [Epic] *** cds After more than a decade of worldwide fame and multiplatinum album sales, Oasis seems to still be in love with rock's celebrated past. The British pop-rock group has gotten better at refurbishing familiar melodic hooks and rhythmic riffs. Perhaps that has become the group's signature. The long shadow of the Beatles still hovers over Oasis' latest album, Dig Out Your Soul. John Lennon's voice literally haunts "I'm Outta Time," one of the set's densest cuts. But Oasis still manages to show some musical maturity - even if the new album is at times very derivative of the Fab Four post-Revolver.

It is fitting that a swing beneath an arbor occupies a prominent place in Hanna's cottage garden. Considering all the work he did to transform his small back yard into a flowering oasis, this 51-year-old manager for Verizon deserves a front-row seat from which to admire his handiwork. You can read about his efforts tomorrow at baltimoresun.com/gardener

Given the relative lack of enthusiasm with which American listeners have greeted the new Oasis album, "Be Here Now," it would be stretching it a bit to describe the group's current tour as a new "British Invasion." But with Cornershop rounding out the bill, the show does offer a pretty impressive picture of contemporary British rock.Oasis is a rock band in the classic English style. Raucous, arrogant and the subject of much celebrity gossip back home in Britain, the band manages to recall both the Beatles and the Stones while still seeming thoroughly modern.