LAST YEAR'S ELITE

Making 'Time' with Ann Coulter, or how the stiletto-cons lost the election

Doesn't tempus just fugit? In August 2003, I sat on the patio of a Beverly Hills restaurant talking with Ann Coulter. The outcome of the conversation would be the cover story of Los Angeles CityBeat #12. We were on the patio so I could drink beer and smoke like Philip Marlowe, and she could eat a bizarre nouvelle salad and explain how liberals were all treasonous scum. After the salad, she put down her fork and bummed a cigarette. "Please don't write that I smoked. I don't want my mother to know." Being a gentleman, I never said a word. Until now, and now only because - after a hundred LACB covers have come and gone - I find to my amazement that Coulter is on the cover of Time, and writer John Cloud includes a major aside about how Coulter is chewing Nicorette gum as though her life depended on it. I figure the secret is out. I can now tell all. My amazement is not so much that Coulter should quit smoking. Hell, I wish I could. (Or even smug surprise that Time went with the headline "Ms. Right" 18 months after the old LACB head "Miss Right"). What really floored me was that she should be anywhere near the cover of Time.

All indications are that the former stiletto-con is a spent force, barely able to show her face on Fox, no longer worth a Jon Stewart barb. She has become, to punditry, what Madonna is to rock 'n' roll. In 2003, I had written, "Hyperbole is Ann Coulter's business, and, as with many conservatives, money is the ultimate validation. Extremism has placed her in the forefront of gladiatorial TV pundits and moved a mess of her books." Back then it was true, but times have changed. Hyperbole, like so many party tricks, must play to progressively greater extremes, and my estimation was that Coulter had reached the end of her extremity.

In 2003, I wrote, by way of background: "At first she was anonymous, an equine face in an angry gang of irritating, near-fascist young women with short skirts and web columns who described themselves as 'pollsters' or 'Republican strategists.' I entertained a theory that they were grown in tanks at a hidden installation just outside Stepford, then instructed in shrill interruption and an unwavering hatred of all things Clinton at secret training camps in darkest Connecticut. Then George W. Bush took the White House. Political debate ran off and joined the circus, and a circus needs its dancing girls. Despite myself, I learned their names: Kellyanne Conway, Tara Setmeyer, Kim Serafin. But the clear winner was the tall one with the long legs and very long blonde hair called Ann Coulter."

Alas, poor Ann is the winner no longer. In the second Bush term, the stakes are higher, and the diversions have become more insane. The circus has mutated, and the dancing girls are showing more skin. (Maybe an unfortunate metaphor, but still apt.) The extremists are no longer Cornell graduates with Blue State accents. Coulter does not need to worry about Michelle Malkin taking her spots. The reborn-in-Jesus, Shirley Phelps-Roper from Godhatesfags.com already does The Howard Stern Show, and, if she lost the name of the website, she could happily fit in with Bill Frist and Sam Brownback. The political debate has been given monster-truck tires and thrown to the Armageddon-crazy, and I really don't see Coulter as weather girl for The Rapture Index, or quoting Leviticus. Career-wise, she was actually the big loser in the 2004 election.

Please, however, don't think I'm gratuitously putting the boot to Coulter one last time. My main use for her is as a 100th-issue yardstick for the passage of time, plus a confirmation of both Marshall McLuhan's Speedup and the Warhol 15 Minutes. And also as a handy bellwether of what the Bush administration doesn't want you thinking about. The real function of the Coulters of this world, aside from material enrichment and the adoration of the not-too-bright, is to smoke screen whatever those in power would rather have go unnoticed. They provide diversion, the primary tool of the magic act and the card sharp. Back when Coulter tossed her hair daily for Bill Maher and Chris Matthews, or on Crossfire, her function was to divert attention from a wrecked economy and a mismanaged, mendacious war. The media was flim-flammed into defending its liberal bias instead of reporting the news, and the peace movement was sidetracked into defending its right to protest, instead of protesting. Coulter and her kind softened the ground for the coup de grâce of the Swift Boats.

But bigger bad news dictates bigger diversions, and, for a power elite of oil barons, the news really couldn't be worse. The Gharwar Oil Field has peaked, or is about to, depending whether you believe Al Jazeera or the Western press. The Saudis won't up production and bring down the price of light crude. They're going to walk the line and let the global economy degrade, and GWB can call in no favors from Riyadh, no matter how many hands he holds or how many oil sheiks he kisses. Big oil is preparing for permanent scarcity in a marketplace that won't give up the Hummer until it's pried from its cold, dead fingers. The alternative? While nervous Russians are afraid to mention that the Chernobyl sarcophagus is rapidly falling apart - and leaking radiation and glowing from within - the fall-back offered by Bush/Cheney and the oil men is a rerun of the mid 20th century. Build a bunch more nuclear power stations, but build them in an era when terrorism is the logical mode of evolved warfare and corruption is so institutionalized that Tony Soprano will pour the concrete and safety enforcers will be party hacks who never met a carcinogen they didn't like. Didn't the old bluesmen call that "fattening frogs for snakes"? I guess it really does require the Book of Revelation to take the spotlight off that mega-mess.

And talking of Hummers, other follies of the first term may also be victims of changing times. Could it be that we are all a little embarrassed that we even considered Gov. Arnold as a viable idea? The man has become a walking faux pas; his approval ratings go south of even Gray Davis; and everywhere he shows his face, he is picketed by nurses, teachers, and firemen. Okay, so we were all shook up by September 11, 2001, and we wanted the actor who played Conan to come and save us. It would be so nice to think we were getting over it and returning to humanitarian common sense.

The fact remains, though, that Ann Coulter was on the cover of Time, and I remain puzzled by the corporate decision. Does she really have that kind of juice, or is Time so wholly out of touch that it needs CityBeat's antique covers? Is Coulter being groomed for one of those well-paid media non-careers like Fran Drescher or Pat Sajak, her equivalent of the Medal of Freedom? Or maybe some Time-Warner lackey believes she's still hot - despite her ability to actually pronounce the word nuclear - and has a plan to put her in her own show or something? Unless, of course, the unthinkable happens, and she is elevated to public office. Like Ronald Reagan before him, Bush loves to put belligerent incompetents in charge of things he doesn't like. Maybe he will appoint her ambassador to the U.N. after John Bolton has screwed the pooch. Stranger things have happened. Especially under Republicans.

-Mick Farren

Mick Farren blogs at Doc40.blogspot.com.

MAN VS. THE MAN

Tommy Chong finds out it's hard to go straight

The Man, in real life, isn't anything like Sgt. Stadenko, and Tommy Chong will be the first to tell you. Stacy Keach's loveable narc in all those Cheech & Chong movies was a bumbler, and usually ended up stoned himself. But when they come to your door as today's DEA, the Man is a real bitch. As we reported in our cover story on December 4, 2004, "Tommy Chong's Next Movie," the feds came after Chong in 2003, singled him out for selling bongs with his face on them over the Internet, and dumped him unceremoniously in federal prison with a nine-month sentence. No matter that you can buy bongs up and down Hollywood Boulevard. They busted him, explained the U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania that prosecuted the case, partly because his laconic, Chinese-Canadian hippie burnout character in those movies - known simply as "Man" - "made fun of law-enforcement."

He's been out almost a year, and is reaching the end of his one-year probation. He just finished writing a third draft of the new Cheech & Chong movie, but the 66-year-old grandfather recently quit a traveling live stage show called The Marijuana-Logues, because the Man is on him like a coat of paint. Everyone wants to get stoned with Chong, but if he does Chong goes back to prison for as much as five years. And that is no joke.

What happened with The Marijuana-Logues tour?

I'm being sued. It's the funniest thing. I got out of jail and I got offered this play, The Marijuana-Logues. I went to my probation officer and told her about the play, she said, "Yeah, that sounds OK." So I felt comfortable because the playhouse was on Broadway and Bleecker in New York, off-Broadway, a cute little 150-seater. And strictly no-smoking policy. So then I agreed to go on the road with the play, and the first night out it was in Vancouver, Canada. Well, the play turned from legitimate theater into a Tommy Chong Smoke-Out. Everybody lit up. And I was really shocked because part of my deal was that they would protect me, you know? The thing I worry about is undercover agents.

We went on to Seattle, and the guys with me, in The Marijuana-Logues, they tried to smuggle some pot across. They showed it to me in the limo and I had to get out. I felt very uncomfortable. So I rode with the documentary filmmaker people. And we get to the club, and again everybody smoked up. It was like the DEA had a little party: Let's bust Tommy Chong. That was the final straw. I quit the show.

Anyway, the probation officer withdrew my permission. She wrote a letter saying the reason why I was revoked: I can't be around pot because I get tested. And if the test comes out dirty, I go back to jail. It's up to five years, and with this government, they wouldn't hesitate a minute to give me five years plus. So I said no, I can't do that. So they had papers drawn up the day, almost the day I quit, and they served me with the papers last week.

It would seem like they are the ones possibly risking exposure in a lawsuit.

These guys probably think the way I thought back before I got busted: "They're not going to put you in jail for a bong, are you kidding? No one's ever gone to jail for a bong." Then, the next thing I know, I'm nine months in a federal prison.

Are you prevented from doing any kind of medical marijuana activism?

I'm going to become the anti-pot people's worst enemy. Up until when I went to jail, I was just concentrating on the recreational habits of the pothead. Well, now I'm not going to smoke. I'm not going to touch it until it's legal. I'm just going to work until I get it legal. I'm going to concentrate on the medical part of it.

You and Cheech getting along?

It's weird, he's like that cop he plays in Nash Bridges. I thought it was an act, but the Cheech & Chong was an act [laughs]. I'm not really comfortable around him. It's like an ex-wife: Get around them and you realize why you divorced 'em.

We got together in Denver for a reunion. He told the crowd that it took him so long to lose that stoner image, and I'm thinking: What the fuck? He got millions of dollars - he wouldn't be on Nash Bridges if he hadn't been Cheech. He didn't want to be that Chicano, you know. He fought it, until the audience responded in such a positive way. And as soon as he got away from that audience he just turned his back on it.

-Dean Kuipers

MY MUSE, DEATH

Inspiration just keeps coming for macabre master painter Joe Coleman

Joe Coleman likes it just fine in New York, where he continues to paint his epic works of the macabre and the dark, dark history of these United States with an eye for disturbing detail and the cool patience of an embalmer. But he does have ties to Los Angeles, including long associations and friendships with La Luz Gallery and publisher Adam Parfrey, and he was the subject of one of CityBeat's earliest cover stories, "The Horrible, Happy Life of Joe Coleman," on December 17, 2003.

Death continues to haunt and inspire him, traveling to too many funerals with his wife (photographer Whitney Ward) for too many fallen comrades, including motorcycle builder Indian Larry and rockabilly pioneer Hasil Adkins. And death appears again in his newest book, Muzzlers, Guzzlers and Good Yeggs (Fantagraphics), a compilation of his true crime stories from the 1980s. A traveling, mid-career museum retrospective is also in the works.

Did appearing on the cover of CityBeat change your life?

No, but I like to see a paper like that. The New York Press used to be like that, and it's really gone downhill. Every major city needs a renegade paper. I was happy when I saw what you were doing, and you followed up with lots of good people - a lot of my friends. You have good taste.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on a painting of Indian Larry. His life was epic. He certainly fits into my pantheon. He was a bank robber and drug addict. He's the true outlaw biker, unlike the ones you see on the Discovery Channel. He was definitely like a family member. It seemed that I had to do this painting.

Will a recent death often inspire you to do something?

Sometimes. Larry had always wanted to do a bike with me. He did that Big Daddy Roth bike, so he wanted to do something like that with me. Now it turns out we are doing a project together.

You live on the shores of Brooklyn, not far from where the Twin Towers once stood. What kinds of changes have you seen since 9/11?

We seem to be losing more individual rights. It seems like the government has been able to use this to freely access information on people, and to make new laws to restrict freedoms. It can also be the catalyst for real creativity. It's always real good to have a real enemy. If everybody likes you, then there's not going to be much creativity.

So you're grateful for all your bad experiences?

Oh yeah. They are my friends, too.

Is the audience for your work any different now?

There's more people, it seems. Before September 11, there were more people that said I was just crazy. But now I get mail from people who have changed their minds about that and now see things the way that I see them.

-Steve Appleford

GNARLY MOUSE

The creator of the controversial 'Grey Album' continues to innovate in the shadows

In our cover story, "Coachella Mighty Mouse" (April 29, 2004), 27-year-old Brian Burton describes his life as "before Grey, after Grey," and the description is apt, because few heard of the budding, indie-hip-hop producer until he ripped the Beatles' "White Album" into particles, shaped them into contemporary rap beats, and laid rhymes from the a cappella version of Jay-Z's Black Album over the top. The resulting Grey Album seeped out in the form of 2,000 promo CDs before the Beatle-handling label EMI said stop.

Burton, a.k.a. DJ Danger Mouse, heeded the lawyers' call, but online activists incensed at the silencing of a great work of pop imagination flooded the Internet with Grey Album downloads and made the Mouse a cause celebre in the battle to limit major labels' copyright zeal. Some online alliances, including downhillbattle.org, used the controversy to lobby for a federal law that would allow unlimited sampling with standard, "compulsory" pricing as a matter of course. (Samples are often sold to the highest bidder, or not at all, making entrée to the hip-hop production scene a pricey quest for budding producers). A change in the way sampling is viewed in copyright law would allow works like the Grey Album - which made the top 10 in the Village Voice's annual best-of-the-year critics' poll - to see the light of day in record stores.

After Grey, however, Burton laid low, hoping the lawyers would go away. He began production work on the much-anticipated second Gorillaz album with the band's founder, Damon Albarn of Blur. The CD, titled Demon Days, is due May 24. The parent label involved is ... EMI. But that's okay. Burton is keeping it real with another project in the works. This one, The Gnarls Barkley, pairs him up with Cee-Lo of Goodie Mob and should be ready for stores by summer.

-Dennis Romero

SHINE A LIGHT

Ben Harper's L.A. story

Ben Harper definitely does not owe his two new Grammy Awards to CityBeat. But the paper was tipped off early to the musician's album with the Blind Boys of Alabama, There Will Be a Light. Harper has always been a man committed to the roots of blues, gospel, soul, folk, rock, and reggae, but in the famed Studio B of Capitol Records, documented in a January 6, 2005, cover story, he reached new heights as a singer and songwriter. He's already at work on a new album with his band, with new songs - like the heavy ZZ Top/Muddy Waters electric blues of "Dressed in Black" - that he'll take to the road this summer.

You have a lot of history in L.A. Has the city been a good place to be a musician?

If you've got the goods, people will respond. If you play live, people will gravitate towards what you're doing - if you're committed to it.

Your first L.A. shows were at the Mint?

I've been hanging out at the Mint again recently, and I'm looking to do some shows there. Those days are irreplaceable. I loved it. I did some shows at Largo and some shows at the Mint, and those were super-important, crucial times.

Could you have foreseen where it's led?

I don't even have that big of an ego to have imagined where it led. I knew I'd always be making music. I just didn't know how far I'd be able to get. I don't know if I want to know anybody who really gets into music to make money. You hope you can, and you dream. It's not like I set my expectations low. Who doesn't want to be the Beatles?

I grew up with hip-hop in the '80s. I bought my first N.W.A disc out of the back of a car on Crenshaw. So I was tipped in two directions: the folk beginnings and then the hip-hop, the earliest stages of bling-bling.

You've played with some major figures of folk and blues - John Lee Hooker and the Blind Boys - but I don't think you've done anything yet with a major hip-hop figure.

No, and that's to come. I'd love to do something with Chuck D. The first time I met him was at the Tibetan Freedom Concert that the Beasties threw in New York. And I walked up to Chuck D - I was nervous, and I said, "Hey Chuck, my name is Ben Harper -" and he said, "Man, I know who you are." I was like, "Oh Shit!" That was hot. It made my day.

What are you listening to these days?

I've been listening to Aretha Franklin all day because she is my daughter's favorite. She's five and wanted to give away Aretha CDs as her party favor.

I've been listening to 103.1 [FM] a lot, whenever I'm in my car or in my kitchen. I like the rawness of it, and it doesn't seem bound by advertiser pressure, label pressure. It sounds sincere.

You said that winning the Grammys wasn't just a great personal experience, but also about seeing other people react.

Exactly! Man, I thought I had seen every look on my mom's face. But when that hit - and then the second one - those were two separate expressions. To be able to bring those back to my hometown and representing in that way - it is huge.

-Steve Appleford

REAL MANDATE

Sen. Barbara Boxer has become the Senate's most aggressive liberal

Last November, when U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer crushed her hapless conservative Republican opponent to gain a third term, her role in the Senate seemed to change. Unlike President George W. Bush, who maybe came within one or two rigged Ohio precincts of losing to John Kerry, Boxer really did have a mandate, and she's been wielding it like a club. Immediately, she was way out front as the lone senator contesting the certification of the Electoral College, citing voting irregularities in Ohio, the first time this has happened since 1877. She's slapped around every Bush nominee she can get her hands on and generally dug her heels in against the ultra-conservatives. One day after endorsing Antonio Villaraigosa in the L.A. mayor's race, she caught up with CityBeat via e-mail.

Is oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge now an accomplished fact?

We have a long way to go before the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge can be opened to drilling, and until that time I will continue to explore any and all legislative and procedural options available to derail this effort to destroy one of the most environmentally pristine areas in America. If we lose the battle, I plan to start a boycott of companies who drill there.

You were instrumental in stopping continued oil exploration off the coast of California. Does the Bush administration now have the votes to re-open these leases?

I am working with Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and a bipartisan group of senators in opposition to the inclusion of provisions in the energy bill that would open up restricted areas of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and gas exploration or undermine states' rights under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Congress has prevented such drilling activities in the past because of the negative environmental effects on our sea-life and the subsequent risks to our coastal economy, and I will again urge my colleagues to protect our coastlines.

Will Republicans succeed in deploying the "nuclear option" and stopping the filibuster for federal and Supreme Court judges?

For 200 years the filibuster has been used by the minority party as a critical check-and-balance on the party in power. This kind of power grab will only further divide Democrats and Republicans and impede our ability to work together on issues of real concern to the American people, like raising the minimum wage, veterans' health care, fiscal responsibility, and increased access to Head Start programs for our children.

Have Democrats abused the filibuster, or been particularly hard on the president's nominations?

Republicans are threatening to destroy the filibuster because they want to have all of the power. We have confirmed 208 of the president's judicial nominees, and stopped the 10 who were the most out of the mainstream from getting lifetime appointments to the federal bench. That's a 95 percent approval rate. But Republicans aren't happy with that - they want 100 percent. That's the arrogance of power.

Is the president's No Child Left Behind legislation working?

Unfortunately, the No Child Left Behind law that was once full of promise has been severely underfunded by the Bush administration - to the tune of $39 billion. This critical lack of funding has made it impossible for California schools to comply with the various requirements of NCLB and has had the effect of punishing schools, and in particular, poor urban schools. Given this lack of funding, I believe we need to exercise more flexibility in implementing the NCLB requirements, such as allowing states like California to use alternative ways to measure student achievement.

Will any top-level official or even cabinet member ever be held accountable for the distorted evidence and willful manipulations that led up to the vote to authorize this war?

I tried to hold Dr. Condoleezza Rice accountable for statements she made in the run-up to the war that exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. At this point, the entire world knows that our intelligence was wrong on WMDs, and that has hurt our credibility in the world. So the most important things I believe we can do at this point are: work to repair our relationships with our allies, create an exit strategy so that we can begin to bring our troops home, and take steps to improve our intelligence capabilities.

-Dean Kuipers

THE COMEDY OF GEORGE W.

Groundlings originator Gary Austin finds the terrible fun in his Texas oilfield upbringing The vast media coverage generated by the 30th anniversary of the Groundlings, including CityBeat's cover story (September 30, 2004) overwhelmed the comedy troupe's founder, Gary Austin. When he showed up at the Henry Fonda Theater for the troupe's anniversary gala last October, a red carpet awaited, as did a throng of national media. "I didn't expect it to be such a big deal," says Austin.

Unfortunately, the great Rodney Dangerfield chose that same night to pass on to the ultimate comedy club. Austin was forced to field many questions about the man with deficit levels of respect. "Rodney's timing was really bad on that one," he says.

No celebrity death could derail Austin's work, however. This month and next he's performing his one-man performances Oil and Church, as well as developing solo shows for Tony-winning actress Lillias White, Wicked star George Hearn, and omnipresent actor and voiceover presence Keith David. Austin continues to put on comedy camps and workshops for the deaf around the nation, as well as standing performance gigs at the Groundlings Theater.

At this point in Austin's life, however, nothing occupies more space in his brain than creating material relating to George W. Bush, to whom he's all but related. In a good, unfortunately non-mega-millionaire, way.

See, the Groundlings originator grew up in both evangelical Christianity and the Halliburton oil fields - his mother was born in the oil fields - and Austin is bent on mining reaction from such seemingly unfunny topics. "We do a children's story, W. Succeeds in the Sandbox - Written by George W. Bush and Funded by Other People's Money," Austin says. It's told in the manner of The Little Engine that Could. Audience participation is encouraged.

The show also dwells on the Halliburton-developed process called hydraulic fracturing. Developed in 1949, according to Austin, fracturing improves the company's ability to extract oil from the earth by pumping outrageous toxins like benzene, sodium hydroxide and napalm beneath the ground's surface, also increasing profits by $1.5 billion. "Extra money," said Austin. "And it destroys the water table. When I do the show, I get a ton of laughs. But I get wide-open mouths as well."

Church focuses on Austin's upbringing in the Nazarene church of Duncan, Oklahoma. Austin's hometown is a half-hour from Bush's Midland stomping grounds. "We grew up with the same belief system," says Austin, who regrets not having the foresight to kick the president's ass. "I was five years older than him and was a lot taller."

-Donnell Alexander

BUSINESS AS USUAL

One year after an HIV outbreak in the porn biz, unsafe sex is all the rage

The HIV tests started coming up positive in the porn world on April 13, 2004, starting with actor Darren James, who is believed to have contracted the disease during a porn shoot in Brazil the previous month. As we reported in "Foreign Affairs" (May 13, 2004), filming in locations such as South America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe have recently become staples of the industry. The draw is exotic girls and lower production costs. But the overseas shoots frequently bring a pool of adult actors, tested monthly as part of a volunteer program in the San Fernando Valley, into intimate contact with a pool of unknowns. It was bound to happen, and before it was over, three actresses who had subsequently shot scenes with James tested positive for HIV.

The industry submitted to a voluntary filming moratorium, but not all outfits kept their lens lids on, and some European filmmakers even took advantage of the work stoppage, importing fresh smut here to feed the demand. The stoppage lasted less than a month. In that time, state lawmakers considered condom-only legislation that never made it far, and county health officials urged the industry to use condoms with threatening, legalistic language. Porn's own health care leader, Dr. Sharon Mitchell of the Adult Industry Medical Heath Care Foundation, suggested that videos that employ condom-wearing actors be rewarded with a seal of approval, but the idea has yet to see the light of day.

In fact, although some porn producers such as Vivid Video used the outbreak to publicize their more-humane, condom-only policies, a year later it's business as usual, and then some. Porn seems to be continuing on its daring run toward Fear Factor-like antics, with Japanese influenced bukkake videos - a circle jerk and gang-bang all in one - becoming the rage.

-Dennis Romero

WEST COAST DOLDRUMS

The sound that's barely evolved from N.W.A to Snoop needs a little freshening up

Okay. We all love Snoop Dogg.

And Dre. Wow. What can you say about Dr. Dre? Back when everyone in the world thought of New York and hip-hop as one and the same, Dr. Dre and N.W.A gave birth to the West Coast Sound.

The West Coast Sound. That's inarguably real, right? When CityBeat wrote about Snoop's 213 project ("Nuttin But a 213 Thang," August 12, 2004), the group's stated purpose was to reestablish West Coast hip-hop.

"There ain't really no L.A. sound," says Long Beach MC Bigg Steel, a Cleveland-born product of the Suga Free/Hi C/DJ Quik troika. "It's kinda like a gumbo mix out here. Everybody got their own thing."

Word? If we can't depend on the notion of West Coast hip-hop sound, is there nothing safe and steady?

Let's say not.

The past couple years have witnessed such an extreme hardening of corporate gangsta that everyone left out is finally beginning to step forward. For every Bigg Steel, 28, there's a Kam and a Ras Kass plotting the sonic equivalent of a jailbreak.

They've got their street teams and they're ready to use them. Just how did things get this bad?

One might point to last fall, when the legendary call letters KDAY came back to town, this time under the ownership of Miami-based Styles Media. In the offing seemed a shake-up of Power 106 and The Beat, and their set lists you could set your clocks by. But the new KDAY only reminds just how played-out Tupac can sound. And the station declines to play much Big Punisher, the greatest Latin rapper ever.

Here. In Los Angeles. No. Big. Pun.

"I have a theory about the radio: I think they're trying to brainwash people with the garbage they're playing. I really don't try to listen to the radio because I'm not trying to get brainwashed. I just wish we could hear something different, broaden the range a little bit," continues Big Steel, whose debut album Size Does Matter album drops in June. Once he realizes what a company town the municipality due north of Long Beach is, he'll likely drop the candor.

Look, T.I. is a brilliant rapper. But there's really no excuse for playing the same four southern rappers, a reggaeton cat, Aftermath's artist-of-the-quarter, and continuing to keep Los Angeles largely ignorant of DJ Quik or, for that matter, a Stone's Throw artist or Likwit Junkies or a dozen other living legends. Every hour of music broadcast locally - excepting the rare late-night exceptions such as Friday Night Flavors (on Power 106) and Divine Forces (on 90.7 KPFK) - is like an aesthetic trip through that way-back machine Mr. Peabody operated so many years go.

"L.A. can't get out the Dr. Dre regime," said Big Steel. "Ain't nothin' wrong with Dr. Dre, but N.W.A is almost 20 years old."

Again, Snoop is great. Snoop is good. Let him go shoot films. Knock wood. -Donnell Alexander