Blondie

To the dispassionate observer, there is little beautiful--and certainly not lovable--about a water buffalo. It is large and hairy and has an unfortunate affection for muddy bogs. To Virgilio Cicconi, however, the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a vision.

Like it or not, pop culture revolves around the creation of appealing, salable images that will set off Pavlovian bells in a mass audience's collective brain. Deborah Harry looks back with pride on her own contribution to the mythology of pop image-making: the creation of Blondie. "I was always fascinated with film stars," Harry said in a recent phone interview from a tour stop in San Francisco. (She opens a three-night stand tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

Deborah Harry, the erstwhile peroxide-dipped vocalist best known for her work with rock group Blondie, was a bit apprehensive in 1994 when she joined New York art-jazz band the Jazz Passengers. "I have a lot to learn," Harry, then 49, told a Times interviewer. "They might fire me." They didn't. And now, with some 15 Passengers' tours under Harry's Spandex waistband, including five rounds in Europe and an album set for release early next year, her place in the band is secure.

A blond Lab-chow mix is back home in New Orleans after seven months of rest and recuperation in Santa Clara. Blondie had been locked inside a bathroom for five weeks after her owner fled the rising floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. The dog weighed just 17 pounds when rescued.

Near as Dean Young can recall, Dagwood Bumstead started creating colossal sandwiches in his modest cartoon kitchen around 1936. Through the years, the overstuffed works of edible art built by the bumbling patriarch of the "Blondie" comic strip have become familiar to millions around the world who take respite in the funny pages.

Deborah Harry, jazz singer? Yes, the blonde of the rock group Blondie is trying her hand at jazz--and not the familiar standards style that pop singers usually stick to when crossing over, but the complex, arty style of the New York group, the Jazz Passengers. And, yes, she knows it's a stretch. "I told them, 'For 20 years I've been counting (the beat) to four and now you want me to count to six," Harry, 49, joked, speaking by phone from her New York home.

Hard to believe it's been almost 75 years since ditzy flapper Blondie Boopadoop fell for bumbling Dagwood Bumstead in a love match made in the funny papers. In those days, Dagwood was a rich playboy whose snooty parents greatly disapproved of the union. When he and Blondie married in 1933, the J. Boling Bumsteads disinherited their son, relegating him to a modest suburban life of raising kids, carpooling, battling blowhard boss Mr. Dithers and making really big sandwiches.

Elastica is one shrewd band, right? What better way for a new group to build interest among record company executives and the media in the fiercely competitive British rock scene than play hard to get? Here's the widely heralded quartet's game plan: Record a song that excites everyone who hears it but refuse to give a tape to more than a few industry friends--forcing eager talent scouts to scramble for ragged copies. No one wants to miss out on a hot new signing.

The Mexican underworld's taste for bizarre nicknames was on full display in February, when Mexico City police filed kidnap and murder charges against a gang whose aliases sounded like something out of Snow White. There was "El Salivotas" (the Drooler), "El Guero" (Blondie), "El Enano" (the Dwarf), "El Duende" (the Elf), "El Cejas," (Eyebrows) and "El Tamalon" (the Big Tamale). The lone female member was legally named Dulce Maria, or Sweet Maria. Ordinary Mexicans use nicknames a lot.

It's not just the eye-catching packaging that's attractive about Beverly Hills Nuts, it's the unusual contents-meringue-coated walnuts, almonds, pecans and cashews. Entrepreneur Candy Wachs offers them in a choice of traditional, chocolate, blondie or cinnamon meringue. Macadamias are also available with either chocolate or blondie coating. 12-ounce box $18 for Chocolate Macadamia and $20 for Blondie Macadamia, 6-ounce bag $10.