Mike Reno

Mike Reno is an invisible rock star. It's not likely that many rock fans know he's the lead singer of Loverboy, the popular Canadian band appearing Friday at the Forum. In most places, he admitted, people don't recognize him. At brunch recently, Reno, 31, mused about his invisibility. "In a Beverly Hills restaurant like this you'd expect to find some hip people, some people who know rock music," he said. "But I bet nobody here knows who I am."

Was that a trace of eau de Spinal Tap in the air? On the line was Mike Reno, lead singer with the reunited Loverboy. Loverboy, of the gooney-bird hairdos, precious smiles, cute little headbands and red patent leather get-ups. Loverboy, which personified the corporate hard-rock look and sound of the '80s. Reno sounded optimistic about Loverboy's prospects for the future.

Was that a trace of eau de Spinal Tap in the air? On the line was Mike Reno, lead singer with the reunited Loverboy. Loverboy, of the gooney-bird hairdos, precious smiles, cute little headbands and red patent leather get-ups. Loverboy, which personified the corporate hard-rock look and sound of the '80s. Reno sounded optimistic about Loverboy's prospects for the future.

Mike Reno is an invisible rock star. It's not likely that many rock fans know he's the lead singer of Loverboy, the popular Canadian band appearing Friday at the Forum. In most places, he admitted, people don't recognize him. At brunch recently, Reno, 31, mused about his invisibility. "In a Beverly Hills restaurant like this you'd expect to find some hip people, some people who know rock music," he said. "But I bet nobody here knows who I am."

Mainstream rock, almost by definition, is a limited, even soulless branch of pop music--a precept Loverboy fully accepts. The Canadian quintet's show Friday at the Forum was, predictably, a bland and boring bluster. From the moment Loverboy hit the stage with "The Kid Is Hot Tonite," the group seemed to be operating on autopilot. Paul Dean's metallic guitar solos looked flashy but seemed to be rendered by rote.

Orange County Speedway Speedway motorcycle standings 1. Chris Manchester, Reno: 223 2. Gary Hicks, Corona: 165 3. Josh Larsen, Monrovia: 163 4. Mike Faria, Reno: 150 5. Bobby Schwartz, Costa Mesa: 146 6. Randy DiFrancesco, Bakersfield: 135 7. Shawn McConnell, Brea: 119 7. Ryan Fisher, Norco: 119 9. Dukie Ermolenko, Cypress: 118 10. Eddie Castro, Ojai: 107 Schedule SaturdayJack Milne Cup, speedway; 16--Father's Day, speedway, p.w.

Regarding the Jan. 28 Ask the Inspector response in "Older Electrical Outlets Were a Jolt": I don't think that two-prong outlets are a defect that must be listed by a home inspector. In a 50-year-old home the outlets are ground-available, just much more inconveniently. If one purchases the (usually gray) adapter to plug a three-prong cord into a two-prong outlet, that little green tab is to be screwed into the same metal screw that holds the outlet cover on. This completes the grounding as long as the outlet body is screwed into the metal box, which is most likely grounded.

For fans of the 1980s movie "Footloose," few scenes matter more than Kevin Bacon's "angry dance" where the then-25-year-old mixes bombastic gymnastic tricks with high-flying stunts as he thrashes around an empty warehouse to the song "Never" by Moving Pictures. "For me, that's the coolest thing I ever saw," says Craig Brewer, best known for his gritty, musically infused movies "Hustle & Flow" and "Black Snake Moan," who is directing the upcoming "Footloose" remake, set for release Oct. 14. "I know people can laugh at me and look at the tight jeans and big hair, but I wasn't seeing that the first time I saw it. I saw a guy all over the place.

"Glory Daze," which premieres Tuesday on TBS, is a nostalgia piece set in an Indiana university in the year 1986, although it is less about life as it was lived in 1986 than it is about the movies that might have helped form a person going to college then. Chief among them would be "Animal House," but early Bill Murray or anything branded "National Lampoon" or concerning teenage boys eager to lose their virginity would also count. That is nothing its creators ? Walt Becker, the director, indeed, of the 2002 college comedy "National Lampoon's Van Wilder," and Mike LeSieur, who wrote "You, Me and Dupree" ?

Canyon High's football players walked off the Cowboys' field Friday night with their heads hanging. Their coach, Harry Welch, talked about how they had played against North Torrance: "As a team, it was one of our low points this season. We just didn't play well. We weren't crisp, we weren't enthusiastic." But they were victorious. Canyon jumped out to a 21-point lead, then held on to beat North Torrance, 21-13, in the first round of the Coastal Conference playoffs.

Darryl Stroh recognizes the faces but he is still having trouble with the names. Perhaps that's an occupational hazard in high school coaching--nearly every season warrants a rebuilding project. Stroh's construction work at Granada Hills ranks among the most extensive for Valley-area football programs.

Ann Wilson, lead singer of the rock group Heart, knows how to deal with a declining career. She's had a lot of experience with that problem recently. After five years on top, Heart, which also features her younger sister, Nancy, on guitar and vocals, cooled off badly about four years ago. "It was a slap in the face when we suddenly weren't hot anymore," Ann, 35, said. "With all that money and fame, you can get jaded. Your work suffers. You live for today and don't worry about tomorrow.