Steve Lukather

As valid as any artist's argument about the awfulness of Top 40 radio may be, one usually has to wonder if there's a bit of sour grapes mixed in with the mash, since most of the complaining types have never gotten within 20 miles of popular success. Not so Steve Lukather, whose group Toto ruled the airwaves and Grammy awards in the early '80s with a string of pop hits. As a star session guitarist he's also played on hundreds of pop recordings, including Michael Jackson's monster sellers.

As valid as any artist's argument about the awfulness of Top 40 radio may be, one usually has to wonder if there's a bit of sour grapes mixed in with the mash, since most of the complaining types have never gotten within 20 miles of popular success. Not so Steve Lukather, whose group Toto ruled the airwaves and Grammy awards in the early '80s with a string of pop hits. As a star session guitarist he's also played on hundreds of pop recordings, including Michael Jackson's monster sellers.

The L-word sank Michael S. Dukakis' hopes for the presidency. Steve Lukather is hoping that the T-word won't put a whammy on his prospects for a reborn career as a hard-rock guitarist. That's T as in Toto, the Los Angeles pop-rock band that carted off a wagon full of Grammy awards for its 1982 album, "Toto IV"--and simultaneously was papered over with a felled-forest's worth of derisive newsprint from music critics.

The L-word sank Michael S. Dukakis' hopes for the presidency. Steve Lukather is hoping that the T-word won't put a whammy on his prospects for a reborn career as a hard-rock guitarist. That's T as in Toto, the Los Angeles pop-rock band that carted off a wagon full of Grammy awards for its 1982 album, "Toto IV"--and simultaneously was papered over with a felled-forest's worth of derisive newsprint from music critics.

Blue-eyed soul singer Boz Scaggs is about to release his first album in eight years. Scaggs dropped out of the public eye to re-energize his creativity and now he has a single, "Heart of Mine," which came out last Friday and will be followed by the album "Other Roads" in mid-May. The album features three of the people who played on Scaggs' successful "Silk Degrees" record--Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather and David Paich, now all members of Toto.

Tickets go on sale Friday for the Las Vegas performance -- this year's only U.S. appearances -- by Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band. The former Beatle and his group of well-known musicians will perform Nov.  22 and 23, at the Pearl Concert Theater  inside the Palms resort. The Las Vegas dates will follow a 10-city Latin American tour by the reincarnated band. Besides Starr, it includes Gregg Bissonette; Steve Lukather, formerly of Toto; Richard Page of Mr. Mister; Mark Rivera; Gregg Rolie of Santana; and Todd Rundgren.

Following are some of the prominent private institutions that maintain you can teach rock 'n' roll. All require some sort of audition before accepting students. --Musicians Institute, 6757 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. The one-year program is divided into three disciplines: GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology), BIT (for bassists) and PIT (for percussionists).

A bout with pneumonia has forced guitar hero Les Paul to miss his all-star 90th birthday celebration concert tonight at the Gibson Amphitheatre, but the show will go on as a salute to the guitar and recording innovator. Paul is expected to be released in the next few days from Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J., his son, Russ, said Monday. Les Paul was hospitalized Friday after X-rays revealed fluid in his lungs.

It would be nice to think that Jeff Porcaro was watching, from somewhere, the all-star tribute to his memory at the Universal Amphitheatre on Monday. The Toto drummer, who died in August of an apparent heart attack, would surely have been delighted by the lineup of past associates who turned out for a rip-roaring celebration of his remarkable career.

The Santa Monica Civic was abuzz Thursday night with the rumor that there would be an on-stage reunion of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen--the song trust of the great '70s band Steely Dan. But the promise wasn't followed up with the goods--as was the case with much else associated with the Soundcheck Rock Competition, a combination fund-raising effort (for the T. J. Martell Foundation) and Yamaha-sponsored battle of the bands. There was an all-star jam at the end, though.

It's the kind of band name only a mother could love. What to make of a band with the zany moniker of Los Lobotomys? What is it: a vehicle for pranksters? A running joke? A philosophical comment on the wonders of a tabula rasa state of mind? This is a band that embraces elements of guerrilla musical theater, improvisational abandon, and bathroom and bedroom humor, due to founding guitarist Steve Lukather's taste for tasteless jokes.