Steve Perry

For those who think that alcohol makes karaoke easier, Caffe Brass Monkey would suggest that you think again. Ask the guy who, on a recent Thursday night, tried to make it through Jay-Z's "Girls, Girls, Girls." "I got this young chick," the aspirant Hova slurred. "She so immature. She like, 'Why you don't buy me Reeboks' . . . Dang, I'm drunk." That last part was not in the original. The interior of the Monkey resembles a Swiss chalet remodeled with fast winnings from the Nikkei Index.

Steve Perry was skeptical when the producers of a television pilot about a high school glee club sought permission to use his band's signature song in their show; the former frontman for the classic rock group Journey is protective of his legacy. "I want to be able to put these songs somewhere with good conscience that they're not going to be abused," Perry said in a recent interview. "I don't want to see that happen." He needn't have worried. Perry overcame his doubts, agreed to license the song to the producers of " Glee," and a year later "Don't Stop Believin' " has reached a new generation of music fans.

Somewhere inside Steve Perry, there's a Broadway-style ballad singer struggling to get out. He should be on a theatrical stage belting out flowery tunes from "Carousel" and "Oklahoma!," not squandering that grand, soaring tenor on plain old pop-rock songs, as he did Thursday in the opener of a three-night, sold-out stand at the Pantages Theater. Technically speaking, he has one of the best voices in rock--the classiest set of pipes this side of Meat Loaf.

For those who think that alcohol makes karaoke easier, Caffe Brass Monkey would suggest that you think again. Ask the guy who, on a recent Thursday night, tried to make it through Jay-Z's "Girls, Girls, Girls." "I got this young chick," the aspirant Hova slurred. "She so immature. She like, 'Why you don't buy me Reeboks' . . . Dang, I'm drunk." That last part was not in the original. The interior of the Monkey resembles a Swiss chalet remodeled with fast winnings from the Nikkei Index.

The recent resurgence in swing music has been mainly a club-bound phenomenon, but one ensemble has made the leap from the bandstand to the Billboard charts with the unlikeliest of songs--a breezy account of the infamous Zoot Suit Riots, the 1943 episode in which sharply dressed young Mexican Americans were assaulted by civilians and soldiers on leave in the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Nearly a year after its initial release, Eugene, Ore.'

Steve Perry was skeptical when the producers of a television pilot about a high school glee club sought permission to use his band's signature song in their show; the former frontman for the classic rock group Journey is protective of his legacy. "I want to be able to put these songs somewhere with good conscience that they're not going to be abused," Perry said in a recent interview. "I don't want to see that happen." He needn't have worried. Perry overcame his doubts, agreed to license the song to the producers of " Glee," and a year later "Don't Stop Believin' " has reached a new generation of music fans.

* Steve Perry, "For the Love of Strange Medicine," Columbia. Is it the familiar soaring voice (which so often falls splat! )? The overwrought, self-congratulatory solos? The hit single ("You Better Wait") about a runaway teen-age "beauty queen," sung/panted by a middle-aged occasional rock star? Something sells the former Journey frontman's records, but discerning pop music fans shouldn't waste a minute trying to figure out what.

Apparently after being locked in a closet for 10 years, the members of America's most soulless band have emerged with an album chock-full of its trademark reverb and wretched singing. After Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain's promising work with John Waite in the group Bad English, it's particularly dispiriting to hear their playing crushed by Steve Perry's familiar vocal histrionics. * Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

Concerned about ethnic tension in west San Gabriel Valley schools, a group of parents and local residents are asking the Alhambra School Board to modify its disciplinary procedures and adopt more multicultural education programs. Asian-American and Latino community members formed the group last year out of concern that the school board was not doing enough to address race relations, especially after fights occurred between students from different ethnic groups.

About the best that can be said of hard-rock group Wishbone is that it possesses an optimistic outlook on its quest for fulfillment and gratification. This life-affirming attitude surfaces during several power ballads, namely "Follow the Dreamer," "Song Everlasting" and "Timeless Moments." But the power of positive thinking doesn't necessarily translate to powerful music; this disappointing, 11-song collection of faceless arena rock is proof. This band lacks a distinctive voice or style.

The recent resurgence in swing music has been mainly a club-bound phenomenon, but one ensemble has made the leap from the bandstand to the Billboard charts with the unlikeliest of songs--a breezy account of the infamous Zoot Suit Riots, the 1943 episode in which sharply dressed young Mexican Americans were assaulted by civilians and soldiers on leave in the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Nearly a year after its initial release, Eugene, Ore.'

Somewhere inside Steve Perry, there's a Broadway-style ballad singer struggling to get out. He should be on a theatrical stage belting out flowery tunes from "Carousel" and "Oklahoma!," not squandering that grand, soaring tenor on plain old pop-rock songs, as he did Thursday in the opener of a three-night, sold-out stand at the Pantages Theater. Technically speaking, he has one of the best voices in rock--the classiest set of pipes this side of Meat Loaf.

"RAISED ON RADIO." Journey. Columbia. The first Journey album since 1983's multi-platinum "Frontiers" is safe as milk--nothing on it cuts even skin-deep. The writing, playing and production are predictably slick and contemporary, but also predictably empty. From the opening "Girl Can't Help It" ( not the Little Richard classic) through the closing "Why Can't the Night," there is nary a lick nor lyric that could possibly be construed as a challenge to either listener or performer.

The city has been sued by a man who claims he was struck by a bowling ball in a bizarre accident caused by horseplay among workers at the city's recycling center. In a complaint filed with the city this month, Jim Hawk alleges he was on a business trip at the Del Norte Regional Recycling and Transfer Station in May when a bowling ball hit and broke his leg. Hawk claims recycling center workers were rolling the ball on the ground.