Studios Orange County

Customers renting private booths at the city's two karaoke studios can sing the night away--and into the early morning. The owners of both of the karaoke studios received the approval of the Planning Commission last week to extend their hours of operation beyond 2 a.m. Elvis!? Karaoke Studios, 18914 Brookhurst St., was told it could stay open until 4 a.m. Only You, 18120 Brookhurst St., was granted permission to remain open until 3 a.m.

Customers renting private booths at the city's two karaoke studios can sing the night away--and into the early morning. The owners of both of the karaoke studios received the approval of the Planning Commission last week to extend their hours of operation beyond 2 a.m. Elvis!? Karaoke Studios, 18914 Brookhurst St., was told it could stay open until 4 a.m. Only You, 18120 Brookhurst St., was granted permission to remain open until 3 a.m.

On a bright, clear afternoon, a video crew has set up at Laguna Beach's Heisler Park. The subject of the shoot is a rising young singer who has recorded three albums, toured Europe several times and Australia once. In some cities she plays to thousands, but the park-goers who stroll by on this day look on curiously without recognizing her. Huong Tho is being interviewed by Trang Nguyen for an entertainment news program on Costa Mesa-based Little Saigon Television.

Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America is billing its newest offering, the Eclipse Spyder, as the first U.S.-designed and -built convertible sold by a Japanese importer. That complex description is important. Mazda's Miata, largely responsible for rekindling America's love affair with the convertible, was designed at the company's research and development facility in Irvine but has always been built on an assembly line in Japan. The Eclipse Spyder was not only penned at Mitsubishi's U.

At 5 feet, 4 inches tall, 135 pounds and 50 years old, Susan Vasco doesn't look tough. But ask her son. "She's brutal," said Tony Vasco, 27, 6-foot-2 and a swimmer. "She's kicked my ass many times. In the end, we're on the floor with her fist in my mouth." Tony's mom became the oldest black belt among the 10,000 martial artists who attend United Studios in Orange County when she earned her first-degree rank 2 1/2 years ago, said Dennis Brookman, her teacher.

An Orange County sheriff's reserve deputy was suspended from duty after his arrest Monday for allegedly flashing his badge, pulling a gun and threatening to kill a group of golfers at a Chino Hills course. Meanwhile, prosecutors in San Bernardino County said Thursday that they were upping the charges against the reserve officer from a single misdemeanor count of brandishing a firearm to four felonies: two counts each of assault with a firearm and making criminal threats. Raymond K.

Paper or plastic? It's an issue Dave Bock deals with daily, but it has nothing to do with the bagging of groceries. Bock is president of Leisure Time Packaging, which distributes paper and plastic bags manufactured from recycled materials to environmentally conscious merchandisers. "It's so confusing to retailers. What they're being told is paper is better," Bock said. Actually, plastic bags take up less landfill space--paper will not decompose in a landfill, he contends.

One was raised in Southern California, the other in Omaha, Neb. But both grew up on rock 'n' roll, listening to the Beatles and bashing out their best Fab Four imitations in local garage bands. Now they work together on sound tracks for video productions, creating original scores ranging from the symphonic sweep of a full orchestra to a stripped-down, rap-inspired funk rhythm--all without leaving their studio at Yale Video in Anaheim.

In the eight years since Michael Mikulka and Steve McClintock opened a recording studio in Westminster, they have spent thousands of hours working with hundreds of aspiring musicians. As part of their efforts to gather the best information and advice for their clients, they've also journeyed as far away as Nashville, New York and Cannes, France, to attend numerous record industry conventions and seminars. What have they learned from the music industry's experts?

An Orange County sheriff's reserve deputy was arrested after a weekend golf outing in Chino Hills when he allegedly flashed his badge and pulled a gun on a group of golfers. The reserve deputy, Sheriff Michael S. Carona's personal martial arts instructor, allegedly made a death threat during a confrontation that began on the 13th hole of the North Course at Los Serranos Golf & Country Club. The arrest is the latest embarrassment for the reserve program.

Pop music and the government rarely work as partners, but Orange County rocker Jennifer Corday has found that a common foe has a way of bringing even longtime antagonists together. Corday has won state grants to get the anti-smoking message of her song "Inhale" into the hands of Orange County students.