Will Glover

By day, Will Glover runs his own construction/demolition business, tearing out kitchens and the like. By night, he's spending his day money recording an album of country songs. A couple of times a month, he hits the country bars to perform or compete in talent contests. He's black and is trying to gain entry to a field that is almost exclusively white. That doesn't especially bother Glover. He's been there, done that.

By day, Will Glover runs his own construction/demolition business, tearing out kitchens and the like. By night, he's spending his day money recording an album of country songs. A couple of times a month, he hits the country bars to perform or compete in talent contests. He's black and is trying to gain entry to a field that is almost exclusively white. That doesn't especially bother Glover. He's been there, done that.

The Crazy Horse Steak House launches a series spotlighting local progressive country acts with former surf-rocker WILL GLOVER. See WHAT GOES ON.

Pleased with last month's experimental series of shows by acts outside the commercial mainstream of country music, management at the Crazy Horse Steak House has decided to continue regular bookings of progressive-country acts. Fred Reiser, co-owner of the Santa Ana venue, said he was "encouraged" by the turnout for the Tuesday night shows by Will Glover, James Intveld and Chris Gaffney and the Cold Hard Facts, which each drew 175 or more to the 250-seat club.

** WILL GLOVER "Standing in the Line of Fire" Mel-Glo Glover can claim a footnote in rock 'n' roll history: As a teenager he sang and played rhythm guitar in the Pyramids, the surf-rock band from Long Beach responsible for one of the genre's finest moments, the hit "Penetration" in 1964. What's more, he was the only black musician on the fertile Southern California surf-rock scene. These days, Glover is based in O.C. and is playing rockin'-country music.

Often honored by the country music establishment as one of the nation's finest venues, the Crazy Horse Steak House will experiment this month with shows by progressive country and roots-music acts from Southern California who operate outside the establishment circles of major Nashville record labels and mainstream country radio. Will Glover, James Intveld and Chris Gaffney will headline the 250-seat club on consecutive Tuesday nights, starting with Glover next week.

The play that clinched Maryland's first outright Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 16 years hadn't been used since fall camp. That's the same time first-year Coach Ralph Friedgen began building a winning attitude among a group of players who refused to quit again Saturday night at Raleigh, N.C. Friedgen and his No.

Richard Krajicek retired Thursday because of elbow pain, ending a career in which he won Wimbledon in 1996 and was one of the hardest servers in tennis. The 31-year-old Dutchman left the sport two days after losing in the first round at a tournament in his home country. He said he had "lost the fight for my health." Krajicek said he had received extensive medical treatment and cortisone shots but that the pain in his right elbow made it difficult for him to function in daily life.

After failing to hire Oakland Raider Coach Jon Gruden, the name on most Notre Dame fans' wish list, Irish Athletic Director Kevin White returned to South Bend on Sunday with a name of a different lilt. George O'Leary. O'Leary? Notre Dame? That might work. "I'm Irish, I'm Catholic," O'Leary said. "That's a great combination at this school." No one can accuse White of not working fast.

Singer-songwriter Darden Smith looks like his music sounds. He's got that Texas-troubadour aura about him--steely eyed but sensitive, long and lean with a handsome, roughhewn masculinity. Rumpled to a degree where he appears comfortable but not seedy, Smith looks like he'd smell of the outdoors air mixed with stale cigarette smoke.

THEATER "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," Christopher Hampton's drama following the sexual intrigues of an 18th century French aristocrat, closes today at Chapman University's Waltmar Theatre, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. 8 p.m. $6-$8. (714) 997-6812. Previews of "The Piano Lesson," August Wilson's Pulitzer-winning drama about a brother and sister who claim moral ownership of a priceless family heirloom, continue through Thursday at South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m.