Page 2. LipService.

I got a few calls this month which are worth spending the rest of the column on.

The second call came from the cultural outpost of El-Lay, and the caller was Rick "Skogie" Moore. For those of you who missed it, a refresher course. "Skogie" and the Flaming Pachucos -- "Skogie" -- was Moore's Minnesota ministry for a number of years, a premonition of the fringe weirdness that would sell so much better at the other end of the decade. I was a freshman in college the first time I saw Rick Moore stuff a humped animal during Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear." Moore and company left a little later for the West Coast and the big break. A long distance interview done for The Insider Magazine in the summer of 1977 found them trying to break into the top 40 circuit in L.A. They'd decided/discovered the way to get attention, while working privately on their true ticket to fortune and fulfillment. Rick called with the good news last week and asked me to spread it to all the old faithful: it worked!!

The Kats (nee Skogie ), currently one of L.A.s tops sans the help of press and management, are more or less signed to a new CBS subsidiary, Unicorn records. (Quoting a national CBS man: "...the excitement and the newness of the Beatles in '62")! Says Rick: "Lately we've been drawing well at places like the Whiskey, the Troubadour and Madame Wong's . There were other contract offers, but we were definitely more impressed by this one. It'll practically be like having a company to ourselves." Looking to an August release date, they are going into the studio later this month (facility and producer still being chosen). So when do we get to see what time and warm temperatures have wrought? "Nothing is anywhere near definite, of course, but we might be doing a Minneapolis date this summer."

Rick (now going by Freddy) sent some press things the next day. The reviews were glowing, alright, and from the sound of product descriptions, The Kats could maybe maybe maybe be the biggest quasi-Minnesota export since Cheryl Tiegs (didn't you know??). It does your head good to see it happen to someone who has such a way with stuffed animals. "For once," as Rick said, "we were in the right place at the right time." Stay Tuned.

--Laura Fissinger