CAPITALIST TOOLS:

When he’s not busy defending his pal, General Motors CEO Roger Smith (who’s been taking a drubbing in “Roger & Me”), Malcolm Forbes is doing whatever he can to help promote Egg, his new night-life mag. So it wasn’t a total surprise to see the 70-year-old publisher roar up on his motorcycle to New York’s trendy Cat Club, where he stopped in to hear Swedish-rocksters Shotgun Messiah (and, of course, have his picture taken with the group). . . . NBC’s “Friday Night Video” and Aerosmith: not exactly a marriage made in rock ‘n’ roll heaven, especially since NBC’s censors have banned a trio of recent Aerosmith songs, including “Love in an Elevator” and “Dude Looks Like a Lady.” So now that FNV has been playing Aerosmith’s single, “Janie’s Got a Gun,” guess who they asked to host the show? And guess who snubbed them, saying we’ll only show up if you play the rest of our videos? Right--Aerosmith. . . . Speaking of video--Tom Petty’s new clip, “Face in the Crowd,” was directed by Jesse (son of Bob) Dylan, who also directed a Maria McKee clip last year.