S&Ls; Ballad Is No Love SongThe nation’s...

S&Ls; Ballad Is No Love Song

The nation’s savings and loan fiasco is striking a sour note with a lot of people.

No one, however, is reacting quite like author/singer Michael A. Robinson.

Robinson, former San Francisco bureau chief of the American Banker financial newspaper, has produced an album of songs called “Overdrawn (Scoundrels of the S&L;’s).”

The title song may be the first time someone put a rock beat to such issues as savings and loan deregulation, the government’s thrift bailout and the excesses of S&L; executives.

A sample from the three-minute number:

They flew around in corporate jets

and hired fancy European chefs.

Then the S&L; execs said thanks,

by making us bail out their savings

banks.

Robinson, who spells his name professionally as michael A. robinson, is described on his publicity sheet as being known for “passionate vocals and incisive lyrics.”

The album’s release coincides with the publication of his book “Overdrawn” by Penguin USA’s E. P. Dutton. It’s about Los Angeles financier Charles W. Knapp and the taxpayer-assisted bailout of Stockton-based American Savings & Loan by the Robert M. Bass group in 1988.

As for the “Overdrawn” song, Robinson says he almost didn’t release it because he feared that it would be viewed as a novelty. Among the early doubters was his ex-wife, he says. She changed her mind when he played it for her over the telephone. Robinson finally decided to release it, hoping that it will be viewed as a serious political song.

“It’s not ‘Kung Fu Fighting,’ ” he says.

It Seats 4 and Gets 70 Stations

Home satellite dishes have been springing up across the United States the past eight years like mushrooms after a spring rain.

There are now about 3 million of the 6- to 10-foot dishes, which can pick up satellite signals of more than 100 TV channels.

With the proliferation has come an increasing number of neighborhood code restrictions that regulate where and how the ungainly dishes may be mounted.

But an Indio, Calif.-based company has come up with a solution: Dish antennas camouflaged as outdoor patio furniture.

The company, Under Cover Inc., has sold about 500 of the disguised antenna dishes through dealers in Southern California and around the country. A dish can be covered in a green, blue or beige canvas umbrella so that it looks like an outdoor table, says Ron Roberge, vice president of marketing for Under Cover.

“It was because of the many multimillion-dollar country clubs with restrictions that the product was first produced,” he says.

But he notes that a secondary market has emerged because wives of football-crazy husbands--many dish owners are TV sports fans--”don’t want that ugly thing in their back yard.”