Another USC band expose: The music-makers at...

Another USC band expose: The music-makers at USC have a way of marching into the news.

One year it was the discovery that several members were carrying, but not playing, their instruments (they had been recruited just to fill out the ranks). Another time it was the admission that several professional musicians had been performing as Trojan band members (receiving $5,000 each in under-the-tuba payments for the year).

Now comes another revealing (and revealing is the correct word) item: A member of the USC band’s flag line can be seen posing in a “Girls of the Pac-10” feature in the October issue of Playboy magazine. We hope she isn’t reprimanded for appearing partly out of uniform.

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Sure, the Japanese have a lot of property here but we didn’t think this was their country yet: Paul Newman of Beverly Hills (no, not that Paul Newman) and several other readers pointed out that a billboard on the Westside seems to confuse who’s shipping great products to whom. . . . Do you think they meant exports? Tomorrowland: A repeat of a ‘50s Disney special on freeways played on the Disney Channel the other day. Ah, such fond hopes! It forecast a time when the family car, zooming along at 85 m.p.h. or more, would be programmed with a computer to remove the need of a driver. The show depicted Dad, Mom and the kids heading Downtown, where they split up to perform errands--Dad drove off in the front half of the machine, Mom and kids in the back half.

The special also discussed some other innovations that haven’t come to pass, such as the inflatable car--if you become stuck in a traffic jam, you step outside, deflate it and get off the freeway. Could the specter of blowouts have kept them from the assembly line?

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Todayland: Life at the top is swell for Disney boss Michael Eisner, who as you may recall cashed in $197.5 million worth of stock options last year to avoid tax increases. But that hasn’t kept the company from springing for greenery for the underlings--with limits.

A memo sent out by Disney the other day stated: “Senior Management has asked us to reiterate the Company policy for office plants and flowers. . . . The policy is simple. Disney will pay for plants, plant maintenance and flowers only in public areas (e.g., lobbies, reception areas), not in private offices. . . . Personal expenses for plants, office flowers or plant maintenance are not reimbursable and will not be honored by Accounts Payable.”

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Now passersby can imitate the critics: Comedian Chevy Chase, whose nightly talk show recently opened to scathing reviews, received a star Thursday on what sometimes seems to be the Hollywood Walk of (Not Ready for) Fame.

“This is a dubious honor,” he quipped, “since I’ve been walked over a lot lately.”

miscelLAny:

The city Transportation Department estimates there are 7,000 vehicles on the streets of L.A. that have more than 20 unpaid parking tickets each. The problem never would have arisen with inflatable cars.