ENTERTAINMENT NEWS : On the Road With Sound of Success : Willie and Lobo combine flamenco guitar and violin for music that’s ‘out of the ordinary.’

The short journey from a small Mexican cafe to the World Music charts still amazes Willie and Lobo.

“We were confident, but not this confident,” violinist Willie Royal said. “It’s happened so fast.”

Royal and flamenco guitarist Wolfgang (Lobo) Fink will continue their first national tour with two shows Sunday at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks.

Their big break came in late 1991 when Mardig Sheridan, their manager, on vacation in Puerto Vallarta, stumbled by Mama Mia’s and heard a unique sound coming from the stage. Sheridan, immediately hooked by the guitar and violin combination, sent a tape of the group’s music to several record companies. Soon, Willie and Lobo signed a deal with Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings in Burbank.

“It fit perfectly into our type of music,” said Jim Snowden, the recording company’s president. “It’s out of the ordinary, and yet it’s cool.”

Each concert on the pair’s tour, which began in May, seems to elicit the same reaction.

“People don’t know what to do at first,” said Royal, 39. “They are just not used to this sound. Then, you see something light in their faces, and they like it. It’s a great moment for us because we’ve always believed in ourselves.”

The two met in 1983, but didn’t start playing music together until three years ago. Their debut instrumental album, “Gypsy Boogaloo,” became No. 2 last week on Billboard’s World Music charts.

“We just let it go,” said Fink, 42. “We each bring in music that we like and see what the other thinks. It always seems to come together.”

Willie and Lobo will perform at 8:30 and 10 p.m. Sunday at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Tickets are $5 with a two-drink minimum. For information, call (818) 986-2662.

THE VALLEY’S FUNNIEST--Christopher Collins maintains that he’s stuck being a stand-up comic.

“I could make a lot of money doing voice-overs for cartoons,” Collins said, “but it just doesn’t do it for me. I do comedy because I have to. I have to be up there.”

Fortunately, it sometimes pays off. Two weeks ago, Collins pocketed $1,000 as winner of the ninth annual Funniest Person in the Valley contest, held at the L. A. Cabaret Comedy Club in Encino. More than 100 contestants competed for two months, giving seven-minute routines before a panel of judges.

Collins, 44, who lives in Ventura, said he performed material he had used last year at the Improv in West Hollywood.

“I talk about my experiences growing up as a kid in Manhattan in the 1960s, raised by very liberal parents,” he said. “I also do Bush and Nixon impersonations.”

Collins, however, isn’t crazy about life on the road. In 1992, he did almost 200 shows across the country and became frustrated with the sameness of the hotels and nightclubs. This year, he’s spent only about two months on the comedy circuit.

“That’s the way it’s going to be from here on,” he said. “On the road, you also have to be constricted. They want a known quantity, so you can’t take a chance with stuff.”

Collins has also appeared on television and in the movies, including a prominent role in the 1992 film “A Stranger Among Us.”

SHE’S BACK--Stephanie Abrahamson, who said a few months ago that she would quit her volunteer position as a liaison between Antelope Valley and the film community, has changed her mind.

Abrahamson said the key to her staying on was a new policy she’s started that will charge a fee of $25 to anyone interested in joining a pool of potential film and television actors and extras. She used to provide the service without a fee.

“We had to get support somewhere,” said Abrahamson, who said she tried to get funding for her work from the Palmdale and Lancaster city councils, but never received an official response.

A spokeswoman for Lancaster said recently that the city last received a formal proposal from Abrahamson in 1989.