He’d recognize those AK-47 bursts anywhere:During a...

He’d recognize those AK-47 bursts anywhere:

During a press conference the other day, L.A. police played an audiotape that had been given to them by a San Fernando Valley businessman--a tape that was supposedly recorded during the North Hollywood shootout.

Instead, police later learned it was the soundtrack from “Heat,” the movie that ends with a wild shootout involving heavily armed bank robbers in L.A.

“It’s just one of those unfortunate things,” said Lt. Anthony Alba, a police spokesman.

Alba, who immediately contacted the media, said the Valley man admitted the hoax when he was questioned about the tape.

And how did police make the discovery?

“One of the officers who was there [at the North Hollywood incident] happened to have seen the movie several times,” Alba said, “and he was very familiar with that soundtrack.”

NOBODY’S HOME: Critics of Richard Riordan have characterized him as a sort of invisible mayor who hasn’t done much and is rarely seen in public, especially when the press is around. That said, we’re sure it was just a coincidence that the post office couldn’t deliver a letter that the LAPD had sent the mayor.

L.A. RHYME OF THE WEEK: Debuting a new category, occasioned by our challenge to readers to pair lyrics with “Los Angeles,” we offer you this tender thought from Vivian Lindner of Glendale:

It was really driving me crazy

Trying to rhyme that city so hazy.

But it’s only in L.A.

Where you can truly say,

“I commute to Los Angeles,

To consult with my analyst.”

IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ST. PATRICK’S DAY: Responding to our item about the 1949 fad of green-haired students at Van Nuys High, Ed Riner and other readers theorized that the kids might have been reacting to a movie of that time, “The Boy with Green Hair,” starring Dean Stockwell.

It was, after all, the early period of the Cold War. And the film is about a boy whose hair turns green when he hears that his parents have been killed in an air raid. He is then encouraged by other war orphans to “to parade himself publicly as an image of the horror and futility of war,” according to Halliwell’s Film Guide.

Noted Riner: “Green hair made a statement that is valid today.”

AND OUR FACE IS RED: Our apologies to Steve Mozena, whose name we misspelled in Friday’s column. He’s the aspiring actor whose idea of advertising himself on bus benches was used (without credit) in the movie, “Jimmy Hollywood.”

WE BEG YOUR PARDON! Mil Harris sent along an announcement from a humane society that said, “A spay-neuter assistance program is available to senior citizens (63 and over).”

She asked: “Don’t you think this could have been worded differently? Although, as a female senior, I know a couple of old dudes who perhaps could use the service!”

miscelLAny:

The Corporate Cycling Challenge, consisting of relay teams on three-wheeled mountain bikes, will take to a special indoor track at the L.A. Convention Center April 11. The batons in this relay? Briefcases.