How to See Coppola for Free

The Galaxy Concert Theatre left itself little time to promote a last-minute booking of Imani Coppola, the hip-hop-flavored pop chanteuse whose song “Legend of a Cowgirl” has pegged her as a new contender.

The club’s answer has been to enlist a couple of longtime O.C. leading ladies to attract a crowd for Coppola’s headlining show Sunday. Kerry Getz and Corday and the Curious (fronted by Jennifer Corday) will open, and fans can get on the evening’s guest list for free by calling their respective hotlines--Getz at (714) 642-6517 and Corday and the Curious at (714) 998-3783. Otherwise, tickets cost $10. Club information: (714) 957-0600.

SPECIALS TREATMENT: Mike Jacobs, label boss of Way Cool Music, has strong opinions about what he likes and doesn’t like about ska. And, to put it mildly, Jacobs didn’t like what he heard two years ago when the Specials reunited and put out “Today’s Specials” on Virgin Records.

“That was a piece of garbage. I hated it intensely,” Jacobs said.

The Specials subsequently concluded that the album’s slick synth-reggae production and languid beats weren’t really them. They played a series of shows last year to showcase an approach emphasizing the punk-rock energy that originally propelled the band in 1979, when it launched the English 2 Tone ska movement. Jacobs was smitten, and on March 24 the Sunset Beach-based Way Cool will release a new Specials album, “Guilty ‘Til Proved Innocent!”

Ska mavens will be asking whether it’s really the Specials without singer Terry Hall and songwriter-keyboardist Jerry Dammers, two key original members sitting out the reunion. But Jacobs cites precedents for successful Mach II rock bands: “Didn’t Genesis have hits after Peter Gabriel?”

Fans who want to hobnob with the Specials, including original members Neville Staple, Lynval Golding, Roddy Byers and Horace Panter, can greet them March 23 at 4 p.m. at Bionic Records, 16101 Bolsa Chica St., Huntington Beach. The band will chat and sign autographs but won’t perform. (714) 846-2585.

KORN ON THE WEB: The Internet has been very, very good to Korn, the million-selling Huntington Beach rage-rock band. The band doesn’t get much radio or MTV play but credits a chunk of its loyal following to such innovative online endeavors as a 1996 live, interactive party in cyberspace celebrating the completion of its second album, “Life Is Peachy.” Now comes “Korn TV,” a new Web site the band hopes to fill with regular programming. The first offering is “Korn’s After-School Special,” a live variety show that debuted March 5 and will continue its eight-week run every Thursday afternoon from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tune in at www.korntv.com.

IT’S BLUES TIME: Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, the Riverside-based blues band that gigs regularly in Orange County, has notched seven group or individual nominations in this year’s W.C. Handy Awards, the blues world’s top honor. The nominations are blues band of the year; entertainer of the year and contemporary blues male artist of the year (Rod Piazza); best contemporary blues album, for “Tough & Tender”; and individual instrumentalist nominations for Piazza on harmonica; his wife, Honey, on piano; and Jimi Bott (now with the Fabulous Thunderbirds) on drums.

“Extra Napkins,” a 1988-vintage album by the Huntington Beach-based James Harman Band, is a contender for best blues reissue of the year. Winners will be announced April 30 during ceremonies at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tenn.

PUNK BENEFIT: O.C. punk-rockers will convene in Riverside on March 21 to help pay the hospital bills of Rachel Easton, an Orange resident who is part of the local skate-rock scene. Easton is up and around after fracturing three vertebrae in a snowboarding accident but has a $3,000 medical tab. Vitamin L, Drain Bramaged, 4-Gazm and Mind Driver top a nine-act benefit show starting at 6 p.m. at the Barn, 900 University Ave. Admission: $7. (909) 787-5741.

Scratch/Ray Records, which is hosting the show, will give away its new “Orange County’s Punk vs. Ska, Round 2” CD to the first 400 fans to arrive. The sequel to a successful 1997 compilation, it features 27 bands, plus an exclusive audio interview with Sublime.