Keith Cools on Porn Web Site

Kooler heads have apparently prevailed.

Rapper-producer-enigma Kool Keith seems to be steering away from a potential headache that could have overshadowed the upcoming release of his major-label debut album, “Black Elvis/Lost in Space,” by pulling the plug this week on an Internet pornography service being offered in his name and with his endorsement.

The idea behind https://www.smackmybitchup.com, the name coming from the early Kool Keith line made famous when it was sampled by Prodigy, was a porn site with a hip-hop twist. It was launched quietly recently, and more than 2,000 Keith fans were e-mailed invitations to check it out. What they found, if they paid a membership fee and asserted that they were 18 or older, were graphic photos and film clips.

Keith wasn’t in the porn shots, although he did appear in some other photos, including some of him hanging out with at least one executive at Columbia Records, which is releasing his album on Aug. 10. And his picture was set to appear on a billboard on Hollywood Boulevard with adult film star Ron Jeremy--the site’s spokesman--and two women along with the slogan “Kool Keith Tested, Ron Jeremy Approved.”

It turns out that Keith, though having approved the venture after it was proposed by his manager, Jeffrey Larner, had never actually seen the site nor considered the potential negative fallout it could bring. Not only is Keith releasing his album, he also has produced and appears in a series of five television commercials for Sprite, which will start airing soon. Sprite is a product of Coca-Cola, a firm that protects its mainstream, family appeal tightly.

“Porn is part of his life, but his private life,” says Larner, noting the sexual content of much of Keith’s past work. “It was my idea to do this and I convinced him it might be a cool thing. But when he was thinking about it, he said he’s trying to get away from that image.”

The turning point came, apparently, after Pop Eye, alerted about the site, called Columbia Records for comment. Company officials had been unaware of the site. After viewing it, sources at the label said they were “concerned about the content,” but that since the site had no direct connections to the company, it couldn’t have an official position about it. But when they raised the issue with Keith, he quickly decided to abandon the venture.

Larner says that he will be creating another site with Jeremy’s involvement, but that Keith will not have anything to do with it.

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NET GAIN: For all the hoopla about MP3’s public offering and Internet music, we’re still waiting for the first major signing of an act resulting from cyberspace exposure. South Pasadena band Red Delicious, however, is angling for that honor and has become a darling of the Internet music community.

One break came last month when the group won an MP3 contest for the best version of a Tom Petty song, earning a slot playing a second stage before Petty’s own show Aug. 13 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

But Red Delicious--singer Sara Wallace and the production team of Steve Baca and Rob King, sporting a sound somewhere between Garbage and Portishead--had already staked out territory in the brave new (if unproven) world. Four of its songs have been lodged in the top 10 downloaded entries on MP3.com’s alternative music page for the past four months, with a total of 130,000 downloads by fans--a figure that music executives say is impressive.

MP3 even put the band’s picture on the cover of its stock offering prospectus, and CBS-TV network news featured the group in a report about downloaded music.

But is it enough to get them signed to a major label?

“The next step will be seeing them live,” says David Andreone, creative director of Warner Chappell Music publishing. He contacted the band after hearing of their MP3 inroads, as have several major-label A&R; executives. “But it’s pretty amazing what they’ve done so far. But I wouldn’t sign anyone based just on Internet sales, just like I wouldn’t sign a band just on regional sales.”

Red Delicious’ King says that’s next, with shows booked for Aug. 30 at LunaPark and Sept. 19 at Mama Gaya, in addition to the Petty date. He’s a bit frustrated that the Internet results alone can’t secure a recording deal but understands that all this remains new territory for the music business.

“This is definitely in its infancy,” he says. “But as far as getting some promotion, it couldn’t have come at a better time for us--we got into this thing just as it was getting a lot of attention.”

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CLUB LIFE: With new Hollywood venues expected to open next year from the Knitting Factory and in the motion picture academy’s new complex under the direction of Quincy Jones, the competition is already stepping up. Another club called Vynyl, a 500-capacity room located just south of Hollywood Boulevard on Schrader Street, is set to launch in September to take on the Roxy, Whisky, Troubadour, House of Blues, the Palace and the Key Club in the increasingly populated market.

The club marks the return to the concert booking circuit of Philip Blaine, who came out of the rave scene to become one of L.A.’s leading bookers (he handled concerts at the distinctive Hollywood American Legion Hall for several years) before shifting gears to start the 1500 Records label at A&M.; Blaine left the label last year and was engaged earlier this year to run Vynyl. Blaine hopes to establish a sense of consistency and personality at the club, as he did with the Legion Hall, which focused on electronica and related acts.

“I want to truly have a sense of programming and not just random concerts,” he says. “I would rather be closed some nights than just pick up a show for the sake of being open. When I did the Legion Hall, it had a vibe.”

Plans call for the club to be christened with a few private parties in late August before opening to the public in September.