Instead of Thanks, an Icy Silence

It’s been more than three months since Redondo Beach police recovered about $1.5 million worth of songs and equipment stolen from the rap singer Ice Cube. But still no thank you note from ‘Cube. You remember him, the guy who wrote the song, “F--- the Police.”

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ELSEWHERE ON THE MUSIC BEAT: Not only did the songs in “The Prince of Egypt” fail to win a Grammy, the movie even got royally dissed on one marquee, points out Mary Quinn of Redondo Beach (see photo).

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MAYBE THE PRINTER WAS A TROJAN: There’s no penalty in football for too many letters in a player’s name, luckily for UCLA. William Purdy points out that an invitation to a university function fouled up the name of the team’s star quarterback (see accompanying). Cade may be well known but he’s McNown.

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BILLBOARD BLATHER: If there’s anything I dislike more than commuting, it’s seeing a freeway billboard that reminds me that I’m commuting. Some blurbs aimed at drivers:

* “From Smog to Fog Daily” (air service to London)

* “The 405 Should Be This Smooth” (whiskey)

* “More Effective Than Chicken Soup--Easier to Use in Your Car” (zinc pills)

* “The Fast Lane to Your Tax Refund” (accountant)

* “Fly WinAir Out of Long Beach Unless You Really Enjoy the 405” (airline)

* “You Look, You Drool, You Drive On” (avocado industry)

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L.A. VERSE: “When I drive through L.A. this verse comes to mind,” says poet laureate applicant Chuck Anna of Downey:

What a mess

Los Angeles

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Picture this moment. The date is Feb. 26, 1854. Now, let’s have the “L.A. History Calendar” pick up the action:

“Mail rider arrives. No mail for anyone in Los Angeles.”

Must have been tough for the guy doing the Only in L.A. column back then.

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LETTERS IMPERFECT: The 1992 photograph of the scrambled “Dgiital” sign on the computer giant Digital Equipment’s building in Culver City brought a note from former employee Peggy Inman.

“My husband was service manager at a sign company,” she said. “As soon as I saw the garbled sign at work that morning, I called him and was relieved to find out his company wasn’t responsible.”

And how does a snafu like that occur?

Inman said her husband theorized the workers who put up the sign made the mistake of “looking at just one letter at a time, not the whole word.”

You look, you drool, you drive on.

miscelLAny:

Is this another slam at the literacy level of actors? Susan Tellem of Malibu noticed that the UCLA Extension Catalog lists the class, “Getting the Role in a Television Commercial” this way: “*Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.” The explanation for the asterisk says: “Course held during daytime hours.”

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Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.