Maybe It’s How He Framed the Question

Leaving the Van Gogh exhibit, Jerry Clark of Glendale paused to ask one of the workers at the L.A. County Museum of Art what artist would be the subject of the next show.

“Uh, uh, Pico Rivera,” the worker said. Luckily another worker was nearby and interjected, “Diego Rivera.”

So Clark got the true picture.

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DINING GUIDE FOR THE ADVENTUROUS: On this week’s menu (see accompanying), Bill Hughes found “a great deal for that big eater in the family.” (I can’t help thinking I once saw a foreign movie titled, “Eight Delicious Chickens.”)

Sid Goodman spotted what could be “dinner for two people with multiple personality disorders.”

And after all that eating, I’m not sure you could bear the thought of building your own dessert, but my thanks to Bill Kinman for the thought (see photo).

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ROAD-SONG RAGE: When the all-traffic format of KKTR-AM (1650) was replaced by an all Nat King Cole music format, I commented that it was a tough transition because the singer had recorded so few traffic-related songs. Was I ever off track.

One of his biggest hits was “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” as Lou Davis, Don Howard and Daniel Beck pointed out. How could I forget that? It’s the only song I know that mentions Barstow (though it ignores Diego Rivera).

Jack Boehm offered Cole’s rendition of the lost driver’s ballad, “Somewhere Along the Way.”

Richard Leppig noted that Cole had two songs whose titles would puzzle many motorists: “Rules of the Road” and “Slow Down.”

And, of course, the clincher, from John Spilker, was (Cole’s) “Non Dimenticar.” Spilker said, “From my college Italian, I think it means, ‘Not to Dent the Car.’ ” He added: “I could be wrong.”

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OLD MONEY: Several readers have asked for the Internet site for the “unclaimed property” division of the secretary of state’s office, which lists abandoned bank accounts, uncollected paychecks, etc. It’s https://scoweb.sco.ca.gov/scoucp/inquiry/index.htm

After I had privately messaged it to Saul Yarmak, he wrote back, “Using the index tonight I was able to trace two claims for my deceased father-in-law’s estate and one for my wife’s aunt, who is 90 years old.”

Alas, Mick Jagger still hasn’t responded to the item here about the two paychecks owed him by Disney.

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OLD MONEY (II): For national sources on this subject, author Mark Tofal has another World Wide Web site: https://www.unclaimedassets.com

Tofal even lists a “Lost Soul of the Month,” a big name with a forgotten account. He notes that NBC’s “Dateline” show recently reported coming upon unclaimed property around the nation for actors Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Costner, among others. To which Tofal adds, he found an abandoned account in New York for . . . NBC News.

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TOXIC VERSE: We interrupt this column’s search for an L.A. poet laureate to bring you our favorite submission to the L.A. Downtown News’ limerick contest. The author is identified as Derrick V.

Plans for the Cathedral are over the hump

And to the Staples Center sports teams will jump

Our next landmark could be

A Concert Hall by Disney

Let’s hope it’s not a Belmont High dump

(Brings a tear to my burning eyes.)

miscelLAny:

A news release from the Pasadena-based Planetary Society says it “has added seven new faces to its advisory council, including . . . Robert Picardo, the holographic doctor on ‘Star Trek: Voyager.’ ”

Picardo’s real or holographic face?

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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.