Those spacey rock stars:You may have noticed...

Those spacey rock stars:

You may have noticed that just after Mr. and Mrs. Michael Jackson were married in Australia, that country was gripped by another drama. A Russian spacecraft had misfired and there were predictions that it would crash in Australia.

This chain of events prompted rock historian Steve Propes of Long Beach to recall how a 1957 visit to Australia changed the life of one of Michael Jackson’s heroes, Little Richard.

In his autobiography, Little R. relates that he was performing at a concert when suddenly it appeared that a “big ball of fire came directly over the stadium about 200 to 300 feet above our heads.�

It was Sputnik, the first Russian satellite.

“It shook my mind,� Little R. said. “I got up from the piano and said, ‘This is it. I am through. I am leaving show business to go to God.’ �

And he swore off rock music forever (later commuting the sentence to seven years).

Now, back to 1996. The crippled Russian spacecraft missed Australia, plopping down in the South Pacific. But Propes, co-author of “What Was the First Rock ‘n’ Roll Record?� wonders if Jackson will go through some type of lifestyle change himself.

Hey, maybe he’ll become a father!

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT MARRIED MEN: Sure, Michael Jackson is no longer available, ladies. But there are lots of other single guys around, as this photo by L. Paul Cook of L.A. illustrates. Since they’re bachelors, we imagine a large damage deposit would be required, however.

FROM COOK TO BAKER: A reader imbued with the holiday spirit sent us a coupon from an Inglewood cake-maker that has a somewhat unappetizing notation.

THE ANIMALS DON’T DISCRIMINATE : “Handling wild seals and sea lions require skill and technique rather than brute strength,� writes Hugh Ryono of the Marine Mammal Care Center at Ft. MacArthur. “Thus, some of the best ‘seal jumpers’ [volunteers that restrain animals during treatment] at the care center are female.�

Ryono noticed that one of the spectators on several Sunday mornings was a boy who asked the handlers numerous questions. But one Sunday, the lad was very subdued. Finally, with tears in his eyes, he asked Ryono, “Do you have to be a girl to work with the seals?�

By coincidence, the boy had seen nothing but all-female crews and concluded it was a female profession. Ryono tried to assure him otherwise, “but I don’t think he believed me until I actually put on some rain slickers later and held an elephant seal pup as it was being treated.�

ONE-WAY STORM: Jay Berman of Manhattan Beach heard this on the radio Wednesday afternoon from a weather reporter: “There is rain falling in the northbound lanes of the 405.�

Commented Berman: “I was glad I was in a southbound lane.�

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This ironic moment, caught by Deborah Hastings of the Associated Press, occurred in a virtually empty L.A. courtroom. Trying to explain the American justice system to a Spanish-speaking defendant, the judge asked: “Have you ever seen a jury trial on television?� The judge, made world-famous by television a year ago, was Lance Ito.