AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: We’ve heard...

AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: We’ve heard of impostors going to great lengths to pose as fabulously wealthy rock stars--but this is ridiculous. Several Texas con artists, who had grown foot-long beards, were recently nabbed by Houston police after they allegedly posed as Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard from ZZ Top. They were arrested after a limousine service was stiffed for a $1,400 ride through an oil field, where two men boasted they had bought several wells with royalty payments from their hit songs. Meanwhile, several other ZZ Top ringers were caught after they allegedly cadged free drinks at Houston-area topless bars, which prompted Gibbons to complain: “I’m sure it fits the rock ‘n’ roll image, but I’m not wild about going into strip joints.� . . .

Is radio unpredictable or what? Just ask Deirdre O’Donoghue, whose popular KCRW-FM “SNAP� music show was canceled last fall when O’Donoghue was fired by station manager Ruth Hirschman. The veteran deejay, who had hosted a Sunday morning Beatles show on KMET-FM, was also fired from that station earlier this month when the station switched to its new diet-pop format.

However, all’s well that ends well. O’Donoghue’s Beatles show has been picked up by KNX-FM, which is airing it in its old 10 a.m.-to-noon Sunday slot. And now O’Donoghue’s “SNAP� show is scheduled to return to the airwaves March 2 at--surprise--KCRW, which has quietly returned the deejay to her old 10 p.m.-to-midnight time-slot (Monday through Friday, except Thursday). Asked what prompted the reconciliation, KCRW general manager Ruth Hirschman would only say: “It was a personnel problem and we were able to solve it.�