Facial Hair

ABOUT THREE MONTHS ago, a clean-cut Erich von Marko looked in the mirror and saw serious growth potential. The 32-year-old musician normally grew a beard in the winter but had gone barefaced for about 18 months. He needed a new look -- one that would amplify his rock-star status and give his face a little kitsch value. On a whim, von Marko grew a caterpillarlike mustache. "I figured I'd get the old cop look just for the summer," he said. "Or maybe the Freddie Mercury." It was a mark of rugged manliness for legions of men in the 1970s and '80s.

A man who was shot in the parking lot of an Odenton lounge died early yesterday morning, Anne Arundel County police officials said. Shortly before 3 a.m., the 47- year-old man was sitting in his Ford Expedition outside My Place Bar and Lounge in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road with a 45-year- old passenger when a gunman approached them and announced a robbery, police said. After the man handed belongings to the gunman, the two scuffled. The gunman then shot the 47-year-old man and fled, police said.

Howie Mandel knows the power of womanly persuasion. When producers of the TV game show Deal or No Deal offered to make him the host, he turned them down twice. "I didn't get it," Mandel said. Then his wife said, "You idiot, take this job," he recalls. He did. The show, where contestants pick briefcases containing sums of money from 1 cent to $1 million, attracted more than 18 million viewers an evening in its first season - a jackpot for NBC. Somehow, "I told you so," just doesn't quite say it. "She was right," Mandel said.

Temperatures were in the 40s and dropping late Wednesday afternoon as the Atholton marching band rehearsed on the high school parking lot. "Right side out," said Lee Stevens, the director, his voice amplified through a portable public address system as more than 70 students followed his directions, stepping carefully as they played drums, tubas, saxophones and other instruments. "Forward march. Left side out. Forward march." Again and again, band members stepped through their 9 1/2 -minute routine on the empty parking lot, as Stevens, the school's music director, analyzed every note from the musicians and flag twirl of the color guard.

MAYBE WE should all be relieved that the biggest issue facing the Ravens as they prepare to open training camp is whether coach Brian Billick should shave off his new beard. I'm of the opinion that any NFL story that doesn't involve a federal prosecutor is probably a good one, but when I first saw a picture of Billick with his new facial hair, I had to wonder if he was going through one of those midlife crises that invariably end in a journey of self-discovery to the Himalayas. In fact, I have this picture in my head of Billick sitting on a small rattan loveseat with the Dalai Lama and the Lama asking him one of the questions of the ages: "Do you think Ray Lewis has lost a step?"

Just when you thought baseball players were as staid and personality-challenged as pro golfers, the Boston Red Sox and their idiots won the 2004 World Series. They added much-needed color to baseball's bland landscape last season. But not all of the sport's characters wear "B's" on their hats. There are some without rings, some away from the burning spotlight, who can still fill up a notebook. One of baseball's most outspoken players passed through Camden Yards last week, with a hot bat and a sizzling mouth.

Almost every campaign has one, a subterranean, policy-free question irritating to the candidate but fascinating to the voter. It's never something one can comfortably ask the politician; rather, it percolates in private conversations, makes the rounds of Internet chat rooms and sometimes snakes its way onto talk radio. So here's what a lot of people are whispering about Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.: That dark, straight, immobile head of hair - is it real? To his credit, Ehrlich, the 2nd District congressman running for governor, laughed and laughed when finally asked this question recently.

Giving up freedoms hands the terrorists the victory they seek I agree with the main premise of Dan Rodricks' column "`Crash Cafe' has no place in our strange new world" (Sept. 21): Building such a restaurant at this time would be in poor taste, perhaps even cruel. However, I must strongly disagree with several of the ways Mr. Rodricks intends to cope with our new world. If he'd like to meekly wear sweatpants, shorn of facial hair as well as dignity, that's his choice. I, on the other hand, will be proudly sporting my Levi's Button Fly while listening to Metallica on my laptop.

Baltimore police asked for the public's help yesterday in finding two East Baltimore men wanted for questioning in a mass shooting Memorial Day that left one person dead and 11 wounded. Police said yesterday that they think Charles Byers, 23, and Darryle Robertson, 20, have changed their appearances and are hiding together with the help of friends and associates. "We know that individuals are aiding them," said Maj. George Klein, who heads the department's warrant apprehension task force.

Howard County police are investigating a rape that occurred about 5:30 a.m. Monday in the 8500 block of Falls Run Road in Ellicott City. The woman had completed a jog and was walking back to her apartment when she was grabbed from behind and threatened with physical violence. The assailant took her behind a nearby building and raped her. The man fled on foot, and the woman called police from her home. Police described the assailant as a light-skinned African-American male in his late 20s, 5-feet-6 to 5-feet-7, about 150 pounds, with a shaved head and no facial hair.