A fine how do ya do from Chicago's blue

Surely, we weren't the only ones who picked up on the irony of ICE CUBE's introduction to the Chicago Police Department last week. The CPD apologized to the rapper-turned-actor, who is in town filming "Barbershop 2," after issuing a community alert saying a suspected Wicker Park rapist resembled him (Channel 2 apologized, too, for the bonehead move of airing video of the rapper with its report about the attacks).

Of course Ice Cube (right) made a name for himself in the hip-hop world for his stinging lyrics about the police. "Police are a lot friendlier to me now," he once told CNN after he turned to acting. "But just think if I was the average, everyday brother driving down the street. How would they be to me?"

Now he has a good idea, though he already appears to have put the Chicago incident behind him. "Obviously, we were surprised," his spokesman MATT LABOV told Armour & Co. "But we got what we needed and wanted, in terms of the apology. We're looking to just move on."

In other words, no songs about the Chicago Police Department. At least, not yet.

All about the Benjamin

How does an international pop artist who already is known abroad make a name for himself in the United States? He comes up with a gimmick. That's what Indian pop star REGGIE BENJAMIN, who combines soul, traditional Indian vocals and elements of Chicago house music, has done by using "Joe Millionaire" runner-up SARAH KOZER on his single, "Crazy Freaky" off his forthcoming debut album "2x-Centrix."

Wrestling hottie JOANIE "CHYNA" LAURER also appears on the album playing the drums (who knew?).

Benjamin, whose singles have been burning up the dance charts in several countries, including India, Italy, Spain and Russia, freely admits he's using Kozer and Laurer to get some attention in America (he's regarded as one of India's sexiest men). "From a business point of view, that was the plan," Benjamin, who lives in Chicago, told Armour & Co.

It's the first time Kozer, who lost out to ZORA ANDRICH for EVAN MARRIOTT's hand on "Joe Millionaire," has attempted to sing professionally. "Because of the way I got fame or infamy, I'm really anxious to do something else with it," she recently told us during a break from recording at Studio Chicago on the North Side. "I don't want to be hanging out at the grocery store trying to sell `Joe Millionaire' autographs 10 years from now."

Her 15 minutes of fame continues . . .

A horse is a horse

It's been a hectic summer for filmmaker SPIKE LEE, who popped into the Windy City this weekend for "The Movie Music of Spike Lee and TERENCE BLANCHARD" at the Chicago Symphony Center. He just wrapped shooting the two-hour pilot for "Sucker-Free City," a gritty drama for Showtime focusing on life in three San Francisco neighborhoods.

Showtime is owned by Viacom, which earlier this month settled a lawsuit from the 46-year-old director contending that it was changing the name of its TNN channel to Spike TV to associate itself with Lee's image. All Lee would tell us is that the suit wasn't about his name. "People were making it out that I was trying to monopolize the word `Spike,'" he told Armour & Co. "That wasn't it at all. It was `Spike' and `TV' together."

Lee says he's now trying, to no avail, to get financial backing for two proposed big-screen projects -- one chronicling the life of JACKIE ROBINSON and the other studying the second JOE LOUIS-MAX SCHMELING heavyweight fight in 1938. "It's very hard for me to digest that Hollywood would rather make a movie about a . . . horse ["Seabiscuit"] before Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis," Lee (right) said. "Those were two of the most important Americans that had a great effect on the landscape of this whole country and Hollywood would rather do a movie about a horse."

SOUNDBITE

'Honestly, I think it's a bit much. There's a time and place for everything. I don't need to see it when I'm walking down the street with my little niece.'

-- That's former underage porn star TRACI LORDS talking to Armour & Co. about the adult entertainment industry becoming more mainstream. Lords was in Chicago signing copies of her new book, "Underneath it All," which recently debuted on the New York Times best-seller list.

HERE'S WHAT YOU TOLD US

More than 'Just Jack'

Faster than NBC could announce it will snatch up repeats of Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," readers weighed in about the show. A step forward or stereotypical TV fare?

"The show is lots of fun," wrote MICHAEL WORLEY, "however the message is that we gays are non-threatening, fun-loving, aesthetic and tasteful but inconsequential, essentially here on this planet to serve the decorative needs of straight men, who are executives, business leaders and pillars of society."

A.J. ALLEGRA of Rolling Meadows had a suggestion: "We now have two images of gays on television -- Jack [below], the flamboyant, over-the-top gay on `Will & Grace,' and now these five gay fashion police," he said. "Why don't we showcase a character on a show that is gay, but not obviously so?" CHRIS HORSMAN thinks the show is a step in the right direction, but it's still bad TV: "The show does show a cross-section of what the gay male community is made up of. Just don't expect me to schedule around it so I can see it. Only if all my dresser drawers are organized perfectly would I take the time to watch the show again!"

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Media saturation?

ESPN, CNN, "Good Morning America," "Celebrity Justice," the tabloids. You can't turn your head without being inundated with news about Los Angeles Lakers star KOBE BRYANT and his recent problems. What do you think of the media coverage? Is it overblown? E-mail TArmour@tribune.com.