...but he sure gets a lot of mileage out of people thinking he is. Go to www.abevigoda.com, and check out what pops up.

My compadres at the Culver City News killed off Abe Vigoda ("Barney Miller's" Sgt. Fish) while writing about Valerie Vigoda who fronts the band GrooveLily. V.V. appears in the new Deaf West musical "Sleeping Beauty Wakes."

Turns out, they were wrong on two counts. Valerie Vigoda is not related to still alive Abe as they -- and previously this blog -- said she was. I got an e-mail from V.V.'s father Bob who said she once wrote to him asking whether there could be any kinship. And he wrote back _ sending a signed photo _ giving a definitive negative.

Had lunch with Vigoda (Valerie, not Abe) and her husband Brendan Milburn a couple weeks back. They're a cool duo, and I enjoyed their tunes well before they upped for this new musical (it opens this weekend at the Kirk Douglas Theatre). Never thought to ask, "Hey, any relation to the late Abe Vigoda." Probably wouldn't have been the best ice breaker, although given V.V.'s sense of humor _ and, I suspect Abe's _ she might have had some good anecdotes.

GrooveLily had a sleeper (no pun intended) hit with its earlier concertized musical "Striking 12:" a contemporary adaptation of "The Little Matchgirl" that has a grumpy thirtysomething alone on New Year's Eve striking (pun intended) up a rapport with a lady who sells special lightbulbs designed to stave off seasonal affect disorder.

To date, the three members of GrooveLily _ Vigoda, Milburn and Gene Lewin _ have been a package deal with "Striking 12" -- they wrote it, they perform it. This year, though, the licensed version is going out allowing other companies to produce it. I hope someone does it in L.A.

In the meantime, you can catch two of the three GrooveLilys (with Shannon Ford subbing for drummer Lewin) at the Douglas, www.centertheatregroup.org.