Her older brothers and sisters can speak of a time in the Twin Cities when another magical media icon Mary (Richards) could turn the world on with her smile. This Mary, heard weekday afternoons on the Current (89.3 FM), may not have earned a statue on Nicollet Mall (yet), but who needs false idols or reruns when you've got the real deal right here, right now? Each weekday, as we while away our boring lives in cubes, Laundromats, home offices, fishing holes, factories, or cars, we crush out on her laugh, her smarts, her self-deprecation, and, yes, her love of music. She looks like Gophers hoopster Kelly Roysland, rocks like Diamond Dogs-era Bowie, and cracks herself up like Ellen DeGeneres's biker-chick cousin. We'd rather listen to her cough or cue up than to any monologue from any of the myriad opinion-mongers or "music lovers" out there.