"You never know unless you ask," they say. Want proof? Talk to

singer and songwriter Mark Goodman. The unknown musician asked Maureen "Moe"

Tucker, former member of the Velvet Underground, to beat the skins on his new

album--in spite of the fact that Tucker had not played drums in the studio

(even on her own records) for two decades. But lo and behold, she said

yes when Goodman popped the question. Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 6), under the band

name Magnet, the pair are releasing a record of jangly rock and roll called

Don't Be A Penguin (PC Music), and they've hit the road on a series of

mini tours. And all Goodman had to do was ask.

Well, it actually took a

little more than that--but not much, to hear Tucker tell it. Just a few

postcards really, a letter now and then.

The fiftysomething drummer told

ATN that Goodman "had written to me a few years ago. He sent me a tape with a

band he had. We just wrote postcards and Christmas cards and stuff. He'd send

me a tape now and then over the years.

"And then about a year ago I guess,

he posed the question as to if I would be interested in playing the drums on

his next effort. So we got together from there. I hadn't met him until I went

to New York to record, but we'd been postal friends, and [we] did this

record.

Goodman explained that, when he first contacted Tucker...

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