WHAT KIND OF person spends much of her day in a dark, musty attic? A senior on a mission to save one of the largest collections of musical scores in the country. Montclair’s Jean Cunningham climbs the old, narrow staircase to the top of the historic Paramount Theatre several times a week — where she catalogs music that comes in from all over the world.

On the day I was there, a match was made. The drum and trumpet scores arrived for an out-of-print “pop” piece and Jean carefully added them to a folder with parts for the flute, saxophone and other instruments. “I believe that makes a complete set,” she said, like a puzzle-master fitting in the final, critical piece.

The Paramount Library of Popular Music has thousands of pages of musical scores — out of print and priceless. What it doesn’t have is enough money or staff to catalog and preserve them. But that may be changing.

Just days ago, Jean got a call from two members of the Stanford MBA Alumni Program, who agreed to help set up a master plan. It includes funding sources like grants and donations, as well as ways to bring in more volunteers for the massive job of cataloging and data base management.

For Jean, it could be a dream come true. In her days as a professional flutist for the Oakland Symphony, she played many of the songs that she’s now trying to save. There are scores from as far back as 1850, and they’re still in demand today. The library gets calls from conductors worldwide who want the perform these pieces. Jean is working to save a priceless treasure — and it makes her labor of love all the more melodic.

For more information, you can call the Paramount Theatre at 510-893-2300, extension ext. 810. Or you can e-mail Jean at jcunningham@paramounttheatre.com

E-MAIL BAG: Reader J. Orbis remembers the “good old days” of radio I’d written about in my column several weeks ago.

“There never has been, and never will be again, a morning radio show like the old Gene Nelson show, with you, Dave (Henderson), Hap (Harper) and the rest of the crowd,” he writes. “I listened to Gene faithfully from the time I discovered him as a high schooler until he retired from KSFO.”

Orbis says Gene was definitely his role model.

Thanks for the kind words, Mr Orbis. I’m saddened that the Federal Communications Commission has voted to further de-regulate the broadcast industry. When I was in Aberdeen, S.D., recently, I drove down a gravel road to a tiny trailer. Inside, was a handful of employees running not one, but five radio stations — all owned by broadcast giant Clear Channel. Five cookie-cutter stations running syndicated programming out of New York or Los Angeles or someplace where they’ve never even heard of Aberdeen.

Later, driving along rural highway 12 to Minneapolis, I searched the dial trying to find the hog futures, a farm report — any programming originating from South Dakota. All I could get was Rush Limbaugh. It was disgusting. And I like Rush Limbaugh.

MUST SEE: Imagine taking an 8,000-mile journey without ever leaving your arm-chair. It’s almost better than being there, when you see the giant screen film “Lewis & Clark — Great Journey West”. Narrated by Jeff Bridges, this National Geographic film puts you in the action, canoeing through perilous rapids, braving bitter snow storms and forging a trail from Saint Louis to the great Pacific Ocean. It’s a 45-minute history lesson disguised as a thrill ride — just months before the expedition’s 200th anniversary. For showtimes, call the Chabot Space & Science Center.

TRAVEL TALES: After sharing some of my travel tales, I’m hearing some great stories from readers. Scott Sanders still gets chills when he recalls his trip to West Africa. Driving through the countryside with his parents, he got out of the car for a rest stop. In the bat of an eye, he was surrounded by a pack of baboons — with the leader giving him threatening stares.

“It was a scene right out of the movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,'” he says, adding it was clear to him that we descended from these animals. How did he escape? He walked slowly toward the car, and drove off — no doubt counting his blessings for days.

Almost as freaky was the travel tale my husband brought home from New Orleans. He spent part of last Friday the 13th in the Voodoo district — where the Tarot card readers were working overtime. “It was creepy.” Chris Piganelli said. “New Orleans is a very haunted city and I could feel the spirits. Or maybe it was just one too many Hurricanes (the city’s popular rum-punch).”

EYES HAVE IT: What do you do if you don’t have insurance for eye exams? Reader Amy Moore says she goes to UC Berkeley, where the School of Optometry offers low-cost eye exams. It’s one of the best clinics in the country, you go through a myriad of tests for one low price — and they even have a shuttle service for patients who are temporarily “blinded” by dilated pupils.

EARTH HOMES: Deep in the woods of Canyon (on the backside of our hills down Pinehurst Road in Contra Costa County), a charming little Cob cottage is being built. The young man with the plan and the muscles to pull it off, is Jared Aldrich, an environmentalist who was born and raised in this bohemian enclave. What is a Cob cottage? It’s a home that you hand-sculpt with earth — an ancient technique developed in the British Isles that almost completely eliminates the use of timber. There are a few Cob Cottages in Berkeley and one in Alameda and soon — there will be a sweet little pat-a-cake cottage in Canyon.

IF YOU’RE NOT in the habit of looking over your shoulder — this story may change your mind. Oakland Police say a man was robbed in his driveway in the hills, the other night. He pulled up, got out of the car and was accosted by two armed men. This guy was lucky. He may have been mugged, but he wasn’t killed. Could he have prevented the attack if he’d been more aware of his surroundings? It’s hard to say — but police have this advice: If someone suspicious is following you, keep driving past your house, get on your cell phone and call Oakland Police Emergency at 777-3211. Don’t call 911 on your cell phone because 911 calls get routed to the Highway Patrol.

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E-MAIL BAG: Once again, I’m hearing complaints from readers about road rage in Montclair. Kay Cardenas writes that while her 15-year-old daughter was learning to drive on Thornhill Road one evening, a car came barreling up to her bumper and precariously passed her on a hill. The tailgater wasn’t some wild teenager, it was a man in his 50s driving a new Lexus. As if passing on a hill wasn’t bad enough, the guy made an obscene gesture as he raced past the nervous girl. “Was he late for a TV show or did he have too much to drink at dinner?” Kay wonders. Whatever the reason — if I were you, Kay, I’d get a big sign that says STUDENT DRIVER.

Returning soldier: Welcome back to Lt. Cpl. Billy Dorshkind, the young Montclair man who just returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom. Billy shipped out of Camp Pendleton last February and reached a milestone in the Iraqi desert. He turned 21. When he returned home to the hills the other day, he saw some of his childhood pals painting The Rock on Ascot for him. The greeting didn’t stay up long. Neighbors tell me that demand for rock space has become so great, the paint barely dries on a message before it’s replaced by something else. Perhaps Ticketmaster should take over with online reservations.

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JOYFUL NOISE: One of my favorite church songs is a piece called “Here I am, Lord”. Many of you have heard it and sung it yourselves. The brilliant man who wrote this, and dozens of other popular worship songs, is giving a concert in Piedmont next Sunday, June 22. San Francisco composer Dan Schutte is pairing up with local singer/songwriter Janet Sullivan Whitaker to perform at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in a benefit for FACE — (Family Aid to Catholic Education). The music these two make is so uplifting, you can almost levitate. The show starts at 7 pm and you can get more information by calling 510-763-0477.

Zoo news: The Oakland Zoo gets some ink in this month’s issue of Smithsonian Magazine. It’s a great article on the zoo’s groundbreaking efforts to save elephants from extinction. In Africa, the elephant population has plunged from 1.3 million in the 1970s to as few as 270,000 today. It’s even worse in India, where the Asian elephant population is under 48,000. What’s causing this alarming drop? Poaching for ivory and elephant meat, along with the destruction of natural habitat and stomping grounds. Zoo’s are trying to encourage more elephant births, but it’s a difficult process, as we’ve found out here. The last two African Elephants born at the Oakland Zoo both died, in part because their mother never learned the skills she needed to take care of a baby. You can learn more about elephants on the Web at http://www.oaklandzoo.org. Click on the icons and you can even hear elephant sounds.

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TALKING TO ANIMALS: Remember the old show “What’s my line”? Marta Williams would have stumped the whole panel with her occupation. She’s an animal communicator from Sonoma County. In a phone interview, she told me she often holds therapy sessions with people and their pets. If a dog is acting out, Marta has a little pow-wow with the pooch to find out why. Usually it’s loneliness — the dog isn’t getting enough attention. For cats, it could be a respect issue. But the strangest “therapy” session was with a den of rattlesnakes that insisted on slithering up the stairs of a family home. Marta explained to the snakes why their behavior was “freaking” the homeowners out — and they stopped. If you’d rather “talk it out” than move out — Marta will teach you how in her new book — “Learning their language”.

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HOLLYWOOD IN VALLEJO: Marine World isn’t just for thrill-seekers. Hollywood is making movies here. Not only was Sean Penn shooting a film last week, but the final scenes from the new Samuel Jackson movie “Blackout’ (coming out this fall) were shot there recently. In that one, the dolphin pool was made to look like San Francisco Bay. In fact, machines were creating such huge plumes of fog that the local fire department responded, thinking the place was ablaze. Oh — there was also an actors strike. The sea lions refused to work once they’d gotten their fill of fish.