SUMMER IS HERE , and with it, for me, come thoughts of twittering pop songbirds. As in: why the hell isn't Tweet's "Turn da Lights Off," featuring one of Missy Elliott's best-ever productions – a fact she won't shut up about on the song itself – blazing up the charts? Or: "We Belong Together" is Mariah Carey's sweet 16th number one, but is it also her greatest, most tolerable single to date? And, shooting into slightly more arcane realms, in the one-name-only pop dolly subcategory: should I prefer the flawless "Heartbeat" by Nordic ice princess Annie (touted by indie snobs everywhere as an example of tasteful, non-tacky pop) or "Going Crazy" and "Energy" by Natalie, a J.Lo with ditty-scribbling skills and without the "I'm not a rich bitch, I swear!" trimmings?

Oh, and also: with Fantasia Barrino proving she can tear it up Lil' Mo-style on "Free Yourself," should I just cave in and buy her album of the same name, since the Cash Money crew have Mo missing in action? Maybe the answers will come to me when I see Faith Evans and Keyshia Cole in concert this week.

Faced with these crucial questions, Eman Laerton would probably have an all-caps, all-encompassing response: You Have Bad Taste in Music. That's the title of Laerton's video and Internet project, built around a series of clips of him outfitted in a military helmet and using a bullhorn to berate mass audiences outside concerts by Ruben Studdard, Hoobastank, Evanascence, and others. "You should only be here as a chaperone if you're over 21," Laerton (not his real name) informs some blond ladies at a Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera show, going on to inform the mostly passive crowd that "the afterparty's at Chuck E. Cheese."

Do they have bad taste in music? I have to suggest that Timbaland's work for Timberlake, not even his most innovative, is still more musical than 99 percent of the obscure indie rock to come down the pike. And I'd argue that Carey's meta-flowing lyrics in the Bobby Womack-namechecking second verse of "We Belong Together" showcase better songcraft than you're likely to find at Bottom of the Hill. Since I don't know Laerton's taste in music, I don't know whether I'd consider it bad. But I do like his theater-of-the-absurd, rabble-rousing impulses, especially when they're applied to the parking lots that launched Jeff Krulik's career.

And let's face it, Laerton is up against the kind of apathy that has us stuck with an asshole president. In one non-concert clip at Youhavebadtasteinmusic.com, he attempts to draft passers-by into portraying stars in a street performance. Unfortunately, even exhortations such as "That's, like, a lead role, bro" (referring to the part of Ted Nugent) are only marginally successful at creating interest. Drones and zombies saunter by on their way to yet another date with the idiot box that Laerton decries as an antiquated evil on his Web site, which sings the praises of "entertainment without rules."

The You Have Bad Taste in Music site shines an unwanted spotlight on a new executive each month. This month's offender, Lance Freed of Universal/Rondor Music, is guilty of selling a Jane's Addiction song to Coors (though somehow I doubt a post-palooza Perry Farrell is complaining about the sudden suds-inspired riches). Brace yourself for Phase Two of Laerton's project, which won't involve music – about the only detail he's revealed thus far. He's soliciting donations with hopes of raising $3,500 for the proper execution of his master plan. But he promises that, money or not, it will happen, and "it will be from the heart, supported by the Internet." (Johnny Ray Huston)

You Have Bad Taste in Music plays with Tripping with Caveh Sun/12, 5 p.m., Artists' Television Access, 992 Valencia, S.F. $6. (415) 824-3890.