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Sat. June 12 We recently remet Janet Billig Rich, a woman we first were introduced to when she did PR for the cool Caroline label. She went on to A&R and management with Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr, Nirvana and the Breeders. But her most recent incarnation as a Broadway producer, doing the '80s hair metal tribute show, "Rock of Ages." We saw Billig Rich backstage at the Broadway Across A merica party to introduce their upcoming season, which indeed includes "Rock of Ages." And we had a spirited discussion about how she transitioned from alt-rock to '80s hair metal - the scourge of most self-respecting punks, new wavers and alt-rockers. She assured me "Rock of Ages" was not a blatant tribute to those woebegone days of stupid sex, stupid drugs and power-ballad driven rock, but something more tongue-in-cheek, more knowing. She threw down a virtual dare to come see the show and see if it wasn't. Which we will when it plays the Colonial Oct. 6 -17. There is a storyline cobbled together out of life on the Sunset Strip - we spent some time there in the '80s doing a story for the Globe on that scene, too - and it uses music of Twisted Sister, Journey, Poison, Pat Benatar and others to move the story along a al ABBA in "Mamma Mia!" OK, we'll see. For the time being, on a much smaller scale, but with perhaps some of the same attitude is the ongoing Monsters of Mock Series Dan Millen of Rock On Productions puts into clubs, including Poison'ed and Red, White and Crue at the Hard Rock Cafe's Cavern Club Saturday June 12. This is the 12th such show, hence the title "Monsters of Mock XII - The Return of the Hairball."
Poison, of course, is the band you hated that the now-beloved and recovering Bret Michaels fronted and RW and C is, of course, Motley Crue, the drug-addled-but-recovered-and-touring band that plays all the hits from their drug-addled days, but straight. I'm still not sure how to read this and wasn't when I saw 'em last summer at Comcast Center. OK, everything's about livin' the rock cliche dream/nightmare, but Nikki, Vince, Tommy and Nick don't do that stuff no more. They just sing about it. Singing about it here are these two groups, which we have to assume will strike a slightly ironic pose while "celebrating" the amorality and vacuousness of the '80s, representing the counter-balance to music from the likes of the Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, the Smiths, Talking Heads, XTC, REM, Sonic Youth and others. So, the question is: Can you have taste and a semblance of rock smarts and enjoy the likes of Poison'd and RW and C? And of course there's the other end of it: Does it matter? Can you not have taste and just dive into these tributes acts, pretend they're the real deal, and live off the echoes of bad while drinking lotsa beer. That is the challenge. Tickets: $12. Starts at 9. 22-24 Clinton St., 617-424-7635 www.hardrock.com/boston |
