Sat. Feb. 16 

Johnny Thunders, Arthur Kane and Jerry Nolan are dead, but David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain are alive and kicking. A couple of years ago, they added four new, young players and re-emerged as the New York Dolls. (This after Johansen spending many years as a solo artist, as lounge singer/raconteur Buster Poindexter and with the soulmen, the Harry Smiths.) Johansen once told me the Dolls was like "high school" for him and his post-Dolls work was adulthood. So, it's back to schooldays for David and the boys, I guess. The Dolls toured last time without a new disc, so they revisited the early '70s, making for a strange, but fun trip back. This time, they'll have the cleverly titled CD, "One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This," to draw upon, which makes them more of a "real" band. We saw them at Avalon and loved the set - while feeling those odd pangs of age and nostalgia. How can it be helped? The classic stuff pre-dates punk rock, for gosh sake. But that feeling is something all of us - yes, even you in your 20s - will have to accomodate for, as long as you love music. The Dolls are at the Paradise Saturday Feb. 16. Tickets: $25. We Are the Fury opens about 9. We just heard the show is sold out, which means find a friend who has an extra ducat, stand on the sidewalk and see what you can do, or check those ever-popular ticket agency brokers.

967 Commonwealth Ave., 6170562-8800 www.thedise.com