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Don Hill's is an outrageous joint: Sure you get the burn-outs (like
myself), but young, fine women actually go there to ROCK. And though I've
seen Spacehog, Cherie Currie and the infamous Dickies here, this was my first
Rock Candy night. Britny Fox topped the bill and DJ Steve Blush spun Enuff Z'
Nuff, Bullet Boys, Faster Pussycat, and Fastway as a warm-up that wasn't a
let-down. He even dealt out prime Cheap Trick and Kiss (more later), again
proving the tubular production of the 70s beats the 80s big bang. Throw live
footage of Aerosmith and the animated sex of the Heavy Metal movie on the
screens and already the night is unforgettable. Anyway, due to membership
upheavals and the genocide of hair metal, you're messing with a leaner,
meaner son of a Britny Fox. After a strong opening with "Long Way to Love,"
Fox held the crowd with Nazareth's swilling "Hair of the Dog." Diminutive
johnny-come-lately front man Tom Paris was funny and cool: "Wešre gonna do
some Dan Fogelberg." Then he did an a cappella version of Supertramp's
glittering "Give a Little Bit" wrapped around the Fox chestnut "Dream On."
Most of the songs came from the lovely titled "Bite Down Hard", but the small
crowd rallied around earlier tracks. Billy Childs is an amiable bassist who
looks like C.C.'s mellow older brother (If you donšt know who C.C. is, why
are you reading?). Drummer Johnny Dee got a solo (are these really
necessary?). German guitarist and Fox founder Michael Kelly Smith (formerly
of the "Glen Miller Band") threw out some fire from the cityscape painted on
his BC Rich, but by his prolonged solo, no one really cared (Course Fox
didn't take the stage till 1 a.m., nothing cool about that.). Tommy won the
crowd back with falafel questions and a bit of "Train Kept a Rollin'" before
Slade's smoker "Gudbuy T' Jane" and then Fox's raison d'etre "Girlschool." At
this point, I was distracted by some obnoxious long-haired troublemaker
trying to corral the few hotties onto the stage. The show wrapped with Alex
Harvey's "Midnight Moses" and "Shout It Out Loud" featuring Johnny singing
the Gene parts (70s win again). Not a bad Wednesday rummage through the
smoldering ashes of the brilliant music that led up to the heady daze of
tight trous and high hair. -STONE, Cheap Trash NYC
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