Story continued from "Friends" page We caravanned down to Asbury Park in the dark (Daylight Savings Time having ended the night before) and found that rock temple, The Stone Pony, not particularly full. (I got a shot of the marquee out front advertising THE RUNAWAYS). I didn't think there'd be a full house, it being a cold October night at the shore, and the Yankees were on TV. I was happy to be part of a hardcore there for some rock and roll, and we were not disappointed. The group playing when we got there sounded familiar. They were The Discontent, and I recalled seeing them open for Joan Jett. I also had seen Mars Needs Women and Bad Biscut, whose members comprised the house band that night. I'd never had the pleasure of seeing the Bay City Rollers (though a version of them turned up at a rock festival I went to in Denmark; I preferred to see BTO). The guys backing Ian Mitchell (and later Sandy & Cherie) were real rockers, and cute to boot. They were Shawn Mars on guitar; Electric Ballroom's Keith Roth on bass/backing vocals, with Mike Jaffe also on guitar with Clint Gascoyne from Frankenstein 3000, pounding the skins when Sandy West wasn't. Ian's set list went as follows:   Money Honey I Only Want to Be With You Yesterday's Hero Rock and Roll Love Letter Put the Light On Saturday Night And it felt so good they had to throw in an encore: T. Rex's 20th Century Boy. (Somewhere, Marc Bolan was hoisting a pint). While it was late Sunday night and we had a long drive home, the music was still enough to set us bouncing and singing along, and take me back, WAY back, to my teen years (though I never did have a pair of jeans with plaid trim, which, if you've read one of the unofficial biographies of Courtney Love, you know Courtney DID...but that was before her Runaways phase.) We were now in our own Runaways phase (Wasn't that a nice segue?) as the crowd built to its largest point of the evening, and people crowded close to the stage for Cherie and Sandy. Because I astutely snagged a set list, I can tell you that it went: Queens of Noise California Paradise C'Mon Wild Thing (Sandy on vocals) Sandy's Song (However You Want It, which wasn't named on the setlist; with Sandy on vocals and guitar)  Love Hurts (in which Cherie was joined by Kenny Laguna) Rock and Roll American Nights And, of course... Cherry Bomb (following which, on the set list is written: NOW DRINK BEER!!!) ...which I would happily have done if I hadn't been driving home. Kenny looked like he did not expect to be called to the stage, but he joined in with gusto. Cherie rested her head against his chest, and he actually blushed (he later said "well, it was a blushable moment"). Cherie also appreciated the blond good looks of the lead guitar player (whom I'm told briefly fronted Skid Row), saying that he reminded her of Bowie, and he obliged by playing a few bars of Ziggy Stardust. (At which point Cherie kneeled at his feet). A great thing about Sandy as a drummer is she hits harder than almost anyone I've seen, and puts her all into it; I got one of her broken sticks and it looked like it had been mauled by a dog. The other drummer commented that "she broke all the sticks!" when he went back to the kit. We made it home by, oh, 2 am, which meant of course that we sleepwalked through the next day. But it is my firm belief that sometimes you just have to do that and enjoy the exhaustion as a reminder of the fun you went out of your way to have. kw STONE PONY SHOW - REVIEW - FROM NJ COAST NEWS http://www.njcoast.com/news2001/ nov_01_17.html#shoreworld SATURDAY NIGHT I THREW MY CHERRY BOMB... And it landed right in the middle of what I could only call "Pop Anthem Night" at the fabled Stone Pony, where we caught a deftly packaged, era-spanning show from prime members of 70's Supergroups The Bay City Rollers and The Runaways.. The Sunday night show had an unusual aspect to it, one that was more commonplace in 'the old days', namely both Headliners shared the same local backing band, except for the drummer. Singing as if he'd just stepped off a Rollers' tour in 79, first act was Ian Mitchell and back-up band {featuring Sean Mars on guitar, backing vocals, Mike Jaffe, guitar Keith Roth, bass/backing vocals, Mike Jaffe, guitars and Clint Gascoyne (from Frankenstein 3000} on drums... First songÝ "Money Honey" rolled out in passionate angry form at this Sunday night concert, as Mitchell & the band ripped into the 70's hit with a hard rock spin, putting a jaunty vibe on this breakfast-in-bed classic as the band delivered a tight hard rock edge behind Ian's still-in-good form vocals.. Veering into the Dusty Springfield hit chestnut "I only wanna be with you", Roth and Mars bopped in form like born rockstars as Mitchell belted out the Dusty hit with its pop - orchestral arrangement intact. Images of the Rollers's legendary mob scene hysteria still vivid, the band lashed into 'Yesterday's Hero', a Pop anthem if ever there was - earmarked w/the Bay City signature sound; Like Slade and Sweet before them, these guys might've been scorned in certain musical circles, and tho the Rollers ruled the magazine covers as reigning teenybop pop princes, they could deliver Pop-Rock anthems with lasting visceral crunch that came easilyÝ across w/songs like "Hero.." Ian bantered with the audience a bit, and G man had the smoke machine crankin' full blast as the band rolled out the classic 'Rock n roll love letter', seguing next into 'She PutÝ the Light On' from Mitchell's 1st solo LP, about, hey what else, but 'she put the light ONN!".  The rousing Monster Rollers Hit "Saturday Night" got the crowd waving fists in air, singing along to the 'Aiyiyiyi" chorus. They whipped outÝ T Rex's old "Telegram Sam"(Sean Mars' signature song, BTW} for an edgey set-closing rave-up, as Mitchell and Mars shared mikes and traded lyrics while the band torqued on.. A few minutes later, the same back-up band plus Sandy West, legendary Runaways drummer came back out with former Runaways Frontchick Cherie Currie: The small crowd whistled and clapped as Currie dedicated the show 'To My family, all of you here tonight' as she and the boys roared into a nicely hard-ass opening blast of "Queens of Noise", followed by the more ominously riffed 'California Paradise" w/her impassioned pipes warming up our rock hearts in simmering stride... Then a little mid-set goofiness, courtesy of Sean Mars' Ziggy Stardust moment, and as Weird n' Gilly moved on, Sandy's drums imploded a big tribal buildup to "Come On" while the former "Foxes" co-star's vocals stung you as clear as a bumble bell, as she exhorted the crowd and the pop-goddess animus inside herself to Come ONN..  From there, Sandy took her turn at the mike for a slashing, wrenching version of "Wild Thing". Another highlight came in the surprise appearance of legendary Joan Jett producer Kenny Laguna, offering his own earnest pipes backing Cherie on the pop-metal tearjerker"Love Hurts"...With the passion at critical mass, the boys launched into a gutty bang-up of Lou Reed's "Rock n' Roll", as Cherie swung and fed the mike into the crowd to sing along with a renewed frenzy, as she'd done on previous tunes.  Like her ex-bandmate Joan Jett, Currie never fails to put on the quintessential balls-out show, but I couldn't' help feeling this night had a"New Oldies' vibe about it, but all thought and analysis was blasted and erased by Cherie's set closing trademark "Cherry Bomb" ...God-Damn she's STILL a Wild Girl, as her able Shore - based backing gang gave new urgency to "THE Anthem" of a billion lost little girls and boys, while Currie spat out and caressed the Ch-ch-cherrry" lyrics like, yes, she was singing it for the first time. With her centerfold looks glistening through the smoke under the lights, the still-legendary Currie {and Mitchell} showed they'll never sit for just being tagged former superstars.. Watch for the Any-Day release of a new live album 'Cherrybomb 2001' featuring a classic duet between Currie and Joan Jett on the 2001 remake of "Cherry Bomb", along with a host of the girls' hits in concert.