ALISHA: BABY SHOW

According to her agent, one of pop singer Alisha’s least favorite words is “Madonna,” a singer to whom the 17-year-old Brooklynite has frequently been compared. Wonder how she feels about some of the words that were floating around the Palace following her Thursday performance: “pathetic,” “joke” and “rip-off.”

What else would you expect to hear from people who had shelled out ten bucks for a 20-minute show that consisted of just four songs sung over pre-recorded backing tracks? The sparse crowd stared in disbelief as Alisha ran through a series of leftover Travolta disco poses and vainly tried to inspire dancing, clapping and even singing along. And just when the singer’s current hit, “Baby Talk,” had gotten some people to loosen up, the show was over.

You can’t really blame the singer (full name: Alisha Ann Itkin) for this sad display. It probably has more to do with the machinery behind her--the same system that encourages a 17-year-old girl to sing about wanting passion “down on my knees.” She seems a talented enough singer to justify the dance-chart and radio success she’s already had, though it was hard to tell through the layers of slick production. Anyway, at that age, Madonna hadn’t even posed nude yet