Big Apple Bites

The best thing about the fabled New Music Seminar, now in its ninth year in New York, is that you can see tons of fabulous bands--all in one week--simply by staying up all night on the club circuit and sleeping through the daytime panels. Our correspondent, Col. Howard Bogie, insists this year’s pop circus has been the best ever. Highlights have included: The Was Not Was show at the Palladium, which featured a Motown-style soul revue doing “Out Come the Freaks” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” (plus an impromptu version of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” with one of the lads from Tears For Fears). . . . A killer double-bill of Iggy Pop and Soul Asylum at the Ritz. . . . The DJ-MC’s Battle for World Supremacy, also at the Ritz. The rap DJ competition preceded a 3:30 a.m. set by Public Enemy. It concluded with a titanic rap duel between cocky challenger Mikey D. and fearsome champ Melle Mel, who made a dramatic entrance, dressed in black and waving a huge championship belt. Though Mikey D. was clearly the crowd fave, the judges awarded the title to Melle Mel, prompting a loud chorus of boos from the audience. . . . Another long night offered a sweat-drenched double bill, at the Cat Club, of Pere Ubu and the Dream Syndicate. . . . And the Cat Club also hosted lots of local band performances, most notably by rockers Diving For Pearls, whose show was enlivened with a guest appearance by Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and the Cars’ Elliot Easton on a raucous version of “For Your Love.”