POP MUSIC / THOMAS K. ARNOLD : San Diego Rockers’ Revue Spoofs Genre’s Excesses

They go by the name of Country Dick Montana with Mojo Nixon and the Pleasure Barons, starring Dave Alvin. And they’re not out to change the face of rock ‘n’ roll, just to give it a playful slap or two.

The three principals in this 14-member, San Diego-based revue, after all, have devoted their careers to stripping rock ‘n’ roll of its excesses: Montana, as drummer and occasional lead singer with local roots-rockers the Beat Farmers; Nixon, another hometown boy, with his manic talkin’ blues; and Alvin, as founder of Los Angeles rockabilly revivalists the Blasters and, later, the All-Nighters.

So now that all three have a little time off, they’ve decided to join forces and, with tongues firmly in cheek, celebrate those excesses on a three-week, 17-city concert tour of the United States and Canada.

The Pleasure Barons’ stage show, and costumes, promise to be as tacky, sleazy, and cheesy as anything you’ll see in a Las Vegas showroom. And their repertoire includes such melodramatic lounge-lizard standards as Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love,” Clarence Carter’s “Patches,” and a medley of songs made famous by the King of Camp himself, Tom Jones.

“This is Las Vegas, the next generation,” the gruff-voiced Montana said solemnly. “There’s plenty of room in all these songs for us to turn them into huge, gaudy production numbers. As soon as you hear them, you’re going to be a happy person, and you’re going to leave thinking you got a lot more than you bargained for.”

Aside from Montana and Nixon, other San Diego members of the Pleasure Barons include Beat Farmer Joey Harris, Comanche Moon’s Paul Kamanski, former DFX2 frontmen David and Douglas Farage, ex-King Biscuit Blues Band saxophonist Jon Viau, singer Caren Campbell, and Tom Cook, who doubles on trombone and pedal-steel guitar. Joining them will be a second saxophonist and the three-man rhythm section from Alvin’s All-Nighters.

The revue’s tour begins next Wednesday in Redondo Beach and includes two local stops: Feb. 16 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach and March 4 at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa. The last date is March 5, in San Juan Capistrano.

After that, it’s time to get serious again, with Montana and Nixon heading out on the road with their own bands and Alvin returning to the studio to record his next LP.

“This is really the only chance we get to do it all year, due to conflicting schedules,” Montana said. “We are, however, looking forward to doing a Phase 2, sometime next year, and actually taking this thing to Las Vegas, where it belongs.”

Dr. Ron Shane is a 30-year-old San Diegan with an academic background in classical literature and a musical future in heavy metal rock ‘n’ roll.

Shane has a doctorate in romantic poetry from the University of California at Santa Barbara and now teaches English at San Diego State University, Grossmont College and San Diego City College.

He’s also the lyricist, singer and choreographer for Mental Anarchy, a new local heavy metal band inspired as much by the deathless prose of Shelley, Byron and Rimbaud as by the deafening strains of Guns ‘n’ Roses, Motley Crue, and Def Leppard.

It’s a perfect match, Shane said.

“If Shelley and Byron were alive today, they would love to take their poetry and set it to heavy-metal music,” Shane said. “They were into undermining the lower-realm rationality that governs people and pulls people back, the enslaving mediocrity that most people are encumbered by.

“And, since heavy metal is the only thing we have left in our society that hasn’t been quelled, that doesn’t conform to the norm, they would laud me for finding them a forum that espouses the same sense of mental rebellion and recalcitrance which they expressed through their writings.”

The nucleus of Mental Anarchy is five members of veteran San Diego rock band Stallion and revolves around the vision of Shane. But, before the group makes its official debut sometime in April at the San Diego City College Theater, Shane hopes to expand his vision by recruiting more songwriters and musicians, as well as between 12 and 14 dancers.

The first in a series of auditions will be held Saturday, beginning at 1:30 p.m., at Jack LaLanne’s American Health Spa in the Midway District.

LINER NOTES: The late Roy Orbison’s first album of new material in a decade, “Mystery Girl,” was posthumously released last week by Virgin Records--less than two months after the legendary rock ‘n’ roll singer’s death. San Diego connection No. 1: The cover photo was snapped in the middle 1960s by local shutterbug Glen Erler. San Diego connection No. 2: Former Elvis Presley sideman Jerry Scheff, who plays string bass on “The Comedians,” is the father of Jason Scheff, the Point Loma High grad who a few years back was tapped to sing and play bass with pop super-group Chicago.

San Diego jazz-rocker group Colours will begin a five-week tour of the Soviet Union in April. The band was invited to tour the U.S.S.R. after guitarist Christopher Backman, 17, visited the country last year on a good-will mission sponsored by an international friendship group for young people. . . . Tickets go on sale Saturday for R.E.M.’s March 16 appearance at the San Diego Sports Arena. Just added as openers: Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians.