POP MUSIC REVIEW : Peggy Sue, Donna Share Valens Tribute

Last week it was Imitators of Rock’s Dead and Famous. This week: Relatives and Girlfriends. . . .

But where last week’s Hendrix/Doors/Joplin ghostfest--a concert at the John Anson Ford Theatre by three acts that make a living re-creating those demised demigods’ mannerisms--bordered on grave robbing, Saturday’s “Ritchie Valens Night” at the Country Club was pure tribute to the Pride of Pacoima, who died with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper in a 1959 plane crash.

The evening certainly could have had a morbid tinge. The show featured the music of Valens performed by his 19-year-old cousin, Ernie; an assortment of other oldies by Eddie Cochran’s nephew Bobby; and appearances by Ritchie’s Donna and Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue, both immortalized in song by their late rockin’ beaus.

“The interest in Ritchie Valens is not morbid at all--not anymore,” said Donna Fox-- the Donna--sharing a table with Peggy Sue Gerron-- the Peggy Sue. The two met only months ago after discovering that they were both Sacramento residents, and this was their second joint appearance at a tribute event, following a Holly/Valens memorial in Dallas last week.

Valens’ legacy isn’t quite as hot as it was a couple years ago when the film biography “La Bamba” sparked something of a Ritchie-mania phenomenon. Saturday’s show--marking what would have been Valens’ 48th birthday--drew only several hundred people, largely a Latino crowd drawn from among Valens’ friends, family and associates. As such, the evening was more a social occasion than a musical event.

The scene resembled a high school reunion, with Donna and Peggy Sue as prom queens receiving a steady stream of well-wishers and autograph seekers. And the cause--to raise money for a Valens star on Hollywood Boulevard and for a music scholarship fund--pretty much transcended any artistic or taste concerns.

Fox said that the film “La Bamba” continues to produce positive fallout in keeping a healthy interest alive in Valens and his music.

“For the first 25 years since Ritchie died not 20 people called for interviews or information,” said Fox, 47, who now receives regular calls from media and fans. (She and Gerron are set to appear in a segment of TV’s “A Current Affair” this week.)

The biggest change is the interest from youngsters, who knew nothing of Valens until heartthrob actor Lou Diamond Phillips and Chicano rockers Los Lobos brought him alive on screen and record.

“We’re trying to keep rock ‘n’ roll alive,” Fox said. “The movie brought it back for the young people.”

There were certainly no morbid motives in the performance of young Ernie Valens, who wasn’t even born until a decade after cousin Ritchie’s death. Though he’s hardly an electrifying singer or performer, his renditions were obviously sincere, heartfelt and even--as he sang “Donna” to Donna--touching.

Cochran and his band were more professional (they do regular oldies shows around town), though there was a certain rote feeling to the mix ‘n’ match medleys of ‘50s and ‘60s hits, including “Peggy Sue” sung to Peggy Sue. In each case, it would be a more fitting tribute if these inheritors built on their ancestors’ legacies to create new rock excitement rather than just re-create the old songs. Rock ‘n’ roll is a matter of attitude and heart, not sound.

Ironically, it was surf guitarist Dick Dale--ostensibly the evening’s headliner, though the crowd had dwindled considerably by the time he took the stage near midnight--whose music sounded most timeless.

Dale, who shared management with Valens way back when, still packs a lot of life into a style that theoretically should be inexorably tied to that long-lost “endless” summer.