A Little Heavy Metal in the Name of Amnesty

The Nymphs’ Inger Lorre knows how to work a crowd. Take last Saturday night at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The sold-out arena was packed with a punk-nostagic crowd waiting for the reunion appearance of the Buzzcocks, whose last new album was released eight years ago.

On stage were the Nymphs, fronted by Lorre, who strutted and sashayed about the stage with a microphone in one hand and a forest-green feather boa cuddled in the other. Her voice cut easily through a layer of guitars and drums and crowd noise that seemed to get louder and more impatient with each new song the Nymphs played. When Lorre tore into the Nymphs’ version of the Badfinger classic, “Come and Get It,” the tension in the audience was at its peak. They wanted the Buzzcocks, not the Nymphs.

“Get off the stage,” someone yelled. Others booed.

“Yeah, I know who you want,” Lorre scowled back like some rock and roll Lenny Bruce handling a roomful of hecklers. “I see your mohawks. Don’t you know punk was dead 10 years ago? Can’t you think of anything more original ?”

The crowd roared . . . and not necessarily with disapproval. Lorre epitomized the punk attitude--angry, tough, unrelenting--that many in the audience were so nostalgic for. And here it was being shoved in their faces by a band that usually plays at . . . heavy metal shows.

“We’re not going anywhere,” she snarled. “We’re getting paid for this.”

Tonight, when the Nymphs take the stage at the Country Club in Reseda, they’ll be headlining . . . but they won’t be paid. Neither will any of the opening bands. It’s a benefit concert for Amnesty International.

Proceeds from the show will be distributed to several Amnesty International college chapters, which function much like regular Amnesty chapters. But because college populations drastically change every semester, the campus groups work only on short-term projects, such as the letter-writing campaign earlier this summer to China after the massacre at Tian An Men Square.

“We’re going to set up a table at the concert where people can send letters on behalf of prisoners in South Africa,” said Sung Kim, the organizer of tonight’s concert. She works for the Cypress College Amnesty chapter, which is sponsoring the concert. This is the largest fundraising effort the junior college chapter has attempted.

“It was hard at first, and a little scary,” said Kim, a 20 year-old-business major. “But I found that a lot of the bands and the managers were excited about doing the show.

The Nymphs, Jasmine Bomb, Clyde, If Tommorow and Sativa Luv Vox appear at tonight’s Amnesty International Benefit at The Country Club, 18415 Sherman Way, Reseda. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $13 and are available through Ticketron. For information, call (818) 881-5601.