‘Mud in Your Face’ for an Idol

The Scene: Party at the Hollywood Tropicana on Western Avenue--famed home of female mud wrestling--after Billy Idol’s concert at the Forum Wednesday night. A law of physics about substances seeking their own level applies here.

Who Was There: Idol (for about 10 minutes); Sting (“I’m here for purely anthropological reasons”); Oliver Stone (“Ask Sting why he’s here”); the Go-Go’s Gina Schock and Jane Wiedlin; David Lee Roth (“I’m here on a research project”); plus 400 other guests including ‘80s document shredder Fawn Hall with Danny Sugarman, the Who’s John Entwistle, Drew Barrymore, and assorted members of Motley Crue, Jane’s Addiction, Guns N’ Roses and Faith No More.

One Man’s Opinion: A gentleman with a punker-than-thou attitude said he thought Idol had become “the Barry Manilow of punk music.” It didn’t seem to be a compliment.

Dress Mode: For women it was black leather on the outside, silicone on the inside; for men, leather.

Worst Advice: “Keep an open mind,” said one Hollywood sage.

Chow: Wisely, it was catered by El Cholo. Would you eat the food at a mud-wrestling parlor? Mud Recipe: It’s made with equal parts water and Pyrolite (a brown, very fine, mortar-like industrial compound). Then small chunks of cheap foam rubber are thrown in for texture. “We make it fresh every day,” said an employee.

Quoted: “I’m not sure what it’s about yet,” said anthropologist/rock star Sting concerning the wrestling. “But I’m certain it has nothing to do with sex.”

Also Quoted: Oliver Stone, who has assisted Idol’s acting career, said the singer has “a very Blade Runner quality. He’s very Asiatic, very Pacific Rim.”

Overheard: “I love Billy Idol, but I wonder if he could have that sneer surgically corrected,” said one woman.

Glitches: What happened to Billy? Did he have another mud-wrestling party to go to?

POP MUSIC REVIEW F1