Pop Music Reviews : A Sentimental Touch at ‘Fun Raiser’ Benefit

Henry Rollins (the once and future punk singer) and Hubert Selby Jr. (the “Last Exit to Brooklyn” novelist) aren’t exactly names synonymous with sentimentality . What a surprise, then, when their one-two punch of touching father/son monologues proved the emotional highlight of the Ringling Sisters’ fifth annual holiday “Fun Raiser” benefit for orphaned children.

Selby read an excerpt from an upcoming novel concerning a divorced father who finds it wrenching to come across his young son spending his own nickels and dimes on a Big Gulp. Rollins followed with a rambling but riveting discourse about runaway boy hookers, the familial effects of war, and loathing his own dad, hatred as heartfelt as anything else on the bill.

Though the five-hour variety show at the Roxy clearly lived up to its “Fun Raiser” billing, songs about abused or abandoned children also found their way into the short sets by the Ringlings (the spooky “Kimberly Rose”), Mary’s Danish (“Timothy,” about a 7-year-old and his imaginary parents) and even the obnoxious Havalinas, who successfully passed a hat.

Since the first of these benefits, the Ringlings have evolved from a crew of local musicians reading original verse in their off time to a real rock band with a real major-label record out. They even have a real (and real good) jangling pop ballad in the new LP’s “Wake Up,” with the current lineup cooing harmonies that are just harsh enough, just sweet enough. It might be time to retire what poetry is left and go all songbird.

Taking the stage well after 1 a.m., very nearly a breakfast danish, Mary’s Danish woke up the remaining crowd with a blazing, 20-minute set billed as “acoustic,” though only the guitar was less electrified than usual. Bob Forrest emerged to sing along on “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,” with instrumental nods to “Gloria.”

Also featured were overlapping sets from Dylanologists John Wesley Harding (who mercilessly parodied the in-town Waterboys) and the Steve Wynn Quintet.