Pop : A Hard-Rock Jam for a Good Cause

There’s something in every rock star that likes to get up on stage in front of an adoring audience and let fly, say, yet another version of “Long Tall Sally” or a take on “Cherry Bomb” like the ones you used to hear at high school dances.

Celebrity jam nights are popular at upscale Hollywood clubs, especially if Slash or Miami Steve shows up. And it’s a rare arena hard-rock concert that doesn’t end with some kind of impromptu all-star jam.

Even better than just jamming might be jamming for charity, and “Partners in Grime,” an informal all-star group of L.A. hard-rockers, gathered Friday night at Cathouse to swig Jack Daniels and jam in a benefit for the T. J. Martell Foundation, which funds cancer and AIDS causes.

If you’ve ever wondered what a cross between Ratt and L.A. Guns would sound like doing megasloppy Judas Priest covers, this might have been the band for you.

Faster Pussycat’s Taime Downe howled a couple of numbers, then moved over for Ratt’s singer Stephen Pearcy, whose effortless, helium-high vocals have a majesty all their own.

L.A. Guns’ eponymous lead guitarist Tracii Guns wailed along--he rarely stopped soloing, even during the choruses--as Bang Tango’s rhythm section held down the bottom. They did “Communication Breakdown.”

They did--inevitably!--Deep Purple’s “Highway Star.” They did the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” competently sung by Cathouse owner Riki Rachtman. And it was possible to have a good time, more or less, as long as you remembered it was for a good cause.