ROCKTALK : This Is the End : Say goodbye to some of the area’s best acts, including Matt & Bill and the Mudheads. On top of this, Charlie’s is soon to be a fish house.

Some bands seem to be on that Endless Tour--you know, the one that started in 1967? Other bands seem to fade before they really get started. The Mudheads, in January, put out about the best local tape ever; then played twice and broke up. The Mud has turned to dust and the divorce is final--front man Bill Coffey moved to Portland. Unless the other four guys want to do a karoake thing, no more Mud.

Coffey and folk-singing pal Matt Schulte played their last gig as Matt & Bill two weeks ago at the Green Dragon in Santa Barbara. Schulte will be following Coffey to Portland soon and they’ll probably be doing a rock ‘n’ roll thing up there even before they become Trail Blazer fans and learn to hate Southern Californians.

About a month ago, Durango 95 played their last official gig at Garfields. They’ve been around for years, and before that they were around as the Strangers. Frank Barajas is going to Europe to bum around; Chuck Herrera is drumming for other bands. The other half of the band, Scott Morris and Russ Davis (Durango 47 1/2?) are doing the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy thing.

Worst of all, Charlie’s, for years the home to local bands, is going away as well. The fish restaurant on the Ventura Pier will be taking over Charlie’s. Look for a last-time reunion gig of the I-Rails and a really last gig by Durango 95 coming soon. Charlie’s should live until the Labor Day weekend or so with Spencer the Gardener and Lion I’s set to play the final weekend. Fittingly, Raging Arb & the Redheads will play the last ever gig at Charlie’s. Charlie’s better be sure the insurance is paid up.

Speaking of Raging Arb, the hard-partying locals have recently been reinventing themselves Up The Coast in S.B. where no one hates them--yet. The first time the Red Heads played the Ketch three weeks ago, they outdrew local luminaries Spencer the Gardener and Tao Jonz.

The Fourth of July blowout at the Ventura Theatre was just that--a total blowout. Forget the street fair--you know, the event with the crummy music and no one you recognize--the Theatre gig attracted nearly 1,000 revelers. Only about 20 fights, nothing too serious. Just the usual finhead fandangos featuring Pierpont against the East End. With Ariel, Raging Arb and Lion I’s on the same bill, it was clearly a hit, and all three local bands were even selling T-shirts, a clear sign of rock ‘n’ roll success. And down the street at Charlie’s was Simi Valley’s best, April’s Motel Room.

Party Alert: Remember Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, those plump and porcine party animals? They brought a raucous and riotous brand of rockin’ blues to every seamy dive in L.A. for nearly a decade.

So where’s Top Jimmy been? “The good times in L.A. were killing me, so I’ve been in Las Vegas the last eight or nine months doing absolutely nothing,” he said during a recent phone conversation. The Rhythm Pigs last played together in October, but future reunions are difficult with bassist Gil T in Austin and Carlos Guitarlos in the Bay Area.

Anyway, here’s the good part: The legendary Top Jimmy himself (and Pigless) will be at Charlie’s this Friday night to do his rockin’ blues thing with none other than Raging Arb & the Redheads as his backup band. Look out. Charlie’s may not survive until Labor Day.

The Jerry Garcia Band will be at the Ventura Raceway on Aug. 31. You realize I said The Jerry Garcia Band and not the Grateful Dead. That’s because the Ventura City Council and the Ventura County Fair Board gonged the Grateful Dead for good after a 1987 party/concert at the county fairgrounds that ended with six arrests. Maybe, the Fair Board can schedule one Dead member at a time: first Garcia, Bob Weir the weekend after, Phil Lesh after that and so on. The Fair Board collects money from not only the county fair, but also from the Ventura raceway and off-track betting. If the board is as broke as it says it is, why not bring back the whole Grateful Dead, make a bunch of cash and quit charging us to park at the beach?

Speaking of the fair, this year’s Oh-Wow-Oh-Wow lineup, which, truthfully, is better than most years, includes Color Me Badd, the Fifth Dimension, America, Larry Gatlin, Conway Twitty and Lou Rawls.

The latest local signee to the Big Time is none other than Cinderblock of Santa Barbara. Did they bust their buns gigging all over town? Go broke sending out demo tapes and press kits? Bribe some A&R; dude? Threaten to blow up the local radio stations? Nope, nope, nope and nope.

So listen up you local rock ‘n’ rollers with MTV dreams; here’s how you do it: “I know their lawyer,” said Liz Garo of Restless Records in Hollywood. “He gave me their tape, but I put off listening to it. After just two songs, I signed them sight unseen. I could tell by the quality of the songwriting. They’ll be kicking off some of our new roster signees.”

OK, Liz, but what those “Masters of Metal” and Ventura locals, Cirith Ungol? “They got dropped. It happens sooner or later.”

Official Resistance, those metal heads with a message (and it’s probably, “Sign us, you jerks . . .”), apparently don’t know any lawyers, so they’re trying a different path to rock ‘n’ roll stardom. According to Colonel Vince Dirt, the man with more tattoos than Biker Day at the circus, now the band is making videos. The first one, “Stealing Kisses,” is the first of four off the band’s latest EP, “Coo.” Now they just have to start sending their videos to lawyers, and since there are only about 3,000 in the phone book. . . .