A ‘Cheap Date’ With Plenty of Rock at Roxbury Bash

No violins please.

It was nonstop rock on Friday night when the new Roxbury nightclub opened in Santa Ana with a benefit for the Young Professionals Against Cancer.

Cheap Date performed. ( Perfect name for the entertainment. This blast for the mostly twentysomething set was a mere $25 per person.)

Julian Lennon showed up. Jeff (Skunk) Baxter--guitarist for Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers--played. Ditto Stray Cats’ drummer Slim Jim Phantom.

Even Steven Dorff 20, the actor who will play early Beatle Stu Sutcliffe in “Backbeat,” was on hand, schmoozing with celebs who included Ray Liotta, Herbie Hancock, Corey Feldman, Sara Gilbert, Stephen Baldwin (bro of Alec and Bill), Tori Spelling, Edwin Moses and more.

Most unexpected guest: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). But there the congressman was, sporting an India-inspired baseball cap and hobnobbing with the musicians who would jam in the jazz bar.

“This is going to be a great place to hear great rock and roll,” Rohrabacher said. “I’ll be here in my spare time, when I’m not at the beach with my surfboard.”

He added: “When Jeff Baxter is here; I’ll be here. My surfer friends would rather meet him than the President of the United States.”

Baxter blushed. “We kind of started this (Cheap Date) as a joke,” he said, puffing at a giant stogie and sending the smoke to the ceiling (after all, this was a benefit against cancer.) “We’re a bunch of guys who wanted to just get together, have a great time.

“And then, next time you turn on the TV, we’re on ‘Entertainment Tonight’ and David Letterman is asking us to work. So, we thought we’d better have another look at it. We don’t want to get too serious.”

Before the party dissolved in the wee hours, 1,200 guests had explored the 16,000-square-foot supper club--sister to Roxbury in West Hollywood--climbing its winding staircase to boogie in the disco or peek at the VIP room (where the stars tossed down pineapple shooters and savored Southwestern-style sushi, far from the madding crowd).

“This is great,” said “Beverly Hills 90210” star Tori Spelling, sipping a cool one through a straw in the VIP cave. (So dark, so privileged.)

Spelling’s duds epitomized one of the dress requirements for the Roxbury set: to-there-cut top and faded blues. The other: anything skintight, black or see-through.

Dorff, star of “Power of One,” took a breather on the VIP balcony. “I’m really excited about doing this movie about John Lennon and Stu Sutcliffe,” he said. “It’s being produced by Stephen Wooley producer of ‘The Crying Game.’ ”

Dorff’s advice to aspiring young actors: “Be true to yourself, your feelings.

“You can do anything. My character, Stu Sutcliffe, believed that. He thought you could star in your own movie, make your life the way you feel it should be. I feel that way too.”

Downstairs, guests helped themselves to a buffet repast set up in a dining room appointed with a massive crystal chandelier. They piled their black plastic plates with crab and spinach lasagna, baked halibut, polenta, salad, fruits, exotic cheeses and veggies.

Goodies passed on trays included coconut shrimp, wood-oven pizza slices (barbecued chicken was a fave) and blinis topped with a dribble of sour cream and caviar.

“This is an incredible party for the money,” said guest Richard Moriarty, a professional party-giver. “This place has got to do better than its predecessors. This is some good group here.”

Indeed. Members of Young Professionals Against Cancer, a clean-cut bunch dedicated to helping eradicate the disease that has stolen friends and family members, was the right choice for the grand-opening bash.

“We’re the demographics the club needs,” said YPAC president Bill Ryan, 28. “When the Roxbury people called us for the benefit opening, I said: ‘Let’s do it!’ ”

Ryan’s mother died of breast cancer when he was 5. “ That really hits home,” he said. “And that’s why I’m here. I’ve met so many wonderful people.”

YPAC member Tyrone Dillon, 31, lost his father to cancer last year. “I wanted to get involved--get out there and help,” he said.

Benefit proceeds were estimated at $15,000.