CLOWN TOWN

Marilyn Manson’s growing track record of getting banned from venues and communities for all sorts of supposed offenses against propriety and morality is more or less rock ‘n’ roll business as usual. But a recent refusal by West Hollywood’s Roxy to let an act go on added a new twist: As far as we can tell, this was the first time an act has been banned due to an excess of soda.

Soda--sprayed on the crowd--is a big part of the act of the Insane Clown Posse, a Detroit-based hip-hop group described as a cross between the Beastie Boys and KISS.

The duo’s antics are well-known in the Midwest, where it has built a sizable following over the last four years. But as it was setting up for its L.A. debut at the Roxy recently, club booker Eddie Ortell got curious about the 50 two-liter bottles of Faygo brand cola that were being unloaded. When he was told that it was to be spritzed onto the fans, Ortell said, in no uncertain terms, not in my club.

“If people don’t know what we’re about, they fear it,” says Clown member Shaggy 2Dope, playing up the apocalyptic menace of the group’s circus gestalt.

Ortell, though, says it’s the insurance companies that he fears, envisioning a lawsuit should someone fall on a slippery floor.

“We don’t want any of those problems,” he says. “They didn’t tell us enough in advance of the show, or else we wouldn’t have booked them in the first place.”

The sold-out show did go on, though--at the hastily booked Hollywood rehearsal facilities of Studio Instrumental Rentals. A Hollywood Records debut album by the group, following three indie releases, is due June 24, titled “The Great Milenko” and featuring guest appearances by Alice Cooper, Slash and Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones.