Rat Pack Music Finds Room at the Summit on Westwood

Primo deejay Dean R. Miller gathered up a few cronies and launched the Summit last week. That’s a modern-day tribute to what we all know as the Rat Pack--Frank, Dean, Sammy, et al--who actually preferred the Summit moniker to Rat Pack. The Wednesday night hot spot is housed at Matteo’s, a Westwood Boulevard restaurant that was an old Sinatra hangout.

Among Matteo’s many fine features are red Leatherette booths, cheetah-print carpeting and pictures inked by Frank himself that hang throughout the venue. Miller, best known for hosting Thursday nights at the Viper Room, plays nothing but the finest music from Frankie and pals, the sound of which goes rather well with the hum of Matteo’s electric train, still choo-chooing around the bar each night in tribute to a bygone era.

Brat Pack (not Rat Pack) trivialists may find this interesting: Molly Ringwald’s sister and cousin are in a punk band called Heat Creeps, which is scheduled to perform at Bollocks club July 25. Maybe some savvy promoter will put together a bill with the Heat Creeps and other bands with show-biz ties: Jaded (fronted by “Family Ties” ex-daughter Tina Yothers); Twister Naked, featuring former kid star Brandon Cruz (“The Courtship of Eddie’s Father); and actor Corey Feldman’s band, Truth Movement.

But seriously, if you’re thinking of testing the Bollocks waters, we should mention promoter Eric Teggers’ heavy brogue: When calling the hotline number, be sure to have handy a Chester/Liverpool translator or you may find yourself swimming in a sea of accented confusion.

Speaking of hotlines, we finally took the time to listen to the Coconut Teaszer’s instruction line on how to book a band at the old Strip joint. Clocking in at a whopping three minutes and 13 seconds (clearly, an attention span is the first rule), the Teaszer’s Len Fagan offers such helpful hints as speaking very s-l-o-w-l-y when leaving a message; spelling out any unusual band names (including all umlauts); sending not one, but two cassette tapes for the Teaszer’s two bookers; and dropping any pertinent names, i.e., any previous band affiliations, that might merit marquee mention.