Fear Strikes Back

Fear is, of course, the title of an old Marvel comic book and nature’s way of scaring us, but it’s also one of the most notorious--and darn funny--punk rock bands of all time. John Belushi’s favorite band, still led by the one and only Lee Ving, will play the Ventura Theatre on Saturday night along with other outfits that don’t know any slow ones--Outahand, Viagro and Surf the Black.

Fear’s 1982 debut album, “The Record,” was a punk rock classic that included such politically incorrect lullabies as “Let’s Have a War,” “I Don’t Care About You” and “We Destroy the Family.” Since reissued on CD, it’s still called “The Record” and not “The CD.” But if CDs were as big as Chryslers, that’s how big the warning sticker would have to be. Chances are still excellent that the song “Camarillo” has no future as that city’s theme song. Then there’s “New York’s Alright if You Like Saxophones,” whose sentiments will never be part of any Big Apple tourism campaign.

Actually, Braves pitcher John Rocker echoed similar sentiments but without the humor. It’s the same only very different, according to Ving.

“That guy was a racist and that’s not OK,” he said. “Our song is funny whether you like New York or not, and there’s nothing funny about racism. I think some people misunderstand the sarcasm in our songs.”

Fear began in the Valley in 1978 and were contemporaries with such bands as Black Flag, the Germs, the Dils, the Dead Kennedys and all those follicle-challenged groups cranking out all that noisy parent-hating music, also known as punk rock, which somehow incited all those scary-looking bald people to play human bowling in the sweaty slam pit.

And Fear was right in the middle of it all.

The Ventura show will be the band’s last for a few months, “then we’ll go into the studio and record a new album which should be out on September 5 on Hall of Records,” Ving said.

Fear has a local history as well.

About eight years ago, a scheduled Ventura gig was canceled at the last minute, and some enterprising skinheads booked the band with about an hour’s notice at the Golden China down on Seaward Avenue. It went off tolerably well except for the marine life--Fear was so loud, they killed the tropical fish in the aquarium.

And if you host the band, it may be wise to roll up those rugs and put down some newspaper.

“We don’t go quietly, plus we’re still philosophically relevant,” Ving said. “We’re coming to Ventura to spill a beer on your rug.”

Like every other musician who has ever sang a song or played a note, Fear either keeps coming back or won’t go away. It has released three or four albums over the years, including one that came out on a label that went away three weeks later.

While other bands have capitalized on punk music by adding pop touches and thus taking the edge off, the still-fearless Fear rolls on.

“I don’t think anyone else does anything quite the way we do,” Ving said. “If anyone was influenced by us and did well, then more power to them, but we’re the only ones doing this.”

DETAILS

Fear, Viagro, Outahand and Surf the Black at the Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St., 8 p.m. Saturday; $12; 653-0721.

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Mellow Ojai Valley folkie Alan Thornhill, with a voice as sweet as the Hershey factory, will be partying like it’s still 1999 at a Saturday night CD release party at the newly constructed Zalk Theatre, which seats a cozy 160 or so people, on the campus of Happy Valley School.

The singing carpenter’s new album is “Sittin’ Out the Rain,” his first since 1994.

According to the man of few words but many songs, “It’s just my own stuff that I recorded last winter in Nashville. A friend of mine named Pat Flynn offered to produce, so I went.”

Usually traveling light, just a guy and an acoustic guitar, Thornhill will be ably assisted for this show by Jim Monahan (not the politician) on guitar and mandolin, Lee Rollag on guitar and fiddle, Bill Bryson on percussion and Bob Nichols on bass.

A former member of the Rincon Ramblers, Thornhill will also be starting his weekly Friday night solo gigs tonight at the Ranch House in Meiners Oaks. Talk about job security--Thornhill will be at the famous restaurant through October. He can also be seen at the Acoustic Wednesday gig at 66 California in Ventura.

DETAILS

Alan Thornhill at Happy Valley School, 8585 Highway 150, Ojai, 7:30 p.m. Saturday; $15; 677-5450.

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The latest in the eclectic Sings Like Hell series will feature the husband-and-wife team of T Bone Burnett and Sam Phillips, along with their extra special mystery band, the Void, playing a Saturday night gig at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara.

Burnett has been making records since 1965 in Fort Worth but is mostly known as a producer, having added his touch to recordings by Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Marshall Crenshaw, the BoDeans, Roy Orbison, Bruce Cockburn, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and many others. As a performer, Burnett toured with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue in the mid-1970s, plus he has a number of solo albums of the roots rock persuasion.

He’s currently working on two albums--”Tooth of Crime,” containing songs about the Sam Shepard murder case, and “The True False Identity,’ his first album of originals since “The Criminal Under My Own Hat” in 1992. Perhaps he’ll do some of his oldies such as “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and “Ridiculous Man.”

Phillips, the former “Queen of Christian Rock,” has released a number of critically acclaimed off-kilter singer/songwriter albums over the years, including “Martinis and Bikinis,” “Omnipop” and her latest, “Zero Zero Zero.” Her songs have been used in a variety of films and Phillips once played the part of a knife-wielding terrorist in one of those movies where Bruce Willis never died hard--rather everyone else did. Now in its sixth season, Sings Like Hell presents contemporary singer/songwriters in a true listener-friendly environment; certainly this is no bar scene. People come to see the band, and the performers unfailingly sing like hell.

DETAILS

T Bone Burnett and Sam Phillips at the Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara, 8 p.m. Saturday; $28.50 advance or $32.50 at the door; 963-0761.

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It may be closer to Highway 101 than Highway 61, but rock legend Bob Dylan and his band will play a June 30 gig at the raceway at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

Also on the bill will be Phil Lesh & Friends. This former member of the Grateful Dead surely knows a few songs that will inspire aimless spinning from all those misplaced Deadheads.

Tickets, at $37, will go on sale Saturday at Ticketmaster, The Wherehouse, and other outlets. Doors will open at 5 p.m. on the day of the show, and show time is 7 p.m.