Rogers Is Too Rude and So Hip

Went to see Too Rude at the Key Club and color me bad! The last time I saw hips sway like that I was watching Elvis in “Blue Hawaii.” Frontman Roby Rogers holds nothing back and his punked-up reggae is a blast of fresh air. The band’s new album, “Reinvention,” is due out this spring.... Checked in on Otep at the Viper Room last week and found the ferocious singer’s rage fully intact. We need to recruit her for the war effort: Her howl would scare anyone out of a cave.... Mi amigo Slim Jim Phantom, the Stray Cats drummer turned Cat Club owner, tells me his 13-year-old son has teamed up with Billy Idol’s kid to form a band. Look out!

I’m completely bowled over by Avoid One Thing, the solo project from Mighty Mighty Bosstones bassist Joe Gittleman. It takes a big man to wear his lyrical heart on his sleeve .... Shot pool with Tattooed Tony at the Shamrock Social Club on the Sunset Strip and got flashed by a fireman. Seriously, a firetruck turned its spotlight on the window of the new tattoo parlor. Turns out, it was just a client of tattoo artist Mark Mahoney’s saying howdy.

Tried to catch L.A. Guns at the Viper Room last week but got waylaid by the Bullet Boys. If that singer doesn’t get a makeover, I’m gonna lose it, man.... I’m strapping on my bouncing soles to see the Bouncing Souls at the House of Blues Saturday. Their song, “True Believers,” is a huge underground anthem.

Thanks to bluesman Aidan Pickering, the Pelican Pie guitarist who helped me get my hands on the hit European import, “Harry’s Bar,” by 55-year-old Gordon Haskell, the original bassist for King Crimson. Last time I was so moved by something so quiet, I was listening to Leon Russell in my parents’ basement.