BUZZ CLUBS

Without Cherry, it’s the pits

For eight years, the cross-dressing, gender-bending, trend-setting dance club Cherry was the icing on Clubland’s cheesecake. The popular weekly club ushered in L.A.’s ‘90s glam-rock revival, and caused New York rockers and queens to move to the Left Coast in droves. Like all good things, it came to a quiet end last week, finishing out its run at the Key Club in WeHo. Its promoter, Bryan Rabin, one of Hollywood’s hot party planners who’s thrown red-hot galas for Madonna, Christina Aguilera and Debbie Harry, is focusing his energy on his blowin’-up events’ company, Rabin-Rodgers. Cherry may be gone, but it will never be forgotten.... One of Cherry’s main scenesters, Casper from the band the Pleasure Seekers, is launching a new Wednesday night slice of rock ‘n’ roll mayhem at Goldfingers.... Popped into Immortal Ent.’s new Santa Monica digs and ran smack into Tommy Lee. How fortuitous! ...

Madcap scenes

Madcap, a hot young punk band on the SideOneDummy label, tore up the House of Blues in Anaheim and L.A. last week. We also hear Madcap managed to smuggle Kelly Osbourne and her beau Bert McCracken of the Used backstage at the Anaheim show. Wacky.... Rapper WC just got back from New York, where he laid down some licks for Mariah Carey’s upcoming album. Girl’s got taste.... Our favorite DJ-shopkeep, Nice Fred, who owns the electronic record store This Is Music on Melrose Avenue, is opening for Hacker & Kiko on Oct. 30 at Club Sixteen-Fifty. He really is nice.... The hardest-working queen in show biz, Jackie Beat, is DJing at Fubar in WeHo every Thursday and gets gussied up for That Time of the Month, his/her monthly drag gala at the Sixty-Six club in Hollywood, which takes place the first Sunday of each month.... The skate-punk band Western Waste trashed the Key Club on Friday. Ran into the Vandals and Pennywise singer Jim Lindberg at the gig. Jim says the mighty South Bay band is busy writing a new record.

Radical....

Coming

in loud

and clear

Spotted a pretty new bar on Ventura Boulevard called Clear. It’s just east of Laurel Canyon and a couple of doors down from former Flipper Will Shatter’s upcoming new bar. We hear designer Ricki Kline (Belly/theOlive/North) is creating it. De-lovely.... We also hear the Here Lounge in WeHo is holding “psychic” happy hours all month. Grab a drink and check your

lifeline.