The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 18

4 28 Friday, Sept 26, 1986 The Philadelphia Inquirer NIGHTLIFE Screaming Blue Messiahs to rock at Revival In concert BPTTT vi 4 The British trio, led by an aggressive guitarist, has an eloquent and urgent style. By Ken Tucker Inquirer Popular-Music Critic The Screaming Blue Messiahs, a band making its Philadelphia debut at Revival Sunday night, is a British trio whose first American release, Gun-Shy (Elektra), is one of the liveliest records of the year. Bill Carter sings, writes most of the band's material and plays his lead guitar with violent strums that frequently leave his fingers bloodied. For all this, Carter and the Messiahs are not a bunch of yammering ninnies Carter's playing may be ferociously aggressive, but it's also formidable. lie can switch styles with fluid ease, moving from punk simplicity to jazzy improvisation.

The Screaming Blue Messiahs have frequently been compared to an earlier British band, The Clash, but this similarity is prominent only on "Smash the Marketplace," a yelled screed more notable for its chugging Bo Diddley beat than its political analysis. At their best, Carter and the other Messiahs bassist Chris Thompson and drummer Kenny Harris play with an eloquent urgency. If you go to the show, call out for their rough, tough version of Hank Williams' "You Gotta Change." Screaming Blue Messiahs, at Revival, 22 S. Third Sunday at 11 p.m. Admission: $8 members; $6 guests.

Information: 6274825. Tomorrow, Grendel's Lair will host an "all-ages," no-liquor-served afternoon rock show aimed at attracting an audience younger than the one that usually patronizes local rock clubs. This show offers these fans an opportunity to hear the music of such estimable Philadelphia-based bands as Ruin, Mr. Mehta, Ceiling Zero and those The Messiahs, (from left) Harris, Carter and Thompson, have released their first U.S. album.

South Sunday beginning at 4 p.m. Admission: $5. Information: 545-6983. young masters of swift wittiness, Electric Love Muffin. Rock concert at Grendel's Lair, 500 South tomorrow from 1 p.m.

to 6 p.m. Admission: $5. Information: 9215560. ALBUMS GENESIS Rock group. Spectrum, Broad St Pattison Ave, 389-5000.

8 tonight-Sat (sold out). LIZA MINNELU with comedian Corbett Monica. Valley Forge Music Fair, Rte 202, Devon, 296-9994. 8:30 tonight-Sat, 7 p.m. Sun (sold out).

BENEFIT CONCERT Tommy Conwell's Young Rumblers, Beru Revue, Smash Palace, the Flamin' Caucasians and comedian Craig Shoemaker appear in concert hosted by WMMR-FM radio to benefit the George Butera Rehabilitation Fund. Mermaid Lake, west of Plymouth Meeting Mall, Blue Bell. Information: 277-4140. 1 p.m. Sun.

IAIN MAC KINTOSH Green Willow Folk Club presents Scottish singer. Immanuel Episcopal Church, 17th St Riverview Ave, Wilmington. Information: 302-994-0495. 8 tonight. Also with Dave Fry at, Cherry Tree, Parish Hall, St Mary's Church, 3916 Locust Walk.

Information: 386-1640. 8 p.m. Sun. KENNY ROGERS Grammy winner performs with singers Paul Anka and Lee Greenwood. Spectrum, Broad St Pattison Ave, 389-5000.

8 p.m. Wed. VICTOR BORGE Comedianpianist. Valley Forge Music Fair, Rte 202, Devon, 296-9994. 8:30 p.m.

Wed. Clubs in New Jersey Jersey club listings are in area code 609. BEST WESTERN GLOUCESTER INN Rte 130 North-South Freeway, Gloucester City, 456-7400. Top 40. Fri-Sat.

Bill Deal Duo. BONNIE'S NIGHTCLUB 347 White Horse Pika, Atco, 767-4443. Hard rock. All ages. Sats, 7-10 p.m., Mistriss.

BUDDY RICK'S CLUB Elmwood Johnston Avenues, Trenton, 586-3606. Jazz. Wed, Nick Strauss Jazz Quartet. BUTCH'S PLACE Rte 38, Pemberton. 894-8866.

Rock-and-roll. Fri-Sat, Asylum. CITY GARDENS 1701 Calhoun St, Trenton, 392-8887. Tonight, the Elements. Sat, the Circle Jerks, Agnostic Front and Last Stand.

COMPTON'S LOG CABIN Cuthbert Blvd. Westmont, 858-1000. Top 40. Mon-Thu, Eddie Rose. Tue-Fri, Susan Bailey.

Fri-Sat, Applsus CORAL REEF 317 Black Horse Pike. Bell-mawr, 931-3434. Top 40. Tue-Sat, In the Flesh. COUNTRY HOUSE Rte 38, Pemberton, 894-2620.

Top 40. Fris-Sats, Bucky Harris. CRAB TRAP Somers Point Circle, Somers Point, 927-7377. Top 40. Wed-Sun, Vince Charles.

DANNY RICARDO'S 10 Bridge St, Lambert-ville, 397-1600. Top 40. Sun, George Hopkins the Speakeasy Stampers. DEGENHARDT'S 600 Black Horse Pike, Mt Ephraim, 931-3236. Wed-Sun, Totally Hot.

DEPTFORD TAVERN Deptford Mall, Dept-ford. 848-3555. Top 40. Thu Sat, Ocean. DILLINGER'S Rte 73, Maple Shade, 779-8200.

Top 40. Weds-Sats, Mike Volpe Band. DRAGON INN 7304 River Rd, Pennsauken, 663-0666. Country-western. Sat, Dusty Roads.

ENCHANTE Rte 70, Cherry Hill, 424-7676. Piano. Fri-Sat, Gary Gordon. FRANCHIN'S Rte 70 Race Track Circle, Cherry Hill, 663-3939. Tue-Sat, Hollander Wojciech, piano.

Fri, opera night. FRED'S 314 9th Ave, Stone Harbor, 368-5591. Fri-Sat, Chatters. GREENBRIER Race Track Circle, Cherry Hill, 662-0800. Jazz.

Fri-Sat, Chris Taylor Trio. GREGORY'S 900 Shore Rd. Somers Point, 927-6665. Contemporary guitar. Fri-Sat, Billy Conn.

H.T. McDOOGAL'S Rte 73 Church Rd. Mt. Laurel, 866-1077. Folk, pop.

Tue, Matt Lafferty, guitar. HIDDEN LAKE INN 906 Sicklerville Rd, Gloucester Township, 228-1444. Popular. Fri-Sat, Jeff Corbett. HOLIDAY INN 9th Ave Black Horse Pike.

Runnemede, 939-4200. Top 40. Mon-Sat, One Plus One. JOCKEY'S CLUB LOUNGE Cherry Hill Inn-Radisson Hotel Conference Center, Rte 38 Haddonfield Rd, Cherry Hill, 662-7200. Piano.

Mon-Sat. Frank Ellis, main lobby. Fri-Sat, Maureen Henry, lounge. JOSH ft MOLLY'S AMERICAN CAFE Rte 130 Cooper St, Edgewater Park, 877-5610. Oldies.

Fri-Sat, Richie Mack the Windfall Review The Circle Jerks, one of the first and most notorious of Los Angeles' late-1970s wave of punk-rock bands, will make a rare East Coast appearance at Trenton's City Gardens music club tomorrow. The Jerks have released a string of rude, noisy, amusing albums, and made their movie debut a year ago in Repo Man. Also on this bill, which begins at the unusually early hour of 6 p.m., are the bands Agnostic Front and Last Stand. The Circle Jerks, at City Gardens, 1701 Calhoun Trenton, tomorrow at 6 p.m. Admission: $5.

Information: 609-3928887. TALKING HEADS True Stories (Sire) These songs also make up the soundtrack to the forthcoming film directed by head Head David Byrne. They are, for the most part, gently melodic pop, with little of the poly-rhythmic aggressiveness that has characterized recent Talking Heads albums. Some of the songs verge on triteness or banality, but others, such as "Love for Sale" and "People Like Us," are beautiful rock music. THE HUMAN LEAGUE Crash This English dance-rock band has collaborated with the current kings of American dance-rock, producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

The results should have been exciting, but instead they are merely fitfully enjoyable since the melodies are wispy and the vocals weak. By Ken Tucker Rating: Excellent Good Fair Poor Bacchanal will be the site of a large blues festival beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday and continuing long into the night. Performers include Jesse Graves, the Dukes of Destiny, Jamison Smoothdog and the Amazing Ironin' Board Sam. Each act will perform for about 45 minutes, and for this occasion Bacchanal will employ two separate stages to keep the music flowing all evening.

Blues festival at Bacchanal, 1320 0535. Contemporary. Fri-Sat, Magic. SALOON NIGHT CLUB Rte 73, Berlin, 767-6669. Rock.

Fri-Sat, Jaspar. SILVER SADDLE SALOON 428 White Horse Pike, Lindenwold, 784-7722. Country, Top 40. Fri-Sat, Old Friends Plus. SIR WINSTON'S HOUSE OF JAZZ 938 Kaighn Ave, Camden, 365-4441.

Fri-Sat, Sphinx. SWAN HOTEL Lambertville, 397-3552. Jazz. Thu, Jeff Baumeister-Ron Velosky Duo. THE GASLIGHT INN 69 Washington Ave, Mt Holly, 261-0444.

Top 40. Jazz. Fri, Memories. Sat, Hollywood Magic. Sun, Curtis Weaver.

VENICE LOUNGE White Horse Pike Cross Keys Rd, Berlin, 783-4050. Piano. Fri-Sat, Tony Stumpo. Phillips. CHESTNUT CABARET 38th Chestnut Sts, 382-1201.

Tonight, Jellyroll. Sat, Living Earth. DOBBS 304 South St, 928-1943. Variety. Tonight, the Heartbeats and the Bullets.

Sat, DuckTape, Gary Setzer and Stevie Co-coran. Sun, Business Boys. EMPIRE ROCK CLUB Roosevelt Blvd Princeton Ave, 338-6100. Rock. Tonight, Sharks.

Sat, Beru Revue and the Heartbeats. Sun, Poison Dollys. GRENDEL'S LAIR 500 South St, 923-5560. Rock. Tonight, the U.R.I.

Band. Sat afternoon 1-6 p.m., Mr Mehta, Ruin, Ceiling Zero and Electric Love Muffin. Sat evening, Shouting Distance and Bus Head. Sun, New Potato Caboose. See Jazz for other performers.

REVIVAL 22 3d St, 627-4825. Variety. Sun, Screaming Blue Messiahs plus the She Male Encounter. Wilson, Jim Carroll, Ron Gallup. COMEDY FACTORY OUTLET 31 Bank St, FUNNY-11.

Tonight-Sat, Dennis Wolf berg, Jeannie McBride, Keith Robinson and WMMR's Mark "the Shark" (tonight only). COMEDY WORKS 126 Chestnut St, WACKY-97. Tonight-Sat, Barry Sobel, Keven Sullivan and Mike Stankiewicz. GOING BANANAS 613 2d St, BANANA-1. Tonight-Sat, Glenn Farrington, Ben Kurland and Chris Coccia.

PEAK THEATER Above Montserrat, 623 South St. Information: 238-0458. Fris-Sats, Comic Relief. Through Dec. P.J.

MORIARTY'S PUB ft RESTAURANT 1 1 16 Walnut St, 627-9715. Fris-Sats, the No Respect for the Human Condition Players and the Soubrettes. COMEDY CABARET Hyatt Cherry Hill, Rte 70 Cuthbert Blvd. Cherry Hill, 609-665-6581. Tonight-Sat, Big Daddy Graham, Brian McKim and Trad Skene.

MITCHELL'S COMEDY CAFE Broad St, Palmyra. 609-829-3161. Tonight-Sat, Nick Carmen, John Trueson and Rocky LIBRARY IV 816 Black Horse Pike, Williams-town, 629-8960. Fri-Sat, George Morris. LONDONSHIRE HOUSE Rte 130, Burlington, 387-3611.

Dixieland. Wed. Jersey Devils Dixie Jazz Band. Oldies. Fri-Sat, Don Dianne.

LUCIEN'S 81 White Horse Pike, Berlin, 767-2500. Top 40. Thu-Sat, Pasquale Reese. MAMA VENTURA'S Rte 73, Kresson, 767-7400. Top 40.

Wed, Fri-Sat, City Lights. MEMORIES WEST Betsy Ross Plaza, Rte 130 North, Pennsauken, 665-7730. Rock-and-roll, oldies. Sat, Street Corner Band. OLDE GRADS LOUNGE 712 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn, 854-1199.

Rock-and-roll. Fri, The Rockets. Sat, Secret Service. OMAR'S Rte 42 Black Horse Pike, Blackwood, 228-OMAR. Top 40.

Sun-Thu, Sensation. PIRATES INN Moorstown-Centerton Rd, Mt Laurel, 235-5737. Wed-Sat, Magic Touch. RON JAWORSKI'S EAGLES' NEST Woodbury-Glassboro Rd, Deptford, 464- Comedy clubs Philadelphia clubs BACCHANAL 1320 South St, 645-6983. Variety.

Tonight, the Fabulous Fondas and Tons of Nuns. Sat, Philly Gumbo. Sun, Bluet Festival featuring eight bands. Thu, Glenn BEN SALEM COMEDY CLUB 2000 Brown Ave, Bensalem, 639-5590. Tonight-Sat, Dan.