In the whole retro-rooted world I come from, wallow in, gravitate to, and preach about, there are degrees of ragged energy that grab me before a band's talent or music does. I've always admired moxie and out-and-out-balls over proficiency. You can learn to be good - to a certain extent - but you can't study up on wild 'n' loose; either you is or you ain't. That's not to say that a thumbs-up from me means you're no good, you're no good, you're no good, baby you're no good... It's just that I love a big splash of wrong and raw along with the right and well done.

And just when I think I'll never see a band rock a stage with a classic nod and a contemporary irreverence - oh, say for example like The Supersuckers, New Bomb Turks, Nashville Pussy, Jack Black, Tenderloin, or The Hellacopters - a band like Buffalo's Handsome Jack comes into my life. Tuesday night on the Bug Jar stage, this band was cocky, arrogant, and brash, twisting the blues with gritty guitar and howling vocals. Handsome Jack is young, and weren't even an impure thought in their daddies' minds when long-haired rock initially took its white monkey wrench to black blues. The guitar shook me (yup, had to put a Zeppelin reference in here after sneaking in the Ronstadt). You could cut the bravado with a knife as one chica next to me lustfully eyeballed the stage, pointing directly at the bass player as he played in mid-gunfighter stance.

"I want him," she said.

There wasn't a dry seat in the house... or an un-ringing ear.

The sold-out crowd (lots of leather and lots of stripper heels) at Water Street Music Hall got righteously zombified Friday night at the feet of head-banging cinema auteur Rob Zombie. It was a first-rate rock spectacle with video monitors, projections, and a fairly intense light show - Zombie's favorite colors are apparently red and blue. It was at least 10 times better than I thought it was gonna be. The band was tight. Show highlights included a cool half-take on Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and of course the White Zombie rocker "Thunder Kiss 65," which grooved deep despite the band playing it entirely too fast. Assorted Rob Zombie movie clips accompanied the show and really drew together where Zombie comes from, what it sounds like, and what it looks like. The guy rocked his ass off, bounding around the stage like a pinball. He strikes me as genuinely into what he does and I found it a kinda funny to see the tour buses outside shrink-wrapped with adds for his upcoming DVD release. A real Zombie in Hollywood... cool.