Had Trevor Rabin been alone when he headed down to L.A.’s Roxy recently to catch Steve Stevens in concert, the latter-day Yes guitarist probably would’ve gone unnoticed for the night. While Rabin is well-respected among serious six-string students, his long rocker’s hair and boy-next-door looks don’t exactly make him stand…

To many of the tragically hip nightclub hoppers on L.A.’s Sunset Strip, the posters plastered all up and down the boulevard probably looked at first like advance publicity for a This Is Spinal Tap sequel. Picture it: Five typical-looking heavy-metal glamour boys in studded black leather trousers, shirts opened to…

“Cycles. The return of that classic high-spirited, uninhibited, good time rock ‘n’ roll sound only the Doobie Brothers can create. Cycles. Reuniting the founding members of the legendary band. Cycles. Resulting in the same great guitar sounds, smooth ensemble vocals and sparkling songwriting. Cycles!” –from a recent Capitol Records press…

Ask Jon Bon Jovi what kind of car he drives, and the 27-year-old rock superstar will tell you straight up, with no hesitation: “A Jeep.” It’s the kind of vehicle he feels comfortable with, probably because it fits in so well with the unassuming, regular guy image he’s always managed…

Around the L.A. offices of Polygram Records these days, executives are already referring to Saraya as the label’s next Bon Jovi. And why not? Like Polygram’s most successful act, its newest property is also a young five-piece band from New Jersey that produces catchy, hook-laden hard rock songs capable of…

first, it feels like an earthquake with a sense of rhythm or Dom DeLuise and David Crosby walking up the driveway in ski boots. BOOM! BOOM! The refrigerator begins wiggling around the kitchen like Jerry Lewis conducting a rhumba band. BOOM! BOOM! The coffee table hovers across the living-room parquet…

The voice wriggles out of radio speakers quietly at first, like a stealthy alley cat stalking its prey. Husky, urgent and infused with enough racing hormones to stage its own libidinal grand prix, the voice delivers the song’s pleading tale of unrequited lust for an underage temptress with ever-escalating fervor,…

A scene from a recent Miami Vice nailed it perfectly. Exterior: A chic poolside party for the art world’s local elite. Startling expressionistic creations by this year’s Warhols slicing up the stark-blue skyline–unframed abstracts in vivid, high-gloss colors beside sharp, looming sculptures. Deathly solemn, culturally overbred men and women–looking like…

Kevin Ryder had already played the new Madonna single, “Like a Prayer,” three times in a row when he started taking calls from the listeners frantically lighting up the phone lines in the broadcast booth. “KZZP, hi,” said the nighttime deejay and assistant program director for Phoenix’s top-rated contemporary-hits station…

“Conquer America?” Peter O’Toole ponders the phrase for a few moments, savoring its alluring bouquet, allowing the full breadth of its implications to settle, as any good Irishman waits patiently for the creamy head to fall on a just-pulled pint of Guinness. There’s a quiet echo on the London-to-Phoenix telephone…

Darkness falls on the edge of town where East Washington finally breaks loose from the Phoenix city limits and funnels the bumper-to-bumper procession of commuters out of the business hub and toward their after-five suburban oases in Tempe, Mesa, Ahwatukee and beyond. To the west, a gorgeous Arizona sunset illuminates…