Ric Ocasek: Two Cars, a Hole, and Minor Threat

Back on November 15, the Kenmore Square rock club that was the Boston equivalent of CBGB's back in the late '70s and early '80s -- the Rat -- finally shut down. Just a week later, last Saturday night, one of the best-known artists to have launched a career from the Rat's beer-soaked stage, Cars leader Ric Ocasek, was back in town supporting his new Troublizing (Columbia) at the Paradise. When you consider the acutely diminished stature of the Rat in recent years, the reportedly large crowd at the club's final night is a bit of a surprise. Much more shocking, however, was the sparse attendance at the Ocasek gig: fewer than 200 paying customers turned up. And that's despite the fact that he has remained a vital behind-the-scenes player in the '90s, both as a producer for bands like Weezer, Hole, Bad Religion, and D-Generation and as an influence on contemporary rockers like Smashing Pumpkin head Billy Corgan, who acknowledged the Cars by covering "You're All I've Got Tonight."

Corgan co-produced Troublizing, Ocasek's finest solo effort to date, and the first to muster the same simple combination of sharp biting guitars and new-wavy keyboards that powered the early Cars. The disc also features a remarkably strong supporting cast: Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker, and Nada Surf drummer Ira Elliot, as well as Cars vet Greg Hawkes on keyboards, all of whom signed on as part of the current tour. You'd think those names would be enough to move a few extra units or at least generate some heavy-rotation airplay. They haven't been. You'd think that if Duran Duran can get 1000 fans into the Orpheum, two Cars should be able to sell at least half that many tickets in their old hometown. They couldn't.

But neither that nor a technical glitch with Hawkes's keyboard that interrupted the beginning of the 15-song Paradise set appeared to stall the band's loose momentum. Outfitted in black leather pants, and with his brother and his wife, Paulina Porizkova, in the modest crowd, Ocasek opened with the new "The Next Right Moment," a driving three-chord rocker fueled by Baker's Ramones-y guitar and Elliot's muscular backbeat. Once Hawkes's keyboards were back on line, and after a quick quip from Ocasek ("We're taking long breaks between each song, it helps us get up the energy for the next one"), the band tore into two Cars tunes, the brisk and spazzy "Up and Down" and an aggressive version of "Since You're Gone."

Baker, who was a member of the revered DC hardcore band Minor Threat back when Ocasek produced the American punk tour-de-force Rock for Light for the Bad Brains, seemed to relish the opportunity to apply his formidable chops to some Cars classics, especially "Just What I Needed," on which he played Elliot Easton's fluid solo note for note. And Ocasek was happy to oblige. "Moving in Stereo," "Candy-O," and "Shake It Up" were dispersed among half a dozen Troublizing selections, as was the synth-poppy "Time Bomb," from an earlier solo album. Ocasek also gave Auf der Maur a little plum: she got to do the lead vocal on "Drive," the big ballad hit Cars bassist Ben Orr used to sing.

Still, if Baker, Auf der Maur, Corgan and a song as catchy as "The Next Right Moment" can't put Ocasek back on the charts, you have to wonder what will. You also have to wonder whether Ocasek, who turns 49 next year and could easily fill his time producing, will bother to mount another tour. So barring a major turn-around, I wouldn't be surprised if his acoustic show this week at the House of Blues (which won't be the same as seeing him with the band) is the last we hear from Ric for quite some time. Just a hunch. At least he'll have gone out with a bang, even if there weren't that many people there to hear it.

-- Matt Ashare

(Ric Ocasek plays an acoustic show at the House of Blues this Monday, December 1. Call 491-BLUE.)