NOISE

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo




Where: Mandalay Bay Beach


When: 9 p.m., July 15


Price: $41.25-$46.75


Info: 632-7580

1. Were you technically a member of the Grateful Dead or more of a fellow traveler?

Garcia referred to me as "the floating member." It sounds a little priapic, does it not? But that's what he called me so I'll defer to his description.

2. Can you compare the experience of having solo hits in the '80s to performing as part of the Dead in the '90s?

Neither of them are preferable to what we've been doing in the last eight years. There's a boxed set coming out next August and that will show what I'm talking about.

3. Do you still keep in touch with Huey Lewis? What do you guys talk about?

I talked to him about three days ago because I read in the paper that it was his birthday. He and I are both involved in lots of different things. I'm making a bluegrass record with Ricky Skaggs so he's curious about that. I've been commissioned to write a Broadway musical, so he's very interested in hearing about that, and he's going to star on Broadway in the musical Chicago in the fall, so I'm curious to hear about that. There's always something going on.

"Her tomboy-ish hair is tousled just right and her cowlick is mildly reminiscent of Alfalfa, though I doubt he could master the same technique of mixing fierce beats while working on a cigarette."

DJ Sandra Collins


Where: Ice, 200 E. Harmon Ave.


When: 11 p.m., July 16


Price: Varies


Info: 699-5528

"My kids didn't know what I did for a living. They had never seen me play or sing before. It was a different experience bringing my children. My kids had the best time ever. Luckily, they are at the age where they think it's pretty cool. Roland's kids, being older, have more of that balance between it's sort of cool and it's sort of embarrassing."

Tears for Fears


Where: Mandalay Bay Beach


When: 9 p.m., July 16


Price: $44-$49.50


Info: 632-7580

Dion (3 stars)

Dion DiMucci's hits span the period from the doo-wop groups of the '50s to the folk-rock that closed out the decade that followed. This gathering of 14 solo hits has everything you'd expect ("The Wanderer" and "Runaround Sue"), and even the song you most fear ("Abraham, Martin and John").

Alkaline Trio (3 stars)

Like AFI, Alkaline Trio add goth flourishes to their catchy punk-pop songs. Their fifth album is a healthy mix of energetic SoCal punk and atmospheric piano, with plenty of lyrics about angst and death. Like their logo (a skull inside a heart), Alkaline Trio's music is equal parts sweet and dangerous.

Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation (4.5 stars)

This is Robert Plant's best solo album. Mixing world music, metal and the blues on Mighty Rearranger, Plant confidently demonstrates how a golden god grew into a wise old man.