August 2, 2001 HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA - Cool Grrrls do play with dolls and the coolest of them play the Doll Hut! On July 19th the Cool Grrrls took over Linda’s Doll Hut for a farewell extravaganza, bidding au revoir to the legendary punk venue in style and offering props to one of the coolest chicks around, Linda. Starting the fete off with a bang were OC locals Fifty 7 Down. They packed the place with their fans and, with guitars blazing, blew the doors wide open. Their fast and tight set of rockabilly-tinged punk kicked the party into gear and set the tempo for a fun-filled rock n’ roll romp - just the way it’s supposed to be! With lovely LuLu serving up beers, New Times columnist Jim Freek, Miss LA @ Nite Kastle, and various hepcats and kitties from LA and OC in attendance, the party was primed to begin. And begin it did! Fifty 7 Down are an up-and-coming band making a strong name for themselves around SoCal. Keep your eyes peeled and ears open for their new CD, due out soon - we’ll of course tell you about it here first… Next up were our good buddies Blockage. Sean and the boys ripped out a hot set of good old fashioned rock n’ roll and kept the tempo slammin’ and jammin’. An avid following sang and danced along as they did some new originals and mixed in some classic covers. A few weeks back Kitty reviewed their CD - check it out and write Sean for a copy yourself. These boys are a taste of pure, unpretentious rock and for anyone who’s sick and tired of overproduced radio trash, Blockage is the band for you. Like Fifty 7 Down, they cranked the party into high gear and kept it reeling and real. Following Blockage was the band with our favourite name, Rockstar Barbeque. With Weber blazing and band wailing, the boys delivered a great set. Highly appropriate for Rockstar Barbeque to be playing since they were produced by the late Dennis Danell of Social Distortion who used to frequent the club, the band put on a show of which Dennis would’ve been proud. You could just feel the love (and legends of punk rockers past) in the room. Even his parents made it down for the event, as did Marika, drummer Paul’s brand new wife - congratulations! The band sounded better than ever and truly provided a summertime feast of tasty licks for all. Last but certainly not least, Bubble closed the show - but not before turning it up three notches and getting everyone - including Kastle and LuLu into the act. It was my first time seeing Bubble, who are getting quite a buzz in LA (they often play Taime Down’s Pretty Ugly club), and let me tell you they lived up to the hype and more. A cross between Blondie, Abba, The Sweet, and The New York Dolls (but with better voices!), the band has glam rock appeal with truly melodic, catchy tunes. Testament to their strength, everyone - including the bands - stayed for their set and even danced along! They did their own songs, peppered with humor, and belted out a great Carpenter’s cover (see video clip). Lead singer Share, a very cool grrrl, has a gorgeous voice and mixed with this trio creates a pop powerhouse that is at the same time fun and fabulous. Be sure to catch them in LA or anywhere - watch Kastle’s column for the word on show dates. After all that great music it was hard to leave. Especially knowing that it may be one of the last nites ever at the Doll Hut. The good news is that the original closing date of August 4th has been extended. But the bad news is that it doesn’t look like the club will be around after month’s end. We want to take this opportunity to thank Linda and her wonderful establishment for providing such great entertainment and such a cool place to hang and for musicians to play for so many years. We wish Linda the best of luck with everything and hope we haven‘t heard the last of the Doll Hut (we know we haven’t!). Thanks to all the bands - Fifty 7 Down, Blockage, Rockstar Barbeque, and Bubble - who made Cool Grrrls Nite Out at the Doll Hut such an overwhelming success. Long live punk rock and long live the Doll Hut - hip, hip hooray! d-grrrl click on pictures to view photos by frank - video by d-grrrl