Osko’s Cloudy Future Could Hurt Pop Scene

Summer has always been the best season for local clubs, but this year may be a washout for many club-goers if the situation at Osko’s Disco on the West Hollywood-Beverly Hills border doesn’t clear up. Osko’s four rooms are home to five rotating clubs, ranging in style from hard rock to hard funk, trash-glam and glitter to urban underground and dance-hall reggae. The potpourri of pop happening on the Westside has never been more varied, thanks to AC/DC (which operates on Thursday), the BBC (Friday), Funky Reggae (Saturday), Klub Kaos (Wednesday) and White Trash au Go Go (Friday).

But over the last few weeks, rumors have circulated among the independent promoters at Osko’s that the club was going to be torn down or renovated. In either case, word was passed down from Osko’s management that all outside club operations would cease at the end of April. Late last week there were indications that the outside clubs may continue through June.

The on-again, off-again situation at Osko’s is not a new story for veteran promoters at the club. Janyce de Soto, who runs the popular live music venue White Trash au Go Go, said that a similar period of uncertainty occurred last year. And while nothing may change for a while, like other Osko’s promoters, she’s scouting around for a new location.

The uncertainty comes down to the fact that longtime lease owner Osko Karaghossian is finally getting out because of rent increases. His impression is that when he’s gone, there’s only a 50-50 chance that the eccentric, futuristic structure on La Cienega Boulevard will be renovated. “One way or another, we have to close in the next few months,� Karaghossian said.

De Soto is undaunted. “I’ll definitely keep it going,� she said of her White Trash au Go Go. “It may not be Hollywood, but I’ll get something somewhere, hopefully where 18-year-olds can come in. This has been going on for a while. I’m going to look for a new space because it’s hard to book bands when you have that hanging over your head. The doors will not close on White Trash. I’d bum out too many bands.�

Chase, the promoter who runs Klub Kaos, said she moved in just a few weeks ago with the understanding that everything may be over by the end of April. “I’ve had bands approach me saying, ‘Please book me in the Cave (the kitschy subterranean ‘grotto’) before it closes down!’ Osko’s is a landmark.�

IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT: Maggie and Melissa Connell, the sisters who led L.A.’s new wave-era band the Heaters, are back with a new band called Goes the Weasel (get it?), hoping for a live debut sometime in May.

Meanwhile, there’s the matter of the other Heaters--the band that backed Bruce Willis’ ill-fated foray into rock and still plays regularly in L.A. clubs.

“We’re trying to figure out what to do about that,� said Maggie, noting that the name conflict cuts into the sisters’ plans to issue previously unreleased material and reissue the original albums of their Heaters. Some sort of legal action is a possibility, she said.

Of the new project, Maggie is much less somber: “The music business is taking itself so seriously with techno-rock and video, and we’re establishing a stance against that with humor.

“We really want to do something different and get something happening ‘cause there’s no scene here. All you’ve got is either the moaning death-rock or the Wong’s West ‘Look-at-me,-I’m-gonna-get-a-record-deal’ hysteria.�

GERM RETURN: The debut solo LP of former Germs/45 Grave/Twisted Roots guitarist Pat Smear has just been released on SST: “Pat RuthenSmear.� Ruthensmear (his real name) started the album more than a year ago and says he doesn’t know why it took him so long to branch out on his own.

“It’s always like, ‘Let’s start a band. It’ll be the greatest thing we’ve ever done!’ � he said. “And then a year later it’s over, the band’s gone and the name’s gone. I always thought I’d prefer being in a group rather than going solo, but I just got tired of being in bands with people who turned out to be heroin addicts.�

Ruthensmear’s live band (with Simi Valley bassist Fred Trujillo and Portland drummer Chuck Arjavac) will make its local debut at the John Anson Ford Theatre with the Fall on May 27.

HAPPY TRAILS: Rosie Flores’ shows this week--Tuesday at the Little Nashville Club with the Screamin’ Sirens, Dave Alvin and others, Friday at the Palomino (with her band) and Saturday at McCabe’s (acoustic)--will be your last chance to see her as an Angeleno. The ex-Screamin’ Siren who went on to national recognition as a country singer last year is packin’ up her saddlebags and moving to Austin, Tex., near her San Antonio birthplace, as of next Sunday.

“I need some wide-open spaces now,� the singer said, adding that she leaves L.A. with 10 years’ worth of fond memories. “The main reason for the move is to try to broaden my musical intake and inspiration. I came to a writer’s block here in L.A. I want to get into the west Texas and south Texas music and my Mexican roots. I’ve been contemplating the move for two years and the opportunity came to live in a beautiful house by the lake.�

Writer’s block or no, Flores has begun work on the follow-up to her acclaimed debut of last year. She’s just back from Nashville, where she recorded four songs, including a Christmas tune slated for a Warner Bros. compilation next winter. She said one of the other songs may be issued as a single in late May.

NEWS ‘N’ NOTES: The new Ash Grove is opening its doors at Highland Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard with a series of preview film, music and cultural events, including a concert Thursday by local folk-blues singer/songwriter Kristina Olsen and singer/guitarist John Gorka.

Rock’s answer to Jolt Cola, All, makes its local debut May 13 at the Variety Arts Center. “Allroy Sez,� the first album by this descendant of the Descendents, is making waves on college radio with its post-Buzzcocks and Undertones hyperactive tunefulness. . . .

The third annual Skate Rock show from Goldenvoice takes place Friday at Fender’s. The show is being headlined by Boston band Gang Green and features local skate-rock acts, including Bad Religion, Orange County’s Work World and Santa Barbara’s Odd Man Out. Emcee will be Skatemaster Tate, who has a new LP about to come out). . . .

SST is releasing its first reggae record: local dread Ras Michael’s “Ras Michael Zion Train.� The album was recorded here and in Jamaica with former Bad Brains singer H.R. at the controls.