In his snazziest ruffled shirt, Perry Farrell world premiered his new project, the Satellite Party, in a surprise performance at L.A.'s Key Club on Monday night. Flanked by No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal and former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt (and backed by drummer Kevin Figueiredo), the former Jane's Addiction frontman warmed up for this upcoming weekend's Lollapalooza with a forty-minute, seven-song set. The new material included the pop tune "Dogstar," the Seventies-flavored rocker "You Make My Hardlife Easy" and the ballad "Awesome." Farrell, eagerly played the part of crooner, telling the crowd, "I love to see so many beautiful faces" . . .
Most people were there for Metal Skool, the Eighties cover band who has been rocking the Sunset Strip for five years -- and attracting the likes of Jessica Simpson and Lindsay Lohan to the stage. "Lindsay came up with her stupid boyfriend and tried to sing a song," said singer Michael Star. "Women want to see what's in the spandex." The Skool's golden rule of rock & roll dating? Go where the women are. "If you want to get laid, go to a Poison or Bon Jovi show," he said. "Don't go see Maiden" . . .
Speaking of Eighties cover bands, Ryan Cabrera celebrated his twenty-third birthday on Sunday by checking out Hollywood's Spazmatics at the Dragonfly. Cabrera went straight to the club after shooting the video for "Shine On," the lead single from his You Stand Watching album (out September 20th). On hand to help mark the occasion was Napoleon Dynamite's Efren Ramirez (Pedro!), who surprised Cabrera with a cake . . .
Backstage at the Warped Tour, Dropkick Murphys singer Al Barr shared his holiday plans: He and the band are heading to England to play some shows with the Pogues. The last time the two groups shared a stage was in London with the late Joe Strummer, at one of his final shows. "Joe was amazing," Barr said. "He opened with like eight Clash songs and I had tears coming down my face. Then we sat on the stage with Joe, drank wine and watched the Pogues play" . . .
Andre 3000 was at New York's Irving Plaza to see Esthero on Thursday night. The Toronto diva, who's rolling across the U.S. with an eleven-piece band (and her little dog Oboe), recorded a track with the OutKast singer last year. But Esthero isn't overly eager to make friends with another American pop star: After belting out the opening lines of her single "We R in Need of a Musical Revolution" ("I'm so sick and tired of the shit on the radio . . . No matter where I go I see Ashanti in the video") she paused the band and said, "I'll say it again," and then did. Luckily, Ashanti was presumably out seeing Poison . . .
Additional reporting by Bill Crandall
