Hammerjacks

All summer, it seemed as if everyone in the music industry was singing the same song: the "Business Is Bad" blues. As the fall approaches, few expect to change their tune -- but they are changing their tactics.Those on the concert side are scaling back after a summer that saw ticket sales off by 20 percent and several major tours canceled. There are some stars hitting the road now -- soul crooner Luther Vandross, hard rockers Van Halen and dance idol Paula Abdul among them -- but many more will be sitting out the season in hope that the new year will bring better business.

A Baltimore Circuit Court jury has awarded more than $300,000 in damages to a 22-year-old man who was severely beaten four years ago by bouncers at Hammerjacks nightclub.The verdict came Wednesday after 2 1/2 hours of deliberations and three days of testimony before Judge John N. Prevas. A lawyer for Hammerjacks said the club will appeal the decision.The jury awarded Daniel M. Bowen, now a Marine Corps corporal, $10,655 in medical expenses, $140,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages.

Bassist Chip Z'Nuff makes no secret about his band's intentions for tomorrow's show at Hammerjacks.''We're coming in and turning the place into a tiny little indoor Woodstock without the mud,'' Z'Nuff said. ''Tell everybody to come with the peace signs and the paisley and we'll rock the place for an hour and a half.''Enuff Z'Nuff, the band Chip fronts with singer Donnie Vie, guitarist Derek Frigo and drummer Vikki Foxx, will be playing its second national date on a tour supporting its latest album, ''Strength.

Reducing an arena-sized show to nightclub dimensions is always a mixed proposition. On the one hand, you lose a lot of spectacle in the transition to a smaller stage, while on the other, you gain a degree of intimacy impossible in hockey rinks.Such was the case when the triple bill of Winger, Extreme and Tangier played Hammerjacks over the weekend. Compared to most arena shows, Saturday's had little in the way of visual flash, with minimal lighting and only a touch of dry-ice fog onstage.

THE MUSIC OF Tony Berry and New Money gave partygoers a good aerobic workout at the Heart Ball Saturday night. Fitness was the theme of this annual fund-raiser, and Paul Wolhman's decorations were just what the doctor ordered -- high tech with lots of neon, black lighting and cutout dance figures in neon colors. And it's really amusing to see that the Electric Slide has made such a comeback and is one of the most popular dances at area galas.Even the guest of honor, Dr. Elijah Saunders, head of hypertension of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, spent a lot of time on the dance floor.

It's not unusual for area concert promoters to talk about a "soft" market or a lack of quality shows during the post-holiday season.But the problems in booking performances this season has extended beyond the run-of-the-mill weather related difficulties and lack of record sales after Christmas.One promoter said thinking about the future of live music in the Baltimore-Washington marketplace is "frightening."A quick glimpse at the concert calendar shows its obvious holes.The Capital Centre has four acts on its schedule: ZZ Top (Sunday and Monday)

The soap opera saga of the rock star, the model and Donald Trump took another turn over the weekend.Model Rowanne Brewer -- who had been seen in previous weeks at the side of Trump -- was at Hammerjacks Saturday night with her longtime beau, Baltimore rocker Brian Jack, lead singer of the popular local band Child's Play.The couple had returned from a Christmas visit to her family's home in North Carolina. Because of that visit, Jack, whose real name is Brian Giacubeno, missed four of the band's performances last week, causing Child's Play to cancel three of the dates and leaving a scheduled New Year's Eve performance Hammerjacks in limbo.

With a name like Every Mother's Nightmare, image can be big problem."We're kind of viewed like some thrash heavy metal metal band -- death metal or something," said guitarist Steve Malone.It's an easy, yet false, assumption to make. The album cover is full of dark features and the band's gothic logo, featuring an angry skull, certainly don't help to sell it as anything even remotely mainstream.But all it takes is one listen to Nightmare's self-titled debut album -- just your basic Southern-influenced hard rock with a couple of power ballads thrown in -- to realize that this is one band that shouldn't be judged by its cover.

What began as a seemingly innocuous conversation between Jill Kadron, a bar maid at Hammerjacks, and friend Bret MichaelsMichaels, the lead singer for the rock band Poison, finally came to fruition last night at Hammerjacks.Three weeks ago in Norfolk, Va., Kadron was visiting Michaels and the band on the road on their "Flesh and Blood" tour, and made a joke about the band showing up at her place of employment and playing a few songs for old-times' sake.Just three years ago, when Poison was an up-and-coming club act from Harrisburg, Pa., the band frequented Hammerjacks quite often and it's where Kadron met Michaels and guitarist C.C. DeVille.

Listen to Poison's current single, "Something to Believe In," and you'll hear singer Brett Michaels lament the abundance of social injustice in America today, from homeless people starving in the streets to Vietnam vets dying lonely and forgotten. "If there's a Lord above," he sings, "please give me something to believe in."Sit down and talk with the singer, though, and it quickly becomes obvious that he does have something to believe in -- the fans."Because the fans are always there," says Michaels over the phone from his home in Los Angeles.