My brother Ethan is here visiting from SF and demands to be entertained. This has kept me popping and bopping around NY much more than usual and last night we headed over to the Luna Lounge in Williamsburg to see Heavy Trash, a rockabilly revivalist band fronted by Jon Spencer. You may know him from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion — or then again, you may not. Despite a devoted local following, the JSBG (or simply the Blues Explosion) never garnered the national fan base some in the rock press saw coming.

I never saw the JSBG, and can’t really tell if they are defunct or in hiatus while Spenser (ably assisted by guitarist Matt Verta-Ray and the power trio Power Solo) pursues his rockabilly dreams, but if his predilection to stop the band’s rocking and bring a song way down while he talks it to death was a hallmark of their performances, therein may lie the problem. I have always been of the opinion that irony kills rock, and his semi-coherent sermons about love and…something, seemed largely ironic.

One could argue that rockabilly has always had an element of humor and certainly progenitors like Billy Riley and Warren Smith were having fun with the squares by singing songs such as “Flying Saucer Rock ‘n” Roll” and “Ubangi Stomp,” respectively. But they sang them with a passion, not to mention a dixie twang, that the New Hampshire born JS just can’t touch. You’ve got to sing it like you mean it, son, no matter how stupid the song.

Ethan and I were the oldest folks in attendance by about twenty years, and between us we’ve seen our share of rockabilly revivalists (and pretenders). There’s a reason that bands such as the Stray Cats, as commercially successful as they were in their day, are critically neglected while the Blasters still sound fresh: Phil and Dave Alvin bought the dream, and never distanced themselves from the crowds or the music. (Dave, who wrote far more sophisticated songs than his rivals, plays solo these days.)

Heavy Trash may think of themselves as closer to the Cramps, who had one foot in goth with an aesthetic that owed more to the Addams Family than the Carter Family, and the T-shirts for sale at the merch table had a cartoonish quality remniscent of the Ramones. Ethan even bought a few for souvenirs, though as he said afterwards, “”It might be a better T-shirt than a band.” Don’t let this be your epitaph, kids.

MEDIA ALERT: Next week I will be guest blogging for the vacationing Jeff Bercovici, writing his Mixed Media column at Portfolio. Be sure to visit for tips, gossip and ill-informed opinions — and don’t forget to bring any dirt you may have picked up along the way.