Three-Ring Chaos

Mirror Man’s second act, as yet unrecorded, culminates in “Bay City,” a code name for Santa Monica drawn from Raymond Chandler’s novels. In Thomas’ description, “It’s where the irresistible force meets the immovable Pacific object.” The current version’s vocal lineup has clear ties to the work’s beachfront endpoint: In addition to mainstays Thomas, Holman and Robert Kidney, the Los Angeles cast includes Frank Black and legendary arranger/Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks.

“The piece has always ended up in Bay City, but doing it here, I instantly thought of two people who aren’t actually from Los Angeles. Frank’s work is very rich — it has an abstract perspective, but it’s been full of California imagery since he’s moved here.” And Thomas’ connection to Parks’ work is nothing new: The latest of several Beach Boys covers is the title track of his 2001 release with Two Pale Boys — a distended reading of the Parks/Wilson masterwork “Surf’s Up.” (“I haven’t asked what he thinks of it,” Thomas says. “I don’t think I want to know.”)

It’s the final night that should crush the high-art/low-art barrier into toothpicks. Before a set by Pere Ubu’s current lineup, the show marks the only appearance since 1975 by Rocket From the Tombs, the pre-Ubu outfit that included Thomas, the Dead Boys’ Cheetah Chrome (then Gene O’Connor) and the late Peter Laughner. Compiling an official CD issue (released last year on Nevada’s Smog Veil Records) of Rocket’s oft-bootlegged recordings led directly to the current reunion. “We re-formed relationships that had been dormant. Gene would have me sit in with his band when I was around, and [bassist] Craig Bell started showing up, and we remembered why we enjoyed being in this particular band. And Pere Ubu needed an opening act.”

Reuniting Rocket From the Tombs minus Laughner, who died of pancreatitis just over a year after leaving an early version of Pere Ubu, could seem a questionable decision, but the choice of Television’s Richard Lloyd as his stand-in makes it considerably less so. Says Thomas, “When Gene thought of Richard, it fit, because Peter was a great admirer of Television. His playing isn’t the same as Peter’s, but their styles are compatible.” (Laughner organized Television’s first Cleveland shows, and named his short-lived post-Ubu band after the New York quartet’s song “Friction.”)

If the revamped Rocket can kindle a fraction of its original fire, Sunday’s set will make a fitting and, yes, messy climax to Disastodrome!, with Thomas bellowing material by his first inspirations (the Stooges’ “Search & Destroy,” the Velvets’ “Foggy Notion”), as well as raw versions of songs Rocket’s splinter groups later re-recorded (Ubu’s “Final Solution,” the Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer”). Asked if he’s worried about finding the energy to front his two punk-era projects in a single evening, Thomas laughs: “I’m a tough old bird, so I’m not too worried. But I’m glad it’s on the last night.”

DISASTODROME! | UCLA’s Freud Playhouse | Friday through Sunday, February 21 through 23