CRASHING SOUNDS
Nightranger checked out the trendy new Las Palmas space Element last Friday — the club where Paris Hilton and her genius Greek boy-toy rammed into a truck ’cause he was driving with a jackass, uh, jacket, on his head. We weren’t there to catch another famous, fucked-up fender-bender, but rather to see neo-new wavers The Sounds because, yup, we missed their secret set last week at Ruby Tuesdays. The sexy Swedes offered a high-energy set of buoyant rock, coming off like a meatier Missing Persons with shades of Blondie-esque sonic swagger. One thing to be excited about regarding Element: It’s got decent sound, so here’s hoping more live shows — and fewer traffic accidents outside — are in its future.


DOWN & DIRTY
Foxy U.K. songstress Dirty Harry packed the Viper Room last Thursday (at 8 p.m. no less) for her first-ever L.A. show with her band (featuring guitarist/boy-about-town Eden Galindo and Eagles of Death Metal drummer Samantha Maloney),who spewed a rousing Runaways-style rawk set. Harry, who can be heard crooning on the last Tommy Lee disc — and has just been tapped for the Anton Corbijn flick about Joy Division —is a lass with sass, and no, she’s not hairy, she’s just hot. Remember the name, kiddies. Congrats go out to URB mag’s new head honcho, former associate ed Josh Glazer (who DJs every Thursday at Loosetooth at Joseph’s Café) and to Star Shoes, which celebrated its fourth b-day Sunday with free drinks and the freaky/funky DJ sounds of Cut Chemist and Peanutbutter Wolf. Both those dudes can be heard on the new Shoes (ha, ha remember Nu-Shooz?) compilation CD, sure to wear down your soles (but not your soul).

THE RUB ON THE RUBY
The abrupt closure of Hollywood Boulevard clubbin’ staple The Ruby (due to fire code troubles) has left some of the city’s ragingest dance-o-ramas scrambling for new homes. Mike Stewart and Bruce Perdew’s industrial Thursday-night Perversion party had to make a quick one-time trek to Boardner’s,while Jason Lavitt’s totally ’80s Sunday club Beat It bopped over to the Avalon. Now the game of musical chairs has gotten even more confusing: Haircut hottie-spot Bang! switched from Saturday to Thursday and is now at Boardner’s, while Perversion has settled west at 7969 (which is in the process of being sold). Still with us? Stewart and Perdew’s Friday night Clockwork Orange took over AD, which was formerly occupied by Dungeon.And, oh yeah, this coming Wednesday, Beat It will be at the Henry Fonda for a special pre-turkey day bash. Whew! Our heads are still spinning, especially since we actually tried to check out most of the venue switcheroos. Our predictions? With enough time to promote, Bang! shows real potential at Boardner’s, while Clockwork Orange’s eclectic retro mix offers a flashy-fun feel we haven’t seen at the Highland Avenue space since the wild days of Club Cherry.As for The Ruby, its future is in limbo, though we hear the owner is hard at work fixin’ the problems. Let’s just hope he doesn’t swank up the place too much, ’cause the last thing Hollywood needs is another velvet-roped VIP (very irritating people) vortex.?

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