HARD ROCK CAFE'S

ROCK N' ROLL PUNCH

A A A Comments By Chris Boyd Thursday, Apr 5 2007

Lil' Sis and I arrive at Hard Rock Cafe(502 Texas 713-227-1392) early on a Saturday night. We sit down and slam a near-fatal series of drinks: I'm drinking Rock N' Roll punches, and Lil' Sis is downing Hurricanes. Later, I survey the Hard Rock's impressive array of authentic rock memorabilia: a Doobie Brothers drum set, three signed guitars from KISS, Alice Cooper's jacket. As awesome as this is, it's a bit unsettling to see a cadre of grannies from an Ohio bowling league sitting near signed copies of Rolling Stone issues you used to tear through when you were 14. I silently pray that I don't happen to see a group of nuns seated under the Liz Phair issue I used to spank it to (RS692, for the incredibly thorough). As White Zombie's "Thunder Kiss '65" plays loudly, I realize the Hard Rock is capitalizing on the cyclical nature of nostalgia: One decade's anthem is another decade's novelty is another decade's retro. It's reminds me of the way people pay a mountain of cash to see Ringo Starr belt out Beatles songs he didn't originally sing. Perhaps in 2011, when everyone's wearing flannel and growing goatees, I'll be biting my tongue and forking over cash to see Dave Grohl sing Nirvana tunes. But until then, I have Hard Rock Cafe.