It's a strange scene, "like something you'd see in a movie," Kathy Zimmer says.

Blackened rubble slopes up and over where the lip of the stage used to be. No roof means tilting your head up and confronting open blue sky, brutal sun lighting the place in a way the glory days of the dim Golden West never knew. The wooden floors are fine. An untouched blue can of linseed oil sits atop a blackened circular bar table. A rag soaked in that oil was blamed for the fire.

In the liner notes to his Grammy-nominated CD, In Flux (Savoy Jazz, 2005), tenor and soprano saxophonist Ravi Coltrane thanks his teachers at the California Institute of the Arts (who included Charlie Haden, James Newton, Paul Novros and David Roitstein) for conveying the importance of pursuing a personal approach.

Pop-art merits aside, I especially like Levi 11’s poster because it reminds me of a scene from in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. “C'mon, Simone, let's talk about your big ‘But.’ ” This Friday’s show at Atomic Cantina stars Volume Volume, Unit 7 Drain, Demons and The Rip Torn. Free, “but” you have to be 21 (zing!). (LM)

If it isn't crushed under the weight of its own hype, Tucson's Mostly Bears could emerge as the leader of the next prog-rock revolution. The Ed Mitchell Clinic strikes a balance between unrelenting progish jamming and gushing-but-brisk melodies. Just when things border on flighty self-indulgence, the band brings itself back to task before drowsiness can set in. There's still more copycatting than name-making, but considering this is the band's first full-length LP, there's a striking "next big thing" element to the record. (SM)

Between 1978 and 1983 The Beat (known in North America as The English Beat) was a pre-eminent part of the ska revival movement known as 2 Tone. As the second-wave legends they became, the group, already greatly endowed by Saxa, a saxophonist who had played with the likes of Desmond Dekker, shared the stage with the distinguished acts of the era such as David Bowie, The Clash, The Police, The Pretenders and Talking Heads. Three decades and 6,000 miles of separation later, the one original band has become two. Original toaster Ranking Roger continues the legacy in England as The Beat, and Dave Wakeling, the band's original singer, carries on the American contingent as The English Beat. Wakeling, also a 20-year stateside resident, a former Greenpeace employee, personal hero and an all-around nice guy, took time to talk to me over the phone this week.