Viper Room’s Anything but Snake-Bitten

Friday the 13th will go down as a lucky day for those who get into the Viper Room. Although the Muffs are scheduled to play--good fun in and of itself--the night will be special because a music legend is supposed to take to the Viper’s small but illustrious stage. We can’t exactly name names, but we can drop a few major hints: Phil Spector is an ex; “Be My Baby” was a huge hit; and a member of the Ronettes is performing the following night at the Universal Amphitheatre. Phew. That should do it. Oh yeah, and Joey Ramone is producing her new album. . . .

That old crazy Viper, where would this city be without it? Over the last couple of weeks Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan electrified a capacity crowd (while those who didn’t get in had their ears to the building on Sunset Boulevard) and Kula Shakur shook the house. And that’s not all: Maceo from De La Soul got his collective groove on, while everyone from Marilyn Manson to members of Hole enjoyed the view. Next up is Lisa Loeb, who performs on Feb. 21 and clubsville’s favorite rock ‘n’ roll nobility, the Upper Crust, returns on March 9.

That’s not even the half of it: Sporting a Manic Panic pageboy, actress Tina Yothers came out of the woodwork on Monday, bringing her band, Jaded, along for the ride. And the real news is Tenacious D’s third wheel, Peter Parker, who plays Spiderman, had a date this week with the Viper Room’s PR-ess extraordinaire, Kelley Kai--wait, that’s not the news--what we meant to write was the West Hollywood nightclub is currently negotiating with bad-TV’s goober-king, Jerry Springer, who is considering broadcasting upcoming L.A. shows from the Room. . . .

If any more celebrities show up on Wednesday nights at the Opium Den, it’ll burst at the seams. Attracted to the Hollywood nightclub by ‘80s cover band Men Without Sex are Leonardo DiCaprio (who’s there each week and says he’s taking the next year off); Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson; next year’s “It” man actor Toby Maguire; and John Cusack. Surely, these guys should be able to get dates.