Dokken rocks back into the spotlight

Forget Reaganomics. Perestroika, schmerestroika. And don’t even start with that boring Iran Contra scandal stuff.

The real question the children of the ‘80s want answered goes much deeper than silly world-

changing politics: What the hell happened to Dokken?

The band was an unstoppable force in the butt-rocking under-

belly of the decade of skinny ties and yuppie scum – but where did it go?

Well, whether or not Dokken spent the past fifteen years wallowing in obscurity is a matter of perspective.

Mention the group to any hipster or pop music junkie and the response is bound to involve the dwindling days of T-top Pontiac Firebirds and middle-aged mullets.

But plenty of people still don Dokken T-shirts and sing along with “Into the Fire” without a hint of irony.

Many are the same cats who rush to the magazine rack to snag the latest copies of Guitar World and Hit Parader, right before heading to the music shop to shred guitar through overpriced amps and effects racks.

Those calloused-fingered shredders will turn out with the rest of the Dokken faithful at the group’s show at the Big Easy Concert House on Wednesday at 8 p.m. One thing to look forward to: Current lead guitarist Jon Levin’s wicked, lightning-fast riffage rocks a righteous homage to the age in which finger-tapping guitar virtuosity owned every sales chart.

Levin only joined the band in 2003 – original axe-man George Lynch split in 1988, and the band went through others over the years – but the ex-Warlock guitarist proves he can rip it up on the group’s latest album, “Hell to Pay,” which was released earlier this year into the hands of the fans who delivered the band’s career five gold and four platinum albums.

Old and new sound samples and songs can be found on the band’s Web site, www.dokken.net.

But guitar licks alone don’t make a hair metal band. The whole long-haired, shrieking butt-rock package has to be there.

Bassist Barry Sparks – who also joined the group in 2003 – owns his share of metalhead cred. According to VH1.com, Sparks slung bass axe for both Ted “the Nuge” Nugent and the virtuosic Yngwie Malmsteen.

Founding drummer Mick Brown’s still stroking the skins, and if history repeats itself, he may be doing a bit of singing – check the “Dokken – One Live Night” DVD to see Brown lend his pipes to the classic “Tooth and Nail.”

And, the one and only Don Dokken spearheads the group. A master of the classic, aggressively masculine – yet also undeniably feminine – butt-rock voice, Don Dokken is a legend in the waning hair-metal world, the fearless leader of a group in its twilight years.