JAXX

Wang Chung?

Whatever.

Clearly none of these acts took to heart Neil Young's admonition that "it's better to burn out than to fade away." It would be easy to make fun of these guys, I guess. But I say "more power to them" (as long as they're not embarrassing themselves), and more power to Jay Nedry, owner of Jaxx.

Set in a Northern Virginia shopping plaza at the intersection of Rolling Road and Old Keene Mill Road, Jaxx is hard to find if you've never been there. It's inside an old movie theater behind a Mobil station, and there's only a small sign out front, which is blocked by the sign of the adjacent kebab restaurant.

Since the movie theater went out of business in 1979, the space that's now Jaxx has had five different names, but the thread throughout has been Nedry's band, the Roadducks, a southern-rock cover band nearly 30 years old that's rocked the place in its every incarnation. Nedry, the Roadducks' drummer, booked the place on and off for several years in the early '90s before finally taking it over himself in 1996. Now his band plays there a couple of times a month, usually closing out a night after a national act performs, and that is when Jaxx is at its best, with Roadducks fans cheering on the band, pumping their fists in rock salutes and hollering as loudly as they can.

Jaxx caters to all kinds of folks, but if you were to describe the prototypical Jaxx patron, it would be a Roadducks fan. He might look like the guy I saw there watching them play earlier this year after a set by Leslie West (remember Leslie West? In Mountain? "Mississippi Queen" was his big hit about 30 years ago). This fella had on an old Harley jacket and a backward baseball cap holding down his brown mullet. He had a mustache and was about 45, drinking a bottle of Budweiser and chatting up Kimmie at the bar.

Kimmie? That's Nedry's significant other, head bartender and chief head-turner, a big-haired beauty whose job seems to be stirring up the guys with her provocative clothing. She's even got her own Web site, www.kimmierocks.com, but be careful: You have to be over 18 to surf it. Nedry is constantly singing her praises, either from the stage when he's performing or to anyone who'll listen as he zooms from point to point attending to the details of the club. "She's got a concealed weapons permit!" he says, "So just watch out!" No problemo.

For a long time, Jaxx was a retrogressive spot that acted as if punk never happened, extending the lives of pretty-boy metal bands and the night-life options of their aging fans. But Nedry has changed his tune in recent years, booking young local bands of all kinds, knowing that the future of rock always resides in kids. "I'm going to give them opportunities to show what they've got," says Nedry, proud of what he offers. "We've got world-class light and sound systems here, and I'll demand a level of professionalism of these bands that their neighborhood bar won't. They learn what it means to be a real band here."

It's true that the sound and lights at Jaxx are probably much more than most young bands have seen. From the ceiling of the old theater space, there's a criss-cross scaffolding of lights, both sophisticated and over-the-top. There's an enormous console beside the sound board just for running the lights. The sound system is huge, too, with speakers stacked on both sides of the stage, a few more hanging from the ceilings and rows of monitor speakers for the bands.

The old movie seats have been taken out, so there's a front dance floor area where most of the whooping and fist-pumping goes on, then there's the raised mezzanine for a better view (and better bar proximity).

In what was once the lobby of the theater, there's a pool table, along with booths and tables for sit-down dining. And the food -- mostly meat-and-potatoes staples -- is way better than what you'd expect if you were to judge by the surroundings (those being walls covered with color photos of hundreds of bands that have played here, a good distraction from the worn carpet and aging booth seats).