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Only a handful of fans -- almost all over 30 -- showed up for Ric Ocasek's hour-long, no-encore set at D.C.'s 9:30 Club Tuesday night. But if the masses stayed away for fear of a musty, golden-oldies set from the former lead singer of the Cars, they would have been shocked had they bothered to buy tickets.
\\After his solo career sputtered to near-death over the course of the last decade, Ocasek dropped out of the public eye to the other side of the soundboard, producing albums for such modern-rock bands as Weezer and Hole. But last year, when Billy Corgan expressed a desire to produce some new Ocasek material -- promising to drip a Smashing Pumpkins growl over the Cars' slick pop -- the tall, dark icon from the '80s just couldn't resist a return to the stage.
\\Touring to promote his new album, "Troublizing," Ocasek arrived in the nation's capital with the eclectic band that recently backed him in the studio: Bad Religion's Brian Baker on guitar, Hole's Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, Nada Surf's Ira Elliot on drums, and former Car Greg Hawkes on keyboards. The musical melding of past and present added verve to Ocasek's Cars hits and a punkish thump to his solo material.
\\"People say I don't talk much onstage," Ocasek said, smiling into sparse crowd. "That's true." With his witty banter requirement taken care of early on, Ocasek casually alternated new songs and classics. A grinding "Since You're Gone," the first Cars hit offered, blended into the heavy, thumping "Not Shocked." "Just What I Needed," juiced by Auf der Maur's cooing background vocals, was a fine setup for the garage-band sway of "Situation."
\\But the night's most satisfying one-two punch, "Shake It Up" and "Drive," was a perfect illustration of how well Ocasek's musical stylings have traveled from the '80s to the '90s. "Once a smooth cruise down synth-pop avenue, the former was shot full of adrenaline and feedback, while the prom-night staple "Drive" was handed over to Auf der Maur, who turned the ballad into a flirtatious kinder-whore come-on. For a New Wave icon, Ocasek has m