BOWZER'S BATTLE

From his days as the face and a main voice of Sha Na Na to the present, Jon Bauman -- better known as Bowzer -- has shown great admiration and respect for the golden age of rock 'n' roll.

His greatest tribute to that era may be his latest effort. As the chairman of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame's Truth in Music Committee, Bauman is behind the push for laws preventing bogus acts from presenting themselves as authentic members of those 1950s-'60s rock and doo-wop groups.

On Thursday (May 10), Tennessee passed the "Truth in Music" bill. It's already a law in several states, and the Truth in Music Committee expects the bill to pass in half the country by the end of this year.

On the Vocal Group Hall of Fame Web site, Bauman breaks down "Truth in Music" like this: "You need to have at least one member of the group that made the hit records in the group that's onstage that night, unless you have a darn good reason why you don’t.

"There are really only two of those darn good reasons -- that somehow the group has a valid, federally registered trademark for the group name, or that the show is clearly advertised as a tribute or a salute in a manner that is not so confusingly similar to the actual group name that it would tend to deceive the public.

" 'Truth in Music' is finally ending the impostor group nightmare in which consumers are duped out of their hard-earned entertainment dollars and the authentic pioneers whose music changed the world are cheated of their just remuneration and, what's worse, their applause."

Here's hoping Bauman's truth wins out in the end.