ONE GRITTY GAL

Coney Island High and The Continental have left Manhattan's rock club scene, but not Dirty Harry’s mind.

She recalls spending time at both venues during the 1990s checking out "loads of punk rock bands." Those experiences, plus reading "every book on Jim Morrison, Patti Smith and David Bowie that's out there," helped plant the seeds for the London-born, Los Angeles-based singer's own music career.

That career includes a guest stint on Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee's Tommyland: The Ride album, released in 2005. Through a mutual friend, Lee learned about Dirty Harry's The Trouble With Harry project, and he later arranged for her to visit California to sing on the song "Makin' Me Crazy."

Her latest effort is Songs from the Edge, which is available today (Sept. 25) both online and through A Wolf at Your Door Records. It features the catchy, sassy "Takes One to Know One," which can be heard on her MySpace page -- http://www.myspace.com/dirtyharryrocks.

"(It's a) visceral, honest trip through the abyss," she says of the album.

Dirty Harry has acoustic shows in Manhattan scheduled for Wednesday (Sept. 26) at D’Or, 204 W. 55th St., and Thursday (Sept. 27) at Snitch, 59 W. 21st St.

Visit www.dirtyharryrocks.com for more information.



SPRINGSTEEN SEMANTICS

Most bands rehearse in garages, basements, attics or studios, out of the public eye and usually with only the musicians in attendance.

Not Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Boss and company prefer to do so in sizable venues -- and charge $100 per head.

That's a concert, not a rehearsal.

As someone who chooses his words ever so carefully on the rare occasion he's interviewed, Springsteen should know the definition of rehearsal.

So even though his two performances this week at Convention Hall in Asbury Park are open to the paying public, as well as his just-announced Friday appearance at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, they're deemed rehearsals by Team Springsteen.

Just because the proceeds are going to charity doesn't defend or justify the rehearsal tag. To a paying customer, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks, no matter where the money is going.

Dubbing Springsteen's pre-tour performances as rehearsals is nothing new, and neither is Team Springsteen setting strict limits on media credentials and stating that such performances are not open for critical review.

There's a difference between a fan and a journalist, just like there's a difference between a rehearsal and a concert -- and a journalist worth his or her salt should not accept such conditions or the terminology being used to describe these Springsteen performances.