JANUARY 18

Motorbooty magazine once published a profile of an Ann Arbor, Mich., museum dedicated solely to the Stooges. Supposedly, a giant Iggy Pop statue welcomed visitors at its entrance. I’ve always assumed that at least one Australian fell for Motorbooty’s prank and organized his vacation around visiting those hallowed halls. (“G’day, mate! Is that really the peanut butter the Ig spread on himself?”) Garage bands from Down Under have long worshipped the Stooges, but the Aussies in Radio Birdman actually had someone from the Great Lakes State to lend credibility to their sound. Guitarist and Ann Arbor-native Deniz Tek moved to Sydney in 1972 to go to college, and two years later he co-formed the legendary Radio Birdman. The band’s two proper albums, Radios Appear and Living Eyes, are both fundamental examples of primal, bludgeoning rock ‘n’ roll. After Birdman’s demise in 1978, Tek played in various bands (most notably New Race, with the Stooges’ Ron Asheton) and is now settled in Montana, working as an emergency-room doctor. But Tek escapes the trauma unit for three months every year to play his music across the States, in Europe, and, of course, inAustralia. His 1997 album, Le Bonne Route, features the same type of bone-crushing power chords that made Radio Birdman fly some 20 years ago. Shout out for “Descent Into the Maelstrom” when the Deniz Tek Group plays with the Stump Wizards at 9 p.m. at Metro Cafe, 1522 14th St. NW. $7. (202) 518-7900. (Christopher Porter)