The line for Rock Star Fridays at Brew Moon has stretched past Ryan's Grill and nearly on to the Ward Centre escalators most weeks since the beginning of the year.

Almost exclusively made up of 18- to 20-year-olds (with a handful of drinking-age folk who soon discover they're in the wrong line), the queue only tapers off 'round midnight. That's when you'll find most of those patrons in the Moon's cleared-out dining room grooving to Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G. and Sean Paul.

There are fewer bodies crowding the Moon's bar and outdoor patio, where conversations, "21 and over" wristbands and tasty microbrews rule.

Guess where yours truly was?

Rock Star Fridays has gained serious momentum since moving from the Hard Rock Cafe in January. Think of the nearly-year-old weekly from the folks at Vertical Junkies and Stone Groove Family as something of a "Honolulu club kids in training" party. One that's mostly cool for being near completely unpretentious and unapologetically mainstream.

Rock Star's patrons come to dance and scope each other out. Whatever else happens is bonus.

That said, I did miss the rock shoutouts — Franz Ferdinand, AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N Roses — that once peppered Rock Star's multidimensional soundtrack of pop, reggae and ska punk. The spins now run more toward Top 40 hip-hop and R&B and the occasional, much-appreciated dancehall and ska punk track.

Still, the vocal, enthusiastic crowd loving all of it enough to pack the dance floor all night reminded me of a time when clubbing was still wide-eyed new. You know, before I got way older and way jaded.

Especially heartening? Watching kids — who were likely in grade school when Sublime's "Santeria" was all over Radio Free Hawaii — skanking and singing every word loud enough to drown out Brad Nowell on the JBLs.

Having done the same at a UH kegger in 1996, I was actually misty.

NIGHT NOTES

PAJAMARAMA

Ocean Club's Piranha Room monthly gets def with Hef at Saturday's Playboy Pajama Party. No, Mr. Hefner won't be there. But July 2005 Playmate Courtney Culkin will — to DJ, no less! Wear silk pajamas or lingerie. Camera phone optional. At 8 p.m. and beyond; $5, $10.

SHAKEN & STIRRED

Rhythm is the Cure, trance dance and Italian percussionist Alessandra Belloni at rRed Elephant, 7:30 p.m. Saturday ... ARTafterDARK's Garden of Earthly Delights party, from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the Honolulu Academy of Arts; $7 (non-members).

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.