**1/2 Mr. T Experience

REVENGE IS SWEET AND SO ARE YOU

(Lookout!)

An East Bay punk-rock institution for more than a decade now, Berklee's Mr. T Experience have made a career out of going nowhere fast and tunefully. The band's only permanent member is singer/guitarist Dr. Frank (Portman), a hard-luck romantic with a penchant for sublimating the pain of his heartbreaks in hummably humorous punk-pop ditties until they really don't seem terribly heartbreaking anymore. Revenge Is Sweet and So Are You finds him reveling once again in the kind of insecurities and relationship problems even he knows he should have outgrown years ago. But that's all part of the fun. If nothing else, Frank can always soothe his wounded pride with the knowledge that he's kept the Mr. T Experience alive and kicking longer than the band's namesake managed to sustain his TV acting career.

(The Mr. T Experience play downstairs at the Middle East this Wednesday, October 1, with Groovie Ghoulies, the Cretins, and the Mission. Call 864-EAST.)

-- Matt Ashare