BY STEVEN ROSEN

First and foremost, we need to cut to the quick about the earth-shattering - for pop-rock musicologists and record collectors - occurrence at the Ponderosa Stomp-sponsored Detroit Breakdown concerts in New York: The re-emergence (emergence?) of Louise Murray of the Jaynetts - the creators of one of the most mysterious hit songs in rock ‘n' roll, "Sally Go ‘Round the Roses."

Sung and produced so that the deceptively simple lyrics seemed hushed, distanced and secretive, as if to hide a message possibly hinting at taboo Sapphic love (or so it seemed to fantasizing Top 40 male listeners at the time), "Sally Go ‘Round the Roses" has produced as much conjecture as a Zen haiku or a William Carlos Williams poem. And who were the one-hit-wonder Jaynetts? Where did they come from and where did they go after that 1963 classic? 

No one knew much about them until Murray - in late middle-age and looking happy at the attention - joined ? and the Mysterians (though he seems to prefer the symbol be used for his name, he'll be identified as Question Mark from now on in this story) for a version of the song during his set at Detroit Breakdown's rock show. (There had also been a separate, smaller earlier Motor City Soul Revue show.)

Never mind that what little is known about the Jaynetts pins them as being a Bronx group, a long way from Detroit. (The Michigan-raised Question Mark - formerly known as Rudy Martinez - was considered a Flint-based artist at the event.) The thousand or so fans in attendance, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with likenesses of obscure old record labels, were only thinking this: "There's a living Jaynett up there on stage!" It was like an evangelical meeting God - only better. And then she was gone.

During a WFMU-FM interview with Question Mark before the show (video is available on YouTube), Murray is introduced and is asked what the song means. But Question Mark, nothing if not an egotist, hijacks the question and delivers a rant on why artists shouldn't answer that.  Still, one gets the sense Murray would actually like to talk about it. Hopefully, she'll yet get her chance yet.

Calling Question Mark an egotist, by the way, is a compliment. The New York Times referred to him as a "force of nature," and one has to wonder what Fountain of Youth he drinks from. Considering he's probably at least well into his sixties, on stage he inexhaustibly flaunts his hip eternal youthfulness and wild fashion sense.  He wore a cowboy hat over long hair, dark shades and a flamboyantly colorful shirt with fringe and sequins. His dancing was non-stop, as was his referencing of everyone and everything as "baby."

His music - 1960s garage rock given ongoing currency by the Tex-Mex feel of the organ playing - has a delirious drive. It's distinctive not only on his own songs, like  "Can't Get Enough Of You, Baby," but makes his covers like James Brown's "Try Me" sound appropriate. He's lucky to still have original Mysterians in the band.

On his greatest hit, "96 Tears," Ronnie Spector joined Question Mark and they merged it with  "Be My Baby." This may sound like an extreme statement, but right now Question Mark is better at what he's doing - physically and musically - than Mick Jagger. No question about it.

Surprisingly, he wasn't the headliner - Mitch Ryder, with an updated version of the Detroit Wheels, was. Ryder's soulful voice was still extremely strong as he worked his way through his late-1960s dance hits like "Devil With a Blue Dress" and "Sock It To Me-Baby!" as well as his strong covers of Prince's "When You Were Mine" and Lou Reed's "Rock and Roll." But there was a disconnect between songs. His intros and stage talk were so soft-spoken and unenthused that he couldn't build up energy. And a new ballad toward the end didn't help.

The other two acts on the bill represented some of Detroit rock's odder permutations after the 1960s.  Death, an African-American proto-metal/punk power trio from the early 1970s that seemed to like early Iggy and Alice Cooper but want something different, played songs from an album that wasn't released last year by Drag City, ...For the Whole World to See.

Playing such unfamiliar and not immediately catchy work in an outdoor bandshell took its toll on Death's early (5 p.m.) set; the music's history was more interesting than the music. But the way that brothers Bobby (bass) and Dannis Hackney (drums) expressed how moved they were by this opportunity (third brother, guitarist David, had to be replaced by Bobbie Duncan - he has died) was touching.

There was a large contingent of fans on hand for the Gories, the primitively forceful garage-and-blues-influenced alternative-rock trio that formed in 1986 and petered out in the early 1990s. Their cacophonous but catchy two-guitars-and-drums (and no bass) sound serviced solidly constructed songs, rather than pretentiously indulgent jamming. (Really, how pretentious can you be when your best-known song is self-effacingly called "Hey, Hey We're the Gories?") The White Stripes, by the way, were big Gories fans.

In recent years, the Gories have started to play again. Drummer Peg O'Neil and guitarists Mick Collins and Daniel Kroha had their loud sound and well-paced show down perfectly, and the number of people standing and dancing showed there is a big demand out there for it.

The earlier concert in a smaller open-air grove, featuring Eddie Kirkland, Spyder Turner, Dennis Coffey, Melvin Davis and Motown's least well-known girl-group, the Velvelettes ("Needle in a Haystack") had plenty of pluses and a few minuses, the latter including the quality of the band supporting the vocalists. That show ended with everyone singing "Dancin' in the Street.")

Despite this being a New York City show featuring Detroit bands, Ponderosa Stomp is a Lousiana-based organization. It's a non-profit foundation - the brainchild of anesthesiologist Ira Padnos - that puts on an annual festival in New Orleans dedicated to reviving the careers and reputations of  "roots of rock ‘n' roll" performers of all types: Garage-rock, swamp rock, rockabilly, blues, girl-group sounds, jump blues, funk, country-soul, gospel...you name it.

It's amazing how much the "unsung heroes" aesthetic - itself an unsung movement for many years - has grown from being quietly cultist, with albums like Nuggets, fanzines  from Greg Shaw, late-night college-radio shows and books by Nick Tosches and Peter Guralnick to become strong enough to support Ponderosa Stomp's ambitious activities.

The foundation, whose year-round activities are directed by Aimee Bussells, sponsors museum exhibits and education-in-schools programs, as well as concerts outside Louisiana. And the festival has become one of the best rock parties around. This year's one, the ninth, occurs Sept. 24-25 in New Orleans and features Duane Eddy, Thee Midniters, the Trashmen, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Young Jesse and many more. Plus there will also be a Sept. 26 concert featuring Flamin' Groovies' leaders Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. During the Stomp, there also will be a music history conference and a film festival.

For more info, visit www.ponderosastomp.com. And who knows, maybe soon it'll be sponsoring a Jaynetts reunion.