SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Martha Davis has been absent from the music scene for seven years. Not surprisingly, to recapture some of the long-dim fire of the early Motels, she has picked a band of upstarts who look as if they could be younger than her kids. So could it have been terribly surprising that, when she resurrected the Motels favorite "So L.A." on Sunday at the Coach House, the newly reinterpreted oldie sounded so, well, Seattle?
To those familiar only with the slickly inconsequential latter-day Motels, it might have seemed a bit incongruous to see Davis--last viewed as a glamour puss of major proportions--wearing a baggy, gas-jockey jacket, fronting what could actually be described as a rock 'n' roll band.
