Michaels' 'Rock of Love' in A.C.

Bret Michaels has to be one of the hardest-working guys in show biz.

Since starting Poison, first named Paris, in 1983 with pals from the Harrisburg area, Michaels became more than one of hair metal's most proficient voices as a singer and a hit-making composer, selling 35 million albums with 15 Top 40 tunes.

Michaels became one of its faces.

Poison is still going strong - the band will play the Susquehanna Bank Center on June 23. But it's Michaels, 46, that fans most recognize - from his porn tape with Pam Anderson, his stint as a Playgirl centerfold, as a reality-show judge for Nashville Star, and his three seasons as the desired date-mate of metal babes everywhere on Rock of Love.

Nearing the finale of season three, Rock of Love has been VH1's highest-rated series since its start. For anyone who didn't know that, Michaels said as much several times during Friday's sold-out appearance at Atlantic City's House of Blues.

Beyond his popularity on VH1 - which filmed this gig in connection with Michaels' forthcoming autobiography Roses & Thorns - the blond with the ever-present cowboy hat has become a populist hero. He's heavy metal's last man standing as spokesman for Time Life's Hard & Heavy CD/DVD collection of bands that form the "roots" of hair metal (rim shot). He's done charity work and concert tours for diabetes foundations (he's been diabetic since childhood) and for soldiers overseas.

Men unashamed to air-guitar solo dig him. Rocker moms and their daughters love him, too.

That was apparent as Michaels' brash band hit on glam-rocking Poison hits like the thumping "Unskinny Bop" and "Talk Dirty to Me" - the latter a Dolls-ish rave-up with Michaels' baritone at its deepest - and swinging solo tunes like "Driven." During Rock of Love's tech-trashy theme song, "Go That Far," Michaels hit the line "Touch my backstage pass / ride my limousine" with a handily cocksure kick.

Michaels, ever the accommodator, got couples to slow dance, directed cameramen, dedicated songs to Iraq veterans, and name-checked every song, including covers like Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." Bret didn't make you forget Bob's creaky brilliance. But Michaels was so sincere you forgave his plainness.

And when Michaels' tight set ended with Poison's slippery "Nothin' but a Good Time" and the lyrics "it don't get better than this," you got the feeling that his fans agreed.