Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women were the final act of the glamfest at Great Scott Saturday night.
(bethany lawler acheson)
Music Review
It was only 10, early for a Saturday night at Great Scott, but, still, the closest thing to a contender for the Electric Warriors Glamstravaganza's prize for the best glam outfit was a girl in an era-non-specific sequined dress, shining in a mostly T-shirted crowd. On stage, punk-y, Britpopish quartet Sidewalk Driver played energetically. Flamboyant singer Tad McKitterick's shaved head was sprayed metallic silver and his eyes painted with crimson shadow and thick black eyeliner. Glamstravaganza, which namechecks T. Rex's glam rock classic "Electric Warrior," was purported on Great Scott's website as a glam homage. But it was hardly a scene out of "Velvet Goldmine," director Todd Haynes's lovingly decadent glam rock flick.
Musically, glam's a genre that's hard to define. US counterparts like the punk-aligned New York Dolls aside, significant glam figureheads number T. Rex, whose corkscrew-haired frontman Marc Bolan pouted from the Glamstravaganza poster, and David Bowie. Glam marked one of Bowie's many stylistic stopgaps, leaving Bolan, who died in a car accident 30 years ago, as glam's major deity.
Following Sidewalk Driver's energetic set, former Collisions leader Bo Barringer's new band, MEandJOANCOLLINS, mixed up punk, pop, and even choppy '80s dance rock. Dressed in a velvet-collared suit, Barringer looked the part of a lounge crooner, but pulled out some stinging rock songs, nailed by catchy riffs. Event organizers Logan 5 & the Runners added Bowie's "Queen [expletive]" to their artful, ambitious set, which sometimes rang with fuzzy Farfisa organ and at other times soulful trumpet. Last came Ad Frank and the Fast Easy Women, a sextet with three female members (two on keyboards, one playing bass) dressed as naughty schoolgirls (something like "Baby, One More Time"-era Britney, only more street savvy). Ad Frank, going for an English schoolboy look with grey pullover, tie, and white shirt (the sleeves unceremoniously cut off at the shoulders), was provocative and effete, more Britpop a la Pulp than glam androgynous.
By then, more sequined outfits and several feather boas were on display, but there were hardly any sensational contenders for best costume. The sharp satin suits Bolan favored and Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto's space-age outfits, which Bowie championed, were living art. Was fashion an important part of glam rock? The music was so varied (from the skinhead stomp of Slade to the art rock of Roxy Music to Queen's filigreed light metal) that the glittering, gauche fashions are an enduring common denominator.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
