Edie Sedgwick, Glamming It Up
Edie Sedgwick, aka Justin Moyer: Trailing stardust at DC9.
(By Shawn Brackbill)
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Technically, indie rock is a form of showbiz, but one far removed from the realm of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martin Sheen and the Olsen twins. What could possibly link them? Well, irony, of course. That and some shouting were the means by which Edie Sedgwick made a claim on such Hollywood icons Monday night at DC9.
For the ironically disadvantaged, the original Edie Sedgwick was a Warhol superstar, which means she was not a superstar at all. She died in 1971, to be replaced in 2002 by the new Edie Sedgwick, who is actually Justin Moyer in drag. Moyer, who also plays with the D.C.-rooted New York band Supersystem, donned a spangly minidress and a short blond wig -- more Joey Heatherton than Edie Sedgwick -- to perform eight of, uh, his songs at the Ninth & U club. He was backed by recorded audio tracks and a video collage of the movie stars he was contemplating.
Some of Sedgwick's synth-pop tunes are quite clever, but this performance didn't show them to their advantage. The backing tracks were harsher than on his 2005 album, and the vocals more strident. Also, Sedgwick upstaged the material with unfunny patter, and dance moves that were part go-go and part arena rocker. (He called attention to the latter by striking poses and identifying them as Henry Rollins, Eric Clapton, etc.)
Still, the best song, "Sally Field," held up pretty well. So did the movie that inspired it, the 1979 pro-union epic "Norma Rae," even in Sedgwick's two-minute edit.
-- Mark Jenkins
