Pop culture treasure, high culture trash.

Friday, March 10, 2006

The city--apocalypse!

HOMOCORE MINNEAPOLIS
The 7th Street Entry, 3/9/06
Tracy + the Plastics w/ Ear Candy, Gay Beast

Despite top City Pages billing and the fact that this was the third-to-last time Tracy, Nikki and Cola will ever appear on stage together (possibly the last time they will ever exist live, period??) the crowd was light and in a distinctly un-mourning mood. Gay Beast heroically dodged Erase Errata tags while still kicking out the kind of no-wave spazz-core that is perfect for seizuring yrself into an early danceteria grave. Ear Candy rocked white vinyl minidresses, shades and wigs with Chicks on Speed ferocity, sang in French, blew minds and stole hearts. When Tracy came on the mood didn't so much come down as rearrange itself to accomodate the eulogy. This show, after all, was Wynne saying goodbye to characters she has been shaping and living inside for six years. Not that she's sad about it. Pointing out that there are just two Tracy shows left, she declared, "That's a good thing." "No! Nooo!" the front row fan kids gasped in horror. "Yes," she insisted. "It is. A very good thing."

And maybe, somehow, it is. Being in a three-person band where all three people are you is not exactly twinkies and skittles, and the fatigue showed just the smidgiest bit, with Wynne performing the painfully brief set/demo sitting down. It was fab to see that even after so long, Nikki can still make Tracy laugh--she sat slumped in her chair, fiercely nonplussed, staring into Nikki's face projected onto the backdrop, shaking her head and snickering as if to say, "God, Nikki. What are you doing?" But the empty spaces of Tracy shows have always been there for a reason, to give breathing room to spontaneity, audience interaction and politics, so we talked about Cheney, South Dakota ("I thought about doing an impromptu performance piece where I give myself an abortion, but that would have just been gross,") Wynne's last Mpls Homocore ("I was a roadie for the Need!") and the imperative to decenter and deconstruct the White House ("That's how it is when you're a radical lesbian feminist.") Six years went by so fast. Tracy, Nikki and Cola, you will be missed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot the part when between songs Lady Bon Bon said, "I smell like a potato; no really, I do, like a potato," and then someone from the audience yelled back, "I'm hungry! for potato!" So hot.
p.s. I'm sorry it took us three hours to actually get into the show.

Lizzie Pogo said...

Dude, it's okay. It was either 3 hours walking and on buses or 2 hours standing next to that wall.

LA-DI-LA-DI-LA-DI/ MY SISTER DOES KARATE/ SHE WENT TO THE PARTY AND SHE BEAT UP EVERYBODY

See you tonight at the fish fry.

Anonymous said...

Sweet! Fish fry! p.s. Jo wants to know why Jon is so great, and I really did not have an answer for her.