|
LOS STRAITJACKETS with THE PONTANI SISTERS / THE LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS Los Straitjackets, those party animal guitar virtuosos behind Mexican wrestling masks, have masterfully worked crowds for a decade to become the instrumental guitar rock genre's most-loved combo. For their latest audience-mesmerizing stage spectacle, a “Christmas pageant” revue, the bubbly go-go dancers known as the World Famous Pontani Sisters accompanied the maniacal Straitjackets. Instrumental rock can get pretty boring without a band able to infuse its own distinctive personality and an organic playfulness into its performances. Particularly obvious in the choreography department, the Straitjackets' presentation was carefully planned and rehearsed, but the high caliber of their musical mastery allowed them to professionally screw around and keep the songs fresh and new. Fans familiar with their albums could appreciate the textural flourishes in their live renditions, but even the uninitiated could recognize their prowess during an encore set of theme song interpretations ranging from The Munsters to Titanic. The Pontanis appeared intermittently, changing their costumes every two to three songs. The Sisters' wild holiday chorus-line high-kicks and festive feather dances were their foundational strength, but some of their most fun routines were non-dance “situational” numbers. Along those lines, the Pontanis closed with a hilarious, self-promotional pajama-clad gift exchange during which their opened presents were CDs, T-shirts, and videos available at the merchandise table. The Legendary Shack Shakers were a good reason to show up early. The raw, crass, and cartoony Shakers dished up white-trash rockabilly so high-energy as to nearly overshadow the Straitjackets. A psychotic blend of Iggy Pop, Pee Wee Herman, and the Rev. Horton Heat, inexhaustible frontman “Colonel” J.D. Wilkes drew from a vast repertoire of quirky, obnoxious antics. As exemplified by a hurried apology to the guy in the audience, who almost got hit with the snot shooting from Wilkes' nose, Wilkes understood the boundaries between being rudely comical and being an actual jackass. Actually, the entire evening's eye-gluing showmanship owed its effectiveness to each of the performer's abilities to professionally harness his and her unique brands of insanity. "Straitjackets" indeed. (Originally published in The Cleveland Free Times, December 17, 2003) |