Good Rockin' That Night
Rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson has a party at the Knit
By Don Waller
"I never kissed a bear; I never kissed a goon / But I can shake a chicken in the middle of the room ..."
-Wanda Jackson, "Let's Have a Party" (1960)
A cult heroine since the mid-1950s, Wanda Jackson cemented her status as the reigning Queen of Rockabilly with a super-solid, 17-songs-in-65-minutes show that turned the sold-out Knitting Factory into a virtual sauna on Sunday (Sept. 2).
In mute testimony to the staying power of pomade, eyeliner, and the proper application of foundation, the hundreds of (mostly young, mostly Latino) rockabilly fans couldn't have cared less about the heat. Witness the seven chicas in period hairdos 'n' party frocks, who staked out a considerable space on the crowded floor for a casually cool, semi-synchronized - steppin' up, then back, then left, then right - series of dance moves.
'Twas the closing night of "Hollywood Showdown 8," a three-day festival organized by local promoter Black Cat Entertainment. Much like the previous evenings, Sunday night's lineup of 14 rockabilly acts and five like-minded DJs were spread across all three of the Knitting Factory's stages.
Decked out in a multi-layered, white fringed top and a pair of dangling diamond earrings, the diminutive Jackson - 69 years young - bounded onstage and, backed by a four-man band, fired into "Rockabilly Fever," a Carl Perkins-penned tune from her 2003 "comeback" CD Heart Trouble, which featured such acolytes as rockafilly Rosie Flores, former Blasters guitarist Dave Alvin, psychobilly pioneers the Cramps, and Elvis Costello (the last of whom has been recently waging a press campaign for Jackson's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).
Speaking as a voting member, Jackson is more deserving of inclusion than half the wimps, gimps, and hopelessly non-rockin' hit machines that've already been inducted.
OK, Jackson's discs never saw the really big chart action, but the self-explanatory "Rock Your Baby," the explosive "Fujiyama Mama" ("I've been to Nagasaki/Hiroshima, too/The things I did to them/I can do to you"), the self-composed "Mean Mean Man" and the abovementioned "Let's Have A Party" are arguably the first, and easily the finest, '50s rock 'n' roll tracks waxed by a female artist, white or black, thanks to the edge provided by her raw, throaty, cut-like-a-buzz-saw vocals. She also played guitar, and while her sultry good looks should've made her a S*T*A*R, whitebread America just wasn't ready for a young woman to play that sort of rockin' role model. So she went back to country music, racking up 30 mostly mid-chart records.
An Oklahoma native, Jackson had begun her career singing country, until Elvis Presley, whom she dated while they toured together in '55-'56, convinced her to shake that chicken in the middle of the room. Which 'splains why her latest album, I Remember Elvis, sports distaff versions of Presley's most primal rockers - five of which ("Good Rockin' Tonight," "I Forgot to Remember to Forget," "Baby, Let's Play House," "Heartbreak Hotel," and "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby") were sandwiched into the middle of her set.
While the audience sang along to most every song, the night's other highlights stretched from Jackson's throat-scorching scream in the middle of "Riot in Cell Block #9," to a still-smoldering take on her '61 B-side "Funnel of Love," to a storming rendition of Hank Williams's "I Saw the Light." Jackson prefaced this last number with a declaration of her having been a born-again Christian since 1971, but the nonstop crowd chatter obliterated most of her stage patter, which included anecdotes about Elvis, Brenda Lee, songwriters Lieber & Stoller, Little Richard, and Tina Turner.
Hey, it was a party. And you can guess which song - with Jackson graciously inviting the stage-warming Kim Lenz (sans Her Spanish Jaguars) back into the spotlight to share lead vocals - closed this swingin' soiree.
Fifteen minutes later, I was back at my boho love shack, wringing the sweat out of my black linen shirt.
Published: 09/06/2007
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