Shawns Camp (r) and Jones (Photo By Gary Miller)
Life on Mars: A Tribute to David Bowie
Carousel Lounge, Aug. 6 It's David Bowie for Dummies at the big-top bar, and in true Major Tom fashion, there's already drama. Carrie Clark's Pretty Please didn't learn their songs, so they cancel an hour before showtime, putting Shawn Jones of Something Happened – the mastermind behind this local hoot night – in quite a pickle. Half of Austin pop rockers Sheboygan take the miniature stage right before 10pm, a last-minute stall to make up not only for the Pretty Please, but also the lack of Oklahoma City's Fellowship Students, whose drummer was in a collar-bone-breaking car accident the night before. "He wanted to come down here and play Def Leppard style," cracks Jones. After Sheboygan's short set, Things That Go Pop roll their diorama/keyboard set up to the elephant and rip into "Suffragette City." While singer Jerad Kolarik might not have the pipes he's trying to imitate, he does a fine job of continuing unshaken despite the toasted hipster standing alone not a foot in front of his face. Then there's Carousel Lounge fixture Stella Boes, who sports fishnets, miniskirts, and bloomers better than any other 60-plus or younger dancer in the River City, and "Fame" gets her all riled up. After a spot-on version of "Let's Dance," TTGP give way to a mixture of Bright & Hollow Sky and Something Happened, with Shawn Camp joining Shawn Jones in a shaky "Ashes to Ashes." The low-key Eastside speakeasy slowly transforms itself into a British discotheque. The rest of Something Happened joins Jones on "Major Tom," guitarist/vocalist Meaghan Perry doing Bowie better than any boy in the room on "Rebel Rebel." And what Austin hoot night would be complete without Fivehead? It's Fourhead now as John Hunt has emigrated to Boston, but Beaty Wilson still has it. Before getting scooted offstage by Stella, they rock the hits "Andy Warhol" and "Queen Bitch" in sloppy, beer-can style. "I don't work every night anymore," Stella explains, "because I'm too busy chasing younger men." We believe it.
