Quarterslot and the Good Vibrations @Cake Shop, 5/25/05

I first met Heidi when we were both finalists in the Hot Body Contest at Opaline’s “Panty Party.” Needless to say, I was very, very drunk. She told me I should make out with her if I wanted us to win and I complied, but we still didn’t (Peppermint Gummi Bear was partial to the guy with the muscular butt.) But losers though we were, we’ve been friends ever since (I’m still in her cell phone as Jamie Hotbod), and when she invited me to come see her band play at a neat new venue, I was excited, expecting the unexpected.
Quarterslot and the Good Vibrations turned out to be a three-piece consisting of Heidi (Quarterslot) on vocals, and a couple of dudes (the Good Vibrations) on guitar and drums. They play a fun mixture of explosive indie blues and 50’s rock-musical kitsch whose closest modern cousin I can come up with is Morningwood. Dressed in an altered version of a dress stolen from Mama-Slot (in attendance, having made the trip from Bedford; the town, not the silly street in Brooklyn), she looked like, and basically was, a naughty little girl playing dress-up in her mother’s clothes and shoes, unfraid to show us her nice new bra and panties. She had a bowl of sugared strawberries onstage with her, which she fed to us with glee. From the very first song, I knew she would hold nothing back. She kicked her legs and jumped around, alternately singing songs about how she liked boys (don’t we all, sometimes?) and was done with them (“I’m not gonna make French toast for you!”), as well as the greatest truth of all, especially for one entangled in the jaded LES Scene: “everybody uses everybody!” She morphed curiously from Janis Joplin to Sandra Dee to full out James Brown. It was totally groovy, as if somewhere along the line the three of them had gotten frisky and made a baby. While the guitarist was mostly confined to playing simple chord progressions as a backdrop to Heidi’s theatrics, he got a good solo in while Heidi was spread eagle on the amp having pretend guitar sex with him. At the end of the half hour set, Quarterslot was sweaty and exhausted, the audience smiley and sociable. She’d given us all her hott sexy energy and I did what I could to thank her; I let her feed me more strawberries. I might be a bit biased because I love her so, but I think that Heidi and her Vibrations are going to rock this homogenous little New York world, and even the cool kids will be a-dancing.