"GIRLS GONE WILD!"  JAYNE COUNTY AND LISA JACKSON AT FEZ!

They're "Girls Gone Wild"! One of them, Jayne County, is an icon of the '70's New York City punk and rock scene. She was resident DJ at the immortal hotspot Max's Kansas City. Jayne was one of the first stars to break the taboos of gender expression in rock. Her 1995 autobiography, "Man Enough to Be a Woman", is reportedly Boy George's favorite book. Most recently, she won the "Living Legend Award" at the 2002 Glammy Awards, New York's annual ceremony which honors the best in gender illusionism. Lisa Jackson, the other wild girl, is one of the brightest new stars in New York City's formative downtown music scene. She's a tall, blonde, model-like gal who's talented as well as striking to look at. Hearing Lisa Jackson brought to mind a critical "Rolling Stone" review of Madonna's CD "American Life" by Ben Ratliff: "You get the feeling that what she'd (Madonna) really like to do is make an album of voice and guitar. But her picking isn't up to it..." Perhaps Madge could take some lessons from Lisa Jackson: This lady does magic with her voice AND her guitar. Lisa claims to have been inspired in both her music and her taste in clothes by the ladies of '80's pop music. She's been heavily praised by reviewers. Jayne County and Lisa Jackson had teamed up for a Christmas show at Fez last December, and they returned to the downtown nightspot for a one-night-only show called "Girls Gone Wild" on Sunday, May 4th. These two chicks may have borrowed the name of their show, "Girls Gone Wild", from that cheesy tits 'n' ass spring break video that they advertise on late night TV. But this show, a wild night of music and comedy, wasn't quite like that! First off, we didn't get to see any tits, which is surprising given that Jayne's been known to flash her huge boobs at the audience in the past. But even though we didn't get to SEE any tits, we got to HEAR about them: at one point Ms. Jackson gave us a crowd-pleasing tune lamenting her lack of mammoth mammaries: reviving the tune from the Christmas show, she sang,"The boys are asking for a little more, than two perky nipples on a cracked out whore! So please... bring me titties, bring me titties, bring me titties...for Christmas!" Santa, are you listening? Of course, Lisa's "breast song" was only one of many musical treats from this dynamic duo. Jayne gave us a loving ode to the joys of getting stoned with Fraternity of Man's classic "Don't Bogart Me" ("Don't bogart that joint, my friend... Pass it over to me.") At Jayne's encouragement ("Everybody! Come on, you potheads!"), it became a sing-along, followed by Jayne's boasting, "I was at Woodstock all three days...Fuck you!" Later, Jayne declared, "We're gonna do a song by Hank Williams." The song was "Be Careful of Stones You Throw", a song about the evils of gossip. Speaking of gossip, is Mr. Williams a trannie-chaser? After all, according to Jayne, who's originally from Georgia, "All those Southern boys are trannie chasers!" She added a family anecdote: "I had a cousin Marvin who fucked chickens. He went to church every day-- but he fucked chickens!" Jayne disappeared for another costume change (and for God knows what else?!), and Lisa gave us a song she wrote,"Beautiful Freak", one of her most emblematic tunes. (On a personal note, It's also my favorite LJ song!) The song, a tribute to the beauty of being different, has the lyrics, "The world is your parade, So come on and set it free, Life wouldn't be complete without the freaks!" Jayne re-emerged in a new costume ("It makes me feel good to be classy every once in a while... even if I did buy it on 8th St... with a bad credit card!) and performed one of her most serious songs, "Man Enough to Be a Woman". Jayne said of the song, "This is one of the few serious songs I've ever written-- about transgenderism, about gender, about... you know, whatever! The older I'm getting I'm learning that it really doesn't matter." Her attitude was echoed in the song's lyrics: "I am what I am, and I don't give a damn!" Lisa, in turn, expressed her admiration for her friend Jayne, and gave us the provocative "I Am AOK"-- a new song about "trannie angst" which she states that Jayne inspired her to write. The musical and comedic orgasm of the night came when Jayne told us the real story of the first Christmas tree. Betcha didn't know that the first tree was the brainchild of Nimrod, an ancient Mesopotamian ruler who built the tower of Babel. To keep the Babylonian bloodline pure, Nimrod married his mother-- and decorated an evergreen tree to celebrate their incestuous one year anniversary. Jayne explained to us, "In modern language, if I was Eminem or Madonna, that would be, like, 'Nimrod was a motherfucker!'"-- prompting the dirty blonde to break into an extended and VERY twisted musical tribute to the story of Nimrod, with lyrics like "Nimrod, he was a motherfucker... And that's what I see, when I see the Christmas tree!" Biblical history, a la Jayne County. You gotta love it! Lisa Jackson then gave us a soulfoul rendition of Prince's "When You Were Mine", and then she gave Jayne some backing vocals for one of Ms. County's most famous songs, the sentimental "Max's Kansas City". She commented that New York in the '70's was like Paris in the '20's or Berlin in the '30's. For an encore, Jayne did her most well-known and crowd-rousing songs, "(If You Don't Wanna Fuck Me Baby) Fuck Off!", with Lisa doing backup vocals and some seriously stunning guitar work. Jayne County and Lisa Jackson may be "Girls Gone Wild", but by the end of the night, it was the audience who'd gone seriously wild. After seeing these two ladies of rock, who wouldn't? Lisa Jackson will be seen next with punk princess Nina Hagen at The Marquee (356 Bowery) on May 24th, for the club's Saturday night party "HighLife/Low Life". Lisa will also be at CBGB's (315 Bowery) on June 21st to celebrate her new CD "I Am AOK". Check out www.LisaJacksononline.com for much more info on this rising star. For more Jayne County, check out Jayne's vibrant website, www.JayneCounty.com.