Edie Sedgwick

Edie Sedgwick: Warhol superstar and dead of a drug overdose in 1971 at age 28. Edie Sedgwick is also the nom de electro-pop of D.C.'s Justin Moyer -- late of punk outfit El Guapo -- who, mimicking his namesake, dons silver dresses, tights, and blonde wigs and sings celebrity-infested songs about Mary-Kate Olsen, Rob Lowe, and Sissy Spacek called "Mary-Kate Olsen," "Rob Lowe," and "Sissy Spacek." Charged by Philadelphia Weekly with covering Edie's free 8 p.m. performance at clothing boutique Deep Sleep down in Old City last night, I drove down there late, completely forgetting the fact that it was First Friday and it would be an utter madhouse in the OC, which it was. Fortunately, I arrived just as a guy was warming up the 25-or-30-strong crowd for Edie's arrival with stand-up comedy so intentionally and uncomfortably unfunny it was funny (Sample joke: "Who here likes The Office? [smattering of applause] That show is so funny because it's this guy who runs a paper company but he doesn't really know what he's doing. It's so funny."). He also asked for a moment of silence for Paul Newman that lasted for about four minutes, while he turned around and appeared to simulate masturbation.

And then Edie came on, joined by a mostly female band -- two backup singers, a drummer, and bassist, decked out in black dresses and white gloves (semi-a la Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" vid) -- plus a dude on keyboards clad in indie-rock button down shirt, jeans, and sneakers (obv. not down with the costume party). Edie and company romped through tracks from his/her/their new Dischord album, Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer, with the help of a projection screen that showed clips from Carrie when he sang "Sissy Spacek" and Natural Born Killers when he sang, well, "Natural Born Killers." The audience thinned out to maybe 12 people or so by the end of the half-hour performance, with a couple skater kids snatching the two bags of Oreos and remaining three cans of Red Bull set out for people and scampering off like they'd just broken the store window with a rock.

These kinds of environments (boutiques, record stores, etc.) are always strange to shoot photos in because you never know what the setup is gonna be, but generally I approach them like the basement or house shows I sometimes shoot and assume I'll need to use flash, and hope the performer is dynamic enough to overcome the often mundane surroundings free of dramatic stage lights and atmosphere. Which Edie was, so I think I got some pretty decent shots. Edie/Justin was very nice afterward, as well, letting me snap a few quick portraits before I headed back out into the First Friday madness.