It was an all-out bash at the El Rey Theater on Saturday (Feb. 5) for Los Angeles glam club Makeup's first anniversary party (allstar, Jan. 20). The Cult belted out two Cult Classics at the party, which featured a rock and roll fashion show. Ex-4 Non Blonde Linda Perry, along with ex-Black Grape member/producer Danny Saber, Other Star People guitarist Zander, Black Sabbath's Bill Ward, the Cult's Martyn Lenoble, and drummer Kenny Aronoff paid tribute to Led Zeppelin with a set of covers as 21st Century Zep.

After the fashion show, which featured Twiggy Ramirez and Ginger Fish of Marilyn Manson and Eric Erlandson of Hole, among others, modeling fashions designed by rock stylist Terry King, the party moved to King's house in the Hollywood Hills. Found there livin' la vida loca were actors Andy Dick and Alexis Arquette, as well as Ramirez, Erlandson, Ginger Fish, Coal Chamber tour fill-in Nadia, and Jack Off Jill singer Jessicka.

The Cult played a short surprise set, and members of Hole, Marilyn Manson and Coal Chamber joined models, drag queens and acrobats on the catwalk Saturday night at the one-year anniversary of the monthly glam-rock party Makeup.

The event, always somewhat of a costume affair for the patrons, is held on the first Saturday of every month at the El Rey Theatre. On this night, the crowd included a man in nothing but a gold loincloth and matching gold wig, a drag queen in a Kiss halter-top and panties, and a dominatrix wearing head-to-toe fuchsia and holding a whip.

"There hasn't been anything like this since Studio 54 in New York," Jason Lavitt, who co-promotes Makeup with Joseph Brooks, said. "And there's never been anything like it in L.A. It was much needed."

Saturday's anniversary celebration took the music-meets-fashion theme a few steps further, becoming part dance club, part rock concert, part fashion show. Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson, Marilyn Manson guitarist/bassist Twiggy Ramirez and Coal Chamber guitarist Miguel "Meegs" Rascon were special guests in the fashion segment, hosted by local designer Terry King.

Wearing solid black, Erlandson and Ramirez emerged onto the catwalk to the tune of ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" while models in skimpy red numbers scurried around them.

In addition to the event's rock-star participants, Rob Zombie, Ice-T and Fishbone vocalist Angelo Moore were spotted in the crowd.

Impromptu Concert

Reunited rockers the Cult, in fact, decided to hop up onstage after the bandmembers discovered they all had come to check out the event independently, according to guitarist Billy Duffy. "It just seemed like a good idea at the time, which was about 11:57," he said of his band's two-song performance, which began shortly after midnight. "It was about as spontaneous as it comes."

The crowd's response was a mix of delight and indifference when the Cult emerged onstage and launched into Wild Flower from 1987's Electric. The band left the stage after finishing the tune, apparently opting to give the impromptu performance an early end. One of the drag-queen hosts then took the microphone and attempted to rouse the crowd, saying, "I can't hear you. .... Good God, it's only the Cult!"

The subsequent cheers were enough to bring the band back. "Rock 'n' roll and glam-rock and punk rock are alive," singer Ian Astbury said as he returned to the mic for Love Removal Machine.

'Freak Show'

The Cult, who are working on their first album since their self-titled 1994 release, followed a performance by the Led Zeppelin cover band 21st Century Zep, featuring former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, Black Grape guitarist Danny Saber, Other Star People guitarist Xander Smith and Bland X drummer Ronnie Clago.

The group kicked into Rock And Roll, with Perry, who wore a red American Indian headdress and a black leather outfit, taking on the vocal lines made famous by Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant. Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward joined in at one point, taking Clago's place for a few songs.

Makeup's promoters asked 21st Century Zep to play after seeing the band's first show last month. "Where else could you play Led Zeppelin all night?" Perry said, as she talked with revelers in the lobby afterward. "This is just a fucking freak show."

The crowd didn't faze Ice-T, however. "It's just your basic boring L.A. crowd," said the rapper, who came dressed for the occasion in a full-length red coat and matching hat. "Just my basic pimp shit," he said of his outfit.

Ice-T (born Tracy Marrow) said Heidi Siegmund, who edited his book, "The Ice Opinion," told him to check out the event. "I'm into fucking everything," he said. "It gives me more material. ... Even if you don't write a song about it, you soak it in."

An excellent show by all accounts...not a show proper as such but three Cult "classics" like Love Removal Machine and Wild Flower. Venue usually has wide variety of musicians ranging from Japanese techno-pop maestro Ryuichi Sakamoto to old rogues like Iggy Pop, but this was "Make-Up," the only large- scale classic Glam Rock event in the metro LA area. Alot of dress-up and DJ music, with the ocassional live contempo drag Glam group. Funny that a freind of my girlfriend, ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Matt S., was in the building... apparently there to take a look and a drink, but ultimately let us know that The Cult "might play...I'm not sure..." perhaps to keep the secret until its time. Well it was time only fifteen minutes later and lucky for us we wedged our ways into a balcony slot for prime viewing, 'cause it was a tight set. Very boomy, deep drum work on Matt's part...lots of amazing crackling screams on Ian's part...bloody great stuff. No bones provided of new album, however. Matt says they soon will be in the studio in LA by early March and may tour just BEFORE that release (we guessed maybe late June). Anyhow...more when it comes.

Wild Flower
Love Removal Machine