PERFORMANCE ART REVIEW : Performance Art Review : Wailing Turbans Explore Sex, Love at Cafe Largo

With a presentation that’s part vaudeville, part performance art and part rock opera, Weba and the Wailing Turbans boldly went where no Caucasian trio dressed in Moorish outfits have gone before, Thursday night at Cafe Largo. Entitled “Adventure Amour,” their zany new revue examining sex in the universe, the meaning of love and an unrelenting Arab motif, tickled and teased, winning over spectators gathered at the Hollywood cabaret.

The charismatic, central chanteuse--Weba Garretson--crooned out sexy lyrics while striking an innumerable amount of titillating poses. Her two endearingly dullard sidekicks--Weba’s brother, John Garretson, and new member Jeff Oetjen--mugged and strutted, lending support with monosyllabic grunts, purposely banal choruses or an occasional strum or blat on a musical instrument or two.

It’s difficult to be specific about why this balancing act of ultra-female and ultra-male persona works as sophisticatedly well as it does. The formulaic rock songs by Weba and composer Steve Stewart--with titles such as “Creamy Dressing Man” and “Love Pimple”--hold little value out of context.

Yet the overall low-budget production by Garretson’s real-life husband, Mark Wheaton, makes intelligent use of props and a simple sound system with which the ensemble sings to prerecorded music. Cartoonish, pseudo-Persian tapestries by Sarah Todd Garretson (sister-in-law) fittingly serve as backdrops while a slide show with similarly styled artwork and credits bring a TV-situation-comedy flavor to the event.