| The Kats, a quartet who played the Whisky Tuesday night, are the
rock and roll equivalent of a prime Loony Tunes cartoon, one of
those trash delights in which a character is flattened by an anvil
one second but immediately revives to make himself fresh.
The cartoon star of the Kats is lead singer-songwriter Freddy Moore, a runty fireball who looks like Frank Gorshin after being hit on the head – by an anvil, undoubtedly. Moore begins hopping his little body around the stage the instant the spotlight hits him, and once started, he never stops: He pops his eyes, flails his arms and bends his fingers in time to the beat, acts out his songs with gestures so broad they become visual puns, and leaps into the audience to literally collar an innocent patron into loving him. Oh yes, Freddy also sings. He sings in a scratchy but muscular voice over the raucous wails of two guitars and the saxophone of Bobbyzio Moore, who with his spiky-kooky hair and herky-jerky stage moves complements Freddy Moore to an appallingly fitting degree (as a friend remarked, is it possible that both of these boys issued from the same poor mother?). The Kats make fast, junky music with titles like "King Of The Wild Frontier" and "Lost My TV Guide." These boys are so unrelievedly maniacal that it’s easy to miss the fact that they play with a tight cleverness. What they play serves as a springboard for Freddy’s antics, but right now the Kats put on the liveliest, funniest show in town. Go see them and bring Freddy a mouse – I’ll bet he’d just eat it up. |
