Thursday night’s Legendary Children photo exhibit and drag show at Dollhouse offered a unique mixture of artistry that fit right at home here in Savannah. The event included several forms of media including photography, video, and, of course, the expected drag show. What was a bit unexpected for me was getting the chance to catch Atlanta’s own Whitegold perform prior to the night’s event at Dollhouse.
Most artists of any kind out of Atlanta are likely to be aware of Emily Kempf’s work in some form or fashion. My first exposure to Emily’s artistic vision was with the now defunct band The Back Pockets. Through The Back Pockets, Emily and the rest of the group, which ranged in size from 4 to 13 members depending on what night you caught them, delivered slightly experimental, slightly poppy rock with instruments ranging from standard guitar and bass accented by trombone and synth keys. What made The Back Pockets truly a special outfit was that no two shows (at least in my experience) were ever the same. Each show included an underlying performance art element that varied between each performance. Once The Back Pockets called it a day, Emily kept busy working with other Atlanta musicians from various bands and performing in more music oriented projects like Bad Kidz and Pyramyds (formerly known as Iron Jayne), which steered away from some of the more performing arts elements seen in The Back Pockets.
Emily’s newest project, Whitegold, once again has her pairing up with Atlanta artists but this time moving slightly back towards her performance art roots. While the band did deliver a variety of tracks ranging from scuzzy garage influence rock to bass and synth heavy dance tracks, the awesome thing about the new band is their emphasis on crowd participation. Throughout the set, the band members regularly left the stage in an effort to get the crowd more involved, a task that seems difficult to do these days. Aided by their boisterous sounds, the group put on an awesome show that ultimately culminated with a fair amount of the crowd twerking (never thought I’d use that in an article!).
Check out some of the shots of Whitegold here and be sure to check out the full review of the night over at the Savannah Art Informer!
