Cover Story: Great local theme bands

BigTop — Jim Stacy’s first, and “more punk rock” clown band (see Greasepaint). A dozen or more performers, dancing girls and random carnival acts on the side show.

Captain Denuve — Atlanta’s only Go-Go’s tribute band featured Sonia Tetlow as Jane, Becky Shaw (Reversing Hour) as Belinda, Julie Clark (Lift) as Kathy, Linda Bolley (Gentle Readers) as Gina and Candi Jiosne (Viva La Diva) as Charlotte; the good Captain played out every six months or so from ‘96 to ‘98.

The Coolies — Clay Harper’s happy hooligans recorded an album in 1983, Dig?, that consisted entirely of Paul Simon songs, each brilliantly rendered in a completely different style (rap, punk, rockabilly).

Cowboy Envy — An all-female trio that plays songs of the Roy Rogers era, the Cowboy Envy crew could have called their harmonic little home-on-the-range ensemble the Daughters of the Pioneers or Jean Autry.

Grand Moff Tarkin — Another Jim Stacy-led act, timed to ride the crest of the Star Wars fan revival. This elaborate live act (named for the character played by Peter Cushing in the 1977 movie) showcased perfectly re-created costumes and minutely detailed props, as well as full sets of original SW-themed songs.

Greasepaint — An inevitable meeting-of-the-warped-minds between wildman Jim Stacy and Kingsized’s frontman Mike Geier, this bizarre sideshow has featured sexy dancing monkey girls, a popcorn machine and free corndogs for the crowd.

Hot August Knights — A popular Neil Diamond tribute band featuring a credible imitator backed by a scruffy rocking trio, whose debut album is patiently awaited by one and all.

Lee Marvin — Named after the greatest action movie star of the ’60s, this tough, ballsy, all-male rock group played what could’ve been the soundtrack to a rock-opera remake of The Dirty Dozen, complete with hilarious between-song jokes whose punchlines were titles taken from the Oscar-winner’s filmography.

Man or Astro-Man? — Sci-fi geeks from outer space, the zany Astro-men wore space suits and performed energetic instrumentals while standing amid blinking computers and TVs showing Japanese fantasy films. An act so popular it spawned a series of authorized “clone” bands.

Yule Log — Featuring Stacy, his fellow Star Bar co-owners and other friends, this all-Santa band gets together twice a year, to play Toys for Tots benefit shows during Christmas-time and “Christmas in July.”??