Cheetah's dancers ride the Lightnin'

One business group that has been hard hit by the current recession are the city’s exotic dancers, particularly the ones working in smaller clubs frequented by working class patrons. After all, in this economy what paid-by-the-hour guy can make it rain anymore? Some clubs like Crazy Girls in Hollywood have added live music into the mix, featuring rock bands on certain nights. Of course the legendary Jumbo’s Clown Room (where Courtney Love once stripped) has for quite some time featured an occasional rock band and now Cheetah’s, also in Hollywood, has begun booking rock nights on Mondays. And it’s quite fitting that Cheetah’s has joined in on the rock scene since some twenty years ago the beloved Shamrock - once a staple in the Hollywood rock club circuit of the 80's and 90's - once stood at the same location.

Monday, February 28, Cheetah’s offered up a fine bill with Electric Children, Noah Engh Kid Fantastic and Lightnin Woodcock & the Bad Muthafuckas. Although a fine performer, Noah Engh’s gritty, stripped down blues-rock was a bit too quirky for the dancers to groove to, but a couple of brave girls did try. Contrarily, the strip club’s atmosphere was a perfect fit with Lightnin Woodcock’s style of music which is Jimi Hendrix-inspired blues with filthy lyrics. (Song titles like "Smoochie Coochie Man", "Finger Bangin’" and "Like A Dog" need no further explanation.) Lightnin has played Cheetah’s before and the girls seem to really dig both his rocking presentation and his on stage banter. Electric Children unfortunately had their set cut short just as the room was getting into them (There’s a midnight curfew for the live music at Cheetah’s) but it seems like once they get bugs out, Mondays at Cheetah’s could be a good thing.