Edie Sedgwick

Justin Moyer’s revival brings ‘future-past’ to the present

By Mirah Kang
Published: March 19th, 2007 | 3:05pm

“There is no other choice,” says Justin Moyer. “Edie Sedgwick is inevitable, like the collapse of capitalism, and the waxing and waning of skinny and wide ties.”

That is the reincarnated voice of Edie Sedgwick, Moyer’s alter ego. Moyer got his start in a couple of Dischord Records bands: Supersystem, an electronica-punk band that disbanded in November 2006; and he plays guitar for Antelope, a melodic punk band that’s been together since 2001. The real Edie Sedgwick was a ‘60s It girl, heiress, and Warhol muse, who purportedly died of a drug overdose in 1971.

Onstage, Moyer’s Sedgwick sings with her trusty iPod and minimal equipment. Moyer transforms into Sedgwick, mentally and physically, dressed in black tights, glittery mod dress, make-up, wig, silver platforms, and her lips sealed with a lit cigarette.

“Performers who are bald and male cannot get away with much,” Sedgwick says of himself. “However, in drag, performers are ‘safe’ — that is, the heterosexual fascist majority condescends to deem drag artists as ‘precious’ or ‘marvelous.’ Because drag artists are not taken seriously, they can say whatever they want. Drag becomes the vehicle which gives the heterosexual fascist majority the permission to listen, and if they are smart enough, learn something.”

Her debut album, Her Love is Real, but She is Not (DeSoto), features odes to A-list celebrities, such as Martin Sheen, Sigourney Weaver, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom Hanks, to name a few.

The songs are frequently about politics, but shrouded, “in a humorous or flippant way.” Loafing and watching movies, such as Pretty in Pink and Apocalypse Now motivates Sedgwick to play around with ProTools on her Macintosh G5 in her home studio. “Sometimes a song comes out,” she says.

When asked about her inspiration for songwriting, she suggests reading the Bible, the Koran, and every encyclopedia available. “After that, try every non-fiction book and every work of literary fiction,” she says. “When you are done, open Safari or Netscape and visit every Web page currently published.”

Sedgwick seems particularly inspired by popular culture. “Especially the addiction cycles endured by Robert Downey Jr., the controversial adoption proclivities of Angelina Jolie, and the lesbian subtext of James Cameron's Aliens, the sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien,” she says.

Sedgwick says her ideology revolves around “future-past” — a concept that involves saying many uncomfortable things and singing meaningful songs about meaningless subjects.

She is focusing on her second album, tentatively titled Good Artists Borrow, and Great Artists Steal, and I, Edie Sedgwick, am a Great Artist. “I am at the top of my form,” she says. “It’s difficult to imagine a more relevant artist than me. Perhaps one is out there. I hope so, for though my ideology is perfect and immortal, I am a mortal being. What will you do when I am gone?”

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