Bobby Conn & the Glass Gypsies

Bobby Conn has the same charm as high-pitched Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins: a bold, Meat Loaf-and-mascara glam-rock grandiosity. Furthermore, the pint-size Chicagoan sure is a goofy bastard. Case in point is "Never Get Ahead," a tune from Conn's latest effort, Live Classics Vol. 1. Like most of the tracks on Classics, it's a big gawdamn mess. But it's also more fun than you can shake a stick at: a funky, falsetto-fied, anti-corporate diatribe featuring Conn and his Glass Gypsies melding a frantic electric violin, the disco track from the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" and the lyrics "You're never gonna get ahead, givin' head to the man." Naturally, Conn also delivers liberal doses of onstage theatricality and silly, slimy sexuality -- whether he's screaming down the likes of George W. Bush and the United Nations with a Jello Biafra-like punk swagger or trying to match an outlandish arena-rock guitar solo with sweat-and-wail soul hysteria.

Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $7; call 314-781-4716 for more information.