Multimedia McLaren Is Predictably Pretentious

Malcolm McLaren’s multimedia event on Saturday at the Hollywood Palladium--partially benefiting the Rainforest Foundation and incorporating aspects of New York fashion culture with Brazilian music and dance--was predictably, irresistibly pretentious: We can hang out with the Warhol set and get down with the south-of-the-equator conga crowd too, it begged attendees to brag.

Not so much a concert as a parade of cross-cultural incongruities, the evening featured live performances by a Brazilian troupe and a rap trio. McLaren’s own music from his unwieldy but fun LP “Waltz Darling,” which tries to cram symphonic waltzes into unyielding modern R&B;, was mostly on tape.

The real show, then, was a phalanx of models demonstrating McLaren’s favorite dance, voguing, which consists of aloofly striking Vogue magazine-like poses with the arms in rapid, rhythmic succession while not moving the legs much at all. A few minutes of this ripe-for-parody dance is interesting, while a few hours of it is cruel and unusual punishment; may it go the way of the hustle.