Most of the participants in this weekend's Girls Got Rhythm Fest agree: There's no great need to showcase women's ability to rock 'n' roll -- not in this day and age, and especially not on the Twin Cities music scene.

However, there certainly still seems to be a want for such an event.

Scheduled Friday and Saturday nights at St. Paul's Amsterdam Bar & Hall -- with a third, all-ages show added Sunday -- the inaugural festival features a cultish, record-collector-type lineup of acts from different cities and eras, all of which happen to feature women. Foremost among them is Ronnie Spector, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who gave us "Be My Baby."

There is certainly a nobody's-baby attitude behind Girls Got Rhythm. As the name suggests -- it's taken from a song title by sexual-innuendo masters AC/DC -- the festival's feminist face is made up in a spirit of fun.

"We don't have any political message or anything to prove," confirmed co-organizer Dana Raidt. "It's just a cohesive, inspiring way of spotlighting some great musicians."

Raidt, 30, carried a similar mantra when she hosted the "Girl Germs" show on the University of Minnesota student station Radio K, which lives on as a podcast and blog. Now the editor of Metro magazine, Raidt dreamt up the fest last year with promoter and musician Travis Ramin, who runs the Ramos record label.

Margaret Andrews, Star Tribune
Ronnie Spector

The two longtime friends started out by booking underground acts Ramin had worked with, including Detroit pop-punk vet Nikki Corvette. Feeding their wildest dreams, Raidt said, they approached Spector's handlers about having her headline on Saturday.

"I still can barely believe we got her," Raidt admitted. "They're saying she's into the idea of the fest."

And the rest of the GGR acts are into the idea of being on the same bill as Spector. Landing her helped the organizers secure Japanese surf-rock trio the 5.6.7.8's and Friday's headliners, the Muffs, an unsung Los Angeles band from the early-1990s alt-rock wave alongside Babes in Toyland and Hole.

Muffs frontwoman Kim Shattuck echoed Raidt's comments about the GGR Fest not making a feminist statement.

"I think it's cool to do thematically, and a lot of fun, but I don't think it's like the 1940s if we don't," she said.

Shattuck remembers going into a guitar shop to buy strings as a teenager and being asked by the guy behind the counter, "Are these for your boyfriend?" Otherwise, she said, she's encountered few instances of sexism in her career.

"It might happen more than I think, and I just don't pick up on it because I don't care what people think," she said. "If people act like I'm a joke, then I figure the joke's on them."

Raidt wasn't willing to joke about her festival being a tough-girl answer to the often folky and flowery Lilith Fairs.

"They were important at the time," she said of the Sarah McLachlan-led tours of the late '90s, which promoted dozens of female acts at a time when narrow FM radio formats rarely played them. But when McLachlan tried to revive Lilith Fair in 2010, ticket sales were lackluster -- possibly showing it to be an outdated idea.

Unlike the Lilith Fairs, Raidt is confident the GGR Fest will draw as many men as women, thanks in part to the festival's rockier/punkier style of bands -- but also to Twin Cities music lovers on the whole being "very open to seeing bands from all different genres."

"Gender," she added, "really isn't much of an issue here."

GIRLS GOT RHYTHM

Girls Got Rhythm lineup

Friday

THE MUFFS

Getting these SoCal pop-punk faves to headline the fest's first night was a solid snag. The female counterpart to Billie Joe Armstrong, leading lady Kim Shattuck and Co. brought some welcomed spunk to the '90s alternative scene. Their sixth LP has been in the works since 2006, but it will probably be worth the wait.

PIERCED ARROWS

Portland, Ore., cow-punk couple Fred and Toody Cole developed a cult following as Dead Moon. The raucous trio (with drummer Andrew Loomis) hung it up in 2006, but the Coles quickly resurfaced (with Kelly Haliburton on drums) as Pierced Arrows -- an oddball garage three-piece, with slimy guitars dripped over a quirky, midtempo restlessness. Hands down, the Coles have one of the coolest rock marriages (45 years!) around.

WHITE MYSTERY

This brother-and-sister garage-psych duo could very easily be Carrot Top's sperm-bank offspring. But rather than perform crappy prop comedy, these curly-haired gingers rock hard -- Chicago's punky answer to the White Stripes. Their sophomore album smacks of big, fuzzed-out blues with Miss Alex White's (yup, their last name is White, too) flagrantly howling vocals. MC5 fans, grab a spot in the front.

CAROLINE & THE TREATS (ALSO SUN.)

Girls Got Rhythm reportedly marks the first-ever stateside gig for these Norwegian power poppers, fronted by former porn star Caroline Andersen. The quartet's flirty tunes are Pixie-Stix-level sugary. Although they seemingly know but three chords, that's all they need to make you want to strip down for a game of nude volleyball. We'd call it bubblegum punk, but that doesn't sound smutty enough.

THE PINSCH (ALSO SUN.)

This wound-up little punk group doesn't have a proper release out, but don't let that stop you from showing up early. A far cry from drummer Matt Castore's other band (locally revered hardcore trio Condominium), this poppy new project is as spunky as Condominium is angry. Although he'd never get away with singing about miniskirts, his Pinsch cohort Miss Georgia Peach pulls it off with pompom peppiness.

Margaret Andrews, Star Tribune
The Muffs

HOT RASH

With their WebMD.com-channeling band name, these local ladies' strain of garage rock is quite infectious (get it?). Awful jokes aside, the trio's tunes are stripped-down, fluff-free nuggets of fun; chock full of girl-group vocals. If a need for simple, bubbly melodies and double snare hits is what ails you, let these lasses be your penicillin.

Saturday

Ronnie Spector

Ringleader for the seminal '60s girl group the Ronettes, the golden-voiced Spector (born Veronica Bennett) was responsible for some of the most memorable hits of the decade, including "Be My Baby" -- a soundtrack staple for googly-eyed romance scenes. With just one studio album, the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. After the Ronettes disbanded, Bennett entered a, shall we say, tumultuous six-year marriage with producer/weirdo Phil Spector, but let's focus on the good old days.

THE 5.6.7.8.'S (ALSO SUN.)

Perhaps the biggest testament to the GGR brass' curating prowess was in landing this cult favorite. Founded in 1986, the Tokyo trio has been cranking up loud and surfy garage rock for decades with little visibility in the United States, until Quentin Tarantino gave them a guest spot in "Kill Bill Vol. 1." The women have an affinity for American rock 'n' roll, doling out their take on garage, surf and rockabilly classics in rambunctious doses. Who knows when Twin Cities fans will have another chance to catch the Jack White-approved Japanese garage queens.

NIKKI CORVETTE

While Iggy and the Stooges and MC5 are typically the first bands that come up when talking Detroit rock 'n' roll, Nikki Corvette was just as revved up as the Motor City forefathers. The punkish bop-alongs that the power-pop princess recorded with her first band Nikki and the Corvettes was Saturday-night cruising music for late-'70s high schoolers. We wouldn't be shocked if she were actually Joey Ramone's long-lost kid sister.

LITTLE GIRLS

Back in 1983, Caron and Michele Maso stood squarely at the intersection of girl-group sensibilities and new-wavey buoyancy. Their short-lived career saw the valley-girl sisters score a pair of pogoing hits with "The Earthquake Song" and "How to Pick Up Girls." They've got as much substance as cotton candy, but with thir fun-loving hooks they make a revisit to this bygone era too good to pass up.

MIDNITE SNAXXX (ALSO SUN.)

For a band you might or might not have heard of, these garage-punk women have quite the pedigree. With members including Tina Lucchesi of the Trashwomen (a one-time tribute to Minneapolis garage legends the Trashmen) and Dulcinea Gonzalez of the Loudmouths, the Oakland trio has seniority status in the thriving Bay Area garage scene.

L'ASSASSINS (ALSO SUN.)