Rancid, Oliver Stone and more

 

I found this digging around some old files about the events of October 21, 2006. Worth reposting. The celebrity in question is Hilary Duff.

 

Briefly Friday I had considered hitting Bob Dylan at the Forum but ended up stopping at the library and getting some movies instead. “Shaun Of The Dead” and “Toxic Avenger” rule!

 

A few times Saturday morning I checked Ticketmaster for an Iron Maiden ticket. If anything in the Orchestra section popped up I would have bought it. By 12:30 nothing was available. Figured I might do alright if I went down but wanted to go to Hollywood first to check out Placebo’s acoustic set at Virgin Megastore. I thought they would be playing in the courtyard like Jerry Lee Lewis last week. Unfortunately it was a “buy a CD and get a wristband” event and there were already hundreds in line outside.

 

Went to the Chinese Theatre for the Departed. Already started. Start thinking about Iron Maiden again but first called a friend who lives close by to see what he is up to.

 

Spent the next several hours at his place drinking beer and catching up on things while watching the new 4 Reels Aerosmith DVD. Met my friend’s new roomate, an odd character who is psychotically obsessed a female celebrity. I had heard a little from my friend over the past few months about his affliction but it was quite bizarre to hear something like this first hand. Its been intensifying lately and apparently now has media attention.

 

Sometime during the lengthy accounts of this soap opera was when the window for Maiden closed. By late afternoon I was a little too much in the bag to take the train all the way to the Irvine.

 

Walking by the Arclight Cinema there are ushers all over the place handing out free tickets to a screening of Born On The 4th Of July which was to be followed by a Q&A with Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic.

 

Hadn’t seen the movie since its first run in the theatres way back when. It was alright. The Q&A at first seemed interesting and was indeed the whole reason I decided to attend. Naturally it’s a political event starting off with a discussion of the analogies between the Vietnam war and the Iraq War. There was an interviewer onstage which was necesary to give any semblence of sanity to the event.

 

Eventually crowd input was requested. Even after about 8 beers and a 32 ounce jack and coke, the questions and comments made me feel like the soberest person in the room.

 

It started off with a woman frantically proclaiming “You all gotta sign up for this email service that tells the truth about 9/11, but I CAN’T REMEMBER THE NAME” and some guy mumbling off a prepared statement in broken English before being silenced by security. The rest was a bit more

mundane like a bunch of ass kissing from various members of the audience.

 

No insights were gleaned though it reinforced my earlier conclusion that some people would be better off without any exposure to television whatsoever.

 

It lasted about an hour total before it was time to go home. I arrived at the bus stop at 9:55 for a 9:50 bus home. Oh well. Got a few bucks left I can spend on even more alcohol at Bob’s Frolic Room but I notice there is something going down the block at the Henry Fonda Theatre. Turns out retro punkers Rancid are playing their 4th sold out show there, and they go on in 5 minutes.

 

I Was never much of a fan but listened to them about a month ago and they were better than I remembered. Not the kind of thing I would usually go see but my buzz is still going and I don’t want to kill it just sitting on a bus bench for an hour and probably not a good idea to keep piling it on in the bar either.

 

Not sure if I want to see the show but start playing the ticket game just for fun with the few latecomers still going in. A scalper takes my one and only final offer of $10 for a ticket. I start second guessing myself wondering if I am going to regret my drunken decision and even after I almost immedietly get an offer on that ticket for $15 I goinside just as Rancid hits the stage with Roots Radical.

 

It was like walking into a time warp. They look and sound pretty much exactly as they did in 1996 when I last saw them. It was a kick ass high energy show with over 25 songs in 75 minutes. Even though they have been around for 15 years, it was still a real young crowd with most of them singing along with every word.

 

I knew more songs than I thought I did. I probably knew more songs at this show than if I had seen Iron Maiden since I can’t really remember a note of their new album. Rancid’s music has also aged real well. Highlights were “Roots Radical,” “Time Bomb” and “Fall Back Down” which was acoustic with the drummer also playing guitar.

 

KROQ was handing out posters on the way out commemorating 8 sold out shows total in Southern California. Nice poster on heavy stock with the skull from the Evil Dead 2 cover. Since I had about 20 minutes I walked around in circles and picked up a few extras.

 

Good show and I am very glad I saw it instead of sitting on a bus bench or listening to the juke box in the bar. Not bad for an unscheduled spontaneous detour. Luckily there were no more deviations between Hollywood and home.