It’s been quite a week to absorb some amazing rock and roll performances. On Saturday, April 21, I caught the reunited Stooges show at the Warfield in San Francisco. As luck would have it, it was also a big birthday party for Iggy Pop, who turned 60 years old that day. I’ve seen a lot of rock and roll shows in my lifetime, but I have to admit that this one was truly one of the greatest. It was the type of show that hit all the right spots, unleashed primordial energies from spiritual ruts, and provided the type of entertainment that dreams are truly made of. Yes, I did like this show… a lot.
I don’t know what the hell Iggy Pop is on, what he ingests, what type of physical regiment he practices, but I’d like to order whatever he’s got, and get a year’s supply.
He didn’t perform LOUIE LOUIE this time, but that’s OK. He didn’t need to. Maybe next time.
As it turns out, Iggy talked a little bit about “LOUIE LOUIE” a few days later on the Jimmy Kimmel TV show. I haven’t actually seen this episode yet, but I’ve been told that he talked about Kurt Cobain being the missing link between LOUIE LOUIE and the Beatles. (If anyone has a copy of this show, please email me)
If you want to see the official poster for Iggy’s birthday show in San Francisco, check out this webpage by my friend Kent Myers, who designed it. Years ago, Kent drew up a little story about Iggy Pop as Frankenstein-type monster in his comic book Detroit Murder City Comix, so it was really nice to see Kent come full circle with this assignment.
On Thursday, April 26th, I was invited by my friend James MacLeod to return to the Santa Cruz Film Festival to see a couple of new music documentaries. The main movie I was interested in was New Orleans: Music In Exile, a new documentary by Robert Mugge that followed the stories of some of the musicians that left Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Watching the film, I experienced some involuntary reactions as my eyes dripped tears down my cheek, revisiting the devastation of this beautiful city. I have no doubt this documentary will find decent distribution on TV, be it PBS, HBO, A&E or something else along those lines. It’s a keeper.
I almost didn’t see the second film. I didn’t know who The UnBand was, and frankly, my butt was getting sore sitting in the theater for two hours. I was anxious to go home and do more work editing my own projects. Luckily, I decided to stick it out and see the documentary of this unknown band.
“We Like To Drink: We Like to Play Rock’n’Roll” is a phenomenal documentary of the band known as the UnBand. Director Lexie Shabel did a superb job capturing the spirit of this very funny rock and roll band.
How would you describe The UnBand? If Motorhead, the Replacements and Spinal Tap got super-drunk on laughing gas, and somehow gave birth to another band, it would be The UnBand. These guys have charisma, attitude, a great sense of humor, and they totally RAAAWWWKKKKK!
Seriously, these guys are absolutely nuts. They are human cartoon characters. They drink, they swear, they lose money, they get arrested for stupid things, and it’s all real. At the film showing, a free DVD was offered to anyone that could count how many times in the movie the drummer got naked. Rejected by Sundance, South By Southwest, and a handful of other film festivals, this documentary had it’s official premiere at an event sponsored by Modern Drunkard Magazine.
It’s not easy getting exposure for a band nobody’s heard of. Because this film has a lot of male frontal nudity with a goofy drummer, many of the standard outlets consider it an X-rated film, and won’t touch it. As I read the official website for Gringa Productions, I discovered that director Lexie Shabel was diagnosed with breast cancer three days after she wrapped up this film. Now, she’s doing a film about her situation, which she’s calling “the ME film.”
Good for you, Lexie. May you beat this nasty disease, and direct many more great films. You did a fantastic job with the UnBand!
Check out this trailer for We Like To Drink: We Like to Play Rock’n’Roll on YouTube:
(WARNING: NAUGHTY LANGUAGE & SILLY BEHAVIOR)
It really is astonishing that Kurt Cobain nonetheless has a lot of fans. His audio is basically unique and it is going to be memorable. Quite a few wonder still, why did Kurt committed suicide. I think he was so depressed that he could not even save his music. Kurt, you are the greatest!
mc5, iggy pop and the stooges DR john the nighttripper rolling stones canned heat jimmi hendrix free
this is fucking valid