Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Punk Rock: My Career as a Jerk (video)

Johnny Whiteside (LAWeekly.com); Cinefamily.org; Wisdom Quarterly
(BlankTV) From the Net's biggest, uncensored, completely D.I.Y. punk, hardcore, indie, and alternative music video site, BlankTV.com

The Circle Jerks were always one of the most explosive, engaging, and wildly enjoyable forces in punk rock: a militant shock troupe whose mixture of frantic hedonism, naked aggression, withering whimsy, and walloping music was never less than flabbergasting. 
  
There ain't hyperbole lurid enough to attempt to began to convey the heat and velocity at which the band has consistently operated, a fact that makes the arrival of director Dave Markey's jolting new jerkumentary, Circle Jerks: My Career as a Jerk, such a welcome event.
  
For those who experienced firsthand the group's weaponized punk-rock stylings, it's a glorious reminder of how dangerous some types of pleasure can be; for those just immersing themselves in the Keith Morris-brewed vat of glorious self-destructo shenanigans, it's a vivid look into punk's artistic past that rates as equal parts instruction manual and Scared Straight cautionary tale.
  
Filmmaker Markey will join band members Greg Hetson and Lucky Lehrer for a post-mortem gab fest. Don't be stupid, kids; go! Part of the Don't Knock The Rock Festival. Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater, 611 N Fairfax Ave., Hollywood; Thursday, Aug. 30, 7:30 pm; $12. (323) 655-2510.

UPDATE

Review: The movie is great! Wisdom Quarterly was on the scene as 75% of the members announced that they were ready to reunite. Unfortunately, Keith Morris missed the first showing and was only later seen crossing the street to the venue after all the voting members on stage for the Q&A had adjourned to partake of free refreshments in the open-air patio. But during the movie, Morris repeatedly alluded to being open to the possibility of joining the original members and making a go of it to bring a new generation of punks hits like this:
 
"Paid [Afghan] Vacation"

"I hope you're having fun. Where's your uniform? Where's your gun? Better rub up that suntan oil 'Cause you'll be fighting in the hot sun. It's not Vietnam, It's another oil company scam. Salute that flag for Uncle Sam. Get your money out, place your bets, It's Afghanistan! Fix bayonets, check grenades. Got enough bullets, Got enough rounds to wipe out this place? We're the infantry and the cavalry. Parachutes fill the sky, Bodies burn, and people die..."

   
Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) at Occupy San Francisco

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