Last night was a blast. In case some of you missed it, there was a screening of the new Lemmy documentary called LEMMY: 49% Motherf**ker, 51% Son of a Bitch at the Beachland Ballroom in good ol’ Cleveland, OH. It was a great film and I invite anyone who is a Motorhead fan to check it out when it comes out on DVD in a couple of weeks.
I would like to consider myself the soul reason the movie appeared last night at the Beachland. It was not because I organized the event or got in touch with director Wes Orchoski and asked him to come out and do a Q & A – That was Matt @ Addicted To Vinyl.
The reason was because I provided the Blu-Ray player. Yes friends, if it were not for me last night, none of this would ever have happened…
Ok, it was not my Blu-Ray player. Still, I was the one who brought it in and hit “play” when the lights went out. I had a job to do last night and I did it well…
It really did not go that smoothly though…
I arrived a little early to the Beachland Ballroom after a couple failed attempts at doing some vinyl shopping on Warterloo. I forgot it was Sunday and the shops tend to close earlier. It worked out to my advantage though as the sound and video folk at the Beachland were waiting for my arrival.
We hooked up the Blu-Ray player as the tribute band set up and then just hung out in the soon to be filled ballroom. During the downtime I hung out with Wes who is a really kick-ass guy. He talked about his statewide tour showcasing his project that took him four years to create as well as some of the musicians he interviewed. Needless to say, I was jealous.
By 8 o’clock the place was packed. It was funny because I snuck downstairs for a bit to chill out abot 20 minutes earlier and when I came back upstairs almost all the seats were filled. It was a full house. All the chairs were filled and people were standing, all waiting for the film to start.
I was asked to join WJCU/Auburn Records Owner Bill Peters and Chris Akin on stage to introduce Wes to the stage for a shot opening speech by Wes and then was given the cue to start the movie.
So what do I do? I screw up.
I forgot to take out the screensaver disc and enter the blu-ray into the player. As I stood there confused the crowd was wondering what the hell the kid in the Social Distortion jacket was doing on the side of the state.
It was me vs. the crowd and I did what I do best – ignored them…for a moment at least.
I stood there looking at the screen wondering why the damn movie was not playing and then it hit me… I quickly realized what I forgot to do, exchanged discs, and threw up a fist-pump for the crowd (many who cheered).
I am an idiot.
The movie started and all I can tell you is this: It was a funny, truthful, honest, and real documentary on the hardest working musician on the planet. I loved all the interviews Wes was able to capture including some great stories from Scott Ian (Anthrax), Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters/Pro-Bot), and Henry Rollins (duh).
There was plenty of music throughout and also some history of Lemmy that many probably are not aware of.
Lemmy himself was a blast to listed to talk, when I could understand him – thankfully there were plenty of subtitles throughout.
It was one of the better documentaries I have seen in my time and enjoyed every moment. Wes asked me to go back up stage with him and kill the movie once the credits ended so I made my way up there and turned the Blu-Ray player off. Lots of the crowd wanted more and thankfully Bill Peters introduced Wes one more time for a Q&A. This gave me enough time to get everything packed out and I snuck off the side of the stage.
Everyone who joined in on the Q&A had some good questions for Wes. Well that is not entirely true as one lady asked why Lemmy didn’t come… Anyways, it was a blast to see the crowd interact with Wes.
The tribute band immediately followed and rocked out. All who stayed enjoyed their performance. I stayed for a few songs and made my way to the exit.
I had a blast helping out with the event and make some really awesome new friends. I was 1/16th rockstar that night as I got to stand on stage and miserably fail at starting a simple movie.
The crowd rocked, the documentary was entertaining, and now of course now I want to go out and buy all the Motorhead and Hawkwind vinyl I can get my hands on.
Thanks to Addicted To Vinyl’s Matt for putting on the event, thanks to all who showed up, and special thanks to Bill Peters and Chris Akin for helping out as well.
Interested in checking out the Lemmy movie? CLICK HERE.
Daytrader features current and ex-members of Crime in Stereo, Latterman/Bridge and Tunnel/Monikers, the Motorcycle Industry and Divider. The band recently released an ever-so-addicting EP entitled Last Days Of Rome, a release that I have been listening to daily since it dropped.
Mixtapes, a band that just can’t seem to stop releasing songs (no, that is not a bad thing), hails from Cincinnati, OH and really have grown on me thanks to my other pop-punk loving friends who insisted I keep listening to them. I started loving them the moment I realized I (at my thirty-ish prime) can actually identify with their lyrics as they sing about staying home and drinking Diet Coke. Recently the band shared a two-song EP on Death To False Hope Records. The first song is a cover to some Nickeldeon show and the other acoustic song titled “Hey Baby” bashes a Strung Out / Tim Burton loving lady who sucks. Grab yourself a copy by clicking HERE.
Hey to all you