I should confess… I’ve never seen the movie Repo Man. I worked at a corporate music store in the late ’90s, and I recall stocking a CD called Repo Man and putting it in the punk compilations. Because, looking at the track listing, I just assumed that the “movie” was a fake movie for what was an AMAZING compilation of LA Punk. I honestly just assumed it was an early ’80’s version / LA version of the classic Kill Rock Stars compilation in the early ’90s / Pacific Northwest. I probably owned that CD for over a decade before I learned it was a real movie.
Fast forward 25 years, I ended up at Great American Music Hall for a performance by SF super collective, Red Room Orchestra, doing all of the music from Repo Man. Not just the soundtrack but the score and pretty much every note of music from this film. I was really excited about this but fully prepared to feel a little out of the loop. In fact, one of Repo Man director Alex Cox’s stories told from the stage was about how the film didn’t get any real distribution at first. Then the CEO of MCA Records, who put out the soundtrack, called the CEO of Universal Pictures, who distributed the film, and said, “We have this album called Repo Man that’s selling really well. Is there actually a movie that goes along with it?”
But I digress. The night really was a celebration of a classic film and the music that helped make the film famous. The show opened with Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia, backed by the usual Red Room Orchestra players, including his bandmate Pete Straus on bass, Dirty Ghosts’ Allyson Baker on lead guitar, Toby Dammit of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on drums, Dina Macabee on keys and violin, Petra Haden on violin, Scott Larson on trombone, ex-Persphone’s Bees guitarist Tom Ayres, and, of course, bandleader Marc Capelle. Dahlia does a great Iggy Pop, so this was unsurprisingly good.
Of course, nobody wants to hear about things that aren’t surprising. And Blag Dahlia doesn’t exactly have a reputation for staying in the comfort zone. Dahlia wasn’t just a guest vocal tonight. We were also treated to a live read of several key scenes from the movie, and despite the town being overrun with great comic actors this week, Dahlia was cast as the lead! I have no idea what Emilio Estevez was like playing Otto in the film, but I can’t imagine that he had the comic timing and awkward swagger of Mr. Blag Dalhia. He held his own next to Latino Comedy Projects’ Adrian Villegas and Mical Trejo and even may have outshined Kids In The Hall’s Kevin McDonald.
Throughout the night, we were also treated to director Alex Cox telling stories about the making of the film. These were great! He talked about wanting to cast Circle Jerks’ Zander Schloss but being forced to hire a “big actor” instead, only to have his scenes get “messed up” in some way, and Schloss filmed them instead. He talked about having access to the entire MCA catalog for free for the movie and throwing in The Andrews Sisters and “CC Rider” and Elvis just because he could. He even talked about meeting The Plugz’ Tito Larriva when the two were hiding from the cops at a punk show in LA.
But I digress… The music. That was the real reason I was there, and, man. That show was as good as it was varied. Dave Hill was an over-the-top punk rock mess when he did “Coup d’Etat” by The Circle Jerks. He stayed onstage and popped on his flying-v for Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized” with Kevin McDonald on vocals. McDonald may have been the only thing off about the whole night. He kinda recited the song like a poem, where he really could’ve gone a bit more over the top than he did. Anyways, a slight complaint.
You just wanted a list of who did what, right? From here on out, it was all genius casting! Dina Macabee and ex-Dance Hall Crasher Karina Denike did a version of “TV Party” that started out as a lovely ballad and ended with Macabee opening up full beer cans and throwing them in the crowd. Denike also sang the classic pop songs “C.C. Rider” and “Rhumboogie. Zander Schloss did acoustic versions of both the “Feelin’ 7up” jingle and the Circle Jerks campfire sing-long “When the Shit Hits The Fan.” Tito Larriva did all three Plugz songs from the soundtrack, plus showed off his impressive guitar heroics when doing the score. Local luminary Chuck Prophet did a fantastic reading of “Pablo Picasso,” which also brought about a full audience sing-a-long. that dog.’s Petra Haden was tapped to do Fear’s “Let’s Have A War,” and Oxbow’s Eugene Robinson, dressed in a leather trenchcoat, swaggered his way through “Bad Man.”
In the end, this was over two hours of just good, sweaty fun. I danced harder than I’ve danced in ages. I connected with old friends and met strangers, and I was genuinely reminded about how transcendental a great show can be. The night was just plain beautiful.
I guess I should watch this movie at some point?
Gallery Photos by Gordon Elgart
