school of rock. i saw jack black tonight. all five feet two of him. he is a very small guy. impressionably more wide than tall. and he had a shifty kind of superstar aura about him. actually no he didn't. he blended right in with all the other shifty people. he just avoided eye contact more than most. oh jack black, how i've admired your work in.....um......high fidelity? i've only seen one of his movies. but i've seen parts of the tenacious d dvd. and he's supposed to be a big star on mtv. and i do admire his rise from b-actor obscurity. and it's been well documented that jack black is a rock fan so his presence at an urge overkill concert made perfect sense since "uo" is supposed to be one of the greatest rock bands ever. a review i read said that they personify "rock band." the only problem is that nobody knows who they are. certainly not i nor the other males in my party.



so the question was, "it makes sense that jack black is here but what am i, jon yang, doing here?" and the simple answer is: lilly. on yet another mission to conquer san diego, we (lilly, hong, galvez and i) venture out on a work night in search of the heart of rock. apparently the heart of rock is a bit smelly and located next to the airport in a red bar called the casbah. suffice to say, i've never been around a rock crowd, to a rock show, or done anything remotely similar to this entire experience. tight jeans, dirty hair and mismatched clothing seemed to be de rigueur. we were wearing non-tapered jeans and "normal" casual wear. we sat in the corner and pretended to be foreign exchange students. which we were -- if not foreign in nationality, at least foreign in musical culture.



as a young lass, lilly found and loved urge overkill and has remained titanically in love ever since. fueled by her excitment and nervousness, i was ready to expect anything. urge overkill did a re-make of the "girl, you'll be a woman soon" song for the pulp fiction soundtrack but that song is not representative of their work at all. rarely am i led into events or situations in which i know nothing. but tonight, i knew nothing. and then when nothing became something, it was loud, rawkus and rock. i must admit, i was a bit overwhelmed and lost. i don't understand rock music. at all. i can sort of appreciate the instrument work. i can dig the energy. i like the drums. i cannot understand what they are saying. i cannot figure out how they flip that long hair around (headbang?). i cannot fathom why they don't shower more. it's a dirt thing i guess. pert plus anyone?



truly, as lost as i was though, i was experiencing the moment. taking in all the spasmic bopping heads around me and trying to find my rock and roll and super soul. i didn't find it but i did have my eardrums blown out for me. and urge overkill were really very good (or so i'm told) and the one that lilly is in love with, nash kato, does have the aura of a rock legend. he played most of the set with his fingers bleeding all over his guitars -- somehow managing not to splatter any of it onto his white on white ensemble. they also had roadies switch them guitars every other song. very rock star move.



i can't say that i'm a rocker or a fan of rock but it was ultimately something new. and something's new doesn't come along so often anymore so you have to go searching for it. even if it's on a weekday. even if it's in a dirty bar you never would of normally given a second thought to. san diego 2004 is looking more interesting already. vive san diego. vive le rock.



ps. lilly got her golden moment picture and hug from cato after the concert. i have never seen anyone so nervous or so starstruck before. well, except when people meet supermodel hong, song slinging gene or i-am-peace babbs, but that kind of starstruck tends of wear off after five minutes. lilly was "oh my gawd" starstruck pretty much before, during and after the entire concert. when i meet and propose to kristin kreuk, i hope to have better composure. not to mention more lip action.