Posted On: Saturday - August 18th 2018 7:02PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Music Humor Trump
A guy named Mike Ness generated a bit of Social Distortion out in Sacramento, California a month back, as the lead singer of said band came off stage to beat up on a
One concert-goer, a Mr. Tim Hildebrand, somewhat-cooly from the town of Galt, CA (just S. of Sacramento, and currently 32% hispanic), had had enough with the lead singer Mike Ness' making a political diatribe during the show. Said diatribe included some badmouthing of President Trump. Mr. Hildebrand, note again from a now-32% hispanic town, is a Trump supporter and didn't particularly appreciate the last part. He "allegedly" held up his middle finger toward the singer and band, haha, for 2 FULL SONGS (emphasis, because doing that for 6-10 minutes would be extremely tiring). That's when the lead singer got tired of having anyone question his political righteousness, and came down off the high ground.
The incident in question is nothing if not a learning experience on both sides. As for the band, Peak Stupidity has been on about entertainers mouthing off about stuff that they are not particularly more knowledgeable about than their fans before in Bono, you'd be serving up fries chips if it weren't for The Edge and Of course the Russians love their children, you dumb bass player!. (In the latter, I'll have to give Sting a break, as it wasn't mouthing off so much as just silly lyrics - that ain't no crime.) "Shut up and play!" should be the mantra - imagine if bands just played and played like the All-American Grateful Dead, leaving the politics alone as a matter of understanding one's limitations.
The concert-going plaintiff, with 2 black eyes, a busted lip, and a concussion, should learn a few things:
1) Maybe he didn't know that the punk band Social Distortion injected politics into their shows. Maybe, but would you really expect a punk band to be conservative though, anyway? If he did know their views, why support the guys by attending the show?
2) If you blow off the politics because you just love the music, and attend anyway, I can see a few heckles or boos at the singer, but once this fight got started, whose side would you expect the fans to be on? It was a very unfair fight, as the fans held Mr. Hildabrand back, as the 56-year old Mike Ness inflicted the injuries. The ctrl-left doesn't like to fight fair ... then they lose.
3) It could have been a lot worse. Besides having the high ground of the stage, the weapons in the band's possession include heavy microphones, drum sticks, and still-heavier guitars (hell, they used to smash them even when they weren't mad at ANYBODY!)
4) Here's how you do it next time: Aren't these punk guys into stage diving and such? They have their fans catch them as the jump from 8 feet up, sometimes on their backs. Mr. Hildabrand, my suggestion, in lieu of some lawsuit or what-have-you goes thusly: Bring 20 friends next time and enjoy the show. Encourage a stage dive from the lead singer Mr. 56-y/o (bones are not getting any spongier) Mike Ness. When he gets to peak altitude just spread yourselves and everyone else away from a 10' diameter crash zone on the concrete floor. Put on MAGA hats, and run like hell for the emergency exits. No, wait, first run like hell for the exits. Call 911 to be sportsmanlike.
Speaking of being sportsmanlike, though I don't like the guy's politics, I'm gonna cut this band some slack. I just read that Mike Ness has played with Social Distortion since their beginning 40 years AGO!. The first song I looked up on youtube was Ball and Chain, and yes, it's good stuff. Though I respect Mr. Hildebrand's possible courage (mixed with some small amount of foolhardiness) in the incident, maybe I'll chalk this one up to Mike Ness' youthfulness and punk spirit. There was no felonious intent - he was just a poor yute, caught up in a stage dive gone horribly wrong.
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