Rock Against Bush Tour Featuring: NOFX, Alkaline Trio & Jello Biafra

It’s a scary fucking world we’re living in. As I sit reading the headlines from today’s New York Times I am gripped with a feeling of helpless despair. In what has been the bloodiest week since we overthrew the evil regime of Saddam, I am saddened to see more Americans dying in a country we “liberated” over 11 months ago. Remember that tailhook landing our presidential buddy George “Aw Shucks” Bush made on the USS Abraham Lincoln, declaring “Mission Accomplished” to a cheering crowd of seamen? That was on May 1st of last year. Seems like ancient history, that surging rush of patriotism we collectively felt as our president assured us that the ugly part of the war was but a bitter memory and that we could look forward to a flowery Iraqi democracy budding into virginal bloom within weeks or even days. It was a time of unbridled optimism as Iraqi children high-fived American GIs on the streets of Baghdad and Iraqi women invited US Marines into their living rooms for tea and blow jobs. Ah, the salad days... But now, in what any cursory observer of world history could’ve predicted, we’re in the midst of a counter-insurgency, fighting ethnic radicals and Iraqi nationalists (branded “terrorists” by the Bush team) and generally getting our ass handed to us by what Walter from The Big Lebowski might not deem an admirable foe:
“What you have here is a bunch of fig-eaters trying to find reverse in a Russian tank, not exactly what you would call a worthy fucking adversary.”
And so it goes, $87 billion in supplemental funding for the last fiscal year alone spent to rebuild and disarm a country that we never should have invaded in the first place. Worldwide favor for the United States of America is at an all-time low thanks to the short-sighted and callously indifferent policies of the Bush regime.
And what does this have to do with a NOFX show in Davis, CA? It’s the agenda of Punkvoter.org, the de facto sponsor of this show, to highlight and invoke action against the destructive policies of the Bush empire among the ranks of the largely un-represented punk rock crowd. Due to a personal scheduling mishap, I wasn't able to see Authority Zero or Alkaline Trio's performances. However, when I arrived, Jello Biafra was haranguing the crowd on the lesser points of the current administration. It took me awhile to figure out who this pudgy bastard was, standing onstage in his loose fitting T-shirt and leather vest. The former Dead Kennedys frontman ranted and raved about how we need to take our country back from corporate pirates. His tirade was weird and fiery, but I can’t say it was very effective.
NOFX arrived a short time later with a limping Fat Mike in tow. Seems the aging punker threw out his back and rather than call off the show, sucked it up and played lying on his back on a couch the entire time. Can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone do that before, which definitely lends credence to the fervor he has for the cause. In between urging showgoers to register to vote at a booth near the merch table, the gravelly voiced singer along with his comedic compatriots pounded through crowd (new and old) favorites like “The Brews” and “The Separation of Church and Skate,” as well as forgotten tunes I’d never heard performed live before, like “Scavenger Type.” NOFX got the message out in succinct fashion with the song “Idiot Son of An Asshole” and warmly reminded everyone to vote early and vote often.
- M. Cameron Newell
- Photo by Pamela Morgan

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