By Peter Thomas Ricci<\/p>\n
Lester Bangs is probably the most (in)famous writers of rock criticism, and for good reason \u2013 a pill popping, beer boozing, cough-syrup downing polemicist who wildly praised Van Morrison\u2019s \u201cAstral Weeks\u201d in one breath and ruthlessly savaged Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the next, his was a personality perfectly tailored to the messy, larger-than-life atmosphere of rock \u2019n roll\u2019s early days, and since his untimely death at the age of 33 (a drug overdose from no more than three different substances \u2013 including NyQuil), his legend has progressively grown, with more and more young writers attracted to his aggression, passion, and rebellious spirit.<\/p>\n
Therefore, it\u2019s hardly surprising that Bangs\u2019 personality and life would inspire a work of theater, and in \u201cHow to be a Rock Critic,\u201d the latest production from husband-and-wife team Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, Bangs has received a play that would do him proud \u2013 a loud, uncompromising one-man show that, with Jensen portraying Bangs, gives audiences the man he really was, warts and all.<\/p>\n
Set entirely in Bangs\u2019 ramshackle New York apartment, \u201cCritic\u201d blasts through Bangs\u2019 life and opinions with the speed and velocity of a Stooges single, touching upon Bangs\u2019 early childhood as a Jehovah\u2019s Witness, his adoration for The Beats, his disgust with rock\u2019s stabs at artistic respectability, and his bouts of depression, which he self-medicates throughout the show with countless cans of beer, swigs of cough syrup, and quaaludes. As Bangs, Jensen is having the time of his life, with ratty hair in his eyes, hands gesticulating wildly, spit visibly flying out of his mouth as he passionately recounts stories from his life, such as when The Troggs\u2019 \u201cWild Thing\u201d got him laid.<\/p>\n
If I have any criticism of \u201cHow to be a Rock Critic,\u201d it\u2019s that the show is sometimes too<\/i> faithful to Bangs\u2019 writing. Jensen and Blank based their play on Bangs\u2019 work, and although I agree that nobody better understood Bangs than Bangs himself \u2013 therefore, why not<\/i> take advantage of the man\u2019s prodigious work \u2013 in the end, writing is writing, there were moments in \u201cCritic\u201d where the seams showed and I felt that Jensen was reading Bangs\u2019 work, rather than acting out how Bangs actually was on a normally intoxicated evening.<\/p>\n
And then there is the nature of Bangs himself, which will go a long way in determining how audiences respond to the show. I\u2019ll admit to being a skeptic, myself. Bangs was a very good writer, and his championing of lesser praised works, such as \u201cAstral Weeks,\u201d is admirable. At the same time, his constant posturing and safe rebellion \u2013 the act of fighting \u201cthe system\u201d while still comfortably profiting from it, a la Beats such as Kerouac and Burroughs \u2013 can wear thin, to say nothing of his insistence on what did and did not qualify as rock music; sorry Lester, but one can adore Muddy Waters, Big Star, and both iterations of Fleetwood Mac in equal measure.<\/p>\n
But still, Bangs\u2019 contradictions and hypocrisies are not grounds to criticize Jensen and Blank\u2019s work, which is very good and engaging. One-actor plays are notoriously difficult to pull off, and with \u201cHow to be a Rock Critic,\u201d we have a very worthy addition to the oeuvre.<\/p>\n