I went to see Rancid at the Henry Ford Theater on Tuesday evening (they will be appearing at the Ford all week with some other great opening acts). Left Alone opened the show with their high energy punk and ska punk, then The Adolescents charged forward with awesome vintage Orange County punk, then Rancid Rancid Rancid!!! took the stage. I was blown away by how great they sounded. I mean I know that they are good, but they are getting even better with age.



Here's the reason why I'm writing this in the blog. I saw more civility, community, and brotherhood at this show than what is being shown by our so called "leaders" in Washington. OK, it's a given that at a punk show testosterone is mixed with raw aggression (aggression that often comes from disappointment/disillusion with the status quo) and the pit is that aggression in action. Ironically, there was real beauty in the pit at the Rancid show. Anyone that fell down in the pit was helped up, no one had a problem, even the security was pretty much hands off as they let punk nature take it's course. There it was, a swirling, skanking, mass of people. People of all ages and colors that were free to express themselves as the music of Rancid rocked us all. I really needed a break from all of the "Wall Street" crap. The news media has been bombarding us with so much bad news that it seems like we have no control over our lives, our futures, and certainly our government. Then I heard Tim sing the chorus to The 11th Hour, "do you know where the power lies? and who pulls the strings, do you know where the power lies, it starts and ends with you". Long live punk rock. MDM