Mike Watt Raises Cash
for Pedro Skaters

by Thom White

SAN PEDRO, Calif. -- July 5, 2003 -- For anyone who has never seen Mike Watt live, there was perhaps no better opportunity to watch the famed bassman in action than at San Pedro's hallowed Sacred Grounds (399 W 6th St.) for Saturday's all-ages fundraiser for skaters. Before a hometown crowd, the former Minuteman sang and played electric bass, joining forces with noisy guitar player Nels Cline and hard rockin' drummer Joe Barile for a series of inspiring Stooges songs.

All proceeds from this show went to Channel Street Skatepark and prior to Mike Watt's set, there was a "Skate Raffle" with gear giveaways. The crowd joyously accepted a shower of t-shirts, hats, boards, wheels, trucks, etc. mercilessly pelted upon it, since, while dodging others' flying rewards, each in his own mind eagerly awaited to see if he might have the raffle of all raffles.

As the "Raffle" wound down, this observer was dismayed to see a guy in a tie-dyed Tom Petty shirt (without the winning raffle) fraudulently awarded a skateboard and trucks, while attention was diverted; likely this was some Sacred Grounds regular with inside connections.

The Rolling Blackouts were the first group witnessed (I missed the Smurfz), and they were energizing. The four-piece played in '60s fashion, but left no doubt of their maximum rock 'n' roll skills with a set-closer of boogie down distortion and fabulous rolling drum fills. The Blackouts were good, but now it was time for Watt on bass.

Tanned and lean, Watt took the stage in an eternally fashionable flannel / jeans and black Converse combo, and immediately got the rock started. Early on, Watt & Co. did a powerful version of Iggy & the Stooges' sing-along classic, "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Watt's ringing chords and walking bass lines combined with the guitarist's abrasive Black Flag-style solo to add a creative layer to the this ever-popular punk rock folk song.

During the final extended noise jam-out, "LA Blues," Watt fell to his knees as the song reached a volume high. The noise guitar player then ceased to play his instrument, having already executed an abundance of tremulous wah-wah fretboard gymnastics throughout the show, and instead turned to abusively agitate and slam his Fender guitar against the ground, all with the ebullient zeal of some imagined or forgotten grunge rocker.

As the squeal and thunder of noise from this jam-out at last subsided, Watt rose to his feet and grasped the microphone in the midst of the crowd's applause and celebration. He had one final public service announcement to his neighbors of Pedro: "Tell your own story, write your own tunes. Get the jackboot off your neck and breathe some fresh air. If a 45-year-old punk rocker can do it -- you can too …"

The Leeches played lastly and most sloppily, but did attire themselves well. Over their heads, the trio draped garbage bags, pierced with eyeholes, and bearing scarlet 'L's of tape. The band was able to conjure a fair amount of audience participation with their organ pop rock, and the unstable keyboard stand that many times threatened to tip and fall from the stage added an element of drama that was lacking in their music.

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