Remembering Ron Asheton and Jay Reatard
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A tribute to Ron Asheton, the former Stooges guitarist who played with punk rocker Iggy Pop and died last January at age 60, was held Wednesday night at the Roxy.
According to Steve Appleford’s review on The Times’ Pop and Hiss blog, it was a raucous show:
Things went off the rails during an extended rendition of ‘No Fun,’ with [Chad] Smith behind the drums and [Steve] Mackay on sax, when singer Mike Jtone of Circus Boy slipped into a clumsy punk-rock trance, tumbling across the stage and knocked over Mackay’s keyboard. Bassist Steve Baise then fell, chest-out, into the photographers up front. As the song ended, Mackay gave Jtone a prominent middle finger, and Baise told he crowd, ‘This is for Ron, this isn’t for you losers.’ Soon enough, [Stephen] Perkins was flailing behind the drums as current Stooges bassist (and punk icon) Mike Watt shouted ‘I Feel Alright’ and ‘1969’ from the gut with absolute joy and muscle, as [Scott] Thurston slashed ragged riffs on guitar.
Some newer local punk and garage bands were included in the show, and Night Horse dedicated its set to Asheton and 29-year-old punk rocker Jay Reatard, who was found dead earlier in the day at his home in Memphis.
-- Claire Noland