American Idiot

This is a punk rock opera. It was born on Gilman Street in Berkeley of all places. We attended a sold out performance at the Berkeley Rep this evening and were blown away. Words and pictures do not adequately describe it. If you ever have an opportunity to see a live production, do so. Without delay.

Long after the performance was over, I began to wonder about something. This was a punk rock opera. There was a lot of yelling and screaming protesting the way the world is. That's very different than 40 years ago when protest took the form of ballads like "Where Have all the Flowers Gone" and "Blowing in the Wind". Political discourse has become much more shrill in the last dozen years or so. It has now reached an extreme. The Democrats blame it all on those bad Republicans. The Republicans say no, those bad Democrats started it. I began to wonder whether what's really happening is that the generation that grew up with punk rock has now entered politics.