The Mars Volta: A Column

Judging by the huge high-school turnout, even bigger white-boy Afros, and their love for the Mars Volta, Press Play can faithfully say that the kids are alright. Evidence to the contrary abounds: the success of High School Musical, Young Republicans, Good Charlotte. All these indicate a plastic, safe, and sane Generation Z, cowed by terrorism fears and interested in Choosing Life.

But not the fuckups in the cowtown of Petaluma. On August 9, forty miles north of San Francisco, the kids drink Slugarcanes (Slurpees, sugar, and hard liquor), smoke cigarettes, and metal-fist their support for the death of organized religion. The occasion? An incredibly rare, secret, and totally sold-out show by full-metal alchemists the Mars Volta. Read the full story.