In a living room strewn with vinyl records, beer bottles and drug paraphernalia, a mustached man begins railing about his missing copy of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks album, and it seems he won’t back down until the universe bestows upon him some elusive state of grace. Part Gonzo rock performance, part mental breakdown — all thrillingly theatrical— How To Be A Rock Critic pulls the greatest hits from Bangs’s own legendary words to imagine a single night of his turbulent life.

Inside his wild, all-night typewriter sessions, Lester Bangs embraced mistakes as strokes of genius, popularized now ubiquitous terms like “Heavy Metal” and “Punk Rock” and died of an overdose at the Biblical age of 33. Join us for an evening with music’s great, lost critical voice.

“Fascinating, insightful...as cathartic and inspiring as the best rock & roll” – LA Weekly

Click here to listen to a playlist of all the songs mentioned in Rock Critic

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