Sorry for the previous long, boring story (although I don't promise not to write another one). Now, for the Labor Day weekend, let's have something fun.

Many people turn their nose up at Motley Crue, and when I was in middle and high school I was one of them. (Okay, middle school, high school, college, right up to last year.) Their intial Shout at the Devil incarnation as lipsticked saluters of Satan was way too weird for me, the Marilyn Manson of their time. The later, "softer" image as tattoo-sleeved bikers in mascara didn't resonate, either. On the musical side their stuff was pure sugar-puff stuff for meatheads who lived in trailer parks, I thought.

However, that was back when I perhaps took popular music too seriously. Now in my middle age I see mainstream rock n' roll entertainers as nothing more than chameleons, trying on different images both visually and musically that they think will cause an audience to stand up and empty it's collective wallet. With this wisened view I now realize Frank Ferrana, a.k.a. Nikki Sixx, is brilliant.

Motley Crue now strikes me as a daydream Nikki Sixx is sharing with us. This is an ongoing movie that he's been imagining for years, his idea of the world's most entertaining rock n' roll band. And now that I think of things in terms of branding, lifestyle marketing, etc., I see how clever his creation is. Every photo of Motley Crue, every lyric, every word out of their mouths in interviews, is on-point and on-message for building this brand, perpetuating the escapist vision of Sixx, and selling it to us as a real, alternate reality. Skimming their autobiography, The Dirt, it's clear a lot of it is probably bullshit stories they invented on the fly. But the stories serve to add more and more layers to the labrynith of self-invented mythology, and the more layers it has, the more we can believe these guys live in the world of motorcycles and strippers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while we sit in cubicles.

All of this is to say I recently bought Motley Crue's 2005 DVD Carnival of Sins in mint shape for the pittance of $6.99 at the used DVD store so I could finally see as well as hear the Crue. It's cliche, but all you can say is, "Wow." Now, when most of their audience makes weekly purchases of Rogaine and had to hire a sitter so they could go to the show, more than ever, Motley Crue pulls out every last stop to make a memorable evening for their audience. (Scott Ian of Anthrax said a tour they did with Motley Crue in the late `90's actually lost them money because Motley refused to scale back one centimeter on their extravagant show, even though ticket sales weren't supporting it.)

This is more than a few smokebombs and a twirling drum set, this is complete theater from start to finish. True to the theme (and this has a theme, not just "let's rock!"), this is a complete carnival of entertainment, and Motley Crue just happens to supply the soundtrack with songs we all remember from the `80's whether we want to or not. Just in case you're thinking of renting it I won't spoil it, but I would say even if you, like me, thought Motley Crue was hair metal cheese that was way past it's use-by date, you should take a look at Carnival of Sins. You might reconsider.

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