To say I was left speechless would be an overstatement. My tastes lean towards what some would call bizarre. My wife told me before I saw it that it might be some kind of outsider music thing and I might enjoy it. Instead what I saw reminded me of many acquaintences between the ages of 42 and 52.
Generation X was the generation that peaked in high school. We were the first to not do better than our parents and we were the first generation raised on MTV and pop culture. A good chunk of the entertainment we consume has been about how great high school in the 1980's were. Films like Romey and Michelle's High School Reunion, Grosse Point Blank, and Hot Tub Time Machine and televison programs like My Coolest Years exemplify Generation X's obsession with high school.
Corey Feldman peaked when he and the rest of Generation X was in high school, and, like Generation X, he never got over it. His performance was painful to watch in a mid-life crisis kind of way. Like watching 42 year old Grace Slick singing "We Built This City." Musically, it could be a hit for a younger performer. Visually, it's Miss Edie's Flag Dance from Grey Gardens. Painful to watch because you want to simultaneously laugh at it while you feel embarassment for him. It's the train wreck of the Generation. To be fair, in the tradition of classic outsiders like Syd Barrett, Florence Foster Jenkins, Mrs. Miller, and Hasil Adkins, he believes strongly enough in his material to be willing to put it on the world stage for everyone to see, and that takes guts.
