This is such a brilliant idea. So the 36-year-old star (and writer) of this documentary, Rich Wilkes, had the genius idea to sneak his band onto a major national rock tour -- by posing as a freelance writer for and telling the guy who runs the Vans Warped Tour that he wanted to cover the scene "undercover." Unfortunately, about a month before the tour was set to begin, his band broke up. So what did he do? He sent out an email to all his friends, asking them if they'd pretend to be in a band with him.
Never mind that Wilkes was a new dad with a lucrative day job: he immediately found four other friends, decided to start a "punk-rock mariachi band" called Carne Asada, did four rehearsals, and hit the road. Living the dream! Groupies! Drugs! Rock and roll!
Well, it's not quite so easy -- turns out Wilkes' wife Amy (who's the producer of the movie) refused to stay at home while her husband was shaking his maracas on the road, and signed on as their tour manager -- so no groupies. And it turned out to be harder to tour without their baby than they'd thought -- so the baby and her grandparents (Wilkes' in-laws) came along for the ride too. Plus -- did we mention that Carne Asada had only rehearsed four times before hitting the road? Hilarious!
After the jump: Our free Carne Asada CD, Rich's excellent in-laws, and we're still laughing at the scenes of Carne Asada performing live. Punk Like Me screens again at the Li'l Roxie on Thursday May 18 at 9 p.m.
Rolling Stone