Near the end of the auditions, local performance artist Ricky Rebel showed up too--posing as "Pimp Brisket." He brought his band, the Heebeejeebeecreepers, a bottle of fake blood, and a spoof demo tape full of odes to Fred Durst, Limp Bizkit's leading man.
"Basically, I sing songs about having sex with Fred Durst," Rebel says, listing a few that the three-person band performed outside the store: "Raped by Fred Durst" and "The Fred Durst Song." Another friend acted as their manager, while a fifth guy videotaped.
But Rebel didn't get a chance to formally audition: By the end of the day, he and his buddies were ousted from Guitar Center. Now, the 40-year-old full-time artist says he's getting angry calls from people at Durst's record label, Flawless Records.
Rebel wasn't planning to cause trouble when he went down to Guitar Center that Monday--he just wanted to have fun, and ruffle Durst's feathers.
His two friends set up their guitars, and Rebel, with his shaved head and goatee, set up drums. A friend filmed while Pimp Brisket played "Wookie," a song about Chewbacca, fashioned after Durst's popular song "Nookie."
The outdoor parody was fine with the folks running auditions, says Matt Briggs, Guitar Center's assistant manager. Briggs says things got sticky when Rebel wanted to come inside and meet Danny Wimmer, the A&R man for Durst's Flawless Records.
Rebel and his friends--toting the video camera--talked their way past Briggs, who hadn't seen their performance outside. Briggs apparently didn't notice the blood either, Rebel says, since he let them in.
"I went in to meet [Wimmer], and said thank you for taking my tape," Rebel says. He also shook Wimmer's hand. "But I forgot that I had this fake blood on my hand, and he flipped out." Rebel says he didn't mean to alarm Wimmer, and thinks the whole incident was a misunderstanding.
But now people from Flawless Records are calling Rebel, demanding that he not distribute the spoof demo.
"I've gotten some nasty calls," Rebel says. "They considered my [demo] tape and my actions as harassment."
Though Rebel wasn't passing out copies of the demo before, he is now--he even offered one to The Stranger.
Wimmer didn't return calls for comment, and is touring the country with Limp Bizkit until mid-February. But Briggs saw the scene, and sympathizes with Wimmer.
"[Wimmer] realized there was blood all over everything and got pissed off," Briggs says. "I don't understand how making someone believe their life is threatened is art."
Plus, Briggs isn't too happy that Rebel filmed inside the store without permission. "If any of the videotape is published, I will be suing them," Briggs says.
