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Bob and the Monster

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 – 7:30pm
USA 2012. Director: Keirda Bahruth

VANCOUVER PREMIERE – In the late ’80s, Bob Forrest was the lead singer and songwriter for L.A. post-punk band Thelonious Monster, a contemporary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction. Infamous more for Forrest’s drug-fuelled rants and onstage antics than for its music, Thelonious Monster signed a major-label deal at a time when Bob was feeding a $500-per-day heroin habit. Not surprisingly, the band imploded after just one album. Forrest then squandered a fortune in advance money for a solo project that flopped miserably, eventually winding up homeless as well as a repeat rehab failure. And here the story might have ended, except that in 1996, after 28 days in a county jail, Forrest finally quit the drugs and found his calling as an addictions counsellor, working first with the Musicians Assistance Program, then co-founding his own counselling organization, Hollywood Recovery Services. (And yes, that is Forrest on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew — a sideline into reality television that is not touched upon here.) A terrific documentary with both heart and soul, the film includes a wealth of archival footage from the ’80s and ’90s L.A. music scene, quirky claymation interludes, and candid interviews with members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, Hole, and Guns N’ Roses. Colour, Blu-ray Disc. 86 mins.

Post-screening discussion with Dr. Vijay Seethapathy.

Dr. Vijay Seethapathy is a psychiatrist with special interest in addiction, particularly in management of  concurrent disorders. He is the medical manager of Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction and physician lead for Assertive Community Treatment Teams in Vancouver Coastal Health.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

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