Meet The Crying Boy In SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS And Traverse The LA Movie Premiere With Har Mar Superstar

It didn’t take much for Jackson Parker to become obsessed with LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. The music, the lyrics, and the overall vibe of the band resonated with him deeply, which is why it was such an emotional blow to him when he saw frontman James Murphy on The Colbert Report explaining that the band was calling it quits. When he heard LCD would perform for the last time at Madison Square Garden that summer, just about a month after Parker’s 16th birthday, he knew he had to be there.

“Traumatizing” is how Parker describes the thought that he might never see his favorite band live. Luckily, his dad is not the “Turn that racket down!” kind of guy, and successfully delivered the one thing his son wanted for his birthday—to be at that last show.

James Murphy signs Jackson Parker’s copy of This Is Happening.

But this was only the beginning of Parker’s fan journey. He attended the life-altering show, returned home a more fulfilled 16-year-old, and resumed his teenage life, until the trailer for the LCD SOUNDSYSTEM documentary SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS, from Oscilloscope Laboratories and Pulse Films came out. Suddenly Parker was in the spotlight. To some, it might not seem the most flattering moment to be in the limelight—the few seconds of his screen time show him bawling his eyes out. But Parker wasn’t just crying, he was having a “pure reaction,” and didn’t feel the need to be embarrassed.

Parker’s true fandom was rewarded. As one of the film’s executive producers, The Creators Project sent him to the LA premiere of SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS, where he got to meet James Murphy, who felt like he already knew intimate details about Parker from watching his crying clip a number of times. The kid kept his cool—well, for the most part. As he said in our behind-the-scenes video, “I turned into a crying boy again.”

Also at the LA premiere, Har Mar Superstar hit the red carpet once again just like he did in New York, talking to West Coast LCD fans about their favorite memories of seeing the band live, and further pursuit of the ultimate query: What kind of funeral would you want for yourself? Find out how the film’s director Lance Bangs plans to split his body between the poles, the plan for Danny Masterson‘s liquor-fueled sendoff, Jenny Lewis’ epitaph, and how many times Elijah Wood can say “extraordinary” in 30 seconds.

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