Season 1, Episode 13, “Concert Interruptus”: Pop Culture Rewatch

Welcome to the Friday Night Readers podcast! In this Gilmore Girls podcast episode #13, we break down our pop culture rewatch of Season 1, Episode 13, “Concert Interruptus.” Listen below and get the full transcript.

Recap of Season 1, Episode 13: “Concert Interruptus”

The episode begins with Lorelai rifling through her closet, dressed like she’s going to a Kid Rock concert in the deep South. Nothing wrong with that, but a red bandana and dark blue American flag shirt just don’t scream small-town single mom. At least her bandana has rhinestones, which is definitely much more “Lorelai.”

She claims she volunteered to run the town rummage sale because it was very hot in the room that day, and she was dehydrated. There is, famously, little ad-libbing on Gilmore Girls, but I’m curious if this is one. The town hall was notoriously hot during filming, according to the cast and crew.

I love how Rory tells her to give up anything she’d be embarrassed to be wearing in a car accident, because that’s exactly how we thought in those days. For whatever reason, car accidents were our barometer for what was appropriate to wear. Today, much different. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to pick my husband up at the airport in my pajamas, for just one example.

Next, Sookie stops by with four tickets to The Bangles concert for her, Lorelai, Rory, and Lane.

At Chilton, Rory gets stuck in a group project with Paris, Madeline, and Louise, and agrees to host them at her house to work on it.

Lane and Rory seek Mrs. Kim’s approval to go out by pretending the concert is a play, but eventually, she breaks down and tells the truth. So, she’s officially “out.” Lorelai calls her stupid for telling the truth, and do you now see why, in the last episode, “Double Date,” I called out Lorelai’s statement that she couldn’t lie to Mrs. Kim?! It made no sense!

Side note: I feel like every childhood friend group has a “Lane and Mrs. Kim,” don’t they? It reminds me of pretending, as teens, that we were going to see cartoons at the movies in front of my “Lane’s” parents, and that boys were never, ever there.

Once, though, it totally backfired. A picture of her on a date in a very public place made the front page of the newspaper. I kid you not! My jaw actually dropped when I woke up and saw the morning paper that day. Yes, we did get a local paper every morning back then.

Anyway, a poster shows that the rummage sale will benefit restoring the old muddy river bridge, and I’ll be darned if that crumbling thing isn’t fixed by Season 7, Episode 9’s knit-a-thon (“Knit, People, Knit!”). Get it together, Stars Hollow!

Lorelai enters Luke’s Diner dressed in a cowgirl hat she bought from the rummage sale, like the rodeo is in town. (Did you catch that reference to “The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton“?) This episode is truly Lorelai’s Southern era.

Luke crashes out after seeing the sweatshirt she purchased (and is wearing), and Sookie and Miss Patty explain that it belonged to his very serious, marriage material ex, Rachel, whom Lorelai knows nothing about.

Here is where it gets confusing. They say that Luke dated Rachel five or six years ago, when Lorelai was moving into her house. But, she still lived in Stars Hollow since she was a teen. Do you mean to tell me this never came up anywhere, at any time, until now, yet everyone else knows about it? I’m not buying it. We fans adore these brilliant writers, but this flub is one exception to the rule.

The Chilton gang arrives, and these judgy mean girls are surprisingly cool with the Gilmores’ “house of horrors” — Lorelai’s words, not mine! They’re actually kind of fascinated by Lorelai, and it gets even better when Lorelai offers for them to attend The Bangles concert.

But, before that, Louise, again, says Dean is 6’2,” and Rory says she’s been dating him for a month. Both are wrong! First, though Dean called himself 6’2″ in “Rory’s Dance,” he’s actually 6’4,” according to Google. Second, Rory kissed Dean in “Kiss and Tell,” which aired in November, and this episode aired in February.

At the concert, the girls head to the 9th row, and Lorelai and Sookie graciously head to the nosebleed section.

I once had the opposite happen, and people love this story, so I’ll retell it. My mom got me and a friend Valentine’s Day tickets to a Billy Joel concert because I was having a really terrible year. They were, indeed, nosebleed tickets, but when we were climbing up to the top, a crew member invited us to the front row.

Turns out, this is a longtime practice of Billy Joel, and it probably didn’t hurt that we were single, 25-year-old females. I have no pictures to show for it because it was pre-smartphones, and I figured, why bother with a real camera in the nosebleeds?! But it was amazing and is clear as day in my mind’s eye.

Then, Louise and Madeline sneak out of the concert with some boys, and we get the first hint of some alignment between Paris and Rory, who do “the right thing” and remain behind.

The Bangles perform an incredible medley, which Valerie Campbell, the key set costumer for Gilmore Girls, confirmed was a live performance that everyone — cast and crew — watched.

Afterward, Lorelai freaks out and heads to the party to find the underage children whose lives she is responsible for. I say this not in judgment but as a very anxious person.

Turns out the party is at Monica Geller’s apartment. According to IMDB, “The exterior shot of the building where Madeline and Louise go is the same exterior shot used for Monica’s building on Friends.”

I’ll also note these Gilmore Girls and Friends connections:

• The cast shared the same wardrobe, as they were filmed on the same lot.
• Lauren Graham once dated Matthew Perry from Friends and remained, well, friends with him until his death. I attended Lauren Graham’s book tour shortly after his passing, and she was in tears as she recalled memories of him. She reiterated how proud he was of the impact of his book, which came out at the same time as hers. His last birthday card to her said: “Be older.”
• The following Gilmore Girls actors also appeared on Friends:
  • David Sutcliffe (“Christopher Hayden”)
  • Michael Winters (“Taylor Doose”)
  • Alex Borstein (“Drella” and “Miss Celine”)
  • Melora Hardin (“Carolyn”)
  • Sherilyn Fenn (“Anna Nardini”)

Lorelai barges in, collects the girls, and goes all “Mrs. Kim” on them. Paris says it’s the best night she’s ever had.

Lastly, the rummage sale has arrived, and Lorelai makes up with Luke and Rory in this episode, which sadly omitted my personal favorites, Emily and Richard.

Books and Authors Referenced

Let’s break down the Gilmores’ world of books– this episode’s most iconic literary references for those taking the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge with us on Fridaynightreaders.substack.com, where we read from the list of books mentioned on Gilmore Girls.

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
• Little Red Riding Hood by the Brothers Grimm
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
• Carrie by Stephen King
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory
  Maguire

First, Lorelai hands Rory clothes for the rummage sale and calls her “the Grinch.” You probably know this grumpy, furry, green creature from Dr. Seuss’s 1957 book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 

He’s got a heart “two sizes too small” and lives alone on a mountain overlooking the merry town of Whoville, which, in another episode (“Christopher Returns”), Christopher calls Stars Hollow. He tries to stop Christmas from coming by disguising himself as Santa Claus and stealing all their presents, decorations, and food.

However, like Scrooge, he realizes that the holiday is really about love and togetherness, not gifts and commercialism. We can still use this lesson today, can’t we?!

Of course, I re-read this classic a lot, but I also love the original cartoon adaptation and the Jim Carrey film adaptation–classics in their own right.

Next, Louise tells Paris that Tristin “suddenly has very big eyes for you, Grandma.” She’s referring to Little Red Riding Hood by the Brothers Grimm.

This classic fairy tale follows a young girl who travels through the woods to visit her sick grandmother. Along the way, she is tricked by a cunning Big Bad Wolf who ultimately disguises himself as the grandmother to lure and devour the girl.

While I leave many fairy tales just thinking they’re quite dark, I actually do appreciate the lesson in this one.

Then, Rory tells Lane about the Chilton girls coming over, and they have this exchange:

Lane: “All three of them?”

Rory: “Double, double, toil and trouble.”

Lane: “Well, it should make for an interesting afternoon.”

Rory: “With the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.”

Lane: “You’re doing very well in the Shakespeare class, aren’t you?”

We’ve got a lot to talk about here! Rory’s lines come from Macbeth by William Shakespeare. This popular tragedy (one of my favorites) is really about ambition. A Scottish general receives a prophecy that he will be king, so, driven by his wife, he murders the king. His reign is a tyrannical one, fueled by guilt and paranoia.

Both of Rory’s quotes come from the foreboding witches in Act IV, Scene 1, though Google kept trying to point me to the Olsen twins movie of the same name. Before we move on, I also want to note that the 2021 black-and-white adaptation on Apple TV+, starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, was fantastic and really helped me understand the story.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is also the name of a book by Ray Bradbury. It’s a dark fantasy novel about an evil carnival that arrives in a small town. Two young friends discover the evil carnival preys on people by using a magic carousel to grant wishes that enslave them.

While the line is extremely catchy and sets a dark mood, it also offers a parallel. The witches in Macbeth (the play) sensed evil in Macbeth (the character), and the boys in Something Wicked This Way Comes also sensed evil in the carnival. It’s a super smart reference.

To be honest, this wasn’t my favorite book or movie, as I’m not really into dark fantasy, but to each his or her own! And, it’s definitely fun to do book and movie pairings for both titles, which we’re all about around here.

Here is the trailer for the 1983 Disney movie. But don’t let the name Disney make it seem light to you. It’s actually quite dark!

Before we move on, can we also take a moment to appreciate Lane’s nod to Rory’s Shakespeare class? As we know from “The Deer Hunters,” she famously missed her Shakespeare test after she got hit by a deer, so this whole scene is a subtle sign that she’s back on track to vying for valedictorian.

In the kitchen, Lorelai notes how happy she is that Rory is making Chilton friends, and Rory responds,

Rory: “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. They’ve basically just moved off the plan to dump the pig’s blood on me at the prom, that’s all.”

She’s referring to Carrie by Stephen King. This is Stephen King’s debut novel about a telekinetic teenage girl tormented by her religious mother and high school bullies. The novel climaxes at the prom when, as a cruel prank, a bucket of pig’s blood is dumped on her head. This sets off a very consequential series of events I won’t spoil for you. I’ve been getting into King, and this one is on my shelf, so I’m looking forward to it.

Next, Lorelai grabs concert t-shirts for all the girls, calling herself the “good witch”– one of countless references to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Of course, Glinda is the good witch, and you may even deem this as a reference to Wicked by Gregory Maguire, the adaptation of which, of course, is all the rage right now.

While there are books at the rummage sale, I don’t include the ones I identified either here or in my episode guides. This book tracking project has required me to make all kinds of editorial decisions over the years, and I’ve chosen not to include background books unless they appear to belong to a character. Otherwise, I’d have to include every book in Stars Hollow Books, which isn’t really in the spirit of our book club to read like Gilmore Girls.

Curious about every single book mentioned in this Gilmore Girls episode—even the obscure references most people miss, like the lead singer of The Bangles’ connection to books? Head to this episode’s page at Fridaynightreaders.substack.com. Paid members get printable episode guides for every Gilmore Girls episode, which are perfect for tracking your own Rory-inspired reading journey.

Pop Culture References

Oy with the pop culture already! Now, because I want you to understand even more of the Gilmore Girls’ fast talk, here’s what some of this episode’s best pop culture references mean.

Fashion

Looking through the rummage sale goodies, Louise says, “Pucci is very big right now.” Emilio Pucci was a 20th-century Italian fashion designer known as the “Prince of Prints.” His signature was these kaleidoscopic, brightly colored, abstract geometric prints on silk, a flowing material that gave a really luxurious, jet-set look.

I once found a Pucci scarf (one of his most popular styles) for about $50 (usually a couple of hundred dollars) and had to buy it. In the spirit of this episode’s rummage sale, I’ll re-tell this story. Just recently, I put it in a consignment bin, then pulled it back out to keep when I got to the consignment store. Like Lorelai, I tried to purge, but it’s just too classic to give away for a few dollars!

Famous People

• Harvey Fierstein
• Paul Bunyan
• Annie Oakley
• Catherine Zeta-Jones
• Michelle Pfeiffer
• Elle Macpherson

Paris can’t host the group project at her house because her mother is ridding the home of her father. Specifically, she says this:

Paris: “So unless you want to sit on no furniture while watching three Harvey Fierstein impersonators rip up the carpet and paint everything a ridiculous shade of white and call it ‘angel’s kiss’ then we’re going to have to find somebody else’s house to go to.”

Not to be confused with Hollywood producer/criminal sexual deviant Harvey Weinstein, Harvey Fierstein is an openly gay actor, playwright, and screenwriter known for roles in Mrs. Doubtfire and Hairspray.

He’s especially famous for his deep, raspy speaking voice, which, according to Wikipedia, is actually “a result of an overdeveloped vestibular fold in his vocal cords, essentially giving him a ‘double voice’ when he speaks.”

Next, Rory calls Lorelai “Annie Oakley” in her cowgirl hat. Annie Oakley was a legendary American sharpshooter and performer in the late 1800s. She starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show and became one of the most famous women of her time, challenging gender norms by promoting her skills. There’s even a Broadway show about her called Annie Get Your Gun, starring the talented Bernadette Peters, which I saw in the 1990s and adored.

Louise asks Rory, “How good of a kisser is Paul Bunyan anyway?” She’s comparing Dean to a giant lumberjack from American folklore, famous for his enormous size and strength. Basically, she’s referring to Dean’s height, which, as we’ve discussed many times now, is 6’4″, not 6’2″. Jess will also call him “Frankenstein” in the episode “There’s the Rub.”

Next, Lorelai wants to know if Luke’s ex, Rachel, was pretty like Catherine Zeta-Jones or Michelle Pfeiffer, two of the prettiest actresses in the world, but it’s even worse than that. Sookie compares her to supermodel Elle Macpherson.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is a stunning Welsh actress widely known for her roles in blockbuster films like The Mask of Zorro and her Oscar-winning performance in the musical Chicago (my personal favorite). She has classic Hollywood beauty with sultry, dark features.

Michelle Pfeiffer’s career spans decades, and she’s famous for roles in films such as Scarface, Dangerous Liaisons, and her iconic portrayal of Catwoman in Batman Returns. Indeed, she does have the beauty of a cat, and I mean that in the best way possible. She has blonde hair, striking blue eyes, and a chiseled, feminine face.

Elle Macpherson is an Australian supermodel and businesswoman with a record five cover appearances on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the nickname “The Body.” Tough to beat! She’s statuesque and sun-kissed.

Movies and TV

• Star Trek
• House of Horrors
• Joanie Loves Chachi
• Everest

About the growing collection of rummage sale goods, Rory says, “This stuff is like Tribbles.” Tribbles are small, fluffy alien creatures from Star Trek. They look cute and harmless, but reproduce at an explosive rate and can quickly overrun an entire spaceship if not controlled. First appearing in the episode “The Trouble with Tribbles,” they’re a fan-favorite, though I’m not a fan in the least, so I wouldn’t know.

Lorelai calls her messy, rummage-sale home a “house of horrors,” which is also the title of a movie. House of Horrors is a 1946 crime-horror film about a bitter sculptor whose artistic obsession turns deadly. After helping a disfigured man escape police custody, the sculptor uses him to murder art critics who rejected his work. So, not exactly the most accurate reference.

Louise asks Rory if she and Dean are “still Joanie Loves Chachi.” This was a short-lived early-1980s spin-off of the iconic show Happy Days. It follows Joanie Cunningham and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Chachi Arcola as they move to Chicago to chase music careers.

Chachi was played by Scott Baio, whom older millennials like me may better recall from the sitcom Charles in Charge, a late 1980s sitcom in which he played a young male student working as a live-in housekeeper.

Climbing to the nosebleed seats, Sookie asks Lorelai if she has ever seen Everest. There are many movies with this name, but here it’s likely referring to the 1998 one. This was a made-for-TV drama based on the real 1996 Mount Everest climbing tragedy. Several commercial expedition teams attempt to reach the summit, only to be caught in a sudden, deadly storm. As conditions worsen, climbers and guides face impossible choices.

Music

• “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles (1986)
• “Hero Takes a Fall” by The Bangles (1984)
• “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles (1988)

The Bangles are one of Lorelai’s favorite musical groups, and can you blame her?! Starring Susanna Hoffs, whom Lorelai wanted to name Rory after, they were an all-female pop band formed in 1981.

Their early track, “Hero Takes a Fall,” which I didn’t know before this episode, helped them build their following.

But they achieved massive global success with their second album, which featured the worldwide smash “Walk Like an Egyptian” — a No. 1 hit.

Their biggest-selling hit was the tender ballad “Eternal Flame,” which topped charts in multiple countries and was actually inspired by a visit to Elvis Presley’s grave.

Other than “Hero Takes a Fall,” which I never heard until Gilmore Girls, all of these songs were huge throughout the late 80s and early 90s. Even as a young child at that time, I knew them all very well. I always thought “Eternal Flame” was one of the most beautiful ballads of the time, and regularly sang and danced to the others. “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Manic Monday” were not just songs, but statements. Full pop culture moments! So Lorelai’s fandom totally makes sense.

The Bangles initially split in 1989 due to internal friction, caused mainly by the media and record label focusing too heavily on singer Susanna Hoffs as the “star.”

They reformed in 1998 after being asked to record a song for the Austin Powers soundtrack, and have continued to record and tour ever since.

According to an interview Susanna Hoffs did, Amy Sherman-Palladino was a fan and reached out to her. She just happened to hear about the show from a friend, so she was interested.

Up Next

Lastly, the time has come for me to be what Jess called Rory—a book tease. Tune in next week, when we dive into episode 1.14, “The Damn Donna Reed,” and books like A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, which is referenced when Lorelai yells, “Stella!”

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