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

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.

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!”