So on Friday I went to go check out what turned out to be a not-very-interesting play. Yet there was some intriguing drama — co-starring me and very capable actor Mark Ruffalo.

Let me just say from the outset that I’m a fan of Ruffalo’s work. He was great in You Can Count on Me and more recently, Zodiac.

In any case, while the audience was still arriving before the show, I had my nose in my program. Because I was close to the aisle, I had to stand up a few times to let people into my row.

Some guy dropped next to me and started fiddling around with a smartphone. A lot of people were. I didn’t pay much attention to him and kept reading the program.

When the lights came down, there was much fidgeting in the audience as people turned off their devices and socked them away. But I noticed that the guy next to me had left his device on and it was blinking.

A minute later, it was pretty clear that the blinking wasn’t a part of a shutdown sequence. Because the offender had his hand on top of his device, he couldn’t see the blinking, although I had an unobstructed view of it.

I hate people who don’t turn their shit off — more so those who continue to text friends during movies and plays. I don’t even care if it’s new and you thought you hit the off switch. You paid for it, so at least learn how to use it!

So in the second minute of the play I turned to the guy and said, not too kindly, “Could you please turn that off? It’s very distracting!”

He leaned out of the shadows and I could see his face by the light of the blinking smartphone. Gee, I thought, that guy kinda looks like Mark Ruffalo.

“I don’t have anything on!” insisted the Ruffalo-look-a-like.

“Dude, it’s blinking!” I said. Gee, I thought, that guy even kinda sounds like Mark Ruffalo. I saw a measure of scrutiny in his eyes. Maybe he wasn’t used to being spoken to in that way and he was evaluating my face that was surely illuminated by the blinking light of his smartphone.

Who the fuck is this guy, maybe he was thinking. Chow Yun-Fat? Damn, he kicked some ass in The Killer!

Suddenly he looked down, moved his hand and literally saw the light.

“Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry!” he blurted.

I turned back to the play.

Damn, I thought, I just put the hammer to Mark Ruffalo.

At intermission and at the end of the play, I thought I caught some sullen looks from him. Maybe he wanted to say something. Introduce himself.

“Hey, I’m an actor myself, so I know all about being a respectful audience member.” Something like that.

It didn’t happen. I could’ve approached him, but for what? It would have merely extended an awkward exchange to an awkward conversation.

I left the theater, got a can of Dr. Pepper and went home.

Third night, here we go! It’s your MC, Lenny (“It’s a Nugget if you dug it!”) Kaye!

Up first, The Hall Monitors, from DC. Note female guitar player to the right. She becomes the first female in the festival to sing lead on a song.

The Hall Monitors have issued a pass for a special guest: Eddie Angel from Los Straitjackets! Adding Eddie brings hot licks to this band, which is ambitious, but wasn’t really there yet, musically, for me. Great energy, though!

Ah, now it’s The Wildebeests from Scotland. This beat trio sounded great from the get-go, opening with “Skinny Minnie.” Trios typically sound a little thin during guitar solos, but that rectangular guitar cranked out sparks; they sounded even more full during the solos! Great stuff!

The Lyres! Yeah! Nobody danced more to any other band in all three days, and the third-billed band even got to do an encore: “No Reason to Complain.” An Alarm Clocks (who played the previous night) cover.

And now The Fleshtones! They give you the shirt off their backs. At least singer Peter Zaremba will. (He also MC’d the first two Cavestomp nights.) The theatrics (entering the stage from the audience, playing wireless guitars; bassist Ken Fox and guitarist Keith Streng playing each other’s instruments while still wearing their own; playing on top of chairs set up in the middle of the audience) came off well, in fact, for me, better than the music itself. The PA itself was up WAY too high, reducing vocals to amplified subway announcements. The Fleshtones worked their asses off, no doubt, but I’ve never liked their songs (does that make me a jerk?). The live act is great but I don’t think I’d listen to them on my iPod.

The second night of The Sonics! Feeling confident after their triumphant return Friday night, they played louder and looser than the first night. Most notably singer Jerry Roslie was howling and screaming more. The Sonics botched the end of “Have Love, Will Travel,” but hell, they could do no wrong. The crowd wasn’t as jostling as Friday, but the music was utterly pulverizing! I understand original drummer Bob Bennett had flown in from Hawaii to watch from the audience while original bassist Andy Parypa was playing in The Daily Flash that same night (Daily Flash bassist Don Wilhelm was ironically filling in for The Sonics) so I guess the story that Andy had carpal tunnel syndrome and couldn’t play was a ruse! Let’s see all five original Sonics back together in 2008!

Well, if you’ve never been to the night spot Warsaw in Brooklyn, you’ve probably never had one of these (a kielbasa sandwich) during a 60s garage band show (people love pictures of food in blogs):

I missed taking a picture of the first band, The Higher State from England, but they were an OK, not particularly tight psych-influenced four piece. Extra points for the closing freakout, though.

Next up was The Urges from Dublin. Kinda like an Axl Rose-fronted Stones, and a bit cliche-ridden though they certainly had a lot of life in them.

Then we had The Alarm Clocks, probably best known for the “Yeah”/”No Reason to Complain” single collected on the first side of the the first LP in the “Back from the Grave” series. Singer-bassist Mike Pierce still sings and screams like a snotty teen who just got grounded. New songs and a new album early next year. “Watch” out for The Alarm Clocks!

You gotta love it when a band goes that extra mile to dress up, including thigh-high boots! Co-headliners The New Colony Six as of late have been playing various civic and corporate events, but hell, four-part harmonies never die! Cute anecdotes from Ray Graffia (who dances like a little kid after nap time) were as touching as their ballads, especially: “I wrote this song for a girl I was dating in 1966. Married her in 1967. As of September, it’s been 40 years. Now that shows you that there is faithfulness in rock ‘n’ roll.”

Co-headliner Strawberry Alarm Clock was set to close. You know there’s going to be trouble when you see this elaborate percussive setup around the drum kit.

Strawberry Alarm Clock played their entire first album “Incense and Peppermints” with the highlight the title track. Unfortunately, it’s the second-to-last-song, and psych isn’t really my thing. And a 15-minute drum solo about halfway through the album sure as hell isn’t either. Great that they dressed up and that each of their three guitarists were smokin’ players, but by the time of the encore, about 200 people were left in front of the band while the bar area off to the side had at least as many people. Contrast that with The Sonics, just the night before, when it felt like Warsaw’s capacity 800 people were pushing me around like the 6 train rush hour crowd. Psych is more mellow, too mellow for me. When another drum solo reared its ugly head during the encore, I had to leave. Sunday’s the third and last night!

I’m a big-time fan of The Back From the Grave/Garage Punk Unknowns/Nuggets 60s garage rock reissues/bootlegs, so I was overjoyed to see The Cavestomp back in action! (I was at the last one in 2001, also!)

Well, not a lot to write here, because the human connection with music predates language (our ancestors sang notes to communicate with each other before words were established), but hell, just go listen to The Sonics now now now!

No one is more ready for Cavestomp 2007 than this guy — more than an hour before the doors even open (in fact, you can see that they’re still hanging the friggin posters):

The Staggers, The Outta Place, The Satelliters and The Thanes all came out and rocked, but the curtain only drops for one band. . .

The Sonics storm out with “He’s Waiting”! Appropriate for the first show in nearly 40 years! Closed the set with “Psycho” and the encore was “Louie Louie” and “The Witch.” Not sure what the wizard T-shirt in front of screamer Jerry “I don’t know why they always spell it ‘Gerry’” Roslie’s keyboard is supposed to represent. . .They play again Sunday night, so for those of you in New York or nearby, come on out! I saw a woman there in a wheelchair, so nobody has any fucking excuses not to come! (Except for my wife, who despises such music.)