Thursday night, August 20, Amoeba Hollywood made a miraculous transformation into Tarantino Records, with a banner of Quentin Tarantino's stark black and white image draped over the mural on the Ivar St. side of the building, for the premiere of Tarantino's newest film, Inglourious Basterds. Three hundred lucky fans woke up at the crack of dawn two days earlier, on Tuesday August 18, to secure their place in line to meet the iconic director, and to see the special midnight showing of Inglourious Basterds at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. Tickets quickly sold out Tuesday morning and, on the day of Quentin's appearance, the excitement was palpable.


Fans lined up outside the store, greeted by a bank of “soldiers” standing by the front doors and then escorted into place inside by Amoeba staff. Once inside, fans were treated to blistering jams such as "Pour Some Sugar on Me," courtesy of DJ Charisma from Power 106, as they waited patiently in the signing line, some of them dressed as Vincent Vega, Jules Winnfield, and other characters from Tarantino films. Tarantino was beaming as he fed off the enraptured crowd, posing for pictures with babies, signing records, DVDs, action figures, and books, sending away fan after fan with a huge smile on their face. Showing immense love for his fans, he dubbed them "the true believers" and the "Thursday mother fuckers," to which they roared in approval.


After the signing, fans were treated to a special midnight screening of his new film, Inglourious Basterds. In the film, Tarantino shows the world an alternate, fantasy reality of the events of World War II, revolving around a small band of heroic Nazi-killing American Jews, led by Brad Pitt. The film is proving to possibly be one of Tarantino's best films, combining his penchant for violence with a concept we can all get behind, an ultimate revenge fantasy: the theoretical end to the holocaust and WWII, before it all ever began.

Tarantino and his film have been the talk of the town this week, and what better place for an event like this than Amoeba Hollywood? It was an event for his true fans, held in a place where they could meet the director and even exchange a few words. It's also a place that I'm sure Tarantino feels an affinity with, outspoken music lover that he is. Here's to the director for coming out to this special event to show the love to his many fans!