The Fourth of July is usually associated with fireworks, hot dogs... you know, American-type things. However, this past Friday I received a thorough ass-whooping from punk hero/Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore, in what has to be the most memorable beatdown I have ever received. I headed downtown to New York's Battery Park to photograph the band's free July 4th show and everything was going normally during the band's first song. As the group ramped up the noise, Moore seemed to become more and more enraptured with the fuzzed out sound he was producing with a drum stick and his guitar.

In a sudden rush, he slammed his instrument against the speaker and started rubbing it up and down. Then, like a man possessed, Moore started swinging his guitar around and jabbing it at the photographers in the pit, who were obviously loving every minute of his antics and kept snapping away. He then jumped down, still swinging his guitar, and began to ram at the photographers. At this point, I jumped back and tried to make sure my camera wasn't on the receiving end of a Fender.

The next moment, Moore somehow singled me out from the dozen or so other photographers and rammed into me. I was squished up against the stage while Moore continued to play his guitar while it was pressed against my back, effectively creating a Moore/guitar/Bergman sandwich. Eventually he relented and security pushed him back onstage where mellowed out and appeared pretty calm for the rest of the set. Thankfully my camera was OK and the only lasting physical keepsake I have is a tiny little cut on my chest (attention to all you female readers: it will turn into a badass scar, don't worry). It certainly was not how I expected the show to turn out, but at least I got a damn good story out of it.

[Video: Torsten Meyer]