Feel the patriotic fury of Linkin Park. (Photo by Scott Harrison | Retna)

Chester Bennignton’s Club Tattoo at the Miracle Mile Shops is marking its grand opening on Independence Day (we assume conflating Linkin Park and the Fourth of July is Bennington’s way of reminding us that America isn’t free of sin in its 233-year history) with a full slate of activities.

Bennington will sign autographs at the shop from 2 to 4 p.m. Then, at 8:30, magician Steve Wyrick will take members of Bennington’s other band, Dead by Sunrise, and perform a trick on the Strip (which will be shut down in front of Planet Hollywood during the stunt) called a death drop. It’s kind of a portentious way to stack the deck. If we were going to do any kind of magic trick involving the word “death” we’d make sure the band we were using in the stunt was Pile O’ Kittens, the famous Scandanavian black metal outfit.

Wyrick is going to be shackled into one of the band’s equipment boxes, which will be hooked to a crane. The box will be dangled over a bed of 500 flaming spikes 80 feet below, and the ropes holding the box will be set on fire. Wyrick will have to jump 20 feet off the burning box and rappel down to the ground, dodging flaming spikes. Although to be fair, falling to your death on flaming spikes sounds a lot like the experience of watching Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Then Dead by Sunrise will take the stage at 10:30 p.m. at the Steve Wyrick Theater, followed by Bennington hosting the afterparty at Prive. His VIP booth may or may not also be lined with flaming spikes.

By Jason Scavone

And they’re about to tat. (Photos by Erik Kabik | Retna)

Chester Bennington, the less shouty half of Linkin Park’s dual-vocal assault, opened up Club Tattoo at Planet Hollywood Resort’s Miracle Mile Shops along with co-owners Sean and Thora Dowdell. They have computer monitors where you can pick out your design instead of a selection of prints on the wall, but, unfortunately, no matter what you select, it’s just going to wind up being the cover of Hybrid Theory. Sorry! It’s what they do.

OK, maybe if you ask nice they’ll do some other work for you. The shop also is home to a boutique of Bennington’s Ve’cel clothing line.

By Jason Scavone