Bad Religion believes in facts

It's hard to think of a living punk band more revered than Bad Religion. So because they're playing Saturday at Extreme Thing at Desert Breeze Skate Park, I called to chat with singer Greg Graffin in his UCLA office on Thursday.

Professor Graffin, 44, is a Ph.D. who lectures on life sciences and paleontology. He's also writing a book on theism and naturalism. He champions a fact-based society, rather than a society ensconced in the supernatural, especially religion and spirituality:

"I'll tell you what. There certainly isn't any place for (supernaturalism) when it comes to climate change and ecological catastrophes because those things require good decision-making based on cold hard facts. And you're not gonna get those facts from religions."

Graffin sees a connection between people's faith in supernatural things and gamblers who look for "lady luck" in Las Vegas.

"There are people who are so superstitious. They do all these rituals, and they actually believe that it has something to do with their success or failure" while gambling, he says.

In my blog today, Graffin talks at length about naturalism, supernaturalism and how embracing life's purposelessness -- but not in a nihilistic way -- leads to optimism and good feelings among fans of Bad Religion. Extreme Thing starts at noon Saturday ($17-$20; 455-8200).

KATO AND KARDASHIAN

Tonight, Kato Kaelin begins a stint as the "wedding crasher" at "Tony n' Tina's Wedding" at the Planet Hollywood Resort. He was famous for crashing O.J. Simpson's couch before Simpson's late wife, Nicole Brown, was killed.

Then at 2 p.m. Saturday, Kim Kardashian makes a celeb appearance at the MGM Grand's pool, known during the daytime as Wet Republic.

Serendipity? Kaelin once lived in Brown's house when Kim and Khloe Kardashian would swing by, when Brown was jogging friends with their mom, Kris Jenner, Kaelin says.

I told him the not-emaciated Kardashian will be in town. He joked, "Actually, her ass arrived about 20 minutes ago. The rest of her will be coming. ... No, I'm kidding!"

Kaelin -- star of National Lampoon videos and a Fox reality show -- pays his own way in Los Angeles, he says. But now and then, he comes to Vegas with a co-owner of National Lampoon and shacks in the guy's glitzy Palazzo Suite at the Rio.

"They have this butler service, and he gets to take me along. I get to crash that couch for a while. Loving life."

Doug Elfman's column appears Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Send love and hate to delfman@reviewjournal.com or on the blog, reviewjournal.com/elfman.