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Rock and Roll Monster Bash
Starlight Drive In
June 2005

I'd hoped to arrive as gates opened but SW, my significant other, doesn't share my drive to be the first to arrive and last to leave. When we hit the Starlight Drive In, there was a traffic jam at the gate as the staff struggled to handle the crush of folks, some of whom were claiming to be on the guest list, all of whom had to be given armbands and such. It caused a long delay in getting into the park.

But we still managed to snag a prime spot in the center of the second row and opening act Nekkid was still on stage, cranking out hard, vaguely-Southern rock.

Nekkid features familiar face Mike who's performed in a half dozen local acts or so, shown here clowning around on guitar.

Unfortunately there weren't a lot of people there to see them and I had barbecue waiting on me in the truck so I wandered off to eat while the band played on.

I snapped this picture on the way back to the truck. It may be my favorite car of the day.

Wonder if he's ever pegged the needle on the speedometer?

I sat down to eat, eying the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in and you could see the rain in the distance, headed our way. I hadn't quite finished lunch when it hit. Most folks ran for their cars. It didn't look bad, at first, but then...

It came down hard for a good 15 or 20 minutes. SW and I sat in the truck, reading. Eventually things lightened up and I got the umbrella out and wandered around, checking out cars and vendors and such while the sound guy reassembled the sound board and squeegeed off the stage. The rain brought much-needed cooler temperatures and even seemed to knock the bugs out of the air - perfect!

Dead Ends Car Club brought a bunch of hearses, mostly Cadillacs of mostly newer variety.

Including this one with an interior that looked like a cross between Pimp My Ride and The Osbournes, complete with a flat panel TV playing The Munsters.

But there were a few oldies, like this marvelous Buick.

There were other vehicles too, like this old Ford. You can't get any lower without digging a hole!

Meanwhile, the creatures from Netherworld Haunted House got ready to wander the grounds..

Dr. Speculo and his minions performed "experiments" on stage between music acts, like this contest to see who could find 8 quarters in the entrails of a corpse fastest, or who could guzzle "slime" fastest. Nasty stuff, but fun to watch.

Shane Morton's new act, The Infernals, was next on stage. It's vaguely similar to Gargantua, but Jet on keyboards adds a slightly different sound.

Some of the vendors had a sideshow booth where for only 50 cents you could view the strange thing. Degenerate BM, one of the show organizers, pointed out that I could probably just sneak in when the guy's back was turned but we both agreed that would rob me of half the experience, which was the feeling of disappointment at wasting 50 cents to see the strange thing. Yeah, I got a photo, but you should'a been there and paid for it yourself. I don't want to deprive you of half of the experience...

Next on stage, the appropriately named Hotrod Hearse, doing a few horror-themed psychobilly numbers. Not bad, but I've heard tons of this stuff and it all starts to sound the same after a while.

If psychobilly is your thing you should definitely check out the Pscyhobilly Car Crash at Mulligan's this weekend, June 11 or 12 (I got conflicting dates on that.)

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