The ultimate Drive-in and Grindhouse Convention surpassed everyone’s expectations this time. I had decided to get there Thursday night as opposed to leaving Friday morning. So we packed up the truck with all kinds of contraband and headed up Route 80 into the wilderness.
We had the Wild Eye guys about an hour in front of us with Joel Reed and Jamie Gillis aboard. We stopped for dinner at a quaint little truck stop and found Gia’s House of Pulled Pork and Gasoline. Never had a salad with french fries mixed in with the veggies, but there’s a first for everything.
We got back on the road and made one last gas fill up at The Hills Have Eyes Rest Stop. We arrived at the hotel, checked in and headed straight to the bar. Had a few beverages with Rob, Don, Ken, Jamie, and Joel before turning in at a reasonable hour, 2am.
Friday morning we set up our table and mingled with fellow vendors.
Right behind me was Arch Hall JR., Bill Grefe, and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson. Across from us was Carolyn Monroe, looking lovely as ever, Martine Beswick, Cerina Vincent, and Lynn Lowry. Friday night was really hoppin’ as the fans just swarmed over my $5 DVD sale. Highlite of the night was Joel Reed doing commentary over his classic Bloodsucking Freaks. After much partying, I called it a night around 3am.
Saturday was the big day starting off with The Hardcore Wrestling Hour. I tried to out do the last one as far as the cringe factor. I was really surprised to be approached by deathmatch legend, Mr Insanity, Tobey Klein, who gave me his DVD then just vanished. I don’t know if he attend the show or if he had a gig in the area, but it was cool to meet him.
At 5:30 it was time for the Grindhouse Panel. This year we had Jamie Gillis, Lynn Lowry, and Bill Grefe, who actually contacted me about being on the panel. Our usual group of experts, Ken Kish, Art Ettenger, Jason Martinko, and myself were ready with the questions. Jamie Gillis set the tone when he replied to the first question with, “I don’t know what the fuck your talking about,” then told us a great story about fucking both of the Sloane Twins at once.
Lynn Lowry told us about her involvement in I Drink Your Blood, The Crazies, Shivers, and her latest film, Basement Jack. More on that in a full review later. Bill Grefe had some great stories about his films including a hair raising flight to Romania. We wrapped it up with the fans asking questions and then finished the day. Grabbed some eats then got ready for the Saturday Night at the Movies with Ghastly Ghoul.
Other shows have bands and costume parties. Not Wasteland, too tame. In the past they have had things like Revival Night, Saturday Night Stupidity, Talentless Night, Guess What’s in Jefffey’s Underpants, and Horror Jeopardy. Last show the board crashed, so we winged it. This time Ghastly came up with a new concept: 42 Questions with 42P. He did a great job with the graphics and in typical Wasteland form, I blew the first question. The rest went off great and the fans really liked it.
At 10pm we were going to do a live broadcast of my Grindhouse Radio Show. Todd Sheets came out with all his equipment, but we couldn’t get a strong internet connection due to everyone in the hotel twittering or on Facebook. In the future, if you have a friend in the next room, why don’t you just go over and talk to them in the flesh instead of Facebook? Not to be deterred, we taped an hour and 45 minutes of complete mayhem. In and out of the room were a ton of crazy people: Mike Watt, Amy Lynn Best, Jason Martinko, Rob Hauschild from Wild Eye, Amaryth of Dead and Undead, Ken Kish, and we ended the show with me spanking two blood covered bimbos. It don’t get any better than that.
After that it was downstairs where the party didn’t end until almost dawn. Sunday came and went. Fred “The Hammer” was the first one in the dealer’s room. I said, “You’re up early.” He said, “ I still have that jock mentality, what’s your excuse?” I replied, “ My city never sleeps.” He laughed, he is The Hammer, 24/7. We packed up and headed to another wrap up party, then headed home when we became sober enough to drive. Thanks to Ken and Pam for another killer show and a great time. Special thanks to all the fans I hung out with. You guys make me feel right at home and I can’t wait until the next Wasteland Show in April with Fulci’s Zombie Reunion.
Tags: 42nd Street Pete, Cinema Wasteland
