Attention Screwheads: The "Official...Unofficial" is here!

Wednesday, June 19

at the Clairmont Pig!

(off University BLVD.)

Show starts about 9:15

It's a weird concept to be doing the "Downtown Drive-in" once again. After the final show last summer, I was convinced we would never do another -- what, after blowing a small fortune on doing everything "legally", such as renting out a parking lot, properly licensing a movie for public exhibition, and, yes, even taking out insurance on the whole damn thing. Basically, I got burnt out -- both financially and brain-wise.

But in recent weeks, I've really wanted to do another one. This time, though, I wanted to try and do what I've always wanted all along: the Downtown Drive-in will be 100 % unofficial. The advertising will be under-the-table, as well as all (*cough*) legal worries. 

We tried a show last week in the parking lot of the Clairmont Pig, where we watched the Carpenter cult flick, "Big Trouble in Little China", just to see if we could get away with it. Not only did no one bother us, but we were greeted by a few carloads of folks who noticed us and decided to drop in, making us a special part of their late night escapades.

This, of course, is not to say that Wednesday night's showing of "Army of Darkness" will not be absent of our special friends in blue, but I genuinely believe if they show up, they will either be cool with the whole deal and let us carry on (as we are not hurting anybody), or simply ask us to leave, which'll be a bummer, but oh well.

So come out and take place in this cool underground experience -- the (hopefully) first "official...unofficial" show of the summer. It'll be the "S"-Mart-est" thing you can do on a Wednesday night!

Check out the DD-I trailer for "Back to the Future"!

Which Show Will We Show?

THE NEXT SHOW WILL BE THURSDAY, JUNE 28 AT DUSK AT THE CORNER OF 3rd AVENUE and 19th STREET NORTH, BEHIND THE HISTORIC LYRIC THEATRE!

The Downtown Drive-In is a peoples' drive-in. In no way do I want my own bad taste in movies to hamper your experience here. That's why -- for the second show -- we will be doing a feature that you -- that's right, YOU, will choose. So, please, feel free to choose from one of the four flicks below, but (PLEASE) only vote once, and only vote if you are actually intending to come to the show. 


Also, if you do want to come to the next show and haven't already done so, be sure to JOIN THE E-MAIL LIST so you can receive an official invite. See ya at the drive-in!

Back to the Future

The Blues Brothers

National Lampoon's Vacation

Jaws

The DD-I Press Junket Stop #1: Mark Trammel's News Review

I got a chance this week to stop by the UAB student media office, where I spoke on camera with Kaleidoscope Entertainment Editor Mark Trammel. Mark was able to make it out to the drive-in the other night, and invited me in to tell his viewers about the nature and philosophy of the Downtown Drive-In, and also about the art of making the perfect bag of Jiffy Pop. 


Check out the full interview here!


News Review 002: Downtown Drive-In creator Mike Boody

Drive-In Debrief

 

Thanks everyone who came out last night to the first DOWNTOWN DRIVE-IN show. We had a blast, and it was great to finally concretely share with people what I've been endlessly droning on about for the better part of this last year.

Of course, you'll notice I said the FIRST show -- which implies there will be a SECOND show. I've had a lot of folks who weren't able to make it out last night ask when the next show will be, and I'll tell you what I told them -- very soon. No plans are set in stone yet, but based on the glitchless success of last night, we will definitely be churning out another night, another show very soon.


Check out some select pics below, taken by myself and the girlfriend/primo snack bartender, Jessica Clark. 

"The Sadist", as enjoyed on the backwall of the historic Lyric theatre in downtown B'ham!

Enjoy the flick from the comforts of your car...

...or parked nicely in some lawn chairs!

What else were you gonna do on a Thursday night, watch "House" reruns? These folks know the score!

Let's all go to the snack table!

Beware of cat, though. 

 

Say "Downtown Drive-In"!

For more photos, go to and "like" The Midnight Citizen page on Facebook, and keep checking back for more info on that upcoming show. You should also think about e-mailing me for future programming suggestions, because I don't want my own (sometimes) unfortunate tastes in movies to hamper your experience! See ya at the drive-in!

Cosmic Coincidence?

In case you're not 99.9 percent of Americans and you don't go to Google five times a day for just about everything you need to know, let me just tell you that the Internet search giant today made a "doodle" commemorating the 79th anniversary of the first drive-in movie theater. Complete with a fully realized animated environment, nostalgic for the 1950s when drive-ins were in their heyday, Google links its doodle to a complete article detailing the Godfather pioneer of the open air theater, Richard Hollingshead, Jr., who first called it the "park in theater".



I couldn't help but read the article with my jaw on the floor, as I found out that Hollingshead's journey to bring movie audiences outdoors and under the stars culminated on the very same week that the Downtown Drive-In marks its very first of hopefully many shows. In the article, Google also goes as far as to mention the efforts of contemporary projects like the Downtown Drive-In, which are trying to revitalize the experience for new audiences:


"Avid movie-lovers and those who have fond memories of watching movies under the stars are trying to bring back the essence of the drive-in by doing it themselves. They're lugging projectors, FM transmitters, and even snacks in the back of their cars and screening movies at locations as diverse as the side of a Cineplex and a grain silo in the middle of a field. Call it the guerrilla drive-in."


Was I planning for the stars of the Drive-In movie universe to align, with the anniversary of the first one opening on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey happening the same week as the Downtown Drive-In? Not at all. In fact, weeks ago when I was on the phone with the lot manager of Central Parking and he asked me which day I would like to hold the event on, I blurted out "June 7" faster than it took me to second guess myself. 


Of course, the actual anniversary is today, June 6, but proximity's gotta count for something.

Arch Hall Jr. and "The Sadist": A Good Kid Goes NUTS!

                           
In 2003, Arch Hall retired from a long and noteworthy career as a commercial air line pilot. Working both internationally and in the States, Hall flew for a number of companies, including Fed Ex, and while today, his spit-shine reputation as a lifer flyboy is unquestioned, in 1963, he was known as a monster of the drive-in circuit, with a menacing performance in the title role of "The Sadist" that practically made Lugosi, Karloff, and, heck, even Perkins look like girl scouts pushing cookies on the sidewalk.

Arch Hall, Jr. makin' tryouts in "Wild Guitar"

It may be of some debate Arch Hall's own desires to become a bona fide music and movie celebrity. While he did have plenty of musical prowess, making his rounds in the Sunset Strip scene with his band The Archers back when one good set at Whiskey-A-Go-Go could land you on the Ed Sullivan Show, it was his dad, Arch Hall, Sr., who truly cultivated him as a star, and fancied him, in effect, the next Elvis. Hall, Sr. worked diligently to push his ice cream-face troubadour brood on the B-movie screen, producing a number of flicks with him as the star, and always requiring that he show up with greasy blond hair, guitar-in-hand, and ready to woo the crowds with a Pepsodent smile. But after a brief number of asinine titles to his cred, it's possible the kid was getting restless in his niche, and decided to get a little dangerous with his persona, even if it meant shedding his teeny bopper skin and never turning back.

What happens when you don't renew his 

record contract

In "The Sadist", Hall plays a raw, conniving psychopath, ambling from town-to-town in the dusty American desert. He may steal money here and there, but he's not a thief in the academic sense. No, his true criminal interest is people, and what groveling they can resort to in their final moments. His experiment at an isolated roadside gas station where the film is set is to take three teachers passing through on their way to a baseball game, strip them of all ego and pretense, and find out what it all comes down to. His preliminary findings: "They're all the same -- they're all yella when they go."


After you check out "The Sadist" for yourself at the Downtown Drive-In, I think you'll see why these days, Elvis is still King, and we're not staying up real late to buy Arch Hall, Jr. decorating plates off QVC.