Sometimes, things work out exactly as you hoped they would. When I finished the
“Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night” CD last year – exactly a year ago this week – my video pal Jeff of RabbitHat Productions said “I want to do another video with you. Have anything in mind?”

Jeff did some really nice work after my first CD back in 2006. It resulted in videos for the songs “Spotted Mule” and “Not Stubborn Not My Mule”.

I told Jeff, “I have an idea, but it’s big. It’s really a massive editing project.” He was game. The concept was to visually illustrate the title track using performance footage, b-movie public domain footage (because we had no budget), lots of snack bar ads (dancing popcorn, etc.), and a stream of Starlite marquees past and present.

Part of the research during the CD’s production uncovered the fact that “Starlite” was a very common drive-in name back in the day. This video became a huge research project as I dug for photos of old Starlites – and got clearance from the photo copyright owners. At the same time, I was pleased to discover that many Starlites are still operating. They were VERY happy to send me photos of their signs and give me the okay to use them in the video.

Jeff and I literally started this project last fall: He editing, and me spending more hours than I ever want to admit searching for public domain footage and photos to support the song. Besides Jeff, who really made this all happen, we had a lot of support from theaters and photographers who gave permission to use their work. They’re all thanked in a long credits section at the end of the video.

The initial response has been great. So do have a look. Comments are welcome. And if you like what you see, please share it with your friends. If this one doesn’t go viral, we’re just gonna take some cute kitten footage and mash it up randomly against one of my songs for the next project. 😉