{"id":3030,"date":"2012-04-02T14:59:46","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T19:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michaelgaither.com\/home\/?p=3030"},"modified":"2014-01-02T12:33:07","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T17:33:07","slug":"the-starlite-drive-in-photographs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaelgaither.com\/home\/the-starlite-drive-in-photographs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Starlite Drive-In Photographs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes a seemingly innocent research quest can turn into a brief obsession. Before starting the new record, “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night,” I decided that photographs of our now-defunct little drive-in theater (the subject of the title song), would be great for the CD artwork. Drive-in photographs. How hard could those be to find?<\/p>\n

\"marquee\"<\/a>So I asked around. I blogged about it here<\/a>. I posted a similar blog on our local Patch web site<\/a>. I tried the local historical societies. I talked to Sandy Lydon<\/a>. He referred me to some private collectors. Still nothing. I was about to give up and just mock up a drawing from scratch, and then Tarmo Hannula, my new best friend at the Watsonville Register Pajaronian<\/a>, was able to dig up some prime negatives after I did more research and found the “tear down” date of old Watsonville Starlite Drive-In. The newspaper has their negatives listed chronologically, but they’re not indexed.<\/p>\n

\"truck\"<\/a>My pal David Hays has worked these photos – or pieces of them – into the layout for the new CD. We’ve also added some of the original ad printing that I was able to dig out at the local library. The theater opened on March 2nd, 1950. And yes, I’ve learned way more about our local drive-in than I originally intended. But if you know me, you know that I secretly love the amount of over-research that goes into a song or a record.<\/p>\n

\"screen2\"<\/a>The recording itself is almost done. We do the final mixing next week, and I should have preview tracks and a pre-sale link up here on the web site before the end of the month. Stay tuned. (Note: All photos here are courtesy and property of the Watsonville Register Pajaronian.)<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong>: The CD “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night” was finished and released in June 2012. Songs, samples, and lyrics are <\/span>here on the Music page<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n