Kansas City Playlist: Tribute To Twin Drive-In

This week marks a cinematic end of an era for the Kansas City metro.

Context for this local fade out . . .

Since 1965, the drive-in has been the spot for first dates and family nights. However, that will soon end. B&B said the rent demands are unsustainable.

GM Kandy Combs and her team are preparing to close down the drive-in on November 17. She said the community support in its final days has been overwhelming, even selling out last weekend.

The final reel is bittersweet but, sadly, a sign of the times . . .

Movies are now rarely family events and even the era of "Netflix & Chill" seems antiquated. Cinema is now in part of the phone surveillance device that most of us carry every around waking second of the day and "movies" are 10 seconds long or shorter.

Dystopian?!?

Maybe.

But there are consequences for a society that runs on caffeine, debt and legal weed. 

Accordingly . . .

Tonight's www.TonysKansasCity.com playlist offers tribute to the Twin Drive-In and this forgotten era of local cinema . . .

We'll start with "Sandy" from the movie "Grease" and the closest we've come to understanding why the opening sequence was animated. Fun fact: The film's cocreator, Jim Jacobs, told Yahoo News in 2018 that Hollywood director Ralph Bakshi pitched "Grease" as an X-rated cartoon. He was well known for his animated hits like "Fritz the Cat," but Jacobs wasn't sold on his vision. 

Posted mostly because the opening line is: "Stranded At The Drive-in" . . .

Because these playlists always end up relating back to the 90s. "Drive In, Drive Out" from The Dave Matthews Band is an underrated favorite. Longtime fans will remember this iconic band endured one of the worst road scenes in the history of popular music. 

Remember: "On August 8, 2004, a tour bus belonging to Dave Matthews Band dumped an estimated 800 pounds (360 kg) of human waste from the bus's blackwater tank through the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto an open-top passenger sightseeing boat sailing in the Chicago River below. The incident became popularly known as the Dave Matthews Band incident or Poopgate."

Regarding starry nights, legends and the nearly forgotten past . . . We discovered this hidden gem a couple of years and were looking for an excuse to share it. Some of the backstory: 

For decades, live bootlegs of Blondie's cover of a B-side from The Doors floated around, but there was never a studio version until Against the Odds: 1974-1982, a box set (released in 2022) with loads of previously vaulted tracks, including Blondie's "Moonlight Drive" pressed to 7-inch vinyl.

An intermission compilation that ran in many KC metro drive-ins until the 80s serves as a reminder that ADVERTISING is American culture. Check-it:

Old-school music fans knew where we were going with this . . . We conclude with The Beach Boys "Drive-In" and perspective on cinematic convention: 

"The drive-in theater reached its peak in popularity following the end of WWII. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were approximately 4,000 drive-ins across America." As The Twin Drive-In closes . . . There is now only one drive-in remaining in the Kansas City metro.

As always, thanks for reading this week and have a safe & fun Saturday night.