Rat Bastards Car Club Infestation 2014

Great day out at the Kenmore Lanes Bowling Alley for the Annual Rat Bastards Car Club Infestation. This was the first year at the Lanes in Kenmore, WA., which is a better location than the previous XXX Root Beer in Issaquah, WA. More parking and bowling! Over 120 cars of various build styles were present and people seemed upbeat and out to enjoy the day. Sometimes when a Car Show changes venues, it is for the worse, in this case it definitely was for the better. We will be there next year.

Go-Kustom TV @ Slaughterhouse Car Show 2012

"You are watching Go-Kustom TV!"

So after packing our portable (20 foot by 10 foot) outdoor projection screen, projection gear and vendor gear, the wife and I headed over to Monroe, Washington for the Rat Bastards Car Club Annual Slaughterhouse Car Show. The show is held at Monroe River Valley Farm, which is a great place to have an event or car show. Lots of outdoor parking, beer and wine bar, large stage on the back of the main building and easy access. Besides selling our Go-Kustom wares, I was filming for Go-Kustom TV most of the day. I forgot my external mic tho, and only attempted to interview a few car owners because of the background noise. Mics on camera tend to pick up everything and can make it difficult to hear the interviewees speech. Still I collected hours of event footage, including the pin-up contest (which I was also a judge for) and a promo spot with Kitty Mansfield for GK TV- "You are watching Go-Kustom TV!" After the awards ceremony for Best Hot Rod, etc., etc., a handful of Rat Bastards (and photographer Ralph Gayle- who was there to show me his photo shoot with Kitty Mansfield for an article I am writing) put together my behemoth outdoor screen. This took nearly an hour. After the sun went down we showed some music videos and a film on the big screen. The Rat Bastards brought the pop corn for the dozen or so stragglers that stayed for the movie. It felt like a real, mini-drive-in. Every time I do one of these outdoor screenings, I start thinking about how cool it would be to open a Drive-In Theater, but with a Kustom Kulture twist. Like a car show with bands during the day and then old B-Movies every weekend evening all summer long. Maybe even iPad projection onto mobile devices as well as the big screen. It could work! 

Pin-Up Finalists. Kitty Mansfield (middle) was the winner.

My wife and I camped out at the farm, so we could avoid a late night drive home then early return to tear down the screen. Putting the screen up is the hard part, taking it down only takes two people a half hour. We got home at 6 AM and slept in until nearly noon. Nice. 

Go-Kustom TV @ Sunken Ship Anniversary Cruise-In

We headed up to Everett, Washington yesterday morning for the 5th Annual Sunken Ship Cruise-In. Hot Rod Heidi and her husband, tattoo artist, Matt Sawdon run Sunken Ship and every year they give back to the community with a free day of tattoos. First come first serve and when we arrived the line was down the street! The artists work all day for free (but do appreciate tips), doing a set list of tattoo artwork for clients. Some great original designs, with some designs being masculine and others more on the feminine side. We had a vendor booth on the north side parking lot and also filmed a bit for Go-Kustomn TV. The bands performing in store included Hard Money Saints, Repomen, Graceland 5, Billy Dwayne & The Creepers and Ryan Laplante. The kustoms and hot rods filed into the south parking lot for the cruise-in. Excellent turnout , excellent event.