A week or two later, Dan shows up for practice with the message that Ben at Catwalk is interested in that lineup of bands for New Years Eve. Unbeknownst to anyone, Dan had emailed Ben regarding our chat with Brian, and Ben needed a bill for New Years. After a short discussion, we decided we were up for it. I shot a message to the other bands, and ironically all but Go Like Hell were interested. So we decided to do the show with just three bands.
Knuck from Dragstrip Riot mentioned he had a friend that might be into sponsoring the show, as his business, Taboo Video, was looking at creative marketing angles. Seeing as it was a New Years show, I thought we should make it into a big party. So I drew up a proposal for everyone to look over, outlining what each of us from bands, to club, to sponsor would need to do to make this happen. This was totally foreign territory for me, but I figured if I'm going to go for it I might as well go for the gold.
So Knuck, Dean (Playboys), Marcus (Taboo), and I met at the Wing Dome in Greenwood to go over the proposed ideas. As the meeting went on, the show concept began growing in scope and ambition. We ended up agreeing on a name for the night (more on that later), and adding dancers and a comic to the bill.
I presented this all to Ben, and set up a meeting with him, Marcus, and myself. Upon hashing out details, the show was a go. Shortly thereafter, Ben suggested adding Murdock to the bill. Upon checking their website, and consulting the other bands, I was all for it. All that was left was the promotion. And that's where things get interesting.
The original concept was "A very naughty New Year", as the show was sponsored by an adult video store and would feature hot chicks dancing in cages and handing out little gift packs of condoms and stuff. It took longer than we expected to confirm the dancers, so in a hurry I came up with the alternative "Fuck Dick Clark - Our New Years' Eve is way more rockin'" or something like that. Ben's art guy came up with a design featuring the "Dick" slogan and an extreme close up of Johnny Ramone's face. Unfortunately, Dick Clark had a stroke, making what was originally a harmless poking of fun at a wilting New Years Eve staple seem way uncool and insensitive. Plus, there was some uneasiness regarding the Johnny pic being unfestive, particularly since he recently died. So the posters needed to be redesigned. I think Ben came up with the "Nasty Rockin'" thing, and Johnny was replaced by a shot of P.J. Soles (Riff Randell in "Rock and Roll High School"). Crisis averted.