Michael Gaither

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?

So I asked around. I blogged about it here. I posted a similar blog on our local Patch web site. I tried the local historical societies. I talked to Sandy Lydon. 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, 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.

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.

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.)

UPDATE: The CD “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night” was finished and released in June 2012. Songs, samples, and lyrics are here on the Music page.