Some clubs pride themselves in racing, others showing up in force at a must-go-to far away run or event, others are 'jacket clubs' who just like to hang out and drink beer with their bros while sporting a bitchin' logo. Some may concentrate on thrashing on each other's cars, getting ready for the next show or even fixing up and flipping rides to finance the next project.

The glue that holds Kansas City's Los Punk Rods car club together is our annual event: Kowtown Custom Greaserama, which has become a regional 'target date' for an increasing number of homebuilt and nostalgia style customizers and hot rodders to show off their latest creations.

Loosely formed in 1999, the Punk Rods would host monthly barbecue cruises at a park in Lawrence, Kansas- sometimes inviting friends or fellow member's bands to play, or just mixing up a hotrod-oriented tape to play on the jam box.

On Labor Day weekend 2001 we started up an informal car show to coincide with a two-night punk, surf, and rockabilly show at punk club El Torreon in Kansas City. With mostly word-of-mouth promotion and a few flyers at swap meets, record stores and cruise nights, about 60 cars showed up. The 8^th show last Labor Day weekend was host to nearly 700 show vehicles. It began largely as a punk rock style 'do-it-yourself ethic' reaction against boring, high-buck, high-gloss, 'Boydster' style street rod shows with their requisite oldies but goodies (Really. Does anyone need to hear 'Little Deuce Coupe' every single Saturday at 11:35am for thirty years??!!) We simply could not stand to hear this for the 2,000,000^th time. That, along with the corny craft areas and crybaby dolls that had nothing to do with hot rod and kustom culture, and the elitist 'gold-chainer', deep pocket attitude which seemed to come with hiring someone to build you a fancy 'street rod', made us realize we needed a show we would actually enjoy.

The Punk Rods themselves are influenced by 50's high school parking lot hot rods, 60's show cars, Big Daddy Roth t-shirts and models, underground art and comix, B-movie and pre-hippie psychedelic imagery, primitive rockabilly and garage rock. We grew up on out-dated thrift store model kits, our big brother's hot rod magazines and comic books, and fifties and sixties pop-culture- such as the MUNSTERS TV show from which the name Punk Rods is gleaned (from an episode entitled 'Hot Rod Herman'), as well as being a nod to our punk rock DIY roots and ethic.

Look around Greaserama and it seems to be some kind of Herman Munster cult gathering...you see the sixties monster imagery everywhere: tattooed, sculpted, painted on decklids, motorcycle gas tanks, and skateboards, old greaserama shirts being made into dresses, pillows, or seat covers, and the annual KC Greaserama art show 'Lily's Greasy Gallery'- installed in a 44 ft. trailer- packed with colorful images of monsters and hotrods.

Kowtown Custom Greaserama will return to the Blvd. Drive-In in Kansas City, Kansas (always) Labor Day Weekend. 2009 will again include vintage hot rod related films, our low-brow 'fine' art show, an even mix of original music (surf, punk, rockabilly, rock n roll, etc), and, of course, hundreds of nostalgia style customs, traditional homebuilt hot rods, low rider bicycles, and hand built motorcycles.

Here are some events we recommend and/or plan to attend this summer, and a couple that we are doing:

JUNE 29^TH Punk Rods Coffee Break 5400 Troost K.C. Mo. 11am-1pm

JULY 5^th Lawrence Old Punkers Reunion. BBQ at Burcham Park in the afternoon, then all-star old punkers jam at The Replay that night. If you were a punker in K.C. or Lawrence from '83-'90 you should go.

JULY 6^th 11-5 Blue Valley Park KC Mo. (1-435 and 23^rd St) Will probably be heavy on Lowriders type show. www.kcrestorationchurch.com

JULY 12^TH 12-5 pm There is a Lowrider show in the West Bottoms 1217 Union. That's all I know.

Last weekend of JULY- KKOA LEADSLED SPECTACULAR Salina, KS. We will probably be heading out that Friday from KC at 11 or so, holler if you want to join our caravan out. We may have a second caravan at 6pm or 6am Saturday. This is a big and really cool show.

JULY 27^TH The monthly Coffee Break Thing

AUGUST 9^th Okie Twist-Off presented by the Ratty Bastards C.C. in O K.C.

THE HAMB DRAGS near Joplin. Third weekend of August, I think. Almost always the week before...

K.C. GREASERAMA

August 29^th Pre-Party at the Record Bar. Last chance to pre-register! (Pre-registering is a lot better deal)

Saturday 30^th & Sunday 31^st Greaserama 12pm-1am at the Blvd. Drive-in.

Also, the Misfits C.C. put on a cool cruise a couple weeks after in K.C. Usually on a Sunday.

OCTOBER 4^th & 5^th Stray Kat Kustoms Rocket in Ft. Scott, Kansas www.straykatkustoms.com

Also in October- the Hunnert Car Pile-Up in Ill. Biggest Greaser type car show in the midwest.

And the Chubacabras Show- Pistons & Paint- in Dallas, Tx.

From Grindstone Magazine number 7 Fall 1997

The Ten Commandments

We, The Grindstone, present to you, The Musicians, a list of 'cover song laws'. This to protect the rights of the paying, listening audience. Seriously, if a song has already been recorded by over 100 bands before, there's no reason for you to be playing it. Sure, they may be fun to play, and if you're a new band, it's an easy way to build up your play list- but do everyone a favor! Dig just a little deeper and learn some riffs that haven't already been murdered by every other band across this great country of ours.

1. Our first law is: no 'I fought the Law' allowed under any circumstances.

2. No playing any song that Robert Gordon popularized. This includes, but is not limited to, 'Flyin' Saucer Rock and Roll', 'Red Hot,' 'The way I walk, and 'Black Slacks.'

3. Though shalt not mimic the great Johnny Cash with songs like 'Folsom Prison Blues' and 'Ring of Fire'.

4. Those of the jump blues persuasion must not serve forth 'Jump, Jive, and Wail'. Nor may you substitute that with 'Caldonia'.

5. Leave 'Tear It Up' untouched.

6. If you must play "Shake Rattle and Roll', the minimum requirement is that you replace those words with the words from "Flip Flop and Fly'.

7. Those preserving our great heritage must refrain from uttering the words 'My Bucket's got a hole in it.' (It seems there's and epidemic amongst buckets.)

8. Until your actual ownership of said car is proven, there's to be no carryin' on about your 'Hot Rod Lincoln'.

9. Though we know you worship them, please avoid the most popular tunes by Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.

10. When covering an Elvis selection, not even the slightest hint of an impression is allowed...no shaking at the knees, no curled lip, not even a kind 'Thank you very much' should someone applaud your performance.

To which Punk Rod Todd would like to add:

'Honey Don't' ? Just Don't . Or any song that the great Carl Perkins ever recorded that gets air play on the commercial oldies station. (Try 'Tennessee!', it's a great song!)

ANYTHING that EVER gets airplay on Commercial 'Oldies' radio.

If you're doing Wanda Jackson- take the Elvis advice to heart (see above).

FYI - Charlie Daniels wrote many, many great songs. 'The Devil went down to Georgia' is NOT one of them.

I'm sorry, but 'Flip Flop Fly' is more tired even than 'Shake Rattle and Roll'.

And let's not forget the punk bands:

Sonic Reducer: you are NOT Stiv Bators.

Blitzkrieg Bop: What are you, twelve?

'Search and Destroy' or that song that's on the cruise ship commercial.

And, if you're in a psychobilly band, please don't do any Misfits songs, especially 'American Nightmare'. Glenn will thank you. We will thank you. Thank You.

Greaserama 2008

Friday Night Pre-Party at the Record Bar August 29th-

Blood on the Saddle

Federation of Horsepower

Big Iron

Car show Saturday August 30th

Black Tarantulas

Pendergast

Throttlers

King King

Car show Sunday August 31st

Cretin 66

Last Call Girls

Blood on the Saddle

More TBA

Greaserama Friday Night Pre-Party

Blood on the Saddle: One of the first ever bands to mix country (and western) and punk- and has RULED the genre since. Blazing guitarist Greg Davis IS the punk rock Bill Monroe (throw in a little Duane Allman, Gregg Ginn, D. Boon, and classical guitar in there, too!). With their beautiful take on classic murder ballads, Luke the Drifter style story tellin', and Sons of the Pioneers cowboy songs- maybe throw in a little Slayer influence in there, too- does that sound strange to you? Well, IT WORKS!! They are on my top five all time greats! Along with Black Flag, Beasts of Bourbon, the Stones, Dead Boys, the Pistols, the Cramps....wait, that's more than five...you get the picture! BE THERE. Did I mention BLOOD ON THE SADDLE FUCKING RULE??!!

Big Iron: the Punk Rod's own house band, practically- featuring: the famous Punk Rod Ricky on th' 6 string ( formerly of Thee Stranded and Luck of the Draw in Ventura, California, and currently also in We're Fucked). A true garage rock guitar hero! (and a real good customizer ta boot!). Also, the incredibly accomplished and multi-talented Chubby Smith on bass (long pedigree of varied genius projects: Rot Gut, Big Toe, Chubby Smith Five). J.P. (Sin City Disciples, Dirita Sisters, Sod Busters) beats the skins, while frontman Punk Rod Jeff (usta sing for Piston Grind) belts out his dark, spooky, sometimes sarcastic singin' stories about love, loss, booze, and arson. They are a unique mix of punk blues (think Gun Club, Beasts of Bourbon), garage (like Sonics, Flamin Groovies), and country (Hank)- with a big dose of hard-core rage and screamin'!

Federation of Horsepower: KC's current fave powerhouse of biker-garage-cock rock, with a big dose of blues, punk, and stoner rock. These guys rock Super-Duper Hard and Real Good.  

Car Show Saturday and Sunday

The Black Tarantulas: what I've heard so far from these guys sounds like they have been locked in a basement with nothing but Jim Beam, pot, and Sonics, Flamin' Groovies, Lime Spiders, and 13^th Floor Elevators records. I like! I like!

Pendergast: real good alt country / roots rock. Good singin'. Good lyrics, stylin' guitar pickin'. Their singer was in another great roots bands called Sandoval years ago...

The Throttlers: no holds barred Cock Rock Punk. If you like the Didjits, AC/DC, Kiss, ZZ Top, Turbonegro.....they are veteran rockers who know how to Bring It!

King King: my fave traditional rockabilly band around here – with a big Texas blues / Paladins influence, a little surf / lounge, and A LOT of early 60s honky-tonk / Bakersfield sound thrown in...

The Last Call Girls: real good, traditional country-bluegrass-honky tonk.  guitar, fiddle, girl sangin'.

Cretin 66: One of K.C.'s all-time best bands-  metal-garage-punk-  influences from Black Flag, Sabbath, MC5, Kiss, with a little 60's pop / Phil Spector Wall-of-Sound thing goin' on, too! (wait, that sounds like early Kiss, too!). CRETIN 66! THEY MOTHERFUCKIN' RULE!! Internationally recognized Rock Stars! (For Real! Big in Europe! Real record deals and everything!) CRETIN 66! THEY'RE YOUR NEW FAVORITE GROUP RIGHT NOW!!!

Last Saturday's "Spring Thing" was about what we expected from a 1^st time event- went well, but not crowded or crazy by any means.

First off, at 7am we met up with the MO. KNUCKLEBUSTERS at the drive-in for their vintage junk yard foray- went to 'Vans' auto salvage- about 25 miles north. Pretty good junk yard- all vintage stuff. Lots of shoe box Fords, Mercs, a bunch of 2 dr. wagons, lots of galaxies, Fairlanes, Olds, Pontiacs, Buicks, Lincolns, big trucks, couple of cool old commercial vehicles, and some cool 60's imports. Everyone found a little something.....I got a '59 T-Bird hood to use the hood scoop for something cool, not sure just what yet- and some cool stuff to make into Greaserama trophies, sculptures, etc.

The ol' guy who runs it don't like to take stuff off complete cars though, so some stuff I did not get. I have no room (or time, or money!) for any parts cars! It was damn muddy and wet. Would have been a good day to hunt mushrooms, but we had to get back to midtown to set up for our show.

This show was fully intended to be much more casual than Greaserama- more of a cruise night- type deal...No cut-off, no exclusions, with plenty of room in the back of the drive-in for modern car parking as well. Ricky made some good hillbilly and punk compilation cd's we played over the drive-in speakers.

We had a small stage with a little smaller P.A. than we'd have at our bigger show- which suited the band KING KING great (it should, it was their P.A.!) The acoustics are pretty good there- the sound kinda bounces off the screen at a 45 degree angle so there is a loud (and clear!) spot all the way on the other side of the venue. They blasted through a long set of trad. Rockabilly/Honkytonk/Blues influenced rock and roll and invited Gary Cloud- front man for the next band up, THE QUINDERO'S- to sit in and sing on "Matchbox", before turning over the stage to them for their short set (they're fairly newly-formed) of kinda Stones-influenced 'no-depression' style white country blues. Good songs, good fiddle playin', and two really good guitarists.

Even though we had no restrictions, the cars and bikes were the kind of stuff we get at Greaserama- home built hot rods 50's and 60's styled Nostalgia style stuff, buncha 60's style choopers, and lots of 'punk rock' style bobbers/street bruiser type bikes. And our special "NO GAS" section had quite a variety of vehicles- some lowrider bikes, some vintage muscle bikes, some "rat rod" style bikes, electric powered, and lots of downhill stuff: home-built soapbox-type stuff, a couple of gravity bikes, a bunch of long boards, some real high-tech serious street luges, an ancient homemade clay-wheeled ski longboard from the '60's-early 70's?, and some real artistic hot rod inspired downhill carts- most notably this really cool trike thing made from wheelchair wheels, mounted on a tractor gas tank, with a vintage tiller shroud as a body over a 20" springer lowrider front end. Really bitchin'!

The "No Gas" section was not big enough to be called "Nationals", but hopefully it will grow if we do this again. We will have a "No Gas & Oddball" power section at Greaserama as well.

It stayed cool and cloudy and the threat of rain, as well as a lot of other stuff goin' on, kept this from being quite as big a deal as we had hoped. We settled in to watch "World's Fastest Indian", then "Thrashin" when a different cloud appeared- word of a bad accident up a hill nearby involving one of the street luge guys who had his rig in the "No Gas" section. He was running a hill, hit a tree, and DIED. I still don't know for sure what hill, if it was one of the hills the Gravity riders had pegged as a gravity run location the next morning, or the one hill that runs down into/and intersects with the straighter one that would have likely been used.

But, in light of this tragedy, The MIDWEST GRAVITY RIDERS guys and the rest of the downhill folks did not have any races or runs on Sunday, out of respect for their fallen fellow sportsman.

Here are two letters we received this last week regarding our show, and my responses to them. Please feel free to add your own in the comments section.  Thanks- Punk Rod Todd

Letter 1