Banned From CBGB For Being Too Erotic

The Lost Boys
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA

The last show of the 2023 season was a memorable one that started off with a 35mm screening of one of the greatest vampire flicks of all time.  This was followed by a concert performance from a musician that appears in the film for just a few seconds, but who's time on camera may be recognized by more people than the film itself is.

The dude with the saxophone who looks like he's just stepped out of Wrestlemania is Tim Cappello.  He played sax for Tina Turner and was cast in The Lost Boys as the singer and sax player for a band who was performing a cover of I Still Believe in the scene where Michael sees Star for the first time.  If you've ever used any form of social media, the chances are pretty good that you've seen a gif or a screenshot of this scene used as a meme.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

The one and only Tim Cappello was the special guest for the 2023 season finale at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater to meet fans, sign autographs, take pictures, and to perform a concert after the movie.

We got lucky with warm weather and clear skies on Friday and Saturday night, but no such luck on Sunday.  The temperature dropped by at least 15 degrees and it rained steadily throughout most of the night.  This meant that we had to enjoy the movies from inside of the car but it slowed down enough after the movie that a hoodie was enough to stay reasonably dry to enjoy the concert outside.

 

The pre-show included a screening of the 1951 Tex Avery/MGM cartoon Cock-a-Doodle Dog.  We saw this one earlier this year at the Mahoning before a Tuesday night screening of Back To School, but I could watch these old cartoon shorts a thousand times without getting tired of them.

The Lost Boys premiered in theaters on July 31, 1987.  I was seven years old at the time, and while I was aware of some horror movies at the time, this was not one of them.  I caught it for the first time when I was a teenager, and I was an especially big fan of the soundtrack, which has a lot of mid 80's new wave and dark wave songs that I've come to enjoy even more as I've gotten older.

Like most movies, I've gained a new appreciation for The Lost Boys after seeing it on the big screen at the Mahoning.  I've always enjoyed it, but I don't think I ever noticed how stunning some of the shots are; particularly those set on the boardwalk and in the ruins of the hotel that was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake.  If you haven't seen this movie before, I strongly recommend it, especially this time of year.

 

"The Star" was a dance move.  He wasn't propositioning us.

As promised, Tim Cappello performed a concert outside of the concession building.  It was about an hour long, with lots of stories and crowd interaction in between each of the songs.  One of the most memorable moments was when he asked the crowd if we knew what we wanted our tombstone to say, and to share with us what he wants his to say: "Banned from CBGB for being too erotic".  That's a hell of a thing for a musician to have on their resume, dontcha think?

This is the setlist from Tim Cappello's Sunday night performance at the Mahoning.  It wasn't a super long setlist, but it was a hell of a lot of fun... and how many people in this world can say that they saw a 35mm print of The Lost Boys at a drive-in theater, followed by a live performance of one of the songs in the movie by the artist who not only performed the song on the soundtrack, but also performed the song on screen in the film itself.

And that's a wrap on the 2023 season at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Lehighton, Pennsylvania.  It's been one hell of a season, filled with lots of great movies (140 of which I was in attendance for), great food, great music, special guests, and literally hundreds of hours of great times spent under the stars with our drive-in family.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've made more friends on this lot in 2023 than I've made in the previous ten years of my life combined.  I don't think I've ever found a place where I could truly be myself and feel as welcomed as I feel at this place.  It really is something special, and I am honored and privileged to be a part of all of this.