Sad news via the Hillwood Strike & Spare Facebook page:
You may recall that the Hillwood Stirke & Spare was home to one of the country's only remaining commercially operated Rock-afire Explosion setups, also known as the official band of Showbiz Pizza . This should strike a poignant chord for any child of the '80s, especially those who think that Chuck E. Cheese is a pale imitation of the original (hear, hear).
We chronicled the bizarre history of the beloved yet mildly terrifying animatronic band in the Scene last year, and a 2008 documentary told the whole story behind the band, eccentric creator Aaron Fechter, and a group of superfans dedicated to keeping the dream alive.
Last year, we also took our Bad Idea Friends on a field trip to Hillwood to play the parts of Rock-afire Explosion groupies, which you can read about here, since you can no longer experience it firsthand.
To be fair, the band was in pretty rough shape, as evidenced by the following photos. But don't worry, nobody actually gave Billy Bob a handjob ... at least, not on my watch.
The good news is, we do know where the Nashville outpost of the Rock-afire Explosion ended up. Well, sort of. Our distribution manager received an email from a fan who saw the story in the Scene and saved the band from obscurity ... or, at the very least, the dumpster:
And in other exciting Showbiz/Rock-afire news, there's this, via Twitter:
Don't underestimate the power of the Gosling, people. Anyway, in memoriam of our furry friends, here's the trailer to the doc.
