Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009

Band of former Showbiz Pizza Place performers still rockin'

People raved about the videos.

They featured giant, robotic animals playing in a band. Children of the '80s remembered the band as the animatronic act from Showbiz Pizza Place. Only here the gorilla, bears, mouse and company weren't singing "Happy Birthday" or other songs they remembered from childhood.

Here, on YouTube, they were performing Britney Spears, or Bubba Sparxxx, or Usher.

Billy Bob, the one-toothed moonshining bear, sings, "Well come here baby and let daddy show you what it feel like," in Usher's "Love in This Club," a video that's gotten nearly 800,000 views in two months. But the people were confused. The lips moved in perfect sync. In the background, a sun and moon said "hey" and "ho" right on cue. At one point, a sidestage curtain opens to reveal a wolf sporting a hand puppet. The puppet raps Young Jeezy's solo while the wolf does the call-and-response bit.

"I don't understand. How did you do this? The lip synching is perfect. Do they really play this song at a pizza place?" asked one viewer in the video's 600 comments.

Some people thought it was clever editing or video manipulation.

The truth is as astle of Texas filmmakers to create a documentary feature that will be seen in film ounding a story as the videos themselves. It has, in fact, inspired a coupfestivals this fall.

It's a story about a Phenix City man named Chris Thrash.

The fan

Thrash, 32, sells used cars. He's happily married. He's got a baby.

He had a good childhood, punctuated by visits to Columbus' Showbiz Pizza Place. He was 7 years old on his first trip, and that ranks among his happiest memories still. And it sounds silly, he knows, but he always felt a connection to the giant animals on the pizza parlor's three stages --- an animatronic band called the Rock-afire Explosion.

The furry ape behind the keyboards, slightly menacing (or downright nightmarish to kids who were too young) was named Fatz Geronimo. That buck-toothed bear was Billy Bob Brokali. The mouse cheerleader, Mitzi Mozzerella. But the guitar-jamming Beach Bear and especially the dog named Dook LaRue on the drums were always Thrash's favorites.

Their names, their costumes, and to some extent even their voices were silly. But their music was serious. Among their shows was a medley of The Beatles' "White Album." In 1984, Showbiz bought bankrupt rival Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, and over the next eight years old parlors were rebranded as Chuck E. Cheeses. The robotic characters were changed, their shows made friendlier for younger children. Thrash, and other fans who grew up with the earlier, edgier Rock-afire, hated what they'd become.

"I am not a fan of Chuck E. Cheese," he said, spitting the mouse's name through a clenched jaw. "It appeals more to 5-to-10-year-olds. The Rock-afire was more rock 'n' roll. They were magical. It wasn't children's music, it was grown-up music."

He had a copy of the single record released by the make-believe Rock-afire Explosion, called "Gee, Our First Album." He used that album to cling to the memories, but: "Damn, you get tired of listening to that," he said.