In just over 24 hours I will be on a plane to Tulsa, Oklahoma for a first-of-its-kind 80’s rock festival called, appropriately enough, Rocklahoma! Five of my best friends, coming from both NYC and LA, will be joining me in Pryor, OK for a weekend that will not soon be forgotten. Over the course of the 3 day festival we will be camping out a Dodge Caravan rental and enjoying some of the best music and wildest fans the 80’s rock scene has to offer.

The weekend lineup includes 80’s rock powerhouses Poison, Vince Neil (sadly minus the rest of the Crue), Twisted Sister, Ratt, Queensryche, Dokken, Quiet Riot, Skid Row and the L.A. Guns among many others. The bands start playing at noon every day, with the last sets finishing well past midnight each night. As excited as I am for the music, the thing I look forward to the most is partying all night at the campground with all of the 30-somethings that have never been able to put this era of decadence behind them.

Having read through the festival forums for the past few weeks to get a sense for the type of crowd to expect, it’s becoming fairly obvious that the NYC area will not be heavily represented at Rocklahoma. It may come as a shock, but most of the festival-goers will be making the short drive from their small hometowns throughout the Southwest. My only hope is that when I introduce myself as being from New York City that I receive the incredulous response reminiscent of the cowboys in the late-80’s ‘Pace Picante’ commercials. While NYC may be an unlikely source of authentic salsa, authentic rock fans are not geographically limited, as our group will surely prove to them.

There’s no way of knowing what to expect from this weekend, but in the words of Bret Michaels, “ain’t looking for nothing but a good time!”

Pictures of the weekend will obviously be posted when (if) I return.