Hide the women and children. 

There’s a new party planned for this weekend involving loud cars, motorcycles, tattoos, rockabilly music and—puppies? Well the puppies don’t sound so scary. On the other hand, the host bar charges $1 for PBR. Those two sort of cancel each other out.

The first annual “Trash-O-Rama” takes over the Sportsman Bar & Grill on Saturday. Event organizer Rik Surly couldn’t believe his good fortune when he stumbled across the domain name http://www.trashorama.com. So pithy. So memorable. So money.

Surly’s shindig for tattooed rebel rousers is designed to raise money for an Ashland no-kill dog shelter. Surly’s wife, Marti Jackson, helped plan the event and select the dog theme.  Orphaned pups will be available for adoption in the parking lot and a representative from the shelter will also accept dogs from owners who can no longer care for them.

What does one wear to a day devoted to canine crusading and trash culture? Surly expects an eclectic crowd. Many will be shod in steel-toed boots and wife-beaters (the undershirts, not actual spouse abusers). They’ll be acting like yahoos, Surly said. But nothing violent, just a good loud time.

The idea is to look tough. That means it’s probably not the right venue for a bowtie or seersucker suit. If only novelty stores sold clip-on goatees (not sure how that would work—especially considering some Trash-o-Rama attendees have really long goatees).

Judging by Surly’s rhetoric, the group’s bark is worse than its bite. But Trash-o-Rama will feature more than dogs. There’s a tattoo contest, a motorcycle contest and a hot rod show.

Expect loud engines and lots of flaming paint-jobs with or without skulls. 

“We’re doing this to bring more people in for the charity,” said Surly, “but people will be around all day drinking beer on ice and discussing cars and bikes.”

They’ll also be discussing who looks the best during a pinup contest for the women and a Greaser King contest to find the man who looks most like “The Fonz” (consider it the trash equivalent of homecoming king and queen).

Then there’s the rockabilly, a rowdy blend of honky tonk, boogie-woogie and country music. Trash-o-Rama features eight bands: Hick’ry Hawkins, The Deadneks, The Defilers, Mean Mean Man & the Brass Knuckle Band, Memphis Morticians, the Dregs, Hamburger James, Black Cash and Wrenn Mangum.
The event is its own kind of animal. A point made even clearer when Surly said, “We’ve got cars, bikes, rock ’n’ roll and dogs all rolled into one.”

Trash-o-Rama
Saturday at The Sportsman Bar & Grill, 3308
Williamsburg Rd.
http://www.trashorama.com

The FONZ?! Where did you get this writer from? The Frat House? This guy really did not do his homework...who cares what people wear! What do they wear at the watermelon festival, Douche?

Hey Aaron, your future as a writer is now--your “talent” is not as good as you thought it was. GIVE IT UP , KID!

I helped Marti & Rik with the planning and advertising of this event. The Idea is to raise tons of money for BARK so they can take care of the animals and to hopefull find some good homes for the ones they are already taken care of. If you come and you want to wear a suit please do so. The event is for the dogs and a good time… and nothing more. It’s not a fashion show.