Over the past two years, Van Zandt has been promoting his favorite “nuggets” on his own nationally syndicated radio show. He was motivated to start the show, according to Van Zandt, when he couldn’t find real rock & roll on the radio anymore, including the classic sounds of the early Rolling Stones and the Who. More recently, Van Zandt has also signed on with the Satellite Radio company Sirius to spin such platters, along with those of more obscure groups, on his own garage-rock channel. In addition to his zeal for the music, which comes across in his exuberant chatter on his programs, Van Zandt is a walking encyclopedia on the genre’s history.

The logistics of Little Steven’s day-long event were mind-boggling. To present the cavalcade of garage rock, Van Zandt booked artists who rose to prominence in the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and the 21st century. In addition, he brought in groups from all over America, as well as Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, England, New Zealand, and Canada. Scandinavia, in particular, has had a longtime affection for garage rock, with bands hailing from that region from the 1960’s to today’s trendy, male-female duo, the Raveonettes, who made an appearance at the fest.

To accommodate so many groups, the fest promoters provided a revolving stage so that one band could set up while another one played its segment. Raised platforms on each side held a legion of go-go girls (including, briefly, Drew Barrymore) wearing sequined midriff tops, hot pants, colorful tights, and of course shiny white knee-high boots. Unfortunately, the stage ceased to revolve after the eleventh band of the day, leaving a variety of MC’s to fill in the gaps between bands with patter to the audience. Such hosts as Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Kim Fowley (‘70s svengali of the defunct all-gal group, the Runaways), and Edd ‘Kookie’ Byrnes of 1950's TV fame ("77 Sunset Strip"), entertained the enthusuastic crowd, which eventually grew to 17,000. The biggest downside was that many of the afternoon band’s sets were cut from four songs to two, to make up for the lost time between performances. Because of city ordinances and the rapidly approachingHurricane Charley, the show absolutely had to end on time. Along with the music and the dancing girls, clips from classic 1950s and ‘60s B-movies, including Vincent Price horror flicks and JD and biker exploitation films, were projected on a huge screen behind the stage.