Robert Drake’s Philly Phlashback: Zombie Prom at the Troc

First of all, welcome.

It’s widely known that I have an insane amount of love for my hometown, Philadelphia. Born in Kensington, raised in various parts of the Great Northeast and finally landing in Center City in the fall of 1980 (once I graduated from George Washington High!), I have spent decades exploring the city’s underbelly, both figuratively and literally.

My first job while a senior in high school was working in the newly opened Gallery at Market East. So, quite often, I’d follow the rats underneath the city streets to get to my workplace by sunrise. Then, once done my shift, head over to South Street and hang with fellow punks to (hopefully) score a free ticket to catch some live music that night. Sleep was rare—but it was worth it, as I got to see some amazing performances that nurtured my lifelong love for the post-punk/new wave genre and my passion to host Land of the Lost these past 20 years on XPN.

With this monthly column, I plan to share some memories from those hazy days way back. Everything from shows I saw and venues I haunted to local celebs I befriended. Additionally, I’ll share a capsule of Rock of the 80s tidbits we can look forward to in the coming month.

As this month holds Halloween, I thought I’d start large, with a venue close to my heart: Philadelphia’s historic Trocadero Theatre.

Located in the heart of Chinatown, this vaudeville/minstrel house turned burlesque stage turned rock club has been part of the local landscape since the turn of the 20th century.

While I recall walking past it during its final years as a burlesque theatre (too young—and too gay—to enter!) I do remember finally entering the Troc in the mid-80s when it was transformed into a concert hall. I can’t recall that first show—but I can remember the awe I experienced as I pushed through the padded doors into the main venue, which opened to a huge arena on the scale of a planetarium.

Over the next few decades, I saw many concerts there, but my real love affair with the Troc began in the early years of the 21st century.

In 2006, a few friends and I produced the first Philly Zombie Crawl … basically an excuse to dress as a zombie and bar hop on South Street. Keep in mind, this was four years before The Walking Dead and the “zombie craze” that swept America … as is true with so many things in Philly, we were the first to hold such a unique gathering.

Each year the number of zombies attending grew—from about 100 during our launch year, to several hundred by 2008. We realized that zombies didn’t want to wait for the annual springtime crawl, so we launched the Philly Zombie Prom in the fall, and frankly, there was only one place perfect to host it… The Trocadero Theatre.

Each autumn we’d host the Zombie Prom at The Troc—with zombies multiplying annually! By 2014, we had more than 1,200 zombies attend the prom, complete with live bands, DJs, prom photo booths, and even make-up stations for those waiting to get ‘zombified’ upon arrival. The Travel Channel even attended one year with a huge camera crew to feature The Zombie Prom and The Troc on their national Halloween “Top Ten Haunts in America” special!

In 2016, after Zombie Proms, Zombie Crawls, and Zombie Beach Parties—we decided to go out on a high note and threw the largest Zombie Prom ever … that is, until 2019.

Once word got out that the Trocadero was finally going to say goodbye to the city that loved her so. In May 2019—just weeks before she went dark—we held our final Zombie Prom. We even brought Ken E. Nelson back to the stage. Ken was the final ‘clown comic’ that performed between burlesque dancers back in the Troc’s golden era of the 1960s. That night at the Philly Zombie Prom, Ken was truly overcome with emotion when I introduced him to more than a thousand screaming zombie fans and brought him back up onto a stage that he called home for oh so many years.

It was a magical night.

Since 2019, The Troc has been closed and its marquee dark.

That said, if you’re lucky enough to get past those locked doors, the spirit of thousands of nights of live performances is palpable. Some think The Trocadero Theatre is history, but I just think the ol’ gal is in the midst of a long winter’s nap. Here’s hoping.

New Wave Nugget

Wir Schweigen Nicht (We Will Not Be Silent) is a compilation of exclusive new tracks from legendary director/composer John Carpenter, Modern English, EMF, Nouvelle Vague, The Dead Milkmen, opera star Daniel Gutmann, and others. One hundred percent of the profits from the album go to the White Rose Foundation in Munich. The foundation not only commemorates the brave sacrifices of its original members who resisted the Nazis in World War II, but promotes civic courage, individual responsibility, and robust education about the dangers of fascism and bigotry in present times.

Each act has selected a song to cover from the German New Wave genre for this project, from original artists such as D.A.F., Malaria!, Falco,  Grauzone, Xmal Deutschland, and Ideal—the release drops Nov. 6. Get full details online here.