Back in the days when MTV was YUUUUGE, they ran the coolest contest ever! In early 1984 they announced a chance for you to spend 48 hours partying with Van Halen on their tour, "The Lost Weekend With Van Halen." They received over one million postcards from fans wanting to spend a weekend of rock and roll debauchery with the hardest partying band in the land. The winner was a 20 year old department store loading dock worker from Pennsylvania named Kurt Jefferis.
David Lee Roth said, "He won't know what will happen, and when it's over, he probably won't remember anyway." Kurt's local newspaper did a story on him headlined, "Would You Let Your Son Spend a Weekend With These Guys?" Women offered their bodies for a chance to be his guest, guys offered cash and motorcycles. Kurt and his friend were flown by private jet to Detroit to spend two days with their heroes. What followed was booze, groupies, singing onstage with Van Halen, food fights, and being found locked in a closet wearing a bra. In other words, the greatest weekend Kurt can only remember parts of.
Now he can see everything he can't recall. "Lost weekend" will make it's premier at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend. Let's take a look at the trailer and some footage from back in the day. The days that Kurt Jefferis refers to as, "the best time of my life, I was in recovery and shock for many days after..."