On May 8, 2020, Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash, based on Artimus Pyle’s account of the fateful 1977 plane cras, will premiere at The Lorain Palace Theater in Lorain, Ohio.
Chronicling the day of the crash in October of 1977, the movie is seen through the eyes of Pyle, drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, and highlights the accident that took the lives of Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and numerous others. Coincidentally, the premiere overlaps with the last leg of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s final tour, The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour.
Immediately following the premiere will be a performance from Artimus Pyle and The Artimus Pyle Band.
Pre-sale tickets for the screening will be available for purchase starting Wednesday, March 11. The screening’s general sale tickets will become available on Friday, March 13 at 10 am. For fans unable to see the premiere, the movie is scheduled for a full release on June 30, 2020.
For more information on the movie screening or to purchase tickets, click here. Watch the trailer for Street Survivors below.
6 Comments comments associated with this post
Baba Booey
March 11, 2020 at 8:10 amArtimus already told his story on Howard 10+ years ago, read it here. He neglected to tell a tale of a “misunderstanding” with a 13yo girl ala the “boat house” incident…
Former Lynyrd Skynyrd Drummer Artimus Pyle Visits. 02/12/07. 7:25am
After the break Howard said that they were going to do a complete Grammy review later in the show. He said he had Artimus Pyle coming in next. Artimus was in Lynyrd Skynyrd and Howard thinks that his name is the coolest and is now thinking of changing his own name to Artimus. Artimus came in and told Howard how much he’s missed him. Howard said he’s missed him as well. After that Howard said that dying in an airplane has to be the worst thing to happen to someone other than dying in a fire. That led to them talking about how Artimus’ father died in a plane crash. Howard thought that was pretty wild that two people in the same family were both in plane crashes.
Artimus said that his wife’s father was also killed in an airplane crash. He was also telling Howard that he used to fly planes himself so he knows what that’s like. it took him quite a while before he was able to get back into an airplane after the band’s plane crashed. Howard said he can’t imagine having so many people in your family dying in plane crashes. Artimus said his father’s plane was actually cut in half by another plane that was flying nearby.
Howard asked Artimus about the band’s crash and how that all went down. Artimus said they were just playing Pong and hanging out in the plane. They were in a prop plane that was running out of fuel. The plane was a 1947 model that they bought to use for flying to gigs. The gauges on the planes weren’t very reliable so they would usually check the fuel levels with a stick. He said that they crashed simply because they ran out of gas. It’s cool when that happens in a tour bus, but not in an airplane. Artimus said he was actually in the cockpit jump seat when they were trying to switch the fuel tanks.
Artimus interrupted himself and said that he wanted to say hello to Fred and Artie. Howard told him to please not say hello to Fred again. He got Artimus back on track and asked him about the plane crash and if he blamed the pilots for not checking the fuel before that flight. Artimus said that they only had 60 miles left to go to make it to their destination. He said that when they were coming down they came out of the clouds and they were right on top of the trees at that point. Trees are bad because they don’t move. He said that once they got down into the thick of the trees, it caused them to go into a 45 degree dive. Artimus said he never lost consciousness in that crash.
Howard asked Artimus what everyone was doing during the crash. He said it was very quiet and they were just praying. He said that he and Ronnie Van Zandt gave each other the hippie handshake and a big smile. He said that Ronnie had a crimson pillow in his hand when they were going in for the crash. He said Ronnie once told him that he would never live to the age of 30 and he was right. Artimus started to get upset and said he really misses those guys. Howard told him it was okay if he wanted to stop talking about it.
Howard said he thinks about a scenario like that and can’t imagine what he would do if he was in that situation. Howard wondered if he thought that he would survive it. He said he didn’t have his life flash before his eyes or anything like that. He remembers how he was playing stewardess and telling the guys to conserve as much energy as possible as they were going down. He knew that they had to conserve the energy because they were in survival mode. He went back to the cockpit and got in the navigator seat and that’s when the pilot told him to go back and strap himself in. He asked if they wanted him to take over and land. He knew that they had made a mistake by putting the landing gear down because that kind of helped suck them down into the trees. He believes that they may have been able to get over the trees to the field that was nearby.
Artimus said that he walked through the field that was there and it probably would have been a much softer landing. He was still conscious after the crash so Howard asked him what killed the rest of the guys and how he survived. Artimus said he was wadded up in a little piece of wreckage. There were 26 on board and 6 were killed on impact. He said that the doctors told him about Cassie and Steve dying and he was kind of surprised by Ronnie getting killed. He was told by the doctors that Ronnie got hit in the head and that’s what killed him. It was probably the stuff they had in the plane like some of their equipment.
Howard said it’s kind of weird that the guys in Skynyrd won’t talk to him. Artimus said that he wasn’t kicked out of the band, he left them. The band that was Lynyrd Skynyrd was not the original band. Howard asked him about his career and how that all got started. He said he used to bang on pots and pans when he was a kid and his parents bought him a drum set. He was never really trained to play though.
Artimus talked about some crazy stuff he had to go through when someone accused him of some sex crimes. He said he had to go to psycho therapy for years and they almost wouldn’t let him go because he wasn’t guilty and refused to admit guilt. He said he was a very angry man the last time he was on the show but he isn’t carrying that anger with him anymore. He said that the guys in Lynyrd Skynyrd have been treating him much better now. He said he still loves Billy and Gary from the original band but he was mad at them for a while. He hasn’t spoken to them since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show they did last year.
Howard asked Artimus more about the plane crash and asked him about how he got out and how injured he was. Artimus said the cartilage in his chest was torn so that was painful. He went out and helped out a friend. He saw that the pilot and co-pilot were decapitated and he’s not sure exactly how that happened. He wondered for a long time what point it is when the life is taken. Howard was wondering the same thing and wanted to know how they were decapitated.
Howard said that wasn’t bad enough. Artimus went to find help and ended up getting shot when he went up to a house. Artimus told Howard how he had told everyone that he was going for help because he couldn’t sit there and do stuff. He said it was very dark there and he was up to his neck in dark water. He had a snake slither past him at that point. Then he got to a barb wire fence and saw cows. He didn’t have strength to get over the fence so he had to roll over that. Then he walked up to this house and a 19 year old kid at the farm he walked up to pulled out a gun to protect his family. He said that it took him about 45 minutes to get to this farm house, it was about a mile away. Artimus said he heard the gun go off and he felt something sting him in the shoulder. He looked down and saw the coat he was wearing puff up. That spun him around and that’s when he yelled out ”plane crash.” Artimus said that guy later told the story and said that he shot over his head. He didn’t want to be known as the guy who killed Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Howard asked Artimus when he finally got on an airplane again. Artimus told Howard that he went to live in Jerusalem for a while and learned a lot of stuff over there. He wasn’t sure about his life and went over there to figure it out. He said when he flew over there, it was the first time he had gotten on an airplane since the crash.
Artimus told Howard about how he went through a lot of survivor’s guilt over the years and he didn’t even realize he was going through that. He couldn’t understand why that had happened when they were doing so well as a band.
Howard said that Artimus has a new album coming out called ”Artimus Venomus” so he played a little bit of that. In one song he sings about lawyers and the name of the song is ”Blood Sucking Weasel Attorneys.” Howard listened to some of that and said if he gets married again, he wants to play that song during the wedding.
Irish John called in and asked if there was truth to the rumor that Ronnie was buried in a Neil Young t-shirt. Artimus said that Ronnie’s grave got dug up about 4 or 5 years ago. Judy Van Zandt put out a reward for information about that and it turns out those guys were trying to find out if that rumor was true. Artimus said that Judy could answer the question but she’s been kind of out of touch. Howard asked how far they got in digging up that coffin. Artimus said they got into his coffin because it was an above ground tomb. He said that Ronnie and Neil Young were going to tour together. He said they were going to write a song together too.
Howard took another call from a guy who talked about an uncle he just lost who was a big fan of the band. Gary came in after that and said that Artimus has a great story about Paul McCartney. Artimus said that they were at this huge event where Paul and Linda were sitting up on scaffolding to watch this band perform. He climbed up there to say hello to him and found out that Paul was a big fan. He told Paul what a fan he was and as they were talking, Paul had his legs dangling and ended up trying to get up and hit his head and knocked himself silly. He went limp for a second so he and Linda had grabbed him and held him there. He said Paul looked at him and said ”Us old gunfighters have hard heads don’t we?” and figured he said that because he had woken up seeing his face. Artie said he seems like some kind of Rock and Roll Saint.
Howard took a call from a guy who said he doesn’t even like the band Lynyrd Skynyrd but the story he told was really good. He said he’s a New Yorker and he’s really not into that southern stuff. Howard took some more calls and let a few guys ask Artimus some questions and tell him how great his stories were. Howard gave him some plugs for upcoming gigs and his new CD. You can check out Artimus at ArtimusPyle.com.
Howard was wrapping up with Artimus but Robin wondered how he was doing with money these days. Artimus said he’s doing okay now and has a house down in Nashville. He said he has no complaints. He’s said this stuff isn’t about the money, he loves playing drums and he’ll play until he’s 100 and then switch to stand-up comedy. He said he’s got a wife and a 7 year old son. His wife is 22 years younger than him. Howard wished him luck and a lot of happiness.
Artie told a quick story about Artimus’ security guy Mike. He said that the guy has a story about him and some other cool stories to tell. Howard was running out of time so he wasn’t sure he could bring him in. Artie told the story himself anyway. He said that he had passed out at a gig he did back in 1992 and had forced someone to take him home. They got pulled over and the cop, Mike, was the one who pulled them over. Artie said Mike took the keys from him and left the two of them in the car to sober up and sleep it off. Artie said that they knew he was from MAD TV when they saw him and left him in the car to sleep it off. Artie said he was performing at this comedy club at the time so he believes the story even though he doesn’t remember it.
Artimus said that Artie had taken all of the kid’s clothes to keep warm in that car. That’s what he heard from Mike. Artie said he’s not denying it, he just doesn’t remember it. Artimus went on to say that they did a free gig on the Intrepid battleship in New York City around the time of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he just wanted to say hello to everyone who had come out to that show. He thanked all of those fans for what they’ve done for the band.
Artimus then gave Howard an Epiphone guitar as a gift. Howard tried opening it up but he was having some trouble. Artimus told him to check it out because the case was really nice inside. There was a built in humidifier inside the case. Howard said it was a very beautiful guitar. He played a little bit and sang some of that ”Lawyers Suck” song. He then wrapped up and went to commercial break.
Jukka Kauppinen
March 11, 2020 at 6:08 amOk,sounds fine but tell me why a DC-3 aircraft is on the Poster ??? The airplane involved was a Convair CV 240 twin engined charter airliner!
Completely different aircraft type and age. Sad
for the band but also sad for reputation ofaircraft involved.
Best
Jukka Kauppinen
G. Wallace
March 11, 2020 at 1:39 amArtimus doesn’t have to keep his mouth shut !!! He was there and myself I want to hear his story. I know there is several versions of what happened but I want to hear more, want to hear all I can about the great L. Skynyrd band whether some parts of the story told by different people are true or not. Just might hear the real deal by listening to them all, the real story is in there so why not check out another version. Maybe Artimus has been getting a raw deal all along because he is speaking the truth that some folks don’t want it told. Not taking anything away from Ronnie Van Zant, he was and still is Lynyrd Skynyrd, he is that great as an artist but maybe the Van Zants don’t want some of what Artimus has to say about certain things that happened or may have happened to be heard, who knows for sure. RVZ has been put on a pedestal for his greatness but pretty sure he was not the angel that some folks think he was and Artimus might have some things to say that could possibly tarnish Ronnie’s legacy just a lil bit, maybe that’s why he got the boot from the band. Like I said who knows for sure about anything that really happened (even tho some think they know it all) so let’s hear another side of the story of the greatest southern rock band ever.
Me myself want to hear just about anything to do with this great band, even tho some of the stories are not completely accurate…
Long live Lynyrd Skynyrd may your music and your fantastic story live on forever… 🤘
Skip
July 17, 2020 at 10:56 amAMEN, I’M INTERESTED IN ANYTHING FROM THE GREATEST ROCK BAND EVER!!!
Show 1 Comment
March 10, 2020 at 5:45 pmPretty cheesy, sensationalized and inaccurate to show a plane in flames on the poster. The plane ran out of fuel, hence no fire and relatively high survival rate. Artimus does have a good story tell but new? The true story?
Rocken Robyn
March 11, 2020 at 12:23 amThat’s why he was abandoned from the original band family…after The 10 year cabin fever tour in 1987.He said things that were not nice about The Van zants. because he doesn’t keep his mouth Shut!!! Something’s should not be said !!
Respect for the family of all… Who passes !!!! money is the(ex Drummer motivation)