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Saturday, August 2, 2008
Surf Guitar 101 - Suzy's Bar & Grill, Hermosa Beach, CA

Another day, another two shows. Both at the same location.

Surf Guitar 101 Convention (including swap meet, jam sessions and live performances)

As usual, I started preparation for this show the day before by putting the batteries in their chargers (tape deck, microphones, camera). Part of the process is to sure to delete all photos still on the camera, and delete any live recordings still in the tape deck. In addition to these normal preparations, I went to the Surf Guitar 101 web site to download the notes of who would be playing with who in the jam sessions as well as what bands would be playing complete sets. These notes were a great help in trying to keep track of who was playing on what song.

This event was called the Surf Guitar 101 Convention, because the web site SurfGuitar101.com is the online meeting place for people with with a love for surf music.

According to the web site, the swap meet would start at noon. The live performances would start at 2pm. But, before the live music starts, there were a couple of presentations on surf music documentaries.

http://www.surfdrums.com/ This was the world premier for the "Pounding Surf" DVD, which started out being an instructional DVD on how to play surf drums, and also ending up including another documentary as well on the history of surf music. I did some of the audio recording for the "how to play surf drums" part of this project, so I received a screen credit and a mention in the interior liner notes.

http://www.soundofthesurf.com/ The "Sound Of The Surf", another documentary on surf music did a short presentation on what they are doing. They were also there video taping some of the band performances and doing some interviews. I have done some audio recording for these folks, as well as doing some additional audio recording for them today. While I was not paid to record the audio for the whole day, I did record the audio for the whole day. I normally ask permission to record bands. However, I have asked for (and received) permission to record most (if not all) the musicians in their bands, I felt that asking each individual who played might have delayed the proceedings, and possibly made them more nervous than they might have already been.

People who know me, know that if I am at a live show, I am not far from my audio recording gear. In fact, I like to joke that most of the people at the shows might not recognize me without my recording gear. Since I recently bought a digital camera, I have been taking pictures of all the musicians that I audio record.

I arrived at 11:30am and found the swap meet well under way. There were the usual CDs and vinyl sales of surf music and anything related from a number of bands as well as a few record labels. The swap meet was set up both inside the club as well as outside. At 2:00pm when the music started, the sellers closed up their tables to make space for the audience that came to see and play music. There was a very good sized audience for this show. While the large majority of attendees came from California (including San Francisco, Oceanside, San Diego, Los Angeles, ...) a number of folks came from around the country (Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, Indiana, Iowa, ...).

Musicians arriving without their bands included Paul Johnson (Duo-Tones, Safaris, ...), Eddie Bertrand (Eddie and the Showmen), Norm Cabrera (Ghastly Ones), Duff Paulsen (Torquays), David Arnson (Insect Surfers), Rick Rhoades (Tsunami Blue), Jerry Lewis, (Wedge), Danny Snyder (Tomorrow Men), Ivan Pongracic (Maderia), Marty Tippens (Fabulous Planktones), Ferenc Dobronyi (Pollo Del Mar), Dan Looney (Relix), Burnin' Mike Vernon (3 Balls Of Fire), John Blair (Jon and the Nightriders), Dynotones, ... (and probably a few others I didn't recognize or see).

The lineup and set list included:

2:15pm
Matt Quilter, Reventlos - guitar
Marty Tippens, Fabulous Planktones - guitar
Dusty Watson, Slacktone - drums
Jeff Utterback, Boardwalkers - drums
1) Let There Be Drums
2) Wipeout

http://www.slacktone.com/ Slacktone - 2:40pm
Dave Wronski - guitar
Sam Bolle - bass
Steve Ryan - bass (replaces Sam on #6 + #7)
Dusty Watson - drums
1) playing a short set

3:20pm
Paul Johnson - guitar
Eddie Bertrand - guitar
Bill Swanson, Eliminators - sax
Frank Hughes, Eliminators - bass
Norm Cabrera, Ghastly Ones - drums
1) Mr. Moto
2) Squad Car

3:35pm
Paul Johnson - guitar
Carol Busbey - guitar
Frank Hughes, Eliminators - bass
Duff Paulsen, Torquays - drums
1) Apache

3:40pm
Paul Johnson - guitar
Rick Rhoades, Tsunami Blue - guitar
Dave Pike - bass
Duff Paulsen, Torquays - drums
1) Surf Rider
2) Ramrod

3:50pm
Stormtiger Doug - guitar
Ben Wooza - guitar
Allan Bridgewater, Outer Wave - bass
Dusty Watson, Slacktone - drums
1) Exotic

3:55pm
Stormtiger Doug - guitar
J.R., Outer Wave - guitar
Allan Bridgewater, Outer Wave - bass
Dusty Watson, Slacktone - drums
1) Earthquake At Surf City

http://www.myspace.com/outerwavesurf Outer Wave - 4:05pm
JR - guitar
Jeff (MAC) MacDonald - guitar
Allan Bridgewater - bass
Tony Ruiz - drums
Norm Cabrera, Ghastly Ones replaces Tony-drums for Ghastly Stomp
Steve Ryan, Slacktone replaces Allan- bass for ?????
Dave Wronski, Slacktone replaces J.R.- guitar for ?????
1) playing a short set

http://www.theeliminators.com/ Eliminators - 4:45pm
Joe Kurkowski - guitar
John Benton - guitar
Bill Swanson - saxophone
Frank Hughes - bass
Doug Harlow - drums
Eddie Bertrand - guitar on 4 songs
1) playing a short set

http://www.thesurfkings.com/ Surf Kings - 5:35pm
Tom Stanton - guitar
Pat Raymond - bass
Jim - drums
Jerry Lewis, Wedge - guitar on Surf Beat and Miserlou
1) playing a short set

http://www.chromeoxide.com/board/ Boardwalkers - 6:05pm
Dan Valentie - guitar
Jonpaul Balak - bass
Jeff Utterback - drums
1) playing a short set

http://www.myspace.com/theaquasonics Aquasonics - 6:25pm
Chris - guitar
Maui - guitar
Markus - bass
Mad Dog Mike - drums
1) playing a short set

http://www.secretsamurai.org/ Secret Samurai - 6:40pm
Ryan Ruiz - guitar
Steve Van Wyk - bass
Bill Zuck - drums
Eddie Bertrand - guitar on Dark Eyes
1) playing a short set

7:05pm
Ran, Sand Devils - guitar
Danny Snyder, Tomorrowmen - guitar
Jonpaul Balak, Boardwalkers - bass
Norm Cabrera, Ghastly Ones - drums
1) Margaya

7:10pm
Ivan Pongracic, Maderia - guitar
Danny Snyder, Tomorrow Men - guitar
Dave Pike - bass
Jeff Utterback, Boardwalkers - drums
1) Diamond Head

7:12pm
Danny Snyder, Tomorrow Men - guitar
Ivan Pongracic, Maderia - guitar
Jeff Hansen, master of ceremonies and organizer of event - no band - bass
Jeff Utterback, Boardwalkers - drums
1) Taco Wagon

7:20pm
Marty Tippens, Fabulous Planktones - guitar
Jeff (MAC) MacDonald - guitar
Allan Bridgewater, Outer Wave - bass
Duff Paulsen, Torquays - drums
1) Soul Surfer

7:25p
Dario Gomez, Gomez Amps - guitar
Eddie Keetcher - guitar
Allan Bridgewater, Outer Wave - bass
Duff Paulsen, Torquays - drums
1) Latinia

7:30pm
Abdel - guitar
J.R., Outer Wave - guitar
Allan Bridgewater, Outer Wave - bass
Dave, Maderia - drums
1) Savage

7:35pm
Ference, Pollo Del Mar - guitar
David Arnson, Insect Surfers - guitar
Jonpaul Balak, Boardwalkers - bass
Jeff Utterback, Boardwalkers - drums
1) Our Favorite Martian

A number of people who are not members of any band, but play at home in their spare time, were able to sign up and play some of their favorite tunes, with some of their favorite musicians. In addition, these jam sessions included musicians from bands playing with musicians from other bands.

Although this was scheduled to end at 7:00pm, it ran until 7:30pm.

For those who didn't get enough surf music during the Surf Guitar 101 Convention, there was a live show in the evening from 8:00pm until 1:00am.

8:15pm Detonators, a four piece band, 2 guitars (plenty of reverb), bass and drums. Their regular drummer was unavailable, so man of 1,000 bands and 100 instruments, Marty Tippens was sitting in on drums. Their set was about 1/2 covers and about half original tunes. There was no singing.

http://www.pollodelmar.com/ 9:15pm Pollo Del Mar, a four piece band, 2 guitars (plenty of reverb), bass and drums. One of their guitarists was unavailable for these series of shows, so the guitarist from the Tomorrow Men (as well as Meshuggah Beach Party) was filling in. One of the guitarists from Madeira sat in on one song. The set was mostly originals, with no singing.

http://themadeira.net/ 10:30pm Madeira, a four piece band, 2 guitars (plenty of reverb), bass and drums. Since I had only seen this band once a couple of years ago, I didn't remember if this was their regular lineup or if there had been any personnel changes. The set was mostly originals, with no singing.

http://www.insectsurfers.com/ 11:40pm Insect Surfers, a four piece band, 2 guitars, bass and drums. This band only had 1 regular member playing his regular instrument. The regular bass player was playing guitar, and the on bass and drums, were the bass and drums from the Boardwalkers. And Marty Tippens, man of 1,000 bands and 100 instruments, played drums for about 1/2 of the set. The set was mostly originals, with no singing.

Unlike the convention all the bands got to perform their full sets.

While the evening show was not quite as lively as the daytime show (I fear that some folks had other plans for the evening, or even worse they started to approach burnout), there was still a reasonable size audience. At least half of the audience at the evening show had managed to catch part of all of the Surf Guitar 101 Convention.

Of course I stayed until the end, audio recording everything.

Depending on how you look at it, my day started at about 10:30am when I started loading my recording gear into my car, and didn't end until after 2:00am when I got home, and started downloading the almost 8 hours of recordings (and the 100+ photos) onto my computer to make space for the show at the pier in Huntington Beach where I would be recording six bands.

Who says you can get too much surf music? :-)

Chrome Oxide
have audio recorder will travel

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Last updated by Chrome Oxide on 08/02/2008

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