Saturday I went to the San Jose Goofy Car, er...
I mean Art Car Show because Meshugga Beach Party
, and the Mermen were playing there! Some
other acts were on the bill, but we won't get into
that.

Messhugga Beach Party played one of the best sets
that I've witnessed them play. They were hittin' on
all cylinders, the sound was good & balanced, it was
a beautiful day, and the large crowd was eatin' it up.
Mel's been great for forever, but it's nice to see Danny
get to "strut his stuff" more and more. Stu, Karen
and Steve were excellent as always. A lotta folks in
the crowd had no idea what to make of it, but everybody
seemed to genuinely dig the band. One little 4 year old
girl rocked out in front of the stage for almost the whole
set. The crowd was lovin' the closer "Hava Nagila/Miserlou",
and upon ending the song Mel launched back into it for
another few minutes of inspired pyrotechnics. Of course
the band was right with him. MBP's set alone was worth
the effort, but then came the Mermen...

Jim was a little off for the first couple songs, but once he
got warmed up, look out! It seems like they concentrated
on the mellower stuff a little more than the intense material,
but they had their moments when they were "tearing people's
heads off' . It was hillarious watching people
walking into the plaza out of the Art museum to be hit with
this wall of sound. You'd see smiles, frowns, deer-in-the-
headlights panic; puzzlement, covered ears, and (rarely)
indifference from the people walking out. A wedding party
seemed to appear out of nowhere in the plaza, and for a song ,
waltzed in, and took the "spotlight" with bridesmaids in their
gowns, groomsmen in their tuxes, and the bride and groom
slow dancing at the front of the stage to the sound of "To Be
Naked and French Is Always Hard". Photographers and video
cam operators were all ove the stage and adjacent areas
shooting this event. Women in the audience were crying.
And as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared. The
Mermen never missed a beat. It was like nothing I've ever
seen before: absolutely bizarre and surreal! But somehow,
it didn't seem so out of place at a Mermen show. Anyway
Martyn and Jennifer were rock-solid, and Jim is an absolute
master. They did about half covers("The Good the Bad
and the Ugly", "Latina", "Miserlou" and more) and half originals
("Curve", "Be My Noir", "Ocean Beach" etc... ). It was a great
afternoon: awesome music, great weather, cool people, and
oh yeah.... the cars weren't bad, either.

Bob S.

Bob

Last edited: Sep 18, 2006 20:20:19

I went to the MSB show on Sunday, a Jewish Street Fare in Palo Alto. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the band, having warmed up on Saturday was definitely a tight unit. They stuck to the traditional songs, with the addition of Exodus (based on the Halibuts arrangement) and Jezebel. While the crowd was enthusiastic at the Street Fare, it sounds like crowd at the Art Car event was more accepting. Perhaps it had something to do with not wearing the Rabbi outfits on Sunday? Of course the band would have melted in the the black jackets and beards...
-fd

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first off, thanks for the kudos, unnecessary but appreciated just the same.

Saturday was indeed a display of our commitment to Mel's vision (blurred as it was due to the sweat in his eyes) - Steve nearly had a heat stroke, and Stuart left a puddle underneath his drum kit, ( I _ think _it was perspiration). It was a decent crowd at the show, we sold quite a bit of merch. #1 surf fan RobbieReverb was there cheering us on.

As for Sunday, there's a funny paradox about Jews. They like Jewish, but not _ too _ Jewish. Yeah, they were afraid we may offend someone, so they asked us to wear............hawaiin shirts!. So since we were asked, we should be immune to the previous threads on the subject. In reality, the shirts are WAY more comfortable on stage than the Rabbi outfits.

Another tip, for you neophyte bands out there, don't close out a festival. You may be the 'headliner' but most people have gone home. Try to get the middle of the day. We had a OK crowd, but they were tired from the warm day and mostly taking advantage of the seating.

Another note. I know we surf bands typically shun sound men and miked amps and such, but what a difference it made for us to hear ourselves clearly in the monitor. It was like night and day compared to Saturdays sound, at least on stage.

Over and Out,

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF