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SurfGuitar101 Forums » The Shallow End »

Permalink The Shallow End: Dedicated to Rip & Spanky

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The Tiki Lounge forum has been renamed to "The Shallow End" in honor of the late, great Rip Thrillby of The Penetrators.

Please join me in carrying on Rip's great fun loving spirit as we hang out together in this new forum. Grab a fruity drink and hop in, the water is fine.

A big thank-you goes to Spanky Twangler. And a special thanks goes to Wannes who suggested this idea.

Update: 31, August, 2009. We have re-dedicated this forum to both Rip Thrillby and his brother Spanky Twangler, who recently passed away after battling cancer.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." - Isaac Newton

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Last edited: Aug 31, 2009 18:46:27

To Rip!

Ferenc

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

Thanks Brian. I feel really bad about only finding out about Rip's death about a year ago no. Ivan got me into those guys So thank you everybody

What a wonderful idea. Very glad to see this happen.

I think about the Ripster every day. I have his picture up on my office wall beside Sam Peckinpah, Johnny Ramone, Sergio Leone, and Russ Meyer -- all of 'em personal heroes of mine.

GREGORY NICOLL, Southern Surf Syndicate Agent # 44

I would like to suggest that if anybody has old posts or private letters from Rip showing off his wisdom and wit, they could post them here. Please!
Ferenc

Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio

I never had a great deal of interaction with Rip. But I was totally blown away by the music of The Penetrators and the whole S3 Syndicate mythos that he and the guys created. I thought his artwork and writing were really something special. I remember reading his crazy stories and just busting a gut laughing so hard. The Taco Bell football helmet incident comes to mind.

And let's not forget his crazy after action reports on the now infamous Surfin' Safari tour of '97. That tour went bad very quickly, apparently, and instead of writing about that and focusing on the negative, Rip began making up stuff of incredible comic proportions. I distinctly remember him writing some fantasy that Nokie Edwards joined some band on stage and "in a bold new move for Nokie" he actually moved on stage.

I remember back in the day when I was new to the scene. I had posted a few things before, but hadn't made too many friends at this time. I posted a show report to Reverborama, and was worried that maybe I was gushing too much because I was a newbie. Well the next day Rip commented on my posting, and at the very end he said "Good job Agent Neal." Man, I cannot tell you how good that made me feel, as silly as that sounds. Rip was such a great community builder, and he made me feel welcome. (It wasn't until much later that I became a real field agent...thanks Spanky :D)

BN - S3 Field Agent #202

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

BTW, I would have posted a link to those Surfin' Safari tour diaries, but I can't seem to find the link...I thought it was on Cat & Charlies pages, but I their site seems to be down for the moment...

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

I met Rip once for about two minutes. I was hanging out with Big Ray (Chris) from The Futuras at The Echo Lounge a few years ago waiting for Los Straitjackets to go on. He grabs me and says, "C'mon, you gotta meet Scott." I had no idea who he was when I met him because I'd never heard anyone refer to him by his actual name, just "Rip." So we walk up to this guy that's holding some unidentified liquor drink, leaning against the wall at the back of the lounge. Chris says, "Hey man, this is Richard. He's got War of The Surf Guitars," referring to the Golly Gee/Double Crown comp that came out around that time. Rip looked up at him, kinda arched his lip and said, "I don't" and kept drinking his drink. I thought it was pretty funny, though I still didn't know who he was until Chris explained it to me. Unfortunately I never got the chance to meet him again to talk about The Penetrators.

The Mystery Men?
El Capitan and The Reluctant Sadists
SSS Agent #31

I wish I could find the old post I did on any of the yahoo groups.
I'll keep this short.

I was at a Dynotones/DekeDickerson show at the Doll Hut here in Anaheim. And as I was setting out to leave after the show. I hear some
guy yell out "Bigtikidude!!" I turned around and a guy waved me over towards him. It was Rip and he was here in So. Cal. with a Lady that they were doin' research on Drive ins with.
He asked me to sit and chat for a bit. He said anyone that was such
a big fan of surf as me , he wanted to get to know and get my take on the whole scene and stuff like that.
I'm not a very star struck type of person. I have met many of the
60s surf guys, and know tons of the moderen surf bands. And I appreciate meeting and knowing them all. But I treat them as people
that are cool, and play music I like, not stars or idols of mine.
But shortly after I met Rip, I had heard that he had passed away.
I was truely moved and saddend by this. As meeting him was a very cool thing, and I was extremly humbled by him, respecting me so much
for being a super surf fan.
Cheers to Rip, in the big bar in the sky.
Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

First I'd like to thank Brian and those who suggested keeping Rip's memory alive in a forum like this. It hit the web almost 3 years to the day of the last Penetrators gig Rip played. I don't know that that means anything significant - but maybe...

With folks talking about the original "Shallow Ends," I dug this up and thought I'd post it for the uninitiated to get a taste. This pretty well encapsulates what they were all about - and of course Rip.

Enjoy...
Spanky

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: The Shallow End
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 16:13:30 -0500
From: Rip thrillby@p...
Reply-To: thrillby@p...
To: Shallow End list

Wow. Last week's lark of an email detailing my boredom-developed
thoughts elicited such positive response (except from one Cowabunga
subscriber who emailed me to tell me I was "trying too hard to
appear hip" -- it was worth writing it just to get his email) I've
decided what the hell, why not do it on a weekly basis. Apologies to
the inconvenienced. Everyone else, hope it gives fodder for
conversations over the weekend if you don't have anything else to
talk about. Forward it to anyone you want, or tell me if you want
off the list.

But anyway, welcome to The Shallow End -- dive on in.

There is one group of people that it's still perfectly okay to
discriminate against: stupid people. Stupid people are denied
employment and opportunities of all sorts every day, just for being
stupid. It begs the question: when will stupid people organize and
protest? Imagine thousands of self-proclaimed, out-of-the-closet
morons marching on the Capitol, brandishing misspelled signs
and screaming slogans full of faulty logic, demanding their rights
as memburs of sesyiety.

One of the hallmarks which separates great work from the mediocre is
Attention To Detail. Take, for instance, The Road Runner & Coyote
cartoons. In your mind's eye (you've seen this happen at LEAST a
hundred times before), watch the way Wile E. Coyote falls off the
cliff -- face down, limbs spread, growing smaller and smaller,
drifting a little to the left, then a little to the right as the
whistling sound-effect diminishes. Then, he disappears for a full
second, with no sound. Then, a distant sound effect that sounds like
a cross between a SLAP! and a POOF! as we see a puff of dust rise
when he hits the desert floor. THAT is attention to detail. The
cartoon still would have been funny without that three or four
seconds, but that just takes it over the top. How about another
desert-themed work -- the scenes in "Raising Arizona" when the
Snopes brothers ask Ed about breast feeding as they eat cereal, or
when H.I. says Ed's insides were "a rocky place" where his "seed
could find no purchase," as the camera shows him spraying a garden
hose over the dirt? Attention to detail.

I've noticed when I get nostalgic about different periods from my
past, I only remember the good stuff. And I'm not talking about
major events -- just everyday stuff. It gives me pause to consider
what aspects of my life right now I'll be nostalgic about years down
the road, and to try to appreciate them more in the present. You
should, too.

Chuck Yeager is a badass.

The right to bear arms, despite what the anti-gun lobby will tell
you, isn't based upon an outmoded model of society in which everyone
hunted for their food. It was put in the Constitution because the
framers knew that a government which knew the citizenry was armed to
the teeth would think twice about what it did with its power, power
which is granted to them as a necessary evil by those same well-
armed citizens. And how is government different than any other social
institution? Well, it can take things from you -- possessions,
freedom and your very life -- by FORCE if it wants. No other
institution can do that, and the framers understood this very well.

Why I don't have cable TV: every minute you spend in front of the TV
is a minute lost forever in which you could have done something
productive. That's not a particularly stunning insight, but it's a
good one to remind yourself of now and again.

Thanks to Spanky, I'm now hooked on Big Ed's Super Saucer chocolate-
chip cookie ice cream sandwiches, which I really don't need. I've
seen Spanky eat a whole bag of nacho-flavored Doritos while dipping
them in a jar of peanut butter -- no danger of me picking up that
habit, I'm glad to say.

I do enjoy looking at naked women, but strip joints have to be one
of the most depressing places on earth when you notice all the
lonely but prosperous-looking middle-aged fat guys who look like the
boss on "News Radio," many wearing wedding bands, leering and
lusting at women they could never get without money. Neither casinos
nor strip joints bring out the best in the human spirit.

Speaking of "News Radio"... man, is Phil Hartman severely missed.
His death is yet another reason to watch less TV.

I'm not an actor, but I'm convinced what acting really is is just
deciding which words in a sentence get the emphasis. Take, for
instance, this conversation-opener which you might find useful in
restaurants. Say this line out loud:

How can you eat that shit?

Okay, now say each of the following variations out loud, and behold
the subtle nuances created by emphasizing one particular word or
another:

How can you EAT that shit?

How can you eat that SHIT?

How CAN you eat that shit?

How can you eat THAT shit?

And for you aspiring DeNiros:

HOW can you EAT that shit?

How... can you... eat... that SHIT?

How can YOU... eat THAT... shit?

See? It's all in the emphasis. Remember to thank me in your Oscar
acceptance speech.

I think one reason The Andy Griffith Show seems so natural is
because of the way they filmed the scenes in Andy's office. In any
scene, you'll see the office from every side of the desk and every
angle, so that it doesn't seem like a set, or that there could be a
camera crew there. This was quite innovative for its time. Still is,
really.

Speaking of 60s television, while talking with a buddy last weekend,
he pointed out that Robby Douglas' band on "My Three Sons" was named
The Griefs. We both agreed that's a damn cool name.

When I see hipsters wearing nose rings, the first image that always
comes to my mind is one of livestock -- pigs and cows, both
literally and metaphorically -- then I wonder if they pick their
noses with the rings in, or do they wait until night and pick a
day's worth of boogers at once? Or do they take booger breaks
throughout the day? I doubt this is the imagery nose ring-wearers
intend to project.

Am I really expected to believe that Michael Jordan would wait until
Sundays to take advantage of MCI's 5¢ a minute rate to keep up
with his "Space Jam buddies"? And no, the fact that he would call
cartoon characters is not the part that stretches my credulity.

Rip

The Shallow End
©1999 Southern Surf Syndicate Productions
http://www.penetrators.com

spanky,

thanks so much for posting that - I 'm gonna save it for tonight, poor myself a huge black label, dig up locked and loaded and enjoy!

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

That is a very funny man.

Hey all... I've got a couple "Shallow End" entries from back in the day on Reverborama saved in word files on my computer. I'm sure I could dig some up for any interested.

~B~

I'd be very happy to run those Shallow End "columns" as a weekly or monthly feature on the front page. That way they would all get archived into the topics area.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Cool, Brian. I'll check which ones I have and don't have, and I'll shoot some over to you soon as I can.

~B~

What's the follow up on this Bill, Brian??

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

I've been away from the board for a while so I just caught the Rip's maiden voyage of The Shallow End...he's pretty much right about everything.

The Mystery Men?
El Capitan and The Reluctant Sadists
SSS Agent #31

Jeff, its my understanding the Penetrators are going to make those Shallow Ends available sometime soon, so I'm not sure if Spanky wants me to post them here yet. I don't have them all anyway. I think its probably a good idea to wait until after the Penetrators do their thing.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Agreed

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

According to my records, the 3rd anniversary of Rip's passing was yesterday. It was May 11th, 2003 I believe.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

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