The Nebulas: Blistering!! Better than the last time I saw them and they kicked butt then.

Satan's Pilgrims: .

What else can I say?
Incredible show, and great to finally meet Carol, Ted and see so many other familiar faces in the crowd.

-Paul

Paul
Atomic Mosquitos
Bug music for bug people is here!
Killers from Space

Hey all,
I just flew back last night and boy are my arms tired (from drumming, I would never use such a bad joke). Anyway, I'm fairly sure I was the only SG101er in attendance at the Memphis show with Impala on Friday night, so I'll have to stand in as the lone reviewer.
The rest of the band flew into to Memphis late Thursday night, and because of delays, did not make it back to Graceland Jr. (my house) until about 1 am. We broke out the PBR and bar-b-q sandwich fixin's that I had been ordered to have ready by the arriving Pilgrims. After our late night snack and catching up with the lovely Samantha (my gorgeous spouse), we all hit the hay.
Next day, we got all of our stuff together, including some Fenders I managed to borrow (not easy here in PeaveyLand), and headed out with Samantha and my sons, aged 2 and 5, tagging along. We let them skip pre-school that day, because they LOOOOOVE the Pilgrims. It's like having 4 weird uncles. They're especially intrigued by Dave (and who isn't?)
First things first, the Pilgrims were demanding more pig meat and lots of it, so I took them to Leonard's Bar-B-Q Buffet. After a gutbusting lunch, we whad planned to go to the Stax museum of American Soul Music, but were under a time crunch and decided to hit the much quicker and closer Sun Studio tour. That morning, we had a write up in the Commercial Appeal (newspaper) see here:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/music/article/0,1426,MCA_505_4565020,00.html
and check out the columnists hair!
So, because of the write up (I think), we were recognized by the nice folks at Sun and let in at no charge.
Our next stop was the space where the "event" was to be held later that evening, where we loaded in, and ran through a couple of numbers. The other Pilgrims had to get used to borrowed equipment, which included 2 Super Deluxe Reverbs and a Fender Dual Professional (?) for the guitars and an Ampeg Flip-top for the the bass, while I had no problem with the vintage Ludwig kit I was to play, since I've been playing on borrowed kits for the past 2 years . My kids joined us for souncheck on kids size electric guitar and plastic trumpet.
We finished just in time to run a half a block down the street to do an interview on WEVL, the community radio station. We were very impressed with how well-versed the dj was in SP and surf music (and PacNW rock instrumentals), especially since there is no weekly surf show, just the occasional song here and there during the freeform rock shows. We were on for about a 1/2 hour as he interviewed us and played Super Stock, The Godfather, Haunted House of Rock, and The Outsider on the air.
We got back to the show and had just enought time to change and slam a few beers before showtime at 8 pm sharp. The room was an old storefront/warehouse in the old part of downtown, so it had high ceilings, brick walls and wood floors. I think it sounded pretty killer, really live sounding-I'd love to record in there. We had a really good time playing to about 100 or so folks that made it and then enjoyed the seemingly unending supply of top shelf liquor, imported beer, and catered goodies that was provided in the backstage for the bands and volunteers for the benefit. There were also 3 or 4 die-hard Memphis Pilgrim fans that had seen all of our Memphis appearances in the 90s. They whooped it up and yelled out requests, and luckily, we were able to accomodate them.
Impala played next and a few more people made it through the doors for their set. You could hear the sax really well and they had added a conga player since the last time I saw them. They also played more surf than usual (they've developed into more of a lounge/stripper/r&b instrumental band over the years). There was a little bit of "battle of the bands" tension there, so maybe they felt like they had to show us that they could still do it if they wanted to. They sounded great and played a long set, which finally got some people dancing at the end (not an easy feat in Memphis). We had a great time hanging out with Impala over the course of the night. I especially enjoyed watching most of the 20-somethings from the department that I manage at work watching me play the drums in white jeans and a vampire cape. They kind of look at me differently now, and I'm not sure they'll ever follow any of my directives ever again.
I'll try to get my Asbury Park report together soon. All I can say for now is what a beautifully decaying ####hole. I loved it and we had a blast!
Ted Pilgrim

http://www.satanspilgrims.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Satans-Pilgrims/8210228553
https://satanspilgrims.bandcamp.com/
http://www.surfyindustries.com

Yeah...awesome Ted...thanks!

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

Well, I guess I'm left to do the Asbury Park report as well, as I don't think there were many SG101ers in attendance, at least not as many as the West Coast shows, so here goes:

THE PILGRIMAGE
I got to meet Carol (mom_surfing) WHO DROVE ALL THE WAY FROM NC(!) and skeeter, oh and Unsteady Freddie of course, but I'm not sure there if there were any other SG101ers. However, there were TONS of familiar faces from our years of playing the East Coast in the 90s. It's amazing how many faces I remembered. They included, (and I"m sure i'm forgetting some here, but I'm trying) members of the Vipers (who always played with us in Philly), Mike Rosado and Oceana from the 9th Wave who drove down from CT, and I met a Clam from Boston (can't remember his name, sorry). Our freaky superfans from DC, Bill and Kris were there and recounted every show they had seen, going back to the first time they discovered us at SXSW in 1993 playing on the same afternoon as the Mermen, El Vez, and Huevos Rancheros, all the way up to the last time we played in DC in 1999. This was their 8th SP show! It's incredible the memories these folks have. I don't remember much of it at all!
I worked the merch table for much of the night and was amazed how 9 out of 10 people had traveled some distance for the show. Lots of folks from Philly, Baltimore, DC, Pittsburgh(!), NYC of course, and New England. While the attendance topped out at about 165 people, they were an enthusiastic crowd that had come a long way, so we felt extremely honored to be there.

ASBURY PARK
Meanwhile, I could write a book on Asbury Park and Asbury Lanes, but I'll try to keep it brief. In short, both of my sisters, who had driven down from Boston, and John's better half, who had flown in earlier from Portland called us before we arrived, completely freaked out. They thought they were in the Twilight Zone and would never escape. The boardwalk/beach area of Asbury Park is TRASHED. Now, it's trashy too, there's lots of trashy beach areas around, but this place is deserted, decayed, and depleted. It's like people just locked up one day and walked away. I found a pizza place where the chairs were up on the tables, the cash register, glass cases, and coke machine were still untouched, and you could see cans of tomato sauce and other foodstuffs still on the shelves. A time capsule from probably at least 20 years ago. The boardwalk and beachfront area was eerily beautiful in its ugliness. What better place for Satan's Pilgrims to play?

ASBURY LANES
The outside of the Asbury Lanes matched the rest of the area in its state of decay, but the inside was something entirely different. They've done a fantastic job in decorating it and the setup with the stage in the middle of the lanes is brilliant. We'd played bowling alleys before, but it was always in the "lobby" area in front of the lanes, so if people were bowling, they couldn't watch the band at the same time. The staff took great care of us from meals, to the hotel, to rides to the airport. AND, as Unsteady Freddie mentioned, they get it. They pretty much stick to a garage/surf/rockabilly/punk rock genre, so they all know and appreciate what the bands are doing. The sound guy was excellent and the room itself had a great sound with all that wood and the occasional strike in the background. They have a movie screen in back of the stage, as was mentioned, and they really put a lot of effort into the whole thing. John's girlfriend said the Funhouse in Seattle could learn a thing or two from them.

THE NEBULAS
The Nebulas, what can I say? They had put on great shows on the West Coast, but they really did it up on Saturday night. They were ON FIRE!!!!! They had their own equipment, playing a place they'd played before and they just laid it out. I was selling merch for both bands and they were selling the new cd like hotcakes, Mike's leads were so insanely tight and powerful, that I had trouble making change. I think he might have had 3 Red Bulls instead of his usual 2. He was a machine! It was definitely the hardest hitting I'd seen TFJ as well, while Eric and Dan kept up the power while anchoring the whole thing down. Glorious. In the words of Emiril, they had really "kicked it up a notch" and the crowd was right there with them. Von Schlieffen Plan is my new favorite song, that end section will be on repeat in my head from now on.

GOOD TIMES
Needless to say, this was a special night up there with playing in Portland, or maybe even surpassing it. While we had over 430 people pay at Doug Fir, selling the place out, we have come to expect a strong showing of support from our hometown crowd, who has been so good to us for almost 15 years now. But to fly across the country to a freaky place we'd never played before and to have all the friends old and new appear out of nowhere was really something else. We had a great time playing and over the course of the whole evening (and into the next morning, thanks to the full bar in room 838 and hand crafted beers courtesy of Dick Messick).
After breakfast, John and his lady went up to NYC for a second honeymoon, while the rest of us checked out of the hotel and then headed back to the Lanes to stow our guitars, tanks, and luggage until our ride came to take us to the airport. We walked around the boardwalk and took pictures until the rain drove us back inside, where we were treated to bowling, pizza, and beer. Jenn and Layney were the hostesses with the mostesses, and as luck would have it, the Lanes would usually be closed on a Sunday afternnon, but they were there because it was being rented for a photo shoot by a pinup photographer!
Life is good sometimes for a Pilgrim.
Thanks to everyone who made the trek to the bizarro world of Asbury Park, we hope you had at least a fraction of the good time that we had. Special thanks to the Nebulas who really made it happen and who we wish were around in the 90s, so we could have played together back then.
Also, thanks for all the shout outs and well-wishes from SG101, we saw them, really appreciated it.
Oh yeah, here's a link to the write up in the regional rag writeup:
http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060325/FEATURES01/603250335/1022/NEWS06
All for now,
Ted Pilgrim

http://www.satanspilgrims.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Satans-Pilgrims/8210228553
https://satanspilgrims.bandcamp.com/
http://www.surfyindustries.com

Good times were had by all - I had so much fun it still hurts....alot. All drunken injuries aside, The Nebulas had a tremendous couple of weeks playing with the Pilgrims - great shows out west and capping it off at our home away from home...Asbury Lanes. I remember getting close to the club wondering what The Pilgrims must have thought as they drove through Asbury Park. They hooked us up with a gig at probably one of thee best venues in the country - The Doug Fir - and we make them drive past the Empress pickle palace on the way to gay bowling night at the Lanes, underneath the towering, rusted out skeleton of real estate speculation gone bad. At least we all now know what goes on inside the Lanes and the quality of people that manage the bar and create the scene in which authentic music can thrive.

It was great seeing so many people make such long trips from all over - New England, the mid-atlantic and everywhere in between..and I'm sure for the 165 people that showed up, there are probably 2 or 3 times that many kicking themselves right now for not making it. But for those that were there, it will be a night to remember...even if the memories take a few days to surface. I remember drinking, hearing the DJ play the original version of "Let's Go to the Beach" by Larry & The Loafers, then not drinking because I was wearing a skull mask, then taking the mask off and asking for a beer -which somehow appeared without me noticing (it was probably Dick that brought it, so thanks), continuing our set which I seem to remember feeling good about, drinking some more because I had no more performance obligations, really enjoying the Pilgrims and thinking they sounded great on our equipment (especially the snare drum) - noticing that they inserted "Plymouth Rock" into the first part of the set, which I don't think they played the previous week, grooving on the Pilgrims some more......then waking up in my clothes the enxt morning (again) with a sore knee and a bloody finger (can't be a good thing, especially after gay bowling night), then changing and going to Frank's diner for scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, white toast and a $3.95 glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. Then seeing Ted, Scott and Robert in the restaurant on the way out.

tfj

Darn I wish I caught this tour, it was right before my entré into the surf music world. Great read, worth revisiting.

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

Ha! Too funny, Danny!
I was just reading this thread the other day--writhing and wincing in disgust for not having caught any of those historic shows!!!!

Insect Surfers
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