Bob, Thanks for the wonderful memories. It went by too fast for me. GTS, Berzerkers and Insects were all completely ON!!!!! Mermen rode the show off into the sunset.
About the standing O- it completely blew me away. I've never experienced that kind of love before, and didn't know how to react. I am humbled and honored.

RobbieReverb wrote:

Words can't possibly describe this incredible event. Take away the music, and it was still worthwhile, seeing so many old friends and members of the NorCal (and beyond) surf community. Phil Dirt came down from Felton for the entire event. Cousin Mary and the KFJC crew did a fabulous job, for both those in attendance, and for those listening over the airwaves, and/or watching the video cast. Appreciation Hall, on the Foothill College campus, is a wonderful venue. The sound in the room was really good. Introductions and closings for the bands often had reminiscences by the bands, and by Phil Dirt, and many great stories were told. There was a lot of love in the room on Saturday. I can't remember when I last saw so many smiling faces, for well over 5 hours.

Mar Vista's finest, the Glasgow Tiki Shakers, made the trek from SoCal, and started the show off with a bang. From the opener, "Velvet Surf" throughout their entire varied set of surf & beyond, they nailed it! Great playing, with wonderful compositions & arrangements, they played a 45 minute set, absolutely stellar from start to finish. I overheard the uninitiated saying how blown-away they were by the band. The band has been a particular favorite of mine, since I first heard them. Here's hoping that there will be more frequent NorCal gigs, for the Glasgow Tiki Shakers, in the future.

The Berzerkers came out and smoked, from start to finish. Great original songs, played with power, and finesse, when called for. They were all smiles, and having a blast up there, and it translated through the music, and into the crowd. I particularly liked the clever, and screamin', Led Zeppelin segment they worked into the middle of one of their songs.They peeled-the-paint-off-the-(newly-painted) walls from start to finish. Seriously great band that I hope will gig more often.

Next up, the inimitable Insect Surfers blew the doors down. Their blend of truly great compositions, fiery playing, intense energy, and artistic vision translated into a terrific set. Eric Penna, on 2nd guitar, never disappoints, and he makes it look so easy. Of course, the core of the band, David, Jeanpaul, and Chris, are always tremendous. A highlight, for me, was a rarely played, "Mig Alley", a Phil Dirt favorite. The Insects played a nice blend of old and new material. For me, "Vaquita" has turned into a personal favorite, and gets better and better, every time I hear it. All hail the mighty Insect Surfers!

For a lot of us, the reunion of Pollo Del Mar, was a REALLY REALLY big deal! With all due respect for the other 4 fabulous bands, this was the highlight for me. Something about the chemistry of Ferenc, Jono, Jeremy, and Jeff just can't be beat. And their more progressive, art-rock slant towards surf, is totally unique, and, to my ears, is unparalleled. Ferenc had his game-face on for the whole set: no smiles, intense and utterly focused, like I've rarely seen. The other three were all smiles, from start to finish. PDM played a fantastic set from the opener, "Teleport", through so many classic tunes, and closing with "Flash of Green". I had goosebumps when they played their transcendent cover of the Richie Podolor/ Ed Cobb/ Chocolate Watchband psychedelic gem, ""Dark side of the Mushroom". In my opinion, their version even surpasses the incredible original by the Watchband, which is no mean feat! The standing ovation at the end of the set was touching, and well deserved. After much coaxing (they didn't want to play an encore, out of respect for the Mermen, who were up next), they wrapped it up with "Moon Over Marin". Wow!!! I hope that "life" stays enough out-of-the-way enough for Pollo Del Mar to gig more frequently, A lot of people, myself included, really love this band.

The Mermen wrapped up the show. Jim set up his massive rig, considerably more quickly than I would have anticipated. The band was tight, and most of their 1-1/2+ set was focused on the newer material from the last three albums. Jim, Jennifer, and Martyn were in fine form, throughout. What is the world coming to?... These days, the Mermen are working off of some strange sheet of paper, apparently called a setlist. They played a long version of "Pull of the Moon" dedicated to Phil Dirt, and closed with "Look Over Yonder" (I think). The Mermen are my favorite band, What can I say? They have an unparalleled artistic vision, great compositions & arrangements, unreal power & feeling, and an indefinable energy. Long live the Mermen!!!

Many thanks to KFJC for staging the event, and for 60 years of greatness; to the bands who volunteered their time and artistry: and to the many fans who attended and/ or listened over the radio waves / watched on the internet.

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Arthur C. Clarke!

bigtikidude wrote:

Rick

I am still walking on air because of this show. I have heard raves from the musicians themselves, the audience, people who watched on the net and those who were listening on FM. Comments vary from (to paraphrase) "I have loved these bands for a long time and how great to see Phil Dirt" to "I never heard of surf music before, but I really liked it." Very gratifying and so many people to thank for making this work.

Just a reminder that the "Surfin' at 60" live broadcast will be available
until Sat, Nov 9, 2019, on the www.KFJC.org website. You can also download the show (in 1 hour chunks) so you can listen at your leisure. You could skip the 4pm segment unless you are a completist and wanted Cousin Mary's introductory statements. Besides the sets by the bands, you get the in-between 'stuff', some of the filler music is worth the memory (besides,the files are saved as MP3, so they don't take up much space).Archives are up for two weeks then 'lost into the ether'. So you still have a couple of days.
Hint: go to www.kfjc.org
look to the upper right, click on "listen"
look to the upper left, look under "sources for sound", click on "archives"
scroll down to "Sat, Oct 26, 2019", it's the live remote. 4pm-11pm, tho
as I said, you could skip the 4pm.
Place cursor over time, right mouse click, "Save Target As..."
While you are on the KFJC site, you might want to consider making a donation to the radio station for bringing 5 bands together and making
the performances available to the www. Some numbers to think about:
60-number of years KFJC has been broadcasting
35-number of years that KFJC has had a program dedicated to surf music
20-suggested donation (in dollars) to attend the event
6.5-length (in hours) of the event (or multiply by 2)
or if you can afford it, the cost of your monthly interweb service charge
or 0.1% of your annual salary
just sayin'...…….
mattK

Great shows and music.
Would the bands be so kind to publish here the set lists
of the tunes they played.
I remember very well being at the concert of Jon & The Nighriders
September 19th, 1998 in Antwerp (Belgium).
After the show John handed out the track list to me.
Look at the encore: the songs which were planned were not played,
I noted handwritten the tracks they actually played that night when
I watched at home the video I had filmed.
Ruediger

Last edited: Nov 08, 2019 06:52:09

J have writtern an email to David Arnson whom I know since 1993
and who I could meet personally in 2013 in Berlin when he was on
tour with the Insect Surfers.
He was so kind to send to me the list of tracks of his perfomance.
Hope the other groupsd will also publish it here, as I have no contact
to them and don´t know any of their members personally!
Ruediger

Hello, Ruediger,
Great to hear from you..
This is our KFJC set list-

DELMARVA
TETHYS
RED MESA
VAQUITA
BLACK SEA
POLARIS
ICEBERG LANTERN
PINTO PACER
PSYCHOTRONIC
WAVELENGTH
BAY OF BENGAL
MIG ALLEY

The original was to be
DELMARVA
TETHYS
RED MESA
VAQUITA
BLACK SEA
POLARIS
ICEBERG LANTERN
PINTO PACER
PSYCHOTRONIC
DIAMONDBACK
WAVELENGTH
BAY OF BENGAL
BOUZOUKI
MIG ALLEY
but i am pretty sure that we cut out
DIAMONDBACK and BOUZOUKI because we were running out of time....
( sorry i don't exactly remember, it was 3 weeks ago, but I am pretty sure that the top list is correct !)
cheers,
David Arnson