Friday, January 18th, 2008
Huntington Beach - 9pm

HBKahuna put on his second annual surf jam - last year it was in his garage, this year he rented a studio across town for 3 hours. He sent out lots of invitations, and got quite a response!

In no particular order, here is who came:

John Benton, Joe Kurkowski, and Frank Hughes from The Eliminators
Eddie Bertrand of Eddie and the Showmen
Tim Fitzpatrick of The Lively Ones and the Dynotones
Tony, and Mac from OuterWave
Tom and Jay from the Neptunes
Jim Frias from The Nocturnes
Chris, Maui and Markus from the Aquasonics

and of course, HBKahuna was there too.

Here's some photos:

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Of course, it goes without saying that HBKahuna deserves all the credit for putting in the effort of organizing this -

What a thrill it was to play with all of these great guys! I've met several of them in past trips to CA, and it was great talking to everyone again. I got to spend a little more time talking to Tim Fitzpatrick, Tom and Jay before the jam started - Same with Tony and Mac. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Eddie Bertrand - both before and after the jam, and I'll post some of that elsewhere.

My impressions of the evening were:

John Benton and I are friends from our last few trips there, and it's always great to see and hear him play - he may be the best rhythm guitar player I know.

Joe Kurkowski is a monster player - much more impressive even than his work on cd - tone like crazy!

Frank Hughes plays a great surf bass - even if he is a smart-ass

Watching Tim Fitzpatrick play was awesome - he has his own way of playing - we played Surf Rider, and I mostly just watched him play the drums.

Tony loves to play drums - he had a big grin on his face - sorry no one else knew "The Savage" Tony! At least we tried. maybe next year....

Mac played a great "Exotic"  and some cool rhythm too.

Tom killed everyone with his version of "Jack The Ripper" he claims he didn't turn Joe's amp up, but don't believe him! It sounded awesome! Tom throws himself into every song he plays. It was about the only true jam of the night - it went on for 10 minutes - Tom and Eddie traded guitar licks, and Jim Frias played some ultra cool sax solos. Jim Frias is one of the coolest cats I've ever met - so laid back and mellow.

Eddie Bertrand still plays great! I can tell he had a good time - I had to turn away while I was playing, because I kept losing track of what I was doing if I watched him - I spent most of the night just trying to hold on, and at least look like I knew what I was playing.

One of the most memorable nights of my life! it exceeded my expectations in every way.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Sonichris
Tom killed everyone with his version of "Jack The Ripper" he claims he didn't turn Joe's amp up, but don't believe him!

I swear, I did not touch a knob! oh man... if I only had photographic proof...

Let's thank Leo Fender for a design with such headroom!!!!

Really I had no Idea, it was blowing under me, and the bass was right there. I had a great mix, Eddie was pointed right at my side of the room.

Sorry guys!

tom

THe NEpTuNeS

I'll try to post more stories as I can get them written down. Tom, Jay, and I stood in the hall with Tim Fitzpatrick, and talked to him. He told us about learning drums in Junior High band, and playing with the Surfmen, and then the Lively Ones until 1964. He put his drums away until 2000, then got them out and started to play again to the old Lively Ones tracks. cool story.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Everything Chris is saying here is so true. It was a night to remember for me as well.
Playing with so many surf music legends was pricless. Just playing with people that are into the music is rare here in Colorado but I get to play with one of the best Surf Guitar players around on a regular basis.
Chris not only can play but he knows everything about Surf music.
A small bit of his guitar genius has rubbed off on me an and as time goes on I can only get better playing with this man. Humble as he may be, (I know he is going to holler at me for writing this), He is one of the best and I am honored to be in the same band as him.
Anyway, Thanks to all who made our trip to So Cal so good and TONS of thanks to HBkahuna for his and his wifes hospitality. Everyone is so friendly! Cannot wait to return in August!

Great pics there. 'I got my picture taken with Tim Fitzpatrick.'

The Squad Car vid is super cool. That siren makes the coolest noise. Makes me want to run for the hills. Feel like HBKuhuna's runnin me down!

Thanks to HBK for the great time. Thanks to all the players that showed. I was quite humbled to be in the presence of such first wave star power. Man, these guys started it all in the day when a guy could really cut loose. Surf Music is such an American west coast symbol of freedom. Everybody has to like it at least a little. Being the youngest cat at that session, as well as a bonified 3rd/4th waver, I felt compelled carry the flame down to my generations. I have decided to write more songs with my band, The InSINerators. Props to all the bands represented in that room.

Earlier in the thread from hell , someone mentioned a SG101 jam in OC.
Man that is a great idea. Anyone that wants to comment should hit up the thread that I am about to start for it.

Tom, loved hangin with ya man. I'll be anxiously awaiting some new video. Hope some turned out well. Playing 'Jack the Ripper'
was a smash time . Props to The Neptunes.

Stay Cool Yo's.........

Markus 'The 15 Cent Bass Player'

The InSINerators

here's the link to the "Squad Car" video that SurfNeptune posted earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdkEc26_VVs

man, I just watched the video - I missed so much of it while we were playing it - I was too in awe to notice that Jim Frias played the sax mouthpiece siren noise while HBKahuna churned the siren. How cool is that?

On a side note, I've been listening to a bunch of Jim Frias' band, The Nocturnes on the "Rare Surf" comp. Really cool stuff, way ahead of the times!

Any more video Tom?

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

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