May Birthdays 
Due to a variety of circumstances, TWANG SHEBANG, my internet radio show, has been on hiatus.....UNTIL NOW! Yeah, finally, we are back "on the air", so to speak.
A little history of TWANG SHEBANG and then I will direct you to the latest edition of the show. The show had its origins when a fellow from Canada, who had read some of my posts in 2004 in the COWABUNGA Yahoo Group, named DAN COLEMAN, reached out to me. He was a guy in Montreal who liked my energy, and asked my if I would be interested in maybe doing a 'news segment' on a regular basis on internet radio. I freaked out completely, writing him back that Friday afternoon September 10 2004, giving him a series of my phone numbers so we could speak immediately about this. The phone at my office rang soon thereafter, and, as they say, history was made at that moment. In the beginning, I recorded my 'news segments' by telephone. After a while, we started adding music, though my spoken bits remained recorded via telephone link-up. BigWave Dave started calling me 'Lo-Fi Freddie' because of the, well, lo-fi quality of my voice, when mixed against the music, which Dan was adding professionally in his 'studio'. And some of the shows early on started featuring my on-the-spot interviews with musicians and folks associated with the surf music scene. Then we'd add music by the artist I spoke to LIVE, and the show continued to grow from there. I still use the same hand-held 'magic dictaphone' -- it got me a lot of mileage. Eventually, I added a RadioShack microphone to my home computer set-up, threw some programs on my computer that Dan had sent me, and we were in business. We grew from TWANG SHEBANG to 3 shows, over time. We did ELEMENTAL INSTRUMENTAL, which was set up as a show to 'teach' younger listeners to 'the surf music alphabet.' We got up to the Letter "C". Each show featured artists whose names began with "A", then "B", then "C". That show, for now, is on hiatus, though we would like to someday bring it back to life. YourSpace Radio is the other 'active' show I do with Dan Coleman. I have put up a thread here at SURF GUITAR 101 about this show in this same Forum. Each edition of YourSpace Radio contains SURF INSTRO music by the way.
Getting back to TWANG SHEBANG, I have tried to make show NOT JUST (though PRIMARILY) surf music, if you will. I have featured music that I felt would be of interest to surf music freaks and junkies like me, and also b/c I thought the music worked well WITH surf music. Hence I have mixed in and plan to mix in artists like STEVE HACKETT, ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER, STRUNZ + FARAH, THE SEARCHERS, THE MERSEYBEATS, P.F SLOAN, PETE BEST, THE CALIFORNIA GUITAR HERO, and others. I wanted to express my graitude to other radio personalities in this field that have inspired me, and offered me help and criticism as I have grown in this genre. Special hugs and thanks go to Phil Dirt, my mentor and hero, who was kind enough to put me on his radio show live in 2005 when I was visiting the SF Bay area. That trip included live performances from THE AQUA VELVETS and also THE AQUAMARINES (as I made my way down treacherous roads to STINSON BEACH!!). PHIL IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE, "THE MAN", when it comes to surf music radio and furthering the cause, and giving so many artists an outlet to be heard by the masses. God Bless You Phil.
Both YourSpace Radio and TWANG SHEBANG are streamed (not podcast) from the website www.myrealbroadcast.com . Dan Coleman is the webmaster, by the way. And as I explained in the initial post for YourSpace Radio, there is a sister website called www.myrealtalent.com. Dan Coleman has set that up as a non-profit site, no fees to join. Bands can sell their products there and keep the monies 100%. The music can be set for stream only. Now, the way he has this thing running, ONLY ORIGINAL music can be housed on this site (no covers). I then can choose music from THIS SITE to feature on my 2 radio shows. It's as if the radio shows are a promotional tool, an extension of the www.myrealtalent.com site. I hope that makes sense?
Artists are urged to forward me your promotional copies of your CDs. Why? Because undoubtedly I will hear some music on the disks that the artists have NOT uploaded on to www.myrealtalent.com. We can then work together, get the song(s) on there, and we're in business.
Use this mail address: UNSTEADY FREDDIE, 676A 9th AVENUE, BOX 444, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10036
So, in a nutshell, please, as many surf artists already have done so...head over to www.myrealtalent.com, and create a profile of your band....I would urge surf bands to do this in the surf-music sub-genre, which is housed here: http://surf.myrealtalent.com/. Once it's set-up, start putting information on there, blogs, concert dates, pix, and of course, ORIGINAL music. And I thank those of you who have already done this, and in advance, am grateful to those of you who will soon join the MyReal Talent community.
OK, now to business at hand -- the 44th edition of TWANG SHEBANG, which is the current show. It is what we call a 'double whammy' edition (pun intended) -- meaning, that we play a bunch of artists, and an uninterrupted 2-song set by each of these artists. As I tried to explain earlier, TWANG SHEBANG sometimes features music that is NOT pure surf, but nonetheless in my opinion works well surrounded by surf music. I will elaborate in a moment as I let you know which artists are featured on this edition of TWANG SHEBANG.
So then, here is the running order of artists on TWANG SHEBANG 44, the songs featured (playlist), and some website links for each artist:
TERRY 'BUFFALO' WARE'
'RUMHOGAN ROAD'
www.myspace.com/terrybuffaloware
http://surf.myrealtalent.com/terry_buffalo_ware/
SECRET SAMURAI
'DON'T FEAR THE REVERB'
'TITUS'
www.myspace.com/secretsamurai
DEATHPOD
'LAWNCHAIRS ON THE BONFIRE'
'COLLECTING THE EMPTIES'
www.myspace.com/deathpodband
REVISIONIST HISTORY
'GOOD GONE BAD'
'HANG 11'
http://surf.myrealtalent.com/revisionist_history/
MITCH SCHECTER
'DEEP SEA SURF'
'FOLLOW THE ARROW'
www.myspace.com/mitchschectersolo
KUSSI WEISS
'THEM THERE EYES'
'NEW YORK TEMPO'
www.myspace.com/kussiweissensemble
THE MIGHTY SURF LORDS
'DANCIN' WITH VENUS'
'PADDLING OUT'
www.myspace.com/themightysurflords
http://surf.myrealtalent.com/the_mighty_surf_lords/
THE ELIMINATORS
'BONEYARD'
'CROSS STEPPIN''
www.myspace.com/theeliminatorssurfband
TERRY 'BUFFALO' WARE
'SLEEPWALKING TALK'
www.myspace.com/terrybuffaloware
http://surf.myrealtalent.com/terry_buffalo_ware/
Now, Kussi Weiss is a gypsy jazz guitarist in the style of the late great Django Reinhardt. But I think it fits smoothly amidst the surf music you will hear on this show. And Revisionist History is a side project from BRUCE WARREN, bassist for NJ surf band SURF RES Q....an acoustic take on surf and spaghetti western themes....this, too, works nicely.
And here's a special treat -- AN INTERVIEW I did by phone with BILLY WOODS of THE MIGHTY SURF LORDS. It's a very moving piece, and I thank Billy for giving me his time, and bless him in his endeavors to carry on with his band.
Now, how do you get to TWANG SHEBANG? One way, simply, is to go to www.myrealbroadcast.com . At the moment, the 44th edition of TWANG SHEBANG will be there, waiting for you. After a while, that will be replaced with something else that is being highlighted by DAN COLEMAN. When that happens, what you should do is click on TWANG SHEBANG in the choices in the right column, and that will take you to the latest edition of TWANG SHEBANG. You will also see TWANG SHEBANG 44 DOUBLE WHAMMY SPECIAL at the very top of the page...simply click on that -- that will also take you to the TWANG SHEBANG 44 show.
Then, simply click on the 'LISTEN TO SHOW' arrow/button under the TWANG SHEBANG logo, and the 44th Edition of TWANG SHEBANG will start to stream.
Note also there is a companion website to the TWANG SHEBANG show, www.twangshebang.com, and on that site you will find a direct link to the most current show, and pictures and information, website links, for the artists played on the current show, so check that out too!!
Thanks to any of you who have hung in there and read through all of this. In the future, I will, like other radio DJ's, list the artists and their songs in playlist format, and give you a specific link to hear the show.
Special thanks go to Dan Coleman for reaching out to me in the first place, believing in me, sticking by me, being a true brother and comrade through thick and thin.
And I got to acknowledge a loving Higher Power which tries to keep me somewhat steady despite my built-in inherent unsteadiness.
SURF MUSIC for me is tied deeply into my soul; it's been a calling for me ever since I got clean and sober in 1998. It was an important part of my youth, pouring out of my transistor radio, and thru my record player speakers when I was just a kid. I was fascinated by the 'wet' sound of that reverb-filled guitar, could not get enough of it. And, of course, still cannot. And I always wanted to be "on the radio". So, surf music comes back into my life, and has led me to a whole new world of wonderful people, good friends, phenomenal top-shelf musicians. Just a wonderful ride, and I think it's only the beginning for me. Like PHIL DIRT, and CLINT BEACHWOOD, RAY DUKES, BRIAN PARRISH - who have all come well before me and laid the groundwork and made surf music so available to those that yearned and still yearn for it, I am trying to do my bit part and be a cheerleader for this beautiful, wondrous music. I love love love this music, and I am just trying to give something back.
Please listen to the latest edition of TWANG SHEBANG, a show which I and Dan Coleman are very proud of. Previous shows are archived on www.myrealbroadcast.com as well.
Thanks for hangin'
Keep on twangin'
UNSTEADY FREDDIE
http://www.facebook.com/unsteady.freddie
Last edited: Mar 21, 2008 21:14:57
