Man! It looks like it was a blast! I'll definitely be there next year! Great job, Jeff!

I don't even know what to say at this point.

Saturday was a blur, I don't think I can even recount what happened unless someone produces a timeline.

I will write a much longer message or messages when I get back home. But for now, Jeff, you did a helluva job man. Amazing. I can't believe I saw Slacktone, Eddie & PJ, John Blair, Tim Fitzgerald, Outerwave, PDM, Secret Samurai, The Surf Kings, Aquasonics, The Insect Surfers, The Madeira, Relix, Surftones, Surf Rockers (with an original Del-Tone...ha-ha!), and a few more I'm sure my travel scrambled brain is forgetting. I could write a whole paper on what it was like seeing Eddie Bertrand and Paul Johnson, then Eddie B playing with the Eliminators.

Dario, those amps sounded fantastic man!

I got to meet a ton of cool people for the first time (Danny, Hans, Ryan, Marda, Karen, Warren, stormtiger, wooza, sandyfeet, Carol, Norman, Sarah from Tenn., Jeff Leites, Bob S.) and saw some old friends (Ran, Trode, Eddie K, Baja Marty, Tena, Jeff, etc). I feel bad already because I know I left 1000 people out. There were so many side conversations and several lurkers who never post stopped me to talk to me. It was really an unreal experience. Again, I'll have to write more when I am more coherent and back home.

(Dean, did we meet???)

Again, thanks to everyone, this weekend was truly an amazing event. Jeff, you really did a fantastic job with this. You rule man! Seriously, you need the Nobel prize of surf music or something.

I have a zillion photos too. Again, more later!!!! I can't get over how super cool everyone was!!!!

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

Brian,
Great to finally meet you Brian and everyone else there. Thanks for the kind comments on the amps. Thank God I build amps better than I play. E-gads! Talk about someone needing to practice surf guitar more.

Eddie and Dave Wronski playing The Surfer and El Sonido respectively was anything but mind-blowing.  ![Rock](/media/smiley/images/icon_rock.gif "Rock")   I can't remember how many people came up to me after they played telling me it was nothing short of a religious experience. I can only hope the amps put them in a zone that assisted them in unleashing even more massive talent. So many proud moments for me. Thanks Eddie and Dave!

On the event, it was a logistical root canal organizing it all for the BTD but all went well considering. Congrats Jeff for doing so much to have this epic event be what it was--->A-frame EPIC! Seeing and hearing the talent of so many of y'all up onstage playing was pretty impressive in the jams. Great job!

I'm so glad people had documented it with pics, video, dvd, etc.. This has all the potential to be a monster event in the future.

Thanks to you Brian for providing the medium for all of us to know one another here at SG101. All you and Jeff's work has paid off in a most transcendental way that is so difficult to explain in words.

Thanks kind sirs.... :worship:....:worship:.....:worship:.....:worship:....:worship:...

dman

What an incredible day!! I'm still trying to decompress. I'm sure it will take a few days, but here are some initial thoughts:

Jeff (BTD) pulled off a miracle and created one of the coolest events I have ever attended. I can't say enough about what Jeff means to the surf community. He is definitely the glue that keeps us all together. Thank you Jeff!!

The highlight for me was meeting all of you face to face. It was great meeting Brian, Ivan, Marda, Ben (Wooza), Doug, SandyFeet, Carol, Dario, DP, Tuck, and everybody else!

The other highlight for me was having Eddie Bertrand finish our set by playing lead on Dark Eyes with us. Quite an honor. Thanks Eddie!! If anybody has photos of this, please let me know!

I'm so glad that Brian was able to come out and be a part of this since he has helped to create this community in the first place. Brian, thanks so much for taking the time to keep this site going strong. You are THE man!!

I've got some great pix of the festivities. Check 'em out!!
http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f365/ruhar/sg101%20Convention/

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook

This is not a review, but simply what I remember of
Saturday August 2, 2008

Surf Guitar 101 Convention (including swap meet and jam)

As usual, I started preparation for this show the day before by putting the batteries in their chargers (tape deck, microphones, camera). Part of the process is to sure to delete all photos still on the camera, and delete any live recordings still in the tape deck. In addition to these normal preparations, I went to the Surf Guitar 101 web site to download the notes of who would be playing with who in the jam sessions as well as what bands would be playing complete sets. These notes were a great help in trying to keep track of who was playing on what song.

According to the web site, the swap meet would start at noon. The live performances would start at 2pm. But, before the live music starts, there were a couple of presentations on surf music documentaries.

This was the world premier for the "Pounding Surf" DVD, which started out being an instructional DVD on how to play surf drums, and also ending up including another documentary as well on the history of surf music. I did some of the audio recording for the "how to play surf drums" part of this project, so I received a screen credit and a mention in the interior liner notes.

The "Sounds Of Surf", another documentary on surf music did a short presentation on what they are doing. They were also there taping some of the band performances and doing some interviews. I have done some audio recording for these folks, as well as doing some additional audio recording for them today. While I was not paid to record the audio for the whole day, I did record the audio for the whole day. I normally ask permission to record bands. However, I have asked for (and received) permission to record most (if not all) the musicians in their bands, I felt that asking each individual who played might have delayed the proceedings, and possibly made them more nervous than they might have already been.

People who know me, know that if I am at a live show, I am not far from my audio recording gear. In fact, I like to joke that most of the people at the shows might not recognize me without my recording gear.

I arrived at 11:30am and found the swap meet well under way. There were the usual CDs and vinyl sales of surf music and anything related from a number of bands as well as a few record labels. The swap meet was set up both inside the club as well as outside. At 2:00pm when the music started, the sellers closed up their tables to make space for the audience that came to see and play music. There was a very good sized audience for this show. While the large majority of attendees came from California (including San Francisco, Oceanside, San Diego, Los Angeles, ...) a number of folks came from around the country (Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, Indiana, Iowa, ...).

Musicians arriving without their bands included Paul Johnson (Duo-Tones, Safaris, ...), Eddie Bertrand (Eddie and the Showmen), Norm Cabrera (Ghastly Ones), Duff Paulsen (Torquays), David Arnson (Insect Surfers), Rick (Tsunami Blue), Jerry Lewis, (Wedge), Danny Snyder (Tomorrow Men), Ivan Pongracic (Maderia), Marty Tippens (Fabulous Planktones), Ferenc Dobronyi (Pollo Del Mar), Dan Looney (Relix), Burnin' Mike Vernon (3 Balls Of Fire), John Blair (Jon and the Nightriders), ...

Complete bands included Slacktone, Outer Wave, Eliminators, Surf Kings, Boardwalkers, Aquasonics, Secret Samurai, Dynotones (although they did not perform today).

A number of people who are not members of any band, but play at home in their spare time, were able to sign up and play some of their favorite tunes, with some of their favorite musicians. In addition, these jam sessions included musicians from bands playing with musicians from other bands.

Although this was scheduled to end at 7:00pm, it ran until 7:30pm.

For those who didn't get enough surf music during the Surf Guitar 101 Convention, there was a live show in the evening featuring the Detonators, Pollo Del Mar, Maderia and the Insect Surfers. Unlike the convention all the bands got to perform their full sets.

While the evening show was not quite as lively as the daytime show (I fear that some folks had other plans for the evening, or even worse they started to approach burnout), there was still a reasonable size audience. At least half of the audience at the evening show had managed to catch part of all of the Surf Guitar 101 Convention.

Of course I stayed until the end, audio taping everything.

Depending on how you look at it, my day started at about 10:30am when I started loading my recording gear into my car, and didn't end until after 2:00am when I got home, and started downloading the almost 8 hours of recordings (and the 100+ photos) onto my computer to make space for the show at the pier in Huntington Beach where I would be recording six bands.

Who says you can get too much surf music?

Chrome Oxide
have tape deck will travel.

Wow, what a weekend! I tried to say Hello and meet as many people as I could, but I missed a few. Too much fun. Thanks Jeff!
A huge thanks to <b>The Detonators</b> for providing the backline for the night show. Thanks to all the people who stayed for the night show after total reverb overdose of the day long event.

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D'oh: Tim Fitzpatrick!!!! (not Fitzgerald...)

More people I forgot: Tuck (John), Joelman, HBKahuna (Tim). It was really great meeting you and talking with you!!!

I'm still in CA and just going out the door to go watch tdsurf do some filming of some bands for the Sound of the Surf documentary!!!!

Jeff, once again, you pulled off what will be a historical moment in the history of surf!

I just flipped through my photos on my camera, I can't wait to post these! My face hurts from smiling!

Thanks again to Jeff and Kristena for embarrassing me and then getting in on tape. No seriously, it really meant a lot to me. You guys rule.

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

my jaw won't stop hitting the ground from what I have taken in, so far

I am so happy for all that attended

and so grateful for everyone who put so much energy and time into this

this is a beautiful accomplishment for the surf music scene

and a special shout-out to the BIG TIKI DUDE, which is by no means neglecting everyone else's amazing efforts

I hope this event happens again, perhaps on a yearly basis, so I can attend it the next time

still hurtin' that I was not able to be there

UNSTEADY FREDDIE

http://www.facebook.com/unsteady.freddie

Hey Billy, how is your Twin doing after Patrick killed it. Maybe it was just in shock.

I got there late, stuck in traffic hell driving down from San Jose, but
HOLY CRAP, what an amazing event!!! I saw it from the Eliminators
onward, and I was spent by the time it wrapped up. All that plus all
the stuff that happened in the 4 hours prior to my arrival would have
sent me totally over the edge!. Reverberitus-maximus! What a way
to go!

It was tremendous meeting so many of you. (I'm not going to try to list
everybody fro fear of leaving people out). In a day of nothing but
highlights, seeing Eddie Bertrand's performances and his INCREDIBLE
energy topped the list for me. And the phenomincal sense of community,
the sense of fun and sheer wonder on the faces of so many people
from such disparate locales, ages and backgrounds was enough to
warm the heart of even the most jaded cynics. This was so far beyond
COOL, I don't think there is a word to adequately describe it.

MAJOR PROPS to the inimitable Big Tiki Dude for organizing and
staging this incredible event. Jeff, there aren't adequate words to
express the debt that we all owe you. You made a lot of people
REALLY REALLY happy! THANK YOU!!!!

A gazillion thanks to Brian for setting up this group and website, and
for coming out to join us. It meant a lot to all of us that you were there.

And of course mega thank yous go out to the incredible bands, to
Dario for his phenominal equipment, the jammers, and everybody
who made the effort to show up.

I'm thrashed, but I've got a ear-to-ear grin on my face still.

RULES!!!!

Bob S.

Bob