Posted on Aug 07 2008 09:12 PM
It has almost been a week since this happened, so I'll try to jot down some things that I remember. A week ago today I was flying out to San Diego. Hooray!
On Friday I found an average Thai restaurant in San Diego, then headed off to Mission Beach. Holy freaking crap. I was blown away. Talk about getting your batteries recharged and your priorities reset. Do you California people know what you have is truly a special thing? Don't take it for granted. The water felt so good and there was a nice breeze blowing.
Here are some photos of the beach: http://picasaweb.google.com/bgneal/SanDiegoVacation2008
After that I took nap. 
I received a call from Danny Snyder who let me know a whole bunch of band people were going to converge on a restaurant near the venue called Tio Leo's. Thanks Danny! I found the place and met up with the Pollo del Mar guys (Ferenc, Jeremy, Jeff, and substitute Danny), Hans from the Sand Devils and his wife ( 
can't recall her name, sorry), Jeff "Bigtikidude", his English friend Mark (funny guy), Sarah from Tennessee, and eventually The Madeira (Ivan, Dane, Patrick, Todd) and Ryan from Secret Samurai. Wow was that fun and the food was great! It was so cool meeting Ryan, Hans, his wife, Mark and Sarah for the first time!
Next we went to the venue, which was very nice, air conditioned, large, in a nice neighborhood, and ample parking in the lot next door. Ryan was surprised to see that a stage had been built since the last time he was there.
There was a pretty good crowd at the start of the night, which wasn't bad considering the venue had moved a couple of weeks ago. I finally got to meet Clint Beachwood. What a warm and friendly guy. I also saw my old pal Ran from the Sand Devils, it was great seeing him again. I had met Ran at prior Surf Coasters and Satan's Pilgrim shows. I also met Rick Wilkinson from Surf Report / Rickshaw Records / Chum. He introduced himself to me as the "anti-SG101 guy". 
Ryan's band The Secret Samurai opened the set and got everyone going. This was a high energy very enjoyable set. I bought their album way back when it first came out and thought it was good, but put it away for a while. A week before the trip I listened to it again and it really grew on me. The band is a trio, with Steve-O-San on bass and Bill on drums. This is one of those rare bands where you don't miss the rhythm guitar. Ryan is just flying up and down the fretboard, it is quite the sonic assault. Ryan plays fast and intricate lines, not your typical simple stuff. I loved it. They even played one of my favorites from the album "Sink or Swim" (although I understand that isn't Steve's favorite. ) Bill was showing off an infectious smile and Steve was hopping around with the bass. My only humble suggestions are to look at and interact with the crowd more. The music was tight and solid, and I dug the hell out of it. Ryan is a very talented guitar player. Great job!
Next up was the mighty Madeira. I had seen these guys 6 times before this show, so I knew what to expect, and they did not disappoint. They were truly on fire and put out such a tremendous amount of firepower. Highlights for me included the new songs The Saracen, the haunting Undercurrents, Wreak Havoc, Surf Fidelis, Sahar, as well as songs from the 1st album: Rogue Wave (complete with jaw dropping solo), and Sandstorm. And they played my favorite cover of theirs: Dick Dale's The Victor as well as The Treble Spanker's Dilmohammed. There is nothing better than their version of The Victor with Patrick's hellacious rhythm guitar part. Just like it was meant to be played! Hell I might as well mention their entire set list as my favorite. The guys were in top form. Dane was smiling and wailing away, Patrick's right hand was a blur, Todd was locked in, and Ivan was tearing it up. They closed the set with a truly amazing cover of the Space Cossack's (Ivan's old band) Planet of the Apes. Wow! These guys make it look so easy. Truly a band at the top of their game. (I saw them 3 more times during my trip! Woot!)
Pollo Del Mar took the stage next. Danny was substituting for Jono, who, as Ferenc explained, was in jail in Mexico. Good luck Jono. I've seen Pollo twice before and also dug the hell out of their set. Ferenc is really a gifted guitar player and songwriter, and gets a great sound out of his guitar. Jeremy is truly a monster rock drummer, and Jeff is a helluva 5 string bass player. Yes, these guys are not a trad-surf band, but still an amazing band nonetheless. Danny fit right in and it didn't look to me like he was even breaking a sweat. He was all smiles and jumping around. Which is no small feat because PDM songs aren't exactly simple. The highlights of the set for me were Ferenc bringing out the new Frankie and the Pool Boys songs, including the extremely trad surfy "Teke, Teke, Teke" (also heard on the Mach IV album Eleki), the western sounding Finito Bandito (which appears on PDM's Golden State as Dripping Springs, Texas), and playing Magyara with Ivan!! Later the band did a seamless version of Red Asphalt and Flash of Green, which are my favorite songs from Golden State. A great set, I loved it!
Zombie Surf Camp was next and I didn't know what to expect. But I found myself smiling and bopping along to these undead punk rockers. The singer was an interesting fellow: kind of short, short mohawk, and all Glen Danzig theatrics (in a good, funny way). His crowd banter was awesome. One guitarist was Redd_Tyde, who used to hang out here on the site. He was playing a mostly clean sounding Jazzmaster, while the other guitar player had a dirty sounding Ibanez metal guitar monstrosity. The drummer had a huge mohawk, and the bass player was a pure 100% punk rock bass player in looks and style. The singer would also play some keyboards and even some great theremin. I liked it!
Photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/bgneal/OConnellsSanDiego2008
So there you have it. The next morning I picked up Danny at Hans house, where PDM was crashing. Hans and his wife were very gracious and gave me a quick bite to eat. I loved talking to you and meeting you Hans. He's a great guy. Danny and I then headed North to Hermosa Beach for the big SG101 convention.
To be continued...
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