February Birthdays 
I wasn't gonna bother with this but i think it's interesting enough and I don't write much on here anymore so here goes.
A 30 something couple comes up to me last Sunday at our Sheraton gig and says "we haven't heard that kind of music since we were kids and you guys are great and blah, blah, blah"
"Where are you from?" I ask...."oh, Huntington Beach California". Now, this is not that unusual except that it seems to happen EVERY week!! and we've been playing 3hrs EVERY week for over 3 yrs now!! True, i do get that reaction from people from say, Chicago or Deleware and places like that too so it's very flattering in a way but WE know that we're far down the list when it comes to surf bands. We don't have "vintage" gear (i take that back...we do have vintage instruments and i do have a tank but...) or a CD out (yet!!) and 3 of us haven't seen a real surf band since we were kids!! But it's weird that folks from CA. would be so excited about our tame version of say "Pipeline" when there are so many really good surf bands from SoCal and they've never heard of any of them!!
If you'll indulge me, I think I know what it is....no it's not marketing, although that would surely help, I think it's because everyone is so busy with work and paying bills and mortgages etc. that they don't go out much anymore and then they go on vacation and happen to stumble on The TO's and they're like "hey these guys are great and we haven't heard this music for a long time"!! I ALWAYS tell them about the Museum shows (even tho i've never seen one!) and tell them to check out SG101 and then I give them a business card and tell them if they send me an e-mail and say they saw us at The Sheraton...i'll send them a free 'live' CD.
I don't know if bands like The Aquasonics from Colorado or The TomorrowMen from Berkeley or any of the bands that aren't from SoCal get the same kind of response but...we do almost every week!! Jeez, i feel like a promoter sometimes which is a good thing that i would hope we all do. If you know of someone coming over to Kauai let 'em know about The TO's and we'll do the same for you.
Respect and Aloha,
R-R
The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
