I cannot believe what happened yesterday...

I'm speechless for now.

What planet is Phantom Frank from? He is truly a gift to the human race.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Cyclops, the drummer was Tracey Longstreth from the Rhythm Rockers. Al Valdez was the keys player for the Original Surfaris. Bob Spickard co-wrote Pipeline.

Wow Randy Holden sure surprised everyone.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Totally amazing show yesterday ....loved the Alpine Village venue and of course the bands were fantastic ...just amazing . I got to see ALL of Messer Chups including the video ....the night before in San Diego I had some issues with heat and fatigue (and the 'Til Two Club had shrunk in half since I played there last ,really no good for bands anymore since the entire backroom/patio is GONE) ...and I was oh so impressed . Phantom IV had somewhat an off night in San Diego ( string and tuning issues) too but really made up for it in Torrance .Very powerful
I want to thank everyone who makes this happen ...its already been a great year for me seeing surf bands of the highest caliber here in San Diego and beyond ...we are living in a golden age for surf music .
I am SO looking forward to band practice Tuesday and Tiki Oasis starting Thursday...

Was Will Glover from the Pyramids there?

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Hats off to Jeff for his hard work which paid off so nicely yesterday. Great venue with lots of great food on hand and even a grocery store! The German Reservation apparently doesn't collect CA sales tax either so remember that when shopping there next time!
Loved Randy Holden's set! He's our own Guitar God. His presence and sound was awesome without being harsh.
But my favorite band of the day was Messer Chups. To me, Oleg's gitarakulicks are just the sickest. He's a nuanced player with a completely personal approach to the instrument- did you notice how it varied pick attack to get different reverb driptones accenting the phrase? No one else is doing that. And the rest of the band kicks ass too. Looking forward to seeing them at the Redwood Tuesday.

Squink Out!

Well, BTD Jeff, it sounds like you really pulled off a great one - congratulations!!
While my work situation prevented me from getting down there, you met my friend Brian with the Traveling Penguin (fellow members Brian and Rod from the Hang-Ten Hangmen).
I have seen some photos of Randy Holden's performance, and that truly was the icing on the cake that I wish I could have been there to witness and enjoy. Hopefully, video will be available of those performances and 2017 will hold more promise for me to get down to see the next convention.

Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada

Wow, what a weekend!

First... how cool was that venue??? So much space! And excellent food (SURF GUITAR SCHNITZEL!!!)! It seemed more people were on their feet and cheering and dancing A LOT more this year. I think the extra space and that layout just demands it. And with folks up front, I think it fed the bands making them play even better. I hope we can get the same venue next year, or at least a similar one.

Second... Every band was great this year! I missed a couple sets because I was working the door, but I was at least able to hear every set. Such GREAT music! Nice variations in tone and approach throughout the day to keep it interesting. So much talent in one room! How can Jeff top it next year? Is it even possible?

Third... omg... RANDY FREAKING HOLDEN!!!!!!!!!!!

Fourth... The final 4 or 5 bands had a bit extra work to do. To sit there and listen to the other bands and to interact with everyone for 8+ hours is very tiring. But the need to pull the energy up to not only perform, but to perform to a room full of people with the same fatigue, that can't be easy. But somehow they were all able to do it!! Especially The Phantom Four. The room just had a 12 hour serving of reverb, including just getting our faces melted by the Space Cossacks (epic!), but John Blair and the Phantom Four got up there and delivered the knock out blow that sent us all home with ringing ears, lost voices, and smiling faces.

Fifth... spending the weekend with so many fellow reverb junkies is always the best highlight. Seeing so many familiar faces and getting to meet new folks was just great! Cheers to you all

Sixth... Jeff. You rule! Congrats on a great success! I know there were a ton of challenges this year, but you rose to the occasion and knocked them all down and put on the best show in a long long long time! And thanks to your army of helpers. You're like a Reverb Santa Clause with a shop full of Reverb Elves! Thank you

A million thanks to Jeff! The 1,140 mile drive (RT) is easily worth it. This is the third straight year and this was the best! See you next year!

All I wish I knew what they were talking about

Wow, one-of-two high speed weekends under the belt, and what a great weekend it was! Excuse me for adding pre and post convention impressions, and rambling too much...
The weekend started out with Terry bringing Messer Chups from the CA Central Coast down to our place in Escondido. I enjoyed entertaining them in our tiki bar "The Reverb Cavern" with some Reverb Crash cocktails and light food. Then we loaded up my 62 Showman, Tone-Ring cab and 65 Reverb unit on Terry's truck and we all made our way to Till-Two Club. The club changed general layout a bit, for better IMO, as now the stage was not hidden from the bar/seating area like it used to be.
John Blair and the Phantom Four were already there, shortly followed by The Secret Samurai crew.
The Secret Samurai opened and did not disappoint, having small kids have reduced their gig schedule lately, but did nothing to detract from their tight, powerful yet melodic, "Surf for the Thinking Man", style. I was thankful they included their amazing piece "Disenchanted". There was some ground-loop type of buzz, and I was worried my amp was at fault.
The club got fuller and hotter as Phantom Four + John Blair were setting up. When they started, the place was packed, and the crowd was very enthusiastic as the show progressed. As mentioned, there were some technical issues with Frank's guitar, and the buzz from the amp, but the show was very infectious, and the crowd was digging it. I really enjoyed Frank's playing up close, he has a lot of finesse in his playing, that really makes the Phantom Four material (and covers of traditional songs) come across as very dynamic and memorable. Having just seen the Blair Pongracic band recently, it was interesting to see the different take on John's material as played with the Phantom Four. I think it worked really well. For the gear heads, Frank proves that if you got talent you can sound great even with a !
Next up were Messer Chups, the club was blistering with heat as the AC broke. However, I was relieved to find that nothing was wrong with the amp, as I asked Oleg to plug in his cables, everything was dead quiet.
I have seen Messer Chups last year on the main stage at Surfer Joe festival, but it was hard to connect with the show on the huge high stage. Friday's show was quite the opposite from that setting and was much more suited to the band's style. The crowd was loving them, the horror/trash/nudie video projections were right behind them, and they delivered a great performance. I echo JObeast's impressions from Oleg's playing, he does have a very unique style and excellent tone. The place stayed packed throughout the show, including people that made it up from Tijuana to see these guys.
After the show we packed the gear, went home, and continued the evening with Cobra's Fang Cocktails and rum sipping at the Reverb Cavern.
After around 3 hours of sleep, I got up and proceeded to pack the car for the drive up to the convention with my wife and daughter, while Terry stayed with Messer Chups at our place to help them relax a bit.

We arrived early to the Alpine Village to find Jeff, Emilio, Dusty, Brett Cole and many other friends loading in equipment and merch. We started setting up the stage. So nice being able to easily fit all the backline on such a big stage, and it certainly doesn't hurt that place has a full PA and a soundman that was very accommodating of our requests. It was great that Jonpaul was able (and allowed) to run the sound board for most of the day (when he wasn't playing bass, that is).
On to the performances: I know it's common courtesy here to be nice to all the performers, but seriously, all the bands this year gave excellent performances!
Hot Rod Trio started with 50s instrumentals that gave a nice early background to what eventually led to Surf. They sounded great on Tavo's gear (although I didn't have a chance to sniff any corks ).
The Original Surfaris tribute gave me chills as John Blair launched into "Moment of Truth". It was great seeing Al Valdez join them on keys, he still has the touch!
I realize I can go on and on with superlatives, but this will get too long. The Crazy Aces were "the wild card" for me, as I don't think I have seen them before live. Great band! Jeff and the guys deliver a really wide range of styles in their music, and make it look effortless (Nashville boys...).
I have seen Kelp, Tikiyaki 5-0 and Secret Samurai before and they did not disappoint this time around.
As for Tikiyaki 5-0, I have to mention I am very excited that Jim is really digging this guitar driven format, and glad that it will continue to develop alongside the full Tikiyaki Orchestra. Jim was especially gracious in thanking me from stage for use of my guitar amps, cabs, etc.
The Legends jam is where anything can happen, and indeed some things did happen, some of them very memorable.
Out of those more memorable things was a glorious performance by Randy Holden of the Fender IV (and Blue Cheer). Thanks for Matt Quilter and Dusty Watson who helped make this happen. It wasn't easy, I am sure. Randy insisted on playing through two cranked Showman amps, so Matt brought his amp on stage, where we daisy-chained it to a Gomez Surfer. All together 2 heads and 4 single 15 cabs, His Lucite guitar was plugged into my 65 Reverb unit. Randy was joined by Dusty on drums, Matt on bass and one of the original Fender IV rhythm guitarists (sorry, I forgot his name, I was too busy succumbing to the music). It was like a religious experience hearing THE most powerful surf tunes played live by the guy who wrote them. I am sure you'll see the videos, but rest assured, no video can capture the experience. Yes, the tunes were played slower, and yes, there were some mistakes, but oh-boy, what a trip!
I was really digging it that (pre-show-surly) Randy was beaming and seemed to enjoy himself.
After that it was back to pre-surf mode with George Tomsco, which gave a really enjoyable performance.
After that Mach IV reunion! OMG, if only they looked like they were having at least some fun on stage Seriously, that was a real treat to see them. On their first tour my wife and I were visiting the US (before moving here), and their show in San Diego was the first "real" surf show that I saw.
Next up were Bradipos IV, a winning formula of 4 guys that have been playing together for 20 years (or so I have been told). Love these guys!
Messer Chups took the stage, and again, gave a very good performance, complete with not-safe-for-kids videos that compliment their show.
After that, it was time for the Space Cossacks reunion show. Wow! Blistering, face-melting, loud, yet melodic classics!
Finally it was time for Phantom Four featuring John Blair. Again, I am starting to run out of superlatives here (English is not my native tongue), but Frank has the audience eating out of his hands (figuratively speaking). The show was a great end to a wonderful day. Truly awe-inspiring.
Next came the "fun" part of tear-down and load-up on the vehicles. All this time my wife and daughter were there (they took a break in the afternoon), and I must commend them on humoring me with dragging them to this event.
After a short sleep interval at a motel we were sent on a lost&found mission back to the Alpine Village to collect some valuable belongings that were forgotten in the aftermath.
Form there we made it to the pier on time to join Jeff, Emilio, Terry, Phil Tiki, Jerry, and other friends to set up the gear for the next show.
All the performances were great again, but the vibe at the pier is totally different than the convention, and all who chose just to go to the free pier show because it was free were missing out, besides the fact that they were not helping the bands recoup some of their vast expenses in coming to play from afar.
I was glad all my gear survived these few days (although there were some false alarms due to bad guitar cables, not mine...)
After a whirl-wind tear-down, my family and I had to load up the car and head to get supplies (RUM) for Tiki Oasis, then drive back to Escondido. Then it was back to normal - 3:45 am wake up to go to work.

Thanks Jeff for putting this together, a LOT of other people help in many many ways, I will leave it to Jeff to list them all (Jonpaul,Tiki Tena, Emilio, Dusty, Matt, Marie, Sean, Izzy, Jason Wakerly, the list goes on and on), but it's amazing how this small community comes together for this event, that is far from being commercialized, yet is able to attract such great talent from all over the world.
See you next year (and some of you at Tiki Oasis).

Ran

P.S. Adding my wife's impressions:
She mentioned to me that The Space Cossacks was the only band she knew all the songs, and their performances were her favorite. As for stage presence, she gave Mel Waldorf first place as he is so endearing (she said she would have paid just to see him talk), and his dance moves across the stage were also top notch.

The Scimitars

Last edited: Aug 15, 2016 22:55:31

Thank you to Josh and Ran for such nice thoughtful reviews.

Jeff(bigtikidude)