March Birthdays 
Today is the anniversary of my first post to SG101 and my decision to try to be active here on the forums and in the local surf music community. So what have I done over the last year?
First and foremost, I have met some great people (online and off.)
I had lurked here for a bit before first posting, so I already had a high opinion of the SG101 community, and a year later I can only say that it is now even higher. So whether I have only read your posts, or responded to them, or you have responded to mine, all I can say is that it has been a splendid experience. The discussions have been informative, insightful, supportive, funny, and good natured. There may have been a spat or two, but Brian's steady hand has always ensured that decorum was maintained at a reasonable level. (No small feat based on what I have seen on the internet.)
I have met some great people in the flesh. I'm going to only use their SG101 user names, but I'm sure it will come as no surprise that these are some of the finest people you will find anywhere. So I will embarrass a few of them by calling them out:
Chad Shivers – To live in Atlanta at this time is like living in a golden age, if you are into surf music of course, and it is in great measure due to Chad, the ringmaster of the Southern Surf Stomp circus.
Richard – Sent me a personal message shortly after my first post and it was a revelation to find out that a surf musician lived in the same town. Richard answered a ton of questions for me about the surf scene in Atlanta and in the world in general. Clued me in on some great bands and filled me in on who's who in Atlanta and on the SG101 forums. He really welcomed me into the surf community.
Eddie Katcher – A real Renaissance man. He can do everything: plays great guitar, writes great tunes, fixes amps, sets up guitars, leads a band, records and mixes said band in his home studio, attends and/or performs at every local show, and still found time to reach out to me with an offer to setup my new Squier Jazzmaster. An offer that I gladly accepted. And once well setup, said guitar has continued to play great and brought me much joy.
And I have met and continue to meet other fabulous SG101ers: killbabykill34, MadScientist, Surf_Skater, CrazyAces.
So what else?
I attended some shows:
The first Southern Surf StompFest in September 2015 (Aqualads, The Mystery Men?, Gold Dust Lounge, the Surge!, The Beech Benders, Caroline & the Ramblers, Ouroboros Boys, El Capitan and the Band with No Name)
That was my first surf show and I followed it up by attending the Southern Surf Stomps in
October (Fiend without a Face, The KBK, Bad Friend),
December (Chad Shivers & The Silent Knights),
February 2016 (Beech Benders, Blacktop Rockets, Gemini 13),
May (The Surge!, The AmpFibians, Tiger! Tiger!)
July (Crazy Aces, The one and only Bill Davis, The Flamethrowers)
(Thanks again, Chad!!)
I bought some great albums:
The Mystery Men? - Sonos Delirium
The Surge! - Dam! (Another Release)
The Madeira – Ancient Winds
The Penetrators – Kings of the High Speed Weekend
Eddie Angel – Guitar Party
Daikaiju – Phase 2
Crazy Aces – Surfadelic Spy-a-Go-Go; Garageland
The Challenger's – Go Sidewalk Surfing!
A few of complilations – Monsters of Surf; The Birth of Surf Volume 3; Legends of Guitar, Surf vol. One; For a Few Guitars More
And a couple of videos: Reverb Junkies; Pounding Surf!
I bought an Olympic White Squier VM Jazzmaster – love it.
I built a Surfy Bear Reverb – Wonderful fun. Love it, too.
And one of my biggest thrills was waking up on New Year's Day and discovering that Paul Johnson (pjmoto) had posted to a thread I started about the Challengers. And to top it off, a few days later Randy Nauert (Randyn) of the Challengers made his first post to SG101. That was pretty unbelievable, but it just goes to show what a special place SG101 is. That thread got a lot of thoughtful and insightful responses from the SG101 community and made me feel like I had managed to contribute a little to the history of surf music that is amassed here.
I got way too excited voting for the various North Sea Surf Radio Top nnn lists.
And I learned how to make a pretty damn good Mai Tai.
All in all, a great year and SurfGuitar101 was very much a part of it. Thanks, everyone.
-Tim
—-Tim
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My Classic Instrumental Surf Music Timeline
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