It’ll be time to grab your sweetheart, or maybe find one, when Cupid Rocks! Saturday Feb. 9, 2008 at 8 PM.

Once again the Zen Bar (zenbarct.net) is pairing up with Blue StingRaye Productions to bring fun and festivities to wahines and hodads with four rockin’ bands. This ultra-lounge venue has welcomed surf with open arms and every show gets better and better. This month I bring you The Clams w/ Clamdiggers (woo-hoo!), the Truckstop Playboys, The Octomen and those kuntry-punks from Brooklyn, The Blind Pharaohs! You can catch videos of the bands and more pictures at www.myspace.com/bluestingraye.

This is great line up, chock full o' reverb and rockabilly! Celebrate with your Valentine and make a few new ones. As always there will be a raffle of goodies between the bands, all with a Valentines Day theme. A measly $5 gets you the best surf at a damn good price. An added bonus...The club just installed a brand new $7,000+ sound system for these bands to blow up!

The Zen Bar is located at 270 Farmington Ave., Farmington, CT (Exit 39 off Rte. 84 East; Take Rte 4 East 1.1 miles and make a left into The Exchange. The Zen Bar is on your left)

This show is very special as it is dedicated to John "Pops" Senese, father of Rattlesnake Ralph (The Octomen). Check out the poster for more details and check out the show!

Aloha,
Blue StingRaye

One last reminder about Cupid Rock! this Saturday:

The show is dedicated to John "Pops" Senese, father of Rattlesnake Ralph of The Octomen. Ralph credits his father with his love of music. Ralph's father was a musician all of his life and he taught his children, among other things, that the show must go on. Pops left this life on Dec. 27, 2007. In attendance on Sat. at the Cupid Rock show will be Ralph's sister, son and Mother. We look forward to celebrating Pops' life with them.

At the family request a portion of the the night's proceeds will be donated to The Country Cats, a feline rescue organization started by Rattlesnake Ralph's sister. Their mission is to reduce the overpopulation of homeless and unwanted cats and kittens. (www.thecountrycats.com)

Come out and show us some love at this all too special Valentines Show!

Aloha,
Blue StingRaye

Chops is an amazing bass player and one of the original members of the Blind Pharoahs- he just finished a national tour with Sasquatch & the Sickabillies.

This is also the first show for the Truckstop Playboys in over a year and the first time the Clams wil be showing off the newest additions to the Clamdigger line up. I am looking forward to a very exciting show.

I certainly hope that you and other NY NESMA peeps can make. I would offer folks a place to stay, but my home will filled Pharoahs.

Aloha,
Blue StingRaye

THIS SHOULD BE ONE HELL OF A NIGHT!

Alas, I will be there only in spirit, as I face the wonders of root canal at 11 am tomorrow morning

Prayers, please?

Have fun BLUE....you have, it would seem, established a regular rotating gig in a wonderful part of Connecticut -- the more surf, the merrier

Twang it, and they will come

UNSTEADY FREDDIE

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

We got some fine press in the Hartford Advocate. This will be appearing in print tomorrow, but I was able to grab it on line today. The show is mentioned in the last 2 paragraphs:

http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=5792
Picture on front page, left side:http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/

Local Motion: Boppin' and Surfin'
Dead Cat Bounce bring their coordinated licks to Szechuan Tokyo, and the Octomen charge up the Zen Bar
By Dan Barry

With four horns out front, you would think that Dead Cat Bounce is risking certain doom. If one player falls out of lock step, the melody will instantly turn from gold to lead, and all eyes will be on him. But no one does. Weaving through complex, postmodern bop licks like trick archers, the Bounce is as awe-inspiring to watch as to listen to.

It's hard to find points of reference for the stuff that Dead Cat Bounce is doing, namely because it's so wonderfully accessible while still being challenging and intelligent. For example, they took a lick from John Coltrane's "Spiral" and re-cast it as a big, honkin' Dixie groove. If you've ever seen any episodes of the Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop, you might remember its speedy, upbeat jazz soundtrack. The band who wrote and played that material, the Seatbelts, seem similarly interested in seeing just how fast they can play while still retaining accuracy — the hallmark of bebop. Hip-hop fans could call to mind Jurassic 5, who, in their own words, "take four MCs and make it sound like one" by unifying their voices at unpredictable points.

But even these comparisons fail when the Dead Cat Bounce saxmen inevitably fly off the handle and start taking simultaneous solos. It's like some kind of free-jazz freakout held together only by the consistency of their rhythm section. Since their members are scattered across Connecticut and Massachusetts, the band doesn't frequent the Hartford area as much as I might wish. Sadly, they don't have any dates booked at this time, but you can keep your eye on deadcatbounce.org for gig listings and more info.

On Saturday, I had a new experience when I caught a surf rock show at Farmington's Zen Bar. Now, if you don't think Dick Dale is cool, your opinion is wrong, but outside of his music, I never really thought to seek out surf rock as a genre. I guess I incorrectly figured that you needed surfers and sunny beaches to have a good surf scene.

I caught a wonderful set by the Octomen, a three-piece who combine old-school, feelgood stuff with contemporary dark surf. Some of their more modern pieces featured turbulent, demanding basslines, and at one point, sticksman Mike Reddington even launched into double-time thrash drums! Guitarist Rattlesnake Ralph's playing was soaked in reverb, and as an encore, he nailed the tremolo on Dick Dale's "Misirlou" (better known as the Pulp Fiction theme). The crowd at the show was incredibly diverse, featuring hot-rodders and rockabilly toughs, the more stylish set that frequent Zen Bar, go-go dancers, and even an older woman in the corner wearing a leopard print jacket and a lei! For more information about local surf music, go to nesmasurf.org.

Aloha,
Blue StingRaye