Soon as I see one I think, "gimmick". I usually don't like them. They are never that cute and are generally kind of skanky. If that's your thing, fine, but to say ALL surfbands need one? Not all surf bands are good time party bands.
BTW, I say this as a guy who named his puppy Go-Go.

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Jetpack
Soon as I see one I think, "gimmick". I usually don't like them. They are never that cute and are generally kind of skanky. If that's your thing, fine, but to say ALL surfbands need one? Not all surf bands are good time party bands.
BTW, I say this as a guy who named his puppy Go-Go.

Lighten up Francis! Oh My God!!! I said ALL bands should have a go-go girl! You take you and your dog way too serious mate. Here is some more to make you feel even better............

Have you ever seen the Pontani sisters on stage with Los straitjackets? I know , too skanky..........

In all honesty in practice I find go-go dancers somewhat superfluous myself. I don't even really like it when the musicians get over involved in choreography, which has happened in pop music at several points. But I'm not sure what the parameters are of what I like or don't like. I haven't really seen enough of it to know.

As far as go-go dancers in particular, I don't associate them particularly with surf music or any other kind of music. More with some kinds of music venues in the mid to late 60s. Clubs and television shows emulating clubs in that period.

The cases I've seen with surf bands have been somewhat distracting, though not as much as videos projected behind the band, especially irrelevant pornography. I'd always give a band the option to do whatever it liked in this vein, however, and I can conceive of it working well. OK, probably not the porn.

I like to see a crowd dance, of course, and I think an occasional demonstration dancer or dancers might be a good idea. I've run into jazz combos that took that approach for some shows. My feelings in that area arise from my admiration for competent dancing and my recognition that I have congenital lack of ability in that direction.

All this said, I'm kind of amazed at the language being used by some of the folks who don't care for go-go dancers with a band. It seems to amount to a series of boorish ad hominem attacks on particular past dancers or on strange perceived stereotypes of the kind of people who do dance. Folks, I hate to break it to you, but not all of the musicians I've seen are that good looking either, or dressed tastefully, only ... who cares and who would dream of making that an issue? And "skanky"? How many musicians join a band so they won't attract attention?

None of the objections raised seem to have any conceivable bearing on Miss Kitty dancing with the AquaSonics recently in Denver. She danced very cheerfully with members of the audience whenver asked (quite a bit, actually) and talked about her charity program during breaks with everyone who asked. I suppose her routine wasn't incredibly original and innovative, but, well, it was surf music she was dancing to, not avant garde jazz from the planet Tiki. Nobody in the bar that I could see got up and left muttering "@#*$ dancing!" It wasn't the busiest night, but I think the whole district was kind of quiet.

Last edited: Jul 02, 2008 22:00:11

Finally... Thank you, Tuck for a refreshingly cogent insight.

Onboard reverb I'm guessing... Well I'm saying. I couldn't spy and amp and frankly I didn't watch very long. If you are going to use onboard reverb you have to amp up you sound ala Man or Astro-Man? otherwise it sounds dull.

zak
I have no problem with skanky...the skankier the better.

It's when they weigh significantly more than I do (guess that rules out the entire "burlesque" scene) that I question their need to be onstage.

Zak: the definition of skanky...er, scary, at our show last Sunday, we had a last minute addition of this dancer who climbed onstage. We knew she would be there but not on the friggin' bandstand. We almost pushed her off with our feet! (FYI, she has a on a monkey mask.)

SSIV

A lot of people take this stuff far more seriously than I would have thought.

And what's with the remark that "not all surf bands are good time party time bands"-- like, what, they're serious? What about?

No wonder there's rants about no one one coming to see surf shows... your potential audience members have all gone to poetry readings, or jazz recitals!

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We don't critique your playing...or do we?

You probably should.

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zak
It's when they weigh significantly more than I do (guess that rules out the entire "burlesque" scene)

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

If I had a nickel for every time a Boston "burlesque" group wanted to get us on a bill, I'd have enough money for a Gomez amp.

The "burlesque" scene: