Clint
Joined: Jul 16, 2006
Posts: 1493
San Diego
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Posted on Oct 20 2008 10:11 PM
I, too, attended the shows at the Purple Orchid and again last night here in San Diego at the Bar Pink.
The PO show was just amazing... great crowd! We filled the place up (for the most part). The good side was the enthusiasm of the crowd. Great appreciation for the band/music. I also agree with past posts regard musicianship and overall great sound produced by they four Fins. The mix was perfect! The down side of such a big crowd was the inability to see the band play. Unless you were right up front, you could only see the tops of their heads.
(I found the cameras quite annoying.)
The San Diego show was even better! No cameras! A little bigger venue with great sound quality and a much smaller crowd. However, I was happy to see the room semi-filled with mostly San Diegans coming out late on a Sunday night. I really like the Euro-surf sound of Laika. Watching them play, especially at the San Diego show where everybody had a great view, makes me appreciate the music even more... especially the keyboard work.
Highlights were: Hi & Lo, Look--No Head, Disconnected, Psyko/Verdigo, Crosstown Canyon (blew me away!) and of course Fadeaway.
These two shows rank right up near the top of all the shows I've seen over the years... I'm still smiling.
One more observation... I'm not a big fan of the ritual of the encore. I just want the band to play and not waste time walking off the stage, wait for a few minutes of applause, walk back onstage, re-tune and play a couple songs, then repeat the process... four times! So much time is wasted where they could be playing. When it's time to stop... stop. I think it's silly... am I way off base here???
Clint
"Oh by the way, which one's Laika???"
Last edited: Oct 21, 2008 10:32:19
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surfbeatnik
Joined: Apr 01, 2007
Posts: 347
Sea Country, CA, USA
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Posted on Oct 20 2008 10:46 PM
Clint
One more observation... I'm not a big fan of the ritual of the encore...I think it's silly...am I way off base here???
Clint, I have to agree with you on the encore thing...to an extent. Maybe one encore...so that the band can get some fresh air, catch their breath...and come back with a vengeance...but, your right in saying that it takes time to get up, leave the stage, stand outside for a minute or two, come back in, tune up a bit, play, repeat, repeat....
Clint
"By the way, which one's Laika???"
You're kidding, right?  ...well, just in case...
Wikipedia
Laika, a stray, originally named Kudryavka (Russian: кудрявка, literally meaning, "Little Curly-Haired One"), underwent training with two other dogs, and was eventually chosen as the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into space on November 3, 1957.
Laika died a few hours after launch from stress and overheating, probably due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. The true cause of her death was not made public until decades after the flight.
Although Laika did not survive the trip, the experiment proved that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure weightlessness. It paved the way for human spaceflight and provided scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to spaceflight environments.
It was good to see you at the Purple Oh in El Segundo!
—
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CaptainSpringfield
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 4387
Under the Sun
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Posted on Oct 20 2008 11:14 PM
I'll echo a lot of what was said about the Purple Orchid show - really, really tight performance, especially from the rhythm section. I'm not too familiar with (or into) their catalog, so I didn't recognize many of the originals. Some of the covers were great, though - especially "Get Carter." Around the ninth encore I was ready to crash. And then they played "Telstar." Oops. So, yeah - great performance, but I'm still not too into the band. Still, I'm glad I went.
Oh, and Meshugga absolutely killed.
-Warren
— That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.
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Clint
Joined: Jul 16, 2006
Posts: 1493
San Diego
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Posted on Oct 21 2008 10:29 AM
Hey Duff, thanks for the Laika history...
but the comment was a joke... taken from Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar", ...
"Oh by the way, which one's Pink?"
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Ruhar
Joined: Jun 21, 2007
Posts: 3909
San Diego, CA
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Posted on Oct 21 2008 10:38 AM
Yeah I usually agree about encore thing. However, for this show I just wanted them to keep playing! The multiple encores didn't bother me.
— Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook
Last edited: Oct 22, 2008 09:09:39
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PolloGuitar
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 5090
San Francisco
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Posted on Oct 21 2008 10:42 AM
Ruhar
Yeah I agree with the encore thing. One is cool, but three? If it were any other band, I'd probably be more annoyed.
Maybe they only wanted to play one, but the crowd was begging for more?
— Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio
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Ruhar
Joined: Jun 21, 2007
Posts: 3909
San Diego, CA
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Posted on Oct 21 2008 10:55 AM
PolloGuitar
Maybe they only wanted to play one, but the crowd was begging for more?
That they were. Myself included
In this case I didn't mind because it is the last time I'll ever get to see them. I could have listened all night actually.
— Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook
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PolloGuitar
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 5090
San Francisco
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Posted on Oct 21 2008 11:08 AM
In the case of Laika, I know they came to play. The set schedule for S.F. had them slated for an hour. They asked if it was OK to play longer, much longer. And despite being severely jet lagged, they did.
— Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
Pool Boys on Spotify
INSTAGRAM
Frankie & The Pool Boys on FB
Pollo Del Mar on FB
DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio
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surfbeatnik
Joined: Apr 01, 2007
Posts: 347
Sea Country, CA, USA
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Posted on Oct 22 2008 08:13 AM
Clint
Hey Duff, thanks for the Laika history...
but the comment was a joke... taken from Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar", ...
"Oh by the way, which one's Pink?"
...I figured that! Some folks out there may not know that bit of history!
Have you ever seen the Pink Floyd tribute band, "Which one's Pink?"...amazing....usually shares the bill with "Led Zepagain". 
—
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UnsteadyFreddie
Joined: Feb 28, 2006
Posts: 2979
Hell\'s Kitchen, NYC
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Posted on Oct 22 2008 12:38 PM
LET THE BLITZ COMMENCE
I AM SEEING LAIKA AND THE COSMONAUTS and LOS STRAITJACKETS 4 out of the next 5 nights!!
am I psyched???
uhhhhh, you can assume I am going nutzoid!!
OCTOBER 22
PHILADELPHIA, PA., WORLD CAFE
OCTOBER 24
HOBOKEN, NJ, MAXWELL'S
OCTOBER 25
BROOKLYN, NY, SOUTHPAW
OCTOBER 26
TROY, NY, REVOLUTION HALL
hope to see some of you there?
VIVA LE TWANG!
UNSTEADY FREDDIE
— http://www.facebook.com/unsteady.freddie
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Kman1
Joined: Aug 29, 2008
Posts: 694
Surf City
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Posted on Oct 23 2008 05:11 PM
I just listened to these guys for the first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkI5uFNEIU&feature=related . These guys are awesome! And like usual, by the time I listen to a new band, they're on their farewell tour.
—
Sonichris
I also like to think that all early 60's fender equipment is happy to be playing surf music again. After all, its the music it was meant to play.
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 10:51 AM
Last night at the Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA Laika & the Cosmonauts were AAAMMMAAAAZZZZIIIINNNNGGG!! I experienced 50 minutes of such pure joy my face was hurting from smiling so much. The band sounded as good as when I saw them in '94 and twice in '95 - life-changing shows for me, since I was inspired to start a surf band soon after seeing them in November of '95.
They are all masters of their instruments, truly astonishing, playing with incredible precision and emotion. Janne, the drummer was, as the kiddies would say, off-the-hook! If we measure surf-drumming brilliance on the Dusty scale, I'd say Janne is pretty damn close to a full Dusty! Tom the bass player is probably the best there is in surf, plain and simple. He always comes up with fantastically imaginative and melodic parts for the songs. Mikko played like a surf-guitar god that he is. He played his '82 Squier JV-series Strat equipped with Seymour Duncan Antiquity '50s pickups into a small homemade 1x12" (Jensen) AC30 clone amp, and using about half a dozen pedals (delay, overdrive, tremolo, tuner, reverb?, don't know what else). Matti did a phenomenal job with both keyboards and guitar, at moments strumming so fast that somewhere Bruce Welch must have been smiling, not even knowing why!
The setlist was something like the following:
The Hypno-Wheel
Disconnected
(new song - Cosmopolis Theme?)
Hi & Lo
Oahu Luau
Expose
Psyko/Mission Impossible
The Fugitive
Vendetta
NY '79
Get Carter/Baja
C'mon Do the Laika
Telstar
Encore: Look! No Head!
There were a few more songs, but I can't remember them at the moment (maybe Note Crisis and Turquoise?). Sadly, no Floating, Baha-Ree-Bah, Surfs You Right, Global Village, Cafe Equator. Several people agreed that we should ask Los Straits to sit out the rest of the evening and let the Cosmonauts play another set or two.  As they played the last song, I felt pretty sad that this will probably be the last time I'll ever see these guys live. The five live shows I'd seen by them have brought me such pleasure and inspiration that it was hard to face up to that fact. But at least they went out on a supremely high note! (Literally, as "Look! No Head!" was almost overwhelmingly heavy and intense, sounding much better than on record, I thought!)
I chatted with Mikko and then later Tom for a while after the show. They're both professional musicians and really need to play music that will earn them more income, as they have families to support. Mikko seemed to be glad to see the end of the band, and also seemed kinda burned out on surf music in general (or maybe it was just his sarcastic nature - hard to tell!). Tom described it as bittersweet - and necessary. (It turns out that Mikko was a sideman for a very popular Finnish pop singer and is used to playing large crowds - I couldn't help but think of Shigeo of the Surf Coasters and his other gig with the pop singer Puffy.)
Los Straits played as well as ever afterwards, and they have a new album in the can. It's coming out in March, followed by a massive tour which Danny described as 'killer', in a sense they will be dead by the end of it!
An incredible, unforgettable night all-in-all. I'm so glad I was there.
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
Last edited: Oct 24, 2008 15:39:06
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DannySnyder
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 11046
Berkeley, CA
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 10:59 AM
Great review Ivan. I can honestly say that Tony and I walked out of their show different musicians from when we walked in.
— Danny Snyder
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo
Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta
Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party
Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF
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Ruhar
Joined: Jun 21, 2007
Posts: 3909
San Diego, CA
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 11:04 AM
Agreed. Great review Ivan!
Yeah, when I spoke to Tom about their future, he said that ending the band was bittersweet, but necessary. And Matti joked that none of them will be selling any gear, so you never know
— Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook
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CaptainSensible
Joined: Nov 08, 2006
Posts: 647
Leesburg, VA
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 11:12 AM
At Wolf Trap, Laika's cover of "The Fugitive," played at an incredible pace, was the highlight of the night for me. Well, that and everything the drummer played. He's just friggin' awesome.
— Sean
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UnsteadyFreddie
Joined: Feb 28, 2006
Posts: 2979
Hell\'s Kitchen, NYC
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 11:54 AM
IVAN
that was an incredible, descriptive, and enthusiastic review from last night!
just wanted to chime in briefly about the show the night prior at WORLD CAFE in Philadelphia
the place was full!! (reserved seating this time, no open floor); which is amazing, considering the PHILLIES are in the World Series and Game 1 was that night!!
ran into STEVE from BLUE WAVE THEORY and BERGEN WOODS from SURF + TURF
both bands were on top of their game; the stage was quite large, giving both bands plenty of room
yeah JANNE can pound with the best of them; I too loved watching Matti switch between guitar and keys, back n forth, back n forth, and he was having so much fun in the process
Tom kept a steady rhythm alongside Janne; they play off each other quite nicely--compliment each other, making it clear to me that when a band play together for 20 years, they can do this automatically
now Mikko just blows me away; he grew his hair out, and looks quite the sight as he just rips away off to the side; smooth, clear tones, no sign of rock-star ego to be found
I luv PSYKO - their take on the Bernard Herrmann/Hitchcock theme....they just have way way too much hilarity between themselves performing that
there was a special personal moment for me when MATTI dedicated NY 79 to me - he gave me quite the shout-out, and I was, needless to say, quite moved, and honored by it
can't wait to see these guys for the next 3 nights! I am beyond psyched
LOS STRAITJACKETS were amazing (what else is new?); can TEEN BEAT kick ass on that little kit, or what? muscular riffs from a guy who looks 13 and weighs, what, 150 pounds, at the most?
the band, as Ivan mentioned, played some new material; as best as I can tell, the 4 songs we were treated to were called CHALLENGER, BLOWOUT, FORTUNE COOKIE and SPEEDO -- great stuff, to be sure...some ealry 60's sounds, hot rod, rock n roll in a couple of them...really think the new album is going to be great b/c it is the first full length instro record to feature TEEN BEAT
after the show EDDIE said to me he was thrilled that they played so well, considering they had to follow after LAIKA and the COSMONAUTS, who he thought were just great
I am dropping in a shot of me with the JACKETS from after the show (PETE was on stage breaking the equipment when this was taken; but 3 out of 4 ain't bad!)
anyway, keep the comments, reviews, pix and videos coming
I am hopeful to get some videos tonight at MAXWELL's as I will be at the foot of a small stage in a compact room; if I do I will try and get them up within 24 hours on my YouTube page, http://www.youtube.com/unsteadyfreddie
UNSTEADY FREDDIE
instro-maniac
— http://www.facebook.com/unsteady.freddie
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 02:38 PM
CaptainSensible
At Wolf Trap, Laika's cover of "The Fugitive," played at an incredible pace, was the highlight of the night for me. Well, that and everything the drummer played. He's just friggin' awesome.
I agree. L&TC are pretty unique in the surf music world in how they play with the tempos within songs, pushing, pulling, slowing way down, speeding way up. That was something that really left an impression on me the first time I saw them. They don't do it on their recordings, probably wisely, but live it's a blast, especially when they go into full-on ovedrive as they did on "The Fugitive", "Psyko/Mission Imposible", "Baja" and "Telstar" (hmmm, all covers...), and even switching tempos within the songs. A real rush! (Interestingly enough, I was talking to a local guy after their set who disliked this aspect of L&TC quite a bit, thinking it killed the 'groove' of the songs - in fact, he thought that they didn't have much groove, period - this was astonishing to me, as I was bopping along more to L&TC than any other surf band I had seen in years!)
Two other favorites of the night were "Oahu Luau", which sounded simply gorgeous, and "NY '79", which was again much better than the record, and it already sounds very good on record. They were both "exploding with melodies", as Sean and I came to describe it! And "Look! No Head!" was awesome, too, as I already said. L&TC are a band that's really better live than on their recordings. Well, at least we have "Laika Sex Machine" to remember how it was....
PS Oh, one very funny bit was when Matti started speaking rapid-fire Finnish into the microphone, addressing the audience after their first or second song. Why was it funny? Well, if Los Straits can do that with Spanish, why not L&TC with Finnish?? 
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
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DannySnyder
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 11046
Berkeley, CA
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 02:58 PM
IvanP
PS Oh, one very funny bit was when Matti started speaking rapid-fire Finnish into the microphone, addressing the audience after their first or second song. Why was it funny? Well, if Los Straits can do that with Spanish, why not L&TC with Finnish??
Did you read that Mel Waldorf? You better start practicing your Yiddish 
— Danny Snyder
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo
Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta
Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party
Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF
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Staredge
Joined: Sep 27, 2008
Posts: 1149
Damascus, Maryland
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 02:59 PM
Yeah, what they said!!!!! 
Ivan, whoever you were talking to wasn't watching the same show I did. L&TC were groovin' hard. Disconnected blew me away onstage, & has been doing so most of the day in the car!!!!!
Then LS came on & blew the roof off of the place!!!!!! Probably the most entertaining show I've ever seen.
I'd rather have had Laika take over LS' set...then shoved all the Barns people out, lock the doors, and let LS take over for a couple of hours!!! If ever a show needed to be 4-5 hours long, it was that one. I agree with what a couple of people have said: figures I get turned on to a band on their farewell tour!!!! At least I've had the opportunity to see them once.....up close & personal.
— Will
"You're done, once you're a surfer you're done. You're in. It's like the mob or something. You're not getting out." - Kelly Slater
The Luau Cinders
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mom_surfing
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 5298
the outer banks of north carolina
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 07:47 PM
most definitely a great show. for me the barns at wolf trap is a perfect size venue and to my ears the sound was perfect. never too loud and the balance just right with the instruments.
i bought the laika 'cosmopolis' cd a few days before the show as i was only familiar with a few of their tunes. it's a good compilation cd for a sampling of their tunes. i really enjoyed their set, which ended all too soon. i think that's the fastest i've ever heard 'telstar' played. i wish they'd played 's.p.y.d.a.s. web' but i'm sure we all have a favorite they didn't play.
this is the third time i've seen LSJ and the first time without either big sandy or kaiser george. my favorite tunes as usual are the faster ones, with the exception of 'last date'. standouts for me were 'casbah', 'tempest' and 'jack the ripper'. i thought the energy of their set increased with each tune they played. i found myself at the end of their set wishing big sandy had shown up just to do a few vocals as i really like 'california sun', 'tallahassee lassie' and 'bumblebee' and i think LSJ and sandy are a perfect match for those tunes.
the drumming by both bands was stellar.
we got there two minutes before the show started. someone should write a song titled 'lost in dc'. god, what a mess that place is to drive around.
great to meet new faces and see old again. hope to see everyone again someday, somewhere.
carol
captainsensible.....i was the only one there wearing a black dress with lime green spider webs and spiders on it. (finally a chance to wear it) i'm surprised you didn't see me. : )
i forgot to add that LSJ also tore through 'the munsters' and 'rockula'. cool.
— www.surfintheeye.com
Last edited: Oct 25, 2008 07:44:33
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