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July 9th 2005 Chicago (well... Berwyn to be precise)
This is part 2 of my report on our Exotica High Speed Weekend. This
part deals with the Exotica event. Part 1 was the previous night's
Surge/Nebulas/Madeira show in Indianapolis.
After a bleary eyed drive up from Indianapolis and wrestling with
Chicago traffic we arrived at Fitzgeralds for the Exotica 2005 main
day of music. Fitzgeralds consists of several buildings connected by a
large open area. For the Exotica event, they fenced the open area off
and covered most of it with a large circus like tent. Inside the open
area were a whole bunch of vendors, selling Tiki and other exotic
stuff...clothes, masks, mugs, trinkets, etc. It was a really nice
setup and the place was pretty clean and family oriented (compared to
other surf band venues I have been in - LOL). Lots of kids were there,
surprisingly. There was a stage in the outside area, under the large
tent. There was also another stage in a good sized room in one of the
back buildings. Unfortunately, there was some competition between
stages (overlap with bands), so you couldn't see everything you
wanted.
While we waited during the mid-afternoon for the "real" entertainment
to start, we got to see Hawaiin dancers and a duo of acoustic and
steel guitar players. Later that evening they had a fire dancer.
Catching a flaming baton in the back of your knee without burning
yourself is pretty damn impressive.
Soon I started recognizing people...first there was the guy in the S3
shirt. I later learned this was Jet Powers. Then some Nebulas started
trickling in. And then the Madeira. And an umasked Eddie Angel and
Pete Curry. Kaiser George was buying booze at the bar. Around this
time I got to meet Michael Miller and the rest of the Los Cobras guys.
"Miller" is an SG101 regular and his band (from Grand Rapids MI ?)
submitted "Watery Grave" (a good track IMHO) to the mp3 comp. Los
Cobras is just about to release their CD and I had a very nice time
talking to them. I enjoyed hearing about seeing the 3D-Invisibles and
the Zombie Surfers first hand. Cool! Best of luck with the CD release
guys! (Miller and *and* his wife won consecutive prizes during the
raffle...I think it was rigged!)
Let's see, about then Ivan introduced me to Gregory Nicoll and Jet
Powers. Very nice meeting you! The Surge guys also made it up. They
seemed like old friends by this time.
Around 4:00pm the Nebulas began setting up inside. I took a quick peek
outside and caught a song or two from The Neanderthals at the outside
stage. This looked like a total riot, with the band dressed in furry
caveman outfits and Lone Ranger style masks, and I wish I could have
caught their entire set. Pete Curry must have been filling in for
their regular bass player. The lead singer, Johnny Rabb (?), was a lot
of fun, pounding on a drum with a caveman club while screaming himself
red-faced. And the ever present Eddie Angel guitar licks sounded
mighty damn good in a primitive rock-n-roll way. But, my heart was
with surf, and I had to catch the Nebulas again, so it was back
inside.
The Nebulas did a quick sound check of Spandito Bandito, which sounded
awesome, and it actually brought people inside to see what was going
on. This was a good sign. After that I was honored that Dano and Eric
asked us for a couple of song ideas for the set (they took us up on
High Tide, Tuco's Lament, and Godfather - thanks guys; apparently
Mandalore is a forgotten tune :( .
I think it was at this point that I got to see Mike and Sandy from the
9th Wave again. I last saw them 2 years ago at the previous Exotica
event. Nice to see you guys again.
After a short delay and intro from an emcee type of guy whose name
escapes me...the Nebulas emerged...da da da...wearing their skeleton
masks, top hats, and suits! I can't even begin to tell you the effect
these had on the audience. First of all you have these leering skull
smiles looking at you. And while they wore the masks, they had no
chit-chat between songs, they just hammered one song after another -
bam bam bam. It was great. People started coming in the door when the
music started, and seeing the looks on their faces when they saw the
band was priceless. Shock and awe. About 3/4 of the way through the
set they tore off their masks (before passing out I presume) and
started some chatter with the audience. It worked really well and the
crowd was really, really digging them.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I really felt this performance was
about 3 times better than the previous night's, and that is saying a
lot. They played more songs from their first 2 CD's and less of the
newer unreleased tunes. The room sounded much better and I could hear
everyone clearly. The whole band was really on fire...Rudy was getting
his tuff aggressive Mosrite tone and Jim was really ripping it up with
fast fills. Eric was bouncing up and down and Dano was keeping the
boooching alive. They played their surfy cover of Bus Stop again (this
is really growing on me - I must hear this again!), and played another
cover song in my "gee I wish I could hear this song live" category:
Exotic by the Sentinals. Hooray, I can cross that one off. Wow...that
really kicked ass. I just love the throbbing bass line and guitar
work. They did a great job on that one. Tuco's Lament was a great song
to break up the high energy set. It has such a cool sad melody. They
closed with 2 covers: Bodies Under The Bridge and the Godfather. One
of the many enduring memories I have of the whole night is watching
Mike double pick (or is it tremolo pick :) the last verse of The
Godfather a million miles an hour so fluidly. Pretty damn cool. It was
a very impressive performance and I was so glad I got to see it. On
top of that, they had a great crowd who were really going nuts for
them. That had to feel very good.
I think it was in the aftermath that I finally got to meet Unsteady
Freddie. I hope we can cross paths again Freddie at many more great
surf shows.
The Madeira were up next. I don't think I can add too much to the
heaps of praise I gave them in part one. Their performance, to me, was
just as fantastic as the previous night's, and on top of it, the
acoustics were much better. Another outstanding job. The large crowd
was also really into it; there were people offering the band beers,
trying to find out where they were from, etc. They got a great
response. And they demanded, and received, an encore! Apparently they
only had 1 song left that they all knew, DD's The Victor. Gregory's
attempts to get them to play Red Sunrise failed. Ha-ha. The only
incidents I recall were Ivan unplugging himself by stepping on his
cord, which he quickly realized, plugged back in, and then leaped back
into the song *mid-phrase* which I thought was impressive. And Todd
was hiding in the back...he needs to get moved up to the front! Just
another really, really great job. I was really quite amazed at how
well songs like Express to Baghdad went over. It seems people are
ready for non-blooze scale music after all.
So then we ran outside to catch the Exotics (from Milwaukee) who were
about 1/2 done with their set. I will admit I do not know very much
about them, although I have seen the soul/surf combo The Nelsonics,
which features, I believe, the bass player and drummer.
Anyway, I will definitely be checking these guys out more, I'd
appreciate pointers from the list. I got the impression they only had
1 full length and this was the first time they had played together in
years. The bass player had a striking red Wilson Brothers bass
(VMB-75?) with the Ventures logo on it, and the two guitar players had
Eastwood Mosrite clones (a beautiful medium blue and a
yellow/cream/gold one). The drummer was playing a 3 piece kit standing
up. These guys were fantastic! As I ran up they were playing Cecilia
Ann, and playing it true to the original! They then proceeded to blast
through some surf tinged party rock-n-roll, with really great crowd
interaction with lots of smiles and infectious grooving. They had the
outside crowd dancing, and even gave away a blender (!) to the best
dancer in the front row. Actually they couldn't decide so they gave it
to two young girls who didn't know each other. I'd have liked to stick
around and see how that got resolved. I'm also not sure what happened,
but they had the lights turned out on them during one entire song...I
don't know if they were getting told to finish or what, but they kept
going. A very fun performance and I'm really glad I got to see them! I
hear they are playing out again, by all means catch them!
Los Straitjackets were up next. A crowd magically formed while I was
talking to people, so we got a bad spot near the back. This wasn't
just your average LS show, it was a "Summer Twist Party", featuring
Kaiser George (of the Kaisers?) and the World Famous Pontani Sisters.
The show consisted of about 1/2 the normal LS set and was interleaved
by vocal twist numbers sung by Kaiser George and usually had the
Pontanis dancing. It was a big fun colorful party. I'll probably be
pelted with rocks and garbage for saying this, but I think I would
have preferred the standard LS set. It was fun and everything, but the
twist numbers did nothing for me musically. The Pontani Sisters are
definitely easy on the eyes, however. At one point they held a twist
contest, pulling up members of the audience. Pitted against two
hopelessly outclassed guys was the 9th Wave's Sandy, who easily pegged
the Twist-o-meter. Funny. They definitely had the crowd in the palm of
their hand and put on a damn entertaining show. This was the first
show for me with new drummer Teen Beat who replaced Jimmy Lester
recently.
For some odd reason, the promoters put a band on after LS, and it was
Cocktail Preachers on the inside stage. By this time it was really
late, and the folks were were staying with wanted to split. I did poke
my head in and caught a few minutes of the first song. Just enough to
see that the CP's were doing "the right thing (TM)". I have apologized
profusely to Phil Tiki in a private email. I heard through the
grapevine that the CP's did a great job and even had audience members
jump up on stage and dance. Awesome!
Congratulations if you are still reading my longest post ever. I
should have some photos and some video clips posted "real soon now".
Overall, an amazing event, I sure hope they do it again next year.
Taken with the previous night it was definitely a high speed weekend
that I will remember fondly for a long time. It was great seeing all
of my old online friends again, as well as meeting several new
friends. Thanks to everyone for being so cool....and especially to
those who play, love, and support live surf music.
BN
Thanks Brian It was nice meeting you also. For me it was a great day
but one thing stood above everything else. Yea the Nebulas.I'm still
in shock.Miller
--- In , Brian Neal <bgneal@g...> wrote:
> July 9th 2005 Chicago (well... Berwyn to be precise)
>
> This is part 2 of my report on our Exotica High Speed Weekend. This
> part deals with the Exotica event. Part 1 was the previous night's
> Surge/Nebulas/Madeira show in Indianapolis.
>
> After a bleary eyed drive up from Indianapolis and wrestling with
> Chicago traffic we arrived at Fitzgeralds for the Exotica 2005 main
> day of music. Fitzgeralds consists of several buildings connected by a
> large open area. For the Exotica event, they fenced the open area off
> and covered most of it with a large circus like tent. Inside the open
> area were a whole bunch of vendors, selling Tiki and other exotic
> stuff...clothes, masks, mugs, trinkets, etc. It was a really nice
> setup and the place was pretty clean and family oriented (compared to
> other surf band venues I have been in - LOL). Lots of kids were there,
> surprisingly. There was a stage in the outside area, under the large
> tent. There was also another stage in a good sized room in one of the
> back buildings. Unfortunately, there was some competition between
> stages (overlap with bands), so you couldn't see everything you
> wanted.
>
> While we waited during the mid-afternoon for the "real" entertainment
> to start, we got to see Hawaiin dancers and a duo of acoustic and
> steel guitar players. Later that evening they had a fire dancer.
> Catching a flaming baton in the back of your knee without burning
> yourself is pretty damn impressive.
>
> Soon I started recognizing people...first there was the guy in the S3
> shirt. I later learned this was Jet Powers. Then some Nebulas started
> trickling in. And then the Madeira. And an umasked Eddie Angel and
> Pete Curry. Kaiser George was buying booze at the bar. Around this
> time I got to meet Michael Miller and the rest of the Los Cobras guys.
> "Miller" is an SG101 regular and his band (from Grand Rapids MI ?)
> submitted "Watery Grave" (a good track IMHO) to the mp3 comp. Los
> Cobras is just about to release their CD and I had a very nice time
> talking to them. I enjoyed hearing about seeing the 3D-Invisibles and
> the Zombie Surfers first hand. Cool! Best of luck with the CD release
> guys! (Miller and *and* his wife won consecutive prizes during the
> raffle...I think it was rigged!)
>
> Let's see, about then Ivan introduced me to Gregory Nicoll and Jet
> Powers. Very nice meeting you! The Surge guys also made it up. They
> seemed like old friends by this time.
>
> Around 4:00pm the Nebulas began setting up inside. I took a quick peek
> outside and caught a song or two from The Neanderthals at the outside
> stage. This looked like a total riot, with the band dressed in furry
> caveman outfits and Lone Ranger style masks, and I wish I could have
> caught their entire set. Pete Curry must have been filling in for
> their regular bass player. The lead singer, Johnny Rabb (?), was a lot
> of fun, pounding on a drum with a caveman club while screaming himself
> red-faced. And the ever present Eddie Angel guitar licks sounded
> mighty damn good in a primitive rock-n-roll way. But, my heart was
> with surf, and I had to catch the Nebulas again, so it was back
> inside.
>
> The Nebulas did a quick sound check of Spandito Bandito, which sounded
> awesome, and it actually brought people inside to see what was going
> on. This was a good sign. After that I was honored that Dano and Eric
> asked us for a couple of song ideas for the set (they took us up on
> High Tide, Tuco's Lament, and Godfather - thanks guys; apparently
> Mandalore is a forgotten tune :( .
>
> I think it was at this point that I got to see Mike and Sandy from the
> 9th Wave again. I last saw them 2 years ago at the previous Exotica
> event. Nice to see you guys again.
>
> After a short delay and intro from an emcee type of guy whose name
> escapes me...the Nebulas emerged...da da da...wearing their skeleton
> masks, top hats, and suits! I can't even begin to tell you the effect
> these had on the audience. First of all you have these leering skull
> smiles looking at you. And while they wore the masks, they had no
> chit-chat between songs, they just hammered one song after another -
> bam bam bam. It was great. People started coming in the door when the
> music started, and seeing the looks on their faces when they saw the
> band was priceless. Shock and awe. About 3/4 of the way through the
> set they tore off their masks (before passing out I presume) and
> started some chatter with the audience. It worked really well and the
> crowd was really, really digging them.
>
> But I'm getting ahead of myself. I really felt this performance was
> about 3 times better than the previous night's, and that is saying a
> lot. They played more songs from their first 2 CD's and less of the
> newer unreleased tunes. The room sounded much better and I could hear
> everyone clearly. The whole band was really on fire...Rudy was getting
> his tuff aggressive Mosrite tone and Jim was really ripping it up with
> fast fills. Eric was bouncing up and down and Dano was keeping the
> boooching alive. They played their surfy cover of Bus Stop again (this
> is really growing on me - I must hear this again!), and played another
> cover song in my "gee I wish I could hear this song live" category:
> Exotic by the Sentinals. Hooray, I can cross that one off. Wow...that
> really kicked ass. I just love the throbbing bass line and guitar
> work. They did a great job on that one. Tuco's Lament was a great song
> to break up the high energy set. It has such a cool sad melody. They
> closed with 2 covers: Bodies Under The Bridge and the Godfather. One
> of the many enduring memories I have of the whole night is watching
> Mike double pick (or is it tremolo pick :) the last verse of The
> Godfather a million miles an hour so fluidly. Pretty damn cool. It was
> a very impressive performance and I was so glad I got to see it. On
> top of that, they had a great crowd who were really going nuts for
> them. That had to feel very good.
>
> I think it was in the aftermath that I finally got to meet Unsteady
> Freddie. I hope we can cross paths again Freddie at many more great
> surf shows.
>
> The Madeira were up next. I don't think I can add too much to the
> heaps of praise I gave them in part one. Their performance, to me, was
> just as fantastic as the previous night's, and on top of it, the
> acoustics were much better. Another outstanding job. The large crowd
> was also really into it; there were people offering the band beers,
> trying to find out where they were from, etc. They got a great
> response. And they demanded, and received, an encore! Apparently they
> only had 1 song left that they all knew, DD's The Victor. Gregory's
> attempts to get them to play Red Sunrise failed. Ha-ha. The only
> incidents I recall were Ivan unplugging himself by stepping on his
> cord, which he quickly realized, plugged back in, and then leaped back
> into the song *mid-phrase* which I thought was impressive. And Todd
> was hiding in the back...he needs to get moved up to the front! Just
> another really, really great job. I was really quite amazed at how
> well songs like Express to Baghdad went over. It seems people are
> ready for non-blooze scale music after all.
>
> So then we ran outside to catch the Exotics (from Milwaukee) who were
> about 1/2 done with their set. I will admit I do not know very much
> about them, although I have seen the soul/surf combo The Nelsonics,
> which features, I believe, the bass player and drummer.
> Anyway, I will definitely be checking these guys out more, I'd
> appreciate pointers from the list. I got the impression they only had
> 1 full length and this was the first time they had played together in
> years. The bass player had a striking red Wilson Brothers bass
> (VMB-75?) with the Ventures logo on it, and the two guitar players had
> Eastwood Mosrite clones (a beautiful medium blue and a
> yellow/cream/gold one). The drummer was playing a 3 piece kit standing
> up. These guys were fantastic! As I ran up they were playing Cecilia
> Ann, and playing it true to the original! They then proceeded to blast
> through some surf tinged party rock-n-roll, with really great crowd
> interaction with lots of smiles and infectious grooving. They had the
> outside crowd dancing, and even gave away a blender (!) to the best
> dancer in the front row. Actually they couldn't decide so they gave it
> to two young girls who didn't know each other. I'd have liked to stick
> around and see how that got resolved. I'm also not sure what happened,
> but they had the lights turned out on them during one entire song...I
> don't know if they were getting told to finish or what, but they kept
> going. A very fun performance and I'm really glad I got to see them! I
> hear they are playing out again, by all means catch them!
>
> Los Straitjackets were up next. A crowd magically formed while I was
> talking to people, so we got a bad spot near the back. This wasn't
> just your average LS show, it was a "Summer Twist Party", featuring
> Kaiser George (of the Kaisers?) and the World Famous Pontani Sisters.
> The show consisted of about 1/2 the normal LS set and was interleaved
> by vocal twist numbers sung by Kaiser George and usually had the
> Pontanis dancing. It was a big fun colorful party. I'll probably be
> pelted with rocks and garbage for saying this, but I think I would
> have preferred the standard LS set. It was fun and everything, but the
> twist numbers did nothing for me musically. The Pontani Sisters are
> definitely easy on the eyes, however. At one point they held a twist
> contest, pulling up members of the audience. Pitted against two
> hopelessly outclassed guys was the 9th Wave's Sandy, who easily pegged
> the Twist-o-meter. Funny. They definitely had the crowd in the palm of
> their hand and put on a damn entertaining show. This was the first
> show for me with new drummer Teen Beat who replaced Jimmy Lester
> recently.
>
> For some odd reason, the promoters put a band on after LS, and it was
> Cocktail Preachers on the inside stage. By this time it was really
> late, and the folks were were staying with wanted to split. I did poke
> my head in and caught a few minutes of the first song. Just enough to
> see that the CP's were doing "the right thing (TM)". I have apologized
> profusely to Phil Tiki in a private email. I heard through the
> grapevine that the CP's did a great job and even had audience members
> jump up on stage and dance. Awesome!
>
> Congratulations if you are still reading my longest post ever. I
> should have some photos and some video clips posted "real soon now".
>
> Overall, an amazing event, I sure hope they do it again next year.
> Taken with the previous night it was definitely a high speed weekend
> that I will remember fondly for a long time. It was great seeing all
> of my old online friends again, as well as meeting several new
> friends. Thanks to everyone for being so cool....and especially to
> those who play, love, and support live surf music.
>
> BN
hey - just a quick chime in from The Nebulas - my computer blew up so I
don't have access to write a full blown tour diary, but suffice it to say,
we all had a blast at the two gigs. I'm sure by the next big gig we play, we
will have already released our 3rd CD and be playing unreleased stuff from
our next one, but unfortunately, our performance schedule doesn't seem to
synch well with our writing and recording. Hopefully we can do some long
distance gigs soon after the next CD comes out, but that all depends on
scheduling and finances, both of which are somewhat limited as usual. Since
we don't play out that much to begin with, we're trying to tighten up some
of the new stuff in a pressure-filled live situataion before committing it
to tape (or disc, or whatever).
As far as the gigs went, it was great to meet so many people and see so many
bands - thanks again to Brian, Shari, the guys in the Madeira, The Surge,
all S3 field agents (we should have played Redlined again on Saturday), USF
and anyone else that showed up to our soundcheck and came back again later
for the actual show.
To clarify, we actually played Steel Pier (not Spanito) at our sound check,
but did play Spanito Banditio during our set (which we did not play the
previous night). The Neanderthals went on a little late - I think 6:15 or
so & we were supposed to start at 6:30, but got a 15-minute reprieve from
the organizers to get back on the original overlap schedule. Just as well,
since it was designed to only have 10-15 minutes of overlap. Too bad I
missed the neanderthals, but I did watch them through the window of our
dressing room.
Likewise with the Madeira - it was tough because the Exotics went on about
halfway through their set so I was trying to catch as much as each band as I
could - running between the inside stage and the outside stage, stopping
only to reload the MaiTai. Fortunately I caught The Madeira's whole set the
night before (and about 80% of it in Chicago) - these guys are going to
light the scene up when their CD comes out, so get ready (and get your
calculus books out if you want to figure out how to play any of it, 'cause
this stuff is complex and intense).
Lastly, it was too bad the CPs had to go on last on the inside stage -
probably didn't help matters much when the MC announced the Straitjackets as
the "last band of the evening" but all in all, it was a great time and we
were glad to be a part of it.
If anyone on the east coast is interested, we just booked a gig at
Ghoulstock - a horror festival in New Jersey on Saturday July 30th. Details
are on our shows page at www.thenebulas.com
thanks again for a great time
toofastjim / the nebulas
sober and computerless
>From: Brian Neal <>
>Reply-To:
>To: , ,
>
>Subject: [reverborama] Exotica High Speed Weekend Part 2
>Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 19:00:22 -0500
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Thanks for the kind words, Brian! It was a really fun show, despite
the fact that I had a horrible sinus infection and strained back.
Kinda sucked that way. Plus, I just had my new Eastwood mosrite copy
set up and it just was not staying in tune! Sooo hot up there too.
But well worth it. I hope we get down to Chicago again real soon. If
not, I'll be posting when we're playing Milwaukee and any other
midwest shows we'll be doing, if that's okay.
Yeah, the first reunion show was in December - that was the first time
we played together in over five years.
Pauly
The Exotics
www.easterrecords.net
Hey, TooFastJim,
It sure was swell to meet you face to face at the Exotica show, and
I'm glad I had the chance for a brief chat with a coupla you guys
outside in the cooler air after The Nebulas' searing set.
You fellahs FLOORED me with your blistering skill and superb
showmanship, and I've been spinning your CD damn near constantly
every since. All hail to The Nebulas!!
Here's hoping we can set up a show for you down in Georgia sometime,
ideally after dark at either Drive-Invasion or the Rock and Roll
Monster Bash. I know you'd be a huge hit at either of those annual
outdoor parties.
Cheers!
--GREGORY NICOLL
S3 Agent #044
--- In , "james nichols"
<toofastjim@m...> wrote:
> hey - just a quick chime in from The Nebulas - my computer blew up
so I
> don't have access to write a full blown tour diary, but suffice it
to say,
> we all had a blast at the two gigs. I'm sure by the next big gig
we play, we
> will have already released our 3rd CD and be playing unreleased
stuff from
> our next one, but unfortunately, our performance schedule doesn't
seem to
> synch well with our writing and recording. Hopefully we can do
some long
> distance gigs soon after the next CD comes out, but that all
depends on
> scheduling and finances, both of which are somewhat limited as
usual. Since
> we don't play out that much to begin with, we're trying to tighten
up some
> of the new stuff in a pressure-filled live situataion before
committing it
> to tape (or disc, or whatever).
>
> As far as the gigs went, it was great to meet so many people and
see so many
> bands - thanks again to Brian, Shari, the guys in the Madeira, The
Surge,
> all S3 field agents (we should have played Redlined again on
Saturday), USF
> and anyone else that showed up to our soundcheck and came back
again later
> for the actual show.
>
> To clarify, we actually played Steel Pier (not Spanito) at our
sound check,
> but did play Spanito Banditio during our set (which we did not
play the
> previous night). The Neanderthals went on a little late - I think
6:15 or
> so & we were supposed to start at 6:30, but got a 15-minute
reprieve from
> the organizers to get back on the original overlap schedule. Just
as well,
> since it was designed to only have 10-15 minutes of overlap. Too
bad I
> missed the neanderthals, but I did watch them through the window
of our
> dressing room.
>
> Likewise with the Madeira - it was tough because the Exotics went
on about
> halfway through their set so I was trying to catch as much as each
band as I
> could - running between the inside stage and the outside stage,
stopping
> only to reload the MaiTai. Fortunately I caught The Madeira's
whole set the
> night before (and about 80% of it in Chicago) - these guys are
going to
> light the scene up when their CD comes out, so get ready (and get
your
> calculus books out if you want to figure out how to play any of
it, 'cause
> this stuff is complex and intense).
>
> Lastly, it was too bad the CPs had to go on last on the inside
stage -
> probably didn't help matters much when the MC announced the
Straitjackets as
> the "last band of the evening" but all in all, it was a great time
and we
> were glad to be a part of it.
>
> If anyone on the east coast is interested, we just booked a gig at
> Ghoulstock - a horror festival in New Jersey on Saturday July
30th. Details
> are on our shows page at www.thenebulas.com
>
> thanks again for a great time
>
> toofastjim / the nebulas
>
> sober and computerless
Hey TFJ -
Thanks for the clarifications/corrections on my report.
We were just looking over our pictures and I had forgotten about one
thing regarding your Exotica set. You guys had some kind of dry ice or
smoke thing going on...what was that? I've got a cool photo of a bunch
of skeletons swathed in smoke that I'll post soon.
Still smilin',
BN
It was a "dry ice smoke thing" machine - usually we just sniff it to get a
buzz, or we lock it up in Rudy's basement & he says he doesn't have it,
making me believe I got drunk and left it at a show, but then we find it,
bring it out and sometimes forget to use it. This time we remembered to use
it.
>From: "Brian Neal" <>
>Reply-To:
>To:
>Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Exotica High Speed Weekend Part 2
>Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2005 19:06:26 -0000
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I want to give a deep thanks to Brian for this in-depth review - I
know how hard and time-consuming it is to write something this
detailed and lengthy. But I'm sure I'm not the only person that
really appreciates it! I've printed out a copy and am keeping it in
my files - and I'm sure rereading it a few years down the road will
make all sorts of memories come flooding back...
I'll just add a few brief things to his report.
--- In , Brian Neal <bgneal@g...> wrote:
> July 9th 2005 Chicago (well... Berwyn to be precise)
> Fitzgeralds consists of several buildings connected by a
> large open area. For the Exotica event, they fenced the open area
off
> and covered most of it with a large circus like tent. Inside the
open
> area were a whole bunch of vendors, selling Tiki and other exotic
> stuff...clothes, masks, mugs, trinkets, etc. It was a really nice
> setup and the place was pretty clean and family oriented (compared
to
> other surf band venues I have been in - LOL). Lots of kids were
there,
> surprisingly.
I should mention that the place was very full of people. I had a
chance to talk to Melanie Angel (Eddie's wife) on several occasions
throughout the evening, and she estimated that there were about 500
people there. She, BTW, was in charge of much of the logistics of
the event, and I gotta say that everything ran totally smoothly -
completely professional. I've corresponded with her over email on
several occasions in the past, but this is the first time I met her
in person, and she's a truly lovely, sweet woman. Eddie is a lucky
guy!
> Around this
> time I got to meet Michael Miller and the rest of the Los Cobras
guys.
> "Miller" is an SG101 regular
Well, damn! Miller, why no saying hi? I'm bummed out we missed our
chance to meet in person!
> Let's see, about then Ivan introduced me to Gregory Nicoll and Jet
> Powers.
It's great to see Gregorious on this list. He is a music writer for
Creative Loafing in Atlanta, and has done a LOT to promote surf
music in the Big Peach. He's definitely done a lot for the Space
Cossacks who played Atlanta at least three times from '96-'98 - the
shows being big successed because 1) we played them with the
Penetrators and 2) because Greg would write up big articles about
them ahead of time! I'm sure he'd be happy to help any other worthy
surf bands in the future. Just ask him nicely! And Jet Powers was
the security detail for the Penetrators, and it was great to see him
again. I haven't seen either of these guys since '98, so it was
just fantastic to have them there. And they haven't changed a bit!
> After a short delay and intro from an emcee type of guy whose name
> escapes me...the Nebulas emerged...da da da...wearing their
skeleton
> masks, top hats, and suits! I can't even begin to tell you the
effect
> these had on the audience. First of all you have these leering
skull
> smiles looking at you. And while they wore the masks, they had no
> chit-chat between songs, they just hammered one song after
another -
> bam bam bam. It was great. People started coming in the door when
the
> music started, and seeing the looks on their faces when they saw
the
> band was priceless. Shock and awe.
I gotta totally second Brian on this. I had never seen them with
masks before, and it's a truly freaky experience! I mean, I clearly
know who's inside the masks and that it's a big schtick... But it
didn't mattter! It was weird and beautiful and it totally captured
the attention of the audience. I also really liked the whole
undertaker costume they were sporting, with a top-hat and a heavy
coat with tails. Man, that's dedication to one's art!
> But I'm getting ahead of myself. I really felt this performance was
> about 3 times better than the previous night's, and that is saying
> a lot.
I also have to agree. The Indy performance was very good, but in
comparison, this one was GREAT! You could tell they got some rest
and were totally going for the jugular. And the sound in the room
was just amazing. Loud but clear and never overwhelming or
piercing - just powerful.
> they played another
> cover song in my "gee I wish I could hear this song live" category:
> Exotic by the Sentinals. Hooray, I can cross that one off.
Wow...that
> really kicked ass. I just love the throbbing bass line and guitar
> work. They did a great job on that one.
Holy s***!!! That one was AWESOME! They played it in Indy, too, I
think, but it sounded huge in Chicago (probably due to the nice
sound system).
> They closed with 2 covers: Bodies Under The Bridge and the
> Godfather.
Godfather was great, with a false ending that fooled most people (me
included). A great way to end the set!
> One
> of the many enduring memories I have of the whole night is watching
> Mike double pick (or is it tremolo pick :) the last verse of The
> Godfather a million miles an hour so fluidly. Pretty damn cool.
Yep, the man's a machine! He's got the fire you need to play great
surf guitar!
> It was
> a very impressive performance and I was so glad I got to see it. On
> top of that, they had a great crowd who were really going nuts for
> them. That had to feel very good.
Packed room, people screaming at the top of their lungs! Several
people, including Melanie later remarked to me how good these guys
were! I'd say their set was an unqualified success! Definitely
opened the doors for a big return down the line...
> The Madeira were up next. <snip> The only
> incidents I recall were Ivan unplugging himself by stepping on his
> cord,
Between that and tripping on my cord in Indy the night before, I'm
turning into a real klutz!! Damn....
> I was really quite amazed at how
> well songs like Express to Baghdad went over. It seems people are
> ready for non-blooze scale music after all.
Express to Baghdad has an amazing power as a live song. It never
ceases to amaze me. I've loved it for many years now, but to see
people's faces where we're playing it is just mind-blowing.
Thanks for all the nice compliments, Brian, BTW!
> So then we ran outside to catch the Exotics (from Milwaukee) who
> were about 1/2 done with their set.
Grrrr, totally missed them, what a bummer... Too much time needed
to tear down the gear, talk to everyone that wanted to talk, and
change out of sweaty clothes.... I hope I get another chance. ONe
way or another, it's great to see yet another fantastic surf band
from the nineties returning! I'd say it's becoming a
real 'bandwagon', so to speak!
> Los Straitjackets were up next. This wasn't
> just your average LS show, it was a "Summer Twist Party", featuring
> Kaiser George (of the Kaisers?) and the World Famous Pontani
Sisters. It was a big fun colorful party. I'll probably be
> pelted with rocks and garbage for saying this, but I think I would
> have preferred the standard LS set. It was fun and everything, but
the
> twist numbers did nothing for me musically. The Pontani Sisters are
> definitely easy on the eyes, however. They definitely had the
crowd in the palm of
> their hand and put on a damn entertaining show.
Well, I'm not gonna be pelting you with any rocks, Brian, but man, I
had a BLAST during their set!! After our set i consumed three Mai
Tais in short-order so I was READY to party! And I thought they did
a great job. I honestly can't think of another performance I had
seen that was as much pure FUN! The crowd totally ate it up, as I
did as well. I wasn't very close to the stage, so I'm sure i missed
even better stuff going on. It seemed that every third track they
played was a surf/instro tune, and they hauled out only the
classics, whether their own or others'. Anyway, it was awesome, and
I had a chance to talk to all of them during the day, including the
new drummer. Truly nice people all of them, very kind. Pete Curry
is a prince among men, especially. So, it's always a joy to get to
see them and spend a bit of time together.
> This was the first
> show for me with new drummer Teen Beat who replaced Jimmy Lester
> recently.
Teen Beat was beat-tastic!! A worthy replacement for Jimmy, for
sure.
> For some odd reason, the promoters put a band on after LS, and it
was
> Cocktail Preachers on the inside stage. I heard through the
> grapevine that the CP's did a great job and even had audience
members
> jump up on stage and dance. Awesome!
All of the Madeira stuck around for the Preachers (we were lucky as
we were crashing at our drummer's brother's pad which is about three
miles from the club - how convenient is that!). I was saying
goodbye to people, so I missed the first 20 minutes or so, but man,
when I entered the room, it was clear that the party was FAR from
over! It was still pretty full, and the Cocktail Preachers were on
fire! That's the best I've heard them sound yet, though just by a
bit compared to their last show. They had a couple of cute go-go
dancers going at it, and the sound was again big and bold. And they
were clearly having the time of their lives! The Mai-Tais have
taken their toll and I'm hard-pressed to remember any of the songs I
heard, though I know I recognized most of them at the time. But it
was a great set, and the crowd ate it up. It's funny, cause earlier
when I was talking to Steve (lead guitarist) we were saying how
those guys got shafted being the final band of the night, going on
so late and after Los Straits. I mentioned it to Steve afterwards,
and his reply was "well, shows you that I don't know s***!" I had
the same opinion, so I don't know s***, either! But I think the
people were just having such a good time they didn't want the party
to stop and so they embraced the Preachers big time.
I know that sums up my feelings too - I didn't want that day to
end. So much fun. I hope we'll have something like it again in the
near future. (Melanie indicated that it's likely to happen again
next year, though she also said they'd like to have different acts -
I indicated the people may want diversity, but they want quality
even more! :)
Anyway, great to see all of you that were there, and I hope the rest
of you make it next year.
Ivan
Your in the Madera !!! I got to get out more. You guys were hot. I
thought you guys had to be mutants with special powers to play that
good. Come on now you got a dose of cosmic radiation from somewhere
right. I know the Nebulas were bitten by a radioactive spider.That
would account for it.
I reconised Brian from the t shirt. I could be reconised because I was
the guy next to the soundboard with his jaw hitting the floor durring
the Nebulas.Miller
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...> wrote:
> I want to give a deep thanks to Brian for this in-depth review - I
> know how hard and time-consuming it is to write something this
> detailed and lengthy. But I'm sure I'm not the only person that
> really appreciates it! I've printed out a copy and am keeping it in
> my files - and I'm sure rereading it a few years down the road will
> make all sorts of memories come flooding back...
>
> I'll just add a few brief things to his report.
>
> --- In , Brian Neal <bgneal@g...> wrote:
> > July 9th 2005 Chicago (well... Berwyn to be precise)
>
> > Fitzgeralds consists of several buildings connected by a
> > large open area. For the Exotica event, they fenced the open area
> off
> > and covered most of it with a large circus like tent. Inside the
> open
> > area were a whole bunch of vendors, selling Tiki and other exotic
> > stuff...clothes, masks, mugs, trinkets, etc. It was a really nice
> > setup and the place was pretty clean and family oriented (compared
> to
> > other surf band venues I have been in - LOL). Lots of kids were
> there,
> > surprisingly.
>
> I should mention that the place was very full of people. I had a
> chance to talk to Melanie Angel (Eddie's wife) on several occasions
> throughout the evening, and she estimated that there were about 500
> people there. She, BTW, was in charge of much of the logistics of
> the event, and I gotta say that everything ran totally smoothly -
> completely professional. I've corresponded with her over email on
> several occasions in the past, but this is the first time I met her
> in person, and she's a truly lovely, sweet woman. Eddie is a lucky
> guy!
>
> > Around this
> > time I got to meet Michael Miller and the rest of the Los Cobras
> guys.
> > "Miller" is an SG101 regular
>
> Well, damn! Miller, why no saying hi? I'm bummed out we missed our
> chance to meet in person!
>
> > Let's see, about then Ivan introduced me to Gregory Nicoll and Jet
> > Powers.
>
> It's great to see Gregorious on this list. He is a music writer for
> Creative Loafing in Atlanta, and has done a LOT to promote surf
> music in the Big Peach. He's definitely done a lot for the Space
> Cossacks who played Atlanta at least three times from '96-'98 - the
> shows being big successed because 1) we played them with the
> Penetrators and 2) because Greg would write up big articles about
> them ahead of time! I'm sure he'd be happy to help any other worthy
> surf bands in the future. Just ask him nicely! And Jet Powers was
> the security detail for the Penetrators, and it was great to see him
> again. I haven't seen either of these guys since '98, so it was
> just fantastic to have them there. And they haven't changed a bit!
>
> > After a short delay and intro from an emcee type of guy whose name
> > escapes me...the Nebulas emerged...da da da...wearing their
> skeleton
> > masks, top hats, and suits! I can't even begin to tell you the
> effect
> > these had on the audience. First of all you have these leering
> skull
> > smiles looking at you. And while they wore the masks, they had no
> > chit-chat between songs, they just hammered one song after
> another -
> > bam bam bam. It was great. People started coming in the door when
> the
> > music started, and seeing the looks on their faces when they saw
> the
> > band was priceless. Shock and awe.
>
> I gotta totally second Brian on this. I had never seen them with
> masks before, and it's a truly freaky experience! I mean, I clearly
> know who's inside the masks and that it's a big schtick... But it
> didn't mattter! It was weird and beautiful and it totally captured
> the attention of the audience. I also really liked the whole
> undertaker costume they were sporting, with a top-hat and a heavy
> coat with tails. Man, that's dedication to one's art!
>
> > But I'm getting ahead of myself. I really felt this performance was
> > about 3 times better than the previous night's, and that is saying
> > a lot.
>
> I also have to agree. The Indy performance was very good, but in
> comparison, this one was GREAT! You could tell they got some rest
> and were totally going for the jugular. And the sound in the room
> was just amazing. Loud but clear and never overwhelming or
> piercing - just powerful.
>
> > they played another
> > cover song in my "gee I wish I could hear this song live" category:
> > Exotic by the Sentinals. Hooray, I can cross that one off.
> Wow...that
> > really kicked ass. I just love the throbbing bass line and guitar
> > work. They did a great job on that one.
>
> Holy s***!!! That one was AWESOME! They played it in Indy, too, I
> think, but it sounded huge in Chicago (probably due to the nice
> sound system).
>
> > They closed with 2 covers: Bodies Under The Bridge and the
> > Godfather.
>
> Godfather was great, with a false ending that fooled most people (me
> included). A great way to end the set!
>
> > One
> > of the many enduring memories I have of the whole night is watching
> > Mike double pick (or is it tremolo pick :) the last verse of The
> > Godfather a million miles an hour so fluidly. Pretty damn cool.
>
> Yep, the man's a machine! He's got the fire you need to play great
> surf guitar!
>
> > It was
> > a very impressive performance and I was so glad I got to see it. On
> > top of that, they had a great crowd who were really going nuts for
> > them. That had to feel very good.
>
> Packed room, people screaming at the top of their lungs! Several
> people, including Melanie later remarked to me how good these guys
> were! I'd say their set was an unqualified success! Definitely
> opened the doors for a big return down the line...
>
> > The Madeira were up next. <snip> The only
> > incidents I recall were Ivan unplugging himself by stepping on his
> > cord,
>
> Between that and tripping on my cord in Indy the night before, I'm
> turning into a real klutz!! Damn....
>
> > I was really quite amazed at how
> > well songs like Express to Baghdad went over. It seems people are
> > ready for non-blooze scale music after all.
>
> Express to Baghdad has an amazing power as a live song. It never
> ceases to amaze me. I've loved it for many years now, but to see
> people's faces where we're playing it is just mind-blowing.
>
> Thanks for all the nice compliments, Brian, BTW!
>
> > So then we ran outside to catch the Exotics (from Milwaukee) who
> > were about 1/2 done with their set.
>
> Grrrr, totally missed them, what a bummer... Too much time needed
> to tear down the gear, talk to everyone that wanted to talk, and
> change out of sweaty clothes.... I hope I get another chance. ONe
> way or another, it's great to see yet another fantastic surf band
> from the nineties returning! I'd say it's becoming a
> real 'bandwagon', so to speak!
>
> > Los Straitjackets were up next. This wasn't
> > just your average LS show, it was a "Summer Twist Party", featuring
> > Kaiser George (of the Kaisers?) and the World Famous Pontani
> Sisters. It was a big fun colorful party. I'll probably be
> > pelted with rocks and garbage for saying this, but I think I would
> > have preferred the standard LS set. It was fun and everything, but
> the
> > twist numbers did nothing for me musically. The Pontani Sisters are
> > definitely easy on the eyes, however. They definitely had the
> crowd in the palm of
> > their hand and put on a damn entertaining show.
>
> Well, I'm not gonna be pelting you with any rocks, Brian, but man, I
> had a BLAST during their set!! After our set i consumed three Mai
> Tais in short-order so I was READY to party! And I thought they did
> a great job. I honestly can't think of another performance I had
> seen that was as much pure FUN! The crowd totally ate it up, as I
> did as well. I wasn't very close to the stage, so I'm sure i missed
> even better stuff going on. It seemed that every third track they
> played was a surf/instro tune, and they hauled out only the
> classics, whether their own or others'. Anyway, it was awesome, and
> I had a chance to talk to all of them during the day, including the
> new drummer. Truly nice people all of them, very kind. Pete Curry
> is a prince among men, especially. So, it's always a joy to get to
> see them and spend a bit of time together.
>
> > This was the first
> > show for me with new drummer Teen Beat who replaced Jimmy Lester
> > recently.
>
> Teen Beat was beat-tastic!! A worthy replacement for Jimmy, for
> sure.
>
> > For some odd reason, the promoters put a band on after LS, and it
> was
> > Cocktail Preachers on the inside stage. I heard through the
> > grapevine that the CP's did a great job and even had audience
> members
> > jump up on stage and dance. Awesome!
>
> All of the Madeira stuck around for the Preachers (we were lucky as
> we were crashing at our drummer's brother's pad which is about three
> miles from the club - how convenient is that!). I was saying
> goodbye to people, so I missed the first 20 minutes or so, but man,
> when I entered the room, it was clear that the party was FAR from
> over! It was still pretty full, and the Cocktail Preachers were on
> fire! That's the best I've heard them sound yet, though just by a
> bit compared to their last show. They had a couple of cute go-go
> dancers going at it, and the sound was again big and bold. And they
> were clearly having the time of their lives! The Mai-Tais have
> taken their toll and I'm hard-pressed to remember any of the songs I
> heard, though I know I recognized most of them at the time. But it
> was a great set, and the crowd ate it up. It's funny, cause earlier
> when I was talking to Steve (lead guitarist) we were saying how
> those guys got shafted being the final band of the night, going on
> so late and after Los Straits. I mentioned it to Steve afterwards,
> and his reply was "well, shows you that I don't know s***!" I had
> the same opinion, so I don't know s***, either! But I think the
> people were just having such a good time they didn't want the party
> to stop and so they embraced the Preachers big time.
>
> I know that sums up my feelings too - I didn't want that day to
> end. So much fun. I hope we'll have something like it again in the
> near future. (Melanie indicated that it's likely to happen again
> next year, though she also said they'd like to have different acts -
> I indicated the people may want diversity, but they want quality
> even more! :)
>
> Anyway, great to see all of you that were there, and I hope the rest
> of you make it next year.
>
> Ivan
--- In , "loscobrassurf"
<loscobrassurf@y...> wrote:
> I could be reconised because I was
> the guy next to the soundboard with his jaw hitting the floor
durring
> the Nebulas.Miller
Hey, Miller, were you the jovial guy drinking Point Lager all night?
You know, the guy who seemed to become ever more jovial with each
bottle of Point he consumed?
--GREGORY NICOLL
No that wasn't me .I was the guy drinking the weis beer.I really don't
drink much but well we were taking a cab back to the hotel so!If you
look in the photo section under Los Cobras I'm the Standing guitar
player.If you look close enuff to that picture even he looks stunned
by the Nebulas. Miller
--- In , "Gregory Nicoll"
<gregorynicoll@h...> wrote:
> --- In , "loscobrassurf"
> <loscobrassurf@y...> wrote:
> > I could be reconised because I was
> > the guy next to the soundboard with his jaw hitting the floor
> durring
> > the Nebulas.Miller
>
>
> Hey, Miller, were you the jovial guy drinking Point Lager all night?
>
> You know, the guy who seemed to become ever more jovial with each
> bottle of Point he consumed?
>
> --GREGORY NICOLL
