Post #766081 by bigtikidude on Mon, Jul 11, 2016 3:01 PM

John Okanishi wrote on FB:
thinking about SG101 Convention:

John wrote: "Recently BigTikiDude did a FB promotion for his upcoming Surf Guitar 101 Convention touting the food of the new venue. He asked me what I thought and I said "Dude, why are you talking about the food ?? You should be talking about the bands !!" He then replied if I could give my personal hand at that. Here goes... So if I didn't know better, I would have thought the flyer for next month's SG101 Convention was a photo-shopped April's Fools joke. It's so real though, that it's UNREAL !! The Phantom Four, from the Netherlands, are a follow-up to the Treble Spankers whose mid-90's albums are considered to be among the best of the Third Wave of Surf Music. They're joined by John Blair who pretty much single handedly kickstarted the Second Wave revival in the early 80's with his legendary band, Jon & the Nightriders. This will be the Phantom Four's first time in the U.S. !! We'll also get to see a reunion of the Space Cossacks, who were one of the preeminent bands of Surf Music's post-"Pulp Fiction" peak. They're probably even more popular today as many fans (like me) have discovered their music through their posthumous greatest hits "Never Mind the Bolsheviks". Exene Cervenka of X showed up at the 2010 Convention to see them, and I heard that the Dead Kennedy's Jello Biafra told SC's lead guitarist Ivan Pongracic that the set Ivan did in a side project with John Blair in Nor Cal a few weeks ago was one of the best Surf Music performances he had ever experienced !! A band that many of us never thought we'd see on U.S. soil is Messur Chups from Russia. They're a great example of an international band that's taken Surf Music as an inspiration and have created an eclectic sound that surpasses genres. I think this is the band that will bring in a greater audience to this year's Convention. Also having the super sexy and talented "Bettie Page-esque" Zombierella on bass won't hurt. I'm also looking forward to seeing again the 3rd international band on the line-up, the Bradipos IV from Italy, who were a highlight of the 2011 Convention. A band that hasn't played in a while is San Diego's Secret Samurai. It's always a kick to be with people who haven't seen them before. I remember being at a Huntington Beach Pier show with casual Surf Music fans who exclaimed "Who ARE these guys ?? !!" after SS's set. At a San Diego show attended by visiting bands from the U.S. South, I saw Surf musicians' (all extremely proficient in their own right) jaws drop in astonishment at guitarist Ryan Ruiz's masterful playing. And bringing in the Exotica crossover is Jim Bacchi's Tikiyaki 5-0, playing the main event for the first time (finally !!) And this isn't even the full bill, only the bands I'm most familiar with. After every Convention, people always exclaim "That was the best !! How is BigTikiDude gonna top that ??" Well this year he did it again, and to the nth-degree. To make the Convention even more special is this year's first time surreal venue of Alpine Village in Torrance (I'm wearing my lederhosen). And yes the food there is very good.

[ Edited by: bigtikidude 2016-09-05 22:08 ]