I continue to be amazed by this creative and well communicated campaign to save a park and surfing environment in Southern California. This is from the Surfrider Foundation blog:

If you will be in Southern California next Monday, September 22nd, please so try and attend our big Save Trestles rally at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Surfrider Foundation will be rallying thousands of people to show our support of our State Park and surfing resources before the United States Secretary of Commerce.

For more information go to www.surfrider.org

Stop the Monster! – Surfrider Foundation MySpace Blog

I’m a really unlucky fela with my internet service provider (Freenet). Since about a month or so I can’t listen to Luxuriamusic.com anymore. I can tune-in via iTunes as usual, but the stream re-loads at least every 20 seconds. It’s insane. I would do everything I can to support them, except report on shows I have heard – just because that’s not possible for me anymore… They have such great people, who really are into the best music that deserves a place in the spotlights, if not the sun.

If somebody in Germany still can get their program as before, I would be really interested in the kind of connection that you have. Please, please leave a comment here and help me find out what’s wrong. Possibly it’s iTunes, maybe I can listen via VLC Player or something else? I’d appreciate any helpful advice or even just an explanation why I’m having this annoying tech problem.

Here’s the latest news from Luxuriamusic.com (for those happy people who can get it alright):

Had he not passed away earlier this month, Louis Teicher would have turned 84 on Aug. 24. In this Sunday’s special Beyondophonic Action Hour, F&T’s long-time manager Scott W. Smith will join your host Tothar to celebrate Mr. Teicher’s legacy.
Via phone, Scott will share swell stories about the twin piano team, including an inside scoop on the duo’s dazzlingly visionary and futuristic ‘prepared piano’ recordings. (Tothar sez, ‘Ten of the most uniquely innovative, ingenious LPs ever made.’) Tothar and Smith will also share some of the F&T tracks that most left them awestruck.

PLUS, the Lux F&T memorial extends at 8pm PST/11:00pm EST with a rebroadcast of a 2001 LuxuriaMusic interview with Ferrante & Teicher conducted by The Millionaire!

Check out http://www.luxuriamusic.com for some jaw-dropping YouTube footage of F&T performing their ‘prepared’ technique live on the Ernie Kovacs Show. Remember yesterday’s Sound of Tomorrow this Sunday night at 7:00 PST/ 10:00 EST on LuxuriaMusic Internet Radio! Please spread the word to anyone you think should know about it! – Michael ‘Tothar’ Toth

LuxuriaMusic Internet Radio | Internet Radio: Exotica, Lounge, Space Age Bachelor Pad, Bossa, Soft-Psych, Go-Go, Latin Jazz, Sophisticated Rock and Surf.

see Man and Dolphin

Messer Chups from St. Petersburg had great melodies and were a sight to see. Notice the Betty Page lookalike bassplayer! I don’t think I heard them play one major chord, which is radical, while lacking the concept of contrast to keep things interesting… BUT they had a collection of snippets from b-movie videos as a stage backdrop, which put those sexploitation and horror flicks to good use.

La Popuna from Brazil mixed very varied influences, from latin american and caribbean dance music to punk, some surf and what not. Very entertaining, but demanding on several visitors of this event.

Scholastic scientists ignore Thor Heyerdahl’s publications to the point of constant embarassment. For example the sewn plank canoe mentioned in this article is found along the way from the Pacific Northwest to Hawaii, Micronesia, Melanesia and New Zealand. These places surround a natural ocean route, described by Heyerdahl in the 1950s. Many ethnical and cultural evidences can be found of contact with pacific indians and polynesian people. And I would expect excactly that from people populating almost every significant island in the polynesian triangle. Why should they stop there? The Americas are hard to miss once you enter the Japan current. Remember Johnny Depp drifting out in a canoe at the end of Dead Man? If redwood lumber was taken to Hawaii by stream, why not canoes of coastal settlers? Maybe the occasional dead Northwestern indian’s canoe landed in Hawai’i front tip first – they would have regarded him a god! Hawaiki!

Did ancient Polynesians visit California? Maybe so. Scholars revive idea using linguistic ties, Indian headdress Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer Monday, June 20, 2005 Scientists are taking a new look at an old and controversial idea: that ancient Polynesians sailed to Southern California a millennium before Christopher Columbus landed on the East Coast.Key new evidence comes from two directions. The first involves revised carbon-dating of an ancient ceremonial headdress used by Southern California’s Chumash Indians. The second involves research by two California scientists who suggest that a Chumash word for ‘sewn-plank canoe’ is derived from a Polynesian word for the wood used to construct the same boat.

Did ancient Polynesians visit California? Maybe so. / Scholars revive idea using linguistic ties, Indian headdress

Myspace.com Blogs – It’s ass kicking time! – Surfrider Foundation MySpace Blog

previous post

From Wrecking Crew News:

Hi Wrecking Crew supporters!

After playing to great response at SXSW, Buffalo, Nashville and Seattle Film Festivals (see reviews), we are thrilled to announce that ‘The Wrecking Crew’ documentary will have it’s Los Angeles premiere on June 28th, 2008. The film will play under the banner “Movies That Matter” as part of the Grand Performances Program in downtown LA at 350 S.Grand. Ave.

This is a free, outdoor festival-style screening under the stars. You can bring a picnic, deck chairs, blankets and even white wine, they don’t allow red wine as it can stain the granite in the Festival area. If a picnic is not your speed, there are some great restaurants in the area. Even though tickets are free, please make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to eat and find a place to sit. Don’t forget a chair or blanket.

We are also very honored to announce that the presentation of the film will be followed by a live performance by Wrecking Crew alumni Hal Blaine (drums), Carol Kaye (electric bass), Don Randi (piano) and Chuck Berghofer (upright bass). Vocals by Julia Fordham and other guest aritsts.

Please Help Us Spread The Word. Its Very Important That Musicians And Music Lovers Know Of This Event. Thanks For Your Support.

I wrote a bout the Wrecking Crew movie here earlier.

These quotes are from a recent interview Evolution of Media made with Chico Hamilton, who happens to be one of my favorite drummers.

…I hear many drummers today, who have amazing chops, but who ultimately leave me cold because they never settle down long enough to get a pocket going, to keep some time. Some consider it old fashioned, but for my own listening pleasure, I enjoy hearing a band that swings. I think you will enjoy it too.

I’m told that people still dance to my music in nightclubs. There’s no greater compliment than that!

…But I can tell you one thing that I do know, which is that if this ‘so called’ industry becomes more about the format, than it is about the music, then it’s a dead end industry.

Chico Hamilton on iTunes and MySpace

Here’s a quote from 70percent.org:

The TCA isn’t done with their toll road through Trestles yet. They’ve successfully appealed to the US Fish And Wildlife Service to reject the findings of the Coastal Commission. There is some insight into how the agency has been infiltrated by capitalistic pigs on the erBB. Keep fighting.

70percent.org » Blog Archive » The TCA Thinks You Are Lazy And Powerless

older articles 1, 2 and 3.

From the Honolulu Advertiser: