My Playlist at Wassermusik Preview

I could have played all night, the audience was great, but since the public transportation was going on strike in the morning people made the effort to catch the last rides. This list is not in the correct order, I will find a way to ensure the correct posting order for my next playlist.

  1. La Mer d’Hawaii – Die Gitarros
  2. Sake Rock – Martin Denny
  3. Blue Rain – The Islanders
  4. Beach Boy – Martha Shanklin
  5. On Your Marks – Santo & Johnny
  6. Sansar Ki Har Shae – Van Shipley
  7. Phantoma – The Silver Bullets
  8. Beauty Hula – Ray Kinney and his Famous Hawaiian Orchestra
  9. 55 Days of Peking – Rob-E. G.
  10. Atlantis – Norrie Paramor and his Orchestra
  11. Rosarita Surf – Jerry Cole
  12. Hero – Kai Winding
  13. Taboo – The Keymen
  14. Main Title From: Ride The Wild Surf – The Astronauts
  15. Volare – Santo & Johnny
  16. Adios – Xavier Cugat
  17. He Ain’t Heavy… He’s My Brother – Basil Henriques and the Waikiki Islanders
  18. Perfidia – Xavier Cugat
  19. Spooky – Santo & Johnny
  20. Rockambo Baby – Tarragano & his Orchestra
  21. Tequila – Lloyd Lindroth
  22. The Twist – The Parleys
  23. La Paloma – Ken James
  24. Hawaii Five-O – Roberto Delgado
  25. Doin’ The Cha Cha Cha – Preston Epps
  26. Caribbean Nights – Arthur Lyman
  27. Staccato – The Eliminators

I also played a track by The Stylers and The Melodians (Maurice Patton) each, but don’t know the titles since they are set in chinese on the covers and labels.

It was really great to see hawaiian slack-key master Harry Koizumi, with his traditional hawaiian music. Very beautiful. Berlin Surf-band Space Dog showed much potential. They rocked so well towards the end. They just need to hit the stage more often.

‘Woody’ Brown Died

From the Honolulu Advertiser:

KAHULUI, Maui — Renowned surfer Woodbridge Parker “Woody” Brown died Wednesday at Hale Makua, Kahului. He was 96.

“He was the essential surfer, an iconoclast: extremely independent, futuristic and, most especially, healthy — which explains why he lived for 96 very productive, wonderful years,” said Hemmings, the 1968 world surfing champion who inaugurated the world professional surfing circuit in 1975. “… I only hope more of us who call ourselves surfers can live the way Woody lived.

Brown, who surfed regularly until he was 90, rubbed shoulders with Charles Lindbergh, Duke Kahanamoku and old Hawaiians who lived the life of a former era, he said.

A Different Shortboard

Hawaii 1963. A guy walks down to the shore with his red 5′ board in hand, paddles out and catches some waves. And rides them well, like he does so every day. A shortboard! In 1963! OK, it’s a paipo board which is usually ridden on the belly. It’s radical! Check out how close he rides to the wall towards the end. His body english is very relaxed there. Phew!

PAIPO Boarding 1963, Val Ching

Book on Miki Dora

Legendary Surfers highly recommends this. So I’m sure this is a good read. If you don’t know who Miki Dora was you haven’t seen many sixties surf films. He was one of the original Malibu locals until he was so pissed off by the crowds that he left to tour the world. He worked as a stuntman in the Beach Party movies. He was not known for riding big surf, but he would do it, like in Ride The Wild Surf. If I remember correctly, there are rides from that season in Endless Summer. Of course he’s also featured at Malibu in that film, were he displays his perfect command of that classic California right hand pointbreak. When I mixed the first Surf me Up, Scotty! album, they sent me a short audio clip of Miki Dora talking on the beach, to mix it under the music. Where they found it I have no idea.

Here’s the author’s (David Rensin) page.

Here’s a Miki Dora interview on YouTube.

Seaworthy Trailer

This is another beautiful trailer for a new surf video. I like the unusual and extreme choice of boards ridden and the impressionistic piano music. It works very nice, and casts yet another light on surfing. Very, very nice

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX83wOvsQwE

Thanks to 70percent.org

Wallpapers in my Flickr

Rare 60s Standel guitars

Mosrite guitars promotional print

Rare vintage Gretsch guitars

Coral (vintage Danelectro) guitars

Let me add that they are so dark for a reason: they will drop way into the background, you still see enough details. It’s like wearing shades, dig? The size is 1280×1024 pixels.

Flickr: Photos & Video from Mr. Miff

You can also get my surf music related (partly) desktop icons here.

Newquay Surfing in the Early 1960s

Great to see this kind of historic footage come up. Makes me wonder what other pioneering locals captured on super 8.

Along with Biarritz in France, Newquay in Cornwall was one of surfing’s first footholds in Europe. Believe it or not, but lifeguards on the northsea island of Sylt surfed by that time as well. Getting boards from France and one guy making a surf trip to Cornwall, about the time this video was shot.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRgjIe-qc20

My Custom Guitar

…if I could have it my way.

jm

I created this picture in the dressing room at offset-guitars.com.

Structure
I would have a Jazzmaster body made from mahagony with maple-top.
A Mosrite/Gretsch scale, set neck, maple with ebony fretboard (Mosrite radius).
The neck-profile copied from my e-sitar.
Neck-binding, zero-fret and the smallest frets available (Framus NOS?)
I probably would have a Bigsby instead of the jm-vibrato, but the jm-bridge.
These appointments are based mostly on one of my all-time favorite guitars, the 1975 Gretsch Country Rok, which I sold long ago.

Electronics
For pick-ups I would have three Novak Fender XII replicas.
Jaguar style three on/off switches (rather than the Stratocaster switch in the pic)
The rhythm circuit to give additional pu-combinations, since the 3 pups have two coils each. Maybe like this: upper-bout switch turns on north of bridge, south of neck, but not breaking the main selector circuit. The outside coils should be humcancelling and hollow like a Jazzmaster.
I just love the sound of the Fender XII, which I used on Wild Action (Modern Sounds of The Looney Tunes Band). The pick-ups are not as thin as DeArmond single coils, and not as fat as Supertrons. More like Jaguar ones, but hum-cancelling.

Cosmetics
Color: ocean turquoise with matching headstock and gold hardware, Kluson-style tuners. Pickguard either gold-aluminium or vintage white. I wanted a gold guard guitar ever since I got The Wildest Guitar by Mickey Baker.
I never had a blue-ish guitar before. It looks so green because I chose the aged look in the dressing room. The finish is bluer when new.
It looks fancy, I see that. But it’s supposed to be a custom, they have to look fancy!

Martin Denny’s Birthday on LuxuriaMusic

This is going to be fun!

Monday night, April 14th, 7 – 10 pm PST:
Come celebrate Martin Denny’s 98th birthday on Strike’s Kitsch Niche! Strike will celebrate the Earl of Exotica with a 3-hour exotica special! Tune in to hear his attempt to play a track off of every Martin Denny record, do an extended Quiet Village cover set, play some rare Tiki Room stuff, and play one of the rarest exotica records in existence…a vocal version of Quiet Village sung by Darla Hood of Our Gang fame!! Don’t miss this alluring and enticing night of beautiful and strange music this Monday from 7 – 10 pm PST, only on LuxuriaMusic!

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