All along the Adriatic

Friday June 29 Marino di Vasto

Not having Wi-Fi at the Calicanto, we weren’t able to download maps for the day, but Karen navigated us through the countryside of Forli to the A14. Most people said it wold take 5 hours or so to drive down to Vasto, so I pushed our van as much as she would go, which really isn’t that fast. The first part of A14 is inland, but as you head south, bright blue water appears to the east.

Our first stop was at an Autogrill for the free Wi-Fi-- believe it or not, we didn’t eat anything! Karen downloaded the map from Google, and with an hour behind us, we only had another two to go. Great news, so we decided to stop at a random town on the Adriatic Sea for lunch.

Completely without prejudice, I pulled the van off the auto-strade at Civitanova, and aimed the car east, as we’d have to hit water at some point. Inland Civitanova is industrial, with car dealerships, huge malls, some factories. As you wind toward the coast, the buildings get lower and sun bleached, the streets walkable. We drove past a big park where a crew is setting up for a summer concert, and then we were on the beach front road, lined with restaurants and the typical semi-private beach clubs, with their hundreds of umbrellas and folding chairs, empty and waiting for German tourists to arrive this weekend.

We looked at a few of the places to eat and choose the Arturo, which had seafood, in addition to the usual pizza, pasta and snack food. Even though it had tablecloths, it was casual and our table looked out on the beach. Karen and I both ordered swordfish, and for an appetizer-- fried olives stuffed with sausage.

After the leisurely lunch, we went out the back and down the planked path to the shore, blue and white umbrellas flanked us on both sides. No sand, but smooth rocks, that get smaller and smaller until you reach the water. We take our shoes off and stick our feet into the Adriatic, because, because! It’s warmer than the Mediterranean, probably because it’s so shallow, you can walk out 100 meters before your head would go under. It’s so beautiful, the water an indescribable mix of blues and greens.

Then it’s into town for a brief look around. We pass some an odd structure for civic gatherings, too skinny to provide shelter,but with a long arc perfect for midnight skateboarding adventures. Near the park we saw earlier, we have our choices of gelaterias, and pick the Penguin. Karen tried the Stracciatella, which was vanilla with hardened chocolate fudge syrup, and the coffee gelato. I tried the amaretto and the "Africa" (despite my intolerance for the Toto song we hear constantly.) Jono had Africa and coffee, again :) Back at the van, Google has changed it’s mind about how long it will take to get to Vasto, and we are about 15 minutes late. 

I think the A14 is one of the most beautiful highways I’ve ever driven down. Aside from being well maintained with long bridges and tunnels, the views of the countryside are spectacular, making me want to get off at each exit to explore. The Adriatic is to my side for much of the trip.

We pulled off a few exits before Vasto, and were met, just past the toll booth, by Gianluca (the booker) and his friend Diego, a guitarist. We follow them miles out into the country to where will be staying at an agriturismo home stay called Casamia. We are seriously out in the boonies. The rooms are very humble, but all we need. After a little rest, Gianluca, Diego and Diego’s bass player Luke come back, we follow them for 45 minutes to Vasto di Marina.

We find a parking spot in front Caffe il Pontile, and since we are going to set up on the sidewalk, it’s the easiest load in ever, less than ten feet. As the set up is so easy, we decide to go for dinner. It’s after 8 and twilight. The club is on the beach road, there’s a pedestrian pathway lined with vendors, kid’s play structures, like a bouncy house, guys selling the latest must have-- a clear balloon with led lights reflecting through it. Lots of families, couples young and old walking back and forth. The eight of us walk to an outdoor grill, more like a group of stationary food trucks. The food is not fancy, mostly sausages and sides. I think we all ordered the same thing to make it easy. They did have mustard here! We got a chance to know Diego and Luke’s story; Gianluca, though gregarious, does not speak so much English. Diego and Luke both come from Sicily, but live in the north now, and have a Bakersfield sound group called Don Diego, and have backed up Deke Dickerson a few times when he comes to Italy. They will back him up in the states next Summer, so we hope to see them then. Diego is also loaning us an amp and reverb. Everyone in Italy has been so helpful!

Before the set I walk with Gianluca and Diego for my second gelato of the day, a fondente. Two gelato in one day! I know my friend Lynda would approve!

Around 11 we start our soundcheck, aka the first song of our set. The kick pedal isn’t gripping the bass drum, so there are long breaks between the first two songs. Finally Diego grabs the floor mat from his car, and the the marriage of pedal and drum rim is consecrated, at least for the next 90 minutes. It’s a good set, we are totally with the flow now.

Gianluca again offers to lead us back to our country side hotel. We take the coast road, it’s a little longer but much cheaper. I’m sure it would be beautiful during the day, but at night, it’s just headlights shining on barns and olive trees. Everyone in my van is asleep when we pull in.

Prayer Wheel, or just another roundabout?

Thursday June 28 Forli

Our fist stop of the day was a Dragon Music on the north side of Forli. Turns out its a great, family owned, music store with a couple floors of instrument and a great staff. The kind of shop you’d find everywhere in America 20 years ago, with all the major name brands. They have everything we need--picks for Jono, drum head for Jonathan, and even let us bring the Twin in to troubleshoot. Looks like a tube went bad, and they had a replacement in stock. I gave this place five stars.

We have lots of free time, so we head into Forli. Karen is using Google Maps to find Eataly, for lunch. It’s in the town center, but we didn’t know that, and this is one of those beautiful red brick ancient towns built on a random plan of concentric circles. I’m going full on Clark Griswold driving our giant van through the tiny cobblestone streets of the downtown. It’s not illegal, but I don’t see anyone else it doing it. Navigating our ship around these tiny corners and one way streets is really taxing. I even drove right through the main square. 

Eventually we found parking, and went to Eataly. It was OK, some kind of chain. I heard there’s one in Brooklyn now. There were probably better places around, but when you’re hungry you often go with the first place you find.

After lunch we had an hour to walk around Forli. As is usually the case, the town gets more interesting the father you get from the center. Many of the surrounding neighborhoods had tree lined streets and communal backyard parks. Of course, at this time of day, all the stores are closed, and that may be a good thing, as window shopping is much cheaper.

We drove south out of town through the many, many roundabouts to the the outskirts of Forli to find the BnB Calicanto. It’s a cute and well maintained place in the country, with lots of purple flowers and a nice big, green backyard. No Wi-Fi. Quiet, until Jonathan starts tuning up the bass drum outside. Naps, then a quick drive over to the Primary Pub at 5:45.

Primary Pub is a roadhouse outside of a little town in a farming area. Nectarines, corn plum trees surround it. It’s an Irish pub, although the brothers who own it are Italian. They are major music fans and the inside walls are covered with show poster and lp covers. The music playing is the best we’ve heard, mostly 80’s and forward college radio and alternative. Our friend Roberto Cola shows up with his wife, unfortunately, he didn’t bring any guitars for us to try out. Next time?

We meet our buddy Gardo by the stage in a big outdoor beer garden. The stage is open roofed, creaky and well worn, the blanks are warped. Gardo has brought a PA and is setting up. We have plenty of time to load in and run through a bunch of songs. About 20 minutes after warming up, the evil Twin starts making noise, so I guess it’s not a bad tube after all, but something more internal. Any time an amp makes noise with the sound off, it’s not a good thing. Thankfully, Gardo brought along an old ‘65 Bassman amp as a spare for us to use. The mosquitos are out, so we eat inside.

Dinner in the pub is burgers for most of us, though Karen has a curry chicken on cou-scous. We have a while until showtime, and the boys continue their epic dice battle while Karen draws up set lists. Outside it starts dribbling rain, Gardo grabs tarps to cover the equipment; hopefully it’s a passing moment.

At 10 we take to the stage and play for 75 minutes. The band is sounding really good, and playing in the pocket. I’m really happy with our progress, musically. During "The Wet Season," again, we feel rain drops but decide to finish the set. Sprinkles become more frequent, so it’s time to pack up.

In the morning our beautiful young host Emma makes one cappuccino after another. The calicanto tree, that the BnB is manned after, its tall in the front yard. It blooms with flowers in the winter and brings good luck!

A cultural mosaic in Ravenna

Wednesday June 26, a return to Ravenna

When I was a little kid, my mom had a coffee table book about the mosaics of Ravenna. It was a life dream fulfilled for me to come here last year with the TomorrowMen (and celebrate Tony’s b’day, too). Ravenna is not on the typical tourist path, so I thought I was lucky to come here once. And here I am again, and getting to share this beautiful town with a new crew.

As soon as we checked into the hotel, we had an augmented salad lunch at the Coop store, then hit the cobblestones. Midweek, this town is kind of empty, we have the place to ourselves wherever we go. First stop is the immense Basilica de St. Vitale, with the vibrant mosaics from the fifth century. I think Jonathan and Abraham’s mind’s are a little blown, it’s truly overwhelming. For Karen and I, it’s cool to pick up on some details we missed the first time, like in the mosaic showing the benefactor of the basilica- if you notice, he is stepping on the toes of the architects and builders depicted next to him, this show’s his dominance. And the difference in the way that bodies are depicted in the Roman and Byzantine mosaics- Roman are stiff and only a frontal view, Byzantine bodies are natural and three dimensional. Oh, I could go on! If you ever have the chance to go to Italy, don’t miss 24 hours in Ravenna.

We split off from the boys and wander around the downtown area, checking menus.

At 7, we decided on Taverna Boaria, somewhat off the central square. Karen and I shared plates of wild boar with spinach gnocchi, grilled veggies and a grapefruit fennel salad with olives. When the waitress brought out our coffees she said, "I thought only German tourists ordered cappuccinos after dinner." Well Italy, if your stop making the cappuccinos so delicious, then we’ll stop ordering them.

Ravenna is the kind of town that has a summer cultural festival, with something going on every night at different locations. Unfortunately, we missed last week’s Chitarre Elettriche with 5 nights of exploration into different styles using the electric guitar, coinciding with a huge display of Fender Guitars. 

This night’s choice is the Quarteto Klimt playing under the stars in the courtyard of the university library. After our boaring dinner, we walked to the west side of town where the university is and bought tickets. We had 45 minutes to kill so we had a good walk around this neighborhood, which is devoid of tourist junk, but lively and with plenty of gelato houses to choose from. (I had salted caramel).

At 9 the gates opened and the crowd entered the big courtyard of the library. A square stage is set, the piano tuner is still making adjustments, and we park in the third row. Jono has found us.

The dramatic lighting dims and the quartet enters, piano, violin, viola and cello. They play four pieces-- two modern, and two less challenging classical pieces. Some Schubert, Mahler, Schumann and one other that escapes me. It’s a perfect setting and the sound is wonderful. During one of the less harmonious parts, a couple helicopters fly low over the library, and I wonder if the rhythmic thumping is part of the score. No flame eating hula girl stripper comes out during their performance! After a standing ovation, they play an encore, no, not Link Wray’s "Rumble," but a little Dvorjak to send us home.

Cultcha!!!!

Ewa on the Beach on fire

Tuesday June 26 On the road to Badia Polesine

Karen and I enjoyed the last few hours of our four day stay at the Pallazzo Hotel, then met the gang at the Diner to load up. Lorenzo and Anne were there, and we said our goodbyes to them. Anne is going to Germany for the summer, and Lorenzo is leaving on Wednesday, driving the Space Cossacks around, finishing up in Paris next Saturday.

We hit the road, but didn’t make it far before our first Autogrill stop of the day. A leisurely lunch was had, we’re not in any rush to get to Badia Polesine, but given that the van isn’t that fast, it takes longer than expected, especially with a second Autogrill stop. Jono maintains Lorenzo’s tradition of having an espresso at ever break. Once you get past the tunnels past Firenze, and the big city of Bologna, it’s all farmland and industry.

So we are amazed when we leave the highway and pull into a side street that leads to Park Hotel Le Magnolie, a country compound with hotel, restaurants both indoor and outdoor, a patio bar, a lily pond with a floating dance area and trails that meander all over the grounds. They probably do a lot of weddings here. We are met by Elena who seems to be managing the place, (quite possibly her mother owns it?) Elena shows us to our rooms, and afternoon naps happen just like that.

I think we’re the only guests here. There’s a few not quite elderly people in the lobby watching the futbol game. So, it’s a little creepy, but only because it could be. It’s actually quite charming. 

Around 7, I go out to the patio bar called the Spi-Ki-Zy, and meet Lukino, formerly of the legendary Ungawa Tiki Bar in nearby Bergantino, a favorite gig on the 2012 tour. Hr arranged tonight’s gig, and is hoping it does well so he can add another location for his freelance promotions. The band sets up and does a sound check, everything seems swell. The mosquitos are crazy hungry, but we’re better prepared this time, and the patio has citronella candles which also add a warm and Hawaiian ambience.

Lukino joins us for dinner in the fancy dining room. White tablecloth, white and red wines. Elena brings out penne pasta with fresh pesto, the first we’ve had in Italy. The second course was roast pork with gravy and a salad. We feel like we are in heaven.

The patio has filled up by 10:30, and more people are streaming in. The band turns on the amps to start, but the Twin that Jono is using starts to sputter, even with the volume off. One tube is glowing red. Nothing we can do except to plug him into Karen’s amp. It sounds OK, so we proceed and play for an hour or so to a attentive audience, many of whom came to dance. It’s a younger and great looking crowd, all have dressed up= tight jeans, 50s style skirts, rockabilly ware.

Lukino let us know that a woman wanted to do a fire dance, and had timed it to "Ewa on the Beach". As we start the song, she comes out in full hula girl costume, with flowered headdress, wristlets, grass skirt, bikini top and leis. And slowly it all comes off, down to a g-string and pasties. Somewhere she’s hidden some lighter fluid and flames appear. For her finally, she takes the fluid into her mouth and spits fire. All this took about five minutes. What a spectacle, I hope some pictures surface! (After the show, we look for her, but don’t recognize her with her clothes on :)

The set ends with a final incident, the kick drum head splits during the last song. More drama, and another chore we’ll have to take care of. Tomorrow, as tonight has been just fine.

Thank you Lukino and Elena for a fantastic gig! The middle of nowhere is always the center of something, and on a Wednesday night, why not expect 80 people to show up and dance like crazy for a ruff band from from far away.

Monday June 25, 2018 

Gonna be a local day for us. We haven’t really had a chance to putter around Livorno, and we’ve heard that the farmer’s market is fantastic. It’s about a 1/2 hour walk from our hotel, and occupies a few city streets in the walled pentagon near downtown. Lots of food stalls, with meats and vegetables!, making us wish we had a kitchen apartment. And then, of course, vendors selling everything from clothes to housewares, toys and shoes. It’s a huge scene and not to be missed on your next trip to Livorno.

We must go to the Bio store to score some high grade dark chocolate, On the way over, the clouds get dark and rain starts to fall. I thought for sure it was going to be an extended tropical front, but it passes quickly and we only get a little wet. Jonathan, Abraham, Karen and I (Jono is seeing his family off) grab sandwiches at I’ll Proscuitaio to go. Next fabulous task: laundry!!! We found a place close to our hotel, and luckily the process didn’t waste to much of the day.

Back at the Diner for soundcheck and dinner. Lorenzo and Annie’s son Carl is celebrating his third birthday so we join their whole extended family at a table. The show is supposed to start at 9:30, but at 9:45 we all head across the street for gelato. I get the fondente, dark chocolate, the best!

Fascinating Creatures of the Deep play another tight and passionate set-- too short, but that’ the scenario for tonight. There’s a big handful of people who stayed an extra day for this event, enough to kick up the dust and make for a great audience. When the Pool Boys play, I dedicate our set to a beautiful and well dressed young couple who have been in attendance the whole weekend and are crazy about surf music. Oscar and Tomika have come all the way from Australia for the last three years, and have been in the front row for every band. The guys from DaiKaiJu also came back for the party, and it’s always great to connect with them. The Space Cossacks don’t hold back, and the crowd is again enchanted with the power and melodicism of the best band of the early surf revival era. They off for adventures to the north, with their tour ending in Paris next Saturday.

So, that’s the quick report for the day. We will get the van back tomorrow and hit the road for more gigs.

If you want to know what to get me for Xmas- how about Bluetooth speakers in a VW???

Let’s take a journey to the stars

Sunday July 24, 2018

This post will be much shorter than yesterday’s, because yesterday’s was so long, that I spent most of the day writing it.

Another slow morning, getting up only because the hotel’s breakfast would shut down. We are all jonesing for veggies, so even the cold string beans used as garnish are looking tasty.

We had some bad news in that a show was cancelled. Nasty Boys Saloon in Treviso says they are having trouble staying open during the summer. As discussed before, people here don’t like to stay inside when the weather is so nice outside. They go to patio bars. The TomorrowMen had a great show there last year, and Diego is a great host, but the place was fairly empty then, too. So, we wish Diego the best for the future of his very cool place, but we’re also really bummed out not to be playing there. Anyway, the point of this is, we had to come up with an alternate plan, and book a room somewhere, which is kinda time consuming. We decided to stay in Ravenna, a beautiful city with lots to explore.

Karen went with the Joneses to a beach club a few miles north of Livorno called Le Dune. The kind of place where you rent a beach chair with umbrella. So civilized. I stayed and wrote for a while, then went to the Diner for lunch and to see Lulufin the Woo Woo. Their baggage had finally arrived, so they played in full costumes of kimonos and whatever the Japanese version of a beehive wig is called. They are silly, charming and fun. The upstairs tiki lounge is fairly packed for a Saturday afternoon.

After their set I have a few minutes to sit down with Ivan Pongracic and his wife, and consume a cheeseburger. I’ve known Ivan for 22 years now, a friendship forged through surf music. We compare notes about the early years of the surf revival. Well, he has notes, I have misty and probably inaccurate memories.

The chairs are set up in air conditioned backstage room, and it seems like all the fans who watched Lulufin have moved in for the Surf Revival symposium. The panel is myself, Ivan, Phantom Frank and host Lorenzo. Amerigo Crispi from the Bradipos couldn’t make it as he didn’t get back to his hotel until 6am, after his long night of music.

I guess the talk went well, the folks seemed to find it interesting, and asked some pointed questions at the end. I’m glad Ivan had written out a timeline of releases and major events from ‘93-2000. Facts are good. I was happy that the Bay Area is recognized as a hot-bed for the surf revival. I owe a lot of that to KFJC DJ Phil Dirt. Frank made a point of saying that when he started the Treble Spankers, he had never heard of surf music. He also made a point about not liking reverb, as it makes all surf bands sound generic. This statement rattled Lorenzo a bit. We covered a lot of ground in an hour and forty-five minute session. The future of surf? I don’t know, it’s not up to me. Some kids are going to have figure that out.

After the session, I hung out and chatted with some of the attendees, who had more questions. Surf fans are all such nice people.

Back at the hotel, I don’t have time for a nap, just a quick shower. Karen and I and the Joneses and Jonathan (Abe has been hanging at the diner all day helping out) go back to the all you can eat Pizza-A-Go-Go. The system doesn’t work as well with fewer people, as we can only get through four pizzas, and don’t make it to the quattro formagio. And after dinner? A wee cup of gelato to cleanse the palette, Karen and I both going for a new flavor- licorice.

At 9 in the tiki garden, our home town hombres Fascinating Creatures of the Deep are being introduced. We’ve played with them many times, but this is the first time I really get to listen and enjoy their set. Usually my adrenaline is peaking before or after I have to play, and I can’t relax and just vibe on the music. I am immensely impresses by how good FCOTD are, and I think the crowd totally keyed in to what they’re doing. I think they’re the only band at the festival to play true ballads, and their tribute to drummer "Stretch" Reidle, with it’s Bolero beat is mesmerizing. The tempos varied, though never frantic, and the volume dynamic kept them sounding fresh from beginning to end. Adrian Calvin ’s compositions have a flow rather than jerks. I can’t say enough good things about this band. Watch the blog for a review of their new EP.

Lorenzo brings his Livorno crew on stage- his brother Luca, Francesco the diner manager, MC Jonpaul Balak and Tommy is at the soundboard, and a huge appreciation is given for all the hard work the team has put forth. Not to mention all the staff, waiters, bartenders, who have been working extra long shifts to keep all the attendees well fed and and happy.

Finally, the legendary Dutch band Krontjong Devils take the stage (I’ve been mis-pronouncing their name for years.) This is one of those bands that looked at California through a telescope, and absorbed the sound and style of trad surf, and served it back better and more authentically than any American band. I love the clicking high end tick of the Mosrite and Jaguar mix, with the Longhorn bass plunking it out at the bottom end. They do a lot of oldies and a few vocals, overall a perfect end to an incredible weekend of music.

Karen and I are dead beat, but fans keep coming up to us, thanking us for playing. It’s really heartwarming to be appreciated so much. One guy I had a long talk with was Andreas from Monokini. He’s a virtual reality engineer and the guy who modded the silverface Showman to brown face specs. He strikes me as really brilliant, and is a really kind and interesting guy. 

Head on pillow, lights out on a long weekend. Zonk.

Spin the Bottle, and then spin it again and again!

Saturday June 23, 2017 Livorno

Definitely a sleep in day, but breakfast ends at 10:30, so ya gotta get up at some point. I know there will be a nap sometime later today.

I wandered over to the Diner to meet Jim Bacci, of all things Tikiyaki, around noon. I stop to admire the three tiki carvers work, they are really progressing quickly and wildly. 

It was nice to have an actual conversation with someone-- at the festival it’s loud and there’s so much going on, it’s hard for me to make real connections with people. If you know me, you know I don’t like talking about the weather (although it is spectacular here :) Jim is having a great musical year-- a new EP from Tikiyaki 5-O, and a resurgence of interest in his 80s metal band Hittman with a show at a festival in Germany (check out this vintage video, Jim is on the right with the Flying V, it’s hard to believe anybody every had that much hair ). And, he’s playing tonight. If you didn’t see the video of El Atacor from Tikiyaki’s new EP (shot in my garage) here it is.

Walking around in search of lunch, we found a tiny deli called Il Prosciuttaio. The lady put together a real sandwich from a selection of cured meats and spiced cheeses, with a variety of toppings. Typically, you just get bread, meat and cheese, so we went for ALL the spreads, the sun dried tomatoes being especially flavorful. It’s a feast on focaccia!

I went back to the Diner for some of the seminars, which were in the upstairs air conditioned room, filled with people and a truly amazing collection of 60s Italian guitars. There’s are some real oddball beauties here as the designers were breaking far from the Gibson and Fender tradition. As Dan "Teisco del Rey" used to say, "mother of toilet seat". 

I’m not much for gear, but I’m fascinated by the Silverface Showman conversion to blonde specs, with built in reverb. Then Lorenzo and Bjorn (his partner in Surfy Industries) talked about their new products including the Surfy Trem, which mimics the vibrato from a Magnatone amp. It sounds ridiculously cool.

For the next hour, Lorenzo and I sit down and talk about the recording process, and taking a band from song to finished project. We mostly agree on everything. The audience was attentive, and asked great questions. Apparently lots of people are watching on the Facebook feed to, so I hope I didn’t sound like a total idiot. 

I hung out after the seminar was over to answer more questions while the surf drum talk was going on, then headed back to the hotel for that badly needed nap. I saw a couple taking wedding photos in the dome by the Terrazza, and I’m pretty sure they are the same couple having a huge reception at our hotel. Everybody in attendance is dressed impeccably.

Karen and I went back to Zanzibar for dinner, with a wish for more fish, but she decided on the roast chicken. I had gnocchi with bream. Delicious, and fast, as we can hear the bands starting in the Tiki Garden, just 300 meters away.

The first band I saw was the Reverbly Ones from France. Nice to see a keyboard led band, and a quite an accomplished one at that, not merely holding down pads to fatten up the sound like a garage band might. They started out mellow, and kept upping the volume, but never lost their sense of dynamic. 

I had the honor to introduce the next band as stage hosts Lorenzo and Jonpaul are setting up to play. Lorenzo (drums) and Luca (organ, Fender Rhodes, guitar and theramin) Valdambrini will be filling in for Pablo and Brian of Tikiyaki 5-O. The brothers have done an amazing amount of work preparing, and don’t seem to miss a lick! Jim and Jonpaul are at the top of their game as well, and the whole set becomes some sort of love fest dance party. The crowd is clearly impressed when the opening riff to Pipeline is presented, but becomes a chilling version of Paul McCartney’s "Eleanor Rigby". You can find it on their EP "Tone Control".

The next band is The Wave Chargers from Paris (above). They are the find of the festival for me, I enjoyed their set so much! At heart, they are a slammin’ rock’n’roll band, with a dual lead guitar approach, that also sets some funk rhythm guitar patterns against surf beats. It’s an intoxicating mix, and inspires dancing in the dust. I bought their older 5 song EP, and hope they put out some new material soon, featuring their new lineup. We talked with the new guitarist Louise for a while after the set, and the band has plans for continued touring, and I really hope that this group comes to the US.

Geez, the Space Cossacks. What can you say that hasn’t been said. With just a couple rehearsals after not being in the same room for two years, they delivered when the crowd demanded. Hit after hit from two albums that must be considered classics, as every song was greeted with shrieks of enthusiasm-- the crowd would have been singing along to every word if the songs had lyrics. It was wonderful to see the band back together and enjoying themselves, a beautiful reunion. I can only say "Thanks" to Mark, Doug, Ivan and Katherine for taking the great trouble to make this happen, and continuing to share your music and the live experience of it.

The final band on the outdoor stage was The Phantom Four. The first few songs were mired by a tuning issue, but a replacement guitar was found and the band settled into their groove. It’s difficult for me to describe how a band that pays so much attention to having a relentless beat can inspire such sudden and wild abandon on the dance floor, with unison leaping, flamenco hand clapping, and rhythmic shouts occurring in nearly every song. There were moments when I wished the songs were twice as long, as the mesmerizing Spanish themes were just starting to hypnotize the audience. I’m amazed at how effective cigarette and vape smoke, mixed with the churned dust from the dance area create the atmospherics of an ersatz smoke machine. I long to see the Phantom Four in Amsterdam, where their fan base (from the videos I’ve seen) seems more like a ritual dream dance cult.

After 1AM now, and we squeeze into the Tiki Room to release any possible stores of adrenaline. First, the Bradipos IV take the stage to play six songs from their new album. It’s a sauna up there, but the space is packed from stage to the back wall, bodies pressed almost too close for dancing. Massi, Francesco, Amerigo and Enrico are a tight, and dare I say it out loud, SEXY, unit! Their swagger comes through in every note.

Enrico stays on drums and Lorenzo comes to the stage with his bass player, and they play songs from his new Surfer Joe album, "Swell of Dwell." His tuneful and memorable songs keep the adoring crowd on lock down. Nobody leaves, in fact it seems to get more packed.

Then, in a repeat of last year’s terrific afternoon concert, the Bradipos IV rejoin Surfer Joe, and the 3 guitarateers*, all for one, one for all, party begins. This coupling is without a doubt the world’s finest Astronauts style unit. It’s heavy, it’s light, and it’s fun, and continues until after 3am. 

Back in the hotel, I converse with friends in America who have been watching the goings on all day. The camera and sound feed is capturing everything, not just the bands but the audience as well. In a genre so small, you can find joy through your friends experience. But you better watch your movements, your yawns are being broadcast around the world.

*Guitarateers is a new word. A Google search for it returns no results!

Pool Boy Stomp - The Surfer Joe Summer Festival begins!

June 22, 2018 Ronca to Livorno

Ronca feels downright Hawaiian at 7am. As we load up, it’s cool and overcast, long thunder rattles the hills like a subway under cement. I took in a total of 4 1/2 hour of sleep. We have to bolt back to Livorno as the van is needed as transport for the musicians arriving at Pisa.

It’s a long drive; the Google says 3 1/2 hours, but takes 5. There’s rain for the first half, the van doesn’t feel comfortable going over 120kph and of course, an  inevitable stop at an Autogrill. The band took sporadic naps, but I am pretty wiped out by the time we get to the diner. As we are loading the gear into the upstairs backstage area, Lorenzo says to me, "Watch your head." I navigated the first hazard, but not the second. Pow! and then I saw stars.

Downstairs, bands are starting to show up and the first group we see is our old pals DaiKaiJu, who apparently had a fantastic performance to open the festival last night. A little chat, then we find our hotels and take a long, long nap.

Karen and I had some busy work to do, her with the keyboards and I had to change my strings. But we kept running into friends from around the world who have all convened for the biggest international surf music festival. Let’s face it, there aren’t that many surf music fans, and I’m guessing that goodly portion of all of them are here! I got to watch the first band, Molokai Cocktail. They gave beautiful renditions of traditional surf songs. Our friend "Gardo" is on lead guitar. A great opening for the festival.

Karen and I missed the second band, The Seasick Surfers, as we left for dinner. Livorno is known for it’s seafood and the restaurant Zanzibar is just up the boardwalk. We have been there a few times before, so this time we went a little deeper into the menu. I had the lobster with linguini and sweet tomatoes, Karen had the mussels, swordfish, prawns, squid and crawfish platter, and shared a side of grilled veggies, which we can’t get enough of (see last night’s dinner details.) The portions were tremendous! More than 50 mussels on Karen’s plate. Luckily, we see Jono and his wife and daughter walking by and ask them to join us and help with the consumption. All at a very reasonable price!

I got back in time to see Jonpaul Balak and Lorenzo introduce the next band, Dave & The Pussies. They are a power trio with overdriven guitar to fill up the sonic space. Their songs start out with a more or less surf arrangement but progress into blues jams. The guitarist is really competent, and bares an uncanny resemblance to a young Unsteady Freddie.

Next up is The Necronautics, with a more conventional 4 piece surf lineup, and they play a set of traditionally inspired original songs. My friend Clarry says about their look, "More beards than Meshugga Beach Party."

The Typhoons from Hamburg follow. I love their layered sound, with the arrangements allowing each voice a distinct frequency range. A solid rhythm section shaking the first shakra , and atmospheric guitar elevating the mind’s eye. They do an inspired mashup of the traditional Russian song "Polyushka Pole" and "Shalom Alechem". 

All the way from Japan (though the girls arrived but their instruments didn’t) it’s Lulufin and the Woo Woo. They are crowd pleasers in the way that only four cute women who play guitars taller than they are can be. The crowd is crunching up toward the front of the stage now and the Woo Woo’s mid-tempo, mostly covers set inspires dancing and love. I feel really sorry for the band that has to follow this!

The quarter moon is high, with Jupiter chasing it, and there’s a delightful light sea breeze. No equipment failures mire The Pool Boys tonight-- some minor human lapses, but mostly it’s all fun. We charged through a 50 minute set playing almost all of our new album. Everything sounds great on stage, and the audience doesn’t leave :) As I look out, I see so many familiar faces-- fans and band members, people we’ve gotten to know over the years. Our pal Gundi from Berlin gets the dancing going up front, and there’s movement all the way to the far reaches of the sea wall. All in all, it’s a pretty good night.

After our set, about half the crowd stays for DJ dancing under the stars, the other half crams into the upstairs tiki bar for the Messer Chups set. It’s dank and humid in that room, but no one leaves, and the Chups play for nearly two hours, Boris the drummer is dripping with sweat, but Oleg and Svetlana never seem to loose their cool.

Outside, we are making new friends and connecting with old. I can’t possibly list everybody, but it’s nice to talk to my dear friend Ivan Pongracic and the members of the Phantom IV, who will be busy on Saturday night when they play their sets. There’s a couple folks I want to look for today to make sure they found their way home last night, although it wouldn’t be bad to sleep by the sea. 

Karen and I get back after 3:30. I look in the mirror while brushing my teeth and wonder, "Who are these people?" Just a couple of young kids staying out all night partying, and looking forward to doing it again the next night.

"Solstice is the longest day, summer is so far away"

June 21, 2018 - First day of summer

The title of this post is from the lyric version of "Summer Cold" on the new Frankie and the Pool Boys CD. Listen to it while you’re reading this on Bandcamp

We rolled out of the completely anonymous Hotel Ouvest Piacenza at 11. It was fine, but as I sit writing this less than 24 hours later, the details of the room escape me. On the road, we put Luca Valdambrini’s new reggae CD on the stereo. It’s fantastic, he’s a great singer and musician. He can play anything, from a Pink Floyd cover band to subbing with Tikiyaki 5-O. And it’s a good thing we love this record because it’s stuck in the car stereo.

The road to Ronca and the Jack the Ripper club passes through Monteforte. This is wine country. Last year when I was here, the other 3/4 of the TomorrowMen explored a castle, which I thought was the mountain fort. 

So, into Monteforte we went, looking first for lunch. Karen and has an uncanny knack for finding great restaurants, so even in hunger, we passed several smaller bars and found Il Convivo Trattoria, hidden down an alley behind a hotel. We barely made it by their 2pm closing time, but they took us in. It’s a linen table cloth place, and the air conditioning was on. The menu was a little fancier than touring bands usually go for, but was a welcome change. The first bite was was a taste of carpaccio. Karen ordered the lamb chops with spinach, cherries and peas. I had seared tuna on roasted veggies. Jon and Jono went for the tortellini with truffles and Abe had the duck ragu. Just a little more than we usually spend, but totally worth it. That’s what you find when you get off the beaten path a little. (For those wondering about the frequent restaurant content, I know I have several foodie readers who demand details.) (Serious surf music coverage starts with tomorrow’s posting at the Surfer Joe Festival.)

During lunch, I texted Danny to get some clarification about where the castle was, forgetting the 9 hour time difference. Luckily he must have gotten up early, and told us to head to the next town over, Soave. 

Clearly there’s a big difference between a fort and a castle! So the van gets parked and we trudge up the hill in the heat. The castle is totally worth the effort, and the higher we get the breeze gets stronger.

Parts of the castle date to the 10th century, with constant additions made until such places became obsolete with the introduction of canons to warfare, at which point, it went into a state of "ruinous disrepair". Efforts to fix it up began about 200 years ago, and it’s a wonder not to be missed now. They did clean out the pit filled 2 meters high with human bones. The rooms are decorated with centuries old furniture, armaments and frescos, most original. The view from the tower is spectacular, overlooking the walled city of Soave, and grape fields as far as the eye can see. Soave doesn’t seem like a tourist destination, it’s stuck between two major attractions, Verona (of Romeo and Juliette fame) and Venice (needing no introduction.) It’s one of the great things about touring, that we have time off in the middle of nowhere, going to places few travelers see.

After the castle, we tooled around Soave, looking for refreshment. The obvious answer is gelato. It’s clouding over slightly, maybe it’ll rain tonight: 

We drive through the fields to Jack the Ripper, and get the layout for the evening: soundcheck (Jack the Ripper), meal (hot dogs, fries, pasta) and one long set from 10:30 to 11:45. The mosquitos gnaw on us mercilessly. The is a real rural road house.

The set goes fine once we hit our groove. There’s a few equipment bugs to go along with carnivorous kind. We focus on songs we’ll be doing at Surfer Joe. There’ a good crowd, but nobody is dancing. Someone yells, "Why don’t you sing a song". Just like everywhere... And, true story, as "The Wet Season" begin, so does the rain. We get a couple more ones in before the grout between the tiles on the floor turn to little rivers.

Memo for the next year, bring a giant bug bite stick.