For a very long time I was contend with my Boss DD3 echo pedal. Of course it’s generic and cold sounding compared to old tube-tape or disc delays like the Dynacord I once owned. But trying to get spare parts for those was impossible in pre-internet days, at least for my amptech back then. And the old echos require collectors money – when I just wanted a tool, not a museum piece. The earlier delay modelers like the Line6 tried to do too much I don’t want and too less of what I want, the variations of multihead delay patterns. I always found them a little too expensive! Now the Magicstomp recreates tape and multihead delays very well. And timebased effects like echo and reverb escape the detached feeling latency encountered with other digitally generated effects, like amp-modeling and distortion. I got mine used and it’s of the first variety, later versions include a headphone jack.

What really convinced me beside the current low prices for them, was finding this page, where a dutch guy programmed a large number of sixties tape echo patches for the Magicstomp, mostly Meazzi and Vox. There’s also a Roland, and the patch really resembles the sonic signature. You can download patches from Yamaha’s site or dedicated www-groups (2 on Yahoo!) and install them with your pc or mac with OS9 and built in usb. Just connect an usb cable and start the Magicstomp editor. You can deep edit a lot of effect parameters and store them to 99 user presets.

Integrating the effectbox into a live-set-up brings some problems. Read this message from one of the Yahoo! Magicstomp boards:

I’ve finally got round to attaching my magicstomp to my board only to
find a considerable drop in volume when patches are engaged. Tried
reducing the input level but no change.
Is this yet another defect (along with the half second pause between
patches) that has lead to this product being discontinued?
Here’s another point. I’ve decided to use my stomp to replace certain
effects that I only use occasionaly – phaser,flanger, uni-vibe and for
delays etc…problem is that I thought I could navigate up and down
and then just use the on/off footswitch to activate the chosen effect.
Turns out that even though the display reads “reverb” for example, I
still have a bloody harmoniser. Have to go back to the patch that the
sound corresponds to and then move up or down. Useless. I never
noticed this before when I used it as a stand alone effect. Anyone had
similar problems ar know something I don’t?????
Cheers.

Don’t misunderstand me – I don’t mean to say this is a great musical. I have only heard one of the songs and had enough.
The reason I had to include Go-Go Beach here is that I once recorded a track called Go-Go Beach! It was on one of my homerecording tapes, that interested parties could get through reviews in Pipeline and New Gandy Dancer, around 1990. In the track I tried to get some of the spirit of the Manchester bands like the Charlatans and Stone Roses coupled with instrumental guitar work.
When The Looney Tunes Band started, I stopped this tape thing. But somehow I remembered the track after the band broke up (the drummer wanted to include electronics, but I did not want the Loonies to change in that direction). Go-Go Beach then turned into Gogo Sitar and was the first track I did with my modified ES335 copy, homemade electric sitar.

So, there’s no connection for me with that musical, other than the coincidental naming. If you didn’t care for such information, you wouldn’t have read so far, would you?

I just found this little article on Makaha skateboards. My third board was a Makaha I bought it in 1978. It was back to wood decks, after giving my first, a Nash Shark (green), away and riding the daylight out of the kicktailed plastic thing that followed it.

Incidentally Domenic Priore wore his Makaha teamrider jacket two or three weeks ago arriving at the Luxuriamusic.com studios.

The very studio where Paul Buff and Frank Zappa recorded one of my all time favorite LPs is The Hollywood Persuaders, featuring tracks like Drums a-Go-Go and Thunderbird.

freakoutincucamonga writes over at Surf Guitar 101:

Check out our web page for our documentary, “Freak Out in Cucamonga.”

www.freakoutincucamonga.com

For anyone interested in the Cucamonga studios in the early 60’s that brought you ‘Wipeout’ and ‘Pipeline’, as well as recording sessions from Johnny Fortune, The Tornadoes, Conrad and the Hurricane Strings, Johnny Barakat, and let’s not forget, Frank Zappa.

YouTube link to Cucamonga PAL Studio documentary video trailer

Towards the end there’s a beautiful 12′ that reminds me of what Skip Frye would choose on a casual day, but more nose-rocker.
Tom Wegener Surfboards Promo: Two
at YouTube

This site has a very informative primer for Indorock newbies. Indorock is the closest equivalent to Surf western Europe had at the time (early 60s). It was performed by indonesian emigrants living in the Netherlands and touring western Europe, mainly the Federal Republic of Germany.

Here are The Tielman Brothers doing an Elvis vocal during the period the above picture was taken, with Fender Jazzmasters and Bass VI.

One of the great Los Angeles session men, he played drums on countless hit records, as well as some of the best instrumental studio productions of the sixties. Here’s the Official Hal Blaine Website

here’s his drumming on iTunes

This magnificent website has an article on one of my favorite yeye-girls – Chantal Goya! I dig France Gall, Francoise Hardy, Sheila and Sylvie Vartan very much for their music, but Chantal appeared in my favorite non-surf movie, Masculin Feminin by Jean Luc Godard, where she sings, and plays – what else – an up and coming yeye-girl. If I had never seen this film I wouldn’t understand yeye, Paris, french movies, mod, the 60s, and thus wouldn’t really have lived.
The trailer for the movie.

Here’s her MySpace.

Is bodysurfing the most soulful kind of surfing or what?

What an interesting subject. The baby boomers have so much to write about…

Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies
The First Wave, 1959 – 1969
by Thomas Lisanti

Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies at Amazon