Australia Bushfire Help and Balsaboard Raffle

Only $10 could win you a balsawood Malibu shape or shortboard. Well spent money, helping with the Australian bushfires. Quote from Riley Surfboards Facebook page:

Riley Balsawood Surfboards teams up with the ASP and United Links to raise funds for Victoria fire victims
Sydney, Australia – February 13, 2009

The victims of the deadly bushfires in Australia need assistance and support as soon as possible. Therefore Riley Balsawood Surfboards has teamed up with the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) and United Links to lend their support and raise funds for the victims of the Victoria bushfires.
Funds will be raised by holding a raffle where the first prize is an Australian made Riley balsawood surfboard signed by the 2009 top 44 WCT surfers and past surfing world champions (this is an inestimable prize). Further prizes include Australian made, 100% organic cotton t-shirts and shaping DVD’s. All proceeds of the raffle will go directly to the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Fund which was launched by the Red Cross in partnership with premier John Brumby and the federal government of Victoria. The fund assists the individuals and communities affected by the horrendous fires.
Raffle tickets can be purchased on www.balsasurfboardsriley.com for $10 each. Additionally, for every Riley organic t-shirt sold until March 26th $10 are donated to the fund and the customer automatically enters the raffle. The raffle drawing will be held on 26.03.09 at 12 pm and the winner will be contacted via email and phone and will be announced on the website. The prizes will be sent anywhere around the world courtesy of United Links.

Happy New Year!!!

Now that I have a nice reliable internet/computer again I will wish my readers a healthy and happy new year 2009.
I know it’s going to be super. Trust me.

East – West and In-Between

A handdrawn map of the world exposes huge error, just by changing the point of view that tiny bit.

east west polynesia

When the sun sets in the west it rises in the east. (Polynesian proverb)

Yma Sumac Passed Away November 1st

This is really sad news. One of the last Exotica icons of the 1950s. She experienced several resurrgences of interest in her life and was a truly unique artist. This text is from her homepage.

Nov-2-2008

It is with deep sadness, that we report that Yma Sumac passed away at 11 am on Saturday Nov 1st. It was peaceful. Those closest to her were at her side.

A very, very private funeral will be held at an undisclosed location. Per her and her closest relative’s instructions, she will be interred in Hollywood, where she spent 60 years of her life.

Her last year was spent surrounded by people who loved her and looked after her with the very best care possible. It should be a consolation that she was always surrounded by flowers, your beautiful cards, photos of her glory days, and an extraordinary view of Los Angeles’ west side. Also, her personal assistant’s two little Chihuahua’s, whom she loved dearly.

Although this news is written as “news” we are all devastated here. Indeed, there was plenty of time to prepare, but when that final moment comes, one finds they may not be at all prepared.

Yma Sumac – Official web site – the Inca princess


Some Yma Sumac videos.

CNN on Yma Sumac

Stop The Monster!

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:

save trestles poster

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

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

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.

Wassermusik, Part II

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.