That's right, only in Southern California are you going to see this. Massive amounts of guitars and tube amplifiers all for your listening and viewing plaesure. The world's greatest non-Surf Band, Wave Invasion brings their unique style, wit, and borderline musicianship to the masses. Witness the unleashing of this steel string extravaganza this Saturday from Noon to 3PM outside where there's no hiding. Live without Annette or Frankie.
VM
If aliens listened to our current top 40, they'd think that the entire planet was populated by sexually ambivalent robots with ethnic insecurity.
The skies cleared for a few hours on Saturday and the Fontana Festival of Winter was on. We had been hired because of our resemblance to a surf band as their theme was "Aloha Christmas." The set up for us was quite nice with only a short jaunt between the parking and the stage. Fortunately we carry dollies, having long ago outgrown the hand truck.I can carry both of my 2x12 cabs and both heads at the same time. We were set up about 15 minutes before we were set to start so I checked the crowd over and a lot of people had gathered while we were setting up. I also noticed that there was bit of a chill in the air, temperature-wise. It's in the low 60's and dropping so I decided to leave a shirt on under my stage shirt. I also remembered that Richard our bass player/keyboardist is coming down with something and Jeff, our drummer told us when we met that morning that he had bronchitis. Plus Jeff plays the drums barefoot. So I'm thinking sitting in the chilled air without his shoes and deeply breathing air that's starting to dip into the 50's can only help. No time to ask Jeff how he's doing, the Hostess from the City is starting to introduce us. The crowd turned out to be enthusiastic and was into our setlist right away. We started with one of our originals from the CD and then moved onto Hawaii 5-0. One guy shouted, "I know you know 'Walk, Don't Run' " so we launched into our Ventures medley WDR, Perfidia, California Dreamin' and back to Walk Don't Run '64. At this point they started digging anything we played. The Ghost Riders on the Storm suite went great as did the Beethoven. There was a group there from a Karate school doing demos that improvised a routine to our James Bond medley/Mission Impossible /Secret Agent Man section. We had the young kids come up and do "The Simpsons" with us with the free blow-up guitars we give out at the shows. The response was great and the cell phone cameras and video cameras were all pulled out and focused in our direction for a few minutes. We did it again in the second set. By the end of the day we had given out 10 dozen guitars and 200 mini beach balls (All with our contact information printed on them). As usual a few of the older guys asked if they could have a guitar. Actually about 15 of them did.
I had guys commenting on how many guitars I had onstage (a Jazzmaster, a Strat, a Tele, and a Ventures) and yelling out how great my guitar sounded (I resisted the urge to do the Chet Atkins thing and take my hands off of the guitar and ask "How's it sound now?) Several asked how old my Tele with the Bigsby was. They were shocked to find out it a MIM 50's RI (with Voo Doo p'ups). I was real pleased with my sound. I took the old Fender-installed 12s out of my '67 Bassman cabinet and loaded it with a pair of Celestion G12H-100s and drove that with the 63 Bassman head. Combined with my open backed cab with 2 EVM 12LS driven by my Showman head I had a bottom that was solid as the concrete slab the stage was on without the 4k darts I was getting with the original speakers. I could feel my pant legs move during our closer, "Miserlou." There a large crowd that moved through but most stayed for the whole show until it started to chill off during the 3rd set. There were times during the first set when we'd get a 30 to 40 mph gust that dropped the temp a few degrees. All day as we played I kept looking at the foothills ahead of us and couldn't help but notice the clouds since there were so many of them and they were so dark. My nose started to run during the 3rd song and I toyed with the idea of a snot bubble for a few seconds but decided against it when I saw the photographer from the local paper so it was a matter of snorting it back until I could do something about it between songs. By the third set Gary asked if he could do the songs he played lead on early in the set while his hands were still warm. We managed to get through it without any rain and we didn't lose Jeff and Richard who did their usual spectacular job especially when you consider they weren't at their physical best. We got a great response from the crowd and the city and they said they were really interested in having us back. I suggested sometime after the temperature allowed for the audience to give up the scarfs and fur-lined parkas and they agreed. I felt sorry for the belly dancers that were on after us.
VM
If aliens listened to our current top 40, they'd think that the entire planet was populated by sexually ambivalent robots with ethnic insecurity.
Great story, Vince. It's the gigs like these that make it all worthwhile. I was particularly impressed with the following:
That sort of control and technique only comes from years of experience.Originally Posted by Fripperton
-Mark
I sometimes play in a freezer locker to train for such an event.
VM
If aliens listened to our current top 40, they'd think that the entire planet was populated by sexually ambivalent robots with ethnic insecurity.
Sounds like a great time!
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
...."I felt sorry for the belly dancers that were on after us...."
pics...?
Sadly the camera got packed away when we struck the stage.
VM
If aliens listened to our current top 40, they'd think that the entire planet was populated by sexually ambivalent robots with ethnic insecurity.
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