Well,
well, well, last Saturday (5/28) was a night to
remember as SPF-4 played their first-ever sold out
show in eclectic
Northampton,
MA (NoHo) at the infamous Iron Horse Music
Hall. The Iron Horse is to NoHo what CBGBs is to NYC
and has been host to such acts as Marshall Crenshaw,
Tony Levin, The Radiators, & Link Wray.
Oh, yeah, did I mention SPF-4 opened
for Mr. Surf Guitar, Dick "I treat my women like I
treat my guitar" Dale?! Although I heard many people
including the Murdercycle crew announcing that they
were there just because of SPF-4. Niiiice!
SPF-4 jumped on stage promptly at 7
pm and, due to DD's gear on stage, were lined-up
left to right with Craig (drums) on stage right,
followed by Rob, Dave, & Tony going straight across
the front of the stage. I think the first row of
tables was maybe 3-4 feet from the front of the
stage. As this was a rather upscale venue the band
was very trad and showed off their laid-back &
loungey side. I kept waiting to hear Journey to the
Stars, but the band decided to pull it from the set
list. However, I was pleased to hear them close with
my other favorite SPF-4 tune, Crystal T. But Sam's
(my son) pick of the set was the spaghetti western
twang melody Round Em Up. But do you know what got
the biggest reaction during the SPF-4 set? When Rob
shared his impending fatherhood with all of us and
introduced his very proud Dad sitting in the
audience. The set was too short, just a scant 30
minutes, but it was also quite enjoyable and really
primed the audience for the King of the Surf Guitar.
At about 8 pm the thunder roared and
the place exploded as Nitro came through the front
door at about mach ten. Dick was wireless on his
left handed honey of a git. Daxx Nielson and Sam
Bolle were all too happy to let the big man have
center stage providing an even better rhythm section
them last year's tour. The 3 of them play together
as if they have been together all their lives, true
talents each one of them. The highlight of the set
was DD showing off his creativity as he played Sam's
bass with Daxx's sticks. I am always amazed at the
ingenuity with which Dick performs each song. As
this was an all ages show it was also the first time
I have seen a DD show when I didn't have to wear ear
plugs. I liked it much more.
A bit 'o the set: Taco Wagon, Ghost
Riders in the Sky, Rumble, House of the Rising Sun,
The Wedge, Ring of Fire, Hava Nagila, Miserlou,
Let's Go Trippin', Amazing Grace, Third Stone from
the Sun, Hey Bo Diddley... Some he played in
entirety, some times it was only a few measures of a
tune as he blended it into another. Each note was
seamless and Sam & Daxx kept right on with him.
Ah, well the night ended with me &
the family hanging out with the beloved
Vinnie
"O" and his wife
Lynn as Vinnie made sure my son Sam got to meet
Dick and that Dick understood just who Sam was. They
had a nice talk & Dick signed two tickets for Sam to
frame & hang up in his room. (Vinnie, you'll never
know how much that meant to me.) It was great to see
Kevin from Preston Wayne 4
hanging late and chatting too.
We left NoHo around 11 pm. Happy,
excited, awestruck. All these describe how the kids
felt on the way home. Me, well..., I just left
wishing for one more note, a little more reverb, a
bit more twang. Guess that's how Dick Dale keeps me
coming back for more.
written by Blue StingRaye, edited by
Bobby D.
Aloha,
Blue StingRaye
Official NESMA Reviewer
www.myspace.com/bluestingraye
thestingraye@aol.com
***
What can I say but, WOW!! I have been
waiting a long time to see SPF-4 and I
must say........They Did NOT
Disappoint!!!!!! I only wish that
their set could have been longer,
especially since my very dear friend DD
was LATE!! When he finally arrived on
the sidewalk outside, he had his guitar
tech, JoJo Rushing, come inside and get
me, and I told him that I thought I was
going to have to do "Nitro" with Sammy
and Daxx!!!!!LOL
As always, I was very
happy to see our Blue StingRaye, lovely
as ever, and her entourage, including
son Sam, who was broken-in to his first
Dick Dale concert!!!
It was a great
night!!! Did I mention SPF-4 kicked
ass??!!
Peace, Love & Surf
Vinnie "O"
(Formerly of "SURF
SQUAD")
***
Wow ! We've never played to that many
people before !
Rob/Dave/Craig have all experienced big
shows in their past bands, but for me
this was like - WOW !
When I heard all that noise coming from
the audience I was blown away !
I was commenting to the other guys that
it's nice to finally play to an audience
that really 'gets' surf music and is
there to hear it.... we usually have a
number of folks who dig it, but to have
a whole audience of that size (like
200-210 people?) REALLY get into it, man
it was awesome !
Great to meet Vinny from Surf Squad -
what a cool guy ! I got this tap on my
back as we were loading our stuff up on
to the stage in the 4 foot pathway that
the DD crew left for us (LOL) and I turn
around and there's this big dude with a
crewcut - 'Is this SPF-4?'
Appreciate the write-up by BSR, too -
thanks for mentioning Rob's tribute to
his dad - he's on of our biggest fans
and supporters out there in the West
....that little speech brought a tear to
my eye as well.
What Rob said was that the last time he
saw DD, it was with Dick's son Jimmy
Dale. Rob said it was great that his dad
was supporting him in his playing and
that they would play together, etc. Rob
thanked HIS dad for always being there
as a support for him (huge cheers from
the crowd at that point, btw) and then
Rob said that HE'S going to be a dad in
JUST A FEW WEEKS - which all of us
SPF4'ers are anxiously awaiting news of
- and that he hopes he can do the same
with his son (yes it's going to be a
boy, folks !).... and that news just hit
the crowd and they loved it.... it was a
great moment, truly a great moment, and
I gotta salute Rob on that one.
Also the visit from the Murdercycles
guys was a complete surprise..... a
short back story on that: I saw their
event 'Hot Rod Rod Riot' (July 22, 2006)
listed a few months ago on the Go Kat Go
page (http://www.gokatgoradio.com) and
it just said 'bands tba', so I emailed
the guy and asked if they were looking
for bands (I live in CT and am always
looking for gigs down there - they seem
to be harder to come by than MA shows,
not sure why)... told him to check out
our MySpace page, and he emailed back a
couple days later and we were on for the
show (9th Wave will also be on that bill
!!).... so they basically just drove up
from CT to check us out and see what we
were like live. FROM CT! Unbelievable.
There were about TEN of them, trying to
get in to a sold out show, and just as
we were getting ready to go upstairs,
one of them came down and said 'There's
a bunch of us out there who want to come
in but can't get a ticket because it's
sold out'.... I was like 'Try the back
door, LOL'
I don't know how they did it (I think
they charmed the owner of the place) but
they managed to all get in there just as
we started playing....
Another cool thing was that when DD
arrived out front, most of them were
hanging outside, and they got some GREAT
Pics of DD sitting on one of the
Murdercycles bikes... you can see them
at:
http://murdercycles.com/v-web/gallery/album37/DSC02562?full=1
and
http://murdercycles.com/v-web/gallery/album37/DSC02563?full=1
Too much more to type about that night,
but suffice to say I had the experience
of a lifetime....and DD and the boys
were great (got to talk to Sam Bolle out
front on the sidewalk for a while !),
and DD sat and talked with everyone
afterwards and shook hands and took
pictures and was a real classy guy.
What a night ! Thanks to everyone who
came out !
Tony/SPF-4
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