Surf's Up! 8-27-04

[DPK]

Scanning the upcoming show list for the legendary Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake Iowa, I just happened to see an interesting show listed for Aug 27... The day before Little Feat appears for two days at the MN State Fair... 'Course nothing is official till it hits the Tour Page of LF.net

www.surfballroom.com/html/upcoming.pl

See ya there

[Rollin' Mark]

Dave,
I think I'll start calling you Sherlock.
Now I have to re-think my plans for flyover country......
Hoys and Out

[DPK]

I hear the waves a lap'in on the North Shore of Clear Lake... and the echos of Buddy Holly drift from the doors of the Surf Ballroom...

Got room in the ol' 88 for a 4pm departure from Burnsville if anyone cares to tag along for a quick "down and back" run... gotta get back for the State Fair you know ;D

Catch you there perhaps?

Who's going?

[chadgumbo]

It's just about killin' me that I won't be able to make the show at the Surf For those of you THAT CAN... make every effort to do so! The Surf Ballroom is chock full of rock n' roll history and on the 27th it'll be chock full of Little Feat! Thank the good Lord that the Feat will be in Saint Paul the next night when I can be there Have a great time in Clear Lake all. And if you're hungry before the show, just down the road about 2 miles on North Shore Drive to the west of the Surf Ballroom is a great little eatery called Kaster's Kove.
- chadgumbo

[chadgumbo]

The following is a newspaper article that appeared in the Thursday August 12 edition of the Post Bulletin, a Rochester, Minnesota newspaper. The article is entitled MOVING BEYOND BUDDY, and was written by PB staff writer Tom Weber. Mr. Weber regularly writes concert reviews for performances in and around the Rochester, Minnesota area. As Little Feat is performing at the Surf on August 27, I thought perhaps fans thinking about heading to the show might find the article interesting...
- chadgumbo


MOVING BEYOND BUDDY by Tom Weber

Kevin Schoneman wants to clear up one misconception right off the bat: The Surf ballroom, which he operates, is not a museum.

In fact, the Surf, located in Clear Lake, Iowa, is a living and breathing concert venue, still hosting up to 80 concerts a year, ranging from rock to country to Big Band. Clearly, the Surf is not stuck in its glorious past.

"The Surf's history is both a blessing and a curse," Schoneman said. "When I talk to agents, they say 'That's where Buddy Holly died, we don't want to play an oldies place,'" Schoneman said.

Actually, Buddy Holly didn't die at the Surf, and the Surf isn't strictly an oldies venue. Holly's final concert was the snowy night of Feb. 2, 1959, at the Surf. He died early the next morning, along with fellow rockers Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, when their plane crashed in a nearby field.

The first Surf ballroom opened in 1933, and was a center for entertainment in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota during the Great Depression. Just as the postwar economy boomed, the Surf was destroyed by fire in 1947. The current Surf was built across the street in 1948, and as the Big Band era faded, the Surf and its palm tree-lined stage became a popular spot for rock 'n' roll music.

Then came the Holly accident, which in the minds of many people, froze the Surf in time. Despite remaining an active entertainment venue over the years, the Surf has been in the news primarily when the Holly faithful gather each February to stage an oldies concert and celebration in the venerable ballroom. Only recently has Schoneman, who owns a Mason City record store, been successful in breaking that mold.

"My general philosophy is you can't expect people to come to every single show," he said. "So we have variety. For instance, we have Tesla coming in and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. You're not going to get the same people coming to those two shows."

But the Surf is drawing enough people to keep artists coming back. This summer alone, the Surf has hosted singer/songwriter Lucy Kaplansky, blues artists Delbert McClinton, Jimmie Vaughan, George Thorogood and Bernard Allison, classic rockers Styx, the Turtles, and southern rocker Dickey Betts.

In booking acts, Schoneman said, "I go on my gut feeling based on what sells at my store. If people don't buy the CDs, they aren't going to buy concert tickets."

Of those who do buy tickets, a surprising number are from southern Minnesota. Schoneman keeps track of ticket sales based on area code, and has found that the largest number of ticket-buyers live in the 507 area code. The next largest group is from Des Moines.

No matter where they come from, enough fans are buying tickets to put the Surf on the music map -- again.

"Jimmie Vaughan will go to New York City and Memphis and sell 400 tickets," Schoneman said. "He sold 650 here, and was very happy."

In Clear Lake, at least, the Surf's up.

[DPK]

Great piece, Chadgumbo... here's mine ;D

Another late road trip back from a memorable show at The Surf, one of Iowa's last working ballrooms, in Clear Lake. <http://www.surfballroom.com> I pulled into the side lot of the hall at a little after 6pm and parked the
'88 opposite the Tomato and the hauler and was followed by the Drews returning from a site seeing trip along the lake... looked like they picked up a hitchhiker... Greetings exchanged: Paul Doran, POC, and his Bro, Jeff? ('sorry man...), The Stewart Myhre's & son (again with the lost names, sorry...) and ever present and appreciated, Jim & Darcey... Merch Masters.

Doors opened at 7:15 but JD again got me in to survey & set up. It's been a year since my last trip to the Surf and there were some changes. Brand new sound system and a new layout for the ballroom's picture gallery connecting it to the Surfside 6 lounge... Toss out a big band era name and chances are a period B&W picture is on the walls at the surf/lounge... Ellington, Basie, Brown, Goodman, Lombardo... or names from the 50's hay days of Rock n Roll... Haley, Cochran, Vale, Nelson and of course Holly... to recent rock and country artists... (Feat soon?) most have a place on the walls at The Surf. There is empty frame reserved for Willey Nelson... I won't go into the whole "Buddy Holly died after his last show" story... hit the link... but this fact is inescapable. The Surf is not a shrine or a museum to
Holly, but you'll find plenty of tasteful works on display commemorating him, his and fellow artist's work and the era in general. Worth a side trip if your in the area.

... so where was I? Oh, the Feat! Found that Jerry & Diane had slipped in under my radar and were finishing up merch set up. Grabbed a beer and some very good barbeque ribs and then wandered around. Met another LMAR (Live Music Archiving Recordist), Brian, from Des Moines, and caught up on old times from the 7-16-04 show... seems like so long ago... He also told me how to get to the Buddy Holly plane crash site... but I forgot it.

Opening act, Walter Trout and the Radicals,
<http://www.waltertroutband.com/> did not allow taping but that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for his set. Fine rock'n blues guitar player indeed. Richie played with him in Florida a few times. They went on at 8 PM and ran 75min. of hard driving boogie & blues with an encore of the last song played on stage the night Holly, Vallens and the Bopper died... LaBamba. Sweet!

Having cleared it with Howard, I set up at the board
behind the fence just left of DFC and at the far end of the hall. Looking to the stage from there you see the ballroom's high arching ceiling roll up from the entrance on the left to the rows of booths backed by vintage surf/beach/palms motif murals on the walls. I was told that there was star making machinery to project light points on the ceiling but it would not be so tonight. They did sport a high follow spot light and a pretty decent stage lighting setup, but the lighting was pretty static and the band was usually bathed in a nice warm
glow most of the show.

At 10 PM the promoter, sporting evening jacket and a fine pompadour, took the mike for an announcement. Before the band could play, representatives of the
Iowa Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Doris Welly & Mike Walsh(?) wanted a few words with Richie. On Sunday, Sept 5th, they induct the '04 class at official ceremonies, Richie being one of the 18 they are honoring.
<http://www.iowarocknroll.com/2004inductees/>
Since he'll be on the road they came to him and presented him with a fine plaque to the warm and loud applause from the 600 + in attendance. Richie said a few words, and I quote:

"Ah, geesh, huh... I don't know how to thank everybody for this... This
is great, this is great. Thank you all for coming (to the crowd)... thank
You all for coming (to Doris & Mike)... Thank you Mom ;D (both parents attended), OK, time to play!" With that, an official band intro was offered and we were off. (I'll attempt to transcribe and post the entire induction speeches, which were short.)

It wasn't long after the first few bars of MC that we could tell there was something seriously wrong with the PA. Noticeable distortion was heard once the mics
and instruments were into the mix. As I stood by my gear at board side, people would button hole me and let me know that "There's a problem with the speakers on the left." and "I think there's a blown mid range driver in that stack." (this from a gal .) and "Could you just please turn it down, it's my birthday and it's too
loud." and "Why don't they just stop and change the speakers?". Howard loved that one.
What could I tell them? I guess a tall man in jeans, goatee and a black Dick Dale tee says "ROADIE" to them so they just poured it on me. Soon Howard and the house man figured out that some freak switching of cables during the change out of gear was causing the distortion. Problem focused,found and fixed but not before they'd fuzzed, buzzed and popped their way
through 25 minutes of precious set list. (Posted below... this is getting really long, sorry)

High lights of the show for me ETS>IKYR and a fine DC. Richie's break in Fat Man was excellent! I'll post to the LF message board when my Minni/I'wa tour shows are mastered.
Low lights of the show: The PA problem, damn. The guy from the IRRHF... wait till you read my transcript... and this is minor, but damn it... I want/need to hear Red Streamliner live just once! It was scratched at Sioux Falls and again here at The Surf. I had high hopes of a karmic convergence... Induction, The Surf, Red Streamliner... not to be... two shows to go so maybe if I'm really good and wish really hard... (Why can't my fingers type as fast as I think?... cripes, I started this 4 hrs ago... and sorry for the extreme waste of bandwidth.)

'Hung around and tried not to get in the way of the professionals as the merch was counted/crated/carted off to the truck... another good Iowa night, BTW... offered up regrets to Jerry for a libation after and headed out. During my drive home somewhere
as I made a diversion off I-35 for a break, the Tomato passed in the night. I later caught up with her (I see the bus as a big nuturing gal... wonder where that imagry comes from?)... just south of the Metro at 2:45 AM andflashed my lights as I passed on by... more tomorrow... or not. (Take a
poll, post the results.)

Setlist:
08-27-04
The Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, IA
(10:00 PM|)
(induction/intros)

Marginal Creatures ^
Rock n Roll Dr. ^
Rocket In My Pocket ^
Under the Radar ^
Easy To Slip>
I Know You Rider
So What/Dark Star tease> DC1>
Bass/keys>Mosquito Wars tease>
Tennessee Jed> DC2>
IDWT Telephone TMTD> DC3>
Tripe Face Boogie
On Your Way Down w/guitar-trumpet-keys solos... great rendition #
Let It Roll*
E1:
Fat Man> Get Up Stand Up inst. >Gringo tease>
Get Up Stand Up verses >bass/drums... oh what drums tonight!>
Fat Man
E2:
Oh, Atlanta
(11:56 PM)

# substituted for Red Streamliner
* w/Walter Trout on guitar
^ Sound system trouble.

[bfb]

hey, i love it when we stir up the pot and bands jump on political bandwagons, or at least encourage people to think, debate, register and vote. i believe that almost all the bands involved on the kerry side are truly trying to keep to the high road, and make it more of a "take a look at things, think and vote" type message rather than a "bush sucks" type tour. i think the bands on the bush side are trying to keep it positive too (although alice cooper was against bands in politics). anyway, we should all be involved because our country, our taxes, and our future lives that are at stake in each and every election. i truly believe that mr. bush and his administration have tried to make america stronger and better, but i disagree with their vision of america and the way they go about trying to make us stronger. i want regime change here at home and i want it this fall! i like john kerry and have faith and confidence that he will do his best to do what's right for the country and to bring some needed sanity back to our budget, our tax structure, our educational system, our environment, and to our stature in the world. but regardless of the outcome, we are all in this together - god bless us all!