INSECT SURFERS - REVIEWS

Insect Surfers at the Los Angeles Forum

      we were hastily contacted by the l.a forum 2 days before playing, womens basketball team the sparks were having a beach day, passing out beach towels, etc., and needed a surf band to play at different points at the game.

      arriving at the forum, we took our equipment by elevator and dolly up to a little 8 foot square platform with a rail around it, it was all the way at the top of the the back wall's nosebleed section, not too far from the giant american flag that everybody salutes while the anthem is being sung. evidently the lakers have a band w/trumpets and stuff that plays up there from time to time, our coordinator said that they spill out on to the bleacher seats cause they are a big band, man, cause we could just barely fit up there!

      i was given a headset that the coordinator would cue me through, telling me when we were about to play and when to cut off. this was a bit of a challenge 'cause the headset was attached by a cable to my belt, the little belt box had a little switch that i had to press whenever i needed to talk.

      a couple times the guy would tell me you're about to stop, or cut it off, and i'd have to press the thing while playing, to say o.k.!!

      we were given time to play 3 of our tunes at the pregame events (in between player interviews, a dj spinning hip-hop tunes, commercials, game promos, little kid dance routines, etc.,) we played gary busey, meteorite shower, and diamondback.

      at halftime they wanted us to play something very recognizable, so we played wipeout at three sequences of some game/contest they had where parents and kids would come out and do stuff with hula hoops, miniature basketballs, and an inflateable kiddie pool! more promos, dance routines, etc followed and then we did a version of tequila! i was so sure that a crowd of several thousand people listening to that song would surely yell out the word tequila at the appropriate moments, but if they did, we sure couldn't hear them! hmmm, so much for my planned crowd manipulation!! also, fortunately, we were at the exact end of a verse when we were told to cut off the music!

      after that, we weren't scheduled to play 'til after the game. the coordinator did say that there would be a brief contest sequence with more kids bouncing basketballs that we could play through, that would last about 20 seconds(!). and it did! 20 seconds! and we totally missed it, that's ok, the dj was playing some hip hop through it and i don't know what wouldn't sound kinda retarded for 20 seconds anyway...hey what are we, shadowy men or something?!

      our drummer jimbo was pretty funny thoughout, he would do a roll and hit the cymbal when the teams would do the free throws, and occasionally played along with the go team-type chants...

      kxlu surfwave dj jim dunfrund showed up to say hello and that it sounded pretty good, it was nice to see a familiar face, and also to meet dugger, the guy who'd booked us! also much thanks to bellrays and black widows guitarist tony fate for filling in for our guitarist danno who couldn't make it, tony has actually played with us many times in the past.

      at show's end, after some more big-screen promos and a player interview, we got to play bouzouki, electric marlin, polaris, flamin' eddie's dragstrip,and volcano juice as the masses streamed out! i was reminded of the sequence in the movie woodstock where hendrix is playing but the movie keeps showing you scenes of people leaving and the final cleaning up!

      all in all it was a very surreal and very fun experience, i have to give the l.a. forum and the sparks organization a lot of credit for exposing surf music to the public. it was also fun to have some experience playing along to hair-trigger timed tv-soundbyte sequences,this was a gig where you really had to be on your toes!

      and finally, the fact that the sparks team won by 20 points was something to be truly proud of!! those women rock!!

      instrumentally yours,

insect surfer dave - July 5, 2000

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