When one thinks of classic American surf music, one naturally thinks of Bethesda, Md. At least I do now, after wandering down
Bethesda Avenue of an evening and stumbling upon the Suburban Surfers. The band was set up in the open window at swanky Parker’s Bistro and filling the street with that definitive summer sound.

The group is Landon Banfield (lead guitar), Bill Adkins (rhythm guitar), Rob Fisher (drums), and Tom Phillips (bass), and they not only feature such mainstays of the genre as “Apache” (oddly, a song written and recorded by the British band the Shadows), but also offer suitably retro originals, such as the muscular “Gravitron.”

I must say, I’m quite jealous of Rob’s drums. The kit once belonged to Los Straightjackets‘ drummer Jimmy Lester and was acquired from eBay. Lucky bastard. Anyway, Parker’s has music Thursday through Saturday, another surprise but welcome, and the Surfers are there about once a month. Do check them out, won’t you?

Here Bill and Landon become Santo and Johnny on that gorgeous slow-jam, “Sleepwalk.”

I missed the beginning, but had to record this original/mashup, “Muenster’s Theme.”

As usual, these videos were shot with my PowerShot still camera. Can’t wait to pick up the Canon T2i, so these impromptu vids are more hi-def.. (Videos also available on Youtube.)

So the mystery of “That Thing You Do” continues. As I posted previously, the title song from Tom Hanks’ fabulous film That Thing You Do seems to be in heavy rotation on grocery store Muzak stations. While the fictitious Top 40 hit never cracked the actual Top 10 — a damning indictment of the music industry and popular taste — it is inescapable in the produce aisle.

Last week the tune was heard in a Kroger store in Richmond. You have to listen verrrry closely to this recording to catch it. Kroger’s ceilings are much higher than Giant’s, and the place was much noisier. Even so, the magic hook is unmistakable.

I have an e-mail in to TTYD singer Mike Viola and a tweet to Mr. Hanks seeking comment. Stay tuned…

Always delightful to come upon street musicians, even when the “music” demands ironic quotes. No irony needed for Truusoul, a trio of young jazzbos bringing a quiet groove to the busy corner of Fenton and Ellsworth in downtown Silver Spring. The bass player and guitarist switched instruments after I stopped filming. And is that the tiniest bass drum ever? It looks like a rack tom but it has bass spurs on it. I want one.

Once again, the scene was captured using my trusty Canon PowerShot A590.

Senior year in high school, I took a class called “Basic Musicianship.” It was a “gut course,” as they say; no homework and not many tests, as I recall. What I do remember learning is the concept of a triad chord and the quote, “Music is painted on a background of silence.”

Obviously, the members of The Axis of Awesome paid more attention than me. Australia’s “most tolerated musical comedy trio” has done some valuable research and revealed the shocking truth of pop music: it only takes four chords to make a hit song. Here is the shameful proof:

On the opposite end of the musical spectrum, here is Jan Swafford’s excellent Slate piece explaining the surprising difficulties involved in simply playing in tune. With many audio examples. Of course, I didn’t understand any of it, but I felt good about myself after reading it.

Had a great time chatting and schmoozing with all of the Wammie folks during the 2009 awards ceremony at the State Theater a few weeks back. Greg Berger did a bang-up job of editing the hours of material. Of course, a lot of my pals were left on the cutting room floor, but that’s what the Director’s Cut DVD is for, right? Enjoy.

(Here’s the video on Vimeo.)

It is my firm belief that the best musical moments often happen away from the hype and limelight. Sure, Springsteen’s still giving his all, and I hear Streisand puts on a rousing show. But every night of the week, there’s a cat flat gettin’ it on some small stage in your town, sweating up the joint, knocking himself out. ‘Cause that’s what he does. If you’re lucky, you’ll be in the room. If not, you may never even hear about it.

Such was the case at McGinty’s Tuesday night when The Joker’s Wild threw an 80th birthday bash for D.C. sax legend Ted Efantis. Efantis has played with the likes of Benny Goodman yet does not look nor act anywhere close to his age. He was gleefully telling musician jokes, drinking Presbyterians, jitterbugging women across the dance floor, and clearly enjoying himself all evening.

Joker sax man Jeff Gray claimed Efantis taught him everything he knows about the instrument and thus the bandmembers were kindly repaying a debt to their elder. A variety of D.C. musical hotshots, including GHZ bassist Scott Giambusso, and King Soul’s Tom Clifford, stopped by to wish Ted happy birthday. Or maybe they heard there was cake.

Above, Efantis, Gray, and Ted’s pal Knute smoke up Sonny Rollins‘ signature tune, “Tenor Madness.”

Efantis assays the definitive sax song, “Body and Soul:”

The Jokers (Vincent Borrelli, vocals; Tommy Barrick, drums; Brandon Cochenour, piano; Gray, saxophones; and Eric Leifert, bass) have their way with the Louis Prima classic, “Just a Gigolo:”

King Soul performing at the hottest club in D.C. that isn’t a club, Blaylock Theatre. I can’t even tell you where it is, but you wouldn’t believe me anyway. Shot this with my trusty Canon PowerShot A590.

The first song is a tight cover of JJ Jackson’s classic “But It’s Alright.” The second tune (below) is an original, “Eyes Up,” though it sounds as if it were written in 1968. Good job, lads!

King Soul is Jake Flack (guitar & vocals), Tom Clifford (vocals & harp), Nick Ruggieri (drums & vocals), Mark Noone (bass & vocals), Arif Durrani (keyboards & vocals), Chris Whatling (baritone sax), Tom Ruggieri (tenor sax), Ray Strucker (trumpet), and Vince McCool (trumpet). Check ‘em at myspace.com/kingsoulband

King Soul Rocks the House, Part Two

Tom Hanks‘ wonderful and woefully overlooked film That Thing You Do is one of my all-time favorites. Bought the VHS. Bought the DVD. Then bought the director’s-cut DVD. (Don’t talk to me about Blu-Ray.)

One of the great charms of the film is the soundtrack, which manages to evoke the bygone Top-40 era and be legitimately catchy at the same time. Especially the title tune, written by the great Adam Schlesinger of the also woefully overlooked Fountains of Wayne. Not surprisingly, the tune was nominated for an Oscar. Very surprisingly, it did not win. Tragically, it lost to Madonna.

Though the song sounds like it would have been a big radio hit in the early ’60s, it was not a hit, then or now. There was a bit of airplay, but mostly by winking DJs being cute. Merseybeat-inspired melodies were not in favor with radio programmers in the late-’90s.

So, what was the tune doing in the Muzak rotation at the Giant Food off Flower Ave. in Silver Spring last week? It certainly made my shopping experience brighter, but what’s next — Lord of the Rings overture at the salad bar?

Listen closely to Mike Viola and the rest of the studio Wonders rocking that thing they did from the ceiling speakers near the meat section:

Out for pancakes in Richmond’s stylish Carytown on Sunday and ran into this amazing fellow. The band’s lead-guitarist, rhythm guitarist, singer, drummer, and roadie told me that the group is called Gul — “Like seagull,” he explained.

Gul was set up in front of Plan 9 Records (one of the great music stores), and rocking out harder than many bands featuring two to six times as many musicians. I would have loved to stick around and catch the entire set but, you know, pancakes…

(Video also available on the Youtubes.

Pure power pop for now people, the Spectacles played an energetic matinee set at the Quarry House. The band is Chuck Dolan (bass/vocals), JP McDermott (guitar/vocals), and John Kelly (drums/background vocals).

I really like this idea of weekend matinee rock shows. Maybe with a Senior Discount?

This was shot, as usual, with my handy Canon A590. Why did I buy that big video camera?