Do you write for yourself or for others? Does it matter? As a kid, before I could play an instrument, I would make up songs. There was "That House Is Haunted" which sounded a lot like "These Boots Are Made…
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Oct 10 2023
Oct 10 2023
Do you write for yourself or for others? Does it matter? As a kid, before I could play an instrument, I would make up songs. There was "That House Is Haunted" which sounded a lot like "These Boots Are Made…
Read moreJul 6 2023
I started learning B♭ clarinet in fifth grade. I hated it. I wanted a trumpet, but my folks had a problem with the volume. Anyway, it's hard to learn music when you dislike the sounds you're making, so I gave…
Read moreMay 10 2023
An encounter with "Artificial Stupidity". I posted on an event for a gig today and facebook took the post down calling it "hate speech". What?! I gave the dates and band names and put up a drawing. Did the algorithm…
Read moreMay 3 2023
I attended high-school back in the Pleistocene Era and played electric guitar in a garage band. After graduation, I left the city and moved to a small town to attend college. Alas, there was no real rock there, just a…
Read moreApr 21 2023
It's here! The new album is finally done!
El Borko ¡Surf! is the first album with Cameron Wick on drums and James P. Daley on bass. I've been around the Pacific Northwest with these guys, they're fun to hang out…
Read moreApr 3 2023
Most people who have recorded an album know how much work it is. You have to write the songs, then play the songs, then record the songs. Then you gotta mix the songs, master the songs, make an album cover…
Read moreFeb 20 2023
It's fun to break down a genre into sub-genres and see what they bring to the whole. Here are four possible sub-genres for surf music; cinematic drama, barefoot beach party, hotrod hoodlum, and sensuous jungle tiki.
Cinematic drama is the…
Read moreFeb 5 2023
Ask someone for an example of surf music, then get ready for many different answers. Some will say "Beach Boys", some will say "Dick Dale", some will talk about the Ventures or Duane Eddy. They are all correct.
Surf music…
Read moreJan 9 2023
I spent 2021 releasing and promoting two albums (Surf Monster & Surficana) and putting together the current line-up of El Borko ¡Surf!. I spent 2022 booking and playing gigs with El Borko ¡Surf!. Here at the end of the year…
Read moreDec 11 2022
Thanks to everyone who came out to see El Borko or The Miller Brothers or any other shows this past year. Your support means a lot. Special thanks to Celeste from Yeti Set Go, Rob Tobias, Lisa Rennie, Beau Eastlund…
Read moreNov 18 2022
Everything has to be new all the time. Does everything have to be new all the time? Why does everything have to be new all the time? Everything new happens all the time. So every time a thing is new…
Read moreOct 31 2022
If you've seen El Borko ¡Surf! in the last two months then you've heard some songs from our next album. I doubt if anyone pays such close attention that they'd notice and of course, we don't always announce the titles…
Read moreOct 15 2022
Sometimes we do things just to see if we can. This week was an example of that where I played an El Borko show in Seattle on Thursday, a Miller Brothers show in Eugene on Friday and tonight it's up…
Read moreSep 5 2022
I have been so lucky to find such a great band. Jon Neher is a loyal friend and a great musician. He brings intensity and life to everything he does. James P. Daley illustrates the maxim, "still waters run deep"…
Read moreAug 13 2022
I spend a lot of time promoting my band on various calendars, websites, and other Public Relations-y sorta things. You have to write descriptions of the band... over and over. Go to any events or band website and marvel at…
Read moreAug 7 2022
It's no secret that our expectations can affect our outcomes. But it's so obvious that we often forget, and then undermine our own projects. I had some recent reminders of this. Here are two examples.
I just returned from a…
Read moreAug 1 2022
When you compose music, you might write down chord changes or lyrics. Some people actually write out a score. I do a little of each, but no matter how often I play it, I wanna hear what the finished product…
Read moreJun 19 2022
There's no such thing as an "unknown" band. If you're a band, and you play out, then someone must know you. I've played gigs where it was us and the bartender and two drunk people who left after awhile. So…
Read moreApr 27 2022
Playing in a band is similar to playing on a sports team. Each member has a particular skill. You have a practice schedule. You have gigs/games. At the gig/game, things don't always go the way they did at practice. The…
Read moreApr 18 2022
When making setlists, I imagine each set as a one act play where each song is a character or an event. In this context, a song has a role and a personality. The opening song is vivacious and engaging. The…
Read moreMar 14 2022
I saw a facebook post today which said... "What about changing the name of the group to ... No Strictly Surf Music Appreciation Society?". Right away I started thinking about what makes a musical genre. I realized that in any…
Read moreFeb 10 2022
In the 90s, my wife and I worked at a private school in Arizona. There is a campfire story about an unfortunate student called 'Headmixer Larry'. I love this story, it's many variations, and it's place in the memories of…
Read moreJan 24 2022
I have been an afficionado of surf music for 4 or 5 years now. I spent this time becoming familiar with the repertoire, reading about its history, and above all, learning to play it. To play and write music in…
Read moreJan 6 2022
Some bands are famous, we all know about them. Some bands are only known in their locality or genre. This second kind interest me more than the famous ones. A few of these groups actually make a living at it…
Read moreNov 5 2021
One of my favorite scary stories from middle school English class was "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs. A creepy talisman from an exotic land causes badness. Imagine my delight when a Tiki Bar opened in Springfield called... Yes…
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