I mentioned a while back how my uncle unknowingly turned my brothers and I onto the Ventures and surf music. He also had Santo and Johnny in his stash, which wasn't much of a leap considering his obsession with instrumental guitar bands. (To wit, he shared Duane Eddy's last name, and my Mom later told me that he would tell his classmates that he was related to him). Somehow, my brothers and I ended up with his copy of Santo and Johnny's 1961 LP Hawaii which we played incessantly (our favorite back then was "Hawaiian War Chant"). It was the first record in our collective heap that had steel guitar on it. (Try describing the coolness of that sound to your friends when their primary exposure to music is Boss Radio.)
David Lynch wishes...
Fast forward to drinking age, let me rephrase that, heavy drinking age. When you've grown past keg party age and graduated to barstool, or rather barfly. When I used to go to the bar, every night, the bar in question was Pacific Shores. An awesome bar it was, pre-mob scene, and the last few years I was a regular there, the jukebox was the best in any bar I've ever been in, particularly because it was more informed than the clientele. So you had the day crowd, largely geezers, listening to Love's "Little Red Book", and the night crowd which was younger (but still contained relatively few music geeks), listening to "Sleepwalk". Imagine that, in a bar that opened on Pearl Harbor day, and had been updated little since. That's heaven right there.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Their first LP:
Santo and Johnny - Santo and Johnny at Basement Rug In a zip. (Click on "This self-titled 1959 LP")
Visit:
Santo and Johnny at Basement Rug Excellent bio and all the goods
