FOR NEARLY 10 years now, Radio Rumpus Room has been broadcast Fridays at 9-10:30 p.m. on KFAI Fresh Air Radio, FM 90.3 Minneapolis and 106.7 St. Paul. The show streams live on the Internet, and as always, our two most recent shows are archived in their entirety in RealAudio. Just visit the RRR web page anytime to listen to this noise and accompanying yakkin' by Ron and Jean.

Playlist for Friday, February 20, 2004

This week marked Radio Rumpus Room's 9th annual "THE DAY THE SURF STOOD STILL" mid-winter surf show!

When Danny Amis wrote "Calhoun Surf" 25 years ago, he probably didn't have the snowbanks of a Minneapolis winter in mind. Which, perhaps perversely, is why we usually choose to broadcast our annual "The Day The Surf Stood Still" show from the shores of the same Lake Calhoun*. This year was our ninth for this event, and yeah, we've always admitted we stole the show title outright way back when from a track on Mark Brodie's terrific "Shores Of Hell" CD. Occuring just as the city was breaking out of 30 straight days of below-freezing temps, late February almost seemed balmy. Maybe we'll have to move next year's 10th annual show earlier in the month -- maybe even to January -- to maintain the challenge of it all...

SAVVY SHOW STARTER (always locally recorded!)
Big Surf -- Tarfoot ("5-4-5" 3-song CD-R)

Big Surf is a powerful three-piece Minneapolis surf band that has been active here for several years. We were happy to feature them tonight, as well as other current Minneapolis surf bands: The Awkwards, Zip Caplan's (former Litter lead guitarist) Surf Dawgs, Surf Nation (formerly Camp OJ and from Winona, a short drive south of the Twin Cities), and of course the founding fathers of Minnesota surf, the Trashmen. None of the current bands have formal releases out, but all have promised to address that problem shortly. (Note to Twin Citians: Big Surf and the Awkwards will share a bill with the Copperheads at Urban Wildlife in Minneapolis on Feb. 24. Do check this show out.)

The Fantastic Baggys -- Surfin's Back Again (Anywhere The Girls Are!; Sundazed)
The Surf Kings -- Pulltop (Up From The Depths; Innertube)
The Trashmen -- Malaguena (Surfin' Bird reissue; Sundazed)
The Cave 4 -- Shockwave (Bikini Crash!; MuSick)

The Banzai Rebels (w/Mark Brodie) -- Curse Of The Red Baron (Surf Panic 7"; R.I.P.)
The Torpedoes -- The Hornet (Good For The Country; Resurgent)
The Awkwards -- Number Muncher (3-song CD-R)
The Bambi Molesters -- Bikini Machines (Intensity!; Dancing Bear)

The Gamblers -- Moon Dawg! (V/A Cowabunga box; Rhino)
The Krontjong Devils -- Reverberoska (On Tour!; Telstar)
The Untamed Youth -- Tube City (V/A Bikini World!; Repeat)
Los Locos el Ritmo -- El Rey del Surfin (V/A Surf A La Mexicana 7"; Repent)

Zip Caplan's Surf Dawgs -- Surf Rider (CD-R of unreleased studio tracks)
Eddie & The Showmen -- And The Angels Sing (Squad Car; AVI)
The Belairs -- Kamikaze (The Belairs: The Origins Of Surf Music 1960-1963; Iloki)
Robby & The Robbins -- Surfers' Life (V/A Surf & Drag, Vol. 2; Sundazed)

The Atlantics -- Bombora (The Complete CBS Recordings, Vol. 1; Canetoad)
The Royal Fingers -- Three Hawks (V/A Japanese Groupsound!; Spinout)
The Frank-Echo Quintet -- Melody For Barbara (V/A Surfbeat Behind The Iron Curtain, Vol. 1; AIP)
The Avengers VI -- Avengers Stomp (Real Cool Hits; Dionysus/Bacchus Archives)

Surf Nation -- Party At The Sand Bar (Three Songs From The River CD-EP)
The Surfaris -- Samoa (Surfaris Stomp; Varese Sarabande)
Mach IV -- Beach Bound (Eleki!; Halakahiki)
Meshugga Beach Party -- Siman Tov (S/T; Halakahiki)

The Vibrants -- Wildfire (V/A Lost Legends Of Surf Guitar, Vol. 3; Sundazed)
Phantom 309 -- Washout (3000 Crooked Miles To Honolulu)
The Super Stocks -- Surfers Holiday (The Complete Recordings; One-Way)
The Woodies -- Surfin' With Bernie (Swimmin' In The Reverb; Pop)

(*) Hey, it's radio, folks!

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