Comment

Comment by John R. Bockelman 8 hours ago

Great song and the film was awesome! The way it used to be...I never knew Gabby Bleaker's fuel altered coupe was red! the Surf Music 101 site is incredible! An online encyclopedia of Surf Music! Thanks, Woody! JB

Comment by Woody Delbridge 10 hours ago

OK.  New music, old film.  Gotta love The Surfites "Thou Shalt Drag"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBMM1oOfR30

Comment by Woody Delbridge 11 hours ago

Nice video by The Tormentos.  Thanks Tom.  BTW, JB, or anyone else interested in surf music check out http://surfguitar101.com/

Comment by John R. Bockelman yesterday

That was the highlight of my day!  GREAT stuff!  I wish life could be that simple!  I can remember when it was!  We didn't know how good we had it back then!  As for the music, this is one of the best Surf bands around...they're doing it right, they're excellent musicians and they are applying a very high level of skill to this style and you can hear it...great job by those guys.  Thanks for the link, Tom!  I enjoyed every second of it!  JB

Comment by Thomas Warren yesterday

Hi JB, This one is Fun In The Sun.  The Tormentos-Dragstrip Night

http://youtu.be/dw5XB5X0Nek.

Comment by John R. Bockelman on Thursday

Part 1 of "JB's Take" from the Monday, May 13th Racin' and Rockin' Show:

We've all heard by now about the shakeups that have occurred at the top levels of NHRA drag racing over the last week, with Richard Hogan being dismissed by Steve Torrence from the Capco Top Fuel team, Lee Beard abruptly resigning from the Rapisarda international Top Fuel team and subsequently Beard signing on as Torrence's crew chief.  Controversy happens.  So does turnover.  It was all rather sudden and I suppose tact was not a featured element in the ongoing series of events that transpired over the course of the last week or so with those two teams.  I'd like to give my take on what I learned from reading about it and how it went down.

First of all, I'm sure Lee's going to settle into the Capco gig quite well and do it all his way. He's always been singular and self-confident, and his record as a winner is well-known. Steve must have made him an offer he couldn't refuse, like a full NHRA tour, complete control, bigger pay and budget, etc. I hated to see Dixon get left in a fix but Lee must not have had a binding contract. Lee (and everybody, for that matter) speaks highly of Larry Dixon, who besides being a proven winner and a natural talent who is in an elite class of drivers, is as fine of a gentleman who ever climbed into a Top Fuel Dragster. Now, some folks I talked to said OK, then Rapisarda oughta hire Richard Hogan.  Would Richard Hogan be a good fit with Rapisarda? Well...That's probably up to him if he gets an offer. I'd like to see him get with an NHRA team that's in the hunt, but he could join Rapisarda and see the world even though that team has no intention of competing for an NHRA championship...and Torrence absolutely does. At any rate, I don't expect Lee to move on from the Capco team any time soon...

Some folks might say there is no loyalty anymore, but there is and there always will be.  I did not see Lee Beard's decision to leave the Rapisarda team as any kind of sneaky or selfish gesture.  The people I talked to said he's always been a team-jumper and after so many teams, it starts to look like it ain't the team that's the problem.  Well, I respectfully choose to disagree.  They also said Torrence should have hung in there with Richard and worked things out and get that car back running in contention.  Well, I respectfully choose to disagree.  The reason I respectfully choose to disagree is because I have done the same thing myself in bands and the music business as well as having it done to me a couple of times.  Business is business, money is money, and this is a series of crucial decisions involving essential elements of whether to be, or not to be, an NHRA championship contender, whether it's sponsor money, crane money, oil money, beer money or daddy's money that's involved, it's still money and it's still business and at that level it's a bottom line-driven factor toward the end result, both collectively and individually.

Comment by John R. Bockelman on Thursday

Part 2:

I had to fire people from my bands, not because they couldn't play or they didn't have the ability to play the music that I'd written and arranged for the band, but because of intangibles both on and off stage that were affecting the success of the band.  Our friendships survived on both sides of the firing line, however, and I am grateful for that.  We understood that in the music business, friendship should have nothing to do with business and business has nothing to do with friendship.  Attitude also comes into play in that business and in many situations you're faced with gargantuan egos that overshadow a player's actual contribution and committment to the band he's in.  It happens all the time.  I've seen it happen to my son Nick's band and although the music changes and is different across generational lines, the same hangups can bring a group down from bands in their early 20s to bands in their late 60s. I choose to leave my ego at home and be a team player, which works best for me when I'm a member of a band.  As a bandleader I've tried to be gentle but firm.  I agonized over personnel direction but I did what had to be done.  It's a necessary part of being involved in a business enterprise.

I have deep regrets about leaving the Citykings.  It was a decision based on the needs of my family.  Changing styles and formats was and still is difficult for me at times, as was leaving the best soulmates I ever played with.  I have found lifelong friendships in the band I'm in and it's been a great gig.  But most of what I know, I wrote, and that's a fact.  I've learned a lot in this band, some of it shown to me with respect and class, and some of it hurled at me with anger and insults.  Both ways, I learn.  I choose to stay on an even keel and keep going.  It's been good and it will keep being good if I say it's good. It's just that simple.

I look up to Lee Beard.  He's his own man.  He's certainly not taking the path of least resistance, and he's going to keep doing his work as he sees it should be done for the best of the team he's with as well as for the best for his own career.  I wish him, Steve, Richard, Santo and Larry the best in the future and I hope that they can all make the best of their situations and with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, find their way to each of their goals.  

Y'all be sure to tune in tomorrow night to Racin' through History.  It's a goat rodeo you don't want to miss.  See y'all there.  Thanks. 

Comment by John R. Bockelman on Thursday

Great stuff, Woody and Tom! You guys ROCK! Penetrators cool. Great plot, too! I paid attention to it! Thanks for these great links!  JB

Comment by Woody Delbridge on Thursday

Spies, espionage, attempted murder - all at a drag strip.  Enjoy the declassified video "Redlined" by The Penetrators.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Y-b--hSf8

Also at http://www.penetrators.com/

Comment by Thomas Warren on Thursday

Hi JB, this is the one Woody Delbridge passed along. Fun and Goofy video, Good music. The Penetrators:Red Lined.

http://youtu.be/gFZY_EE4oaE.

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