Jammin' in 1965. From left to right, Charlie McCormick, Bill Townsend, me, Steve McCormick.

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August, 2005: 40 years later (yikes!) playing Mr. Moto at my 40th high school reunion with The Valiants, a band from my high school class (aka, for one night only, The Viagras)  
I'm the first guitar player on the left. The original Valiants are, from left to right, Louie Keller on Drums, Bob Miller, and Doug Stilwell on guitar. The bass player, Bill ? joined the group for this performance.

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May, 2006: Here I am in my first band since college. The Cool-O-Matics, playing our first gig.
I'm playing guitar on the left, Don Ross is on drums, and Doug Forbes is on bass.

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August, 2007: Here I am doing a "guest spot", playing Walk Don't Run, with the Southern California surf band, The Detonators, at the Baja Cantina in Marina Del Rey.
I'm playing guitar on the left, Ted Thompson is on bass, Billy Scanlan is playing guitar on the right, and Jeff Voorhees is on drums. Their other regular guitar player, Rob Woolsey, is on the far left.

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September 15, 2007: Here I am doing a "guest spot", playing Walk Don't Run, with the Southern California surf band, The Sound Waves, at the Huntington Beach Surf Fest street fair.
I'm playing guitar on the Right, John Metcalf is on bass, Marty Tippens is playing guitar on the left (filling in for Joe Romero), and Bobby "K" is on drums. Their regular lead guitar player, Robin Johnston, is on my right.

Check out the video of this performance here or click the play arrow below.

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April 20, 2008: Here's a couple of pictures of me playing at a "surf jam" at the Huntington Beach International surfing museum


Kerry Chester (keyboards) Me (guitar) Duff Paulsen (drums) Matt Quilter (Guitar)

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More Old Pictures With My '64 Fender Mustang

1966

This picture shows the best replication of the Mustang's orginal color.

1967

This is the same Mustang during it's "Red" phase. I replaced the orginal worn blue finish with red lacquer. I refinished it again with black lacquer a few years later, but I'm currently in the process of making it bright red again. Photo by Norm Summey In Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

This is my Mustang during it's "Black" phase during my Blues period... not very surfy.

Here it is in red again. A few days after refinishing it, and putting on a new neck, I changed my mind, and decided to refinish it in blue again, and reinstall the the old neck. I wanted to just keep it as a collectable.

Here it is in blue again. I still want a Mustang to play with, and since I now have an extra neck, I'm in the process of building a new Mustang with some wiring modifications. See the next picture.

Here's the new one I built. It's a bit different than a Mustang from Fender. It features an ebony fingerboard, locking tuners, stainless steel frets, roller string tee, graphite nut, swamp ash body, and twin rail humbucker pickups. The slide switches for each pickup are wired for humbucker mode, off, and single coil mode. The tone control has a switch on it for phase reversal.

Side view of the Mustang I built

Fender Mustang Links
Jag-Stang.com

No Lack of Talent Here!! - Local Bands And Venues I Like (Worth Checking Out):
 
 

In the Los Angeles Area:	Pat O'Brien and the Priests of Love	A Must See!!! The Priests are the house band at The First Cabin in Arcadia, CA and perform Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
	Janiva Magness
	Smokey Wilson
	Soul Dogs
	The So'l Sweet Band	Outstanding Rhythm & Blues
	Three Bad Jacks	I have to add a small caveat to this recommendation. When I added this talented band to my list, I had seen them playing "Rockabilly" music at a bar and grill, and I enjoyed their performance very much. I recently saw them perform in another venue, and they had a definite "punk" flavor to their music, which I don't care for... but that's just me.
	Severin Browne & James Coberly Smith	Coffeehouse Music!! They can be seen at Kulaks Woodshed in North Hollywood, the first Friday night of every month. If North Hollywood is too far for you, catch them on the Kulaks' live web cast around 8 p.m. PST.
	Kulaks Woodshed	This venue, located in North Hollywood has to be seen to be belived. Paul Kulak hosts a variety of music genres here. The place is run by volunteers and donations, and the musicians donate their perfomances. Anything can happen there... I once saw Walter Egan come in, and perform his old hit "Magnet And Steel". Check out their webcast at their web site.
	Zola Moon
	Joe's Bar And Grill (formerly "Crazy Jacks")	Joe's Great American Bar And Grill (formerly "Crazy Jacks") in Burbank features nightly entertainment. Primarily, but not exclusively Country music. The new owner has completly remodeled this "Honky-tonk" into a very attractive establishment.
	The Mary White Band	One of my favorite local bands for good old rock and country. They've been playing the 3rd Friday of the month at to closest venue to my house... Joe's Great All American Bar And Grill in Burbank, CA.
In Palm Springs, California:	The Blue Guitar seems to be closed again :-(	This is a very cool night club on the main drag in Palm Springs. Fomerly owned by Kal David. The hottest club, maybe the only club in the desert. Pictured below is the Blue Guitar house band
Formerly Palm Springs, California:	Kal David	Kal David And The Real Deal. This band of well credentialed musicians, gave up touring to open the Blue Guitar nightclub in Palm Springs. Kal sold the night club, and I don't know where he performs now, but if you get a chance to see him, he puts on a good show.
Southern California	The Duo-Tones	This is fantasic stuff!! Surf guitar pioneer, Paul Johnson (currently with the Surfaris ("Wipeout")), and Gil Orr of the Chantays ("Pipeline"), together play "surf" hits sans bass and drums, and sometimes acoustic! And, as is the case with all the musicians here, really friendly guys, very approachable. Of course it's also very cool if you get to see these guys perform with the Surfaris and the Chantays.
	The Sound Waves	Classic 60's Surf Music played by guys that played it in high school when it was new. Check out the video of me playing with them, above on this page.
	The Surf Rockets	Another terrific Southern California Surf (and more) band, and friends of mine, that occasionally lets me play with them :-)
Southern California and Beyond	Dick Dale	The King of the Surf Guitar! Not strictly a local performer, but I've seen him perform locally several times. Dick lives here in Southern California but performs internationally. He's truly a living legend. Don't pass up a chance to see him if he performs in a city near you. He is sometimes joined by his son, Jimmy who is following in his dad's footsteps.
	The Surfaris	Classic Surf Music played by original Surfari member Jim Fuller's band.
Northern California	Meshugga Beach Party	Meshugga Beach Party specializes in playing traditional jewish folk songs, surf style, with plenty of reverb and tremolo picking glissandos! I got to see them here in Southern California at the Huntington Beach International surfing museum. They are one of the best surf bands I've heard!
Around Santa Fe, New Mexico:	The Motor Kings	When I saw them, they were hosting an open jam at Evangelo's
New Orleans:	Jeff Chaz	"The Bourbon Street Blues Man" If you find yourself in New Orleans, look him up. He's a real fun showman.
Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona Area:	Harolds Cave Creek Corral	This restaurant is in Cave Creek, Arizona, north of Scottsdale. I'm not a country music fan, but there is something about hearing it live that gives it new dimension. We stop in every time we go to the Phoenix area. There's good S***-Kickin' music Thursday through Sunday. The food's good too! This is also a good place to go if you're a Steelers fan. Yee Hah!
	Char's Has The Blues	Voted the "Best Blues Bar In Phoenix" by The Phoenix "New Times" year after year. They host a variety of blues and R&B bands. They will also bring in meals from Pizza City for you.
	Soul Horizons (no web site)	Very good Soul, R&B, and Blues band. We saw them perform at Char's Has The Blues, where they perform frequently.
	Chris Hiatt	Chris leads a popular Phoenix based trio that favors Stevie Ray Vaughan. We saw him perform at Sugar Daddy's He did this interesting thing, where he sang the Beatle's song, "Day Tripper" to the Chantay's "Pipeline". His show also includes a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute. He did an acoustic set earlier in the day, which I missed, but will try to catch next time I'm in Phoenix.
Northern Arizona	Killer Wail	A surf band in Arizona of all places! I guess they'll be close enough to the ocean once "The Big One" hits here in California. If you visit their web page, you can see a video of them playing one of my and Paul Johnson's favorites, Mr. Moto ;-) I saw them perform at Kactus Kate's in Cottonwood, AZ, not far from Sedona. In addition to the Surf covers that you usually hear, they covered some tunes I hadn't heard in years. They also perform some orginal tunes, and even did a little blues. It was a real fun evening!
Ft. Myers, Florida Area	The Buckingham Blues Bar	Tommy Lee Cook took this dilapidated biker bar, in rural Buckingham, Florida, and renovated it into the "World Famous Buckingham Blues Bar". Tommy's band rocks, and there are also guest bands, open jams, and a monthly outdoor show in the bar's park like back yard (Check the web site's calendar). If that's not enough, you can also visit Bucky the mule, who lives behind the bar.