Blue Cheer

     While the band Blue Cheer may have gotten their name from a variety of LSD, I have just given the name to a condition previously known as Surfer's High. Yesterday I believe I experienced the previously-known-as-Surfer's High-but-now-called-Blue Cheer, which is something akin to the fabled Runner's High. When in this state, the athlete in question is consumed with a euphoria above and beyond that normally experienced when doing the sport in question. The athlete in this case being a surfer, and the sport, surfing. On all three boards I rode over four hours yesterday I had more than a blast. The waves were waist to chest, and the sandbar at WJ and off the rockpile has built up just right so these lefts just came in and peeled for hundreds (!) of yards, they looked like something you'd see photographs of California, something more like a point break. The elation I felt was far above that of a normal session, it was definitely my favorite surf of the winter, maybe of the summer, fall, and winter combined. It was the best and most consistent I have surfed in a long time, and that made me feel really, really good. Great. Blue Cheer.

     Back to Blue Cheer. Possibly one of my current favorite bands from the late-60s. Definitely the best power trio from that time (sorry Cream), unless you count The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but I'm not, because then I think I'd have to say that Jimi was better, but then again, as I write this, and while it can't be denied Hendrix was a better guitar player, I don't know...

     Blue Cheer's version of "Rock Me Baby," the second track on their 1968 debut Vincebus Eruptum. At 2:14, do they forget they're a band? The threads holding the musicians together seem to be stretched thin, almost snapped, as each seems to pay minimal attention to the other, the drummer Eric Albronda's primal skin-smashing, guitarist Leigh Stephens just wailing away, sometimes seemingly uncontrolled, and singer/bassist Dickie Peterson deciding to give his throat a rest and take it easy on the bass. Then, they snap back into synch, and continue to tear this blues-rock apart. But wait there's more...

     "Doctor Please," the third track off of the same album. As I was writing that last paragraph I started thinking how good this song is too, so there it is. Also, their manager was an ex-Hell's Angel named Guts.

     Back to surfboards, one of the boards I rode for a little bit yesterday was Frank's Chemistry "Boombastik" set up as a quad. I fell in love. I had ridden it once before but on less-than-great waves. This board just hooked into the pocket and hung in the barrel, and when I wanted it to go it went and how. It's shorter than a lot of boards at 5'7" but paddles really well with a little bit of a fuller template. I might shape the fish blank I have into something like it, maybe a different tail or try different bottom contours or something, or maybe just leave it. The funny thing is, minus a few inches, it's kind of the same idea I was going for with 002, but didn't get by a little (a lot). Alright, that's it, oh wait, no it's not...



The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Rock Me Baby," Live at Monterey Pop, 1967.



Disclaimer: Whenever I state any musical opinions (and I don't mean opinions put to a tune) or any opinions at all for that matter, keep in mind these opinions are apt to change at any time, without notice.