Friday, August 23, 2013

DJ WAYNE MANOR, A Summer in Gotham: From Skylark to Rockaway Beach and Beyond!

 

As I had finalized my summer vacation plans heading back to upstate NY for the 35th anniversary of my father's MC, The Wasted Ones, I wanted to be able to make the most of my first summer back home in 7 years. I had contacted some connections about spinning records with no luck, but then I remembered a having a delightful little chat with a certain NY notable by the name of Grace of Spades when we deejayed together at Don Pedro last March. She set up a Saturday night thing at Skylark in Brooklyn with DJ RATA, who I befriended as Javier, a Venezuelan import with an expert taste in surf, rockabilly, exotica and tequila.

(DJ WAYNE MANOR; On Rock-Rock-Rockaway Beach)

In between sets, I happened to be calling whoever I knew in Brooklyn who could take me in for the night with no luck. Just around midnight, my sister surprised me with a visit. Wow, I got some kinda show of support! Seriously, thank you, sis!  I got to stay out spinning a mix of Japanese GS freakouts, garage pop tunes and northern soul groovies until 3am. And I got a nice sofa to surf on! You could almost say I surfed it to Rockaway Beach.


(DJ RATA, regulating sound at Caracas)  

At Skylark, Javier and I flowed through the usual routine of meeting a stranger in this hobby of collecting forgotten vinyl for the pleasure of others. Like asking each other our roots, getting excited over selections, comparing covers, dueling with B-sides; all the while not really caring if the sleepers at the tables really care if whose cover of "Fever" is blasting out... That is until just after 1am when the hoodoo kicks in and the sleepers stop talking at their tables, or at least their girls stop talking and stand up to boogie like itchy primitives. Then you gotta pay attention through that tropical haze of Tecate and tequila to what songs get thrown down. Cause, you been feeling like this has become the most played-out city in the world and you just started something and you don't wanna break that momentum...


(DJ TONY Abrego & Sonya from DATED)

 ...At about this time, Javier leans over to me and says he's going to Rockaway Beach tomorrow and I can DJ with him and some friends all afternoon. All I gotta do is call him around noon the next day. And that's just what I did on Sunday, August 18th at 12pm.

 
(DJ Senor 2 Platos, rockin' the garage classics)

I met up with Javier in Brooklyn and we hitched a ride with DJ Tony Abrego and his 50's chic wife Sonya from DATED, a vintage clothing buy-and-sell operation. We got to Rockaway Beach in the early afternoon and set up at Caracas Rockaway where Javier has been spinning rare oldies and roots ska weekly as the resident DJ RATA of Shake It Up Sundays! I took a walk around at this near mythical place immortalized in a Ramones song and found a sandwich board with DJ Wayne Manor from Tokio etched in chalk!

 
(Rockaway Beach, boat on the horizon)

A lot of people where out on the sand, but tell-tale signs of Big Sandy's wrath were shown in the lack of boardwalk and sections off-limits to swimmers. Yet, Caracas seemed to keep the local economy alive and jivin'! DJ Tony kicked things off with some Jamaican roots music, 50's RnB and real rockabilly. Yours Truly, then played a long, opening set of Japanese group sounds, freakbeat, pop garage and girl groups thrown in for good measure. Hearing tunes like "I Want Candy" and The Shangri-Las' "Out In The Streets" on Rockaway Beach was an unforgettable experience. But even more so, because I had amassed a small group of dancers in the form of a cute couple, one girl in a bikini and one or two little kids (one 5 year old girl invented a new dance I dubbed "The Rockaway Hop!"), enjoying some fun in a New York sun! Bite me California! 

 
(Rockaway Beach; Where has all the boardwalk gone?)

Well, this paradise lasted only until about 6pm when I had to take the Shuttle to the A, all the way to Penn Station. 2 hours! Only to get woken up by the hassles of everyday life, waiting for another train to mundane Middletown, NY. I spent nearly 5 hours on trains that day, but the 3 hours I spent at Rockaway Beach were branded in my memory forever. Gracias, Javier. And ultimately, thank you, Grace of Spades.

~The Stately DJ Wayne Manor

  (CARACAS ROCKAWAY - SHAKE IT UP SUNDAYS!)

PS. In my travels upstate NY and beyond, I was able to provide some Swamp Fiction vinyl to Darkside Records in Poughkeepsie, NY and Gallery of Sound at locations in Pennsylvania. Ask for THEEE BAT, THE FADEAWAYS or ATOMIC SUPLEX at their stores!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.13½ ED WOODS & LOS CHAMPIONS Pre-record Release Party with DAIKAIJU! "Beach Party on MONSTER ISLAND (Part 2)!"

In an unprecedented turn of events, Tokyo & Yokohama get a double shot of HOUSE of MYSTERY this weekend! After monster surf band DAIKAIJU attacks Tokyo, they will be ripping things up at ORANGE COUNTY BROTHERS in Tennocho, Yokohama! As it turns out, Swamp Fiction will be celebrating a pre-record release of the forthcoming ED WOODS meets LOS CHAMPIONS - TERROR IN ROOM 208 split 7" EP! Come to the show and pick up a CD-R copy of the record and be one of the very first to have it delivered to your door!

And if those two bands aren't enough, come out for THEE MIGHTY FEVERS rejoining DAIKAJU for some more co-wreckage and local two-man trashers d/i/s/c/o/s will be on hand to kick off the bash! Beach party on MONSTER ISLAND continues!!!!

Sat. 8/24
ORANGE COUNTY BROTHERS
TENNOCHO, YOKOHAMA
HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.13½
"Beach Party on MONSTER ISLAND (Part 2)!"

Live:
DAIKAIJU (USA)
ED WOODS
LOS CHAMPIONS
THEE MIGHTY FEVERS (KOBE)
d/i/s/c/o/s

OPEN: 18:00
START: 18:30
DOOR: ¥1500 +1D

Come and get a CD-R copy of ED WOODS meets LOS CHAMPIONS - TERROR IN ROOM 208 and pre-order the 7" record!

HOUSE OF MYSTERY Vol.13 with DAIKAIJU! "Beach Party on MONSTER ISLAND!"

Send of summer with a surf bash Godzilla-style at the HOUSE of MYSTERY! DAIKAIJU, a monster surf rock band from the US, attacks Hatagaya Heavy Sick in Tokyo on Friday, August 23rd! This special 2-part, 13th volume event is gonna be a "Beach Party on MONSTER ISLAND" with the help of Tokyo surf, psyche & garage maniacs NETANAOYOI, THEEE BAT, MY FIRST BIKINI & RAT-HOLIC! Instro-mentals and hot-rod tunes will be blasting from the turntables from the vast collections of Garage Rockin' Crazes' own JIMMY MASHIKO, EDDIE UGATA from The El Caminos and yours truly, The Stately DJ Wayne Manor!

Everyone, come on out and welcome DAIKAIJU to Tokyo! They won't bite your heads off or anything!!

http://www.daikaiju.org/

Now, just to sweeten the summer fun, girls who come dressed in a bikini get 1 free drink! Monster FUN, summer FUN, bikini FUN!

Fri. 8/23
HATAGAYA HEAVY SICK
HOUSE of MYSTERY Vol.13 
”Beach Party on MONSTER ISLAND!"

〈LIVE〉
DAIKAIJU (USA)
RAT-HOLIC
MY FIRST BIKINI
NETANOYOI
THEEE BAT

〈DJ〉
JIMMY MASHIKO (Garage Rockin' Craze)
EDDIE UGATA (The El Caminos)
WAYNE MANOR (Swamp Fiction)

〈OPEN/START〉18:30/19:00
〈ADV〉2,000yen+1D
〈DOOR〉2,,300yen+1D