Another Friday night means another hour of music! Tonight it’s time to head down to the beach. In October.

(I know it’s cold as hell out there and we’re literally living through some kind of ‘wind bomb’ event right now in B.C., but stick with the bit, please.)

Spooky Beach Party!

I keep a number of in-progress playlists going at any given time, just in case inspiration strikes. I’ve got all kinds of weird stuff kicking around, sort of like my real-life record collection: we got 60’s Novelty records, Sludge Metal, Drone stuff, Synthwave, like four different seasonal playlists, and one just called ‘Drinking in Lethbridge’ with literally nothing in it so far. I’m not sure what’s going on there. that’s for later. Let me know if you have suggestions for that one.

Sometimes this means I can sit down and quickly throw together an hour of music from parts, because I’ve been doing my homework on it forever – that was the Psychobilly historical survey King Rat two weeks ago. Other times it’s a bit more considered, like in the case of last week’s Electronic Voice Phenomenon where I had read way too much Ray Bradbury and sort of freaked myself out bad enough that I wanted to channel that feeling into an hour of mood music (that I then turned around and used as background music to read even more freaky short stories, because I’m nothing if not consistent.)

This week’s show was neither of those; this week’s collection of kitschy treats came together because I couldn’t believe that over the last year and whatever-months I hadn’t sat down to do a Haunted Surf Rock playlist yet, despite having all these goofy records lying around. I wanted to evoke sights and sounds of your local low-grade Tiki bar, complete with dried-up flower displays and faded old toys on the shelves. The idea was to throw together the audio companion to a theme mini-golf course, maybe to be played off cheap speakers from a great distance. Surf Rock, for me, has always occupied these kinds of dusty, half-forgotten spaces, whether that was a collectibles shop downtown or the variety of actual Tiki bars (of varying quality!) that I’ve had the good fortune to serve or be served in.

There will always be something very charming about a deliberate lack of polish to me, I think, and the totally artificial, perpetual summertime of rockabilly, surf and hot-rod music of all kinds. It’s vaguely off-kilter, and I love that about it That and I like ghosts and parties. I can go either way.

Anyways, I’m rectifying the situation right now. Here’s Ouija Surf Board: a 60’s-themed, beach-time hour of Telecasters, ghosts and discount rubber masks that don’t quite fit, dedicated to the weird theme bar I’ll someday open once the world lets us all back outside.

Stick around for that Britney Spears cover at the end, I promise it’s worth it.

This has been entry 16/31 of The Long Hallowe’en 2021!