Pray For Surf is blogged by Phil Miglioratti who enjoys the sound and spirituality of the music of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys ... As a Christ-follower, he comments on what he considers "the Gospel according to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys ...
Touching God in the Waves by Christian Buckley for Creation Care Magazine (Summer 2008)
As a surfer, some of the most profoundly connective experiences I have had to God have come in the water. For me, the best time to surf is at sunset, often referred to as an “evening glass-off” session in southern California. At sunset during the late summer months, the wind is calmed and the surface of the water is stilled. The waves turn glassy, and as the sun drops beneath the horizon line of the ocean, the water turns mercurial in nature. Over the past 20 or so years, it has been during these evening moments on my board that I have felt enveloped in God’s creative love and power... Read more.
===>Click headline to access author's Christian Surfer's site . . .
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Bob Berryhill tearing it up at Glendale Cruise Night 2008
LAGUNA BEACH, CA (ANS) -- The surfing hits, Wipe Out and Surfer Joe, are legendary in the annals of Southern California surf music, and now they have come back to life with a CD with Christian testimony called Wipe by the re-formed band, The Surfaris, led by Bob Berryhill, one of the originals.
The Surfaris began their forty plus year career by composing and recording Wipe Out, one of the most popular songs recorded in a generation. Wipe Out, Surfer Joe and others captured the sound of the early 1960's.
Initially catapulted by the California surf culture, The Surfaris transcended the local scene into international stardom. After touring with acts such as Roy Orbison and the Beach Boys, The Surfaris began to see there was much more to life than fame and fortune. The original band disbanded in 1966. In 1971, Bob Berryhill, original guitarist for the band, found hope beyond the accolades.
In fact he found what he calls the true meaning of life. Since then, Bob along with his wife Gene, and sons, Deven and Joel continue to play the music and tell the amazing story behind the music of The Surfaris.
In an interview with ANS, Bob, now 61, explained how the original band began back in 1962 with friends from Glendora High School in Southern California:
“We were friends since Junior High. In 1962, Pat Connolly and Jim Fuller came over to my house to jam one Saturday, and after three hours of practice I was told that we had a gig at Pomona Catholic High School where Pat, our bass player, was going at the time. It was an after-football sock hop in a gym and my Mom and Dad drove us over there because we didn’t have driver’s licenses yet. I threw my guitar and amps in the car and we met Ron Wilson the drummer there. We played and everybody loved it, so we said, ‘Let’s do this some more.’
“We started playing the local teen centers for a couple of months and then one night Ron Wilson, the drummer came to me and said, ‘I had a dream about a song called Surfer Joe’ and so I listened to the words. I started strumming some chords and it sounded pretty good and we helped him finish up some of the lyrics, then polished it up. Our manager said, ‘Why don’t you go and record it?’ So we went out to Cucamonga to record Surfer Joe at Pal Studios, owned by Paul Buff.
“Apparently we had paid for two sides for this 45 rpm record and so we needed a second song. We told Ronnie to hit it, and he came up with a drum cadence. I suggested some drum breaks, we added some chords, a little melody and in a short time, we had Wipe Out written and recorded.
“Our manager did the crazy laugh intro and we cracked a plywood board over the microphone to make it sound like a busting surfboard and Wipe Out was in the can. One hundred 45 rpm records were pressed and we got the record to a distributor. (One of these DFS 45s recently popped up on e-Bay and sold for over $2,000.)
“He took it to San Bernardino then Hollywood and met some people who got it played on the radio. That was January 1963 and by April 1963, it was number one in Los Angeles and number two in the United States. So by July 1963 we were on a meteoric rise as the song shot up the charts internationally.
The "Summer of Surf"
Bob said that summer was the “Summer of Surf” -- the heyday for surf music.
“We toured the world playing and surfing places like Hawaii and in January 1964, we landed in Australia,” he continued. This tour included the Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Paul and Paula, and the Joy Boys from Australia. They were also the backup band for Roy Orbison. We kept on playing for the next two or three years until the Vietnam War hit and the Beatles came along and changed the music scene.
“Though the surf craze was over, Wipe Out has gone on to have a life of its own. This year it is 45 years old and though many people really don't know The Surfaris name, they do know Wipe Out worldwide. Frequently when we play it, people say, Wow, that sounds like the original song.”
When asked if it was ironic that the band played surf music, but none of them lived near the ocean, Bob smiled and said, “Well, its just the way it is in Southern California. You drive to the beach as often as possible. My girlfriend Gene, now my wife, (we've been married for 42 years now) and I went on our first date at the age of 17 by driving the nearly 60 miles to Doheny Beach at Dana Point, California. We went surfing on that Sunday afternoon, and on weekends thereafter, we would wear the car out by driving from Glendora to Doheny Beach to follow our passion--surfing.”
"Where do you go after a #1 hit?"
Bob then shared how he found Christ. “After you have had a number-one song, where do you go from there?” he said. “You have a hit record, but the music business is not kind. It decides you are not longer hip and so when the Beatles hit, that kind of killed the California beach scene. My wife and I decided to get married and I was going to join the Air Force rather than be drafted. A few months later, we discovered we were going to be parents, so I got a--married with child deferment--and was able to go back to college.
“In December 1971, Chuck Girard from The Castells and the Hondells, started a new group called Love Song. He called me up one weekend and said, Hey, Bob, why don't you come for a concert at the Long Beach Auditorium? So I showed up thinking it was going to be some kind of Beach Boys/Hondells concert, but it turned out to be a Jesus concert. So I was there listening to the music by Love Song and they played a song called Welcome Back.
“The Lord tugged at my heart, but at the time, I didn't know who or what it was. Then Chuck Smith came out and said, ‘Taste and see, the Lord is good.’ Something compelled me to get out of my chair and I grabbed my wife and son’s hands and we went forward to accept the Lord that night. It was December of 1971 and since then we've been riding along the crest of the wave with the Lord.”
The Surfaris with Brian Beirne, Mr. Rock and Roll a tthe Glendal Cruise Night 2008
Nearly 20 years ago, Bob reformed The Surfaris with his wife Gene and other surf rock musicians. He still owns the DBA of the name and it has over the past 10 years become strictly a family affair. His wife, a former concert violinist, plays bass, and their eldest son Deven plays guitar. He is also the director of worship music at Calvary Chapel San Diego’s Schools in Chula Vista, California. Their younger son Joel is the drummer, and vocalist on Surfer Joe and other hit songs they perform. He currently leads worship at Calvary Chapel South County in San Juan Capistrano.
“For the current Wipe Out CD, we decided to write and record eight new original songs, plus new recordings of Wipe Out and Surfer Joe. The two classics are that not easy to find these days, so we rerecorded them for this CD,” he explained.
Bob said that his vision and mission for the band is to bring families together.
The Surfaris and family—40th Wedding Anniversary—North Shore, Oahu 2007
“What I've noticed over the years as we have been doing surf music in a Christian ministry vein, is that people really want to hold their families together,” he said. “Parents are looking for anything they can have in common with their sons and daughters. When we play a concert, the high school, junior high and elementary school kids love the music and the parents say, Gee, that's my music. It’s simple, straight ahead, and alive. Our kids want to play music and I’d rather have them learn surf music than grunge, or hip hop or some of the other styles.
“What the beauty of this is, I have my two sons and my wife on stage with me. How many guys have the privilege of having their wife and their two sons play with them on stage? So basically, its a family ministry. Unfortunately, there are husbands who can’t stand to have their wife and their kids in the same room together, let alone play in a band and write songs.
“God has brought our family together through music, through the Lord and through the power of Christ. His awesome love puts His covering over us and it enables us to stay together as a unit, and that’s the center of our ministry, to be an example of God’s love and desire to hold families together.
“We are still doing concerts and plan to continue as God empowers and leads.”
He concluded by saying, “It has been my desire to build a foundation to help families, to encourage, uplift, and unify. This desire goes beyond playing concerts and benefits where families can attend together and share our joy with surf music. I have noticed for a number of years that people have been encouraged and strengthened with God's blessings through music, and it is my hope that playing The Surfaris' music will continue to grow and work to benefit and nurture the family unit.”
Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 44 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.
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'Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Picture Show' Despite the title of his new DVD, this rock keyboard legend really isn't that grumpy at all
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS) -- It was back in 1969 when I was a young reporter on the Middlesex County Times in Ealing, West London, when I first met a young musician called Rick Wakeman.
Norma and Dan Wooding (holding a copy of The Caped Crusader) with Rick towering above them
My editor, Bert Munday, had asked me to become the paper's South Ealing reporter and "go out and see if you can find any stories in this area."
My first day on the job, I went to the BBC's Ealing film studios on South Ealing Road and was given my first story. A BBC spokesperson told me that they were about to launch a new series called "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and I could do a story about it. It turned out to be what I believe was the first story in print about this crazy bunch and soon I was going out regularly with them as they filmed their antics in the streets of Ealing.
Flushed with success, I then went to a series of stores on the South Ealing Road, but no other stories were forthcoming. until I finally ended up at the Musical Bargain Centre, which sold second-hand musical instruments.
When I entered, I heard someone playing keyboards in such an extraordinary way, so I asked the manager -- known affectionally as "Uncle Ernie" -- who he was. He told me it was a teenager called Rick Wakeman and he regularly came in to practice and was often joined by John Entwistle, the bass player with the Who, though John was not there that day.
He called Wakeman to come out and give me an interview and then I discovered that he was helping to pay his college fees by doing sessions. "I've just played keyboards and arranged 'Morning Has Broken' for Cat Stevens and played mellatron for David Bowie's 'Space Oddity,'" he told me.
After the story appeared, Rick invited me to his home in Northolt and shared with me that he was a Christian and was a Sunday School teacher at the local South Harrow Baptist church where he had been baptized.
Over those early years, I watched Rick's astonishing career blossom as he joined The Strawbs and then YES, and became fabulously rich. At one time he owned 22 cars including eight Rolls Royce's.
I also watched with dismay the way alcohol took over his life and the shock when he suffered several heart attacks in his twenties.
After getting the message from "above" that his life would not last much longer if he continued with this lifestyle, Rick thankfully came off the booze and made a re-commitment to his earlier Christian faith.
His iconic career with YES and as a solo performer has drawn sell-out crowds around the world and after Norma and I moved to Southern California in 1982, Rick came over from Britain to do several benefit concerts for ASSIST where, like all those who attended, I marveled at his talent.
New DVD
Cover of the new DVD
Now, I have just watched with Norma a new DVD release called "Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Picture Show" recorded "Live on Tour" and directed by Robert Garofalo for Classic Studio T based at Shepperton Film Studios in the UK. This DVD sees Rick reprise his very popular role from the BBC Hit Series, "Grumpy Old Men," in a hilarious one-man show.
The iconic rock legend identifies with the masses, as he moans and rants his way through the frustrations and irritations of modern life. Delivered in a highly amusing fashion, Wakeman creates a riotous pastiche of his extraordinary life and escapades, which every self-confessed "grump" will chortle in relation to.
The show includes on screen clips projected behind him which included his daughter who joins her dad in a fabulous version of "Amazing Grace." He also is has performance collaborations with Gordon Giltrap, Chris Blakey, The English Rock Ensemble and the English Chamber Choir.
Rick Wakeman plays the minimoog wearing one of his famous capes
Highlights for me and my wife were his amazing version of "Eleanor Rigby" which he arranged as if it had been composed by Prokofiev and hymns like "There is a Green Hill Far Way" and "The Day Thou Gaveth, Lord, Hath Ended."
The 143 minute DVD is a truly unique show, but a warning for the faint a heart. Rick has still retained his Benny Hill-like humor and some might not like it.
But still, the music more than makes up for some of his near-the-knuckle stories and for YES fans, he brings the house down near the end with his incredible performance of "Starship Trooper" on the minimoog.
If I had half the musical talent of Mr. Wakeman, I certainly wouldn't be grumpy at all. And, to think of it Rick, in real life, is far from a grumpy old man. He's a delightful friend and encourager to Norma and myself, even after all these years. Thank you my friend for your friendship which has lasted nearly 40 years!
Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 44 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.
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