The Pyramids

I'll admit it. I've become something of a sucker for surf music. Possibly because so much of it is available for free online.

That's not the only reason, of course. I was always a fan of the film Endless Summer; the idea of going on that sort of massive road trip, without much more than your wits and the clothes on your back, has always been appealing to me (thus my willingness to make the jump to California in the first place). At its best, surfing is the ultimate Hemingwayesque challenge: a puny human trying his or her mettle against the forces of nature.

Anyway, in the rotation right now: the Pyramids. Here's a little bit about them, courtesy of Reverend Frost's blog (where you can also get some of their music):

"The Long Beach, California group achieved some notoriety after [their manager] convinced them to shave their heads just as the British Invasion and became 'America's answer to the Beatles.' During their concerts they'd wear Beatle wigs which they would throw to the audience halfway through the show revealing their bald heads. Hired girls would then storm the stage. Other gimmicks were arriving at a job on elephants or in a helicopter. The gimmicks worked and they were soon appearing on Bandstand and Hullabaloo and in the beach movie Bikini Beach."