There’s no middle ground with Ponderosa Stomp: Either you love all of it, or you don’t care about any of it. And knowing that you’re in a roomful of fellow music collectors and obsessive liner-note readers is of course part of the attraction. Still, it’s notoriously easy to miss that one set that people talk about for years, and we can vouch: This writer wasn’t there when guitar legend Link Wray played a set at the 2005 Stomp that turned out to be his last (Wray was up against deep-soul man Brenton Wood whose set was no slouch either, especially with Alex Chilton on guitar).
Swamp Dogg performs during PS13 at the Rock N Bowl on October 4.
So rest assured you’re going to miss something. If you’ve seen our print interview you’ve read interviews with Chicano rocker Chris Montez, mad soul genius Swamp Dogg, Motown starlet Chris Clark and Louisiana garage band the Gaunga Dyns, all of whom should be highlights this year. Here are five more sets we’re looking forward to:
The Sonics (Friday): For lovers of garage rock, this is the big one. Of all the bands that blasted three chords in the pre-psychedelic ‘60s, Tacoma, WA’s Sonics were the wildest of ‘em all, led by screaming organist Gerry Roslie and grinding out proto-punk classics like “Strychnine” (an ode to their favorite beverage, later covered by the Cramps) and “Have Love Will Travel” (later covered by everybody). The band was long dead and buried until another festival, Cavestomp in NYC, lured them out for their first set in four decades—and it was great, the vintage sound served straight-up with three original members including Roslie aboard. The Stomp has been after them ever since, and this year it finally came together.
Here they are doing “The Witch” in 2009, and this one ain’t for the chicken-hearted…
The Sloths (Saturday): Known for only one record, but what a record: Their 1966 single “Makin’ Love” was garage rock in a nutshell: Gloriously primitive, with a groove more suited to pro wrestling than carnality. Barely noticed at the time, the record got a cult following after turning up on a Back From the Grave compilation in the ‘80s (with typical understatement, compiler Tim Warren called it the “greatest garage punk record ever!”).It’s always a miracle to find a group like this intact; here they are still “Makin’ Love” at a record-store opening during 2011 (looks like four original guys plus relative youngster Dave Prevost, who played bass with the Dream Syndicate in the ‘80s), and danged if the song doesn’t grunt as hard as it did a half-century ago.
The Standells (Saturday): Okay, you ask, you got anybody who’s recorded songs I’ve heard of? Sure thing: The Standells’ hit “Dirty Water” is probably the most famous song ever written about Boston (and the “frustrated women” who lived there in the ‘60s), which led them being pegged as the first great Boston band. Which they weren’t: The Standells came from L.A. and it was their producer, Ed Cobb (a Texan!) who wrote the song about his Boston girlfriend. The band’s true roots can be heard in their other big hit, “Riot on Sunset Strip”, also the theme of a classic youth-culture exploitation movie.
Baby Washington (Friday): Famously pegged as Dusty Springfield’s favorite singer, Washington was a few other peoples’ as well, despite hitting the Top 40 only once (with the sublimely world-weary “That’s How Heartaches Are Made”). This elusive soul woman is classy and elegant.
Lynn August (Friday): For a time this zydeco/swamp pop accordion man was one of the hardest-working Louisiana touring artists, working so hard that he suffered a heart attack in 1998 and underwent surgery. His shows have been less frequent since then, but still get the blood pumping.
In addition, the Stomp faithful will be crowding the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel on Thursday and Friday, where many of the performing acts will be interviewed as part of a two-day conference. And some notable music figures who aren’t playing the Stomp (at least not officially) will also be aboard. Former OffBeat editor Bunny Matthews will be interviewing painter Hudson Marquez, credited with rediscovering Professor Longhair in the ‘70s, Thursday at 11am. And on Friday at 1:30pm, Chris Montez will be interviewed by Cyril Jordan, leader of the Flamin’ Groovies and a cult figure in his own right.
Thursday night at d.b.a., the Stomp does its own version of a record hop, namely the Hip Drop (which the target audience will recognize as the title of a New Orleans record that Eddie Bo Produced for the Explosions in the ‘60s). A roomful of soul/funk/garage DJ’s will be there, playing records that you absolutely can’t afford to own yourself. Leading it off are the Brooklyn team of Miriam Linna and Billy Miller, who run the Norton label—If they play nothing but tracks from their own records, you’ll still get your money’s worth.
Finally, the film Muscle Shoals will be shown Thursday evening at the Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp Street) at 7 p.m. as part of the Stomp’s “Clandestine Cinema” series, just before the Hip Drop. While not quite as clandestine as previous Stomp screenings (the film has in fact been making the above-ground festival rounds), it sheds light on the legendary Alabama studio that saw the makings of landmark soul sides by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and others; and where rockers from the Rolling Stones to U2 came to absorb some of the mojo.
More Info, registration, tickets and complete conference schedule: www.ponderosastomp.com
