After years of "maybe next years", I finally got my ass in gear and bought myself a plane ticket to Los Angeles for the Surfguitar101 Convention, organized chiefly by Jeff "Bigtikidude" Hanson as a big ol' meetup for members of surfguitar101.com and, you know, surf nuts in general.

Let's just skip to the end real quick: it was an absolutely incredible time. It was a kinda special thing to me getting to see a scene that I've only been a part of from afar, and the music started good and managed to top itself with each act.

I did not see this coming! The Treble Spankers' long-out-of-print and hard-to-find albums Araban and Hasheeda have been collected onto a double album AND Hasheeda has been reissued on (pricey) vinyl. If you're unfamiliar, this is pre-Phantom Four Phantom Frank with similar middle eastern influence and flair.