QUESTION: HOEY? WHO HE?

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THE ENDLESS SUMMER II -- Movie Soundtrack
by Gary Hoey
released: 1994
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I'm kind of a quirky character -- "unique" is the word that my friends have used to describe me. Those who were not my friends used other less friendly words from time to time, but those people are all dead now so there's no point in our discussing them.
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One of my little "quirks" is to occasionally ask odd questions from out of the blue. It might be a reasonable question such as, "The year of your best Summer?" (Mine was '74, how 'bout yers?) Or the question might be something totally nonsensical like, "What did you do when the crops failed?" Now, if you expect to remain a friend of mine for very long you will be required to consistently reply quickly with something (at least mildly amusing) that we can develop into a full-blown, long-term nonsensical discussion. Acceptable answers to that last question would go something like: "We turned to cannibalism" or "I died in the famine." You get the idea?
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When I suddenly blurted out, "Best guitarist?" to my buddy at work, The Great LC, he answered, "Gary Hoey".
I said, "HOEY? WHO HE?"
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I thought I had heard of all the highly acclaimed guitarists but this cat was news to me. Well, the compact disc-addicted Rams fan, The Great LC, loaned me a copy of one of his Hoey CDs and I was turned onto truly one of the most unjustly unknown six-string slingers extant. And it came as an added surprise and bonus when I discovered that 'Who He Hoey' had also written and performed the musical soundtrack for the movie sequel 'ENDLESS SUMMER II' (1994).
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The first 'ENDLESS SUMMER' movie (1966) you'll remember was the original full-length movie on surfing that -- along with the fabulous music of The Beach Boys -- really pushed the sport into the American consciousness, and it is still considered the classic, holy grail of surfing films. In the days before art house / cult flick movie theatres and Beta / VHS tapes, they used to show 'Endless Summer' at the packed Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to kids like me who rode waves all Summer long in our quest for skin cancer. That was before the invention of sunblock, ya understand!
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So, is 'Who He Hoey' really the "best guitarist"? Well, The Great LC ain't no dummy, and I'd say that Hoey is darned sure in the running; the cat can really sling it! I'd still have to side with Danny Gatton because, despite his amazing versatility, I'm not sure Hoey could match Gatton's exquisite finesse on numbers like 'Canadian Sunset' and 'Poinciana.' But I'd certainly be interested in seeing the boys duel. That won't happen any time soon though because Gatton "died in the famine" of '94.
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But let's briefly examine this soundtrack and see what 'Who He Hoey' is doing on it: The first thing you'll be happy to find is that this does NOT sound like your typical movie soundtrack album. There is none of that draggy "movie music" with cheesy orchestras sawing away on strings that meander over nondescript melodies -- you know wot ahm talkin' 'bout here: FILLER! No way dudes and dudettes, this is a SERIOUS surf guitar rock album! This is the one movie soundtrack album that REALLY ROCKS! I mean this baby makes most so-called "real" Hard Rock guitar albums sound like the "movie filler" we've been yakkin' 'bout here!
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It opens with 'RIPTIDE', a highly electrified excursion into swirling waters of sonic danger. (How many of you blokes know how to swim out of a riptide? There's a secret to it, but I'm keepin' it to myself.)
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'BLAST' is a heavy-chorded piece of menace (think Black Sabbath or sumpin' like dat), but 'SWEET WATER' is a fluidly-picked bit of metal funk and neo-reggae rhythms.
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Then we get Hoey's outrageous cover of the old War classic 'LOW RIDER' -- the unofficial theme song of my hometown, Los Angeles (maybe you've heard of the place?) It's obvious that Hoey's amplifiers go "up to 11" and that's where he keeps 'em set during most of these recordings.
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If you don't get mental pictures of some long-haired surfer dude pulling off spinners and hanging ten on his longboard while Hoey plays his original composition 'WALKIN' THE NOSE' then you simply have no imagination whatsoever (and yer gonna be in big trouble when out of the blue I ask you to, "Tell me about your business with Roger O'Vernout.")
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'DRIVE' has a nice little melody; it's not gonna wake the children or anything, but it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.
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With 'LA ROSA NEGRA' (that means "The White Petunia" in Spanish), Hoey gives us his Carlos Santana impersonation; it's fairly Latinized for a White Surfer-lookin' guy, and it's a "daisy" of a tune.
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OK, yer halfway thru this disc now, Surfcats. 'LINUS AND LUCY' is a cover of Vince Guaraldi's famous theme song for the Charlie Brown TV specials, and Hoey launches into it with all kinds of weird harmonic shifts and... somehow I'm tinkin' dat Linus an' da kids (and even Snoopy) would have had a difficult time doing their goofy dances to this version!
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'SURFDOGGIN' is one of my favorite tracks. It's a bit o' ticklin' Country/Surf pickin' (I dunno, but methinks 'Who He Hoey' may have invented a new genre with this composition) and it really shows off his nimble fingers as they fly all over that fretboard and make me smile -- this piece has a real sense o' humor... SERIOUSLY! "No, no, I'm nuh kiddin' you, uh!"
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'PIPE' is an almost indescribably moody composition with Hoey's sparking guitar trading licks with Bud "Barefoot and Slippery" Shank's nasty Tenor Sax and Tony Franklin's great grumbling Bass pushing everything through the whitewater -- possibly my very favorite cut. (It's either this one or 'Surfdoggin'.)
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Hoey duets with one of his heroes, surf guitar legend DICK DALE on Dale's classic 'SHAKE & STOMP (Part II)' and it sounds like that wacko who used to juggle live chain saws on Venice Beach... only faster and louder. Forget about waking the children, this one's gonna getcha evicted from yer apartment.
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'THEME FROM THE ENDLESS SUMMER' is the theme song from the movie 'Endless Summer' (guess that's why they called it that) and I've liked the tune since I first heard the original recording by The Sandals.
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'ESCAPE' is pure Heavy Metal "Shock 'N' Awe" pyrotechnics. You might as well crank it up because the manager's already on his way over to yer unit with the eviction notice in his hand, anyway.
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And the disc ends with the surprisingly "spiritual" 'THE DEEP' -- it's an electric ballad with long notes of sustain. With this one, 'Who He Hoey' proves that still waters really do run DEEP. This is a genuinely moving piece of introspection and a fitting way to end what is otherwise an energetic assault, like an electric eel attack while riding waves in the Big Blue. And for that reason, I love to workout to this disc! Yer gonna dig it too.
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I'll end this review now with just one last question for ya:
"What were you doing on the trail with Lewis and Clark?"
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO MY “SAKE PARTY” (Please RSVP)

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BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S: Movie Soundtrack

by Henry Mancini and his Orchestra

recorded: 1962

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Back in the mid-1980s, I had an idea for a “theme party” I wanted to throw. Unfortunately, life (lower case L) obstructed my plan and I never got around to it. {*Truth is, he never managed to save up enough money to buy friends to invite.*} But I did record four 90-minute cassette tapes of background music for the party that never was. (Remember, this was before recordable CDs and all the other technocrap.) 

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Oh, the music would have been great: Booker T And The MGs, Three Dog Night, Bobby Darin, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, The Partridge Family, War, and Wild Cherry (guess which Funky song, White Boy!) But each side of every tape ended with MR. YUNIOSHI, the theme song for Mickey Rooney’s angry Japanese character in the movie, Breakfast At Tiffany’s. MR. YUNIOSHI was to be the cue for me -- wherever I was mixing, or whoever I was mixing it up with -- to prepare to turn over the tape.

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I may throw this party yet... someday. The house is going to be jammed -- floor to ceiling -- with helium-filled balloons, so as you push your way through them, you’ll never know who or what you’re about to run into. {*Fun, eh? If you’re smart, you’ll have a prior engagement.*} Hey, never mind that voice behind the curtain -- it IS going to be fun! But there is one thing that every person at this party will have in common: Regardless of who ends up kissing whom, or who ends up punching whom, or regardless of For Whom The Bell Tolls {*Sounds like it’s going to be an exhausting evening for Whom! I hope he or she is up to it.*}, each and every person will have knocked back a slug of SAKE as a prerequisite for gaining admittance to this soiree.

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SAKE (pronounced “Sock-ee”), in case you don’t know, is the traditional fermented Japanese beverage made from rice. It’s served hot in small ceramic cups. Being hot, it seems to assimilate in a person’s bloodstream fairly quickly and makes one feel real good, real fast. For many, it’s an “acquired taste”, although I took to it immediately. {*He’s an alky; he took to all booze before he took to the bus for elementary school.*} I have two nice sake sets that I purchased ages ago in Chinatown, near downtown Los Angeles, and you’ll need to suck a shot of sake before you’re permitted to enter my pagoda to hear MR. YUNIOSHI. {*And burst his bubble and pop his balloons!*}

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But MR. YUNIOSHI is far from being the only track I like from Henry Mancini’s BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S soundtrack. I’ve seen the movie a few times and I’m just not one of its biggest fans. But the music, now that’s another thing! BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (the film) won none of the Academy Awards, but the Oscars for “Best Music Score” and “Best Song” (MOON RIVER) went to Mr. Mancini. What does that tell you? {*Think, McFly! Think!*} This entire album is delicious; it’s one of my 10 or 15 most frequently played compact discs!

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It starts with the award-winning bittersweet song MOON RIVER, written by Mancini and the equally legendary Johnny Mercer. I love the song even if my favorite version was recorded later by Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. This is the only “song”, literally speaking, as it contains lyrics sung by Mancini’s Chorus. All other tracks are instrumentals unless you’re counting the Chorus singing “Oohs” and “Ahhs” on a couple of the other cuts.

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Some of the instrumental pieces have that unmistakable “Mancini” stamp: Distinctively pronounced beats (a la “The Pink Panther”). Others are the antithesis of that style, with a tremendously yearning emotional content conveyed through the subtle interplay of his impeccable Orchestra and the smooth harmonic layering of his Chorus of male and female voices doing little more than humming the melodies.

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And yet again, on some pieces, Mancini’s charts propel his dynamic, top-notch Orchestra into bright, soaring flights that seem almost on the verge of running off the pages and into improvisational exuberance. {*Don’tcha just love how he nearly sounds like he knows what he’s talking about?*} 

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I mean, listen to that Orchestra crank it up on THE BIG BLOW OUT, or SOMETHING FOR CAT, or LOOSE CABOOSE. Mancini directed highly accomplished musicians as befitting a man of his genius. And I never use the word “genius” lightly, but this man was indeed just that! How he was able to translate the action of a scene into corresponding “music pictures” in pieces like THE BIG HEIST and the playful striptease-cum-cartoon, HUB CAPS AND TAIL LIGHTS! {*Some would say, if you’ve got ‘em, flaunt ‘em.*}

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But nothing moves me more than SALLY’S TOMATO, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, and HOLLY -- three instrumentals that float like some tear-drenched, melancholic sunbeam. They were recorded at the dawn of the 1960s, just before all hell broke loose in this country and we found ourselves embroiled in a cultural revolution that pierced an ineffable something deep within us and from which we’ll never recover. There’s a desperate “looking back at innocence” captured in these three pieces that crushes my heart and forces my eyelids closed. It’s a long ago memory of serene joy, it's a goldenshadow that’s gone and not returning. It’s long, gently swaying grass growing around the headstone of a deceased lover. {*Aw, cap it, will ya? Yer bumming everyone out.*}

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Alright then. Let me just say that this soundtrack is Five Star from top to bottom, and in short {*It’s too late for THAT!*}, there are two things that I really recommend you do: You should acquire a copy of Henry Mancini’s musical masterpiece, and later you should come to my SAKE PARTY. {*If you pass out, and you’re still there in the morning, he’s gonna treat you to BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S!*}

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

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