Editor: The OB Rag and the OB Mainstreet Association have worked out a deal: you buy the WAVES CD from them for $10 – and OBMA will send us 20%. You can buy the CD at their office at 1868 Bacon Street #A or from Claudia Jack, who sells them every Wednesday at Farmers Market at the OBMA booth near Wings. You have to say that you saw this deal on the blog or on the OB Rag.
Making “Waves” OBcean-style
Originally posted June 23, 2009
For those of you that ever tried putting together a mix tape you know just how much fun it can be stringing your favorite songs together all in one place and then playing them for your friends either loudly in your car,house or at a party.
The first time I ever heard O.B. mentioned in a song was off of the very first KGB Homegrown Album from 1974 which had a line from a song that went, “Ocean Beach is breezy you can live like a bum”. The second time was a song on a later Homegrown album called “O.B. Bop” so, I was stoked to get a chance to sit down with local musician/producer/entertainer Chuck Schiele and check out what he’s put together with, Waves, a compilation of O.B. music Vol. 1.
Dave: Who made “Waves, a compilation of O.B. music Vol. 1” happen?
Chuck: The executive producer is the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association (OBMA). It was compiled, produced and the packaging art is by Chuck Schiele through StudiOB92107.com and CharlesSchieleCreative.com. It was mastered by Paul Abbott at Zenmastering.com
Dave: Who took that cool cover art picture?
Chuck: The cover photo is by Jim Grant
Dave: Is there anything you want to make sure folks to know about this disc?
Chuck: That it’s by, for and of the community of Ocean Beach. We’re the first neighborhood to do this. And if everybody in the community did just half of what they expect of someone else in the community, what a community this would be.
Dave: No doubt! Is there anything else you’d like folks to know?
Chuck: I’d like all artists to know that we’re going to do this again. So start writing. Volume 2 will hopefully feature as much OB-Centric photography, as it will music.
It is the hope of the compilation project to include as much OB music, arts & culture as possible. Interested parties should please contact Chuck Schiele: mysteriouschuck@cox.net
Dave: Thanks Chuck, I’m sure that as much as folks will like this disc they’ll want to take part on a future Volume too!
Chuck: Thanks Dave, I enjoyed our visit.
Cool! Here’s my take on the disc…
The format is of course on CD but the criteria is songs about O.B. by musicians from O.B. It’s not just one style of music either but rather a eclectic mix of Rock, Country, Reggae, Folk and Psychedelic…and well, some of the coolest tunes you’re going hear all in one place….yep, your place!
WAVES VOL. 1 opens up with the Ballad of the O.B. Spaceman by Skip Phillips and the Pescadero Pickers and has cool banjo picking combined with a hand clapping country feel. A very nice tip of the hat to one of our own original OBceans and a great way to get things rolling in a Johnny Horton style of storytelling.
Track 2 is Multi San Diego Music Award winner Chuck Schiele and his band Bad Science Fiction with their song, 92107 (YEAH…) I LOVED the intro and the “Livin’ it Up” hook, but there’s hooks galore and this really caught my ear with a combination of gritty vocals mixed with solid influences like late Beatle guitar tones and an STP style middle 8 that definitely shifts the gears on our musical joyride. The Clavinet feel under the guitar solo gives it great soul as well! You can catch them live at the OB Street Fair this Saturday June 27, 3 p.m. at the 92107 stage. www.myspace.com/badscifi
Track 3 is called Ocean Beach by CocoLafe and has an almost James Taylor-esque acoustic guitar intro that to me seems very thoughtful. Once the vocals start though, it’s all their own style and works on a few different levels, something I think most good songwriters strive for. The guitar outro is…in a word, awesome, I almost thought I was on the beach at midnight under a full moon. Sweet! www.myspace.com/cocolafe
Track 4 is No Bad Day by CHI CLUB. Slightly Reggae groove with a very cool vocal hook, over-drivin’ guitar and a sweet harp solo to boot. Almost sounds like it could be a bonus track from the Last Days of the Fillmore. www.chiclubtheband.com
Track 5 is Newport Avenue by the Gomango Kids. Odd metered, fun and funky. These cats can play!!! www.gomangoinvasion.com/
Track 6 is Ocean Beach by John Gorski and while I couldn’t find much info on this artist, I did really appreciate the sweet guitar licks laced throughout a Jimmy Buffet style homage to O.B. I’ll bet this one gets a lot of play around these parts!
Track 7 is a sweet instrumental called Forever Obecian by the Journeymen. Nice chops mixed with a cool groove played by some more cats that know their way around a cool tune.
Track 8 is Oh, Oh I’m Derranged (Pacific Shores) by Chuck Edwards and it’s a great tongue in cheek drinking song set to the tune of Home on the Range complete with a keyboard packin’ a whammy bar no less! I can picture the entire crowd at Pac Shores cranking it out like an old sea chantey. OH, OH I’M DERRANGED, beautiful!!!
Track 9 gives us Dancer on the Waves from the Shimmy Sisters & Danyavaad, or is it Danyavaad & Shimmy Sisters? Either way it’s a blend of cool 60’s O.B. style and early Volunteers era Jefferson Airplane complete with Vinnie Bell choral sitar throughout. You can catch them live at the OB Street Fair this Saturday June 27, 12:30 p.m. at the Artist’s Alley Stage. www.myspace.com/shimmysisters
Track # 10 is Buddy the Surf Dog by MELD and is my favorite tune on the disc. Hey, a song about a boy and his surfing dog is genius in my book, cool off-time meter too. It’s kind of like what you’d get if Bad Company spent the weekend at Frank Zappa’s pad ….oh yeah, and wha-wha pedals rule in the right hands errr feet!!! www.myspace.com/meldrock
Song 11 is Treated Me Well by John Miller & Payback. A very personal song about finding one’s self in O.B…something that I’m sure a lot of us can relate too. You can catch them live at the O.B. Street Fair this Saturday June 27, 11:15 a.m. at the Bacon Street Sun Stage. www.myspace.com/johnmillermusic
Track # 12, Livin’ in O.B. by Blackbirdz closes out this disc in solid fashion. This is the kind of band that packs clubs like Winston’s with their authentic Reggae grooves, statements and sentiments. These guys are the real deal! You can catch them live at the O.B. Street Fair this Saturday June 27, 3 p.m. at the Bacon Street Sun Stage. www.myspace.com/fourtwentyblackbirdz
The thing I noticed after the first listen is that there’s a great sonic quality combined with that intrinsic purity that is uniquely ours and ours alone.
You can pick up your own copy of “Waves, a compilation of OB music Vol. 1” at the 30th annual O.B. Street Fair this Saturday June 27th [2009] at any of the 3 OBMA booths for only 10 dollars. They’ll be located on Newport at Bacon St. and at Cable St. and also at the Chili Cook-off and you’ll feel good that all proceeds go back to the OBMA. This was their baby and it’s a wonderful way to get our community of musicians together and support the arts while giving back to the community for our many functions including, fireworks, historical events, beautification etc.
Also, mark your calendar for the official “Waves, a compilation of O.B. music Vol. 1” CD release party on July 17th [2009] at the Masonic Hall (1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd) featuring Bad Science Fiction, Blackbirdz, John Miller & the Payback, Chuck Edwards, Danyavaad & the Shimmy Sisters, MELD and Steve Phillips & the Pescadero Pickers. The reception will start at 6 pm and the concert starts at 8 pm and runs through to 11 pm.
Me? I’m digging Vol.1 and looking forward to Vol. II. I know O.B. has got a lot to offer, so like Chuck was saying, start writing those songs, taking those pictures and creating that O.B. art! And hey, if you see me at the Street Fair, come up and say howdy!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Cool! Can’t wait to get my hands on one! I’m putting July 17th in my calendar now! Sweet!
Thanks for accepting The Journeymen track! If you are interested in hearing more of The Journeymen’s music, please check out .
Very well done, nice to hear it all came together. Just walking around OB or sitting at the seawall or strolling the cliffs you can get a glimpse about the eclecticism of the area. And that really showed in the artists and the songs.
I was really lucky having my photo chosen for the cover. There are many much better photographers in the area any one of them could have had their photo picked. It proves if you snap enough shots your bound to get lucky every now n then. Chuck did a fantastic job and deserves tons of credit.
Jim Grant.
thanks dave, I get a good feel for the music, track by track, which is cool.
looking forward to listening to it!
I bet it goes platinum. Thanks to all involved.
Can’t wait to hear it! Love the review. Sounds like as mixed a variety of tunes as there are personalities in OB.
Hate to miss the street fair, but we’ll be back mid july…
For the next CD? Seems like somebody should write ‘the OB Rag’.
Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to say
that I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you write again soon!
Well, big Dave, you’ve done it again—great report!! Now…….get to work writing that awesome local oriented tune we know is in you and let’s get it recorded and submitted! I’ll even pay for the session, later, bro!
La Jolla Kid you know I’ll jam with you anytime but writing a song about OB is harder than it sounds. Back in December, Bart Mendoza did a piece for the Beacon about Chuck Shiele putting this album together, but the Claire Monsters were already working on a song about San Diego for channel 6’s contest that Pullman Standard eventually won.
Here was our entry called ‘Round My Town and while we mention OB in the 1st verse it was about San Diego rather than OB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFLKhl6Scyk
Also, I heard that CocoLafe will be on the bill performing at the CD release party on July 17th
Oh yeah, besides thanking you guys for the comments, I also wanted to give a shout out to BillRayDrums. Back in 2005 we were both in a contest called Star Tomorrow. He was the backbeat of “Tubby” and I was in a band called “Big Toe”…good times bro!
Dave! How the hell are ya? Glad to see another local musician here. :D
I wanted to re-post this wonderful review by Dave Gilbert of OB’s first own CD.
Cool – scored the album at last year’s street fair – word on a Volume 2 yet?
That’s Jim Grant’s surf shot on the cover of the CD. Boy, that Grant sure gets around.