One of the things I love to do (it’s actually more like have to do, I can’t help it) when traveling is check out the local weekly music papers and the independent “record stores”… ala Peaches Records (NOLA), Princeton Record Exchange (NJ), Amobea Music (SF) and the infamous Bleeker Bobs (NYC).

As a teen growing up in New York, I was obsessed with the Village Voice. Later in Philly, I found myself (on more than one occasion) waiting in front of the local Vons jonesing for the next issue of The City Paper to be delivered.


In the pre-internet world, this was the only source of concert calendars, local radio stations (a must have in pre-ipod days…a ramble for another day), and timely info on music news (monthly mags took too long).  


I was a hawk, reading everything about music and where it was “going on.”

Antigravity Magazine Feb 2014 issue

Not only do you get the thrill (yes, its not normal and an intellectual  fetish I have) of seeing quarter paged sized ads about music venues and clubs…the articles about the local scene are unique and gave depth to my connections with the city’s musical character and sounds.


Today, I am sitting in New Orleans. NOLA. Perched on my French Quarter balcony overlooking the busy streets very early (or very late, depending whether you are just leaving the bars, or waking up to greet the day) pitter patter of one of the greatest music communities in the world.


One of the several weekly papers here in NOLA I immediately gravitated to (pun intended) is “Antigravity” (website)…”Your New Orleans Alternative to Culture.”


After thumbing through each page (like a drug addict tearing open his bag) to get the “lay of the land” and prioritize the pages I wanted to read first…I quickly honed in on an article in the “Red Light Fever” column entitled “DJ HUNTER KING: SURF IS HIS TURF”.


The article introduced me to 91.5 WTUL and Hunter King (his twitter page), who hosts a 2 hour radio show (yes they still exist!) called “Storm Surge of Reverb” that centers on surf rock….from Dick Dale, Link Wray (my personal favorite) to the REM-touted Bambi Molesters from Croatia.

I’ve said before in my ramblings that…the art of the radio DJ should be celebrated more.  So kudos to Hunter for doing what he’s doing! I used to record on my boom box w cheap cassettes every episode of Vin Scelsa’s Idiot’s Delight (see earlier post on Scelsa) and daydream about being behind the consul hosting my own show.


Check him out…


BTW…Hunter King has a big record collection and has become a catalyst for record collectors with his “record raids”… social forums (real person to person events) for record collectors.  


In the 70s and 80s My Uncle Dave used to pack up his records in milk crates and bring them to the park to hang with other music-ites.


The warm feel of vinyl and connection people have with the records and the musicians who make them is uber-cool in the TBR Ranch world.


In case you don’t know what I’m talking about watch the scene in Almost Famous…the end part where he flips through the records…

FYW