...literally. Norman, alias Boadwalk Elvis, gracelanded us with his presence on the first day, Thursday, of Sunfest. Impersonator Jesse Garron made his perennial appearance, probably the only act worth the price of admission (yes, I know it was free). OK, Sir Rod, the Stewart stalwart, bears verisimilitude. But as for booking acts, the official end of the tourist season dropped the beach ball, wiped out and ate it again. But then, it's more about the art and an opportunity to drink with the family whilst perambulating the aisles under the tents. Sure, October brings continued weather ahead of the inevitable cooldown of the sea - indeed, it's often warmer here over the next couple months than inland, surrounded as we are by seventy degree water - but the circus has left town. After Cruisin, that's it til April, and, yes, another musclecar event. So we'll soundtrack this bittersweet seasonal phenom with a couple of new bands, because the latest and greatest always takes precedence in this neophile friendly space, and also a couple of choice classics.

LOWER DENS - In The End Is The Beginning
    I profiled Baltimore's best half a year ago (April Is The Cruelest Month; click view all archives below) for the release of their third album. This track was the last on their last, Nootropics, from early 2012, a more experimental, challenging effort - nowhere more so than with this haunting, cryptic closer designed to leave the listener feeling unsettled. A dozen minutes of droning, hypnotic post punk repetition, a sparse heartbeat bassline, and appropriately phlegmatic somnambulistic vocals from resident Siouxsie Jana Hunter.

THE NAKED AND FAMOUS - The End
    As in "it's all about to end at last", the only lyric attending this interlude length penultimate track from the New Zealand bigbeat pop trio's (again) previous release, Passive Me Aggressive You, from five years ago. Their latest, In Rolling Waves, is over two years old, so look for new music next year.

JIMMY BUFFETT - When The Coast Is Clear
    I've covered this one before, but too appropriate to disinclude. Affectionate softrock about the end of tourist season in a coastal resort town. Bubba's albums were redundant and irrelevant by now, but still listenable, with the odd inspired song. From Floridays in 1986.

THE BEACH BOYS - All Summer Long (1963)/Keep An Eye On Summer (1964)
    Again, too crucial to ignore. The former a typically sweetly naive, guileless early Brian Wilson confection musically and lyrically: "every now and then I hear our song...we been having fun All Summer Long". The latter perhaps a bit more saccharine musically, with its Four Freshman harmonies, but an arrangement reflecting the boy wonder's astonishingly progressing talent. Honourable mention to "Girl Don't Tell Me You'll Write" from the following year, Brian's answer to his rival Lennon/McCartney and "Ticket To Ride", complete with chiming Rickenbacker.

 

    Now, October. Misfits/Samhain, Halloween, King Diamond, and Type O Negative.