How about something fun... Beach and Shag

Folks, it's about a gazillion degrees down here in NC... nice breeze and it reminds me of the beach. With all the shtuff happening in the world today... let's take a break.

Down south...more specifically here in the SouthEast we have what we call Beach Music... no, not the Beach Boys.. that's California beach music. I'm talkin' about good ol' down home soul, blues, boogie-woogie Beach Music. .. Carolina beach music.

Carolina Beach Music grew out of the era of segregation back in the 1950s and 1960s. Not a good time, but lots of good music. You could not here this music on the radio because the majority of artists and groups were black soul and rythym and blues singers. BUT, down at the beach... Myrtle beach, Carolina Beach, Virginia Beach, Kure beach, Daytona... you could hear these suggestive juke joint favorites anytime.

So, as all the white college kids would go and visit or work at the beach every summer... the boogie woogie blues music only heard at the beach became Beach Music. Some good examples would be Sixty Minute Man or Rockin' 88. Later would come classics from the Drifters...Under the Boardwalk or Up On the Roof.

The Tams, Catalinas, Swinging Medallions would later embody Beach and Shag.

Anybody ever heard "I'm A Girl Watcher" or "You Are So Beautiful...39-20-40 Shape"...classic Beach.

It really is a culture unto itself. Here in NC, we have Community Colleges offer courses in dancing the Shag... kind of a boogie woogie jitterbug... Every week and I mean everyweek there are beach festivals all across the southeast from Va and NC down through Ga and Fla. But make no mistake... the sound is expansive... from Houston Texas with Archie Bell and the Drells to the Philadelphia Sound and the Spinners... even Motown with the Temptations are a favorite.

And time is no enemy to Beach and Shag...Lady soul by the temptations is still one of the most requested songs on the Beach Stations.. of which there are hundreds littered across the southeast. In fact on any given weekend, you can scroll up and down the dial and find a handful of beach stations across the carolinas and Va down to Fla. On the Top 40 even this week we find the BeeGees and Daryl Hall... we also find the Rev. Buuba D. Liverance and the Band of Oz and Legends of Beach and the Embers... the Embers have been around for over 40 years.

Plus, you can't help but smile... songs like Big and Hot... Breakfast in Bed... Too Much Booty For the Jeans... Too Many Dirty Dishes For The Sink... Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On

Now... just sit back dear friends... brothers and sisters... imagine that big ol' hot southern sun setting along the Pamlico Sound down in Caroline... spanish moss drapping from the long tall pines... saw grass and palmetoes swaying in the salty breeze coming off the water. In the background you smell a "LowCountry Boil" ... Shrimps and Blue Crabs with short chunks of smoked sausage, new red potatoes, and short cobs of fresh sweet corn... steamed and coated with Old Bay Seasoning... the shrimps and crabs are starting to turn orange... won't be long now. Ice Cold Brewskies and Coca Colas fill the Ice Box... and on the radio plays.. Little Sister's Big Transistor Radio or SummerTime's Calling Me. Out on the sound is a speed boat with a couple of hot looking young women wearing smiles and not much else zipping around and kicking up waves... it's about 98.9 degrees and you are sweating and so is the beer...

Folks, if you have not heard of Carolina Beach Music.. I suggest very strongly you visit a website of your choosing... I like Beachshag.com with Fessa john Hook... everything you want to know about it with tutorials. Folks, the bomb could go off any minute... let's make it count with a smile.

Put on 'dem flip flops and pop a top and let's go "Barefootin'"

Hi there Moderators... I reckon you will have to move this thread.. however to some, Beach is a religion. It's amazing what a fifth 3rd beer will do for reading.

reply to post by AlreadyGone


Good for you man, thanks for sharing some of the more delightful aspects of life for a change. Your post made me smile and pause for a moment of visualization. I can almost hear the ocean breeze and smell the salt water. Your food description has left me salivating too. Soak it up brother, and say hey to the ladies from us here at ATS.

peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


I visited my kids working at a ski lodge in Vermont about 3 years ago. It was +5 degrees for the high ans snowing... it was suppose to be fun, but when your mustache gets crusty between houses... it is no longer fun.

I spent the next 4 days going to live webcams of Myrtle Beach and looking at every NC BBQ website and of course, live streams of Beach on the net...

So, even if you can't be here... be here in spirit...

Folks... I just finished eatin' some of the best burgers I have ever ete...eat...eaten? Is ete a word?

Anyway... I also drank about 4 or 9 beers and am drenched in that wonderful charcoal smell that lingers long after the fire is gone... and listened to some of the best Beach Music ever...

Most folks in the country know this, but there ain't nothin' bettter than backin' up the pick up truck...rolling the windows down and cranbking your favorite tunes... got the grill goin'... that charcoal smoke filled with USDA choice beef grease drippin' tween the 'fridgerator rack used for a grill... Lawd have mercy!

I am posting here again for Percy Sledge and Little Richard and Levi Stubbs and Stax records and Ripete Records and Fat Daddy's Seafood down in Kure Beach and anybody remember Steve's Calabash?

Look at a map of NC and SC... go to the coast line and you will find Calabash, NC.

Calabash means deep fried seafood piled in mountains on the plate... fried flounder, oysters, shrimp, deviled crab, slaw, hush puppies... sweet tea... Down south in the USA eating and beach music are equally revered as religious experiences..

Good music and good food go hand in hand down here y'all...

So, finishing off the last 6th beer... again... have put away the few hamburgeres left ... take them to work for lunch... and the beach music station cuts back at 8pm... so I have to wait until the weekend for all the beach shows...

Wait a tick... the weekend is coming... and there will be the Friday Night Beach Blast On 97.9... Confessing the Blues... Big Kahuna's Beach Party... Sunday on the Beach at 107.9... the Weekly Top 40 with "Fessa John Hook" on 920am...1070am......

Anybody got any extra charcoal?