Over the years, I have owned several pickup trucks. The most recent had a camper shell. This was very convenient for traveling. I could find any quiet place off the main road and get some sleep. Recently, I helped a…

El Borko began as a way to play surf and related music styles. Like other genre based groups I have formed, just learning the style is not enough. In the case of El Borko, I wanted to follow the example…

I got up early this morning and edited three videos. I use an app called “Open Shot Video Editor”. Like most open-source software, you can send the makers some money. I try to do this once a year for the…

When we don't get what we want, we often blame the source. We want to know why that person, institution, or process failed us. Even on the rare occasions when we examine our own role in this failure, it's unusual…

I was a kid in the 60s. I remember the music from radio, tv, movies, jukeboxes. I was lucky to hear such a wide variety of music; folk, country, classical, pop, I like 'em all. By the mid-seventies I was…

We are surrounded by tacos, and I love tacos. Whether they be from food trucks, fast food, or bourgeois restaurants. I categorize tacos as authentic, hybrid, and fusion. Let's talk tacos.

Authentic tacos are something you would find in Mexico…

If you have lived with other people (and you have), then you know the room-mate problem. As the number of room-mates increases, so does the pressure to be responsible, share, and get along with others. A big household may be…

Languages are more than just words. They express a world view. Some are loose and ambiguous, others technical and precise. Our languages reflect our environmental and social origins.

Behavior is a form of language. We say a lot through our…

Soul food, O' flood us. Nourishing mask.

Block & Blade. Cork & Cask.

Starbuck, chipotle, cinnamon sass. 

Donut Quixote, classical gas.

Sometimes our reach exceeds our grasp. We run for that train but it's already gone, we jump the ditch but fall in the water. When this happens to me, I beat myself up about it. I think that's both good…

The maple out front is leafing out. The bamboo shoots are exploding. The Photinia is crimson with new sprouts. And so likewise is El Borko ¡Surf! We played last weekend at Deadwood Community center and it was a blast. I…

Sometimes, you gotta sit still. Last year was a relentless flow of performances. I loved it, but by December I felt exhausted and burned out. In addition, El Borko's drummer Cam is in New Orleans until April so No surf…

Do you write for yourself or for others? Does it matter? As a kid, before I could play an instrument, I would make up songs. There was "That House Is Haunted" which sounded a lot like "These Boots Are Made…

I started learning B♭ clarinet in fifth grade. I hated it. I wanted a trumpet, but my folks had a problem with the volume. Anyway, it's hard to learn music when you dislike the sounds you're making, so I gave…

An encounter with "Artificial Stupidity". I posted on an event for a gig today and facebook took the post down calling it "hate speech". What?! I gave the dates and band names and put up a drawing. Did the algorithm…

I attended high-school back in the Pleistocene Era and played electric guitar in a garage band. After graduation, I left the city and moved to a small town to attend college. Alas, there was no real rock there, just a…

It's here! The new album is finally done!

El Borko ¡Surf! is the first album with Cameron Wick on drums and James P. Daley on bass. I've been around the Pacific Northwest with these guys, they're fun to hang out…

Most people who have recorded an album know how much work it is. You have to write the songs, then play the songs, then record the songs. Then you gotta mix the songs, master the songs, make an album cover…

I enjoy talking about music and musicians but what's left to say about the big names in guitar? We all have our favorites. Debating is fun but the subjects are always the same. I have a list of three excellent…

It's fun to break down a genre into sub-genres and see what they bring to the whole. Here are four possible sub-genres for surf music; cinematic drama, barefoot beach party, hotrod hoodlum, and sensuous jungle tiki.

Cinematic drama is the…

Ask someone for an example of surf music, then get ready for many different answers. Some will say "Beach Boys", some will say "Dick Dale", some will talk about the Ventures or Duane Eddy. They are all correct.  

Surf music…

Like Indiana Jones sinking into quicksand, civilization seems to be struggling to keep afloat. Along with the woes of the world, we have our own private problems to solve. Sometimes it's hard to keep from being overwhelmed.  

Sometimes just knowing…

Thanks to everyone who came out to see El Borko or The Miller Brothers or any other shows this past year. Your support means a lot. Special thanks to Celeste from Yeti Set Go, Rob Tobias, Lisa Rennie, Beau Eastlund…

Everything has to be new all the time. Does everything have to be new all the time? Why does everything have to be new all the time? Everything new happens all the time. So every time a thing is new…

Sometimes we do things just to see if we can. This week was an example of that where I played an El Borko show in Seattle on Thursday, a Miller Brothers show in Eugene on Friday and tonight it's up…