The Troubadours in 2003 and today

[Didier]

I especially remember that you played The Savage with Bruce in the audiance, and after you finished the tune he came up to the stage and shook your fathers hand who was playing rhythm. It was a memorable moment.

I remember this video too, it was great fun !

Didier

[Martin Payne]

I'd heard really good things about The Reflections when organizing the 2001 Shadowmania N.A. so I wasn't too concerned about them, but The Troubadours were an unknown for me and I just went on 'hope' that they'd be okay; especially as they'd be playing in front of Bruce who'd needed a bit of goading to get him there in the first place.

So to make a long story boring....huge 'waves of relief' swept over me when these guys started their set - they were brilliant! Ivan's playing alone was outstanding, but I will make an admission that I teared up a bit when Duane (not sure of the spelling) their drummer (cos I always wanted to be a drummer,) did 'Little B' - and did it very, very well.

It was a given that we had them back in 2003 and Wendy, my wife, thought they were the best band there! If, and it's a very big if, we ever do anything like this again, then the first band to be asked would be The Troubadours!

Martin

[Ivan Pongracic Jr]

Thanks, Dave! It would be nice to play more, but there aren't that many opportunities. We do what we can, though. Somebody needs to bring us to the UK to play some shows to a truly appreciative audience!

Thanks also to David, Abel and Nels. Abel, you do an amazing job with all the Shadows stuff, too, and it's great to have you in Southern California, teaching the surf music fans a thing or two about the Shadows. Are you still playing with the Men of Mystery? I sure hope so.

Nels, thanks for your kind words. I'm very glad you saw us play in Toronto, those two shows in '01 and '03 are some of my favorite memories ever. And thanks for reminding me of that episode with my dad and Bruce. You have no idea how much that meant to my dad. Bruce is a truly wonderful man, so generous of spirit. Martin, thank you also SO MUCH for taking a chance with us and bringing us in to play in '01. We're extremely glad that we didn't let you down! We do very much hope that Shadowmania NA will return one day. And BTW, our drummer's name is Dane, and he is truly amazing. I've been playing with him now for 12 years, both in the Troubadours and our original surf band the Madeira, and we've become like brothers. In fact, another great story concerns him at the '03 Shadowmania NA, I'm sure you remember this. Bruce, Licorice and Phil Kelly came without a drummer, so you and the other organizers hired a local studio drummer to play with them. But the guy (who I didn't think really understood ShadowMusic, unfortunately, he was a country drummer) didn't want to play The Savage, saying it sounds like "surf music" (which I, being a huge surf music fan as well, found quite amusing!). Bruce ended up asking Dane to come up to play The Savage as well as Guitar Tango with them, which Dane was happy to do. Well, you all know the very fast snare rolls at the very end of The Savage - Dane played them so explosively and precisely that everyone was blown away, and Bruce, Licorice and Phil turned around one by one and stared at him in amazement! Bruce said some truly nice things about Dane as he was walking off the stage, too. That was just wonderful! I was so proud of him. And I know Dane is truly honored that he got to play on stage with the great Bruce Welch and Licorice Locking!

Shadow Music - the soundtrack of so many great memories in the lives of everyone on this forum, I'm sure...

Here are a couple of photos also from the '03 Toronto event, the night before the big event, with Bruce generously allowing me to check out the 34346. What a thrill THAT was!!! My dad is the other white-haired gentleman in the photos. (I think he was picking Bruce's brain on how to play the ending of Shadoogie )





Thanks again everybody for checking out the videos and all the kind words.

[Martin Page]

That's me at the right of the first photo of Ivan's, (wearing Pink Floyd tee shirt). I'm not sure if I'm pulling a face, laughing or shouting to someone!

Martin.

[Ivan Pongracic Jr]

Here's another video that has surfaced from our August show in Indianapolis, USA - having some silly fun!