Band Element of Surprise, Ventura County CA

Do you <3 classic rock? Strange pairings of music, such as Richie Valens & the Ramones meet Deep Purple? You may appreciate us. We're the band Element of Surprise! We may get thru the song-or it may go horribly AWRY. You pays yer money & you takes yer chance! We play a very eclectic mix of classic & alt rock...if you live in the SoCal area & listen to either KLOS or KRTH-101, you've heard most of our songs. We're a 6-piece consisting of Pat on vocals & percussion, James on lead guitar, Hector on bass, Rob on drums, newest member Danny on acoustic and electric guitars, and your humble scribe Rita on rhythm guitar/keyboard/harmonica and vocals. We've been together for 5 years (longer than some marriages!) and have had some memorable gigs. I started this blog to keep a list of them--and to chronicle our RISE-TO POWER! Well, not really--all of us have a day job, and we're all over 45 (except for Danny, who is young and impressionable!) so this is more of a hobby. But we all have an abiding love for music, and we have healthy self-images, and some of us are major hams, so here we are. Walking down the street. We get the funniest looks. From everyone we meet. Hey hey--no, stop, that's plagiarism. Anyways, I don't expect anyone (other than MY FRIENDS & FAMILY) to ever read this, but if you do and you have an interest in an elderly garage band on the first level of getting started gigging, welcome and well-met. If YOU have an interest in starting a band and are curious about equipment, etc-let us know. Maybe we can help you avoid a TON of trouble.
Well, cheers, and see you "on the cover of the 'Rolling Stone,'"
Rita aka MrsMMars :-)



Saturday, September 18, 2010

Catch up! No, not the kind you put on fries ;-)

Hey folks: It's been awhile, hasn't it? I think our last gig was 7/4...waaay too long. It doesn't really seem like it's been a busy summer (unfortunately no time off, no cool trips, nothing but work & more work) but it's been enough to keep us from the boards. Sorry about that.
Well, news--? The Colonel turned 50 on 8/2. We went to the Santa Monica Civic Center to attend the World Guitar Convention (sounds much fancier than it is--basically, it's a flea market for musical instruments that they charge $15 admission to.) Still, it was all about guitars, and that made it cool. We had a good time, then went and checked out the fancy new mall in Santa Monica called The Santa Monica Place. It was, well, fancy. ;-) They have a killer wine bar with a fabulous view of the beach, that made the $10 they charged me for the glass worthwhile.
I turned 48 on September 8th. No big deal. I'm looking forward to being 55...senior discounts and I'll be eligible for retirement from my day job (not that I'll be able to AFFORD to retire, unless this gigging thing goes MONSTER ;-) but it's the next milepost for me. So, 7 more years. Then I'll stop counting birthdays. I had a very lovely week, though--I was taken out for lunch 5 times! =oD I have really wonderful friends and am blessed with a fabulous family.
So, that's all the latest. I wanted to separate these posts, because the next one is about our FANTASTIC gig at Chuy's on 9/18. Thanks for reading! ^ * ^

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