I’m an hour into my first law school exam and the only thing preventing sheer panic is the song loop running round and round in my head.  Yeah, this is definitely my current favorite song all right… but is it a mantra keeping me focused, or an annoying distraction keeping me from concentrating on the task at hand?  And what a task! Read the full story

A few months ago I reconnected with my friend Orly who had started her own band and moved to NY to realize the dream. In fact, I believe that the last time I saw her was at the band’s initial stage almost five years ago, when they played a “we are heading out of town” show in the backyard garage of Orlys parent’s home in Valley Village, LA. Read the full story

Law school is difficult. Law school is very stressful. It takes up your weekdays and weekends. Many reading this may be first year students who did not do so well in the Fall, which means you now have to work harder to make up for it. Read the full story

SW Alum Andrew Carter

His music preference is dark, his sport of choice hails from Canada, and his humor is refreshingly self-deprecating. He formerly represented the death metal band Raging Speedhorn and worked at Terrorizer Magazine in the U.K. before flying back stateside to enter the ranks of jurisprudence. Read the full story

The Purple Orchid in El Segundo is one of the Southland’s rare tiki bars, and if you don’t know where it is, you could easily drive right by it. However, once inside, The Purple Orchid is as much a tiki oasis as a bar can be ­­- a laidback venue where tiki connoisseurs can relax and dance while enjoying the atmosphere, their friends, and good surf music. Aside from the festive décor, the best part of the venue may have been the television screen behind the stage showing excessively random kitsch clips in between beach-themed Elvis movies.

Upon entering the bar, I was immediately and warmly greeted by Bill McGlynn and Joyce Seko, the guitar and bass players of the night’s opening act, Glasgow Tiki Shakers. Bruce Graham rounds out the trio on drums for some seriously fun instrumental surf rock. Something particularly impressive about the Tiki Shakers is how their off-stage personable natures did not disappear once on-stage. The members interact with the audience and even encourage audience participation. About halfway through their set, they really warmed up, playing faster songs that engaged the crowd. I happened to be celebrating my birthday that night, and my favorite part of their set was when they had the whole bar sing “Hap

py Birthday” to me, followed by a rousing surf version of the The Beatles composition, “Birthday.” Overall, Glasgow Tiki Shakers were lively and about making sure the audience had as much fun as they did.

Later in the evening, The Dynotones took the stage as the night’s headliner. The group wowed us with their matching shirts, coordinated moves and a whole ‘lotta reverb.’ While members Dano Nichols (guitar), Dan Moses (guitar), Rob Kruse (bass) and Tim Fitzpatrick (drums) barely fit on the bar’s small stage, they often jumped into the audience, which was a fun variant to many bands that minimize interaction with the audience. This OC-based band plays its original surf rock often in Southern California and has shared previous stages with Los Straitjackets, Dick Dale, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys. The Dynotones are definitely one of the more accomplished independent instrumental surf rock bands with more accolades to come.

The bottom line is both bands made for a very fun night. More information on Glasgow Tiki Shakers is available at www.myspace.com/glasgowtikishakers, and The Dynotones can be found at www.dynotones.com or www.myspace.com/dynotones.

More reviews and information on Eclectric Ink are available at www.eclectric-ink.com. Erin welcomes your comments at Eclectric.Ink@gmail.com.