We do the Surfer Stomp, it's the latest dance craze.
Of all my guilty pleasures, attending the Beach Boys Stomp annual fanclub convention is one of my guiltiest. This year's event took place -as it always does every damn year- on the same day as open house, the third saturday of september. The unlikely venue -a parish hall in Greenford- is off-the-wall enough, but the day's host is a true one-off. A real stickler for punctuality (interrupting the guest speaker on a few occasions to "move the day along") and rules & regs eg NO PHOTOGRAPHY!!!(every year he makes some threatening remark regarding some guy who took some photos which were later published in Q, after which the photographer mysteriously disappeared), and let's not get him started on mobile phones.... Yet Roy Gudge (for it is he), in spite of his faults, always puts together a tip-top day. Roy, we love you.
Fewer bootleg-and-rarity stalls than ever and the lack of quiz made the day drag a little (I know, I know), but hey, a guest the quality of Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford (Brian's ex-wife, and vocalist on the Honeys & Spring recordings) more than made up for these shortcomings. Over the day, she must have spent two-hours-plus on stage talking about her life, her relationship with Brian and the rest of the band, the Spring LP & the Honeys 45s, her currrent life as a real estate agent and so much more. Always gracious, even to the most trainspotter-y probing ("no, I think you'll find that..."), it was a pleasure to meet & talk to her.

Always good to see the same familiar faces too (hi Jonathan, Neil, Kingsley, Val, Alex, Andrew, Chris, John). Such good company. Why should I feel guilty about enjoying this?