About Me
Here is what is known -- and even in saying "known", we must acknowledge that much of this is still conjecture, hearsay, and just plain guesswork:Los Longboards emerged from the glorious, if short lived, Lincoln, Nebraska Surf/ Klezmer scene of the early 1980's. Their first incarnation was called Dos Borrachos -- a curious choice, given that there are at least three core members of the band -- Reno, Miguelito, & El Gran Caballo -- and possibly a fourth, known only as "Ay!", or "Ayi!" In any case, Dos Borrachos soon graduated to Quatro, Cinco, Seis & then Siete Borrachos, ultimately culminating in a monstrosity known as the Dharma Dozen, featuring a full horn section, African drums, clarinet, theramin, glockinspiel, and some sort of home-made bagpipes device. The Dharma Dozen played only one actual show, in late April of 1985, at Lincoln's famed & notorious Gut-Bucket Road-House. But even the use of the word "show" here is a bit of a misnomer. Those in attendance that night more often use words such as "brawl", "melee" or "donnybrook". Rumors of an attempted human sacrifice seem clearly to be in the realm of exaggeration, although there was indeed some sort of altar in the center of the venue where several female fans of the band -- quite willingly, it should be pointed out -- were, at some point in the evening, "mounted and stuffed." (It is universally acknowledged, by the way, that El Gran Caballo more than lived up to his name on this particular occasion, as did, in his own way, Ayi!) It was also apparently at some point in this evening that several of the band members, either from the stage or the altar, depending on which account you credit, announced their name change to Los Longboards.The next morning, coinciding as it did with the first day of Spring Break, several members of the band, including at least the core members, left for the island of Cozumel, Mexico, probably at least in part in an attempt to avoid criminal prosecution. And, as happens with under-reported frequency, when Spring Break was over, the members of Los Longboards failed to return to their studies at Nebraska State University. Not much is known, or at least confirmed, over the next 19 years. Only a few years later, for instance, Hurricane Gilbert appears to have blown the band off of the Gulf Coast, and all the way over to the Pacific coast, where they re-surfaced (almost literally) at a little beach about 300 miles south of Mexico City known as Zipolite. And it is this aggregation of hammocks and palm frond umbrellas, Zipolite, which seems to have been at very least their base of operations -- there were reports of sightings, for instance, at various brothels and laundromats as far south as Panama City, and as far north as Ciudad Juarez -- all the way up until the Spring of 2003, when concerned family members finally tracked them down.There were rumors of some kind of "Tequila/ Sex Cult," led by a shadowy spiritual leader named Lazaro Cienfegos. Cienfuegos is believed by adherents of the faith (a bizarre mish-mash of Catholicism, Shamanism, and obscure Divine revelations supposedly culled, in code, from a 1953 Studebaker shop repair manual, with "Miranda" written in pencil on the inside cover) to have ascended physically to heaven. The curious thing is that Cienfuegos seems to have attempted and failed at his ascension at least once (celebrated by the faithful as "The Feast of the Erroneous Assumption"), before a second, successful attempt, in mid-November of 2001.In any case, having finally been located by their American families, the lads were promptly kidnapped, brought back to the States and "de-programmed" -- which brings us at least close to the present day. Owing to the above detailed circumstances, most of the recordings that you have access to here were completed in what might be called an "institutional" setting. (The lone exception being "South of the Bartender", recorded in January or February of 1985, double-tracking on two home cassette recorders, one of which was reportedly held together with a large piece of bubblegum and a small piece of baling wire.) But, as several band members anticipate early release dates within the next few years, or even months, keep an eye and an ear out for newer Los Longboards recordings, which may -- or may not -- contain some of the essence of their former glory. We can only hope.
