VLVL2(3): The Corvairs

[Don Corathers]

I'm having a little trouble remembering any great keyboard work in a surf
song. It's essentially guitar music, innit? Playing keyboard in a surf band
seems like another dimension of Zoyd's futility.

That would be a Hammond B3 that Zoyd would have been playing, btw. I think
it was just about the only keyboard option for a traveling band in 1964.
Gorgeous sound, but a big heavy sumbitch to load in and out.

The choice of the band's name can be read as an embrace of a certain kind of
hip mediocrity, or maybe just unusually acute awareness of one's position on
the music business food chain. Not that I think the Corvair was a shitty,
dangerous car, as Nader claimed. But it did have that reputation. And if you
were determined to name your band after a Chevrolet and you thought you were
really good, wouldn't you want to be the Corvettes?

D.C.






----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Monroe" <monrovius at yahoo.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 2:23 PM
Subject: VLVL2(3): The Corvairs


> "... with elements of a surf band he'd been playing
> keyboard in since junior high, the Corvairs ..." (VL,
> Ch. 3, p. 22)
>
>
> The Corvair
>
> http://www.corvair.org/
>
> http://o.webring.com/hub?sid=&ring=corvair&id=&list
>
> Nader, Ralph.  Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-in
>    Dangers of the American Automobile.  New York:
>    Grossman Publishers, 1965.
>
> A great problem of contemporary life is how to control
> the power of economic interests which ignore the
> harmful effects of their applied science and
> technology. The automobile tragedy is one of the most
> serious of these man-made assaults on the human body.
> The history of that tragedy reveals many obstacles
> which must be overcome in the taming of any mechanical
> or biological hazard which is a by-product of industry
> or commerce. Our society's obligation to protect the
> "body rights" of its citizens with vigorous resolve
> and ample resources requires the precise,
> authoritative articulation and front-rank support
> which is being devoted to civil rights....
>
> http://moderntimes.vcdh.virginia.edu/PVCC/mbase/docs/unsafe.html
>
>
> The Corvairs
>
> http://skm210.tripod.com/corvairs.htm
>
> http://www.sergent.com.au/corvairs.html
>
> http://home.hetnet.nl/~pmouse/crescents.htm
>
> http://home.att.net/~uncamarvy/Leaders/leaders.html
>
> http://www.borderlinebooks.com/canada/c10.html#The_Corvairs
>
> http://newwave.50megs.com/corvairs.html
>
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