July on the coast may not be hot and sultry - except this Friday evening, when the Old Princeton Landing presents surf film footage and the music of the Mermen.
The doors open for the "Surf Night" at 8:30 p.m. Music begins at 9:30 p.m. or so.
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"If you're looking for bikini-clad babes and cocktails at five, you've come to the wrong beach," wrote the Los Angeles Reader. "Gorgeously complex, dreamy and oblivious to time, supremely unrushed divine textures seduce us like the melancholy bleatings of Arctic whales."
The result is part ode, part rhapsody, part trippy jam and part synthesis of surf and spirituality.
Consisting now of guitarist/composer/ album producer Jim Thomas, drummer Martyn Jones and bassist Jennifer Burnes, the Mermen have toured nationally and performed with artists including David Byrne, Nancy Sinatra, Hot Tuna, Rancid, Chris Issak, Dick Dale, Tiny Tim (as his backup band,) Jimmy Buffet, Babatunde Olatunji and more.
The Mermen have garnered "Best of Year" listings in Guitar Player and Rolling Stone magazines, BAMMIE awards in 1996-1997, been featured in a Mercedes Benz commercial and in the 2003 feature film "Local Boys," and named most-played album of the year on KUSF for 1994 and 1995.
Their music was featured on television's "Nash Bridges," "MTV's Real World," "Comedy Central," "ABC Sports" and others.
Riding the crest of the Mermen is Thomas, a passionate surfer who has said that "art is art but nature has no artifice" to explain why he prefers surfing to making music.
He cites "The Endless Summer" as perhaps his greatest inspiration. The band has performed that film's soundtrack many times.
On Friday, the Mermen will be complemented by footage of Mavericks waves from local filmmakers Eric Nelson and Curt Myers of Powerlines Productions.
This won't be one specific film, said co-organizer Catherine Clark, but rather clips from various films.
"We're going to take their movies and make a loop," she said.
The event is for age 21 and above, and there is a $10 admission. For information, call the Old Princeton Landing at 728-9103.
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