BEACH BOYS OPEN FOR THE “FOR SURE” BAND HERE

 

By Dan Rattiner

I have always maintained that about fifteen years ago, the authorities here in the Hamptons fired off a special gas into the atmosphere that affected the local populace. Before that time, there were few celebrities in the area and the locals all prided themselves on helping those here keep their lives private. After that time, it was every man for himself.

For me, the way it played out was like this. Before the emitting of this celebrity gas, I would come into a room and people would look up and see me and then look down again. There’s Dan who runs Dan’s Papers is what they’d think to themselves.

After the gas got put into the atmosphere, I would be heading into a room and just ahead of me, maybe fifteen paces, would be Bianca Jagger. She’d go into the room first and everybody would get all excited. Then I’d come into the room and once again everybody would get all excited.

THERE’S DAN WHO RUNS DAN’S PAPERS!

My 22-year-old son Gabriel got a taste of this last Tuesday. And it was all about him. He will not soon forget it.

Gabriel is a member of what he refers to as a “cover band” meaning that they play the songs of one particular famous group, in his case a band called No Doubt. They call themselves For Sure. And as they have practiced and rehearsed in my basement on many occasions, I can tell you they play very well.

Last Tuesday, the band was invited to play a set at the Beach Boys concert in East Hampton hosted by Bill and Karie Gardiner. They would not warm up for the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys would go on first. The Beach Boys would warm up for THEM.

The event was a tremendous success and raised over $117,000 for a basket of six local charities including Action Against Hunger, the East Hampton Community Council, the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation, Project Most, the Kendall Madison Foundation and East Hampton Meals on Wheels. People were invited to come at 5:30 p.m. to a fenced in pasture that is in back of the Gardiner home on James Lane across from Town Pond. And here, they would find some portable bleachers, a center area for VIPs to sit in folding chairs, a runway for a fashion show and plenty of food and drink. All together, about 700 people attended.

The Beach Boys, featuring lead singer Mike Love and his backup Bruce Johnson and several others (Brian Wilson, as you know, has passed on) came on at 6:30 and played a set that accompanied a fashion show. As they played “Daddy Took My T-Bird Away” and “California Girls” and some other favorites, a total of 15 professional models, all slender and beautiful, marched down the runway in front of them showing off the bikinis, cover-ups and clothes of designer Jacqueline Love. Jacqueline is the wife of Mike Love.

The crowd absolutely loved it. They cheered, they stood up and swayed to the music, they danced in the aisle, and when the show ended after half an hour and the Beach Boys continued after a short break, many of them accepted the invitation of the Beach Boys to come up on stage and dance in their midst while they played. It was awesome.

And then the Beach Boys went off and came back to do an encore, and then another encore, and then they went off and onto the stage came my son Gabriel Rattiner on guitar, Dave Berg on drums, Ryan Duff on bass and lead singer Ashley Gardiner, who happens to be the daughter of the host and hostess. And the crowd went crazy for them too as they quickly launched into the No Doubt favorite “Underneath it All.” A few of the spectators, who had gotten up to leave, now returned and sat back down in their seats. This they didn’t want to miss either.

These kids, all East Hampton born and raised, played like polished musicians. Ashley has a haunting, wonderful windsong sort of voice, and the melodic No Doubt songs all came out from the band one by one and wafted over the crowd. At the end of each one, the crowd stood up and cheered with their hands in the air, swayed to the beat, danced in the aisle, and, at the invitation of the band members, came up both onto the fashion show runway and onstage to share the time with this wonderful local band For Sure. It was a one-of-a-kind, terrific experience for these performers.

At the present time, I am trying to get a video DVD of this performance. I didn’t have a camera with me. Anybody out there have one? I’d pay mightily for a copy.