by James Brown

NMB Events Wednesday 3-11 Jim Quick and Jay Kinlaw will be at Harold's Tonight - Live on the Surf from 6 to 9 949thesurf.com Ed Torres at La Belle Amie 12:30 John Townsend at Duplin Winery 1PM Devin Dove at Ocean Annie’s 3PM 2 Peace at Patios Tiki Bar 4PM Crazy Bear at Murphy’s 4PM Exacta Dave at Duplin Winery 4:30 Stan Gregory at Martini 5PM Guitar Jam at NMB Library 5PM Country Dancing at Dick’s Resort 5PM Rhett Drew at Blue Drum 5PM Songs and Stories at Star Tavern 5PM Route 65 at Deckerz 6PM Dale Mosher at Flynn’s 6PM DJ Glenn Pridgen at Mother Tucker's 6PM Rob Cole at Boardwalk Billy’s 6PM Taylor & Rhonda at Duck Dive Bar 6PM Dirty Laundry at Capt Archie’s 6PM Mikety Mic at Castaway Keys 6PM Ultimate Game Show at 810 6PM Music Bingo at Local on The Water 6PM Crazy Bear at The Knot 6PM Matt Doda at Lulu’s 6PM Music Bingo at The Big Chill 6PM Michael Aarons at Pin Point - Little River 6PM Open Mic at Main Street Taphouse 6:30 Skyler Whitfield at Molly Darcy’s 7PM Karaoke with Jessy at Sugrue’s 7PM Nasty Chaps at Star Tavern 7PM Trivia Night at Callie Baker’s 7PM Line Dancing at Dirty Armadillo 7PM Brown and Brooks at OD Lounge 8PM

NMB Events Friday 3-6 ( DJ Throwdown) DJ Gary Jones & Steve Lusk at Fat Harold's 12PM DJ Bill Anderson & Dave Hadden at Fat Harold's-BR 12PM Flirt at Duplin Winery 1PM Matt Parker Duo at Ocean Annie’s 1PM DJ Billy Fanning & Furman Dominic at Fat Harold's 1:15 DJ Chuck Weaver & Dan Spivey at Fat Harold's-BR 1:30 Crazy Bear at Sunny Parrot 2PM DJ Bobby Vaughn & Buck Crumpton at Fat Harold's 2:30 DJ Mike Swords & Norman Mills at Fat Harold’s-BR 3PM Ray Scott’s Countdown at Deckerz 3PM DJ Tammie Hare & Jim Agee at Fat Harold's 3:45 DJ Gary Stellpflug & Jimmy Stevenson at Fat Harold’s-BR 4:30 Harlequin at Patio’s Tiki Bar 4PM Stan Gregory Duplin Winery 4:30 DJ Mike Stalls & Tammy Hare at Fat Harold's 5PM Scott Watkins at Martini 5PM Austin Perry at Grumpy Monk 5PM Root 65 at Duck Dive Bar 5PM The Yale Brothers at HoB Restaurant 5PM Owen Reeves at Lulu’s 5PM Mike Waters at Taco Mundo 5PM The Potatoheads at Crooked Hammock 5PM Sing with Jessy Ward at Salty Brews 5:30 Frankie Moree at Bouy’s 6PM Vinyl Party at Fat Harold’s-BR 6PM Big Jon Kelly at Flynn’s 6PM Mikety Mic at Castaways Keys 6PM Will Guyton at Mother Tucker’s 6PM Open Mic at Marina Bar 6PM Ariel Marini at SOHO 6PM Travis Proctor at Callie Baker’s 6PM Michael Aarons at Black Drum Brewing 6PM DJ John Williford & Kenny Loftis at Fat Harold's 6:15 BlackWater at Local On The Water 6:30 The Defibrillators at Murphy’s 6:30 The Pet Monsters 80s Party at Archie's 6:30 Rhett Drew at Deckerz 7PM Redflag Warning at Sugrue’s 7PM Mark McKinney at Boardwalk Billy’s 7PM Jeffery Simmons at The Knot 7PM Who’s Bad at House of Blues 7PM Elvis Tribute at Alabama Theatre 7PM Smokehouse Brown at Star Tavern 7PM Shore Thing at Dirty Armadillo 7PM Crazy Bear Karaoke at Maxwell’s 7PM Music Bingo Night at 810 7PM Paul Grimshaw Band at OD Arcade 8PM DJ Larry Edwards & Buck Crumpton at Fat Harold's 8PM The Renegades at Bourbon Cowboy 8:30 DJ HoF Induction at Fat Harold’s 9PM Thomas Road Band at Duck’s 9PM DJ VZZN at 3001 Nightlife 9PM DJ Mac Mast & John Smith at Fat Harold's 9:30

Back over the Fourth of July weekend in 2018, 94.9 The Surf counted down the Modern Era All-Time Beach Top 40—a listener-voted list of the best beach music songs from the contemporary era. It was a snapshot of where the genre stood at that moment, and looking back at it now, it holds up remarkably well. At number one: King Tyrone & the Graveyard Ramblers with “Mama’s Drinkin’ Liquor Again,” a song that captured the rowdy, fun-loving spirit of the modern beach music scene. Jim Quick and Coastline landed at number two with “Turn Me Over,” and Too Much Sylvia claimed the three spot with “Stepped Right Out of My Dream”—a song that remains a shag floor staple. Mayer Hawthorne’s “The Walk” at number four was an example of how the beach music community has always had an ear for crossover material, adopting songs the mainstream never tagged as beach music. The list told you a lot about who mattered in modern beach music. Band of Oz appeared three times (“Build Me Up” at #8, “I Can’t Think” at #11, and “Dance to the Radio” at #33). Gary Lowder & Smokin’ Hot showed up three times. Too Much Sylvia had three entries. Jim Quick had two as a solo act and with Coastline. The Entertainers placed twice. These were the workhorses of the genre—the bands putting out new music year after year, keeping the pipeline full. Then there were the surprises. Rod Stewart’s “Sexual Religion” at #7. Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor’s “Let’s Marvin Gaye” at #15. Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” at #27. Kelly Clarkson and Vince Gill’s “Don’t Rush” at #28. Lisa Stansfield closing out the list at #40 with “8 3 1.” The shag community has always been selective about which pop and R&B songs it adopts, but once a song gets the stamp of approval on the dance floor, it belongs to beach music forever. Almost eight years later, many of these songs are still in heavy rotation at The Surf and on shag floors across the Carolinas. Some of these artists—Jim Quick, Gary Lowder, Craig Woolard—are still charting new material on the Surf Countdown. Others, like Ms. Jody (“Still Strokin’” at #12), represent the southern soul side of the genre that DJ Heavy champions every afternoon. The Modern Era Top 40 wasn’t just a holiday weekend countdown—it was a time capsule of a genre that keeps reinventing itself while never forgetting where it came from.

One of my favorites recorded in 1977