by Garrick Rawlings
Following the memorial paddle out for Kevin Sousa Saturday, an afternoon concert in his memory was held on Pier Plaza featuring musicians from the Kevin Sousa Band (KSB), along with some very special guests.
Acoustic duo Mike Longacre and Jeff Baker, aka Mike & Jeff, kicked off the show with a set of spirited originals and covers, something they do every Sunday at Longacre’s Mike’s Guitar Parlor shop on Pier Ave. Sousa often joined the Sunday jams, and Mike & Jeff often opened shows for Sousa’s band.
In preparation for the band performance, Kevin’s wife, Patti Fellers Sousa, and KSB’s musical director and keyboardist, Steve Aguilar made up setlists for the show and subsequently held a band rehearsal on Saturday night at the Sousa’s Hermosa Music Company studio.
Zeal Levin described how the show came together. Levin is a singer-songwriter and guitarist with Triple Bueno, and also the Kevin Sousa Band guitarist, and manager of the Hermosa Music Company studio, Surfers Walk of Fame inductee and Spyder Surfboard founder Dennis Jarvis helped get this event off the ground.
“Dennis Jarvis, (co-owner of Spyder Surf) worked with the city to get a permit pushed through for the concert. He and Kevin were great, great brothers. Kevin emceed the Spyder Surf Fests every year, and Dennis’ daughter, Jamisen, often sat in with Kevin’s band.”
“The City of Hermosa Beach was super awesome. Chris Brown, of Camp Surf, did a ton of work on the paddleout, making sure we were in touch with the LA county Lifeguards who did an incredible job of keeping everybody safe.”
Along with Levin and Aguilar on guitar and keyboards respectively, Levin named the other Saturday afternoon performers: “Emily V on violin, we had Mick Linden on the bass, filling in for regular KSB bassist Derrick Elliott, who is on tour. But Mick played with Kevin a bunch. He’s an amazing player. Aragorn Wiederhold played guitar. On drums we had Nik Hughes, who is the original KSB drummer filling in for Will Phillips [also on tour]. Hughes lived out here and played with us for a bunch of years until he got the gig as the touring and recording drummer for Bush. He also runs an artist management company and manages Kevin’s manager. He flew in from Virginia for this gig, where he lives with his wife and kids. Also, Joshua Zeigler was in attendance. He played drums with us at the BeachLife festival on May 6, Kevin’s final performance.
Our featured vocalist was Nate Amor, and the guest vocalists were Lindsey Harper, Dani Armstrong, V Torres, and Kira Lingman. Two of Kevin’s buddies from his college [Villanova] band, Rugby Road, flew in with a bunch of folks from Philadelphia, for the show. Kenny Kearns sat in on piano and lead vocals for the first song “Into the Mystic” [Van Morrison] and he played on “Bennie and the Jets” [Elton John], and he helped out on our closer, “With a Little Help From My Friends” [Beatles].
“Derek Smith, who Kevin nicknamed ‘Smalls’ [Spinal Tap reference?] also sat in on the opener on acoustic guitar. They really wanted to be a part of it and it was really cool to have them from Kevin’s days back there playing together, as part of the group.”
Some song highlights were Springsteen’s “Born To Run,” the Beatles “Let it Be,” and “Come Together,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” and Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” The show was classic after classic that Mr. Sousa surely cherished, Pier Plaza was full of his loved ones, friends and fans.
Levin explains the HMC studio will go on. “We are going to carry on as planned. Patty will be moving the studio forward, honoring Kevin and his vision. I will continue to manage it.”
Meanwhile, fans of Sousa’s music have this to look forward to: “We are releasing the whole new Sousa album now. We were waterfalling singles [in advance of full album release], but it doesn’t make sense anymore, so on June 30, Hermosa and Free will be released in its entirety.” ER
