Tom Tourville Interview-The Final on Vinyl Podcast

Prolific author Tom Tourville talks about his book series Sun, Sand, Surf & Sidewalls.

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:14

Hello everyone, this is Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck with the Final on Vinyl Podcast. And today we are with Tom Torville, the author of Sun, Sand, Surf and Side Walls. Four volumes of that is out now, and he was kind enough to get all those to me, and I've been enjoying those and um wanted to talk to him about it. He's had quite the career as a writer. And welcome aboard, Tom.

Speaker 0:38

Thanks, Kate. This is uh fun to do, and I'm I'm I'm glad, happy for the invitation. It's it's wonderful. Thanks.

Speaker 1 0:45

Absolutely. So I'm I'm what's wondering, you've you've written so many books and um I'm I'm sure on a variety of subjects. I'm just wondering when your whole career started with writing and and how you got into the the surf scene.

Speaker 1:00

Yeah. Um 1976 I wrote my first book and it was not on music of all things. So that was the only book I ever did that wasn't about music. Then in 1978 I wrote uh my first music book, Minnesota Rocked, the 1960s, which was the first discography ever done on the amazing garage music scene of the state of Minnesota. And then I've just uh gone along my way and did many, many different books on on all these music topics.

Speaker 1 1:34

I see.

Speaker 1:35

Now you say you went to uh thirty one thirty-one in total, Keith. Thirty-one books in total that I uh that I did. Yeah, it's a lot of books. Wow.

Speaker 1 1:44

So that's your that's your main gig, Tom?

Speaker 1:46

Or you know, no, I've always I've I've been a professional in the nonprofit world, either in fundraising or uh directors of chambers of commerces or um convention visitors bureaus uh all across the Midwest. And uh so this has been my my passion, my hobby, my slide light. Like I tell people, instead of going out and play around the golf, I work I work on a couple chapters. And to me that's fun. I I so enjoy it. And I currently write for three different newspapers in the Midwest. Wow. So um I do three columns a month in addition to kind of balancing things along with doing my books. Surf music, wow, I I I I got enamored as a kid. Uh my first real, I say big time music show where I actually paid to get in, other than you know, the free stuff on a hay wagon, you know, in a downtown market or something. And uh it was just so much fun because I went and I walked in and I actually saw the trashman in 1963 on their surf and bird tour. And that was really late in the year, I think it was like November. And I walked in and there I was. You know, I was in the presence of greatness as far as I was concerned, and I loved surf music ever since. And so it was the music of the trashman that got me hooked. And it just wasn't surf and bird, it was all the other other things they did, uh, bad news, maliguania, all those kinds of things uh that you would hear them them record and put out, and that just made me fall in love with surf music. And then in 2013 I said, Alright, I'm in a down spot right now. I don't have a book on on the desk. And why don't I reach back in and do something about my love of surf music? And that resulted in four volumes of Sun, Sands, Surf, and Sideballs, uh, remembering the music and summer music scene through autographs. And what I figured is there were a lot of books on the market that were surf music books, some really good, some not so well. And I figured, well, if I'm gonna do this, I need to be different. And I need to be different in a good way, you know, that would get people's attention. So the books are just jammed with surf collectibles and surf graphics, and I often get asked, is everything in the book mine? Yes. Uh are the autographs in the book mine, yes. I don't put an autograph in a book unless I own it, and it comes from my collection.

Speaker 1 4:23

I had no idea. That's just unbelievable. Wow.

Speaker 4:26

Yeah. So that's a little bit easier in case there were ever a legal question, and there never has been, which has been wonderful. So four books of Sunsan, Surf and Syballs, and we went out to uh recently to Surf uh Guitar 101 and took six full sets of the books along, thinking, eh, maybe one or two. All six sets were gone in the first day.

Speaker 1 4:50

No kidding.

Speaker 4:52

Financial contribution to lay on the table. So um that was that was great to see. And then the reaction to Surf Sunset Surf and Side Laws Volume 4 has been amazing, and I'm so glad I did that book.

Speaker 1 5:06

That's great. Well, I hope hopefully some of the support I've given you has helped your sales along too, I'm hoping.

Speaker 5:13

You know, you you've done a lot of a lot of uh telling of the story already on your site, and I thank you so much. Uh that's been wonderful. Uh those as I've as I've moved along, I've taken many of those notes that you've done and put over onto my my Facebook under Tom Torbell. So you can go there and see all the reviews that have been done on Sun Sand Surface Sidewalls, and uh in a good way they're piling up. There's a lot of them, and I I keep putting them in order as as I get my hands on them. And uh it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 5:46

A very supportive community, Tom. And you know, even though, as you know, it's it's global, it's worldwide, but it's small in comparison to other musical communities out there.

Speaker 5:57

Yeah, it it really is. In music it's a niche. You know, it's it's not it's not massive. You know, there isn't anybody doing top ten hits like a Dick Dale or a Beach Boys any longer. So it's it's it's got a uh it's it's a it's a niche, but it's one that there is a lot, like you said, a lot of it passion fans and collectors. And so my books have kind of hit the market at the right time because they were people kind of looking for something fun to do and fun to read. And the thing I get is there's so many various sections and compartments and things to see and and learn and do and read in the books. Uh they're not just uh you know autographs laying on a blank piece of paper. They really are in there to tell a story, so I have great fun doing it.

Speaker 1 6:46

So where do you go from here? Is there gonna be a volume five or is that the end of that series?

Speaker 6:51

Yeah, i I I guess I got clobbered with that non stuff about it. Surf guitar one one. I'll give you an honest, I don't know. Uh with my wife's I've been challenging some issues with my wife's health, and that takes my top priority right now. For me to do a book, it takes three years. And you know, I'm going, do I want to take four or five more years, you know, working, you know, spending time with my wife, and then uh take the three years it takes to do a book. I don't know. Um usually what I've done, and I did this during COVID, um, I put out a what I call a short book. It was uh 26 pages long, and it was all done in black and white, and it was it was a lot of new things that I had found that I was really excited about, but it didn't quite fit a book. And everything that I put in that that short book was a jumping off point for volume four. And I'm gonna do that again. I'm gonna do it for the upcoming holiday season. I send those out free to um my my my friends who you know that I usually send some kind of a Christmas card or gift to. And then for my really good customers, the ones that have been very loyal and bought all the four books over the years, I send that out to them ahead of time, like I did with the last update. And I'll be doing an update again at the holiday season, and I'll get that out this year. I got some fun things. Some of those, you know, just were acquired at Surf Guitar 101. I mean, a lot of people are there selling. Uh my son that's accompanied me, so he was a salesperson, and I was on Clarymore signatures, and like the Bomboras and the uh uh Lost Strait Jackets, and there are so many amazing groups that were out there, other than even those two, that I had fun collecting autographs. Thunder Chiefs, the Valiants, all kinds of fun groups that I've always wanted to get some autographs from.

Speaker 1 8:51

Oh, that's great. You know, I have an idea for you I want to throw out there. I was thinking about I was thinking about taking I wonder if he would consider taking our all four volumes and making a hardcover anniversary edition. Like, you know on the day on the day you you first released your first volume and make it like a collector's edition, maybe do like a a crowdfund, a pre-order thing to see how many pre-orders you can get to to back it financially, you know. What do you think about that?

Speaker 9:23

You know, and I have thought about that. You know, what could could I do a combined? And all I can tell you, and this is a true statement, I haven't paid for the printing bill for the for this edition yet. Uh printing right now has just gone through the roof. And unless, you know, I find somebody or some company, and maybe we'll find one as a result of of our of our podcasts and our talk here, um, that I could f to underwrite the thing because they want it, you know, that's a whole different story. I've thought about could I take the the greatest hits of four and put it into one? And uh I I boy, I don't know, because that this this is a hundred and seven, eight-page book that I just did in the printing bills and makes me weaken the knees just to think about it. So again, I I give a qualified I don't know, and the reason I I do, and I don't know, is there is a reason behind it, it's got dollar signs. And I still have to pay this premium bill off. And it didn't used to be that way. I mean, I could go out and with the first blush of a release of a book, boom, the premium bill was paid, and and then I could stockpile some money, so to speak, for a down payment on the very next book that I was gonna do. And it kind of worked that way through the years. I mean, there was a profit. Now, if you break even, you are so happy. And uh the same thing for groups doing CDs and vinyl projects. I talked to a lot of band members at Surf Guitar and they go, boy, if we can just break even, we're gonna be real excited. I go, I've heard that before. I've heard it from myself. So it's you know, you really want the fans who love beach music and surf music. I shouldn't say beach because that's always a controversy with the instrumental fans, but if you can get you know enough funds raised from a book on all kinds of surf, sand, beach, sidewalls, instrumentals, and you do a mix and everybody sees that there, what they love is also represented in there. Foreign surf music as well. I'm a big fan of some of the things that have come up in other countries, and I usually do a foreign section in every book that I that I've that I've done except the first one. That was something I figured out later. So, long story short, can a person find enough sales in order to not only pay the current printing bill to do the heavy down payment for a new bill. Four books together hardcover. Probably I need I need help. I would need somebody to say we want this in our catalog, and we're gonna help make it happen. And I haven't got that phone call yet, but I'm still waiting.

Speaker 1 12:22

Well, maybe maybe what you do is you you you put the word out there, poke around, you know, make put up a post and say, you know, would people support this? You know, are there any publishers out there that might want to support this? And you know, just put your feelings out there and see what kind of response you get. You never know, right?

Speaker 12:41

Yeah, I've talked to Stephen McPartland, who in my opinion is the premier surf musicologist ever. I mean, what he has written has been the benchmark for and the the underpinnings for so many people like myself. And Stephen's gone to something called hip pay, and what it is is he puts the book out, it's online, you can see it, uh, you can't print it. And if you'd like to print it as $10. Then you print that off yourself, and either you read the pages or you go down, you want to if you if you want to, you know, you you take the pages and you just use you know large clips to hold them together and read them like a book, and that's as close as you'll get to a a book with a cover on it. But um I know a guy that's actually done that with Stephen's book, and he's had his own covers made, and he's put them around around the books, and he's kind of uh done a stitching process at the printer, so he ends up kind of getting a book with a cover. And I don't know how Stephen is doing with that financially, to be honest with you, but it's a way to sidestep the problem I was just talking about, and that's the the cost of printing and the cost of finding. And uh he's done some books that are four to five hundred pages, and if you put all four of my books together, uh they come in at four hundred and nine pages uh jointly. So it's it's it's a lot, there's a lot there, and it's uh it's it's uh a big process. So I'm dealing with all kinds of I don't know's as a writer and an author, and uh I have yet to figure some of those things out.

Speaker 1 14:27

Well, hopefully all that happens. I would love to see you happen. You know, I'll be there to support it, Tom. I I really appreciate your time today and talking about all this, and uh, you can count on my continued support, whatever you do. And I want to give my best to you and your wife. I hope she recovers and thank you. You continue to live uh a good life.

Speaker 14:47

Let me add this at the end if I can, Keith. Uh Sunshine Serpent Slidewalls, fourth edition. Now, right now, all four editions are available on eBay, and first three editions are available on Amazon, and the new book, of course, is on eBay. And if you go, they go, people go, how do I get it? Go to Facebook. I mean, everybody's on everybody's on Facebook. Just look up Tom Torville. T-O-M-T-O-U-R, V is a Victor, I L L E. Go to my Facebook page, and I probably have up towards, as you know, 15, 16 postings on there, how to buy the book. I mean, it's it's everywhere. So it's really easy to order. It's it's all done through PayPal. You get notify me on Facebook, pay through PayPal, and as soon as I get that notification from PayPal, the book is in the mail in the next 24 hours.

Speaker 1 15:45

Right. And plus I have it at my sidebar on surf uh.

Speaker 15:51

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 15:52

Easy to find.

Speaker 15:54

All right, my friend, you take care. Thank you, Keith. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 16:00

Take care, bye bye.