The idea of this column is to reflect on the really good rock and roll days of Long Beach, but I guess it doesn’t hurt for me to shill for a couple or three events with music I can still believe in. 

Such is the description – see above boilerplate – of the upcoming stop on the massive “Swimming To the Whirlpool” tour conducted by local rock and roll fave, Stan Wycoff at Fingerprints at 7 p.m. on July 20.

As I reflect on the lineup, it increasingly takes on the feel of an Ed Sullivan Show without the jugglers.

Dig this.  Besides the musical stylings of Wycoff, which are formidable enough, having been backed on CD by the likes of Nicky Hopkins, who at one time or another during his too-short life backed the Beatles on “Revolution,” the Stones on a few numbers, the Kinks, the Who, the Airplane… you might have heard of these bands.  Wycoff also played with King Of the Surf Guitar – and he knows it – Dick Dale.  The bands I mentioned won’t be there, but Wycoff will with Rick Shea on steel guitar; and singer-songwriter David Stadalnikas of Uninvited Dinner Guests.

Also on tap are 60s faves, We Five, whom I caught at Ed Pearl’s Ashgrove well before they hit with their important top ten folk-rock hit, “You Were On My Mind.”  I left impressed.

Then there’s Bobby Comstock, “the Count” as dubbed by Stan, who had some really strong guitar and vocal hits like “Tennessee Waltz” in the early 60s.  More guitar by Dave “Guilty Man” Alvin, co-head guy of the Blasters, Danny Ott, who played with the legendary Chris Gaffney and John “Django” Jorgenson.

Not enough to listen to?  There’s the reading by Alan Rifkin, who skillfully describes his contribution as “a musical and online novel in concert, Alt. Country traces the legend and love story of Harvey Kooper, a country rocker in a last-chance marriage. Haunted by a lifetime’s mistakes, he runs from near-fame, leads spiritual fasts in the San Fernando Valley (“Country Music’s Salinger,” a bartender calls him), finds Jesus, marries a radio host who spins musical dreams of half-remembered pasts . . . and then recreates all the chaos and tragedy he had tried to break free of.  Meanwhile he is shadowed by a faded Rolling Stone reporter who believes that the artist’s slide to obscurity is a story for our times.” 

All of this in an hour and a half.  Show up just to see how it comes together, or falls apart.  With all this going on, you don’t want to view it from the narrow streets of the Shore, so Hometown Music strongly recommends you make reservations at Fingerprints (562 433-4996) and if Rand’s not in, he or she who answers the phone will be helpful, unless you dilly dally too long while wondering what’s on TV.