Some Joker in VB...

 And I quote:

"The waves weren't so hot as Caleb Kauchak and his friends paddled out off Sandbridge on Friday. So the 18-year-old decided to goad Poseidon, the sea god in Greek mythology, into sending some better surf.

'Smite me, oh mighty Poseidon!' he shouted.

The response he got wasn't the one he was expecting. As he stood in chest-deep water next to his surfboard, Kauchak felt a searing pain as something took a bite out of his ankle. He jumped onto his board and felt another wave of pain as the creature clamped down on his knee, he said."

Well, Caleb, I guess that will teach you to take the great Greek myths so lightly.


     While I was working outside today doing a major overhaul on the interior of the shop (it and I had reached a critical mass with the disorganization around the place, and I probably would have had a breakdown if I didn't do something, quick, so I did) I heard some clowns walking down the street singing something. As they passed I realized that something was familiar, then I realized that something was Weezer. The song they were singing wasn't the song above, which is "Only In Dreams," the 10th track from their 1994 debut album, but "Say It Ain't So," the seventh track from the same album. After I realized what they were singing, I also realized that, oddly enough, I hadn't listened to Weezer in a long, long time. So here they are, so you can listen too. 

When in doubt...

     So, maybe it's true that the last big swell wasn't nearly as good as the prior. Plenty of big waves, plenty of big wipeouts, and the when a wave was made, it was really good. The sad fact is that falling in love with a sandy-bottom beach-break is bittersweet, and while we enjoyed the sweetness of the surf at Sandal and Wounded Gull a few weeks ago, now the early morning view is tinged is tinged with bitterness. Where once were perfect, empty, hollow barreling lines there are now sand-sucking closeouts. More sand has washed down from HC and really ruined the place, and to drive the point home, Frank witnessed the actual Wounded Gull, after a period of time with nary a sighting, battling a bigger, stronger gull for a dead bird. The outcome? Wounded Gull lost! O! But the bitterness is made a little easier to stomach by the spectacular sunrises, which, it turns out, are not influenced in the least by shifting sandbars and seagull battles on the beach. Thank God.

    Been working a little on Frank's board, figured on art layout and stuff like that, but have been a little busy preparing for a new addition to the Erricozia household: Henry, pictured above. He is a White German Shepherd/Husky mix and will be ours on October 2nd. He was at a "high-kill" shelter (I know, never realized the term existed, and it is terrifying) in South Carolina, and is on his way up here. A Southern gentleman? I think those eyes say it all.

    And on the music front, the hardworking prog-psych-stoner-rock-free-form-jazz-explosion Brooklyn-based trio La Otracina has just released another album, Reality Has Got To Die, a double-LP mind-bender from everyone's favorite psych/strange/interesting music label Holy Mountain. The album definitely leans towards the harder side of psych-rock, part of which is due to drummer Adam Kriney's vocals, which fit the part to a "T", as they say. The band has been leaning towards more definite song structures as of late, but there are still the free-form psych-aural exploratory jams that everyone who is a fan of the band have come to love. Just take the title track for example. When I checked the album out, and saw that it was 19 + minutes long, I knew it would be good, if you're into that sort of thing, which I am. For your consideration, two tracks from the album.

Click here to hear.

01 - Hail Fire
06 - We Ride On (Maybe my favorite on the album, although I admit I have only given it one serious straight-through listening so far)

   Without a doubt, the best advice I have ever received from a fortune cookie.

This is Me on LBI.

Not quite, but amazing nonetheless. Derek Hynd, Jeffrey's Bay, finless.

Classic Oldies WMID 1340 AM Song of the Day

A great line around 1:10.

Some Photographs

Here are some scans of photographs taken this past Saturday's Hurricane Earl swell at Sandal. The light is kind of off on them because the battery on my camera (Olympus OM-1) was dead, so the light meter was not operational. Still, they came out not so bad. Here they are. The shots of Frank and I are shot by Jeannine.

Frank on the best wave of the afternoon session. 

 Me, upgrading my rainbow. 

Frank and I paddling, with a small metallic waterspout behind us?

Mysterious. 

No, I did not make it.

     Well, that's it for now. There may be a few more pictures from Sunday morning, but I have to get that roll developed. This was the first time using my telephoto lens to shoot actual action, and the first time Jeannine has taken pictures of surfing, so I'd say all in all they came out pretty good. Next time we'll have the light thing worked out, hopefully, because all the shots of me getting huge airs didn't come out that great. Too close to the sun.

Wavelength, by Michael Snow. 

Good Times, Bad Times...

     ...today I've had my share. Sub-par softies in the morning at Holyoke, followed by superb chest to head high bombs rolling in giving barrels at Sandal for a few hours, then some lackluster landlubber-style "surfing" in the afternoon, which was partially the fault of the waves getting whacked by the strengthening wind, and partially the fault of myself, who forgot how to surf between A.M. and P.M.Oh well, tomorrow's another day.
     Been surfing my 5'5" fish exclusively recently, and so far it's held up in some really big stuff, and I've made tons of steep drops that last September I thought were impossible on a board with such little rocker. Turns out it was only my surfing that had to catch up. One thing that bugs me about the general public's notion of fish-type surfboards is that they are meant for and great for small surf. Not true. While they may work well on smaller surf due to the speed the design itself generates, they also work well, and were originally conceived for, much larger surf. Here's a picture from Point Loma, San Diego, where the design originated and evolved:

     Don't know if that guy is on a fish, but that's a pretty good size wave. It just drives me crazy when you hear, "Oh man, it's gonna get small duuuuuude, looks like I'll have to bust out the fish, brah." Not true. I've decided I'm going to use my fish in bigger and bigger surf until it proves it can't handle it. Maybe I'll never surf anything else. Probably not.
     Some more pictures from today, with film pictures coming soon.

Two of Frank.

Pre-dawn fish nose. 

     Led Zeppelin, "Good Times Bad Times," from the first track from the band's initial aural assault, Led Zeppelin. I would say this album is probably my favorite album from the band, and if you haven't listened to it in a while, you should. Around 1:30 on this track is where your mind explodes if you love rock 'n' roll.