Take a Ride to the Land Inside of Your Mind

     The fin boxes are in! After a delay caused by missing tools, missing sandpaper, missing time, and a homemade Futures router jig that I deemed inadequate so I had to make another, I finally got the boxes in 005. I have to say, it's a little daunting plunging a router into a board that's not mine for the first time, but everything went well and now I just have to finalize the logo and then I'll be on my way to glassing.
     More thoughts on the missing tools: it occurred to me that when you misplace something, it is in fact your past self, be it your self five minutes ago or a week or a month, misjudging the person you would become by the time you are looking for the misplaced item in question. When you placed the keys in the flower pot, for example, you thought that that would be a logical place for your future self to look for them. But, alas, your self changed just that much in the interim so that now you would never dream of looking in the flower pot for your keys, and end up wandering around the house for fifteen minutes thinking they must be gone for good. So yeah, it's an interesting testament to how much your self changes from one moment to the next, and how unpredictable those changes can be. From now on, try to be a better judge of your future self, and you'll lose less things.

     This picture was taken in darkness, the light that you see is lightning from the thunder storm that came across the Island at 5:15 the other morning and turned the winds from offshore to sideshore and ruined the chances of surfing that morning. Still, being on the beach and watching a thunder storm come up the Island, and then suddenly being in the middle of it on the edge of the Atlantic, made it almost worth it.

Eggplant.

     While driving home from checking the surf this morning (small waves + extremely low tide + hard offshore winds = no surfing for me) this song came on AM 1340. "Journey to the Center of Your Mind," the sixth track off of The Amboy Dukes' 1968 album of the same name. It's rare you get to hear a song like this on a radio station that isn't college radio. The Amboy Dukes launched the career of one Ted Nugent, which is kind of funny, considering the character he's become today. But, even then, he still clung to his conservative views, as he supposedly banned the band from partaking in any drugs whatsoever, which is kind of funny for a band from the sixties dressed like that playing music like that and talking about taking journeys to the center of your mind and all that. Nugent himself said he "never smoke a joint...never done a drug in my life. I thought 'Journey to the Center of the Mind' meant look inside yourself, use your head, and move forward in life". Fair enough Ted, but c'mon, the cover of the album has a bunch of pipes and other drug-related paraphernalia. But yeah, their first three albums (The Amboy Dukes, Journey to the Center of Your Mind, and Migration) are all pretty good psych albums. The Dukes' career went on for at three more studio albums, one greatest hits, and one live album, albeit under the name Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes. I don't think they're very good, and mark the beginning of Ted's love of hunting and the wild in general, with plenty of songs about guns and woods and stuff like that, and album names like Survival of the Fittest, Call of the Wild, and Tooth Fang and Claw. Ridiculous guy? Yes. Great guitar player? Also yes.

Take a ride to the land inside of your mind
Beyond the seas of thought
Beyond the realm of what
Across the streams of hopes and dreams
Where things are really not

But please realize
You'll probably be surprised
For it's the land unknown to man
Where fantasy is fact
So if you can, please understand
You might not come back

Hope You Surfed This Weekend.

I know I did. Surfed Friday, lost a fin, bought new fins, surfed Saturday, got breakfast at Amy's, surfed again Saturday, pastries, relaxation time (interrupted), Ryan's birthday BBQ, surfed again Saturday, BBQ, skins are the flip cup champions, went to bed at one woke up at 4:30, surfed, got bagels, surfed, slept, got burgers, got pastries, drove home, slept, woke up, went to Doyle's, slept. Now my shoulders are sore and the surf this morning did nothing for me. Three unrelated things:



The infamous traffic scene from Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 mindblowing masterwork Weekend.



Tom Waits doing a version of the Charles Bukowski poem  "Nirvana."



Finished reading the book Vertigo, by Boileau-Narcejac, which was the basis for Hitchcock's film of the same name. The book was really good, and in it the phrase "pale blue eyes" was used numerous times, which instantly called to my mind, and lodged itself there, The Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes," the fourth track off of the group's 1969 self-titled album, which is one of my favorite albums of all time. Linger on.

FOUND!

     Found this "blank" in the trash around the corner from my house this morning. It appears that it was a long/fun board that someone stripped and attempted to cut down into a short board, then realized that they were off their rocker (pun semi-intended) and threw it out. It's about 5'6" x 19 1/2 x 3, and that's 3" almost all the way through.

     The problems with the blank are the 19 1/2" wide point is about 1 1/2 feet forward of center; the tail gets pretty narrow, and it looks like someone tried to shape the nose with a hatchet. Also, there's the finbox and some glass on the tail, as seen below.

     That glass is easily ground off. So really, if board was a bit wider, it would be a usable blank. But, what to do?

     As if by magic, an idea emerges! My plan is to eventually glue those rail cut offs onto the board, figure out a template, and make something within the restrictions presented by the situation. I haven't worked on anything yet, but I have ideas in my mind of either a mini-simmons type board or maybe a small egg-type. We'll see. That won't be for a while yet, as I've got some more important boards to make.
     Waves coming this weekend, and if the forecast stays like it is, it could be glorious. Let's hope. For now, everyone take care in this heat. I know I almost died this morning running in 94-degree-in-the-shade heat. Good practice for the Dog Day Race, which is coming up. Of course, when you get blisters on your feet because the ground is too hot, something's not quite right there.

[Spoken:]
Ooh man, dig that crazy chick.

Who wears short shorts
We wear short shorts
They're such short shorts
We like short shorts
Who wears short shorts
We wear short shorts.

[Repeat 2x]

     Those are the lyrics in their entirety to hit by New Jersey's own The Royal Teens. Not much of a deep message here, just digging those short shorts with some really fun summertime sax solos. But, really, if we were to look a little further, we might be find that there's more going on here than it  initially appears. 

     The song, a #3 hit, was released in 1958, which was a few years before short shorts, or hotpants, really took off in London, thanks to fashion designer Mary Quant. So, in 1958, these "crazy chicks" were a little ahead of their time, and instead of being fearful of ridicule, they are bold and courageous in their ultra-cropped clothing. "Who wears short shorts?" asks the male, who in the post-war America that forms the backdrop to this song was the dominant member of society, the one who asked the questions, and who got answers. So, at seeing this revolutionary new garment, he demands answers. He wants to know who is behind this symbol of social upheaval that could be equated to the freedom-loving flappers, with their jazz and their bobbed hair and their short skirts (he shudders to think that this could be happening again, but no, it couldn't, not in his America). So, who's responsible for this outrage. And the women of this song, instead of being ashamed, instead of hiding, declare, in a resounding chorus, "We wear short shorts!" 

     Then, taken aback, the man, hoping to win with reason, says "But, they're such short shorts." And the women know that that is the reason, that they are such short shorts, and that they "like short shorts." So, in the final couplet, the man has changed his tone, looking out to the world, asking the question just so the women once again can answer and let the world know that they, in fact, do wear short shorts.

     Or it could just be a pretty fun song with some good sax solos. 

     Next time, how The Coasters (who have so many hits that you'd recognize that they are like their generation's Tommy James and the Shondells), with their 1959 single "Charlie Brown," foreshadowed the student protests and complete overhaul of the Universities in the United States and around the world in the coming decade. The lines "Walks in the classroom, cool and slow /  Who calls the English teacher Daddy-O," clearly shows this Charlie Brown to be a passive protester, and unlike those hotheaded Frenchman of 1968 he keeps his cool, all the while causing just as much damage as a Molotov cocktail. He greets his English teacher, who is a staunch believer in proper grammar and rock-solid traditions of language that can not be shaken by some know-nothing student, he greets this teacher with a new term, his term, one of cool disrespect that the English teacher would have never dreamed of addressing his mentors by. A term that would not have even appeared in his professor's OED, that's for sure. But, in fact, it's in there now, first cited use 1949, and Charlie Brown is letting him know that this colloquial slang term is here to stay.

Oh Charlie Brown, he's a clown, that Charlie Brown.

                                                I'm not even going to reread all that nonsense.

Hot.

     Well, 005 is basically completely shaped. Finished it off yesterday. All it needs now is some final touches, which will be done right before it gets the finboxes glassed in. We're going with Futures on this board. The fact of the matter is that it's hot out, and it's going to be bad business glassing in this heat and humidity. I'm going to have to wait until the evening most definitely. Towards the end of the week it looks like it will be a little cooler. I don't mind the heat really, but sometimes after working all day in 90+ temperatures, it's hard to make myself go out and work on stuff. See Serious Delirium.
      Also looks like some waves (hopefully) towards the end of the week. Had an excellent day last Tuesday, phenomenal actually. Lost a fin because while the glass is strong, the cedar underneath is not and I must have cranked down too hard on the finbox screws, and it crushed the cedar. So some as I'm running up the beach looking for it, I see some strange guy who was wading in the shorebreak wearing a drysuit (!) holding up my fin. A hero! So I surfed the rest of the time without it, and the board worked fine, because there were mostly rights and I still had two fins in that side.

   

"Nothing Ever Happened," the ninth track off of Deerhunter's 2008 album Microcastle. Really good album, and great song off of that album. Love the jam at the end. Also check out out Bradford Cox's other band, Atlas Sound. Good stuff.

Home Sweet Home

 

      So, with the (temporary) shop all set up, I started Mark's board on Wednesday. Actually, most of that time was spent figuring out an outline. Mark had a template made up, but in the end decided to make quite a bit wider than he originally planned, which was a good call in my opinon, I've been a fan of wider boards ever since I bought my Cannibal "Rocketfish". So the dimensions he decided on were 5'7" x 19 1/2" x 2 3/8". After I pulled his template out to the desired width, I checked it with other templates I have, and coincidentally it was really close to the Boombastik, and by extension, my quad. So I decided to go off that again, I pulled in the nose just slightly and made the rail come into the tail a little straighter, but still retained a nice curve. I also moved the wide point back a bit, to add some pivot. So, by the time I figured that all out and cut out the one side, it was too late to use the jigsaw to cut out another template to flip for the other side.

     So I did that Thursday. The board is cut out and the bottom skinned and sanded (I used the Skil 100; it was nice). I planned to continue working on it this evening, and should be working on it right now, except I was having an off day with other projects which dealt in wood instead of foam. I kept on cutting things wrong and getting really frustrated. With wood, when I do that, usually the piece that has been cut wrong gets shattered to splinters and then I cut a new one. Knowing my self (kind of) and the way I can get when I get frustrated, I opted not to work on the board tonight because A)I do not want to shatter the blank to splinters and B)I can't just cut a new one if I mess up. So, thanks to Mark for his patience, work will resume tomorrow, when I am hopefully out of my serious delirium. Serious. 

     The water's finally warmed up enough where it's perfect without a wetsuit. Been getting out on the little swell we've had this week, and it's been fun in a carefree, shorebreak surfing kind of way. I picked up a pair of swimfins today, to start doing some bodysurfing and just plain old swimming during these semi-flat spells. But don't let anyone tell you it's been flat: I've surfed four times this week, and rode fun waves every time.

Are you big on the Pig?

     I took advantage of the Sun earlier today and dewaxed my boards, then I took this picture. From left to right: SF 004, SF 001, SF 003, Hobie "Phil Edwards Model" 9'0", push mower, Dewey Weber "DNT Series" 5'8", Cannibal "Rocketfish" 6'0".

       Look at this insect, and realize once again what a strange world we live in. Really beautifully bizarre.

       Ever since Pat posted this post over at Casualties of the Loudness War, I've had this song stuck in my head. It's Bruce Springsteen, of course, and the song is "Atlantic City," from his unbelievable 1982 album Nebraska. Now, even you Bruce detractors (you know who you are) have to respect it when an artist (in this case, being Bruce), releases a huge album (namely, The River), does a huge tour with huge shows at huge places (the River Tour being the tour in question), then releases a stark "folk" album recorded on a four-track at his home, and not just any album but an amazingly album full of the thematics of the darkness and tears that his previous work may have been touching on but not completely engulfing (well, except for "The River." That is one sad song.) So yeah, listen to this song, and every song on the album, again and again, and again once more.

A Board Bag!

     The fact of the matter is this: that every person is at the center of their world, in other words: self-centered. You inevitably see things from your viewpoint, a viewpoint backed with your experiences and your beliefs and your being. No matter how hard you try and imagine you see something from a different point of view, I from yours or you from mine, you are imagining that persons viewpoint from your self: you are still the center imagining you are seeing it from another's center, but it's still yours. You are the center of your world.
     This fact occasionally leads to unfortunate and inevitable instances of inadvertent selfishness, and this is one of them. I realized the other day that in all the hooplah (sic?) I made about 004 being completed and being happy with it and all that, I forgot to include this bit of information: Jeannine made me the above board bag even before the board was finished. She made it out of canvas and some felt-like material with lighthouses and seabirds on it. Here's the pattern:

     It's pretty cool, and does the trick in keeping the sun off the board, and even offers some protection from minor whacks against things. It will have a drawstring on the end, but the needle broke on her sewing machine. So yeah, apologies for my self-centeredness.

     Been busy trying to get the shed ready and get things together. The lack of waves of any real substance has been killing me, but at least I have my Sunfish in the water so when it's windy I can cruise the Bay and get my salt-water kick. I've already had it out once in some pretty strong winds and nothing broke, so that beats last years Sunfish Sailing record of Nature:1, Me:0.

 Now that's strange flora!

 

     I just finished watching "You're Gonna Miss Me," a documentary about Roky Erickson, best known as one of the lead guys in the band that coined the term "psychedelic rock," the 13th Floor Elevators. If you've never heard them, hear them. Anyway, that's not what this is about. The documentary really interesting and very well done, it really shines some light on the troubled life of this excellent musician. He suffered from schizophrenia most of his life until recently his younger brother gained custody of him and got him the help he needed. As a result, Mr. Erickson not only released a new album this year, with Okkervill River serving as his backing band, but was able to tour (he played two shows in the area, both of which I regretfully missed, the reason for which escapes and mystifies me).The above song is the title track off of his new album, True Love Cast Out All Evil, and below is track number three, "Goodbye Sweet Dreams." ENJOY!

 

Long-Awaited Update: Creatures, Photos, Flora, and a Planer

 

      First of all, public apologies to those who are waiting for boards from me. It's been pretty busy lately what with moving and getting the new house set up and liveable, but now that we're completely out of the other house (as of last Saturday) I have more time to focus on getting things together at the new. The main reason I have not been able to start on any boards is the shed, as shown above. That space in the back, the area with stacks of shingles and 2x4s, is going the be the shaping/glassing shop. I need those materials to make the shop, and while I don't plan on getting the interior done before I start shaping, I do want to get it watertight. The roof is fine, better than the house, but the siding was just old cedar planks, with gaps between up to half an inch. Not the best condition to build a board in.

     So that's part of what I've been doing, cedar-shaking the shed. I've got the one side done, and part of another, so really there's not too much more to do. I also put that new door on. So, I appreciate the patience on the parts of those waiting for boards (namely mark, ryan, and that low-down Rooster), and I hope to start the first board within the next two weeks. Once I start, it'll be quick, because I have all the materials and everything, it's just a matter of doing it.

     Here's a quick gardening tip: Dip the roots of the plants you transplant in water before you plant them. The above four squash plants came from the same four-pack. They were planted at the exact same time, with the exact same potting soil, and in the same size containers. They get the same exact amount of sun, and they are watered equally. The above photo shows two who were fortunate enough to have their roots dipped in water. They are basically Audreys three and four, with gigantic leaves, thick stems, and a healthy, vibrant green color. So big they almost look mutational. The second photo shows the two lowly squashes who were robbed of the silver spoon of water on their roots, and have suffered throughout their youth. They are small, weak, and have a pale green/yellowish hue to their leaves. I feel bad for them, as they are suffering as the result of an experiment. I had to move because the first two got so big they were blocking their sun. It's a hard world for little things. 

     We only were able to plant things in containers this year, as we had no time to clear any garden space in the ground. But we've got a lot growing and most of it (aside from the two sad squash) is doing well. We have Strawberries (see above), four varieties of tomato, six pepper plants (one cubanelle, one jalapeno, and the rest are Italian Fryers), eggplant, watermelon, cucumber, cilantro, rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, and lavender. There are also four cantaloupe awaiting planting, and four mint cuttings I am trying to get to root. It's really amazing watching these plants every day, seeing them change from morning to evening, or even hour to hour. Most times people thing of plants as being void of activity, but they are really very kinetic, they just seem to operate in a different temporal plane. But I look forward to watching the flower below become a delicious tomato. 

    In surfing news (this was a surf-centric blog at one point, right?), I've been able to get out a few times in the morning on the new board, and it's pretty fun. We had a good steady run of solid swell a couple weeks ago, and I was able to get out for some of it, as well as the weaker days we've had in the past week. The board definitely works for smaller stuff, what with the boxier rails and more volume, but I'm still getting used to it, especially on weak mushy rights (which are backside for me). It definitely comes to life when there is some power behind the wave. I can't wait until late Summer/early Fall when there are some nice north swells and the WJ starts working (hopefully) like it did this Winter. This board will fly on long, speedy lefts. 

    Also, in other surfing news, I went out last Wednesday morning with boardshorts and a short-sleeve wetsuit top. It was cold. I will stick to the 3/2 for the time being.

     Yes, there is still more! A recent acquisition: a 5.5 amp Skil 100 power planer. This has been the "industry standard" for surfboard shapers for years. From the Clark Foam Hitachi Planer Manual: "Since it was introduced in the 1930s, the Skil 100 Planer had been used for almost all surfboard shaping." It was discontinued in 1988 when Skil decided to withdraw from the power planer market. Thus, while other planers are available, the Skil 100 is highly sought after by shapers, and they regularly demand prices exceeding $500 on eBay. This is the reason I have never actively sought one, aside from checking craigslist from time to time or keeping an eye out at yard sales. But, as luck would have it, my Dad was talking to a friend of his who used to make boards in the 60s and early 70s, and mentioned that I was making surfboards, and he said he had an old Skil planer that had been in storage for 30 years that he would dig up and give me. So, here it is. A beautiful piece of American machinery. Here's a fact, cliched but true: They don't build things like they used to. 

     Look at the abdomen of this large black spider and notice the crude skeleton. I poked it with a stick and it did not budge. I hate it when things like that stand up to me. It's creepy, because it's like they know something you don't. 

Almost through with this marathon post. Minor Threat is one of the relatively few bands from my youth that I still listen to and really enjoy and find relevant. While I still like all Minor Threat, the late period stuff (as late-period as you can get with a career spanning from 1980-1983) is some of my favorite. This song, "Salad Days," is from the Salad Days 7", recorded in 1983 but released in '85. Like a number of hardcore/punk bands' end-of-the-line songs (think Youth of Today "Disengage" and Gorilla Biscuits unreleased "Distance"), this song hints at new musical directions, and also has a tinge of regret and sadness to the lyrics (even if, in the case of "Salad Days", the sadness is a bit sardonic).