Technical Difficulties

     Apologies for the technical difficulties with the previous posts. For some reason on my computer, I can't see certain images on blogger, both on my site and others. And when I go to post, sometimes the image I add doesn't show up. I thought these images were just lost, but for some reason they were there, but didn't shrink down. So that's what happened. I found out when I was showing my Mom how to use the internet and showed her this blog, and discovered the disaster. If anyone knows what is wrong with my blogger interface, please let me know.

     Rain day on Wednesday, so I worked on the board a while. Attached some more foam to fill in areas that needed it. The shaping is almost finished, and the "blank" has foam from five (5) different sources at this point. Also layed up the fin panel, above, to make the keels out of. I'm not going to make the "traditional" Mini-Simmons "half-moon" keels, and I'm not going to make traditional keels, like the Gepharts that are on my fish, but I'm going to make keels that are more rounded over, like a lot of the mini-Simmons boards are getting. I figure in the future I might make the half-moon keels, just to see how they feel.

     After blowing over 30 from the South all day long, the storm blew through around 3:00 PM and the wind switched hard West, so Frank and I headed over. It was big, definitely overhead, but mostly closeouts. Still, I saw some that were rideable. Frank didn't, he had the sense to stay on shore. So at around 3:45 I paddled out and Frank stuck around to take pictures and make sure I didn't get trounced (too badly).

     I had my 5'7" Quad, and knew once I was out that I was under-boarded. I would've liked my 6'0 Cannibal to be able to get into the waves a little earlier, because I just couldn't get into them in time to make the sections.

     The drift was unbelievable and soon, after a couple of good wipeouts and being caught inside for a massive five-wave set, I was in a section where none of the waves were makeable, just big walls of water. Didn't get a ride before it got dark, which bummed me because I can't remember the last time I got no waves during a session. Still, pretty amazing sky with the storm blowing out to sea and the clouds looking like a time-lapse film. Worth it? I think so...

     Oh yeah! Also, Jeannine and I got engaged during that gap of time when I didn't post much. That's her finger with the ring on it, not mine. Now the planning, which everyone claims is hard but I think is probably pretty. We'll see.


     Well, it's December, which means it's the Christmas season. Which means, it's the Christmas music season. I love Christmas music, and you should too. So, it's kind of ironic that the first Christmas song of the season I post isn't technically a Christmas song, although it is found on Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, which, it could be argued, is the best Christmas album. I don't make top 10 lists or anything, but it would definitely be in my top 10. Anyway, this song, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans' "The Bells of St. Mary," is the third track on said album. Enjoy it, because you really can't help but do so. Expect more from this album throughout the Holiday season.

Listen to Queen

     Been working on 007 a bit. Took a little bit of time to glue up this blank, as the foam so far has come from no less than four (4) different sources. The finished blank is above, with the outline drawn...

...and cut out. It's going to be a 5'2" x 21 3/4" x 3" (tentatively) mini-simmons. Initially I was going to make a short egg type thing, with a single-fin box and a Probox quad setup, but I after I realized I had enough foam I decided to do a mini-simmons. I've been wanted to do one since I started shaping, and there's no time like the present. I think I'm just going to go with a twin-fin setup at first, way back about 1 1/2 off of the tail or so, then maybe try a quad. Everyone of these I see has the fins way back, so I figure I'll start there.

     I'm no professional, but I don't recommend using nails to fix your surfboard, as it seems the person who owned this board prior to me did. Very odd.

If I were to tell you should not only listen to Queen very often, but also take them absolutely seriously, you might scoff. You might picture a very flamboyant Freddie Mercury, clad in an interesting white spandex outfit, jumping around he stage singing one of Queen's overplayed radio hits, and you might laugh. But if you do, I say you're the fool and have never heard Queen, Queen II, and Sheer Heart Attack. The only song you might recognize from these first three albums is "Killer Queen," the second track on the third album. You might not be familiar with the blistering Queen II album closer, "Seven Seas of Rhye," in the above video, or the beautiful "Nevermore," below, or the opener to Sheer Heart Attack, "Brighton Rock," also below. Please listen to these first three albums, straight through each one. You won't regret it.

  

Happy Thanksgiving!

The morning of Oct. 22, 2010

     Well, it's been a while, but I've been busy with a few things. First of all, I finished Frank's board, SF 006, a little over a month ago. It came out out pretty nice, Frank's comics ended up looking really good on there, that is before they got covered by his filthy wax. He also likes how the board rides, which is a matter of peripherality, but cool none the less. Here are some pictures:

Before...

...and after!

From RastaFish to Fangfish. This was a pretty interesting project,  and not only because I was excited about the shape we were doing for the board, which is 5'4" x 19 5/8" x 2 5/16" (or something like that) with a relaxed rocker (it did come from a fish) and a fairly full foil throughout, and a single wing thing going into those fangs at the tail. The cool thing about this was that this was Frank's first board when he started surfing seriously again within the past number of years, and so it suited him fine then, but as his skills progressed he left the board behind. Now, through the magic of evolution, the board has transmogrified into a shape that matches his current skill lever. Will the wonders of Nature never cease? No, they won't.

     So after Frank's board, I glassed a board for a friend of a friend. Now, with that completed, I've started on SF 007, a garbology project in that all the foam has come from the garbage. The main body is from a stripped longboard blank that I found in someone's garbage on Clay St. in Tuckerton, as reported here. I'm using rail cutoffs, which I think came from 004, to fill out the width, and part of a broken Boneyard surfboard I found in the trash on 25th St. in Surf City sometime during the summer of '09 to fill out the nose. I think I'm going to get something like 5'2" or so out of it. Maybe shorter.

Something very gnarly was done to this tail around the fin. While grinding this off, I found chopped strand mat, bondo, some strange black cloth, brown all purpose resin, and even some metal pins.

Gluing and fastening these rails was pretty fun. I felt like, and imagine it looked like, a person wrestling an alligator.

       Well, I started this post this morning, and am finishing it post-Thanksgiving Dinner. Jeannine and I hosted a decent crowd of 12 and have way too many leftovers. It was a lot of fun and a good time, and I really didn't get too full. Surf's up tomorrow, hopefully.


     Since today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to post Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," but since I couldn't find a satisfactory version online, and since dropio has discontinued their streaming audio service, I didn't. You should still listen to it though, as it is a classic. Instead, I decided to post almost the complete opposite. Here is Bardo Pond, with the first track off of their album Ticket Crystals, "Destroying Angel." Really a great song, and you should check out that album for an amazing version of "Cry Baby Cry," by some band called the Beatles.

XC

 Sonnet #90

Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;
Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross,
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after-loss:
Ah, do not, when my heart hath 'scoped this sorrow,
Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe;
Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,
To linger out a purposed overthrow.
If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,
When other petty griefs have done their spite
But in the onset come; so shall I taste
At first the very worst of fortune's might,
And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,
Compared with loss of thee will not seem so.

- W. Shakespeare

One Less Great Man In The World

     My Grandfather, Otto Hansen, August 12, 1919 - October 22, 2010. At 91 Years Old, still smarter and stronger than many people 1/3 his age. He was and will always continue to be a profound influence on my life. Garbologist, Inventor, Carpenter, Sailor, Patternmaker, Artist, Carver, Hunter, Fisher, Soldier, Son, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather. The most frugal person I have ever known. He would say cheap. Also the most generous. The endless things he gave me (and many others besides) extend far beyond the material realm. My heart breaks to think of him gone. I will miss him until I the end of my days.

Oh, Henry.

      Haven't posted in a while, and what it really comes down to is I just haven't felt like it. I know, letting down my fans and all that, but oh well. I started to post a bit ago, which original post is the title and the musical content stem from, but I just didn't finish it and let it go. I've been a little busy with the little guy above, Henry, who joined our household last Saturday. I was wondering why I've been kind of tired lately, and then I realized I've been walking about 4-5 more miles a day than I usually do, because this guy is pretty energetic. He's really fun though, and very nice, and we feel like we got pretty lucky. Of course, he is getting more comfortable, and you never know what ol' Henry will do next....

     After I finished Science Fiction in the Gaslight Era, the collection of science fiction stories written between 1891 and 1911, I picked up a recent find from the thrift store, which was The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a Sherlock Holmes story from 1974 obviously written by Arthur Conan Doyle, but by Nicholas Meyer in the style of the Sherlock Holmes tales. The basic premise of the book was that Watson, seeing his friend Holmes in the absolute depths of a serious cocaine addiction, delirious and paranoid, decides to trick him into going to Vienna, so that the world's leading cocaine expert, none other than Sigmund Freud, could cure him. While there Holmes not only battles his own demons, but, of course, stumbles upon a case that needed solving. So anyway, after reading that book, I realized it had been a very long while since I had read any Sherlock Holmes at all, so I grabbed the Complete Sherlock Holmes and started reading. I have been enthralled ever since. All I can say is if you haven't read any Sherlock Holmes recently, start with A Study in Scarlet, and go on chronologically from there, as each story usually refers, if only in some small way, to the previous cases. You're mind will thank you.

    And oh yeah, this is a blog about surfboards, right? So here's one. Frank's board, 006, shaped from his rasta fish that I skinned. It's been a while, but I finally got to glass it, doing the bottom lam on Friday and the top lam, along with all the comic covers, and both hotcoats on Saturday. Everything went pretty smoothly. The comic covers, which are Grave Yard Atlantic covers drawn by Frank, each depicting some kind of ghoulish local lore, real or make-believe, in Technicolor. They're pretty cool, and was a real challenge to do, as I've never done so many lams on a board. I'm happy with the result. This one is my favorite.

     Yeah, pretty cool, right? They all are. I'm excited to see how this board works, I think it'll fly. It'll be done by the next swell, that's for sure, so stay tuned!

     And now, for the music. A week or two ago, when I originally started this post, some Purple Martins Migration Pattern songs were floating around Facebook, so I went searching in the archives to see what PMMP songs I had lying around, and these are some of the things that I found.

WARNING: These tracks are of varying degrees of sound quality. Most were recorded live for reference purposes only. Proceed at your own risk.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

     The Purple Martins were originally John on vocals and shakers and tambourine and some keys, Nick on guitar, Lou on Bass, Matt on drums, and finally me, on guitar as well. We started out in John and Lou's garage, and went on to play such venerated venues as the Moontower II, the Lower Banks Tavern, a gazebo in Smithville, and a basement in LEH. It was fun, and listening to these songs always makes me want to play again.

If I Had A Hammer - That's right, the folk classic, written by Pete Seeger and made famous by Peter, Paul, and Mary was the first song we learned to play as a band.

Byzantine Ecstasy - Our "Echoes," if you will.

Lakes and Fields - A crowd-pleaser, every time.

Untitled Jam - Some kids fooling around.

Migration Music No. 1 - While this never became an official song, this was a demo I recorded of a song for consideration. I forgot about it until I found it just now, and I like it, so here it is.

Have I The Right?

1964 million-selling hit from British group the Honeycombs. The primal growls during the choruses and the suave sauntering of the singer are great. Another notable feature: a female drummer, who has the excellent name of Honey Lantree. Sounds made up. Oh wait, it is.