Hey All, There is a robust social media subgenre based on Boomer love for Steely Dan (look here, here, and here), and at the risk of draining the humor, my take on why the Dan vein is so rich is because it pays off in two directions. Mostly it is about bashing old guys for death-gripping a favorite band from their 1970s glory days. Major dudes who love reelin' in the years, that is—but only if th...
Hey All, Bobby Owens, Shane Herring, Lynne Boyer, Chippa Wilson, and Mick Campbell are my first team All-Ginger All-Stars, with Lynnette MacKenzie, Guilherme Herdy, and Cheyne Magnusson on the bench. Chicken Joe as mascot. Stephen Bell, Ann-Margret, and the girl from Queen's Gambit on cheer squad. You will hear my red-hot dream team before you see them because they are coached by legendary board...
Hey All, Gidget, Duke Kahanamoku, Laird Hamilton, and Kelly Slater, in that order, are my picks for the most famous surfers of all time. Bethany Hamilton is probably #5, although my heart is with either Jeff Spicoli or Snoopy. We're talking general audience fame here, not in-house fame, so no Dora, Lopez, Curren, Medina or Gilmore. There is the second category of fame, with a briefer lifespan, w...
Hey All, I know nothing about the Baha'i faith, which played such a big part in Tom Morey's long and well-lived life, but I do not think it would be considered an indulgence or trespass on my part to dedicate another Joint to Tom. If you haven't already read it, here is the Friday Joint I sent out two days ago. And while this is an indulgence, here's me talking about Morey on Beachgrit yesterday:...
Hey All, The New Yorker ran an article earlier this week about Paul McCartney, and near the end author David Remnick asks: "Who among the living has brought more delight into the world?" Tom Morey's name popped into my head immediately. Not just because the bodyboard, Morey's legacy creation, could hold it's own in a head-to-head delight-off against the McCartney song catalog, but because Morey h...
Hey All, Ten years ago, somebody who knows the small business game way better than I do advised strongly against what he called “mission creep.” Stay focused on one thing. Do that thing well. I nodded firmly in agreement, and went back to work on what was then, concept-wise, the simplest of missions—migrate the Encyclopedia of Surfing from book to website. Technically speaking, the mission never...
Hey All, I spent last Sunday at the Boardroom Show in Del Mar. I haven’t been to a trade event in years, but it was the same as ever; I drag my feet walking in, spot a friendly face, then another, and next thing you know the day has passed and I’ve done nothing but talk and laugh and catch up with people I know and like, and then driving back to Manhattan Beach I had a magical classic rock run on...
Hey All, My wife and her two sisters used to get dropped off at their grandparents’ house, and sometimes for lunch the girls were treated to Jello Surprise in which, through some midcentury kitchen magic, pieces of fruit and marshmallow bits were suspended in the Jello mold like tiny sea creatures. So far so good. In her declining years, however, Grandma Mildred became, let’s say, a bit more free...
Hey All, For those of you who feel that maybe I’ve leaned too hard into the competition scene of late, what with recent confabs on the Olympics, the WSL Finals, and Fred Hemmings—today’s Sunday Joint is dedicated to Paul Gebauer, the most non-competitive and anti-Hemmings surfer of his or any other generation. Gebauer died last week at the age of 80. By his own choice, he did not have a long car...
Hey All, The World Surf League has done many things I disagree with (Surf Ranch Pro and Ultimate Surfer for starters), and a few that I’m grateful for (disappearing Martin Potter), but never has the WSL thrown something out there that truly confounded me. Until this year’s new wham-bam Finals format, that is, in which the top five men and women surfers shoot it out over the course of a single day...