The Queen of the Coast

It is a hard thing to say goodbye to an old friend. One that's seen you through the hard times and the good times. One that's delivered you unscathed to countless waves and nearly, very very hilariously nearly, delivered you your first born. A neighborhood relic of over a decade, Lil' Fatty moves on to younger, flashier pastures more befitting Lil' Fatty's wanton spirit. And we are left to pick up the pieces with our shiny suburban thought mobile. A good car in her own right, but no Lil' Fatty. If you see LF around, don't be surprised and don't feel forsaken. Lil' Fatty is still hard at work, gifting rides to the worthy seafarers of the world. She was our boat.  She were our muse. The Queen Is Far Away So Close, Long Live The Queen.

Very Useful Very Soon

Paipo Blammo

QPs

Jagged Edges

Stinkbugs oh stinkbugs.  Not a bad lot, necessarily, and great for a laugh.  But hard on the eye.  Troast paddles out.  Ming calls from the shore.  John waves hello.  Naomi gives the thumbs up.  Great morning. 

Time Flies, Often Tarries

The wall no longer stands.  The board already has a ding.  All is good.

Happening: Mattew Lusk at Zieher Smith Gallery

We here at the EBNY Culture Desk trawl the want adds, the classifieds, eBay and Craigslist. We comment on Angie's List and howl on Yelp.  We ask the hard questions, pose the rude conundrums, our queries incisive and devastating.  We stop at nothing, leave no stone unturned and do that neither rain nor sleet thing and that other thing that sounds even harder to do.  In a nutshell, to wrap it up and to hospital corner this shit into oblivion: we are here for you.  And frankly, there is not another place you'll gain our unique perspective.  Except at those other places that have it.  But don't tell us about them.  We don't want to get depressed. Anyhow, esteemed colleague Matthew Lusk, onetime savior, othertime bane, has constructed an artsy experience so artsy you'll only use the edge.  Explosions, mayhem, subtle references.  It is only right that you go.

GCFoto: Grant Cornett Takes the Pictures

Grant's photography has always blown my mind.  The subtlety of the perspectives, the slight shifts in observation, denotes someone who has it naturally.  A new crop of his photos has popped up here, and you can always see his work here.

Today's Thought

Hashtaglenepajoking

Happening: Y La Bamba

The composer who scored the official EBNY bromance theme song, Mike Kitson, is also a rock star who has a rock star sort of band. They are playing in New York this week and I can only admit high anticipation.

Dorking Out

Secret lava flows of stress and insecurity, subterranean streaming fears that poke out in all the awkward places. Pimples. And bum shoulders. Bad ankles. Sleepless nights. Dodgy knees. And bad breath. Rolling around in places of solace, trying to get the dust to swirl just so, the sand to stick just right. Dropping by Mastastico's the other night, I happened upon an inner sanctum of heavy import. I'd seen photos and I'd heard tales. But the stuff on hand, not just a sheer pile of rubble, but one exploration heaped on another, one layer of history stacked up on another. Lots of people have tumblr pages and blogs and instagram accounts and facebook pages. Other people do it in the flesh. Careful slapdash, compulsive free for all. There are people all around you with stories to tell. Pay attention.

Yes

"What could be better than getting barreled on a single fin on the North Shore in 1979? How about getting dropped in on, passing the offender in the barrel, ensuring his ass goes over the falls, ripping out of it into a sick cutback, then a minute later - having all but forgotten about it - being more interested in geeking about board design than spiking the football. Do they even make people like this anymore?" -Aquatic Apes

Happening: Kook Paradise Screening

Happening Again. Strange Live Screen Printing.

If you missed it the first time at Picture Farm (or anywhere else for that matter) you can get it again.  Strange Live Screen Printing in effect come September at your local Patagonia outlet.

Place : Patagonia SOHO store

Date : Sep. 3rd.

Time : 1pm-3pm / 4pm - 6 pm (Last order at 5:30pm)

address : 101 Wooster st. New York

Price : Donation

Notice : We only print on organic, recycled, or used materials since my activity (http://experimentalwaltz.net/iswear.html) is not about bussiness but good times since we're trying to raise the usage of organic grown cotton.

 Special Screen: This screen can be printed onto only Patagonia and Strange organic cotton T's.

Second Location and Date

Naomi KAZAMA the Strange Blue at Monro POP-UP store in NEPENTHES New York 

Monro, Mike Ming & Naomi KAZAMA are doing group show named "Y.E.S. - Yosemite Experience Story"

Place : NEPENTHES New York store

Date : Sep. 7th.

Time : 7pm - 9pm (Last order at 8:30pm)

address : 307 West 38th. street, New York

Price : Donation

Notice : We only print on organic, recycled, or used materials since my activity (http://experimentalwaltz.net/iswear.html) is not about bussiness but good times since we're trying to raise the usage of organic grown cotton.

 at Nepenthes, Yosemite print is the only available screen since we're doing the group show called "Y.E.S. Yosemite Experience Story".

Respect

File Under: Who Knew?

Johnny Panessa Shoots!

Lentini and I dawn patrolling. Just one of a collection of rad images Johnny captures on the fly.
More here and here.

One day in Angourie.

Desillusion has turned into one of those churner-outers of surfy and skatey digital media. Another one from their "recents" archive of webby eyeballs. The happenstance of the opening shot is enough to justify re-post.

Augustus Minisculus Dawnpatrolius

Where ever you were, it weren't here. We were the only ones. Small, piddly, nearly unridable little peelers. Nearly unridable. Except the ones that weren't. Which were rad and now burned into the memory as little soothing gems. Mastastico, Panessa and Le Boy.

I didn't make it HERE today

Somewhere I'm not right NOW.

This Is Going Around

 Surf Channel Article

I'm surprised they don't make mention of the surf cultural center piece of New York surfing that is the redoubtable and exacting Endless Bummer New York Surf Blog.  It just boggles the mind how they could overlook how much important stuff sloughs off this digital space like so much stoke-laden dandruff.

Surf Shoes

Courtesy of Glide Magazine Japan

Well, this is happening.

The Good & The Bad

Mastastico proverbially shaking his head, Johnny Panessa's vision of failure.

Last night I connived to set my alarm for PM instead of AM, robbing myself of the second chance to consumate my relationship with the new board. Yesterday morning's foreplay left inevitably unsatisfied as the dump, roar and rip turned me off. So this morning when my eyes popped open and it was already light out, I knew somehow I'd blown the chance to redeem, redress and reacquaint. On a good note, yesterday's yard work did wonders.

New Beginnings

As far as I'm concerned, a surfboard should have a sense of humor.  This statement may contradict how very concerned I am, but I'm willing to go with the double bind here.  Wifey is always telling me to only buy things that are well made.  If you're going to spend money and buy something, make it something that you'll own forever, she's always saying.  So when she sees our depleted bank account, turns around with those Bill Cosby veins in that Bill Cosby conniption fit, I'll just remind her of the quality, the craftsmanship, and sheer aesthetic brilliance that went into making this board.  The eggs are in the cake, I'll say. For me, there is enough there doing all the right things.  Dora had a certain sort of serious sense of humor.  A black, realistic sense of humor that wasn't quite a sense of humor at all, just a way of not taking conventions so seriously, then taking them so seriously he had to subvert them.  And he was serious about that.  That whole thing.  Real serious.  A real serious sense of humor.  I have been accused myself of not having the greatest sense of humor.  I don't know if that's true, I always grumble quietly inside in retort.  But then I think of Dora and what a dick he was and how that in itself is a sense of humor.  Keep things light.  Don't take things so seriously.  But don't let anyone take you less seriously than you should be taken.  How rad is Ida?

Today's Other Thought

Lisa Spellman Talks Art Gallerying, Montauk and Surfing

A nice little perspective from out east. Click the photo for the Lisa Spellman interview.

Happening

For those Cuban music aficionados, tomorrow night offers up some treats.

And tonight at Zebulon:

Today's Thought

General Store Venice

General Store 1801 Lincoln Boulevard Venice California

It's fun to bump into an old acquaintance from years past, suddenly inhabiting the same conceptual space as yourself years on.   Or maybe it's not fun.  Very much depends on the acquaintance I'm sure. In this case John Moore and I went to college together, knew the same crowd and ate the same dining commons food.  15 or 16 years later he walks into the local bar.  Sort of. Anyhow, he's teamed up with the Hannah Hendersons, Serena Mitnick-Millers and Mason St. Peters of the world to open up an new old store in the California Venice.  This one is more of the fun sort.

Saturdays Surf Magazine Issue #001

In a few shortish summer months two new "inspired by New York" surf magazines:  WAX and now Saturdays.  Knowing how devilishly difficult it can be to actually put together a full on spread magazine one can safely assume any similarities in layout and organization are the product of minds thinking alike to similar ends.  And as these things go no comparison is needed. Both offer up the essential joys of creativity and surfing. I am excited to see an article about Bruce Fowler's Stoker V Machine, a board I nearly picked up myself a year or two ago on a side street in Carlsbad.  The Nick LaVecchia spread is neat to see glossy as well.  The price tag is considerable ($20 mag) but the physical weight is hefty.  There are hints of visual mish-mashiness but the interview buttressing looks to hold it together. These forays into defining New York surf culture are now shooting across the bow with less caution and more verve.  Could this mean the recession is finally letting up?

The Beach

And we read this today.