RED CORDUROY, BLACK BONES & OTHERS

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Chose just to walk today...
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POIGNANT POST...

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...in the archive of Leaping Beauty. I'd guess that those who have already seen her, probably won't mind appreciating again.
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NO SUCH THING AS RETRO

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As we all move irreversibly forward through the intangible boundary of the beginning of another revolution around the Sun, I figure it's an appropriate time to share my personal thoughts on the word "retro" in relation to surfing.
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Now, I know I've been accused of over-thinking things from time to time, but the word "retro" dumbs things down a bit much for my taste. As a term/label it only serves to satisfy the human nature to classify, categorize, and describe within the limits of language what is actually a boundless and indescribable experience.
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Whether above or below the lip, surfing, regardless of board type, is a way for us wingless humans to simulate the feelings of flight. Different board designs offering different types and feelings of flight. There is nothing about a wingless animal achieving the feeling of flying that can be properly classified as retrogression/retrograde.
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Not only are all modes of surfing physical acts that allow us to experience the feeling of having the wings our species never did, nor will ever physically have, but are also a way for our minds to reach a state of timelessness while ever moving through the time/space continuum. Therefore, regardless of the type of board under one's feet, belly, knees, or even board-less body surfing for that matter, "retro" in relation to surfing does not, nor will it ever, exist. All acts of surfing metaphysically push the evolution of man future forward.
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Photo by David Pu'u. Ripped from cover of Surfer's Journal (Volume 9, Number 5).
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Note: I'm not some grump that's gonna shake my head when someone uses the term "retro" in conversation with me. I don't expect everyone to agree, and I'm sure there are intelligent opinions to the contrary. But if anyone hears the word come out of my mouth in the future... feel free to smack me up side the head.
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ON THE BRINK OF THE OTHER SIDE

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Light ahead...
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NINE LIGHTS 5'5" QUAD (In the works #3-Finished)

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My Nine Lights 5'5" Quad has been done for nearly a couple weeks and I'm just now getting the photos of Jeff finishing it posted.
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In the last post on this subject, In the works #2, Jeff had yet to add the balsa rails. Here they've been added and the turning begins.
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Below, one of the spiraling beauties of turning wood rails.
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Rails turned, bottom and deck foils sanded.
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Though not as a strict rule, more often than not, Jeff glasses and sands the boards, and makes the fins himself.
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Hand foiled birch wood core fins...
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...of which he took the extra time to "vector foil" the inner panels of the single foil leading fins. The rear fins are foiled 60/40.
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The colors of the wood grain really pop once glassed. The gray and black grains of the balsa are always welcomed.
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In a spontaneous moment, during the shaping, we decided to try and give the board just a tad of increased flex in the tail by ending the wood portion of the rail at the wing behind the front fins (The next board Jeff shapes for me we'll do the same, but end the wood portion of the rails before the leading edge of the front fins for a more pronounced result/experiment). Due to this, the inner 1lb. eps foam core is visible in this area of the tail rails. We decided not to try and "hide" the white of the exposed foam, but rather embrace the visibility of it as a prototype.
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The board goes great! For those interested, a few photos from one wave of my first session on it can be seen in the Mean Little Seed post at Cabinessence (pay no mind to my and Kaser_One's juvenile banter in the comments— as Jeff can attest after spending hours with me in his shaping bay... my humor falls easily into the gutter at times).
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CLOSING IN ON BLUE...

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...in the Lineup Surfboards glass shop.
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BLESSINGS TO ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

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THIS ONE'S FOR "BARREL YODA"

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A day or two before the U.S. West coast got hit by the big December 4th/5th swell, this was goin' on somewhere in the Dagobah System...
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...A distant, mist-shrouded swamp planet, Dagobah does not appear in any modern starcharts. It is a forgotten world, and it is the home of the last remaining jedi tube master, Barrel Yoda, who is also known as the grand master of the feared "wet noodle" saber.
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The planet is covered in gnarled trees and fetid swamps. Huge lagoons are home to fearsome snakes and other creatures that swim in the murky waters. Leathery-winged avians take to the fog-filled skies. Though the planet has no signs of technology, its life form readings register as massive.
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If you can't see Barrel Yoda pitted on the foam ball in this sequence it's because he is jedi mind-trick surfing it from his boggy lair.
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Photo sequence beemed to Warbles by an anonymous life form.
Dagobah description ripped from star wars databank.
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CASPER SIGHTING AT SISSYFISH

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One of the number of highlights of last October's Sacred Craft gathering, at least for me, was checking out the variations of the "Casper" type board that Richard Kenvin was showing.
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Below are two frame grabs from a video of "Casper" riding that's presently posted/playing at Sissyfish. Worth the check if you haven't seen it there yet.
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Most people have probably seen it, but for the sake of being thorough, there's also a couple clips of "Casper" type board ridin' towards the end of the Hydrodynamica trailer.
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CONCENTRATION FACE (Film Excerpt I)

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Here's an excerpt from the beginning of a film I made, released in 2005, called Concentration Face. A documentary of the band Hella on their first tour to Japan in May of 2004 (during their two-piece era of just Spencer Seim on guitar and Zach Hill on drums).
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Excerpt is a mix of performance footage from Nagoya, Tokyo, and Osaka, among a bit of other stuff.
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INAUGURAL MOON

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In case you haven't come across it yet... today was the first day of, BUGNOISE, the blog of the band Acetone... and this is what the first night's moon looked like in the western sky...
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From the Acetone myspace page:
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"As opposed to saying 'This is what we'll be,'" explains Richie Lee, the trio's main vocalist and bass player, "we just started playing. And as you play and write, you start to understand the personalities of the people involved, and what the chemistry is. That forms the kind of music that you play. And as we change and grow, our sound changes and grows. We don't lock ourselves into a category.... Language makes things fit into categories," Lee explains, "But art is not about language, it's about using a language to get beyond that."
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DRUM BITES

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A not so untypical scene after Zach Hill plays a set with Hella.
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Photographer unknown.
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SLINGSHOT INTO THE FUTURE

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Solo session 'til it was hard to see this evening... have now experienced the legendary "5th gear"— could really feel it kick in when i needed something extra to get around a section. Shit, maybe that was only 4th! Whatever the case, it was something I haven't felt before and I'm sure this design has a lot more to show me in the future.
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Thanks to Warm Jet for putting "Red 5", his Campbell Bros. Bumble Bee, under my feet.
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JENKINS DRUMS

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An assortment of kicks made by Jenkins up in Ventura.
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These are all fiberglass with epoxy resin and sound insane. Check out more info/photos at jenkinsdrums.com
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Zach Hill of Hella with Jenkins Kick:
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