keep your head up.....

Keep Your Head Up - Ben Howard from mickey smith on Vimeo.

Hopefully most of you that read this from the UK will be aware of both Ben Howard and Mickey Smith ( who directed this video ) already. If not then i'm going to encourage you, along with our american cousins, to check out his album. It's really very, very good!

just like marmite......

Al Knost x Malibu from RVCA on Vimeo.

Alex Knost  is a bit like marmite in that he tends to divide opinion. You either love his idiosyncratic style and take on surfing or you don't. Personally while i'm not a big marmite fan, Knost is pretty much my favorite surfer. Whether his latest foray into shaping will last and whether his boards work or just look like they do because he surfs so well only time will tell....

electric...

Ever since a scrappily recorded version of Tristan Prettymans "anything at all" turned up as a bonus on the soundtrack to the malloys shelter film, i've been a fan. Perhaps a little more mellow than much of my taste but her debut album 23 is great and well worth a listen if you haven't heard it.

driving with bert...

Anyone who's read this blog since the beginning might remember me posting the video for Neil Halstead's Paint a face single in the first few posts. I'm a huge fan of Neil's thoughtful acoustic english songs as well as his previous incarnation as a driving force behind the Mojave 3. The guy is undeniably very cool indeed and very good live.

I just came across this free download of his set from a truck festival in america last year. If you have half an hour, treat your ears to a performance from a great english singer songwriter at the peak of his powers.......

speed freaks

By the power of youtube, the aforementioned Mike Vallely segment from the 1989 santa cruz video, speed freaks. I remember watching it over and over at a friends and being blown away, then skating SO hard the hours following, amped on this section.

At the time, Vallely had just done the unthinkable and left the bones brigade, the biggest team in skateboarding, joining punk upstarts World industries, which seemed incomprehensible to us. He followed it by releasing the first "double ended" pro model featuring the iconic barnyard graphic. This shape was revoloutionary and it, and the decks that emulated it, had an effect on street skating which cannot be underestimated. The "pill shape" deck is still the industry standard today.

If you want to follow me down memory lane have a look at Mike's website here.

There's a documentary in the works about the Bones Brigade, with Stacy Peralta behind the lens, the man largely responsible for the team originally and one of the originators of the skate video itself, it should be something to look forward to.

waxhead diaries

Flat day stoke courtesy of Matt Chonoski, talented aussie logger and friend of friends. I particularly liked the look of the little stubbie/hully thing he's riding.

More of Matt's world including cool hot rods and more videos to kill a boring work day here

clock watching.....

*rake* from shaun freeman on Vimeo.

 Yet again clock watching at work waiting for yet another flake with a poor sense of following through on commitments made, i came across this little gem from shaun freeman and the crew from Rake clothing and surfboards. As if i wasn't dreaming of righthand pointbreaks enough already

basking in the afterglow..

Full of stoke from an uncrowded twilight session in zippy small p-land. Back in love with my Dano and it's ridiculous section beating capabilities from the tip and cruising the net for further logging stimulation i turned this up.

It's a sweet little promo video of tudor's noseriding thing at the US open. Made for pacifico by Dana Morris, a talented young filmmaker and the guy who made "way of life", my most played surf dvd for a long time.

Enjoy wasting a few minutes of someone else's time....

microstoke....

slightly self indulgent but i am stoked/ very proud of my daughter who stood up on her first wave sunday, not bad for 4 3/4 years old. Wish i could have started that young!