THE MAG IS HERE this SATURDAY!

For reals, yo.

http://barneymag.blogspot.com/2013/01/dropping-this-saturday-jan-05-2013-or.html

OIL SPILL = NO BUENO + MAG PROJECT NEWS!

Please check out this linked article on Surfermag.com (environmental awareness is important for all surfers, regardless of what country they live in):

Oil Spill in Southern Oaxaca [MEXICO]

AND SPEAKING OF MAGAZINES--my new e-zine, which I'm collaborating on with close friend Jonas Nakas, should drop in roughly a month.  More details about the magazine project--and a PROMO ONLINE VIDEO SPOT--are forthcoming.  Be prepared to get stoked!

--FIN--

Adam Dumas' Dropknee Destruction Impresses & Unidentified Redheaded Riders (along with Kim Magin and Michael Birch) Go the Distance at the Wedge

 Adam Dumas was executing very swift and interesting maneuvering today.  From late drops on the forehand dropknee stance, to smacking oncoming sections in an non-traditional fashion, he impressed me with his riding today.  It wasn't necessarily what he landed that inspired and intrigued me as much as what he didn't.  Sometimes, seeing an uncompleted maneuver--that is a radical departure from the norm--is far more interesting than seeing someone ride out of the typical redirection.  While I posted a standard backside dropknee shot for this blog post, see some photographic evidence of his unique approach to the Wedge in the upcoming issue of the magazine project...

 One redhead (riding a bodyboard) wheelie-stalls...

...while another (a highly skilled skimboarder) steps on the gas.

All the while, Kim Magin (above) and Michael Birch (below) were busy demonstrating--through their wave selection--how the Wedge earned it's name.  (For the uninitiated, note the pointy peak of each wave, forming a more-or-less wedge-shaped breaker in both cases.)

 --FIN--

"Occupational" Hazards & A Magazine Project in the Works!

While this misstep was not in vain, it surely was funny!  Before eventually landing his trick, here skateboarder Mike "P-Wire" Piwowar (pictured in the red t-shirt, stepping on the ledge mid-trick-attmept) and one of his regular skateboard filmers (pictured below, nearly copping a board to his fisheye-adapter equipped camcorder) do the all-too familiar dance in action sports: the "avoid-the-fisheye" filmer-athlete tango.  And what's the dancefloor for Piwowar?  In this case, the stage is a slippery concrete ledge.  The danger was heightened by the ledge's edge--which Piwowar has a single foot on--being coated in a candle-wax like substance by previous visiting skateboarders.  This wax allows for faster slides (sliding on the surface of the wooden skateboard plank) and grinds (sliding on the metal trucks' hangers)--but also makes for a dangerously-slick surface to perform on.

This scene is a common action-sports occupational hazard to be sure--but usually one that eventually pays off.  Luckily, no skateboarders were seriously injured in the making of this shot--and neither was the filmer, nor the photographer, nor the equipment!  It was a close call for both videographer and skater, however.

Pictures of made tricks from this session (two sequences and one still)--along with a still of Piowowar flinging himself off of a banked loading dock--are to be seen in the upcoming edition of Jonas Nakas' and my new magazine project.  Stay tuned for more details!

S U C C E S S -- CoachArt/Ohana O Kekai/Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation event goes big!

The Free and Easy screening @ Redondo Union High School's auditorium--an event I was promoting on this blog--was an overwhelming, stoke-and-shock-inducing success!  I wanted to thank EVERYONE involved in the screening of Free & Easy to support the non profits CoachArt and the Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation!  Whether you bought a raffle and/or screening ticket, were a surf-celebrity guest (Pete Townsend, Mike Purpus, Joel Tudor and Tyler Hatzikian all showed up to support the cause), narrated the movie (that credit goes to Mike Purpus), worked hard to get the event going (CoachArt staff and myself worked alongside Ben and Sofia of Ohana O Kekai; Mike Purpus also did much great behind-the-scenes work), or donated prizes (see below for an index of prize donor websites), you ROCK!  A very special thanks goes to the unsung heroes of the film screened--MacGillivary/Freeman films, who captured all of the amazing action of the movie on celluloid in the 1960s, with MUCH heavier equipment than is used today--for letting everyone enjoy the fruits of their hard labor that crystallized the essence of a bygone era.

Many thanks to the Easy Reader for running a preview feature on the event.

SPONSORS'/PRIZE DONORS' WEBSITES:

BODY GLOVE

LIQUID SALT
LONGBOARDS DESIGNED BY DAVENPORT
TYLER
DIVE N SURF
AMOUREUX VINTAGE
MarcusBockmanPhoto.com (site coming soon, or contact me through this blog in the meantime if you won the free print from me!)

 COACHART & THE JIMMY MILLER MEMORIAL FOUNDATION benefited greatly from this night.  Thanks again, all you blog fans!