Sunrise on Shoreburbia

Surfed Strathemere at dawn yesterday and was kind of disappointed. It was fun and clean but lacking the size that the forecasts were calling for and the tide definitely didn't help things. As I was putting on my gloves to paddle out I laid my board down and said to myself, "This would make a good photo". So I raced back to my car and took this on my cell phone camera. Probably one of my favorite pictures ever:

New Vans

Maeve was playing around with my Vans so I decided to let her try out her new ones, even though they are still one size too big.


Opening the box:

Modelling with Tasha and Tyrone:



I've now included a counter on here so you can see how few people actually read this thing!!!

Black Mass

A goofy cellphone camera shot on Black Friday just before paddling out on the south end of OC. Nothing much to write home about today (inconsistent knee to waist high, although clean), but hopefully tomorrow will be a lot better.

Thankful for Slayer

Stopped by one of Somers Point's finest watering hole's after work yesterday with Amy and Jeff for some lunch. One of the beautiful things about this establishment is the placement of a chalkboard in the men's room above the urinals. Is better way for intoxicated people to express themselves while relieving themselves? I wasn't drunk in the least, but saw the board could use some sprucing up. Most of the comments on the board where the usual racist fare about the Eagles needing a white quarterback, fire Andy Reid, etc., so I decided to remind everyone what they should truly be thankful for this thanksgiving:

Paint it Black...and White

Here is a drawing I did a while back and finally got around to getting it posted. All in the family:



So stoked for this new blog:

http://dannowar.blogspot.com/

Along with svrf and destroy, it's bound to become a favorite of mine. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who is sick of the new breed of "surf music". Save your noodley jazz, soulful acoustic bonfire garbage, and third generation sublime rip-offs.

Headhigh closeouts yesterday with the occasional shoulder to ride.

It Follows

Reading Dance of Days by Mark Anderson and so far, its really good. In its honor, I thought I'd post some of my favorite DC band clips.

Annihilation Time

Some more meeting-induced artwork. Thank-you faculty meeting.

80s Night Part II

Maeve gets down to her favorite Backyardigans' song as of late. Of course it is from an episode that features only 80s music.

Tension Building

Here's a page from Tension Building on the origins of Atari. I only ever ran across one issue of this fanzine, but what an issue it was. Great interviews with Mouthpiece and Floorpunch, chock full of great pictures and it even came with The Time Is Now comp which had Hands Tied, ROTP, Rancor, TYF, and Floorpunch if I remember correctly. There is a page of Rancor too that I will have to put up at some point.

80s Night

While getting ready for dinner last night (you can see some penne past from Piccini's in the shot), we were listening to an 80s mix on my ipod. Maeve really dug Howard Jones.

Tucker Classics

Here's an article from Garden State Surf on my neighbor Will who is now shaping his own boards. He's done a couple boards for people in the neighborhood, including myself and they've turned out incredible. He does great work so check him out!

All Wrapped Up

A quick doodle I did during an assembly on healthy eating yesterday. I thought it was kinda appropriate in light the air temperature yesterday. I was dreading the cold as I drove over to OC to surf in the late afternoon, by by 4 the wind had laid down a little bit and it didn't feel as bad as midday. Wetsuit technology is a wonderful thing. Although I felt a little like this guy below, I was super comfortable for the whole session and was glad I made the trip across the bridge. Chest high waves that were just peeling off one of the pipes somwhere along the boardwalk in OC making for long left after long left. Two other guys were out about a block away, but other than that, I had the place to myself. Cold weather is not so bad afterall.

American Football

A few weeks back we went to check out my nephew's flag football game. He could be a future Clinton Portis with some of the moves I saw on the field. Here are a few shots:

Maeve running on every field possible during the game:

Roman after scoring one of his two touchdowns of the game:

Strangeways, Here We Come

Teenage Freakshow

A while back I made a collage of some of the show flyers from when I was in high school and college. I will have to post some of them in the future, but here is said collage in a mini form that I used for a CD compilation.

A Bad Wind

Last night there were all kinds of tornado warnings and it felt like it was late August. This morning there were 20-25 mile an hour winds and it was pretty cold. Ended up surfing Strathmere with about ten other guys in what can be described as 30 mile an hour winds. There was a terrible northeast drift from the strong winds, yet the waves, thanks to the wind, were still pretty clean and soft making for a fun session. Harry Gale was out just killing it, pulling noserides with ease, hanging heels and other crazy stuff. The winds made it super easy to get to the nose and stay there, but the stuff Harry was pulling was just ridiculous in the noseride department. Caught some definite fun waves as the winds continued to shrink the waves as the morning went on. Despite the sunshine, it was my first hooded session of the fall and that is disappointing. In light of the fact that it is the start of boots, gloves, ice-cream headaches and frozen fingers, I thought this article from surfing would be a good one for today:

Hmmmmm.....

Last night was the benefit for our niece and nephews at La Costa in Sea Isle City. It was such an awesome time thanks to all of our friend Jill's hardwork and it was great to see so many good friends and family out on a dreary Sea Isle night. Luckily we were able to keep all the kids in the neighborhood as a friend of Jill's loaned out their condo for the night which was only a few blocks away. The place was beautiful and decorated very tastefully, however, I wasn't so sure what to make of this poster:

The Band from Nazaria

Pearls and Brass's review from the New York Times a few years back after the release of the Indian Tower. One of the top five bands to come out of the lehigh valley. Never get tired of listening to this band. RIP.

Lovebird in Your Soul

Here's video featuring the new Lovebird project from Bing Surfboards and Chris Del Moro. John Smart is the filmmaker, who also did the Natural Expressions video on Joel Tudor, which a classic in my book. It's a two part video, but the first part is a Sproutlike intro followed by some tounge-in-cheek Endless Summeresque acting, so while it gives some background on the project, not much surfing there. This is the second part where Smart features The Lovebird, The Synchronizer and the Whippet. The soundtrack starts off very Sproutlike again with some noodley jazz, which is not really my thing, but then goes into some Phish and Devo which was much better to my ears. The Lovebird looks like an amazing board.

Jan's Room Was Like for Artists

First off, I don't know who took this photo, but I apologize for not giving credit where it is due. Tonight, Exit Reflex, Walls and The Pissed Jeans will play the final show in Allentown, PA at the now legendary Jan's Room. The space which has been active for a few years now has had some great shows, a few which I was lucky enough to attend. The building, which up until now was in a forgotten part of A-town, is apparently being refurbished and repackaged as part of a "neighborhood revitalization" process.

The Lehigh Valley is an incredible spot for independent music and I don't think you really appreciate it until you go elsewhere. There are always new bands in the LV and when one venue dries up, someone, somehow finds a new space to do a show. While no space is permanent, there are always people willing to help out. Compare that to the south Jersey shore where everyone wants to sound like a mix of sublime, jack johnson or a bad screamo band and there are zero opportunities for good independent shows, you start to realize how good the LV scene is. Thanks to Jordan and everyone else who helped out with running Jan's Room. Unfortunately, a three hour drive for a midweek show is something I can't pull off tonight. I originally thought I could make it, and am super bummed that I cannot be there. Hopefully there will be pics.

Sons of Northern Darkness

This is a shot of a group of students from my school, who clearly have been infected with the Black Metal disease at an early age.

By the time they are in high school, they be can expect to dress like this:

Black Metal comes to South Jersey. Granted it was Halloween, but I can help but wish that they were forming a band called "Black Crayon" and secretly practicing Darkthrone riffs to original song titles like "The Halloween Parade is for Poseurs" or "I Drink Strawberry Milk, not Your Blood".

Let's Go Bowling

A newer piece that I did a couple weeks ago. The P.E. teacher at our school was giving away a bunch of gym equipment, mostly basketballs, wiffle balls bats, etc. I spotted this tiny golden bowling ball in the pile. It was plastic and weighed about half of what a normal bowling ball should, but I scooped it up and decided to draw on it with paint pens. The results:

My War

This is Raymond. He used to do the artwork for Black Flag. I remember seeing a kid in my high school who was much older wearing the "Police Story" shirt and being surprised that he was allowed to wear it in school. Much of Pettibon's art was like that. His style was unmistakeable, but also most of his subject matter was unsettling from the the picture of the Nun clutching the bare leg for "Slip it In", the "Family Man" cover or the flyer with the man covered in dirt watching the girl bathe. These pictures were from a NY Times article on him that I saved from a few years back.

I hope my garage looks like this some day.


This picture was printed with the article and I thought it was incredible.

Big Boards, Small Car

There was plenty of swell yesterday and with Amy out of town and Maeve at the Cape May Zoo, it looked like I was set up for a fun afternoon of surf, right? Not exactly. Being that the Golf Cart was just recently retired from the road, I had been taking Amy's Jeep Cherokee when I would go to surf. Since she had that car, I was going to take our Honda Accord, which I did not realize, does not have the same size roof as my old reliable Golf, rendering my surf straps useless. For twenty minutes, I tried to figure out how I was going to get a board to the beach. My noserider was out of the question, but I thought there was a chance my Tucker would fit. No dice. Then I remembered I had my old 6'8 Wynn Fish jammed in the rafters of the garage! I hadn't ridden it in probably four years, it was cracked along the stringer, yellowed, beat up, but it was small enough to maybe fit. I tried it and it just slid in the passenger's seat.

The waves were about waist to chest high and adjusting to a board that was three feet shorter than my noserider was tricky. The paddle was definitely harder and I had to sit way further inside to take off on the waves. The first wave I rode, I was totally squirrelly, not being used to the lightness of the tail and three smaller fins instead of one big one. After a while, I became adjusted to the feel of the board and actually had some fun ones. I guess if there is anything to be taken from it, it's good to ride different shapes. Below is a shot of the board post session:


Equally bizarre were the items that I found on the beach after my session. Random plastic, t-shirts, even a throwback jersey with the last name "Richardson" on it. Then as I was walking to my car and stumbled across this:


Maybe I am wrong, but it looks like skeletal remains of a snake or some kind of creature. Maybe I'm crazy.

Obscene Jigsaw Puzzle

Another classic document from my High School days. By some sort of divine intervention, I was able to land a Creative Writing Class with not only the famously goofy but cool Mr Bozzone (I am pretty sure he used to dress as a super hero at our pep rallies?), but with a number of my good friends. The combination led to what could only be one of the best classes I have ever taken at Liberty, strictly from a comedic standpoint.

Each class we would usually sit in a circle and learn about how to write creatively. The funny part was hearing all of the bullshit that these kids would spew in attempts to sound intellectual or impress the teacher. Within a few classes we looked forward to the class to laugh and crack jokes to each other about the weirdos in the class. The cast of characters in the class were equally legendary. Never has a more random collection of styles, personalities or hygienic practices been assembled. Like all great things in high school (see the High School Psychopaths entry) I can't remember how the eighth period beast began, but it was a great idea nonetheless.

Basically, with input from all members involved (Myself, Matt Eby, Kip, Shawn Price, even Chuck Koch I think...maybe Ed D.too?), we drew a creature that featured one bizarre attribute from each member of the class. Looking back at the drawing, it is pretty surprising to me that I can remember which features belong to which people in the class. While it makes me laugh, I won't point out any particular people to protect their identities, although if you were in the class you could probably figure a bunch out too.

If this picture is not proof positive that we were assholes, then another tidbit from the class reminds me that we were. It was right before or after this class that Kip and I would scream "DREW!" or "DREW CAREY!!" to a girl who had class across the hall and had a similar pair of glasses, until one day she turns around and screams "I'M NOT DREW CAREY YOU ASSHOLES!" or something to that effect.

School Daze

Spike knows what's up.

Know Your Roots

Best. Show. Ever:

New Day Rising

It's over and it wasn't even close. Watching the different countries of the world react in (mostly) a positive fashion makes me feel a whole lot better in the direction our country is headed. So much of politics is complete garbage and I grew tired of the ads, false promises, out of control spending, but in the end, I think the US elected a guy that cares about the American people just as much as he cares about his political career. Who knows. I think there are a lot of wealthy rich white men looking around nervously at each other as they watch men and women of every culture and tax bracket celebrate this victory. Finally, we are taking a step towards leveling a playing field that has been so uneven towards the economically disadvantaged since it's inception. Save me the socialist arguement and go watch Trading Places with Dan Akkroyd and Eddie Murphy. After Obama's two terms are over, I am supporting the ticket below for 2016:



I look forward to sporting my new shirt too!

Toiletpaper Tragedy

Every Mischief Night, we usually get paid a visit from our neighbors, the man in the hot dog suit and his buddy Captain Klunk. One year, they put an m-80 inside a pumpkin and called us outside and we watched explode in the street. This year, the stopped by to decorate a few items on the lawn. Always nice to know they are out patrolling the neighborhood.

Not Waving, but Drowning

This photo in the Press caught my eye. Because he is sitting so high up in the water means he has to be laying on some kind of board, but I can't imagine anyone paddling into a wave at that point of it breaking. Enjoy your pounding.

This Year Halloween fell on a Weekend...

me and Maeve are trick or treatin'.

Heading out of the hive!


3 peas in a pod...actually, one bee, one pea and a skeleton.


What happened to my shoe!


Gimme the loot! Gimme the loot! Roman and Maeve sorting through the candy haul.


End of the night, not wanting to go to bed. Thanks to Aunt Caroline for snapping all of the pictures.

Unholy Living Dead

Since Halloween is on a Saturday next year, I am absolutely doing this next year. Svrf and Destroy does it again:


Surf of the Dead from Chad Huff on Vimeo.