Circles

A charter member of our crew (not the o.g. tattoo level, but close) is leaving us. I received his email and gave some thought to time and change. Double is moving on to greater things and he is an irreplaceable man. To find someone with his riding ability and special set of quirks will be impossible.
I remember the first ride I was on with him. We were screaming down the hill on Overstreet, and he did a full power slide, and looked back at me right in the eye. My first thought was; "I'm not good enough to ride with these guys."
Eight years later and I am still thinking the same thing.
I decided to leave Ft. Pierce in the fall of 1985. Two events led the decision.
The first was hurricane Gloria. It passed by us about 1500 miles off the coast. My brother Chris, Greggo (owner of North Jetty Surf Shop), my best friend Kevin, and I paddled out in the dark at about 6:30 am. It must have been during a lull, because I never went through any waves till I was way outside. The sun started coming up, and I realized I was looking back across the inlet, at the end of the south jetty. This put us somewhere about a quarter mile out. As the sun broke through, I looked up to see my brother taking off in the semi darkness, on the biggest wave I had ever seen. It was about 6-8 feet over head on the take off. I barley punched through the set and made it outside. I surfed the biggest, best waves I had ever seen since I moved there in 1969.
When we came out of the water it had really gotten out of control and a lot of people had tried to paddle out, but couldn't. I turned and looked at the waves, the only thing keeping me in the God forsaken town, and I knew it would never get better than that.
Later that year on my birthday, I was in a retched bar in Port Saint Lucie. I looked over and saw two of my ex girlfriends talking to each other, while giving me dirty looks from across the room. My circles were starting to intersect too much.
I went home packed my car and left without telling anyone except my boss at the shop. It was tough but eventually became a great move for me, I have lived here ever since.
I hope Double has a good run in Cali, and I hope he comes back to visit (he won't)..... So maybe we will have to barge on him once he gets the trails wired. If I am invited.
Good luck.
w.b.z.n.

The Game.

I suppose like most great endeavors, it started innocently with good intentions. I never really saw the ramifications or any need to change my life. I assumed I could be who I always was and live life as I always had. A regular Joe in a regular world.
The demands crept in slowly and the metamorphosis was not noticeable at first. The perks and prestige began to corrupt at a slow enough pace. A good table here, a free drink there, a wink from the door man as he lowered the velvet rope. Did I enjoy it, who wouldn't? I was seduced and I felt as though all my hard work had paid off.
I could never give them enough of what they wanted. The pressure began to overwhelm me. They would never be satisfied. They would only ask for more.
I was surrounded by a lot off people I thought were cool, but slowly I realized they all wanted something from me. Little things would come up in conversations like:
"That would be a funny thing for your blog!"
It was fine for a while and then a few fans showed up at my house. (Google bastards!) My kids couldn't ride the bus anymore. We had to hire a Israeli body guard. Clearly things had gone beyond normal. I had no idea how I got here, or where to go now.
The blog business is not for the faint of heart. You are only as good as your last blog. I found myself wondering as John Lennon had about; "Getting off the merry go round."
Maybe I just had to, as he did:
"Let it go."
I can't say I was totally naive. I knew it was a dog eat dog, or... dog doesn't comment on dog's blog, world. You can't come out of a whore house and say you didn't feel loved. We all knew why we were here.
I stand before you a broken man, at the crossroads of the blog world. Do I shake hands with the devil or go back to who I was, if that's possible? I would like to say I am sorry but alas ....who would listen.
w.b.z.n.

Head High and Choppy

North Jetty was a tough place to learn how to surf. The convented first peak was controlled by a crotchety group of aging hippies, Vietnam vets and red necks that weren't really interested in passing the torch to the next generation. I surfed there for twenty five years and I was never excepted by the Jetty Rats.
For this reason, my best friend Rob and I took to surfing in conditions no one else would consider. If it was one foot or less, we would remove our fins and do 360's in the shore break. If the tide was wrong and the sun was directly over head, we were on it. Our favorite thing of all was big, cold, blown out surf. We loved walking over sand with no prints, and paddling for thirty minutes to get big doubled up, closing out, wind chop. At some point during every session a weird series of events would occur and we would get a wave that was worth it.
Back in the empty parking lot we would do the towel dance out of our wetsuits. Back in the safety of my VW bus, and wearing jeans and Billibong sweat shirts, we would bask in the exhaust laden heat and head to the 7-11. Life was sweet.
It was the memory of this that got me into the car and headed to Munson on Saturday. It was drizzling and cold and the parking lot was empty. I got lost on the twilight loop and it took a while to find a familiar site. One hour and a half later, I was back in the car, and I had a strange craving for Beebo doughnuts and Mountain Dew.

It's time

I reckon it was inevitable. My responses on other blogs are becoming compulsive and I have embarrassed myself into putting a flag in the virtual territory and raising my fist towards the heavens (ala Tom Cruise in "Far and Away").
A brief disclaimer: My grammar and spelling are constantly battling to suck the most!
About me: I was a working (not professional) musician from October 1979- September 2000. I have done little sit ins and cover gigs since then but' I mentally stopped being a working musician in 2000. The universe had put me into a situation where decisions had to be made and money was involved, so I forayed into artist management.
Here's some stuff I have done that I am proud of;
1. I once got a trophy in a pro skateboarding event in the slalom.
2. I skated with Stacy Peralta on and off for three days while he was in Florida filming "Skateboard Madness" with Hal Jepsen.
3. I followed Tony Alva through a snake run when he was warming up at a Clearwater contest. Later that day he lost his board and it rolled right to me. I handed it to him.
4. I toured the entire United States. I played in New York City, recorded the worst album of the 80's in Los Angeles. I went around the world twice because I could play drums. Turkey, Crete, Greece,Italy, Sardinia,Spain,Japan, Philippines,Guam, Hawaii. Pretty cool, thanks universe!
5. I jumped out of a plane.
6. I surfed the North Shore Hawaii two seasons in a row in 1991 and 1992.
7. I stood in Ben Aipa's shaping bay and discussed the invention of the twin fin, step rails, and how (four time world champion) Mark Richards, would hang around Ben for shaping tips.
8. In 1992 I somehow convinced my wife to say "I do!" on the Big Island. Later that day my brother and I had a great surf out in front of the Ritz Carlton.
9. In 1994 and 1995 my children were born and slapped me (almost) out of my selfish world view.
10. I managed a band that was signed to Elektra records, and had a number eight hit on the rock charts. It was the greatest and most horrifying thing I have ever done.
11.At thirty eight I bought a bike and that led to me finding the best friends I have ever had.

I know that all seems like self promoting braggadocio, but I will be talking about all that stuff in this blog. Hopefully someone will read it.
Well first step and all that.....we begin!
w.b.z.n.