January 26, 2010, 10:06 am : Allan Weisbecker - The Quintessential Interview with the Down South Pirate

Filed Under: Biography, Interviews, Surfing, Travel Tales
Discussion: C[0]mments

Editors Note: I first met Allan Weisbecker in Montauk, earning a brief interview with him following the printing of In Search of Captain Zero.

Ever the Long Island writing hero to this fledgling surf-mag writer, ACW was kind enough to indulge me with several unwritten stories and character links through a few lengthy phone conversations, emails and that one brief afternoon at Ditch Plains.

In all, he had given me hours of his time. I loved the book and, to be fair, am an unabashed fan of his works. All of them. His style and approach are always explained in notes and newsletters, and only improve his works once you understand his writing methodology. I placed a review of In Search of Captain Zero in Surfnews Magazine and received lots of feedback, almost all positive. Weisbecker became a widespread name and a sort of surf folk hero, if you liked him. Not all did.

I went to Pavones in 2001 and met with him there at his new home and he seemed squirmy and elusive. I was worried about him, but not close enough with him to find out what was really wrong.

We stayed in loose contact through email until I went back to Costa Rica in 2005, contacting him about staying at the guest house on his property. He wouldn’t be there, but asked me to check on his place for him, make sure everything was safe. Not knowing any better, I agreed to help him out…

I never made it to Pavones on that 2nd trip; the waves were perfect in Dominical and it was very rainy, making the drive South dicey. Lucky for me, or I may have walked directly into a grizzly scene from Can’t You Get Along With Anyone?.

Cut to the chase, we remained friendly over the years, and Allan has been extremely helpful to my writing endeavors. With his support I approached and gained entry into the Surfers Journal. I did a review of CYGAWA? for the Journal which Allan didn’t like, but he still granted me an exclusive interview, the first in reaction to CYGAWA? long before it hit the mainstream press. I read the first ARC (advanced reading copy) and interviewed him on a crisp 3-4 foot day in Montauk, NY at Gurney’s Inn just after its small release through Humdrumming Books, UK.

Thank you for all the help and support over the years Allan, Keep The Faith.

A conversation with Allan Weisbecker, October, 2006

Jeff Schad: Most readers will recognize you as the author of In Search of Captain Zero – your surf journey through Central America in search of an old surfbuddy missing in action. Now you’ve released your new book, Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer’s Memoir, and a Tale of a Lost Surfer’s Paradise. What’s changed about you since then?

Allan C. Weisbecker: Not sure how I’ve changed. “A sadder and a wiser man he rose the ‘morrow morn,” which is from Coleridge, comes to mind, or should. But as Kurt Vonnegut has said, “People don’t change, don’t apologize, and don’t learn anything.” This probably applies to me as much or more than anyone. At least the changing and learning parts. I’ve never had a problem with apologies.

I’ll no doubt just continue stumbling and bumbling through life, putting myself in precarious places, rising sadder if not wiser, as always.

JS: You certainly found yourself in a few precarious places, as described in the book.

ACW: Yes, both through circumstances beyond my control and through not paying sufficient attention to what was going on around me. When I was younger there was also the illusion that I was invincible, which was at least partially a result of the old North Shore (of Oahu) aphorism, “Surfers can do anything.” That dumb-ass sort of attitude will put you in some hairball situations, and not just in the water.

JS: Give us an example.

ACW: Morocco, 1970. A surfbuddy and I went there after our house on the North Shore was destroyed, demolished, with us in it, by the biggest swell to ever hit the Hawaiian Islands. (That we emerged from the destruction without a scratch was predictable – in our deranged minds.)

In order to keep surfing (getting-a-job avoidance) we just automatically got into hashish smuggling. Didn’t even occur to us that something bad might happen.

JS: Did something bad happen?

ACW: Of course not. We were too young and stupid for anything bad to happen. The bad stuff came later, after I smartened up a little. Not much, actually. A real little.

JS: Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer’s Memoir, and a Tale of a Lost Surfer’s Paradise is the sequel to Zero, correct?

ACW: Yes. Although I futz with chronological structure, the story starts the day after Zero ended, when I left my old buddy and essentially found the surf paradise I was looking for.

JS: Which was where?

At the end of the road at the bottom of Central America. A place called Pavones (Spanish for “Big Turkeys”), on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. Home of possibly the longest point break in the Northern Hemisphere.

Click here for an excerpt: “A Night at the Cantina”, for more perspective on Pavones from ACW.

JS: Where did you get the title Can’t You Get Along With Anyone?

ACW: It was the body of the email I got from my movie-writing agent as a result of my firing her for her behavior during the In Search of Captain Zero movie deal. I suspect that there is some negative subtext in her question, but book titles are where you find them and I’ll always be grateful for this one.

JS: It’s another surfy memoir.

ACW: After Zero I thought my memoir-writing days were over. As it turned out, what was coming makes Zero look like Fun With Dick and Jane.

JS: What makes the book tick?

ACW: Escalating deceit and treachery. On another level of that, it’s a look at the idea of finding a “paradise,” surf or otherwise. The reality as opposed to the myth. The types of people who show up in unspoiled places, with or without perfect waves. The agendas that surface, the sorts of pecking order games that emerge, and so forth. In the case of one person’s agenda, what happens when you’re faced with treachery that quite literally has no limits. What happens when meaningful options diminish to zero. What happens when you reach a personal End of the Line.

The book also deals with the writing process, the obsession and pain a writer goes through in his work. The cover design, with my bleeding forehead, is illustrative of that. Comes from a quote from the writer Gene Fowler. “Writing is easy. You just stare at the blank page until your forehead bleeds.” My forehead did some bleeding during the writing of this one.

JS: There are a lot of subplots, or through-lines, in the book. The story of the movie deals on your other two books is an offshoot of the writing-about-writing aspect, correct?

ACW: Yes, and a bit of comic relief from the bizarre relentlessness of the other through-lines.

JS: Your other books have been optioned by major movie stars. Sean Penn for Zero and John Cusack for your cult comedy, Cosmic Banditos.

ACW: Right.

JS: Since Zero is a memoir and Banditos an autobiographical novel, in essence these two mega-stars want to play you. Heady stuff.

ACW: It becomes a little less heady when you examine how the deals went. Penn, for example, never read the book he wanted to make a movie out of.

JS: How could that be?

ACW: Nor did he read the screenplay adaptation I was paid 200 grand to write. This is the producer of the project, keep in mind.

JS: He didn’t read either the book or the screenplay?

ACW: He spent more time writing me emails explaining why he wasn’t going to read than it would have taken to do the reading. I’m not kidding. I reproduce his comical emails in the book.

JS: What was the upshot?

ACW: Sean got upset with me for in effect pointing out how far his head is up his ass and in his last email wished me “something resembling death.”

JS: How did it go with Cusack?

ACW: I had to physically threaten him to get money owed on the deal.

JS: Come again?

ACW: It’s a bizarre story – also in the book – and as utterly evocative of the way Hollywood is as the Penn fiasco. I should say, however, that Cusack himself was not at the bottom of the problem, but rather it was a dishonest lawyer (sorry for the redundancy). John and I kissed and made up and all is fine between us. Good thing, too, since he’s a kickboxer and likely would have beat the shit out of me had the situation gone really sour.

In fact, I have high hopes that Cosmic Banditos will eventually make it to the screen.

JS: You describe Banditos as “a goofball comedy about The Meaning of Life.” How did that book come about?

ACW: In 1981 I did a classic segue-free transition, went from big time international criminal to Hollywood screenwriter. Almost literally overnight I went from barrel-rolling my Learjet over Colombian pot plantations to working with the likes of Michael Mann (Miami Vice, The Insider, Last of the Mohicans, etc.) and Robert Chartoff (Rocky, Raging Bull, The Right Stuff, etc.).

I knew I had to write about the decade of the 1970s, my lunatic life. It started out with an unbalanced expat fugitive hiding out in the jungles of South America (me, more or less) and naturally became a comedy about subatomic particle physics, a full-blown bandito named Jose, a nymphomaniac, a large dog who’d had a depraved puppyhood, and, of course, The Meaning of Life. I mean, these elements were inevitable, if you think about it, given the overall subject matter.

JS: Not really sure about that.

ACW: How else could it have gone? You tell me.

JS: Speaking of segues and of comedy…

ACW: With The Meaning of Life aspect, there is naturally a lot of tequila consumed and hand grenades thrown. Or accidentally dropped.

JS: In your new book…

ACW: As one of the more unbalanced characters points out, “It amazing how a violent explosion in a confined area will separate the men from the boys.”

JS: Speaking of segues and of comedy, in your new book you somehow work genuine belly laughs into the story of the “fiascos and catastrophic shit” you were relentlessly subjected to in your “sorry ass life and times.”

ACW: It was either see the humor in it or blow my brains out. Given that choice, what would you do?

JS: Never mind that…

ACW: Also, at a certain point relentlessness itself can become comedic. I remember one time I got caught in the boneyard at Sunset Beach in Hawaii on a rising swell and the way the sets just kept landing on my head I eventually found myself cackling at the ridiculousness of it. That sort of relentlessness. Like, “How the fuck did I get into this mess?”

JS: Speaking of segues and catastrophic shit…

ACW: There’s also the through-line about the getting it published. “It” meaning the book I was writing at the time and the reader (later, of course) is now reading. Is that what you were thinking? Sorry to interrupt, but that’s on my mind right now.

JS: Your no… nicer…to the publishing business than you are to Hollywood.

ACW: I’ve burned a lot of bridges with this book. I’m talking major conflagrations here. Hey, I burned bridges that I’ve never even crossed. I’m a bridge burning kind of guy.

JS: With predictable results, right?

ACW: One predictable result has been a problem finding a U.S. publisher, or even an agent, since I fired the last 27 agents that I had. No, wait. Twenty-eight.

JS: The book is in print in the UK, though.

ACW: Bizarre how that came about. Last summer some lunatics in Canada launched a stage production of Cosmic Banditos. Right. A play. I shit you not. My goofball comedy about The Meaning of Life ran for ten days at an arts festival in Vancouver. And it was a hit! They were rolling in the aisles, apparently. It was also reviewed by some nutcase up there. A smart, literate nutcase. Turned out he was connected with this Brit publisher. One thing led to another and boom! Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? found the light of print.

JS: Since your two other books are selling very well…

ACW: Last time I checked they were both outselling the Stephen King novel that was published at the same time.

JS: So why wouldn’t your old publisher (Penguin Putnam) publish the new one?

ACW: You read it, right?

JS: Right. You do happen to mention them.

ACW: Can’t I get along with anyone?

JS: There’s another segue here, I think… To the love of your life.

ACW: I don’t want to give away too much about the book, but the through-line that emerges as dominant has to do with male/female relationships. Right: Speaking of fiascos and catastrophic shit and wave sets landing on your head and blowing your brains out. And, again, the idea of paradise, as opposed to the reality.

JS: On the surface of it, you had it all, didn’t you?

ACW: Sure did. Two successful books, movie deals, famous actors wanting to play me, a gorgeous home I built within walking distance of my own semi-private warm water perfect wave in paradise, plus a beautiful, very sexy woman who surfs and was totally in love with my sorry ass. At 55 years old, I finally had it all. The Endless Summer meets 9 1/2 Weeks…

JS: Then?

ACW: Pulp Fiction showed up.

JS: There were warnings, though.

ACW: There were warnings all right… Had I been paying attention.

JS: In the book you talk a lot about paying attention.

ACW: An underlying theme is that people do not really pay attention to what’s really going on around them. Metaphorically, dawdling around at Waimea without keeping an eye on the outside. This applies to their personal lives as well as world affairs, whatever.

JS: You don’t have a lot of respect for our current president (Ed note: George W was in office at time of interview).

ACW: The book starts contemporaneously with the invasion of Iraq. As it turned out, this was convenient, in terms of symmetry: The greed and deceit and treachery, the death and misery, the incessant lies, the levels of denial everyone was living under.

JS: The war in Iraq–

ACW: I was talking about my personal life.

JS: Okay.

ACW: I suspect that our current president has a suite reserved for my sorry ass at Guantanamo. Do you know if there’s surf on that part of Cuba?

JS: Not sure. But moving on, give an example of your paying attention powers. Or lack of them, in your personal life.

ACW: In 1998 at Pavones, right after the fiasco that was the ending of In Search of Captain Zero, I investigated the shootout killing of an American expat named Max Dalton. This was for Men’s Journal magazine. When I returned to Pavones in 2001, I sort of forgot about the stuff I’d uncovered in ’98. Sort of forgot about the death threats I’d gotten and how I was armed to the teeth and how everybody lied about everything and how it was every man for himself down there in surf paradise. I wasn’t paying attention.

Hey. I forgot!

JS: You reprise the story of the Dalton murder investigation for CYGAWA.

ACW: I hadn’t planned on doing that but then the murder investigation and other events from ’98 came back to bite me on my ass, and did so in a way I could never have seen coming. In fact, I couldn’t have made up the shit that happened in my wildest fiction dreams. The section is also an object lesson in how it goes when greed descends on a perfect wave. One upshot of the investigation was that “it was the wave here that killed Max.”

JS: I understand you’ve sold your house and property in Pavones. Ever going back?

ACW: Possibly. When I’m tired of being alive on planet earth.

JS: You’ve got one of your lists regarding this, right? Like the list of women you’ve had sex with? In this case, it’s who’ll be out for revenge on….

ACW: You can say it. “On my sorry ass.”

JS:…revenge on your sorry ass.

ACW: Yeah, and that list is pretty long. Not as long as the Women I’ve Had Sex With List, thank God, but pretty long. Come to think of it, though, there’s one person who is on both lists.

JS: Care to name names?

ACW: No, but here’s a related question I’ve been mulling: What do you think Sean Penn meant when he wished me “something resembling death”? I mean what resembles death, aside from the dirt nap itself?

#

Click here to go to a short excerpt from Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer’s Memoir, and a Tale of a Lost Surfer’s Paradise.

December 2, 2009, 3:36 pm : Spelling for Bees - First Ever DC Showcase Series - December 9th

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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Spelling for Bees Kicks off DC Showcase Series

DC Music Collective Brings the Best Together for the First Time - Wednesday, December 9th - Rock and Roll Hotel

Featuring: Dangerosa, Red Satellites, Matthew Hemerlein and World’s Fair

Spelling for Bees is swarming together for the first in a series of showcase events in and around Washington DC. Who are Spelling for Bees, you ask? The brightest talents on the DC indie scene right now, together to work and play and make musical honey.

This project has come to fruition over the course of the last several months, and it has effectively brought together some of the most diverse and eclectic musicians in DC. Spelling for Bees itself is the fabric by which they come together, for showcases such as this, as well as residency nights once a month, hosted at the Velvet Lounge.

The Showcase events tout members, aka Bees, performing with their original bands, often mixing it up with other Bees during their sets. Fans of indie get the opportunity to see something amazing taking shape, as the Showcase events will aim to culminate in the grand vision of Bees founder Dave Mann with the help of the hive: the entire Bees ensemble together for one evening of pure indie rock symphony! Details will be released as they become available.

This first Bees Showcase lineup will provide a buzzing array of style and approach…From the dynamism of Dangerosa’s Simpsons coupled vocals to Bowie-esque Charlottesville rockers Red Satellites; The uniqueness of Hemerlein’s self-described Chinese Pop sounds to the folksy, well-rounded World’s Fair.

Dangerosa
Red Satellites
Matthew Hemerlein
World’s Fair
Washington music media is turning on to this amalgam of local area talent, an ensemble of musicians brought together for grandly fine music. Check out Spelling for Bees residency night coverage here:
Washngton Post Going Out Guide (Tuesday listing)-http://voices.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus/2009/11/nightlife_agenda_85.html (Tuesday listing)
Washington City Paper-
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=38113
Brightest Young Things-
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/live-dc/spelling-for-bees-a-velvet-residency/

August 31, 2009, 2:08 pm : Breaking Down Bill & Danny

Filed Under: Interviews, Uncategorized
Discussion: C[0]mments

Hurricane Bill and the waves that it spawned received unbelievable amounts of mainstream surf media attention last week. Blame the internet, blame the ever-growing number of surfers in the water, blame whatever you want, but it seems odd for East Coast surfing to get that much national attention.

It’s not like we only get hurricane swells while demurely staring at a flat ocean the rest of the year. Seriously. Plus, Bill generated large swells pretty much up and down the Right Coast, but was only middling when compared to the QUALITY of the waves it produced. I know, I’m gonna hear it for that one, but considering how fast the storm moved and how much wind it produced, Bill was a short-lived phenom.

Long-time East Coasters surely remember the stretches of surf pumped out by tropical systems in recent years. Namely, 1995, 1999 and 2005 stick out as banner years for tropical juice. 1995 in particular delivered substance without the hype. Now, we get one storm and it’s all eyes on the E.C.

Truth be told, from my vantage point in the Outer Banks, Danny delivered the better surf. Mostly for personal reasons, but after all, isn’t the amount of stoke directly related to one’s personal experience? Not sure? Let me explain.

Bill, for all its hoopla, jacked up the surf along the entire coast to the big-to-huge range. Florida was well overhead, the Outer Banks weighed in with surf that was easily 15-20 feet, breaking way outside, on Saturday, August 22nd, backing down to overhead to well-overhead on Sunday and still solid on Monday. The best place in the Outer Banks looked to be S Turns, which I personally stayed away from, with all the attendant pros and photogs cramming in. And the Northeast delivered huge surf as well, from Montauk all the way up to Nova Scotia, daring the intrepid to get their guns out and have a go. But winds were mostly funky, with periods of clean conditions, meaning that most people scored only moments of perfection, if any at all.

Click here for aerial pics of the Bill swell in the Outer Banks

Click here for aerial pics of the Bill swell in New England

Danny, on the other hand, popped up like a surprise jack-in-the-box in the Western Atlantic, daring to form into a hurricane that could potentially smash into the Outer Banks. That never happened, but it did sit in place long enough to make Thursday, August 27th one of the funnest, most rippable days of surf this writer has had in some time. 3-6 foot clean lines groomed by a slight offshore breeze that backed off completely around lunchtime, hitting some sandbars that could easily rival S Turns. Not to mention that school was back in session, so the daytime surfer didn’t have to contend with hoards of frothing groms. And while the lineup certainly wasn’t empty, it stayed low key and spread out, giving everyone plenty of stoke.

And that wasn’t the end of it. After Danny ground down to an unimposing sub-tropical storm and raced by the Outer Banks early Saturday morning, the lingering swell was overhead and thumping. Drifty and a bit disorganized, yes, but sizable barrels were on tap for those that wanted them. So proving that hype definitely doesn’t equal stoke, the surprising and unheralded Danny dished out the real treats in this tropical combination. At least that’s how my stoke meter counts it.

August 10, 2009, 2:58 pm : A Stoopid Gallery

Filed Under: Imagery, Music, Show Reviews and Stories
Discussion: C[0]mments

Just finishing up going through over 630 images from the Blazed and Confused show at Merriweather.  Unfortunately the security staff only let us photogs shoot Slightly Stoopid for two songs, but I got as many as I could, and plenty of quality shots. I got many, many images of Snoop, which will be posted up soon. Here’s a gallery full of exclusive images of Slightly Stoopid. Miles features heavily here; he sang those first two songs, and was the only one playing closer up on the stage til later in the set, after we were ushered out of the pit.

All images copyright Jeff Schad, 2009. No unauthorized usage or reproduction permitted.

August 5, 2009, 10:35 am : Getting Blazed and Confused in Columbia

Filed Under: Music, Uncategorized, Upcoming Shows
Discussion: C[0]mments

Merriweather is turning it out again tonight with the fusion of Slightly Stoopid and Snoop Dogg known as the Blazed and Confused tour. First time for me seeing Snoop live. I should have seen him when Squeezetoy opened for him and

Chili Peppers a bunch of years ago. Problems of not having an official pass for the show and the possibly nebulous issues that would arise from a gate that would be left open so I could park backstage and hang with them all left me deciding to not press luck and get kicked out.

Since then I’ve seen Stoopid five times, three of them with all access accompanying their opening acts. What I appreciate most about seeing them up close is the focus and ethic that is evident in their live music. They’re down to earth, to boot. Products of O.B., CA; they’ve intertwined their musical talents with so many different people and acts from that area (try making a family tree of who they have worked and played with, it will probably blanket a vast area of the SoCal music scene, at the very least), it just seemed natural that they teamed up with Snoop Dogg for this huge summer tour.

It will be interesting to see the mix in the crowd of who is there to see Snoop and who is there to really see Stoopid. They have been touring hard for years and really earned the followings they’ve established. Baltimore is definitely one of those places. Check this gallery of Stoopid and Half Pint playing Baltimore’s Pier Six. They respect the fans and put forth all their energy, every single night.

Check back here later for photos from the show, plus exclusive coverage over at Examiner.

July 17, 2009, 4:56 am : Live Shots from Warped Tour - Gallery One

Filed Under: Imagery, Music
Discussion: C[0]mments

Check out Bad Religion, NOFX, Shooter Jennings, some crowd shots, and even one straight from the mosh pit. Much much more coverage to come on Warped Tour 09. Lots of pics and interviews.

July 15, 2009, 5:14 pm : Rock the Bells Slideshow #1

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And we’re putting it into this fancy new photo gallery plugin. Brief post; I sliced my wrist accidentally doing a home project today and can’t use my right hand. Great show, all in all. Everyone was washing Damian Marley showed, but that’s the breaks.

All photos copyright Nicole Page, 2009

July 14, 2009, 11:46 am : Backstage with Tech N9ne

Filed Under: Interviews, Music
Discussion: C[0]mments

Tech N9ne is a hard working hip hop artist from Kansas City. Unlike other talents who cultivate their skills in an environment that offers a scene for support, Tech N9ne worked to create a livelihood for himself in a place that didn’t warrant such a career choice. Never one to quit or back down, he’s lived through some admittedly down and dirty times. He’s taken his own path, which has included starting a very successful independent hip hop label named Strange Music. I interviewed him backstage at Rock the Bells at Merriweather Post Pavilion on July 12th, 2009.

Jeff Schad: so how old are you?
Tech N9ne: I’ll be thirty eight November 8th.

JS: You’ve been going at it a long time…
Tech N9ne: Yes man, I started in ‘85, writing rhymes when I was in seventh grade. I used to be a dancer before all that, um, know what I’m sayin, like pop break dancin’, MC Hammer dancin’, whatever. If it had rhythm I was into it. From rhythm came rhyme.

JS: at what point did you feel “okay, I’m gonna do this with my life, as a career?”
Tech N9ne: I didn’t start doin it professionally until 1990 when I met DJ Icy Rock in Kansas City. So I been doin it professionally since 1990, you know…

JS: That’s a long time. Is it hard to stay in the game that long?
Tech N9ne: totally man, ’cause when you’re coming from Kansas City, MO, like us, where opportunity is none when it comes to music.

JS: I was gonna ask about [the KC music scene]…
Tech N9ne: Yeah, ya gotta build your own. That’s how we came up with Strange Music, our label. That’s the name, Strange Music (Tech N9ne points to his medallion. A large collosus of diamonds in the rounded shape of an

interlocked S and M). And for it to turn into the number one independent label in the World, it’s like “huh”? You know, we just sold a million albums collectively. And that’s without video and radio. So a lot of people at [Rock the Bells], they just don’t know who I am. So they’re just lookin at me like what the phhh is that? And by the end of the set their all clapping. And that’s why this tour is wonderful. I don’t expect them to be falling to their knees like my fans do, like “oh my god, it’s that guy!”. But I want to turn them all on, so when I come back they’ll be ready to ready to come back and [go crazy].

JS: It sounds like you’ve tried and succeeded at growing a more organic audience, and people that really love and follow you. They hear you first hand, and that’s how it starts, rather than being just a craze from the radio.
Tech N9ne: It’s longevity, man. It’s actually building something grassroots. And we don’t have the hit on the radio just yet, but if and when…

JS: Is that what you want, or…?
Tech N9ne: What I want is for the whole World to know my story.

JS: Which is?
Tech N9ne: My story, if I had to sum it up? Tech N9ne is the perfect example of what not to do, you know what I’m sayin? When it comes to livin’ life. Losing your wife ’cause your [messin] with strippers. Takin’ fifteen pills in one night
and almost dying.

JS: So these are things you can and do face up to?
Tech N9ne: Totally man. I’m totally inside out and that’s what makes me unique. Because [there's] no fabrication, no smoke and mirrors. It’s just me. If I’m feeling sad on the inside and wanna cry but can’t, I’ll talk about that. A lot of MC’s won’t, because it ain’t quote unquote hard. I don’t give a [expletive] about that. I give a [expletive] about opening all the way up. This is how I release.

JS: So you put your soul all the way in, and you want fans to see that and recognize that?
Tech N9ne: Yeah, I would love the World to see that. And if radio and video can help, then I would love that. But I guess I’m too weird for the radio or video? Ya know, I don’t fit in with a lot of their programs. But you can see me on tour with hip hop artists, on the same stage with Taleb Kwale and NAS…

JS: How does that feel?
Tech N9ne: It’s a wonderful thing, ya know what I’m sayin? Super Nat and KRS-One with all their lyrics. And they want me on the tour. So that means that they’re acknolwedging that “he’s crazy, but he has lyrics.” You can also catch me on tour with HED PE, you may hear me on a song with Slipknot. I fit in everywhere.

JS: How do you merge those types of projects and your interests? Are those things where they approach you, or do you go after it.
Tech N9ne: I chase it. I’m chasin Cory taylro right now, we’ve gone back and forth, that he would love to do it, but he’s been overseas. So I’m like, send it to me, you know? I love that kind of music, so I go for [working with] people I respect. System of a Down, Serge (Tankian) I would love to get something goin with him. I’ve been waiting for a long time, man.

JS: How do you get connected with these people?
Tech N9ne: Well my star is beginning to shine brighter. And people have taken notice. So on calls, people will be like, okay I know who you are now. I just read your shit in Billboard (Magazine). Oh! you’re the independent guy on Pollstar, makes all this money from touring. It’s JayZ then it’s Kanye then its you. Yeah, our story is becoming a bigger thing now, so it’s becoming a lot easier. As far as Cory Taylor, not so much, I’ve been in cahoots with them for a while

JS: So it’s kind of a natural thing?
Tech N9ne: Yeah…

JS: Is the Serge project going to happen soon, or you don’t know?
Tech N9ne: More likely Cory Taylor. We haven’t connected with anybody with Serge yet.

JS: So what’s next for you? You have an album coming out in the fall, right?
Tech N9ne: Yes yes, its called KOD. Out October 27th. I’d tell you what it stood for but its a secret thing.

JS: Anybody guessed it?
Tech N9ne: Yeah, a couple people have but they don’t know because we haven’t started the contest yet. Until the actual contest [guess what KOD stand for] is under way. First person to guess it once the contest starts, we’ll fly ‘em out to a show, get ‘em backstage with me and onstage during the show. Eat, drink and boom, see ya. Just a good time.

JS: I appreciate the time, and much luck to you.
Tech N9ne: Thank you for havin me brother. Now I’m gonna go get a drink…

July 14, 2009, 1:21 am : Bede Durbidge is Jeff Conine

Filed Under: Uncategorized
Discussion: C[0]mments

Take a look at the pictures. You see a young, hard working professional going well above their assumed flight levels. Neither expected to do great things, yet Jeff the ballplayer won two World Championships with the Florida Marlins. Bede has turned the surfing world’s attention on himself through sheer hard work, determination and guts.

The man (which I must admit is one of my two favorite pro surfers, just for his attitude) lost his main sponsor in Billabong just when his career was arcing, eventually peaking last year with a runner up finish on the World Tour. Mada picked him up eventually, with a long pause without a sponsor. Trying times only forced Bede to put his beak down and perform consistently sharp and well rounded in waves of all kinds.

Perhaps in parallel with Conine, we’ll see this charger from Currumbin, Australia put it together and capture a World Title. With the guts to handle any situation, he could certainly put himself in the position to be able to win it. He currently sits at 11th, two victories away from solidifying a solid chance to make a run, to be frank. That’s the math.

But it would be interesting to see if rumours come true. Is Quik/Kelly really going to launch a plan to rival the ASP? The old slow boat that hasn’t grown enough to really support 48 surfers financially may become a victim of well laid plan by Slater. It will reportedly guarantee $40K per appearance to each of 16 surfers, with $300,000 going to the winner. Time will tell, and what then will the ASP do about the departure of essentially the best 16 surfers in the World to do their feelgood, high money, (allegedly) high media coverage bro tour? Durbidge would seem a natural fit for a tour like that.

They kinda look alike too…And say their names one after another and tell me they don’t sound like the translation of each other in complimentary Northern European and Maori languages.

July 9, 2009, 1:29 pm : Got Your Headphones? Enjoy We Were Pirates

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Music
Discussion: C[0]mments

Mike Boggs of We Were Pirates was generous enough to allow me to post his debut album Cutting Ties. When the music is readily available, I prefer to let it speak for itself. What you hear is what you get; an indie pop/rock sound that has some good pace to it, and sets a very strong standard for Boggs to work from in the future. Boggs plays all instruments on the recording, and delivers soothing, classic pop vocals.

Keep Talking

Settle Down

The Three of Us

Little Monsters

Restless

Long Year

Rich Girl

Cutting Ties

Stars

Don't Forget