SCREENING ROOM
Pretty Physics
Since the dawn of digital surf edits, filmmaker Wade Carroll has been packaging compelling wave riding with stylized art direction and quality tunes into highly-clickable surf cinema. Mikey February’s “NüRythmo” and Kael Walsh’s “Idiot Box” are just two examples of his previously materialized visions. Recently, Carroll launched Pretty Physics, a digital sketchbook/dumping ground for the scraps left on his hard drive. Click here to watch Mikey Wright brutalize West Oz wedges, Euro beach breaks, and Mexican pointbreaks in the site’s first three offerings.
Enter the Cramaverse
Australian carpenter Beau Cram, son of 80s pro surfing powerhouse Richard Cram, hits the road to West Oz, where he glides a long fish, a twin-fin, and other finless craft through the region’s storied waves as they fire. The road-worn B-roll, and especially the time-lapsed steamrolling by an unrelenting Roaring Forties set, add soul to the edit—photographer Tom Pearsall’s first and triumphant filmmaking effort. Click here to “Enter the Cramaverse.”
FOLLOW ALONG
@mattclarkoceanimagery
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BETTER LISTENING
Step Down
by The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble
With horn arrangements worthy of Dr. Dre’s sampler, Burgundy-level flute solos, and percussion smoother than a Larry Bertlemann line, Step Down is modern jazz with its fin loosened. Meditate to this latest cut from the San Diego-based band, and find style enlightenment.
PAPER & INK
So Cal: Dispatches from the End of the World
by Joe Donnelly
Longtime TSJ contributor Joe Donnelly has always had his finger on the pulse of California’s subcultures. And he’s recently compiled a new volume of his published work across numerous titles, including The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Huck, TSJ, and more into a 211-page volume. “In my new book,” the author says, “you’ll encounter a showdown with the loneliest road in America, a standoff between endangered desert tortoises and army tanks at Fort Irwin, dawdling dogs, messiah wolves, and other critters. You’ll meet influential cultural figures such as Mike Salisbury, Danny Kwock, Jim Evans, and my muse, CR Stecyk III.” Click here to pick up a copy.
COASTAL BEAT
Havana Libre
Cuban surfers have it rough. The act itself exists in a gray area of legality, is supported by no hard-goods industry, and takes place within a swell cycle that creates only a handful of days per year with rideable waves. Despite the obstacles, a dedicated surfing community endures. Havana Libre tracks Frank Gonzales Guerra, a Havana-based ripper and shaper who cobbles boards together from stripped refrigerator insulation, and Yaya Guerrero, a local activist who has worked tirelessly with an uncooperative government to legalize surfing. Don’t miss this humbling full-length documentary by filmmaker Corey McClean, which has been creating buzz on the film fest circuit and is now streaming on all platforms.
HAPPENINGS
Friends and Family Showing
at Brothers Marshall Malibu Surf Shop and Cultural Center
Malibu fixtures, self-proclaimed “Cali haoles from the Valley,” and former TSJ profile subjects Chad and Trace Marshall recently opened up shop on PCH. Just a few miles down the road from First Point, the BMMSS/CC is currently hosting a group art show with heavies like Raymond Pettibon, Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, Geoff McFetridge, and dozens more. On the next south swell, stop by 21237 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA to fondle rails and get some culture while waiting out the traffic.
FROM TSJ
Top off your stack with our new issue.
On the cover: From the complexities of his hometown’s subway system to the depths of Mainland Mexico tubes, New Yorker Balaram Stack knows the importance of choosing the right line. Threads inside the issue trace equally varied paths, including digital renderings of natural wave patterns, modern thrashing in Tasmanian waters, and other throughlines across the sea scape.
[Feature image by Michael Townsend]
