More than 50 years after its inception, Surfing Magazine is dead in the water!
This little nugget popped into my inbox this morning from the great artist Jack English whom you certainly know from his photographic masterpiece “The Crying Jordy.”
“Surfing magazine no more. If you do a piece please credit Jack English.”
And of course!
Surfing shuts doors brought to you by Jack English!
In truth, though, I’ve known this reality for a few weeks now. What? Just because I’ve been in Japan you think my finger strays from surfing’s pulse?
Never!
It’s just that I take no joy in dancing on Surfing’s grave. Plus I’ve been very busy dancing on ex-WSL CEO Paul Speaker’s. His grave is like a wonderful disco where revelers are given mostly pure MDMA and two roses each. Steve Aoiki is the DJ and he mixes in newer beats with older favorites. Noa Deane is here and so is Brodie Carr who has been asked by management to tone it down slightly three times so far and there is a rumor floating around that if they have to ask him again he’ll also be asked to leave. Oh. He just took his baby blue ASP polo shirt off and is spinning it above his head.
But what were we talking about? Surfing? Oh yes. Surfing.
The Enthusiast Network will put a brave face on the new reality. “When God closes a door he opens a window!” Etc. But in truth it’s all over for the brave little magazine.
Someone should write a proper eulogy. Maybe we all should. Nick Carroll? Travis Ferre? Taylor Paul? Should we all collab under the Surfing banner one last time?
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wish this meant surfings popularity was dead
Kampion
Fineman
Mignonia
Merkel
Baker
Moore
Townsend
Berg
Gilovich
Carter
Chang
Brisick
Carroll
Zeldin
Slater
Sherman
Ferre……
Kind lost track at this point. To those I missed, sorry.
It was a good run. RIP.
Connor Coffin and the staff of surfing mag will be distraught, but not many others.
How can anyone be enthusiastic about a network.
I don’t know what to think really, it’s the way of the world. Surfing magazine started once, and now it is finished. In between there were many hilarious people and bits and pieces of lives all thrown in the mix. Great work and terribly shit work was done, and large quantities of money came and went. Generations of surfers are recorded in the pages of that magazine, and times people now just sort of copy or ape in an attempt to get in touch with the apparent feeling and sense thereof. I feel little sentiment about it but Surfing magazine once meant the future and the world to me and working on it killed me a little bit. C’est la vie.
Enthusiast Network? More like Euthanasia Network.
you know this shit will be like LP vs CD vs downloaded music. LP strikes again with hipsters and printed mags will also.
By “hipsters” you mean “people who actually give a shit about quality.”
white horses. ’nuff said. nothing sexier than a niche.
I met Tom House way back at the San Diego School of Baseball,… 35 years ago,…. and he caught Hank Aaron’s 715th,… right? … or was it 714th? ….home run of course.
He sure did! I mean, I did!
Come on Chas, there seems to be more to this story, according to Stab it’s being merged with Surfer, give us the details!
Oh Stab is wrong! Surfing will maintain a distinct online presence with its own skeleton staff. But, quite basically, it is a wrap. Not v sexy.
I don’t believe it, “Alternative Facts” on Stab! Who would have thought!