Rockaway Taco
The cutest taco stand in the whole world (now closed), Rockaway Taco, NYC.

It’s Sunday! Make Salsa!

Rory Parker

By

Five bucks for a few ounces of salsa? Fuck that noise. I'm gonna make this shit myself from now on.

There are nine Mexican restaurants (at least, I may be missing one or two) in Kapa’a, the tiny little Kauai town I call home. It’s an absurd amount for our population, but they all manage to do a steady business, no doubt bolstered by the withdrawals felt by all us SoCal haole transplants. Nearly eight years in Hawaii and I still feel the itch.

Quality-wise, they run the gamut from merely mediocre, to outright fucking terrible. Which is ridiculous, Mexican food is among the easiest to make on Earth. Just burn some flank steak, chop it up and plop it on a tortilla, and drown that shit in some good salsa. It’s not brain surgery.

I found myself enraged beyond reason recently when I asked for more salsa to go with my twelve dollar unseasoned chicken and canned bean on store bought tortilla burrito, only to be informed it would be an additional five dollars.

Five bucks for a few ounces of salsa?

Fuck that noise. I’m done, I’m just gonna make this shit myself from now on.

With a little effort I’ve managed to dial in my salsa recipe. It’s fucking good. Really, really good. The best salsa you’ve ever tasted.

I’ve started making it in a big batch every few weeks, pouring it into mason jars, and actually enjoying good Mexi food on the regular. It’s surprisingly expensive, but only because I live where I do, and insist on only using the best locally grown ingredients.

Which, honestly, doesn’t really make that big of a difference. But it’s more fun.

“This salsa was prepared with only the finest local heirloom tomatoes and freshly harvested sweet onions.” Pointless but fancy.

2 x Large tomatoes, chopped (Like I said, I pick out the fanciest tomatoes on offer, but you can substitute cheap stuff without really noticing a difference. Pick ones that are slightly under ripe, they’ll be easier to work with.)

2 x 14.5 oz cans of plain diced tomatoes with no seasonings (Get the cheapest shit you can find. They’re all the same.)

4 x 6 Jalapeños, seeds and all  (cut off the stems, obviously)

2 x Tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 x Tablespoon Cumin  (This is key!)

5 x Garlic Cloves, minced

1 x large sweet onion

2 x Tablespoons salt  (more or less, your choice. I use our fancy pants Hawaiian Alaea sea salt, finely crushed, but Morton’s works fine)

1 x Tablespoon red pepper flakes

1/2 Cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Blend until smooth.

If you over blend it may get a bit whipped and foamy, just pour it into your mason jars and let it settle for a while.

Now pour it over everything.

The 10 Best Surf Songs You’ve Never Heard

Derek Rielly

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Reckless surf music that don't give a damn!

Surf music has all the appeal of a Tel Aviv sideshow marketing “strangest dick in the world.” Roll up, roll up, my friends, five shekels to see an uncut penis, a wad of pink wrinkles so disgusting you’ll shriek with pleasure!

But what if I told you that good surf music existed. That it had a honk, and a beat and a… feeling… that was more surf than anything.

Here’s ten that do surf with a flourish. A couple you might know; most you won’t.

1. Beach Rats by Los Growlers

The best tune ever written about being a kid chasing the surf dream and the reality that squeezes in as adulthood beckons (drugs!). Take this verse.

“Strawberry noses, snakeskin backs and knees all covered in wax
Showoffs begging for attention, trying to show ‘em that we’re rad
It’s easy to forget about the world outside of the town
Feeling free with no rules in the sea, but even fish eventually drown…”

And the refrain, “Beach rats , reckless days, foul-mouthed salty kids
All day healed by the sun and wrapped up in the ocean’s lip…”

2. Single Fins and Safety Pins by the Japanese Motors
Before Tomorrows Tulips Alex Knost was the frontman of the most fabulous Japanese Motors. This was back when catch-y tunes were seen as a cop-out, of course. The finest gig I ever went to was a Jap Motors show aboard a boat swishing around a great harbour. The roof was low, there was no stage, and we shucked and jived as Alex, the master puppeteer, manipulated our strings. This song is about the highs (surfin’ and lovin’) and lows (that damn 405 freeway) about being a surfer in California. “Drop your pants and grap your shades,” advises Alex. Why, yes, Mr Alex! 

3. Surfers are Back by the Barracudas

While the Sex Pistols were flaming in London in 1977, the Barracudas were parodying (or was it homage?) the Californian sound. But, somewhere in there, it turned into a British longing for waves and bright balls in the sky.

“Here in London town
There ain’t much fun getting around
People don’t understand
Ya gotta live for the sun…”

4. Summer Fun by Tijuana Panthers
Another Costa Mesa band (alongside Los Growlers) that owns the new surf sound. The lyrics don’t have depth (Summer fun, summer fun, Summer fun, summer fun) but who’s chasing existentialism?

5. Last Summer by the Barracudas
Another great moment from the London surf-punk band. This is total parody. And who doesn’t love parody. “You know I was a surfer…once,” the Barracudas announce solemnly, before launching into a spectacular story of a big-wave surfing suicide.

6. Summer’s Almost Gone by the Neptunes

Play this when summer’s on the way out. It’ll make you weep for those lost, long days.

7. Sur La Planche by La Femme

Who knew the French would strike the crowning blow for modern surf music? Half of the band is from Biarritz (surf!), the other half from Paris (chic!) and their 2013 hit Sur La Planche (On the Board) is a first-person narrative of a surfer describing the invincibility surfing gifts him. Although it ain’t all feel-good. “Si tu oses me pousser dans les rouleaux, je t’attends sur la vague, ou sur la plage dans le sable…”

or

“If you dare to push me in the barrels, I’ll wait for you on the wave, or on the beach in the sand…”

8. Hallucination Bay by the Neptunes

Psychedelic pop wrapped around all those little surf towns we mow through for the weekend. “It’s on the coast and it’s not too far, come on baby, we can take my car down to… Hallucination Bay, Hallucination Bay…”

9. My Beach by the Surf Punks

Ironic!

Surfing on Heroin by The Forgotten Rebels

Such tough talkers! But catchy beat!

I’m so fucked up I can’t remember my
name Tried it once, I’ll never feel the
same. I’m swimming in a sea of puke.
Lend me a quarter play myself on the
juke. Got my kid brother hooked
yesterday. Pimping him pays for my
habit today.

I’m surfin’ on heroin. I’m surfin’ on
heroin. Get a needle gonna stick it in.
I’m surfin’ on heroin. I’m so drugged up,
I’m so fucked up. I’m surfin’ on heroin.

Opinion: Laird Hamilton hates surfing!

Chas Smith

By

Or maybe he is a prophet!

Social media can be a drag but it can also be the most brilliant place on earth. Todd McFarland, master surfboard shaper, got me thinking today. He sent over  a picture of Laird Hamilton bottom turning some remote controlled, self propelled water thing and said:

image1-2

 

“Laird’s approach to surfing is more dystopian than the Terminator film franchise. It’s as if Laird actually hates surfing on surfboards. I feel like, in the midst of this turn, he is thinking to himself that he should have been working in a tool and die factory in the midwest…or stamping out sheet metal.”

And how brilliant!  And I think Mr. McFarland is right! From the hydrofoil to the SUP to the Golfbort it does, in fact, seem that Laird Hamilton hates surfing on surfboards which may certainly be some insight into the way he feels about the future.

Could it be that, with pollution and global warming etc. the way they are, waves will either stop coming someday and thus Laird SUPs, remote controls, golfboards?

Or that they will be so gigantic that a hydrofoil will be necessary to ride them? This begs an even greater question.

Is Laird Hamilton prophetic? Or does he just hate surfing on surfboards?

Mark Healey spearfishing
Leading the spearfishing zeitgeist is the Hawaiian Mark Healey, five-foot-one and tons of fun! He gets the woman, he gets the fish!

Zeitgeist: Spearfishing is soooo now!

Rory Parker

By

Come and see what happens when it all goes wrong… 

I know it’s Shark Week, so I should really be posting toothy critters and being all “Oh my, sharkies are sooo scaresome!” but I just don’t have it in me. I just find the whole thing too boring to waste my time trying to come up with something engaging about them.

I had an idea of doing a thing with “previously unknown shark species,” photo-shopping new types of sharks, like the Mongoloidon (a retarded shark), but it quickly became really offensive. And I like offensive stuff, so when warning bells start ringing in my head I typically know I’ve gone way too far. Some of it was pretty racist too and I found myself thinking, “It’s just a joke, people know I’m not a hateful bigot. I don’t even know any black people.”

But that’s the kind of thing a hateful bigot thinks, so I guess I’ve got some self reflection ahead. Instead, here’s some spearfishing accidents.

Rule number one with a speargun is “never point it at anything you don’t want to kill.” Rule number two is “never fire it out of water.” But, jeez, if you’re gonna, at least unhook the fucking shooting line.

Speargun Incident. Source: TurtleWax2000

Recoil on bigger guns can be gnarly. I’ll admit, I’ve done nearly the same thing as this boner, albeit fifty feet underwater. I tried taking a quick shot with my 130cm without locking my elbow. Thought I smashed my front teeth in. It’s a lesson you only need to learn once.

. Source:

Fucking SCUBA fools… If someone took a shot that close to me I’d beat his head in the moment we hit land. If I got tied up in his shooting line because he didn’t know how to control a fish I’d back my car over his gear as well.

Spearfishing Accident with Jack… :). Source: SpearFishStore

From the video description: notes added by yours truly:

“Could have been a lot worse.. Before you Spanish or Arabic macho freedivers get your panties in a bunch. The guy who hit my spear was inexperienced (Still your own damn fault for having your gun pointed at someone). If you have a problem with SCUBA spearing and wish pain and suffering on others, you have serious issues in your life. I think its a jealously thing you cannot get to the depths or afford the gear we use. I SCUBA dive down to 150′ to shoot fish (Liar). Its challenging (No, it isn’t). SCUBA is different than freediving. It is more challenging to some aspects (More challenging to pay for, that’s about it.). Get off your high horse, we are all one and interested in the same things (Nope). I do freedive and spear as well and respect you guys.

Spearfishing accident. Guy almost gets shot in leg.. Source: StealY0urFace

Okay, this one has nothing to do with spearfishing. It’s just a SCUBA fool hand feeding an eel. Nothing could go wrong there, right?

 

Until next time, here’s a fat lady enjoying some para-sailing.

. Source:
Who is JOB
Jamie O'Brien is like some benign old wizard who spends his magic doing good. And girls! So many girls! | Photo: Jamie O

Who is JOB: Kinkiest Episode yet!

Derek Rielly

By

"A lot of web series are a big circle jerk," says Jamie O'Brien. Jerk to this!

 

Jamie O’Brien is an old man now (thirties!), but like some benign old wizard he spends his money, and his magic, doing good. The online series Who is JOB is now in its fifth series (5.0).

“Fuck! Life’s boring if you’re not doing rad shit,” says Jamie. “I know you know what I mean.”

Well, yeah, I do. I’m kinky for Who is JOB!

In this episode, “Jamie O’Brien and friends open up the overflowing Waimea Bay river and create the best river surfing waves of the year. Plus, Poopies learns freestyle snow skiing at Pipeline and flips his way into the Waimea marsh!!”

Jamie’s philosophy surrounding the series is sound. “I didn’t want the show to be the same as every other web series going around… It’s a group of certain surfers and certain companies. I feel like a lot of the web series are a big circle jerk. It might sound dumb, but we’re trying to look outside the box, living life and doing things people can relate to.”

Photo: Jack English
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