No logs! Of course!
Oh, the Gram is awash today with tributes for the late Surfing Magazine. All sincere and heartfelt except for one by Joel Tudor whom, if you recall, has long feuded with the 53-year-old publication for not including longboarding.
Cue, eye roll.
But wait! Maybe Joel is on to something!
Let’s examine.
“Sad to see Leroy Granni’s baby/surfing illustrated ( later becoming @surfing mag) close its doors. Had a subscription as a grom and frequently purchased issues during air travel. I feel for the staff that lost jobs and wish them luck on new opportunities. As I wish them well and thanks for the 53 years, y’all may of had a better chance of surviving if you had taken a more open view of our tribe. I tried to warn you guys many times but you never wanted to hear it! Aloha and mahalo”.
Now, nobody likes a “I told you so” but Joeljitsu has a point.
In the comment section he responds to a comment by Astrodeck matriarch Dibi Fletcher saying, “I hate online. Make houses look like libraries again. The value of looking at print is something that can’t disappear”.
But it is Joel! Magazine subscriptions are at an all-time low and advertising dollars are being re-routed from print towards sponsored online posts.
“I hate online. Make houses look like libraries again. The value of looking at print is something that can’t disappear.” Joel Tudor.
As a former staff writer for Surfing Mag, I can tell you that Joel is right when it comes to his qualms about the mag’s fragmented view on surfing. Where Surfer had a broad scope of the surf media landscape, including all sorts of wave riding and stories past and present, their adversary focused purely on progression, the here and the now.
Strangely, this difference in view created tension in the TransWorld building like you wouldn’t believe! Dildos would fly across the office at random! Fake announcements of a Todd Prodd art show were posted unabashedly in the break room.
Speaking of Surfer‘s Editor In Chief.
I interviewed with Todd before I got the job at Surfing and he told me some insight that I still hold dear to this day.
“Stab is for gossip,
What
Youth for the trendy, and those who don’t do surf
contest news,
BeachGrit for the surf
industry insiders,
Surfing had the next generation covered,
The Inertia the clueless
kook,
but Surfer, their goal was to appeal
to everybody.”
Why Surfing failed is also what made it great.
The magazine was made by those whose passion burned for the evolution of wave riding.
To grace the pages, you had to not only be ripping but actively seeking a new precedence for the sport of kings. Peter Taras and Jimi Wilson didn’t want to see Joel Tudor surfing eloquently straight, they wanted Yago Dora combos at Lakey Peak.
And while it made for dazzling imagery, there is only so many air reverses a person can take.