Assassino do machado.
Fate is a funny thing. This very morning I drove, per the usual, to Album Surf in sunny San Clemente for my weekly chat with David Lee Scales. I wasn’t thinking about much, most of my interest soaked up by stumbling across Nic Harcourt hosting an obscure public radio morning program that somehow split headquarters between Northridge and Mission Viejo.
“Northridge and Mission Viejo?” I pondered over and over. “What strange bedfellows.”
Nic used to be host of Los Angeles’s KCRW’s famed Morning becomes Eclectic but was unceremoniously shown the door and I began wondering what he had done or what mad beef there had been in KCRW’s Venice-adjacent hallways some decade ago.
Interest soaked, in any case, until I pulled up at Album, waltzed in, sat across from David Lee and blathered on about Surf Ranch, Chris Cote, progression, regression, etc. until arriving at our segment closing “barrel or nah” where “barrel” means good or approved and “nah” means nah.
“Buying a home in which someone has been murdered,” David Lee asked.
“Barrel” I responded but the question did trigger another reflection about The Shining and its Overlook Hotel.
“Which of the world’s top 20 surfers, man or woman has the greatest capacity to become axe murderer?”
David Lee did not want to answer but I had sinking suspicion that it might be Gabriel Medina.
The current World number 1 has been electric all year with a personality that can only be considered a 180 turn from his previous self. He seems to be thoroughly enjoying his life, happy, easy-going, loving surfing etc. but also family struggles bubbling… somewhere.
Jack Torrance’s personality shifted drastically too. Family struggles bubbled.
After the podcast ended, I said my goodbyes, drove home and received a forwarded Instagram from the World Surf League’s account.
@swindler_ish, who sent, wrote, “Happy Gabi is gonna be pissed off Gabi when his 13000 point lead doesn’t secure the title coz he loses at trestles.
Axe-murdering pissed.
See?
Listen here.