Lucky number 69!
2025 dawns, for the surf industry, much like 2024 darkened. Scorched earth, doom and gloom, empty coffers, sad faces, poverty, fear, hunger, depression. In a word, apocalypse. Billion dollar Authentic Brands Group purchased the majority of our once-iconic brands Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, Volcom, etc. a few years back, though each of their fortunes continued to crash. Hurley, owned by BlueStar Alliance not doing any better what with the lucrative beard oil market failing to fully materialize.
Lower level professional surfers, once paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to professionally surf at a lower level, have been forced to turn to their upper-middle class families for support or worse, surf coaching.
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It’s the east and The Beach Boys are the sun!
Yes, the musical group responsible for bringing the surf lifestyle into homes far, thus planting the seeds for the aforementioned surf industry, is back and hotter than ever.
Tunes like Surfin’ USA, Surfin’ and Wipe Out ruled family rooms across the inlands, thrilling the corn fed in the middle 1960s, but none ever climbed as high as Little Saint Nick which just hit number 69 on the global Billboard Charts.
Christmas music, of course, gets hotter and hotter every year and The Beach Boys ode to a souped up Santa Claus ticks all the boxes. But who doesn’t swing when hearing the falsetto croon of a tale about Christmas that we’ve all been told? That real famous cat all dressed up in red who spends the whole year workin’ out on his sled. It’s the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick). It’s the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick).
While the main subject of the jingle is a candy apple red sled with a ski for a wheel, not a surfboard, hope is in extremely short supply and, thus, the news is being celebrated by the three interns left in charge of Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, Volcom, etc.
Though do you feel the thrill in your bones?
A return to cultural supremacy?
Here’s to the new year!
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dennis surfed and drowned/
Seems Paul McCartney is kind of a big fan of The Beach Boys, at least of Brian Wilson.
They even sang together in the past.
“You will never hear surf music again” Jimi Hendrix….
do i have a voice here? I can’t hear you~
Dude, you have the loudest voice here. You’ve made 16,949 comments since you appeared below the line on the 05/28/22. That makes you our second most prolific commentator behind Bexy at 20,957 since October 2018.
To put those numbers against something… I’ve been here since it started in 2014 (and I’m here a lot} and I’m at 11,073 comments.
Maybe try quality over quantity, if you’re seeking engagement??
believe me. I’m grateful to be included in this line-up. total respect for killing time where the only good news are our views.
Brutus. 👍🏻
deleted comment ????
That was me. Didn’t know who Negs’ question was directed at.
Occ deleted one. He thought I was asking him a question, but it was directed at you.
“You are only coming through in waves, your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying” – Sam George” – Twillsy
derek in 90s surfer. article by Longtom. don’t know The Spot~ DAA&X leashes&fins
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In other similar old ‘dull adjacent’ news.
Dennis Wilson’s surfboard (pictured above being carried by him and the band he played drums for) has passed through a few collectors hands and last sold for about $150,000 about 10 yrs ago, and is still privately owned.
‘Rosebud’, the famous red snow sled from Citizen Kane was bought by Steven Spielberg decades ago, and after sitting unappreciated in his office for years he put it in a movie academy museum so it could be seen by the public.
Fascinating stuff…
burkhart has big ears. eatin icelandic oysters~
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That picture of the Boys in time. Was destined for many interesting meanings as time goes by. Went from rank amateurs then to big time now. But still ignored by the wider world as serious gear..The Pool will be the game changer. Already is. Duke approves.
not really mate.
apropos of nothing, can BG dedicate 2025 to stoking the fires of the simmering feud between Britt M and Jon P?? Over at that other surf site (access journalism central), they ran a story about CI promoting a ‘family’ of surfboards and Mr P left a snarky comment (complete with photo receipts) about how his brand did it first back in 2019.
I’m torn, but feel like have to side with Mr P on this one…
Arguing over the use of the word Family seems a tad silly.
right in the Chas wheelhouse
cartoons. needed to quell that static!
GODDAMIT NEGS I FEEL OUTRAGED BY YOUR COMMENT ABOUT USING THE WORD FAMILY.
sounds like a bad Fast and the Furious sequel, tbh
I’d side with Pyzel too, but when he makes a “snarky” comment, I question if he remembers how he got to where he is.
If Alex Florence didn’t ask Pyzel to make a board for her 5yr old kid, about 25+yrs ago, would anyone know he exists today.
The answer to your question is …. possibly?
Didn’t Pyzel win board of the year one year for one of his designs (the Ghost?). Not sure if the judging is legitimate or not.
It really doesn’t matter how someone reaches an elite level (as long as they haven’t harmed or hindered someone else) just that they get there.
Every successful person has had a series of lucky breaks to assist them along on their journey.
Don’t forget that they are both from the general Santa Barbara area with Pyzel riding boards by MM who is one of the few competitors for Al (but not really). MM was the go to shaper for the Carpinteria crew that wanted to avoid CI. Pyzel moved to the North Shore, met Alex, and that’s how he got “famous” in the surfboard industry. It was never gonna happen in SB. I highly doubt it’s a fued, more likely a jealousy thing.
MM?
Sorry, Matt Moore. Shaper from Carpinteria under Rincon Designs label.
just ego’s rattling around the marketing…..did my first Hybrid about 14 yrs ago….Red Dingo…as cancer knocked the shit out of me…no more shortboards so challenge = make longer mid lengths that can still ride barrels and do hacks etc….then with Trip Foreman/Real Water Sports….5 years ago we came up with…the Twin Pin all the way to 9 0…..it’s a bit like who invented the pintail….who fucken cares..!!
back to the BB…have a friends who was with Brian Wilson when he was holed up in his house for a few years…he wanted to go to the beach so Uva suggested bring the beach to the house…..so a couple of trucks of sand later, whole living room was a beach!
think I speak for the entire BG kingdom when I say we would all much rather have the legend MC rattling in this rusty cage with us than JP or BM any day! … great story re Brian Wilson, people forget what an epoch altering achievement pet sounds was
it’s so bizarre when I read about todays bitch fights between shapers…they seem to be screaming at the clouds….that’s the domain of us ol men who are pro cloud screamers……trying to find original design from current shapers ( Ryan Burch excluded) is like searching for peace on BG,LOL!!!!
you ever hear the story(s) of Dennis and Manson?
manances/
no do tell….
Chas starting 2025 reinvigorated. Must be a new year’s resolution? Will this be over by MLK day? More as the story develops.
He’s going take his vapor fly shoes he bought two years ago out of the closet and run around the track for a week and then quit.
2025, the year the one-man Slab Tour takes the WSL to pound town.
My dry January is already over. I couldn’t even get through the first weekend.
celebrated dry January by filling up a box or two of spirits at the local liquor retailer on NYE (already need to do another run)
Entertaining the idea into reality even if didn’t take is impressive.
I’m shooting for sober october now.
Ocsober
Still holding strong here but several friends are out.
That’s okay… you’re still able to accept the consequences of drinking. When (or if) they become unacceptable, there’s a way to stay stopped. I haven’t had a drink/drug in over three decades. Sometimes I miss the toxic interruptions but never the consequences that always followed.
What’s your kids & wife’s relationship with booze/gear and you being the sober guy?
I find it hard at times seeing my kids coming of age and experimenting knowing the slog ahead if/when things go south.
For real, better being my parents and clueless
My parents didn’t even really drink till they were in their 40’s.
I’m pretty open with my kids but it’s stories of dabbling not the 1998 ketamine Olympics that actually happened.
I tried ket a few times in Hong kong where it was huge, meh, the shard on the other hand,
Whoah nelly!!
don’t thaw before cooking chef~
cubre lirba’s/
My wife has an occasional glass of wine. I don’t have any children. My wife’s remaining son (one passed away) drinks, but seems to keep it well in control… so far. AA friends with kids try to educate them about the consequences and use tough love, i.e. ‘if you’re going to drink/use, it’s your choice, but i won’t enable you in any way’.
Drug education when I was growing up was all scare tactics and consequences. Brain fried and homelessness was the only pathway.
I’ll tell my kids the consequences and do have plenty of shitty stories to tell but I’ll lightly sprinkle the good side too.
drug education on what’s out there dosage wise and drug testing services at festivals and the like are pretty awesome for youth.
Teenagers are going to teenage regardless of what the old boy has to say.
I keep coming back to the comments from Negs/Occ/Bexy……what sheltered lives, especially considering the diversity of drugs and mountainous quantities available…well forever….
my wife and I consumed with friends , enough drugs to probably start a cartel…with kids watching on and growing up in a drug sodden environment……..Kids now have grandkids , lot’s of stories , but this was a type of drug information program first hand….just about all the kids that grew up in similar environments learnt about drugs first hand…whereas kids that were sheltered and parents that decried the days of reefer madness……ended up becoming the fiends, and have no parameters around them once they left home….this town is full of stories about breakdowns/rip offs/deaths/even a murder….the large percentage of the perpetrators being from straight parents!
Mmm, doing rack on my kids ipad just seems wrong. But hey im just sheltered.
back in the day there were no ipads……we had mirrors and Marble
, and everybody’s Mom’s asses!
Ooh la la!!
old concerts and anyone at Fillmore east/west)
I expected a come back of between nipples?
planers from indo/
What was yours and the Wife’s parents relationship to drugs & booze?
didn’t really exist..my parents the off sherry or maybe a scoth..never ever saw my adopted parents even slightly pissed…same with the missus , father a Baptist minister and exwife sometimes drank a brandy.
What age were you adopted? At birth?
at birth ….mother was raped.
Oh. Sorry to hear that for both you and especially your birth mother.
It was a long search for 30 years + , met her once….very long story , but in the end there was sort oif closure until my daughter started following the DNA trail….found dear dad , bit of a famous yachtsman in Sydney , dead now….as I said to my daughter…now how do you tell his family Dad was a rapist…..???
such is life…but the tell all book will more than rattle a few cages,LOL!!
Those DNA tests can cause a lot of skeletons to fall out of the closet.
My Sister is adopted and meeting her birth mother and sister ended up being way harder than she’d ever imagined.
You hit the nail on the head, brother. I came from parents who were hippies in the 60s and had college degrees. They used to look at me and say ‘what the hell is wrong with you’. I could have easily been an attorney or a surgeon, instead of a lowly woodworker who surfs! 😆
ha my parents wanted me to become a bank teller….instead I became a surfer/shaper/designer , who adores living in the gutter……..ah us lowly surfers,LOL!
You could always quit surfing
I ponder that after every crowded session.
PSA, if you break all your New Years and/or dry January resolutions right away, you’ll have no regrets.
Shaken, not stirred
import!export?
Little St. Nick and 69. “Hold my nog!”
Dick Dale said, “Hold my beer!”
Fun fact: The Beach Boys were booed off the stage the first time they played in Orange County by all the core lord surf rock fans. Vocals in surf music was for kooks and posers.
Led Zep got booed while playing the intro to Stairway to Heaven the first time they played it live.
Jimmy Page then went to Norm’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana and practiced it til perfect on a …
I always pegged Jimmy a Guitar Center kinda guy.
Led Zep diddled a groupie with a mud shark
asterist*
the x-mas song written by Charlie Manson and Dennis Wilson (the drummer) remains stuck on the Billboard Chart at #666.
is Charlie related to Marylin…asking for a demon friend of mine?
aurora borealis by burkhart in iceland on a food network program/
https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx….
They were the OG vals