"I want to be a punk rock Medici.”

There was once a time, almost lost in the mists, when the bleeding edge in high performance surfing could only be found on VHS cassettes, sometimes Beta cassettes too (if someone had a friend whose parents owned a Saab and liked to to “go agains the flow”). Radical clips of hot action all scored to the very latest in punk pop stylings. Pennywise, Lagwagon, NOFX and, of course, Blink-182.

The San Diego-area trio featured on the best of the best auteurs, Taylor Steele, before exploding to worldwide fame themselves. Fame and enough riches for frontman Mark Hoppus to purchase the Banksy painting “Crude Oil (Vettriano)” in 2011.

The work a riff on the 1992 painting “The Singing Butler” by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, Banksy adding a sinking oil liner and two characters in hazmat suits moving a barrel of waste.

Well, Hoppus is now taking it to auction at Sotheby’s where it is estimated to bring in between $3.8 mil and $6.35 mil.

“It was first exhibited in (Banksy’s) landmark exhibition in Notting Hill in 2005, which really propelled (Banksy) into the public sphere,” Mackie Hayden-Cook, specialist, contemporary art at Sotheby’s, declared. “It’s rare for a work of this quality to come to market, and this one really has all the best ingredients. A fabulous owner, it’s hand-painted, impeccable exhibition history, and its subject is more urgent now than ever before.”

Hoppus says that he will use the money to buy even more art.

“Coming up in punk rock, it was always the ethos that if your band got any success, you brought your friends up with you,” he shared. “So with this art sale, I hope to take some of the money and put it back into the art community with up-and-coming artists that we’re inspired by and just continue that…I want to be a punk rock Medici.”

And there you have it.

But if you could invest in one piece of art, which would it be?

Do you remember when Blink-182 was supposed to play the Surf Ranch Pro but cancelled and was replaced by Social Distortion?

Heady times.

Bid here on the Banksy.

"At this time, no injuries are reported in Capitola, and we want to keep it that way!"

The Covid years of our lives are, mercifully, behind us. Dark days when humans wandered around very scared of each other’s germs. Distance and distrust codified into statues ruling every human interaction. Practicing not just caution but an “abundance of caution” the proper social flex.

The “abundance of caution” was liberally employed to cancel, or otherwise restrict, all manner of joy and fun. Parties, picnics, surf contests. Ruling like a power-starved dictator until the disease finally ran its course through the population and folk abandoned it for subway surfing.

Well, in a shock turn few saw coming, the “abundance of caution” is back. Days ago, northern California experienced a wild run of unruly swell. Quaint Capitola, near Santa Cruz, did not like the big surf, even though the sun was shining and the birds singing. It did not want surfers surfing in it nor spectators even watching it.

But what to do?

Dust off the old chestnut is what.

The local police department shuttered the beach and the city released the following statement over social media.

As of approximately noon on 3/1/25 Capitola PD, Central Fire, State Parks, and Harbor Patrol have responded to multiple serious water rescues off of the Capitola Beach. Out of an abundance of caution the Capitola Beach and Wharf are closed until approximately 4 pm due to high surf, crowd size, and fast moving debris as a potential danger to public safety. At this time, no injuries are reported in Capitola, and we want to keep it that way!

No reported injuries. An “abundance of caution” locking it all down to keep it that way.

Does it warm your heart to see the phrase return or does it give you PTSD?

I wonder how disgraced former World Surf League CEO Erik Logan feels?