Ether Monthlyish 14.1- The Website is Go.

Lost in the Ether from Andrew Kidman on Vimeo.

Well done Mr. Kidman. Go to www.andrewkidman.com and take a stroll around. There's some very nice work there.

Ether Monthlyish #14- Kidman on the go

An update from the world of the edit shed where things have only seemed quiet. Young Andrew has been keeping very busy, a nice show at the LoFi Space in Sydney this past month hasn't keep him from working. The new website will up and running very soon for starters, and you can see him doing his thing in the fine Patrick Trefz film 'Idiosyncrasies'. It just screened at the New York Surf Film Festival (hence the tribute Lightning Bolt pizza from chez Kidman) and will be playing, along with a lot of other quite good stuff at the 1st Annual Canadian Surf Film Festival, which are some of the many events of late I wish I could have attended. The culture seems to be thriving, and many thanks to our East coast brethren for doing their part in keeping it so.

The Zen Of Asymmetry

The above item, dear friends, is a 5'10" regular foot asymmetrical surfboard designed and built by Carl Ekstrom. Carl lives in a elegant yet unassuming house in a quite lovely grove of Eucalypts. He designed and built the house himself, which is sort of a theme with him. Inside the house (which is incredibly organized and immaculate given what he does there) he has not only a museum quality array of cultural ephemera but a functional shaping bay to build these boards in and a workspace where he is designing and building some impressive fins. I will admit to being enthused by surfboard fins, and Carl's set up was the proverbial candy store- carbon fibre, flex resins, new jig designs for fin boxes- I was frothing to put it mildly, and he hadn't even shown me his flex board concept at that point. Needless to say it was an utterly enjoyable visit and should any of you be interested, Carl will build you a custom version of the above board, which is a very nice deal. This one belongs to Aussie Paul who is going to be a very happy bloke in a week or so. He's a mad bastard though, the wave below is one he plans on surfing.

Outside

Winter's coming. It got better here this past weekend too with the south, solid glassy closeouts that were surprisingly fun. The flextail worked it's magic, pure projection off the bottom and around sections on the few that had corners. I'm still feeling the glow, and those new Mackies will be here on the 4th. More boards very soon as I have a finished Ekstrom to collect tomorrow....

Offshore

All photos by Mick Mackie. If you think these are impressive, wait til you see the boards that are on the way. One is Mick's own lightly used flextail rocketfish, which will be a nice score for some lucky devil. Pictures soon I promise.

Merch Box and Some Tiddlers

So I surfed this past weekend. Generally LA beach + weekend is to be avoided, but there was talk of it being 'good' and even some mumblings about 'size' and 'south filling in, crowds at points'. so when I found a window in the AM I went for it. The 'size' was knee to thigh high breaking in knee deep water with a few waist high set waves- clean little waves to be sure, but little. I cursed the teller of tales and the fact that I hadn't got around to throwing a mat or a paipo in the truck for these sort of days, but having blamed other people and my equipment decided to go for it. I'm a surfer I told myself, we're meant to be into this wholeheartedly, big days, little days- it's the love of the glide and the ocean and the culture. The waves were working on somne level as there was a 1/2 mile string of longboarders down the beach, but I managed with a bit of a walk to find a nice little corner and sure enough there were some clean little ones. It was all about a low center of gravity and finding that line, turns were a bit pointless but you could slide one into the sand with care. I started realizing how much I like turns as opposed to sideslipping up and down the tiny faces. I rode a few on the knees to keep it interesting. I found going straight is more fun on the backhand, little dropknee tucks into the shallows. I scored a macker, legitimate belly high wave and managed something close to a turn at least, from the bottom of the wave to the top and back to the bottom, nose changing direction and both rails used at least a little, and decided to quit on that high point. Where am I going with this? Well, some days you just need something else to do, and I found so fun stuff while unpacking the merch box. Above you see copies of "___", fresh from Australia, numbered zine/DVD editions for $30. There's also 'Last Hope' DVDs ($25) and Kidman/Brown Birds CDs ($22) for your audiovisual pleasure. Literary action too- signed copies of Patrick Trefz's 'Thread' ($30), the last few copies of the wonderful 'Kook' newspaper ($6) and Jim Newitt's brilliant little 'Point Never' zine ($8). As the temperatures cool, there's even a few lightweight hoodies to keep you comfy while imbibing all this culture- Swift and Simmons designs, only $30. Postage is included on all this stuff because we like you, and you can order by emailing to info@foamandfunction.com. I'd also like to direct you towards Foulweather. Pete sent a couple of his zines and they are really fantastic, totally worth your support. Very simple, just non fiction writings on an oceanic theme, but exactly what a zine should be- entertaining, engaging and personal. $5 and you're set, it's an absolute bargain. Sorry for the mercenary nature of this post, but honestly these are all things worth supporting. This is the creative edge of the culture asserting itself on it's own tiny scale. None of the people doing this stuff have house on bluffs somewhere or take long exotic boat trips with the proceeds of self produced films or zines. This is simply done for the love of doing it, and I'm glad these folks are out there.

The idiosyncratic Harbour Bill

'Idiosyncrasies' is now available, as an actual DVD or some sort of download setup. It's a fine film, Trefz has the the touch and you should own it. Personality driven is I suppose how you'd describe it, the worlds of some slightly crazy but surf obsessed folks rather than the surf mag perfect wave shredding action. There's no shortage of exceptional wave riding going on though, and some of the best was from the Mulcoys. Trefz says the above photo is Harbour Bill a decade or so ago at the spritely age of 50. The man is a legend.

Afoot & afield in the North with a 5'5" & some tropic wax

Here's a tip for an Oregon secret spot. It's off the 5 of course, as there's no surf in Oregon- wind, fog, sharks and cold there's plenty of, but no surf so ignore the coast road. So exit the 5 at Central Point OR and find the Rogue Creamery. Buy some of the insanely good cheese (I was partial to the Caveman Blue) and a bottle or two from the expansive selection of beer and wine. Drive a bit further up the 5 to the Rogue River park, and have a picnic with your cheese and the apples and pears you bought earlier from a farmstand. Stoked. Actually did surf a bit between WA and L.A., and the mini Sim was perfect. Waves were fun, chest to head at best and colder than Lappland. At the mushier spots the planing deal came into full play and a few mediocre waves felt like an aquatic snakerun. At the better spots it was all speed and rail grabs, and the whole venture wound up with a little central cal peak being shared quietly with a goofy footer. That dog is still asleep and utterly worn out.

ADDENDA

I'm getting good at these- this was in the emails and I bet it'll be a lot of fun. If I can muster the time and willpower to get back in the truck I'll hopefully be there with Way Of The Bird books and the like.