Surfrider Texas Chapters Conference!

I ran out of time to publish this article about my recent trip to the Surfrider Texas Chapters Conference in Galveston, but I will just take a quote from Rob Nixon and say Ditto! From Rob's blog:

All said and done, I personally had a great time with some amazing coastal Activists who put in thousands of volunteer hours a year sacrificing time with Family and surf sessions to ensure that Texas Beaches are preserved and kept open for everyone to enjoy and pass on to the next generation.  These exceptional Texans embody what it means to be a Texan.  We were all raised with the ingrained ethic of fiercely defending what you love at all costs and that moral obligation passed down from previous generations of Texans to us runs strong throughout the Texas Surfrider Foundation Chapters!

I was so stoked to meet all of the great Texas activists, and the crew from California. Truly inspiring people, and it was great to see the passion that everyone had for protecting the coast!

At Carol Severance's House - Note the house was occupied as a vacation rental as we stood for this kodak moment

From Ellis Pickett from the Surfrider Foundation Upper Texas Coast Chapter:

"about our field trip: We stopped by the beach house owned by California divorce attorney Carol Severance. She is the person who purchased 5 Galveston properties a few years ago. Three of which were already on a list of houses in violation of the Texas Open Beaches Act (TOBA) and subject to removal by the state. She then filed a lawsuit against the people of Texas. Her goal was to overturn TOBA (the law that guarantees public access to our beaches for everyone, not just front-row owners). Six members of our Texas Supreme Court ruled in her favor and against the people of Texas last year. The result: there is no public beach above the high tide line on the West End of Galveston Island. Did I mention that she also accepted the FEMA buyout and netted over $900,000 profit after she gutted the TOBA & has since had FEMA fraud charges filed against her.

Here is a group photo of Surfrider Foundation officers standing in front of the house she is accused of defrauding FEMA in this debacle. And now, for the rest of the story. She applied for the FEMA buyout for houses that were more than 50% damaged. Because they were too expensive to rebuild. She then began to rent the "badly damaged" house on a weekly basis to tourists (as she had done since she bought it). I don't know the actual price, but these houses go for about $4000/week. When FEMA accepted her application, her neighbors were upset. You see, they didn't want the house torn down and the lot turned into public property in the middle of their exclusive, gated subdivision of only 12 houses. The other owners sued to stop the sale. They failed. The deal was about to take place and her good neighbors accused her of FEMA fraud. She inflated the damage estimates in order to qualify for the buyout. How could she continue to rent a house for thousands of $$ a week and still claim the house was beyond repair? Her good neighbors even stated they "did not want the public" in their subdivision. Severance gutted our Texas Open Beaches Act, and her good neighbors gutted her. I guess it was a friendly neighborhood until the repugnant idea of having the public use their beach turned them all against each other."

Again, an inspiring trip, and crucial thanks to the Galveston Chapter for being such great hosts, and I got some surf!

Green Day Secret Show Red 7

The "secret show" with Green Day tonight in Austin is something that I have been watching ever since twitter started buzzing about them cruising around town in Austin a couple of days ago. I was super bummed that I missed them for the Surfrider secret show, and now a little over two weeks later I will be at Red 7 with 499 fellow Austinites hitching a ride! Kerplunk was a big album for me, so this should be quite the time! Plus $20 is $60 less than Radiohead would have cost me (and better venue with vomit covered toilet seats!).

UPDATE: Had a great time at the 2.5 hour Green Day secret show at Red 7 in Austin, TX. Billy Joe, Tre and Mike were hanging out at the bar and walking around Red 7 (and Billy Joe was drinking a ton of Lonestar). At one point Mike was literally bumping elbows with me by the back bar watching the opening band. Pretty cool that everyone was being cool about it (or didn't recognize them). Security was super tight on cameras, but I ended up Taking a bunch of footage stealth mode, will try to get it all up. Pretty awesome night and epic show!

"2,000 light years away and brain stew"



New unreleased song "Carpe Diem"



"She"



"Dominated Love Slave (Texas version)"



"Enemy"



"Lone Star Piss"



"Hitchin' a Ride" and "Welcome to Paradise"



"Longview"

BJ Armstrong Pre-Show

Setlist:

1.Welcome To Paradise
2.American Idiot
3.Nuclear Family
4.Carpe Diem
5.Oh Love
6.Murder City
7.Hitchin' a Ride
7.Stay the Night
8.Stop When the Red Lights Flash
9.Hybrid Moments - Misfits
10.Hybrid Moments - Misfits
11.Let Yourself Go
12.Longview
13.Stray Heart
14.Amanda
15.Dominated Love Slave
16.Letterbomb
17.She
18.99 Revolutions
First Encore:
19.It's Fuck Time - Foxboro Hot Tubs
20.It's Fuck Time - Foxboro Hot Tubs
21.Stop Drop and Roll - Foxboro Hot Tubs
22.Stop Drop and Roll - Foxboro Hot Tubs
23.Hybrid Moments - Misfits
24.Teenagers From Mars - Misfits
25.2000 Light Years Away
26.Brain Stew
27.Paper Lanterns
28.One For The Razorbacks
29.Going to Pasalacqua
30.St. Jimmy
31.Amy
Second Encore:
32.8th Avenue Serenade
33.Know Your Enemy

Quotes: 

 • "I've Gotta Take a Lone Star Piss"
• "Do you know what twurking is? It’s like a vertical lap dance. I want everyone grinding up against the person next to you for this one."
• "Holy shit, is that a 40 ouncer? Did you know my wedding was BYOB?"
• "Is this thing on? That’s what my wife asks me when we’re having sex."

Shored Up Funded!

I'm happy to report that the Documentary "Shored Up" has been funded! The movie:

"explores why we have chosen to build right up to a tumultuous sea on the most dynamic and vulnerable stretches of land to storms, tides and winds and  the challenges we face in making that choice.  It also explores the debate between property owners, developers, recreational users, scientists and environmentalists that rages in all coastal towns and cities of how best to deal with these challenges."


Make sure you check out all of the progress here, and check out the official trailer to get a further look into Ben Kalina's film.



Here is my contribution! Stoked on this project!

Raptoberfest - The Wheel

Super stoked that I won "The Wheel" category for Surfrider's One Foot at a Time photo contest during Raptoberfest! Big thanks to Surfrider, Rusty, and Cliff Bar for putting on such an awesome event!

Congrats to all of the other winners as well! You can view all the results here.

Yacht Fun Fun Fun Fest

Yacht may have been one of our favorite sets of the whole festival. With the dance party in full effect, and Ryan Gosling backstage this was a great time! A little disappointed with the sound quality on my iPhone 4s (flip was out of commission), but here is Yacht and all their glory.

Slayer Fun Fun Fun Fest

The name says it all, and Slayer didn't let the crowd down. Unlike Danzig, who wanted stage heaters and french onion soup, Slayer tore through a two hour set echoing far and near shredding through town lake and the surround neighborhoods. Pretty amazing set to see.

Del The Funky Homosapien at Fun Fun Fun Fest

I've seen Del a handful of times now, and I always am stoked on his positive message and funky music. Whether it's Hieroglyphics, The Gorillaz, or Handsome Boy Modeling School, he always lays it down.

Spoon Fun Fun Fun Fest

After seeing Spoon at the Scoot Inn awhile back, I wasn't that impressed with their live show (performance felt a little bit dry and it was really cold out too...). Their show at Fun Fun Fun Fest was a completely different experience, and the full brass band really enhanced the show and kept the energy up! They sounded great, played a ton of great songs, and I'm officially back on the Spoon live concert experience.

tUnE yArDs fun fun fun fest

tUnE yArDs is a band that I never get sick of, and was not sure what to expect seeing them live. With such a diverse sound and unique voice (most people think that the lead singer is a guy), I learn something new about their music every time, and was very impressed by the energy they had on stage. Definitely one of my favorite sets of the festival, here is "Gangsta" that brought it all home!

The Joy Formidable Fun Fun Fun Fest

The Joy Formidable put on a great set, and I was stoked to see them going all out on stage. This 10 minute epic version of "Whirring" includes crazy blow up cats, gong banging, and guitar destruction. Good times!

We Were Promised Jetpacks Fun Fun Fun Fest

We Were Promised Jetpacks was one of the driving forces behind Sunday's early arrival (and the festival for that matter), and the boys from Edinburgh did not disappoint. Playing an equal mix from In the Pit of the Stomach and These Four Walls their set was good throughout. My only wish was that I could see them as a headliner on their current US tour, but I was stoked to see them back in Austin!

Ryan Gosling Fun Fun Fun Fest Austin

Not much to say other than Ryan Gosling is the all time hollywood hot guy at the moment (ask Leyla about him and her Falafel). Here he is lifting his shirt for your viewing enjoyment at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas. Music posts to come soon, this just couldn't wait...

UT Longhorn Game

Drinking Soda

Growing up in NorCal I never watched college football, in fact if it wasn't the Giants, 49ers or Warriors I wasn't interested. When I went to college UCSB or SDSU didn't have elite football teams, so again, not much interest there. When I made it to Austin all of sudden college football isn't something that people pay attention to in Austin, it's WHAT they pay attention to (and hipster obviously). So much in fact that everyone wears burnt orange on Saturdays, and the cops let you walk around with open containers for miles around the Longhorns stadium on game day (I'm convinced this is like the Truman Show and I'm the only non actor). With tailgate parties that remind me of SXSW (with free beer and food and swag), it is a fun day before you even get to the football game.

UT Tradition

In the stadium itself there are marching bands at all corners of the stadium (remind you I played trumpet in High School), cannons blasting, a huge cow named Bevo, huge drums, and last but not least, all sorts of songs and chants and traditions that 100,000 people are locked into for the whole game. Only buzz kill is they do not sell booze in the stadium, but they do sell soda, so a LOT of SODA gets drank at these games. Awesome time, with awesome seats (thanks to Mr. Little), and a great Halloween pre-party in Austin! I still don't necessarily get the college football thing, but it was a good time and HOOK EM!

Leyla hooks Bevo

Sat. Night Lights

Real Bevo on Jumbotron

Me and Mr. Little Pre-Game

Ladies Hook Em!