The Power of One

I was watching a doco on free-to-air TV about The Power of One author Bryce Courtney and was heartened by the fact that the close up shot showed he was typing even worse then me.

But then the shot pulled back wide and the guy is 78. He says he's had three knee reconstructions, heart surgery, divorce, lost a son, worked in Zambian copper mines and he's probably got arthritis to boot. No wonder he's typing worse then me.

But he's published 20 best sellers in 20 years (No I haven't read any of them). Now that's inspiring.

We all have some great yarns to tell and the telling gets longer and more interesting as the years swing past. Watching that old author pounding away reminded me that you can't leave this creativity gig too late in life to start. I'm going to assemble all those chanced overhearings, family myths and my own badly remembered misadventures and mangle them into my own fictional bio called "Caffein, Cameras and Commuting". There will be special mention of nefarious hijinks. . .not sure if people will still be reading books by the time I get to 78 though.
Have an inspiring weekend.

Namesake

Album of the week is solo effort The Cat by Ben Salter, guitarist, keyboarder of Aussie bands The Gin Club and Giants of Science. Most notable for the saxophone performances by one Julien Wilson, namesake of that Coolum pro surfer and ambassador of the "swoosh" logo. What namesake would you choose to change your name to (or use as an alias/pseudonym)? Slater? Wilson? Wright? Andersen? Petersen? Greenough? Simmons? Moondoggie? Gidget? I personally like the sound of Batman Brine, Duke Drouyn or Velzy Petersen.

Today's post is for my brine brother "H" (pictured surfing and with bug), who is hauling one of his many VW's somewhere between his bushy digs in the Noosa hinterland and the crispy burbs of Melbourne. Travel safe mate.

Abstract resin tint art work taken at Casa HV is by H's fave shaper Ian Chisholm of South Coast Longboards. Have a colourful, glassy weekend (it's Spring after all)

Aquarian Blues

Continuing yesterday's hororsope theme - another fellow Aquarian was Blind Willie Johnson, who sang wonderful gospel tinged blues on classics such as "Nobody's Fault but Mine" (think Led Zeppelin), "Motherless Children" (think Clapton), "In My Time of Dying" (think Dylan), "Soul of a Man" (think Bruce Cockburn) and "Dark Was the Night and Cold Was the Ground".

Blind Willie's classic tune "John the Revelator" is currently aboard the Voyager 1 space probe hurtling towards whatever is out their beyond the solar system. Rock on Willie.

Blue/Green Dream

The Original Search Engine

The original search engine was a big old fume-spewing, metal monster sucking down fully leaded petrol into 6 or 8 cylinders with no power steering. 

The original search engine would get you to the beach. Most of the times. But as we look back on those analogue days last century, it was probably the disasters that bring us a smile. On the positive side, the original search engine usually had nice wide bench seats suitable for romance at the drive-in theatre where you would catch Crystal Voyager, Endless Summer, Morning of the Earth or any number of Bob Evans' surf movie classics. The sound would come out of a mono speaker at the end of a cable that you hung on the window. Remember not to drive off with it still attached!

His father, Perc Miller, was a famous artist. His mother called him Darryl. But to the rest of us he is Baron Von Weirdo - legend of surfing retro - black velvet painting, vintage surfboards and skateboards, tiki, ukeleles and other assorted Hawaiiana. And of course beautiful tees with slogans like "in odd we trust" and "original search engine" featuring all metal retro autos like those he painted on wood above. 

He also had a beautiful art exhibition called "The Original Search Engine". You can see highlights on Yewwtube here. Evocative. Stunning. Below, Kathy Kohner, the real Gidget, with her own original search engine - a 1946 Ford V8 "Woody". The Search continues.

Kombi King x Euro Queen

King of Kombi's, H has finally forsaken the single life to marry Vita at Noosa National Park a few weeks back. All the best from the surfing community.

Photos: Barry Davis

H and Oz surf legend, Bob McTavish and another VW. I love those headlights. How many VW's does this guy have?

Kombi Art for Vita - On the Road to Mount Warning. 

Hoping to slide Tea Tree next week during the Noosa Festival of Surf 2010.

Before the Flood

Snapped this one in the carpark at Happy Valley, which has had some nice walls lately. Just don't hit those lefts too far out into the channel. It's getting murky and lurky out there from all of the rain and run off from the Glasshouse Mountains. There have been quite a few sharks up this part of the country - great whites that don't normally like our warm summer waters.

Managed to snap up some great music bargains in my summer travels including Bobby Zimmerman's live classic double album Before the Flood, recorded in 1974 around the same time Brinetopia had one of it's biggest floods in recorded history.

And now the holiday is over and it's back to work - wearing shoes, commuting, iPods and the office.

"I'm going up the country, babe don't you wanna go
I'm going to some place where I've never been before
I'm going, I'm going where the water tastes like wine"

Canned Heat Going Up the Country 1968