Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

David Bowie Has A Book Club Maybe 2018 won’t be terrible after all

When history looks back at our bizarre little era, it will agree on one thing: Everything went to shit real quick right after David Bowie died. It’s baffling how quickly reality unraveled after David Robert Jones left us in early 2016. Muhammad Ali, Prince, Tom Petty and a whole bunch of people you really like passed away soon after. A couple spooky elections happened. Hydrofoils became a thing and life has been in a bit of a free fall that makes my brain feel like it strained a nerve the more I think about it. Really not the best couple hundred of days around the sun. And yes, to all you optimists, there were a few bright spots. But even you fake-smile suckers can agree that the Star Man’s all-too-soon departure on January 10, 2016, was a massive bummer.

But guess what? As of this month you can now honor Bowie’s legacy outside of throwing The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars on your record player while you lung a cigarette and have a cry in some dark bedroom. How? Well, Duncan Jones, David’s son, has started a book club in honor of his late father. It’s aptly titled the “Bowie Book Club.”

Why a book club? Glad you asked. Bowie was notorious for being voracious reader throughout his life. Apparently he would take down three to four books a week. One time he brought over 400 books with him to Mexico while filming 1976’s “The Man Who Fell To Earth” — no kidding. Rumor even has it that reading Jack Kerouac’s On The Road was the whole reason he decided to get out of his hometown of Bromley and pursue the whole music caper. So just when you thought the Thin White Duke couldn’t get any cooler he pulls that little fun fact out of his back pocket.

Duncan will be curating the book club, offering up a new book every month. A majority of the suggestions will be pulled from Bowie’s widely-publicized “Top 100 Books” list. You can follow along with it all here.

The inaugural pick is Peter Ackroyd’s 1985 postmodernist novel, Hawksmoor. Readers will have until February 1st to polish it off. Check it out. Sounds like a great starting point for anyone (hello) whose made a personal promise to read more in the new year.

But if books and reading sound like a bunch of nonsense to you then well, that’s a damn shame to hear. It’s never too late to start, though. And this the closest thing you’ll get to a perfect opportunity to get things going.

Also, here’s an unreleased demo of Bowie’s 1983 hit single (find it up top) “Let’s Dance.” It just hit the web in honor of his 71st birthday, which would have been today if he were still with us (sad face). Headphones on. Click play. Enjoy. And then go read Hawksmoor like the rest of us. –James Royce

 

Why would anyone wanna leave Paris? Donald Trump is making it harder to be a youth on the run

The great Gloria Steinem put it best: In response to Trump’s attempt at pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement: “Too late, we’re already pregnant.” Yesterday Donald Trump announced that the United States was leaving the Paris Climate Agreement. Now, I suggest you do a little homework (always a good idea), but the short of it:…

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What’d you do this weekend? We threw ourselves into the pit with The Murder City Devils

“A lot of our songs early on were about romanticizing places we weren’t. Other places, other towns, things we couldn’t get to” said Spencer Moody, lead singer for The Murder City Devils before a secret show they were playing Saturday night. And yes, this was a place you definitely wish you woulda been. And it…

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This is Absurd An old note comes back to haunt and hype us

Editor’s note: This was originally published in What Youth Issue 1 (which is now sold out) as an intro to Kai’s film Dear Suburbia,. It recently struck another modern chord with us as we thought of all the impending doom out there. And this kind of reminded us that’s it still, in the face of insanity,…

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How we met Yago Dora Yago’s success at the Rio Pro is validating something we’ve known for a long time. Let’s recall.

Long before the WSL started with the weird warrior techno hype video things, we were watching Yago Dora. His surfing caught our eye, but it was his vibe, his personality, his approach that really stuck with us. In What Youth Issue 13 we recall his ability to jump in our big white van and road trip…

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did you see that new WSL commercial? Is Dion right? Is it time we say no to the WSL?

I’m quite depressed right now. There are the sharks. Crowds. Hospitals. Stress. Bills. Work. Marketing. Branded Content. And WSL. And it’s the WSL that’s really getting to me right now. This morning the first thing I read on Instagram was Dion Agius (on Aussie time) calling out the WSL for turning their new promo video…

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Cull Your Fear A spike in shark sightings and an attack in Southern California raise the debate…again

Editor’s Note: Taylor Paul is a surfer. A really good, big wave surfer in fact. Mavericks, Dungeons…all the scary ones, that come with lots of sharks. He has researched this, spoken with experts on shark populations, flown in helicopters to look for them (and found them) and lived in Santa Cruz, Southern California and San Francisco….

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What’s Dane Been Up to? We spent the weekend with the Reynolds family filming for a new Fairly Normal

Dane was home this weekend. A classic California pre-summer day: lots of blue, couple fun waves and lots of traffic. We met up with Dane at Rincon, where he surfed glassy and “1-foot but perfect” Rincon for an hour on a Channel Island twin fin (with a small trailer). He had earlier told me his…

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Let’s talk about trunks (briefly) We built this industry on them, so why are so few pairs worthy of your thighs?

Today marks the release of Former’s “Control” boardshort. So yes, full disclosure, we back them, and what they’re doing, so there’s the commercial above. It’s really cool. And those trunks look sick on Dane. But I do still retain the right as an editor and one of a few who started this whole blessed mess…

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The Surfer/Hooper Index Craig Anderson is Steph Curry and other ridiculous comparisons to kick off the NBA playoffs

The NBA is probably the most commercialized athletic event in the world. This makes it the most unlike surfing (kinda). But at its core, basketball is like surfing. I’ve been around both types enough to see the personalities, egos, artistry, techniques and grandiosity of both sports. They are completely unrelated — maybe like distant second…

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Does WSL = Christian Youth Group? Conservative and “cool” with really bad music

When I was in high school there were always people trying to get us to join them at their church youth groups. They would meet on Tuesday night and camouflage the underlying church message beneath the prospect of a healthy amount of cute girls and “rock music” on a school night. I would sometimes go (there really…

Tanner And Norwegian Black Metal Bright guy, dark music

We had a sunny surf and followed it with Coronas in a dark bar full of magicians.  There were lots of smiles and laughs throughout our hour long afternoon sit down with Tanner Gudauskas, as you’d expect, but there was also critical analysis of what the hell it is surfers do for a living and existential life…

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My Fondest Memory: Airport Beers After a week in paradise, it’s the anticipation in those pre-flight bubbles I remember

I just got home from five days in absolute “paradise.” Clear water, boat rides, adventure, diving, nurse shark sightings, couple fun waves, good friends, dark rum and cold mini beers whenever I needed. A quick jaunt to recharge. I read some books, rode some waves, danced in the Third World discotheque, ordered foreign foods in foreign…

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