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

Peter Hook and the Light at the Wiltern And we all danced

If you don’t like at least one song by Joy Division or New Order than you’re probably a liar. The thing about both of these bands is that they are so prominent in music of various genres. Whether you like it or not, we hear them everyday in our favorite bands. The extent of their influence in the post punk and new wave world goes far beyond the eye can see and it’s reputably timeless. If you’ve ever been to a New Order concert you can see this translate effortlessly into their performance.

I’m a shameless crier when it comes to shows. I cried during Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Air, Beyoncé… I probably cried at a Bright Eyes show when I was 14 and I definitely cried at my first concert ever when I was 9 – The Backstreet Boys. So touching and so moving – when a piece music makes you feel everything at once at a moment in time.

Anyway, it’s really no surprise that I shed more than a tear at Peter Hook and The Light when they played at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

My favorite New Order album is their debut one from 1981, “Movement” and like every other great album, it was released poorly by the critics at the time of its release. I’m not trying to snub Bernard Sumner because he’s massively talented and just as important as Hook, but Hook sings on the most Ian-sounding songs on the record (“Dreams Never End,” “Doubts Even Here”) so for him to sing Joy Division songs in a live setting seems appropriate.

“Movement” is dark like Joy Division but it’s hopeful like everything else by New Order. Peter Hook and the Light mimicked this mood into their set the other night. Hook’s low Curtis-like vocal range made it easy to relish in the Joy Division/New Order revolution that seems to rock and rattle each decade since the 80s.

Hook and his band played an hour of New Order hits followed by an hour of Joy Division bangers with a short intermission in-between.

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He wasted no time from the beginning, playing “Ceremony” second and inviting out Moby who sang the song while embodying Curtis’ dynamic stage energy respectfully enough to where it wasn’t tacky or overdone. Moby came back out one more time during the Joy Division set and sang his heart out to “Transmission.” You can hate Moby all you want but it was pretty psycho in a totally cool and versatile way.

You got to give Peter Hook credit for giving the fans what they want. The performance was seemingly more catered to a Joy Division-centric fan base, which is why I recommend seeing him play in this manner versus New Order, although both are not to be missed. So many people in the crowd weren’t even born until after Curtis died. Now, thanks to Hook, we all can feel a little piece of the “Substance.”–Asal Shahindoust

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Kelly Slater Announces Outerknown And everyone (except us) freaks out because it’s expensive

I love Kelly Slater. Always have. For all the infinite reasons there are to love him: he’s a great rep for surfing, great surfer, great looking, great, great great. He’s a little conservative (maybe) at times — but not really. He’s open-minded, and that’s all I ask. And let’s keep in mind the dude’s 43 —…

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I still haven’t found a way to ask for “more red wine” on an airplane without sounding like a mumbling, lunatic alcoholic. The sounds, the letters, the tight quarters and awkward seating arrangements on board. Just can’t get it. But somehow, they decipher my gibberish and continue to fill my glass. We’re currently a little all…

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Jack London Calling Surfing, Books and Drinking for your long weekend in the sun

Jack London is a writer — rather famous one too. He wrote The Call of the Wild, The Sea-Wolf, Iron Heel, White Fang and tons of other famous novels in the early 1900’s that you may have been told to read and probably didn’t. Turns out London wrote about surfing too. In 1907 he was…

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Misguided Men with a Journal The defining “SurfCore” article came out. And it sucks.

Before we get too deep, let’s remember anyone using Men’s Journal as a resource for fashion advice, or anything outside of Creatine dosage, probably doesn’t skate our ramp. But, they spoke about surfing. And style. And fashion. So we must acknowledge. (And talk shit.) So let’s begin. Here’s a sentence in the article, next to a…

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Craig Anderson at Desert Point Full Gallery Photographed by Nate Lawrence

Editor’s Note: When Nate Lawrence calls and says he’s going to Desert Point with Craig Anderson, I mostly assume that Nate means he will be surfing alongside Craig, because Nate fucking loves surfing Desert Point and he more or less hates shooting Desert Point. But on this trip, he did a bit of both. And…

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Dane Reynolds is World Champ Why Sampler is so much more than a heat win

Why Sampler is so much more than a heat win

“It’s a weird feeling” Brendon Gibbens on being in Cluster

I was en-route back to South Africa from WA when Kai invited me to Europe for the Cluster tour. Without hesitation, I accepted the invitation, spent 10 hours in SA and then flew directly to Spain to meet up with Kai, minus the board bag. It’s a weird feeling to be in a Kai film….

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Humming ((Sounder)) C.S. Louis and the economics of a hangover purchase

Last night I was JD Rockefeller but the Latino version. Endowing the arts, buying kalimotxos, schmoozing Argentine musicians, spinning women and hailing cabs on a winterlike eve. Today I have $9.99. And perhaps more pertinently limited bandwidth, limited patience, fits of anxiety and tremoring hands. I tried to shred it off in two foot onshore slop but…

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“It’s still not on!” The WSL learning surfing is still a shit show

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On “Fucking the WSL” We never intended to get them so laid

I’ve got a bone to pick. And it aint with the ASP, WSL, PGA, NFL or any other softball leagues. At least not today. It’s with anyone who’s so sensitive that when Noa Deane (or anyone) “popped the inevitable zit” and publicly de-flowered the WSL that it was deemed so offensive to “surf culture” that he had…

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We saw Meatbodies at Thalia’s Wax Ball A sick monthly rock show in Laguna Beach

Keeping Laguna Weird with Thalia Surf Shop

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