Rosetta
By 21 years of age Max had won the WCT tour three times and was breaking new musical ground with every session. His Trumpuba, or "True-ba" as fans started to call it, allowed him to comprehensively channel his grandiose musical vision. Max began playing with a poet and spoken-word artist named Bhomal. Bhomal grew up in the Congo and came from a long lineage of medicine men. He incorporated African polyrhythms and verbalized versions of the African talking drum into his performances. Bhomal interspersed poetic melodies with improvised jazz-like scat. He also had a knack for hypnotism.
During one of their first jams together at Max's farm near Davenport, CA, a few friends sat on a couch and listened. Max and Bhomal immediately locked into a syncopated, seething, building, drone-heavy groove. The communication between the two of them was more intimate than either had ever experienced. And they noticed something else too. When they mutually thought to raise the musical energy, the friends who were listening began to dance with greater and greater vigor. When Max and Bhomal shifted the music to a more evil and menacing sound, the friends snarled, growled and looked angrily at one another. When Max and Bhomal shifted to the happy/friendly mixolydian mode, the friends immediately began to smile and hug each other and leap around joyously. It was as if the friends personified each and every musical vibration.
After the jam Max and Bhomal spoke with their friends about what happened. "The music just lifted me up and took me away." "It was as if my entire outlook got taken over by the feelings of the music." "I think this new drug we took called Rosetta is really really good!"
"Wait.. wait... wait a minute," said Max. "What new drug, what are you talking about?"
Max's friend Emily explained, "Well, my father is a biochemist at Berkeley. He's been researching chemicals that induce empathetic reactions. Over the last 10 years he thinks that he's narrowed down a drug that heightens the user's emotional sensitivity to artistic expression. He can't explain exactly how it works, but when you take it, you're absolutely overwhelmed by the majesty of art, whether it's the fine-arts, dance, music, or even the art of nature, such as cloud formations, ant hills and cactus. My dad calls it Rosetta because it translates the primal language of art into visceral experience."
"It sounds like other hallucinogens"
"Well.. the difference is that you never lose control. You can always snap back to sober normalcy whenever you want. But if you relax your superego and let yourself flow, the Rosetta takes you deeper and further than I've ever experienced. Before you and Bhomal jammed, however, I'd never really gotten too far out there with the stuff, but something in the music that you were playing sent me to another plane altogether. The music sent me way out to the outer cosmos of existence."
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Check out the niceness interview with Matt Warshaw
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Check out the J.O.C.'s T-shirt company
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Ian photos
yo e,
Posted by: mig at July 27, 2005 10:42 AMany chance of posting an mp3 clip of the true-ba sound?
Holy crap! E.S. rules!!!
Posted by: Burnt reynolds at July 27, 2005 11:00 AMAnyone know how I can lengthen my fingers?
Posted by: MSG at July 27, 2005 11:02 AMgo here watch the barrel ride
http://cisurfboards.com/vid_rob1.asp
Posted by: machado rules at July 27, 2005 11:09 AMHer ya go MSG. http://www.geocities.com/iafrg_web/articles/fitbone.html
Great job E. Damn there's a lot of smart surfers in SF. I wish I was one of them.
VH1 and MTV sucks. The videos are so lame.
I need to catch some waves.
Posted by: Dennis at July 27, 2005 11:11 AMInterview is a great read. Thanks E.
Posted by: tucker at July 27, 2005 11:18 AMGreat interview...once again.
Posted by: MCC at July 27, 2005 11:20 AMgreat interview e. interesting that even surf mag editors can't be trusted.
i'm just back from a japan trip, jet-lagged and nodding in and out of consciousness at my desk. returning from there is completely disorienting in many ways. i did manage to get some great waves at some very empty spots. although on my last day i sat beachfront, boardless and pissed, watching a typhoon fire-off perfect waves.
Posted by: rza at July 27, 2005 11:58 AMGot a ring from an old friend last night.
"Its my birthday, lets surf manana in la manana"
After a short drive south, we found pseudo glassy small waves and held the "Men who ride Molehills Contest"
It was surfing, barely.
Posted by: blakestah at July 27, 2005 11:58 AMnice catch e. great interview.
kloo, i'm still thinking about what i want. it's likely to be a squash tail thruster sized for my linebacker build. eggs and fishes are good sources of protein. my retro phase is now a retrospective.
Posted by: 3to5setsof7 at July 27, 2005 12:04 PMNICE interview.
Went south a ways, too; dunno if to blakestah's spot, but I didn't see him. Not quite molehills by my kookish reckoning. Shoulder-high sets now and then, side-offshores. But not as big or as reliably fun there as it was for a couple of sessions over the last few days. The best waves were more focused on one pretty crowded spot where you'd get some size and steepness at the cost of more close-outs. A couple fun walls, though.
A seal was sitting on the beach near the peak; when a dog came by it'd go back in the water until the dog passed. Made me a LITTLE concerned as to why.
Posted by: kloo at July 27, 2005 12:13 PMGreat interview E. First surf history book I read was by Warshaw. Glad you mentioned that he's got a dream job. Next I'd be interested in hearing from a local who works way too much and still finds time to surf regularly.
Small waves...small enough for round 2 with the Coleman Raft? It still has 2 unpopped air bladders. Of course there's no wind...the curse of the kite-gear purchase.
Posted by: Andrew in Alameda at July 27, 2005 12:14 PMgood interview. re: people bagging on Warsaw for exploiting the scene and in general, being all worried about OB/beginners/overexposure...
granted, this is a surf-report blog, but does anyone else ever wonder how the bad-vibers that chime in often here could be so wrapped up in "locals only" or "there are too many beginners and not enough waves" -type sentiments when there is clearly so much more going on in the world today that potentially could change the way we live/survive in very fundamental ways? i mean c'mon, pick a sector: politics, religion, energy, environment...the list goes on and on...and someone is all bent out of shape about pictures of their break in a magazine? or reports on how the waves were/are that day? fucking snap out of it or surfing will be the last of your worries.
/soapbox
Posted by: mk1201 at July 27, 2005 12:21 PMe.
Epic interview! Matt is a cool head. I have alot of respect for the guy.
Posted by: flap at July 27, 2005 12:22 PMuh, sorry, Warshaw
Posted by: mk1201 at July 27, 2005 12:22 PMdefinitely small enough for Coleman. The breeze might blow it onto the highway though. Heck, a rubber raft will likely work better than a shortboard today. $10 if you can drop in on someone w/that thing [ likely me, later ]
Posted by: s.s. sharkbait at July 27, 2005 12:24 PMHaven't read the interview yet but props to JOC for starting the biz.
As would be expected, let's give a little product plug for him...
Posted by: Kaiser at July 27, 2005 12:36 PMExcellent interview E, I have always liked Warshaws work.
I{m in the highlands of Guatemala waiting for market day before I head out to the coast. I{m staying in a shitty out of the way hotel and I ran in to Ted Grambau, Australian surf photography and travel maniac, who happens to be one of my photography inspirations. He is doing an 8 month motorcycle trip from LA TO cHILE. I{ve beeen shooting a lot here, mostly portraits, I brought a polaroid camera and have been giVing people pics in exchange for them letting me shoot. i SOMETIMES END UP surround by the whole freakin village. I might try to convince Ian to take a quick 5 day trip to Panama at the end of next week. PEACE TO THE CUBIES.
Posted by: Mexi at July 27, 2005 01:06 PMright on Mexi!! that sounds killer. thanks for PEACing all us cubies. enjoy it out there! enjoy!
Posted by: e at July 27, 2005 01:19 PMya! nice one e! i like the hard hitting questions and that guy sounds awesome!
Posted by: bagel at July 27, 2005 01:32 PMWhen you get a chance, check out the new vids of Puerto E on Surfline. Tubes, tubes tubes...
Mexi, sounds like you're on a big tropical adventure.
rza, where'd you surf in Japan?
Posted by: Dennis at July 27, 2005 01:50 PMThat DILF shirt is disturbingly hilarious.
Posted by: mwsf at July 27, 2005 02:41 PManyone know if san gregorio general store sells wax? how about in peskidero?
Posted by: at July 27, 2005 02:48 PMLA to chile sounds insane. just chile sounds pretty fucking epic right now.
Posted by: bbr at July 27, 2005 02:50 PMGood interview, e. Warshaw's just about 100% right about the increase in crowds (it's underlying causes, etc). Since I began surfing in 1983, It's gone from cottage industry to big business and it ain't never, ever going back. Surfers are greedy for waves, the surf industry is greedy for money. This will never change. What has to change is the acceptance of a reality among established surfers, and the ability to stop pining over scenarios that will never exist again (perfectly uncrowded surf spots, proudly freezing your knob off in bad wetsuits on an empty beach in the midle of winter :), the unloved, marginalized, alternative-lifestyle "secret" surfing subcultures of old that were so damn cool; God knows I miss those days too but...). It takes a higher sense of purpose to get beyond that nagging, outmoded anger. Calling up a guy and threatening him for publishing a story about the beach he has surfed for 10+ years is defeatest and besides the point, not to mention absolutely fucking retarded human behavior. I think Matt shows a lot of respect, knowledge and poise, and he's my kind of OB denizen for sure.
Posted by: MONKEY MILK at July 27, 2005 03:11 PMMM
"Ocean Beach has to be one of the most frustrating surf breaks in the world. I think that it makes for a fairly, almost slightly always pissed-off group of surfers"
gotta love that qoute
Posted by: phil at July 27, 2005 03:14 PMSweet interview E- straight to the hard hitting ?'s Warshaw's got an interesting perspective on the balance issue
Yeah I've meet various heads doing the whole trek including one dude on his bicycle who biked from Alaska to the tip of Patagonia solo and was on his way back to Alaska (in Peru). I think he did the round trip around 2 years.
Would be kind of hard to fit your boards in your bike though + it rains a shitload down there. I meet another group of 4 who spent 22 months Cali to Chile- they brought 28 boards and by the time they reached Chile they had 3 intact boards, the other 25 broken- Damn!
A dream trip for sure!
Posted by: artifact at July 27, 2005 03:16 PMcool post artifact.
hey.. i'm going to forward the comments back to Matt so if you've got anything else to say about the interview or Warshaw post it up.
schweeet.
surf this morning looked shitty but was actually kinda fun. couple a little walls and such. no crowd. actually nobody at all for miles.
Posted by: e at July 27, 2005 03:23 PMi just read the warshaw thing. sam george is an idiot. all his little interview parts in "riding giants" make me wanna fucking puke.
Posted by: bbr at July 27, 2005 03:39 PMyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn, this work thing is really getting in the way of more important things....
i'm with mwsf on the DILF shirt...twisted, yet funny as hell all at the same time...reminds me of some shit that went down recently in a town just outside the one i grew up in - ugh.
anybody see that show 'smelly jobs' or something like that last night? claimed that SF recycles 63% of their waste. if that's true, insane. also showed the guy up past his elbow in horse vag. that just can't be good.
warshaw seems like an interesting guy. actually intriguing to read his take on surfing too much. grass is always greener i guess. great questions by the way e (i like the 'kind of a proponent for marijuana line'. kind of?). it is funny how quick people are to pick someone out as a scapegoat for their ills rather than step back and take a look at the actual cause.
anyways, back to sleeping in my cube....
Posted by: j at July 27, 2005 03:58 PME, Tell matt I'm gonna buy his book for giving you the interview. Maybe then he can earn $40,001.00 this year ;)
Posted by: Dennis at July 27, 2005 04:02 PMI remember seeing Sam George at the Crowbar on Broadway for the after party of IN GODS HANDS.
I remember seeing his shiny bald head,homo-erotic, black, muscle t-shirt, trying to act cooler than shit to a crowd of 2.
Lame.
My buddies and I decided right there and then that a bunch of boobies across the street would be a hell of alot more interesting to see than one boobie trying to act like a cool surfer/movie guy.
Classic!
Posted by: flap at July 27, 2005 04:15 PMdamn...latin america road trips are the shit. my little bro is doing one now from SF to Panama....last i heard he was broke down in nexpa surfing perfect waves. sounds rough.
dennis, i didn't surf shonan this trip. just some spots on the tip on that same peninsula. one spot named Nobi, where we were the only guys out - a rare first in japan. the other spot had some long name i've forgotten but was a sweet left breaking over a very shallow reef. according to my brother-in-law it's got some hardcore localism and he was worried about me going alone so he made a call to the head enforcer and announced my white-boy presence. the OK must have spread fast cause it was all smiles in the water.
Posted by: rza at July 27, 2005 04:24 PMI am going down to Costa Azul (North of Puerto Vallarta) next Tuesday, and it looks like there are no significant swells on the horizon. Anyone driven from PV to Pascuales? Are there any swell magnets closer that someone wants to tip me on?
Posted by: Pissed if I get skunked. at July 27, 2005 04:25 PMi heard it's 8 hours by hot stinky mexican bus from vallarta. i was gonna do the same thing to save money on tix, but ended up finding cheapies to manzanillo instead. i'll be there on the 12th, maybe see you there.
Posted by: bbr at July 27, 2005 04:36 PMLatin America road trips.....
Posted by: Kaiser at July 27, 2005 04:41 PMNo Bus. Rental Car only, and back to PV
Posted by: Pissed If I Get Skunked (PIIGS) at July 27, 2005 04:43 PMGood Warshaw interview. Don't agree with doomsday on crowds though. Obviously it is way more crowded than 10 years ago, let alone 25. But for those who dedicate to waves (ie surf all the time instead of sitting in front of computer all week), they will always be there. For the weekend warrior at kook spot, sure, too crowded. Whats new?
Posted by: web at July 27, 2005 04:51 PMBetter hurry with the Costa Azul trip, that spot won't be around for long. Uh...checking the website, Harry's is already gone, as of March 30th.
Posted by: Andrew in Alameda at July 27, 2005 04:51 PMhttp://www.savethewaves.org/harrys.asp
http://www.sempra.com/lng_energiaCostaAzul.htm
Wrong Costa Azul. How could you drive to Pascuales from where you are thinking in a day?
Posted by: piigs at July 27, 2005 04:57 PMi have full respect for Matt Warshaw's work and surfing. i'm no angry hater. i just like straight facts.
matt didn't come up here exactly under the radar. if i recall surfer mag announced his departure and move to ess eff in the pipelines section.
back then the mag was a month or so behind with news and gossip. but the "coconut wireless" had buzzed about it in the lineup previously. for those who followed or cared about such things, it did mark a change "up here". suddenly ess eff was a media outpost in the surfing world and the magazines that rarely had any mention of northern central california suddenly had little blips and blaps.....and so it began.
the "so-calification" of OB was inevitable. matt just happened to arrive at the moment that "the so-calification" began creeping it's way north.
Posted by: 3to5setsof7 at July 27, 2005 05:06 PMi've done the pv to pascuales drive. it's about 5 hours.
Posted by: rza at July 27, 2005 05:14 PMJust in case you guys were wondering their stats for that trip. They bought a used Toyota taco + a 4x4 urban assult van w/ 40" tires to house the boards, complete w/ barred window, doors that lock w/ shackles, secret kill switches etc. They were tring to sell the van for 400$ in Chile (which they invested 15K into) I almost bought it!
Anyway 22 months cost them ~18K/ person including everything flights + boat transport Panama- Ecuador some fat trips to the Galapagos etc.
Maybe in a few years- anyone?- good to caravan on a trip like that!
Posted by: artifact at July 27, 2005 05:16 PMThank you rza. That is exactly what i needed.
Posted by: piigs at July 27, 2005 05:19 PMjoc's girl
Posted by: web surfer at July 27, 2005 05:23 PMback side of virgin 2.0
really like what Matt W was saying about surfing and other general things seems like he has alot of interesting things to say. hope all his work pays off for him, pretty inspiring attitude. i also like the sounds of steve pezman, i like when hes quoting timothy leary in the begining of glass love.
Posted by: bagel at July 27, 2005 05:34 PME, nice work on the interview! Took me about 20 mins to just chill out and read it before leaving the office today.
Solid.
Posted by: Kaiser at July 27, 2005 06:10 PMI believe Evan Slater kind of was the first to exploit SF via the media. That was back when I started losing interest looking at surf mags. Funny, I have a collection of surfers and surfing from the 70's right up to '93 or so, whenever Evan became editor.
The 70's and 80's mags are great semi-underground rags. The 90's rate up there with teen swimming monthly.
Posted by: acctnut at July 27, 2005 07:34 PMInterview by E with all rights reserved. Needs to go into Surfer's Journal with proceeds going to the Warshaw for President campaign.
Amazing how solid people connect.
Posted by: Bruce at July 27, 2005 07:57 PMhow many georges are there in the "surf media" ? the one in riding giants needs to lose the mullet and the girlish lilt in his voice. long day at work today, didn't even have time to read this shit until now. moving on to the interview...
Posted by: eric at July 27, 2005 11:32 PMI wish I could surf more. And I'm aghast at the lack of ethics in surf journalism er...surf-related product ad sales.
Ok I have similar issues but for clarity you'd have to change a few key words:
"I obsess on tubes and tuberiding constantly, and it's healthy up to a point, cause you're sort of working out different techniques and positions and adjustments in your head, which you can then apply when the situation comes up. But that kind of thinking almost always goes over into a thing where I'm just thinking about it and thinking about it, to no purpose at all, just trying to count how many tubes I got in a session for instance, or trying to think if I could have gotten deeper on that one, or if someone saw that other one, really stupid and embarrassing stuff like that, and then I start getting adrenalized and hyper and jumpy. Tuberiding in a way brings out a lot of the worst in me.
But since you asked...I got a super-long double-tube at daybreak on the second-to-last day in El Salvador, last April, a sheet-glassy six-foot wave, and I kind of feel like that might have been my last best barrel, I've gotten a few okay ones since, and hope to gets lots more in the future, but if I ever get another one that long and fast and perfect I'll be surprised. I got that tube in Salvador one week before my 44th birthday"
J probably understands.
Posted by: eric at July 27, 2005 11:50 PMSorry, but fuck:
"FORT MEADE, Md., July 27 (AP) - The former warden of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq testified Wednesday that he attended a meeting in which the commander of the Guantánamo prison recommended using military dogs for interrogation.
The former warden, Maj. David Dinenna, testified at the end of a preliminary hearing for two Army dog handlers accused of abusing Iraqi detainees. Major Dinenna said that at a meeting in September 2003, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, then the Guantánamo commander, talked about the effectiveness of using the dogs."
I'm late to the game of being a left winger, but how exactly are dogs effective in interrogating anything beyond a chicken bone or another dog's piss?
Posted by: eric at July 28, 2005 12:23 AM
Posted by: woof at July 28, 2005 12:57 AM