WET AS EVER

I don't want to rub it in.  I live in Southern California. Technically, it's fall, but if you know the weather in this region, you know that it can be pretty mild.  I'm all for orange and brown fall colors and all that jazz, but you can't argue with an air temperature of 74 degrees, and an ocean water temperature of 69 degrees. Walking home from an evening dip tonight it occurred to me that exactly 40 years ago, the finals of the 1972 World Surfing Championships were held right on the same beach.  That insignificant piece of trivia, and the date, is memorable to me because it was during that World Contest that my younger brother and I began surfing.  We were both experienced bodysurfers, as was my twin brother, but it was when we took the leap.  I still remember us taking turns watching over our newly purchased used piece of shit surfboards, while the other moved closer for a better look at the action.  Anyway, I got the warm fuzzies thinking about that tonight and how, so many years later, I was back at the same spot, still smitten with salt water.

So, I apologize for this bit of self indulgence.  I went looking for some low key instrumental type stuff, not surf ragers, more like the stuff you'd listen to after getting home from the beach and catching your breath, before heading out to a rager.  Kind of like the stuff I posted about this time of year, roughly three years ago.  Remembering that the always awesome Office Naps was big on different themes of exotica and instrumentals, I went digging and found a few that really hit the spot.  Of particular interest is "Tobago" by Eden Ahbez, because he was the writer of Nat King Cole's hit "Nature Boy" and has a pretty interesting background, if you're into pre-hippy, pre-surf craze, not really beat, type characters.  (Read the blurb with the second song at this post on Office Naps).

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Sound Breakers - Marooned mp3 at Office Naps
The Shelltones - Blue Castaway mp3 at Office Naps
The Wailers - Driftwood mp3 at Office Naps Dig this Ted, from the "Dirty Robber" dudes!
Eden Ahbez - Tobago mp3 at Office Naps
Bruce Norman Quintet - Keeper of the Sea mp3 at Office Naps
Visit:
David Nuuhiwa - Surfer Magazine Profile of Nuuhiwa, the last paragraph of which never ceases to invoke giggling.  Nuuhiwa claimed to have designed a twin fin split tail design called the Fish.  Locals knew it was Steve Lis, a local, who first designed the shape, and named it.  Lesson: Don't front in Ocean Beach.