Sunday sunset series

Chillaxin'

When there is no surf and it's stormy, Sundays are for surf movies.

"God Poster"

Indian Wells smile

This is why we're getting out of the city...

NYC Marathon, 2011

probably the best sign I saw while working the New York City Marathon today in Manhattan

Congrats to all you finishers - amazing, you are truly amazing, and way to go!

Indian Wells

No trip home is complete without a drive down to Indian Wells to see the ocean. Following the major wind and storm that battered the northeast the water was calm and an off-shore breeze was blowing off the top of the rolling surf making it look so gorgeous. Any day that includes a glimpse of the ocean I consider a good day.

my kind of bloody mary

For the weekend we trekked north of the city a couple hours to celebrate the recent wedding of two dear friends of ours. Erika and Keith, now the Mighty Moores(!), treated us all to an intimate backyard ceremony and unparalleled pig roast thanks to Arkansas Tom's Razorback BBQ. It was wonderful to cheer the newly-weds who have been together since junior high school and catch up with friends and family alike. Thanks to our cousins nearby in Fishkill we were able to take a couple days outside of the city and really enjoy the fresh air and easier pace of the Hudson Valley. Sunday for lunch we decided to go down to the riverfront in Newburgh, NY. There we discovered the River Grill, and thanks to our fun server (gracias Jesus!) we enjoyed one of the most lavish bloody mary's I've ever seen. Check out this Belvedere vodka bloody mary complete with Old Bay rimmed glass, celery stalk and olives, not to mention a little shrimp cocktail to boot! Admittedly a few bucks more than your typical brunchtime beverage but hey, it was a weekend to celebrate, and I have to say, it was deee-lish!

After Irene, mostly comical shots

Hurricane Irene rumbled her way into the tri-state area through the night and surprisingly we slept right through. We really thought we would have been woken by wind and crashing sounds outside but we would wake the next morning to see that little had changed on our block. Before bed I took a couple of shots of the block from our front stoop, ready to take the after shots the next morning showing all the downed limbs and chaos that ensued. But we were very lucky and sustained little to no damage. Even the dead wood that I was figuring would definitely fall was still there atop the trees the next morning, stubborn and rigid. All Cosmo had to do was go over to his garden patch across the street and restomp the roots of his six foot sunflowers back in the ground and they were back up and at 'em like nothing had happened. We decided to heed the over sensationalized media coverage and stay in until the afternoon when the winds finally calmed. We heard via facebook of friends and family losing power out east on Long Island and up in Connecticut. Vermont was probably just getting the wrath they were dealt as we were sipping our coffee and checking in with the world. My parents out in East Hampton would be without power and water for a week, some Connecticuters that long and then some. My high school dormhead and mentor Grim would post pictures of where he now lives in Vermont, complete with destruction like I have never seen up there before. The youtube footage of flooding down in Long Beach and other favorite coastal spots had us rapt.

Eventually we would take a walk through the hood to take care of a cat sitting gig that felis femina had and I brought my camera along. Quickly we realized that Astoria did not escape totally unscathed, though the scenes were mostly comical.
You got to love how well New Yorkers pay attention and observe safety precautions. The greatest city in the world, they never said anything about common sense.
Of course we had to have a celebratory post-Irene pint with the gang down at Dillinger's, our wonderfully reliable local haunt. The menu was limited because they had not gotten a few deliveries, but the taps were flowing just fine.
We stopped at the grocery store to grab a couple things we needed. Or rather, we stopped at the grocery store to find that the hysteria had them totally picked clean.
No hamburger buns for you!
Finally Sunday afternoon we got the first glimpses of blue sky in days and it was glorious. Is that a black cloud over the city or is it just me?
Before the Empire State Building put it's evening lights on....
Thanks Irene for another fabulous sunset here in Queens.

Video of the Month: Tow Highlights from Tahiti

Hurricane Irene rumbled through the night and we woke to not nearly as much chaos as there could have been. Cousins in CT are without power, friends at home on LI have talked about trees down and losing power too. Here in Queens it's still blowing but seems tame. Some have already begun cleaning up their yards. We're playing it safe and staying in until later when we too will undoubtedly take a walk and explore the neighborhood. But for now we have gotten sucked into cyberville and I've been catching up on the Billabong Pro surf competition happening in Tahiti, from the 20th to the 31st of August. The Billabong Pro Tahiti is held at a break called Teahupoo, without question one of the strongest and most mind blowing waves on the planet. It's not the biggest wave in the world, not by any means, but the way the island is contoured and how the huge swells can come in and jack up to form these insane "20 foot slabs" that throw down so much water on such a shallow reef is simply diabolical! You can go to surfline and look up their feature on the mechanics of Teahupoo, very interesting. These are some highlights of the crazy, genius men and women who brave tow-in surfing this spot. I just say "oh my God" over and over again, and curse a lot in pure amazement, and I think you might too. In-sane. Enjoy.

bonfire babble, taking the soul stance

We escaped the urban jungle that's been trying to eat us up recently and ran east to the ocean. We swam a number of times, in the bay and the ocean, took a lot of walks, found phosphorescence by the moonlight on the edge of the sea, laid under the stars, and enjoyed great bonfires.

The night before Rory made us this fire out at Bighouse we were at Jay and Jen's house. Where they are up in Springs people have these long rectangular lots and tend to clear the backyards completely of the tall oak and eastern red cedars that naturally populate the area. They install sod lawns and introduced ornamental trees and shrubs from the local garden centers. But Jay and Jen didn't do that. Instead they cleared just enough, or maybe nothing at all, and make a perfect little fire pit, a simple half-circle depression of packed dirt rimmed with large smooth stones right in the center of this small cathedral of towering Quercus and Juniperus virginiana. We sat and stared at the fire in their collection of comfy seats and talked as people do and have done for thousands of years. The conservation ebbed and flowed and at one point we got on the topic of photography, in this, the digital age. Sounding like old people we talked about the fact that the tactile nature of photographs is dying. Let's face it, no one prints their photographs and puts them into albums anymore. If God forbid something happened to our computers all the images of our kids growing up would be lost. And he was painfully right. Even if we talk about it, the reality is that we have less and less of these prints to hold and pass around and lose to find later or store in a safe place for future generations to behold. Only a few months ago did Krissy and I finally print a number of shots from our wedding to hang on the walls and set aside for framing, almost a year later. We of course would go on to talk about the great tangible photo albums we grew up with. That was the era of dropping your film off at Reed's Photo Shop and having to wait days to get them back. Picking them up you'd be hard pressed to get far from the front door before tearing into the package to see what you got and share them with the friends or family that joined you for the trip into town. What came out? Would they all be blurry or did you get some good shots in there? Gosh, I don't even remember what I shot, I can't wait!

It was a gamble, but you went for it.

So since then I guess I've been thinking about that, the tactile nature of things and what it means. Photographs were a finite thing. You couldn't just go and shoot a million shots knowing you could throw away at least half of them without consequence. You were lucky enough if you even got to borrow your dad's camera, let alone have your own. You took the time to compose the shot and make sure it was an image worth capturing on film. You took the shot because it was something. It captured a place or a person that special way. It gave the onlooker special insight even though they may be years or miles away. Certainly this all still holds true for photographs today, but somehow I guess in my romantic mind I like to think they had more value back then. They did. It wasn't about "instant" and "endless", these ideas that so remove us from this finite world today. Back then a photograph wouldn't exist unless the photographer was so justly moved by the image before them that they realized they had to capture it, and did. It had worth beyond money.

Then I got the latest Swell catalog, a surf clothing and accessories company based out in California, a good source to know if you're into that sort of thing. Anyway, the cover image I had never seen before and instantly I was stopped in my tracks. Tom Blake was a pioneer surfer and surf photographer and the image is one of his called "Soul Stance" from 1931.

Tom Blake photo © 2011, Surfing Heritage Foundation

It depicts a young surfer riding a beautiful wooden board on a mellow wave in Waikiki, his skin tanned as dark as his trunks, arms outstretched in focused balance, a pure white sailors cap tilted on top of his head. Though I have seen plenty of surf photography there was something about this image that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. And even though I know there is nothing in the catalog that I need I can't bring myself to put it in the recycle bin. Certainly Swell and the Surfing Heritage Foundation are both very smart because now I am going to buy the print of this classic image, but it goes beyond that.

I believe in the value of process and experiential learning, as I've talked about before. Yes, the focus is the final product, but sometimes the steps that got you there mean even more, and it's worth remembering that and valuing that. At work I have been getting frustrated because a new challenge and goal is building more slowly than I thought it would and quite frankly I am becoming very impatient. I'm feeling like my time is being wasted, or at least could be used in such a more valued way, and it's proving difficult. Everyone else says to relax and take it easy and it only makes me more on edge and antsy for change. I've thought about all the possible actions I could take and reactions that would accompany, most of which I realize are born out of impatience and haste and wouldn't get me anywhere better than where I am right now. So I'm stuck here, going through the motions and looking at this stranger for the answers. Where have you been that you are so tan? What got you here, to this break? Where are you going? How are you getting there? What's at the end?

I think it's about trusting yourself and proceeding, but being sure to proceed with purpose. Have that purpose be genuine and for a greater good, for you and the world around you. Stay focused. In that moment on that wave breathe, breathe again, and take a fresh look. Let the wave guide you. Because you never know, maybe the final destination was where you were going to go the whole time, you just didn't see it.

Indian Wells, early sunday morning, with coffee

I was home for the weekend helping my folks. Sunday morning I woke up early and headed right down to Indian Wells. It was about 6:30 and I had my board, wetsuit and booties in the car. Arriving at the beach I probably consider home more than any man-made structure the sea was flat. The dog walkers were relishing their pre-crowd freedom, the pups playing wildly. The surflessness of the morning meant I could enjoy staying dry, park for a bit, and have my coffee like the others reading their papers and glimpsing at the ocean from the neighboring spots. I checked in with the world and found out that an amazing matriarch and civic-minded local named Ann Buckhout had passed away after a long bout with cancer. Brian, her son, was letting people know. Thinking of him and his brother Chris, close in age to my older brother Gian Carlo and I, my heart sank. How do you fathom such a thing? The oceans vastness stretched out in front of me, the calm seas and gray skies so apt for such a somber and sobering moment. Beyond Brian's words there was nothing to say:
"Heaven received a very special addition today. Mom- you will always be loved in my heart, and Dad- show her the way..."

On behalf of the entire Feleppa family our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Brian and Chris and the whole Buckhout family. Our thoughts are with you...

Sunday Morning Tunes

Yesterday afternoon I found a wonderfully captivating documentary on Les Paul and Mary Ford on my local PBS station. Known for his innovative guitar playing and tone, Les Paul brought the world the solid bodied guitar and introduced multitracking, today an industry standard for recording artists. Teamed up with the voice of Mary Ford the two were so creative and years ahead of their time. Their music still sounds amazing today. Here is a short clip from the world of youtube, a tiny bit of insight into this most unbelievable couple and the music they made.

Goes Well with Sunday Morning Coffee

In the 80's when I was growing up my older brother had a VHS tape of "Friday Night Rock Videos and Interviews". It had an interview with a young Mick Jagger that was his reason for having the tape but I loved all the videos and would watch them over and over again. I remember Huey Lewis and the News with "The Heart of Rock and Roll" at the start of the tape, and Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer" at the end, and of course ZZ Top blowing my young mind with "Legs". Hello! ...and then there was this video. The night after my dad taped it for us we watched it back in the living room and when this song came on I remember my brother being psyched. I paid attention, and the tune stuck out to me too as something sensational. I came to know The Icicle Works well, but alas that would be their only hit in the US (in the UK they had many more chart makers). This is a great combo of songwriting and lo-fi rock video work, today a wonderful flashback to a simpler place and time. This is The Icicle Works with "Whisper to a Scream (Bird's Fly)" from 1984. Enjoy.

Sunday: Go Outside

Windows open, warm breeze blowing, post side client work and front stoop summer planting, grooving tunes on the stereo, chillaxing, thinking about BBQs and the season to come.

The Specials with "A Message to You Rudy" off their self-titled debut album (1979).

"High Road Low Road"

collage on paper
6.5" x 10"
(c) aef09

favorite new tune of the week

In NYC one of the best little independent record stores is called Other Music. Down at 15 East 4th Street Other Music is a tiny place packed with an insane selection of albums and sounds you are not likely to find too many other places, from the tres hip to the uber experimental. You can sign up for their e-news mailing list and get treated to free downloads that run the full gamut of their audio offerings. Thanks to Other Music I have been hooked on this new tune from the Shout Out Louds. The title track from their new album due out on Tuesday this is "Fall Hard". And damn I think it's catchy. Can't wait to see how the rest of the album compares. Enjoy.

audio geeky genius

My brother told me about this. "We Are All Connected" by the Symphony of Science, yet another youtube gem. Geeky, trippy, and totally entertaining. As Gian says, "my mind is once again blown!"

speedy bear commute home

It's a Sunday during football season and I had to work, so you can imagine how I was hauling ass to get home in time for the Broncos vs. Cowboys kick off. And to top it all off I got screwed by an R train deciding to go express from Queens Plaza. That means that I then had to walk from that subway station up to the nearest N train at 39th Ave., a walk I am quite familiar with. But I had never seen the bear before. Not necessarily the kind of sign you expect to see on the face of a car and auto-body shop, right? Had to laugh and pause for a quick pic and slow down a bit. Great clouds above the platform at 39th Ave. once I got there...
Oh, and the Broncos win. Not a bad day. cheers,

sign of a good day

thanks to Rory for grabbing us and being our guide for a killer surf session out in MTK

flashback to 1987

I was looking for something else entirely but then Fleetwood Mac appeared singing "Little Lies". Forgive, for I am a child of the 80's.