SUNDAY JOINT, 1-28-2018: "EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED"

Hey All,

I was on the road most of last week, and thus only posted two items. “Everybody Must Get Stoned,” on History of Surfing, is a brief and straightforward account of how, when, and where drugs filtered into the sport. The highs and lows, so to speak. Delivered in a calm voice. You’ve probably noticed the whole Encyclopedia of Surfing project is schizophrenic, in that the Encyclopedia and History parts are semiformal, more balanced and polished, always third-person, while the blog posts (about half of the new stuff that goes up each week) are loose, exclamatory, first-person. All the EOS and HOS sections were originally written to be published in book form. The style is different. I think they work fine online—then again, what choice do I have? As reference sources, EOS and HOS both need to present themselves quietly. Blog posts, on the other hand, can do what they like, go where they may. EOS and HOS are built to last. They are the greater part of the site, in both senses of the word. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like doing the blog stuff way more. I do.

While putting together “Getting Higher: The 11 Stoniest Surf Movie Moments of All Time,” last week’s blog post, I was giddy with pleasure—even though it’s kind of a silly throwaway piece. But take a look and see if it doesn’t provide five slightly guilty minutes of pleasure to your day. If so, I’ve done my job.

And you know what? I’ve changed my mind. None of those blog posts are throwaways. Surfing deserves to be taken as seriously as it is in EOS and HOS. The topic last week was serious. Drugs are dangerous. Drugs kill. EOS and HOS acknowledge these truths. But surfing is also a running comedy, and drugs play into that as well. So . . . hmmmm. Maybe it isn’t schizophrenic to follow a serious History section on drugs with a blog post featuring Jeff Spicoli and a feloniously stoned gaggle of party-goers at Topanga Beach.

We are surfers. We contain multitudes. I rolled that up last week and smoked it, and it was good.

Thanks for reading, everybody. Lots more coming up this week!

Matt