Here ya’ go! I’ll only say that this was recorded sometime in May, a full week past Cinco de Mayo and definitely nowhere near Christmas! 🤷‍♂️ I think we were in Eustis, FL. Guessing there may have been Don Julio tequila involved. I’m not sure. 😂

And here is the last one from We The Kingdom at the Florid Theater. This song is called “Cages”. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Christian band rock harder. Love this tune!

I’ll post a couple of more from the We The Kingdom concert live at the Florida Theater this week. This is the first half of one of their hits, “Child of Love”, maybe my favorite one that they sing. Their concert was a literal party! 🎉 Had to get this in two parts as the video accidentally shut off.

Enjoyed a date night out at the Florida Theater with Gretchen Wednesday night (yes, smack dab in the middle of Hurricane Nicole)! But Holy Cow, We The Kingdom put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a ton of shows in every different genre you can think of. If you don’t know them, they are a contemporary Christian band with a rock/blues/soul musical style (think Hammond organ, heavy guitars), and a retro-70’s-feeling stage vibe. You may recognize a couple of their songs (Child of Love, Holy Water) which have been big crossover hits. They have what you would call some “epic” stadium-style songs, the kinds you can’t help but get out of your seat, clap, stomp, and sing along with. They are incredible vocalists, multi-instrument musicians, and performers that just kill it live. One of the things that is really interesting about this Dove and Grammy award-winning band is that it is composed of two brothers, and one of the brothers’ daughters, and his son, along with one of their good friends. So, it is a multi-generational family affair, which is just so unusual. Obviously, they all have that musical gene! Gretchen and I had such a great time. The Florida Theater was packed and it looked like they filmed much of the show. Here’s Holy Water.

Here is the last video I made of The Fixx at their concert on 9/17/22 at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. This is a really beautiful, extended version of “Secret Separation”. It has always been my favorite song by the band. Fittingly, they saved it for their last performance as part of their encore. This was a fantastic, sold-out show in an intimate venue. The band was great. The crowd was great. And I think that both sides really appreciated what they experienced from one another that night. Enjoy this last one!

Another one by The Fixx – Stand or Fall – recorded live at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL on 9/17/22.

Here’s another classic from The Fixx – Saved By Zero – recorded live at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on 9/17/22. They sounded so great!

I recently had the opportunity to catch The Fixx, one of my all-time favorite bands that I only had the opportunity to see once before, 37 years ago at the UF Bandshell, for free! 😃 As luck would have it, a friend of mine had two tix in the second row to their recent show at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL that he could not use, and he offered them up to my wife and me, so I got to see them once again, for free. And, were they ever fantastic! These guys still have plenty of juice! The concert was sold out and the crowd was hyped. I think the band really enjoyed their stop here. Here is the classic, “One Thing Leads to Another” by the Fixx recorded on 9/17/22. Apologies for the lack of focus in the first 17 seconds! It resolves after that! Enjoy!

Here’s some bad cell phone footage of Jack Johnson on his recent (2017) stop at the St. Augustine Amphitheater in St. Augustine, Florida (Sorry, I was too busy watching and listening to try and film him!) Fantastic concert, as always! Here’s Jack doing a cover of Sublime’s Bad Fish and Boss DJ.

Here’s one more unplugged acoustic cover from the Dead 27’s. This one is Stevie Wonder’s ’74 classic, “Livin’ in the City”. Again, you can’t really even try to tackle a song like this one on unless you’ve got a lot of soul in you. These guys do.

Here’s a couple of more great tunes for you! If you want to catch a fantastic up-and-coming band, check out the Dead 27s (named for all of the famous musicians who died at age 27 including Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, among others). They’re based out of Charleston, SC where they recently won Rock Band of the Year and Best Rock Song for the area. Their sound is a mix of rock, funk and soul. They’ve put out a couple of albums, the most recent being Ghosts Are Calling, which represents their first major record deal. They’ll be touring to support that album this year.

Will Evans, their lead guitarist, keyboardist and harmony vocalist is a great guy who is marrying my wife’s cousin, Amanda. We get to see both of them up on the Chapman family farm in Hartsville, SC each year, which I’ve written about here before. I’m excited for both of them. I’m sure 2017 is going to be an epic year for Will and Amanda in many ways!

The Dead 27s have an active Facebook page where they regularly post unplugged acoustic music videos. I’m going to post a couple of their fantastic covers. Here’s Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” which they performed as a tribute shortly after the Purple One’s passing. This is Will and lead singer, Trey Francis. I don’t know too many people who could pull this song off. You’ve just got to have a lot of soul to be able to do it. These guys have got it! I’ll post one more after this showcasing the entire band tackling Stevie Wonder. It’s also pretty amamzing! Enjoy, and make sure to check ’em out!

So, I haven’t posted any new music in a very long time… Here’s one: “I Need Never Get Old” by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. I think I may need to make it my theme song for this year… : ) I was excited to get tickets to catch Nate and the Night Sweats at the St. Augustine Amphitheater this Spring (April 24th, I believe). I stumbled upon these guys watching “Later with Jools Holland”. These guys are fantastic! They rock hard, have some really interesting, different tunes and a lot of soul. They don’t seem to take themselves too seriously (they seem amazingly humble), even though they are very serious musicians, indeed. This song makes me want to either pick up my guitar or dance! Infectious stuff! I dig the horns. They bring to mind a lot of old ska bands from back in the day!

Some really fun-looking big lefts here in Chile in this footage from a QS event (Arica Pro) some months back. Nice work from Peruvian surfer Alvarao Malpartida on Vimeo. Hat Tip to DailySurfVideos.com for the find. If you want great vides sent to inbox regularly, check out their website and subscribe.

Can you imagine what this might have been like? This guy didn’t have to. Pretty magical moment.

Wow, love this one from Tyler Haft. This is Dane Zaun surfing in LA. It looks so fun, if a little chilly! Beautiful waves, beautiful surfing, gorgeous cinematography and great music selection, here. Check out the opening sequence. What a beautifully planned and executed shot… Really nice! The music is “Ambient Guitar” by Alex Weinstein and “Song of a Sinner” by Top Drawer. Hat tip to SurfSleepTravel.com for the call on this one.

Just a couple of days after Mick Fanning was attacked by a Great White, here’s Kelly Slater blasting great white blasts of spray on those same JBay lines. Well, not exactly the same. A good 4-5′ larger and perfect. The music is “Three Seed” by Silversun Pickup and Guy Mac put the edit together.

I love Morgan Maassen’s work. He is such a fantastic still photographer and clearly is equally adept with motion. His eye for color, composition, pacing and ability to evoke emotion, while showcasing the beauty of life puts him among the elite in his profession. It’s no wonder Maassen works with some of the world’s premiere brands and media. Of course, Red Epic/Dragon cameras, and surfers like Kelly Slater, Dane Reynolds, Stephanie Gilmore don’t hurt; but there’s so much more that goes into creating art like his- some of it learned, but most of it, God given.

While Morgan absolutely has his own signature style, some of his imagery reminds me of Chris Bryan’s work. I’d love to see those guys collaborate, if they haven’t already. I’m sure that whatever they produced together would be mind-blowing.

You may notice at the beginning of the film, that there’ an African American photographer shooting images. Shawn Theodore is a Philly-based artist and photographer who shoots really cool images (mostly portraits) of vanishing African American landscapes. I know Maassen has said that he is inspired by Theodore’s work (and the man himself), and it looks like Morgan included Shawn in this piece, filming the photographer doing his thing. If you want to see some beautiful, vibrant imagery, then check out Theodore’s Instagram feed at @_xst (and Morgan’s at @morganmaassen). Great stuff! Also dig the music here.  That’s “After Gold” by Kelpe. Enjoy it!

A great video -mesmerizing action- featuring the highly technical skills of Dean Morrison, Billy Kemper and Nathan Behl in the recent huge “Swell of the Century” in Indo. Amazing waves, amazing performances. These guys make it look easy. Don’t believe it for a second…

A really inspiring story…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/08/homeless-and-luckless-a-piano-man-wows-the-internet-and-gets-a-new-start/

Here’s another great video shared by the folks at surfsleeptravel.com who always find pretty amazing clips. This is Tyler Hollmercross riding the rolling cliffs at Shipstern’s Bluff. Mesmerizing work from Simon Treweek.

Wow, Riley Lang is only 16 years old and he is looking a lot like John John. Looks like he’s riding for Billabong. I think may have a find. Great clip, here.

This is as beautiful as it is amazing: This fantastically surreal three-and-a-half minute music video was shot in ONE take in just FIVE seconds at 1000 frames per second, from a car traveling at 50 km per hour.

Pretty incredible, huh?

Now go to Siska’s Facebook page to see the actual shot in real time. Genius.

You know, I’ve lived long enough and experienced enough to understand that things are never as good or bad as they seem. Life, for the most part, is what you choose to make of it and there are tradeoffs for almost everything. What you see on the surface doesn’t always accurately reflect exactly what’s underneath.

If you’re a surfer and an adventurer like me, then you’re going to want —you’re going to need— to keep this top-of-mind when you watch this beautiful film from Cyrus Sutton. It leaves me with many questions, but I’m not going to bother asking them. Nope, I’m just going to enjoy it for what it is. Hope you do the same.