Saturday, October 1, 2005

Surf Rock USA

Dear Friends,

Do you have a crush on a cognitively-impaired girl, just because she's good at surfing? In other words, is the girl you long for a truly gifted surfer but basically retarded?

If so, the new Hard Taco song, "Surfin' Savant" is going to help you sort out your issues/feelings. It took a lot of unpleasant surgery for me to be able to sing four parts at once, so I hope you enjoy it.

Did you know that before hormones drove me into rock music (and herbal supplements drove me back into new age music), I had a brief career on the semi-pro surfing circuit? This picture of me is HUGELY EMBARASSING, but you have to take it in context... I was ten years old and the style in those days was for surfers to wear 4/5 length pants and flesh-colored knee pads.  I'm the second one from the bottom in the left column...

Nowadays, I only take my board out a few times a year, when I really need to unwind and completely CLEAR MY MIND. Paddling out to sea, the burdens of the daily grind evaporate, and troubles seem to vanish magically from my mind. I can't recall the boring details of my workday, or what I had for breakfast, or whether I took my pills that morning. I lose the ability to remember my address and who the president is. I forget what my sister looks like, and how to make Legos fit together. I have word-finding difficulties; I can't do dot-to-dots or figure out which side of the comb to push against my head.

Anyway, you may wish to brush up on surfer jargon before you download "Surfin' Savant." Let me get you started. Surfin' California surfer jargon for Surfing (the apostrophe replaces the G).  However, to Mexican surfers, SUR FIN means "South End," a popular surfing destination in South Carolina near Georgetown (which is called 'eorgetown in California, and Pueblo de Jorge in Mexico.) Keep practicing.

With warmest regards,
HT