This, unfortunately, seems to be the case everywhere… The french edition of Surfers’ Journal is absolutely terrible, sometimes bordering on nonsense because of very hazardous translations (obviously made by guys who have no idea whatsoever what they are talking about…) The french magazine “Surf Session” is just a big joke and I won’t even talk about orthograph or basic writing skills. And those things keep selling…
I don't think anybody has any complaints with production values of today's magazines.
I sure do. As do others, it seems. Did you not read the other posts, at all?
They may be slick looking and all, but the content is pretty low rent most of the time
......
That's what I mean when I say production values. I don't particularly care for how they lay it out, but there is no question the nuts and bolts of the production is solid. Groundbreaking and influential in the periodical world, sometimes, regardless of how we may feel about it.
The content, however, seems to me to define the notion of giving a starving dog a rubber bone. I would offer the notion that the magazine editorial direction is less for surfers and surfing than they are for the benefit of business interests. I've never understood why that can't blend. I don't doubt most people involved in key elements of magazine production are themselves surfers, but I don't think that's terribly relevant any more. I think you could put a competently skilled writer/editor in any slot and they could perform just as well even if they had never surfed a day in their lives. And I think that shows.
Oddly enough the late Longboard magazine was IMHO tremendously core, soulful, and artistic at times, but ultimately failed because "longboarding" - whatever that is- didn't develop and sustain a strong enough niche in the surfing psyche. That's been the problem with bodyboarding magazines that have failed as well. Divide and conquer works for branding purposes but not so much when the whole herd does its own thing.
The Surfer’s Journal will bury these mags…or at least starve them of the type of well-heeled readers they need as a core base beyond the tweens that get subscriptions from their parents.
Who the hell wants to thumb through the utter swill in Surfer/ing when you’ve got real journalism to enjoy in other mags with just as many (if not more and better) photography!?
As case in point- I was thumbing through the latest Surfer Mag “Big Issue” and there’s what at first I thought was an article (6 pages long) called,
“From Local Surfer to Superstar- the next generation of talent turns to SPONSOR ME ENTERTAINMENT to become a star.”
I kid you not!
THIS IS WHAT THE NEXT GENERATION IS BEING SUBJECTED TO!
on all my shaped blanks reads,
“do you remember laughing at mtv?”
“internet killed the magazine star”
“it’s a revolution…welcome to the revolution”
Herb
Right on Sammy. It's pretty much just "asswipe" anyway.
TSJ is slipping a bit, too. Take the current issue for example. There’s an article in it which has a pretty good ‘novelty’ aspect, but it features a person who doesn’t even know how to surf. Giving coverage to donkeys doesn’t reflect well on the mag.
The bamboo lobby has to ply their wares somwhere!
TSJ is slipping a bit, too
They increased their production schedule to 6 issues a year a while back, didn't they? I fear if they try more than that they'll lose it. A case could be made that the "slide" for Er and Ing began when they went monthly. That roughly coincided with the establishment of modern pro surfing and also the thruster, but the less "commercial" articles still were there as more than occasional filler.
Wasted old guys (like me) can remember in the bi-monthly days how the magazines could contain mind-blasting new content every month. You might hear about new designs or spots or memorable swells in other areas, and eventually get to see them in another month or two. That sometimes gave the impression that major advancements were made "every issue". There was just more time to write and produce and since it was more driven by contributions that came from surfers and what I suppose we could call news events the issues came out very different from the production-schedule driven product of today. Maybe a better analogy is the older ones were "handcrafted" and the recent ones are more "mass produced". TSJ has done well holding to the "handcrafted" method.
Nels
TSJ has been slipping for a while. It seems almost every issue there is some article about some non core surfer. Articles about
artists, paddlers, surf judges, even other 'surf' journalists don't really cut it for me unless they are also a talented surfer. In this
day and age when 'everybody surfs' anyway I don't think the fact that a graphic artist surfed twice during college really warrants
him a multi page feature in a mag I pay good money for. But hey, thats just me.
well said our thoughts exactly.By the way,JohnSeverson is still out there surfing,albeit I mostly only see him out on big days!Aloha
I was specifically referring to the article on page 36. The photos are kind of cool, but one of the people featured in the piece DOES NOT know how to surf. I have witnessed his donkitude, first-hand.
(He’s also on page 1)
I couldn’t have said it better myself. As for M.Jackson. Why is his death any more tragic than the milions of other folks who didn’t get to live a lavish lifestyle in a place called neverland.
Your reflection upon those early days in Paris got me too! I bet in those days you could actually get down deep to the lake below the Opera House that I tried in vain to see this last time I was there. Sorry I didn’t make the trek to the coast to meet with you, maybe next time.
Drew Kampion put forth a lot of high brow offerings, and I never really flashed on the Dylan thing. What I recall more clearly are the one liners that became a part of history regardless of who said it:
“Waves so big they are measured in increments of fear”
“…corduroy to the horizon.”
“I wear black and pink boardshorts so as not to be confused with any kook in the water”
“I am the best, always was the best, always will be the best”
“Surfers live the life they love, and love the life they live”.
Unfortunately when I left Santa Cruz in the early 80’s I left a longboard and a big box of surf magazines that would now fetch me thousands of dollars. Among those was my earliest Surfer issue…the one with Murphy on the cover. I saw a site that was asking $795 for that one issue. I had tons of not only Surfer, but Surfing, Surfing Illustrated, Petersen’s Surfing, Surfing International, Surf Guide, Atlantic Surfing, Tracks, Surfing World,and many many more…just makes me sick I never got back. I wonder how long they sat under the house on 35th Ave. before some lucky sucker discovered them?
I didn't start collecting Surfer Magines until 1970. However they were so fresh and soulful. I would cut them up and plaster my walls each month. Gerry Lopez, Sammy Hawk, Al Champman and BK were the main attactions. The photo's from Jeff Devine were incredible.
Now we have a very powerful media tool called the internet:
Surline? Dream Trips and Current coverage of swells from around the world!
Swaylocks? Design Forums, Arguments, Debates!
Surfer on line? Do we need a hard copy?
Surfing on line? Do we need a hard copy?
ASPWorldTour.com? Daily scores, ratings, schedules! What's to print?
TSJ can really be that last good publication however they need to be careful to keep it core.
Surfer Magazine needs to survive for the Action Sports Industry to present their soft or hard goods.
Pro Surfers need the rags for their exposure meter ratings.
Those of us that were apart of the early years just count yourself very fortunate you were able to experience the last of the golden years. I'm sure the contemorary surfers of today will have something to say in the next 30 when most of us will be gone or close to checking out!
As far as the true fate of Surfer?
If you were surfing E side spots in the late 70s and early 80s, chances are we shared a line-up at some point.
As to the “Murphy” cover issue (Vol 3 # 3), I’ve seen copies on ebay for around $100.
I have three copies of that one, but wouldn’t let one go for less than $100.
Heck, I even have the t-shirt version…
Sounds like a lot of people like to complain but do nothing about it. Why don’t you all make your own mag? Even if it’s just an ‘ezine’ on the web, it looks like - by the posters on this thread- that there are more than enough people to contribute an article or two. And the best part is, it would be content you want to see. I think it would get a good response and followship. It is the responsibility of surfers everywhere to recognize and change anything they see that disrupts the spirit of riding ocean swells.
Monkstart…good comment. I think doing a magazine must be a ton of work, much of it not very gratifying until the issue comes out and hopefully gets great reviews…not too unlike building a surfboard and getting great feedback after all the thought and labor goes into it. It’s easy for us to sit on our high horses and pick someone else’s efforts apart, I guess it might be insightful to put yourself in the other person’s place?
SammyA…I came thru SC and met with Jack O’neill who hired me to oversee the O Shop and other retail entities they had in '80 & '81. I found a house close to Pleasure Point and being a screw foot, I enjoyed close proximity to Little Windansea (backside of Pleasure). But I also liked to surf the Slot @ Steamers, and middle peak when it got big enough. Farther north jaunts were 4 Mile, Ano, and Waddell amongst other walk in spots. Once I got settled at the O Shop, my assistant manager, Mike Duffy, asked me where I was surfing, and when I said “the slot”…he freaked! “You’re an East sider!?”
I didn’t know what he meant. Then he told me things were localized between east and west sides of town. Lunch breaks were spent at Pleasure, the Hook and close by getaways. Once in awhile I’d go surf Manresa, La Selva, down to Moss Landing. I never got Brighton right nor Stockton. There is sooo much surf in Santa Cruz. Coletta and I went down to Carmel one day and froze our asses off. I got a few good days at Marina near Sand…what a riping current. And I someties snuck off by myself to drive down to Fuller’s…a real fave.
Just recounting some of those memories makes me think of what Surfding is saying about a golden era. He’s right that the surfers of today will have a perspective unique unto themselves 30 years from now. I wish I could see what surfing and all the fluff around it becomes in 2050!?
But I also have a very warm spot in my heart for those days gone by. Of going to the high school as a little kid, to see a personally narrated surf movie by the film maker. The simple humor that got us all laughing uncontrollably, the discovery of new surf spots just over the border devoid of surf camps and lavish resort settings. Those were the days of sterno, parafin wax, army blankets, Pendletons, and sleeping on the beach or in the back of your truck to avoid ants or other creepy crawlers. The world was a smaller more mystical place then.
For those younger surfers reading this that want to capture a part of what we lived, I suggest you leave your lap top and Blackberrys at home and go lose yourself out in the middle of nowhere…then you might realize something far more precious than the latest digital gadget, and end up realizing you are out in the middle of ‘everywhere’.
"Only now with Er and Ing they have major corporate masters and production schedules that are probably soul-killers."
Thanks Nel.
Once again,... i find it really interesting how the subject so drifts after each additional comment.
These CORPORATE masters are doing exactly what they know works,..... trying to fill our brains with as much as they can with that first time,... and maybe only time,.. THUMB THRU to check out the pics and find that shot that keeps on the stoke that we,... at least ME for sure,... look for in ever new issue,... the Hope,... the dream break,... the escape,.. etc...
I had to say that about Evan,.... because he IS the Name on the top line,... I can say NOTHING for the Big Guns that Run da Big Fat Ads,.... that may,.. or may not truly be DiCk tatin,... the way the Mags are done these days,..... I lean toward the first,... because of the mirrored exactness of both ER & ING.......,..... and BLah,.. Blah,.. BLah,.. on the whole thing,..... Im still gona check out each new issue,... looking for that great shot,... as long as they are hangin in there,.... For cryin out loud guys,..... I fear the day that there is only one mag gona be avalible to the good ole Us of A,.....
Lets hear em Drifters!!!
Here is a couple to get ya started,........ "Gov. Quarintin Quarterly",....... " Big Banks & Insurance Bi monthly"
Yea,,.. Please,... I know i cant spell and i occasionaly miss keys,.... im just flowing like a surfer here with da rest of ya,... so,... just dont bust on me for that part
and I agree with deadshaper and monkstar right here on the two comments before mine
