Seeing this picture, I thought "Oh boy, that is going to hurt ...". So the surf is up, and the Maverick Surf Contest is now on. So what is Mavericks? Here's an excerpt:

"The waves at Mavericks are the product of swells that are suddenly thrust upward by a rapidly rising sea floor. There, waiting on the side, surfers paddle or are towed into the growing face of the wave, aiming their long surfboards known as "guns" downward and attempting to ride it out as the water races up the face of the wave.

Jeff Clark discovered the Mavericks break in 1975 and surfed there alone for more than a decade until he began to share his secret with others. It remains primarily the playground of only experienced big wave riders.

Newcomers can be held down on the sea-floor by sequential waves, tossed "over the falls" off the back of the wave, or rattled around in a rocky underwater area known by locals as the boneyard. "

Here's a pretty cool photo gallery of last year's competition.

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Published: (2005-03-02 23:16:22.0)

In 1977, Manfred Mann's cover of Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" gave Bruce his first number one song. Bruce's lyrics were more extensive, and most people think quite bizarre. To me it seems like a beat poem written to the tempo. The best comment I read about this song - "this is not just a song, but a musical event."

"Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder feelin' kinda older I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the calliope crashed to the ground

And she was Blinded by the light.
Revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night.

Some silicone sister with her manager mister told me I got what it takes
She said I'll turn you on sonny to something strong play that song with the funky break
And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Burly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride."

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Published: (2005-03-02 21:57:33.0)