Memory of Magic

Its a good to survive and it's even better to experience the magic and beauty of life. Last night I stepped out of my daily routine to visit the home of my friend and role model, Ethan Lau.
During our conversations, he said these words,
"Life can end at any moment, and all that is left is the memories of magic"
His home is a living museum. A home of a Contemporary Cosmic Individual Connected.
Below is a photo essay of his home.

A studio on hill exposed to wind and stars

Tools

Nutrients

Water Containers

Notes and Inspirational Forms

Ethan Lau

A new lense

  Plants including sweet potato and papaya

Surfed Out, Art time

Aloha friends and family,
Last month was practically non-stop waves on the south shore of Oahu.
I surfed so much I got my first ear infection that I am still recovering from.
October is apparently the month with the highest count of shark attacks.
So maybe staying out of the water to heal my ear is a blessing.

On Oahu alone there was 2 shark attacks in October, one at "Left Overs", the other at Lani Kai.
Left Overs is one of my favorite spots. I've caught waves there 5 times the length of my old home break of Rockaway Queens, going probably 3 times as fast on waves twice the average size.

I'm not sure if I'll surf Left Overs this winter. If you're already surfing it,  you're one brave human.

What else... My last day of surf was two Saturdays ago at my home break. It was glassy with head high perfect peeling conditions. Maneuvers seemed effortless- floaters, lip cracks, drop ins with ease.
I surfed it with my friend Chrisitian. One of his sons is in kindergarten and goes to the same school as my son.

Its funny how some days you can be "on it" surfing like a champion, while other times surf like a donkey. It's rare, but three weeks ago I surfed like true donkey. I went over the falls twice sitting on my board falling face first, fumbled on drop ins, dropped in between a girl on a longboard in front of me and a dude behind me, and dropped in on a dad of a kid who is in the same kindergarten class as my kid. I got one good wave of redemption, but eventually I realized I was the super kook that day and paddled myself in before I caused any damage to a beautiful session.

Thats all to report for now.
Working on a mural for the kindergarten walls where my son goes to school.
I'll keep you posted.
Singing off.
-Manny

Some Secrets to Skateboarding

One of the great secrets to skateboarding is to have a few up your sleeve. To surprise your fellow skateboarder, to surprise yourself with your secret line or trick, is one of the great joys of every skate session (or art show for that matter) - to do things unseen, to do things with utter grace or trick of the eye.

For example: Can someone tell me what the hell Mike Kepper (riding for Shut Skates in 1989) is doing here? Ollie or Wallride to Layback? Only he and a few may know. But I'll tell you what. Its a mystery to me- A graceful cement assault perfectly captured. Form that couldn't be more dope. Mike Kepper, if you're out there reading this, I must tell you brother, you are one of my favorites. Your skating is burnt into my memory more than most.
Mean Kill Style.

Skateboarding or art is like Magic. What would a Magician be if he/she told you how they did their tricks before they did them.  A magician would not be, without the show.

One of my personal skateboard secrets lies in the acronym PYOS.

The photo used in this Fall's Issue of Stay Wild Magazine. 

Photo by Jianca Lazarus

HI Sk8 Films 2015

HI Sk8 Films 2015

A selection of short films featuring Hawai‘i's best skaters and skate filmmakers collaboarating to showcase their technical skills and creativity. Collectively, these shorts offer a glimpse into an island community that revels in its contradictions: social but individual, progressive but subversive, nature-loving but concrete-dependent, grounded but gravity-defying.

Opening-night reception: Oct 23, 6-7:30pm: Enjoy live music with food, beer and wine for purchase. Meet filmmakers and skaters and check out a pop-up display of local skate art and photography. HI Sk8 Films showcase screening at 7:30pm. $10 • $8 MM

As with all Doris Duke Theatre screenings, visitors under 17 years of age get in for free.

Shorts showcase lineup:

Only This Nothing More (trailer)Directed by Sean Reilly. Produced by Shitty Kids. O‘ahu. 2015. 2 min.

The Root of SkateboardingDirected by Manny Aloha and Ethan Lau. O‘ahu. 2015. 3 min.

Primo Time-ODirected by Junji Murata. Produced by Soundboarding. Japan. 2015. 20 min.

TemptationsDirected by Adam Funari. Produced by Ditch Life. O‘ahu. 2015. 7 min.

Shitty TV
Directed by Justine Edwards. Produced by Shitty Kitty and Mikey Albert. O‘ahu. 2015. 11 min.

Shmood
Directed by Travis Ota. O‘ahu. 2015. 30 min.

- Intermission • 15 min. -

X808X
Directed by Josh Rubalcava. Produced by 808 Skate. O‘ahu. 2015. 4 min.

He'e Holua x Wind VibrationsDirected by Mackenzie Yoshida. Produced by Wheel Turner Hawaii. O‘ahu. 2015. 5 min.

Rhythm to RideDirected by Chris Miyashiro. O‘ahu. 2015. 9 min.

Dumb Youth Skate PartyDirected by Tomoki Kobayashi. O‘ahu. 2015. 15 min.

SaffronDirected by Alec Singer. O‘ahu. 2015. 3 min.

Poi DogDirected by Conor McGivern and Kale Kaaikala. Produced by APB, Treevisions and Mokelife. O‘ahu + Maui. 2015. 20 min.

STAY WILD MAGAZINE: ALOHA DITCHES!

I haven't seen it yet, but, I am honored to be in the fall issue of 

Stay Wild Magazine. This summer I discovered countless skateable ditches while driving around Oahu during my day job. Ditch postings on Instagram like the photos below inspired me to pitch a "Hawaii ditch piece" to Stay Wild.

I got the green light from Stay Wild head honcho (friend and role model) Justin Scrappers Morrison.

So I called up one of my favorite photographers (and friend) Jianca Lazarus and two dedicated and radical skater broz Mike Sidani, and Johnny Noel, and we made a day of it. 

I hadn't skated that hard in 10 years.

I'm stoked that two photos of me made it into the mag. 

Below are a handful of shots from that Day of Ditches that weren't printed.

Thanks Stay Wild Magazine for giving us a great reason to skate and create.

Mahalo and Aloha!

Johnny Noel -Backside Hurricane

Mike Sidani ollie into the steep

Manny Method to five-o-axel pivot.

Johnny blunt 

Sidani speed carve setting up for a backside ollie.

Manny Magic Method

Sidani Wire Grind Uluz

Me keepin' it simple.

Thank you Mike Sidani, Johnny Noel, Jianca Lazarus, and 

Stay Wild Magazine for the friendship and Ultra Positive Vibes.

Sincerely, 

Manny Aloha

WEEK OF WAVES

ALOHA FOLKS,
Waves on the South shore of Oahu have been at least head high for the past week with perfect conditions. The wind kicked up today (Saturday) but people are still having a ball.
Here are a couple of picks from this week.

Tales of a Honolulu Homeboy- SUPER CONNECT!

I dropped into the wave and everything turned silent. The water was clear and I saw a stray piece of seaweed floating. Time slowed down as the wave, my actions, and desires melted together- one moment stretched. I dragged my hand in the curl and my face in the lip. The sun shone bright. Up and down the wave I went all the way to the inner reef stoked.

I began to paddle back out only to get stuck inside. I was in the zone of white water, lips and curls- the Whitewash Museum. As the outside sets came pounding, I relaxed safe inside, and admired the infinite curvilinear forms and movements of whitewash- up, down, diagonal, sideways. As the big sets subsided, I paddled back out and observed a perfect mid size wave similar to my last. I called it the "Super Connector". It came hidden between unorganized brut waves, and looked like a Cool Guy or Hot Chick.  One approached and I yelled "Yee haw!" as I paddled to the pocket. As I dropped in,  inside my head I yelled, "Super Connect!"

Zombies - Time Of The Season HD

Surf Poem: Family Sunday

Sunday Family Beach Day  
and my face is a little fried
The ocean was so beautiful
if alone I would have cried

Skies were blue for miles around
Crashing waves made pleasant sounds
I always must remember
what makes my heartbeat healthy pounds.

Surfed a new secret spot
Some local bros were my guide
We set up the wives and kids
Then paddled out to perfect winds and tide

They showed me past the treacherous reef
Stoked I didn't ding my board
In just another fifty yards
lied natures great reward

Once we made it to breaks
we all caught radical rides.
Every successful drop
turned me from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde.

-Manny Aloha
Sunday 11/23/14

Mean Dream Awakening

Ladies and Gentlemen and Low Lifes,

I had a mean dream. It's 3:30 am and it spawned me to wake up and run straight to my computer and write, because it is the fastest and most direct way to capture what is going on in my head- faster than drawing or painting it, or making a movie for that matter.

I had a dream that I was walking with some friends in the rain to a hybrid of Yankee and Mets stadium for a concert in the rain (concerts never or hardly ever happen there). It was to be an insane event with all my favorite friends. peers and role models in New York City attending. As I pulled up to the event I began seeing Vandal Squad and random police officers handcuffing dudes amongst the crowds around the food fender booths. They were then wrapped up in a cloudy white heavy duty 10ml plastic tarp, like a burrito with their heads sticking out to allow for breathing. Anyone captured would be stacked up in groups of 3 or 4 near the road, ready to be thrown into an incinerator. 

In the wrapped up stacks I immediately began recognizing friends I knew. The first one was Bob Puloeo and  two other skaters from Brooklyn.  

As I scan the stacks of dudes wrapped up. I notice another friend.  Its my friend Charlie Buttelry, creator of Nimbus Skates. I ask one of the my skater friends wrapped up next to Bob Puleo and ask, "What's up Bro? What's going on here?"

Skater - "They got us all! And they're gettin' ready to burn us." "They got Bob!" 

They got UFO too! Look what they did to him!" as he pointed to one of the wraps. 

Inside the plastic wrap was a pureed white like sauce spread between a hero- life size piece of french bread. UFO was my longest lasting friend in my life." I met him when I was 5 years old. At first I thought I could save some of my friends, but when I saw UFO pureed into a sauce, there was nothing I could do to bring him back! It spawned me to wake up and express myself without holding back - to express myself for my friends. I'm glad it was just a dream.

FIRST FAMILY SUNDAY SURF

Hayden putting sunscreen on all by himself for the first time,

on the way to the beach to paddle out to his home surf break 

together with Mom and Dad also for the first time.

Note the radical spandex board shorts made by Marisa Mom. 

Aloha family, friends, surf and life lovers.

Today was a special day. There were radical waves on the North shore, but we chose to stay on the South shore where the waves were smaller so we could all paddle out as a family.

For the first time in our life, Marisa, Hayden, and I  surfed together - everyone on their own surfboard. It was one of my dreams achieved- to surf with my wife and son. In the nine years we've been on the island, my wife Marisa has never paddled out to our home break (it being a little advanced). Hayden hadn't paddle out until now because he was a little to young and not able to swim. But now being five years old and able to swim short distances, I felt he was ready.

Our home break is the wave that breaks in front of the beach park where Marisa and I got married. So for all of us to paddle out together for the first time was a milestone. 

We made it about 100 yards out to the area where your ride normally ends if you were to drop in from the point. Hayden was generally stoked the whole way out, expressing only a little fear briefly. Marisa pointed out the awesome view of Diamond Head.

There was still a little south swell coming in and the waves were bigger than I expected so I pushed Hayden into the first wave that came our way and he took off. He appeared 25 yards towards shore with a big scream and smile on his face. Marisa and I caught the next wave chasing him. Having surfed there easily over a hundred times, I knew exactly how the waves break, and where not to paddle allowing us to have the safest experience possible.

Marisa was stoked too. She said she wants to surf together every Sunday Morning. I pray that we can make this happen for as they say out here, "A family that surfs together, stays together".

I have no photos of this memorable moment except for this sequence of Hayden putting sunscreen on all by himself on the ride to the beach. This is pretty much another milestone on the same day.

This ends my Family Sunday Surf Update.

SKATE TO SURF BY HAYDEN

Skate to Surf

Sidewalk Chalk Art Installation

I came home from work to find that my son did an art project on our apartment complex with the sidewalk chalk. I imagine the little dude focusing.

Tuesday SURF, ART and BBQ

After Tuesday's daily grind

I got a call from Big Braddah Luke with the Surf Report.

"Diamond Head is head high and clean"

It was 4:00 and he said he would be in the water by 4:30, 4:45.

I said, "I have to pick up Hayden from school. See you in the water by 5. I'll be on the inside with Hayden." So I hustle and strap the longboard to the roof of the station wagon, and pack charcoal, lighter fluid, grill, and a cooler with some hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, bread and water, and choclate chip cookies into the trunk, for a sunset BBQ after surf. I bolted to pick up Hayden at 4:50. 

The car was on Empty and Hayden insisted we get gas so we don't have to tow the car. I said your right. After getting gas, we park, put our board shorts on, walk down the east cliff (Hayden lead the way all by himself) and we make it to the bottom and he tells me he has to pooh. So we make it to the bottom and walk up a steep crevice 25 yards up so Hayden can do the do behind a rock. I wash his but in the ocean, put his life vest on and we paddled out by 5:30 with plenty of sun still left. 

We paddle to the small inside section and catch our first wave body board style. We see Uncle Luke out in the normal Cliffs line up. Head high sets are coming in clean. We catch another wave, then another which we stand up on. That was our first time we ever stood up on a wave together. Then I ask Hayden if he wants to go paddle out to Uncle Luke, and he says "Let's do it! I'm not afraid." 

Hayden was stoked. We paddle to the far left of Cliffs and I say, " let's watch this set come in, it's always good to know where the waves are breaking and who's on it. The line up is kind of packed and zoo like. The set subsides and we paddle to Luke and give hi fives with one eye to the horizon for unexpected sets.  I knew if an outside set would come, we'd have to catch it. Paddling around it was not an option with the crowd. 

Luke notes a outside set coming. I look inside and give the "telepathic nod and eye that my son and I are coming through so please clear the way" and the crowd parted. We let the first one pass. The next coming was unavoidable so I say heads up everybody! Hayden we're on this. Get ready. I check the wave and paddle in to make sure we catch the wave after it breaks behind us. The foam was plenty big enough. And dropping in on it would have been way too risky. We catch the wave and make the foam impact and are flying down the wave on our bellies. I move way back on the board as to not nose dive the board. Half way through the ride, it smoothens out, and I say Hay lets get up. He says OK and we both get up and ride together for the first time on a legit wave at Diamond Head.

 It seemed like forever. We rode the wave over 60 yards and almost all the way to shore. It was the best wave of the set, and the first time I ever took Hayden out to the line up at Diamond Head. One of the most memorable waves of my life today. I'm so proud. 

Then we showered up, walked up to the car, took our time getting dressed to some KTUH tunes (hatch back open enjoying the view of the waves from cliffs edge), drove to Lukes to tell him we were BBQin' at Kaimana (He lives a few hundred yards from the break).

We rendevous at the Kaimana Beach Park, fire up the grill while Hayden draws pictures. Uncle Luke came with a six pack of beers. Attached are Hayden's drawing and words we wrote together. We left the beach park at 9:20. Possibly the best Tuesday of my life. 

HAYDEN'S DRAWING S FROM AFTER HE CAUGHT HIS FIRST EPIC WAVE AND STOOD UP WITH DAD. 

(I took the honor of coloring them in.)

Signing off, 

Manny Aloha

Star Man with Wave Eyes
(Possible Self Portrait)

Wave

Words from Hayden written by me
DAD! How do you write,
 "MEET LUKE. HE'S THE BEST. HE LOVES TO SKATE. HE CAN JUMP HIGH!
HE ALSO LOVES TO SURF! ME AND MANNY WITH LUKE!
Dad! write , "HAYDEN'S A NUT CASE!"

On Hats and skateboarding

Skateboarding without a mesh trucker cap is like doing a kabuki theater performance without a mask.
I was at the skate park today and didn't have any of my usual attire. My skating suffered.

Kind of like playing football without a helmet.

RIP BUTTONS KALUHIOKALANI

A few weeks ago my favorite surfer of all time passed.
Today I postponed a camping trip to paddle out with over a hundred of his friends and family.
I paddled out on my twin fin and my wife on the long board with our son.
It was a beautiful experience.
In the process we got to meet a lot of kind people, like Kiki, Christian Hosoi's cousin, and Mark Liddell. It was my first funeral/paddle out.
If I die, I want my ashes to go dumped at my home break Suicides right by Graveyards on the South Shore of  Oahu, and for all my friends and family barbecue and surf all day. Hopefully there'll be waves. It is also my goal to give back to the community with my art. My representations of the how the ocean makes me feel.
So glad I went.
RIP BUTTONS!!!
Thank you for showing so many people the way on how to get so stoked, including myself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlv1H3irwU
http://vimeo.com/78432451

My First Big Wave Experience.

I'm not sure if I'm exaggerating, but today I paddled out to waves the size of two story houses, apparently smaller than yesterday when we lost a brother. RIP.

It was 10-12 ft Hawaiian scale waves, or 20-25 ft faces. Thanks to my friend Alex for lending me the appropriate gear. 8'6" (probably a little under gunned, it didn't look as big from shore),
and a floatation vest. I am yet to ask him what size he claims it was. For all I know I'm exaggerating.
All I know they were the largest waves I've ever paddled out to.

I had the opportunity to make a couple, but this one uncle kept taking my thunder, and blowing it. I gladly gave them up. I believed I could make it, and when the wave came to me that I thought I would catch, I'd say to myself "I"m gonna get this BITCH" But maybe I should of approached it like, "May I have the Honor?"- Been a little more cordial to the beast.

I almost scraped into an elegant mean one, one of the larger set waves.  Maybe it was better  that I didn't make it. I was at the top of the lip and thought I was in. Alex gave me a tip that I didn't follow, which was to keep paddling down the face of the wave before you drop in. I was at the top of the lip.  I could of sworn I was in. The lip grazed my whole body and board, like a tap to a baby's bottom or a mild slap on the cheek. Then I thought for sure I was going over the falls and was ready for the pounding of my life, but somehow I miraculously slipped out the back.

I was happy enough to see what I saw-
Some BIG ASS MOTHER F$%#IN' WAVES.

It was like some Danny Way Mega Ramp shit but a little scarier because waves move and march towards you, and are in a constant mega morphing form, that you have to decipher and coordinate with.  And if you wipe out hard you can go under where its difficult to find you. The ambulance can't just roll up and scrape you up off the floor. They'd have to risk their own life to find you.

My friend Alex was owning it out there. Handling Solid. He is an ex rugby player and built for taking hard hits. He reminds me of my brother Bob. Dudes with BIG BALLS. I was stoked to see him shine out there. Thanks bro for being my guide.

Easily larger than a one story house. and more like the size of a row of three two story houses rolling your way and looking larger in the distance, but maybe I'm exaggerating. Alex, if your out there,
What do you think?

The site is burnt in my memory- a beautiful nightmare,  probably the most sublime experience I've had yetf to date.

I'm not gonna lie, I didn't make it into one of the large ones. I was thankful to scrape into one about half the size.

I may not ever surf that size ever again. I don't have the total desire. Although it was thrill, I have more fun surfing 4-6 ft Hawaiian, or 10-15ft faces and smaller- Good clean fun.
Better yet, my favorite size is 3-4 ft Hawaiian.

-Manny Aloha signing off.

The gnarliest people I've ever been inspired by continually

Are skaters. 

Collage of Thoughts

Please sit through the monotonous intro to this song, wait for the lyrics to kick in and start reading.

Aloha Party Peoples. I'm truthfully a lost soul but blessed none the less, most of us are. One of the biggest blessings I have beyond my radical family, is my radical friends. I owe it to all of them for showing me the way. I have taken what they have shared with me and become a leader on my good days. A leader of Good times. And a follower of my homies when I need them to lead.

Thank God.

My wife too. She'll lead the way when it comes time to create a routine to brush my boy's teeth every night. And I'll take the lead when it comes time to surf, skate or create.... 

Then sometimes we turn up the music and have a dance party all together.

That's how I met my wife. Her dancing caught my eye.

The other day I was skating home from the skatepark after work and saw some cassette tapes in the trash. I picked up the one that said "Success with Positive Mental Attitude." It talked about how in order to succeed in anything, you need to have self-discipline blah blah... Actually there was some very cool words in that roll of audio tape. But more interesting are the thoughts that arose the early morning after. 

It was 4:30 am and I woke up thinking about how the cool thing about skateboarding, surfing, art, climbing, snowboarding, learning, is that passion can drive self-discipline, so you don't even feel like your disciplining yourself.

When kids ask me, how do you ollie (one of the most basic tricks in skateboarding)? If you really want to learn it, try it a hundred times and then talk to me. If you don't get it then, then try it another hundred times. Heck thats what I did.  If your like me and not my brother Bob who learns physical feats in day, your like most people who try and try again. Once you learn, then you'll learn what it means to be "STOKED"

The cool thing about young passion is that if you are lucky to have a passion for something at a young age and no one to stop you from delving into your passion, you will likely get good it. When you're young, without adult obligations, you have all the time in the world.

If there was one thing I benefitted from when my mother and father divorced, was that during my teen years they were involved raising their newborn children from their new marriages. They let me do as I please and unknowingly developed a practice routine for skateboarding which went as follows, "Dkate every day after school before doing homework. Most kids would probably have those two priorities switched around. Not I. Thank God I had a deep desire to skateboard.. Thank God they instilled in me some good values. 

Thank God. Now that I come to think about it, I was a pretty mean kid. Just ask my friends from my neighborhood on Amundsen Lane. Some how I'd like to think that I turned out to be a respectable and kind human being.

Yeah so the cool thing about passion and self discipline, is that passion can replace self-discipline, or make self discipline a breeze. That was my interesting discovery after listening to that tape I found in the trash.

Unfortunately when I lived in Brooklyn I was passionate about NYC Night Life. I was really good at it. But thankfully I realized that the rock star life style is a dead end street. Thankfully my passion for surfing was greater than my passion to party hard.

I'd rather continue seeing the world.. So here I am on the island of Oahu writing to you and sharing whatever I can scrape from this soul.

Posted below is the final IN4MATION ad that went to print in Flux Magazine Fall 2013 Issue, a Hawaii Arts and Culture Magazine. Stoked on it. 

Time to catch some Zs.

-Manny Aloha