Instagram: @alex__swanson

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Fixie kids are soo cool

oh fixie kid
how does he feel?
about spending $350
on a new front wheel?
is it from sweden?
or maybe tokyo?
is his bike carbon fiber?
how fast can it go?
he wears some cool leather shoes
and blue Sabre glasses
he rides so quickly
but hes late to all his classes

fixie kid
going to san francisco
fixie kid
riding in new york

all the girls love him
but hes too cool
hands in his pockets 
as he struts through school
rvca stickers on his bike
a strange Chrome satchel on his back
fixie kid is never alone
he always rides in a pack

oh fixie kid
he forgot to skid
now hes dead
fixie kid'

BY DARBI

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Tool

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Aliso/Thalia...






Aliso/Thalia shot with a $3 point and shoot, and 100 ISO film, One day was super bright and the other was really overcast... you can see the difference.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Bill Dance

Extra Photos from Hawaii






I'm really digging low light and grainy photos at the moment 

Friday, June 19, 2009

Fresh Prince and Jazz


D.J. JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE
THEN: Jeff Townes was a local Philadelphia hero when he met a kid named Will Smith at a 1985 house party. They had instant chemistry and soon a hit single with 1986's "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble." It was released a month before Smith's high school graduation. Three years later they won the first ever rap Grammy for "Parents Just Don't Understand." 

NOW: 
Officially, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince have never disbanded, but they have taken very different career paths. DJ Jeff went on to contribute scratching for Eminem, Talib Kweli, The Roots, and others. Unfortunately, things didn't turn our so well for Will Smith's career: a forgettable sitcom and some box-office bombs. Maybe Flavor Flav will put him in his next reality show.

Twins



My friend Maxine and that girl from Beach Blanket Burnout...

Thursday, June 18, 2009

It works


plus, you can wash your back with it

Mike Hyson+Crystal Meth= a great story

The Endless Bummer
TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO THE ULTIMATE surfer movie, The Endless Summer, made unlikely stars out of two California protodudes, Robert August and Mike Hynson. When The Endless Summer II hit the screens this summer, there again, in a guest-starring role, was August, now 49—slim, tan, still surfing, and selling his own line of boards (31,000 and counting) for a living. His brief appearance seemed to answer one important question—can you really make a career out of being cool?—while raising another: Uh, by the way, whatever did happen to that other guy? 

The answer: not much that was good. A few months before Endless Summer II'sJune premiere, Mike Hynson, 52, sat in a San Diego county jail, finishing a three-month sentence for a probation violation and possession of crystal methamphetamine. Says he: "I've been in jail all my life." He's speaking metaphorically, although he has had plenty of trips to the slammer, usually on drug-related charges. Some might see his life as a cautionary tale; Hynson sees it as a kind of triumph. "I never gave in to the system," he says proudly. "I don't even know my Social Security number." 

Hynson grew up pursuing his two passions, golf and surfing, in San Diego and Hawaii, where his father, a naval engineer, was stationed. He was already a hotshot wave rider when director Bruce Brown invited him to travel the world and surf for the cameras. Made for $50,000, Endless Summer earned about $30 million when it was released nationally in 1966. Although Hynson says he was never paid (he turned down the $5,000 Brown offered, insisting he deserved more), the impact of his instant celebrity was huge: access to parties with Jimi Hendrix and Andy Warhol—and to a world of drugs. "He was the true golden boy," says Melinda Merryweather, a former model who married Hynson in the early '70s. "Everyone wanted to be like him." 

Then the glow began to fade. A couple of attempts to start up businesses with Merryweather fizzled. And by the time the couple split around 1980—after having a son, Sun Michael, now 18—Hynson was working little and partying a lot. Director Brown says he keeps his distance from Hynson: "I don't trust him." Former costar August last saw him at a surf-industry trade show a few years ago. "I introduced him to my son," recalls August. "After Mike left, my son said, 'Jeez, what happened to him?' " 

Hynson's own son might wonder the same thing. Sun Michael, who attends college on the East Coast, doesn't see much of Mike. No one does. He was back in jail as recently as a few weeks ago. When he is out, he lives mostly where he can find a bed. In past months, he has stayed in the spare room of a friend's house in San Diego. Occasionally he works, painting designs on surfboards and, he says, giving surfing demonstrations. Where do these demonstrations take place? "In my mind mostly," confesses Hynson, smiling. 

SEAN ELDER 
JAMIE RENO in San Diego 
1994

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Wedge




Me and my buds Trevor and Max were at Wedge the other day to bodysurf and bodyboard... It was macking! Like 8-9 ft sets when we got there, by the time we left at 4 pm it was getting up to 12 ft...

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo

South Dakota

Its been a while since I've last posted, the reason behind this is the crappy internet access in the Midwest... Anyways being away from the ocean for a week, during a swell nonetheless, has really made me appreciate surfing a whole lot more. We have it pretty damn good, we can go out whenever we want as opposed to those in middle America who make yearly trips out here. Make the most out of your time in the water, as cliche as it sounds, respect the ocean. We have the Pacific at our fingertips! I can only hope to give back to the Ocean for all the great times I've had being in the water.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Pirates




It was a normal Wednesday afternoon down at Point Loma, all of a sudden I see this sailboat coming in really close to the cliffs and almost crash. Anyways, it lost its Sabot about 100 yards out, coincidently my sister, Ashley Henderson and Cody Fairfield all saw this too. (I was in my dorm and they were checking the surf). I sprinted down the hill in my boardshorts and top and started swimming out to get that boat. My sister quickly followed and Ashley too swam out. We ended up riding the boat thru the surf all the way to the bottom of the cliff and proceeded to be pirates. 

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Everyone's a hater

Talk about a reliable source, I spoke with Robbie the other day and he said all of this stuff is BS. He's enjoying the free publicity, though. Anyway, Creme still is. There was another company (skateboard co.) in Europe called Creme. They asked Robbie (no legal sh!t involved) if he could change his name by 2007. The new company name is Gato. However, the Creme logo will still be on all the boards and team wetuists etc. Incase anyone cares. 


*Excerpt from a forum about Creme...*

"carpenteria=alex knost

alex, u go fuk robbies big butthole, and have emo fag fashion shows, and take new myspace pictures of each others.

u r a joke and so is creme-urself surfbords.

peddling crap boards to mindless OC posers and calling urselfs "artist".

i think theres to much spermazoa clogging your brain these days.

queerbs"


Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Behind the Scenes at Picaresque




If it aint broke, dont Fix it.


53 cm Fuji conversion $150. Sugino Crankset $180, Brooks Saddle $200, Bianchi Stem $30, Fighting all them girls off- Priceless.