SUNDAY JOINT, 1-21-2018: "PANIC ON THE SHOWROOM FLOOR," PLUS GREG MUNGALL

Hey All,

“Panic on the Showroom Floor,” last week’s History of Surfing post, described how the turning evolutionary wheel in 1968 and ’69 crushed the name-brand boardmakers of the time—in spirit, if not actual fact. Although in actual fact a lot of those companies were just straight-up crushed. This blog post had a chuckle at how board companies tried to draft on the groovy and pupil-dilated mood of the period. What I didn’t touch on, and it’s probably more interesting than that cherry-picked group of ads trafficking in High Grooviness, was how invested companies from the period were in using text to sell product. I found a Morey-Pope ad from 1968 filled with close to 1,000 words, set at an eye-straining 7-point type-size. Was anybody ever high enough to read that thing start to finish? Probably. Not me, though.

Greg Mungall’s Above the Roar interview went up last week, which led to this post about Greg's knockout win in the 1979 Katin, which he did grinning all the way, wearing nothing but trunks—in the dead of winter. Mungall was a big loud force of nature, and California pro surfing in the late ’70s and early ’80s was a warmer, funnier place for his being there. Still alive and well and ripping HB Pier. Greg’s best move was the frontside caveman hack, and in this 1982 Rick Doyle shot he’s loading one up. Oh and here’s a link to the Greg Mungall video I made on Friday. Heavy back foot. Serious lofter of spray.

Lots more coming up this week. Thanks, everybody, for spending valuable work time on my website!

Matt