SUNDAY JOINT, 6-17-2018: RELL SUNN, MIMI MUNRO, SHANGRI-LAS

Hey All,

“Grand Prix Dream,” last week’s History of Surfing post, takes us back to the endlessly tilled yet somehow still-fertile period when pro surfing went from “gypsy tour” to “world tour”—although to be honest there was no difference at first, except one happy guy (Peter Townend) got to hold up a world champ trophy at the end of the year. Which come to think of it is pretty great, and thanks once again to Fred Hemmings, Randy Rarick, Ian Cairns, Jack Shipley, and PT.

Rell Sunn’s interview is now on Above the Roar. Everyone who knew her says that Rell loved to work blue, and could out-filthy Redd Foxx when she wanted to. Nothing like that ever came out in her interviews, though, which is a shame. Sainthood always flattens a person out. I’d be more comfortable with deification if we could leave in the dirty parts. Be that as it may, I’m grateful to Bruce Jenkins and Mark Cunningham for gathering up the quotes that appear in her Roar interview, and EOS is a warmer place because of Rell’s presence.

The best part of my week was discovering the Shangri-Las track that I used for this new Mimi Munro clip. The worst part was cornering Mimi night before last at the Florida Surf Film Festival, showing her the video, and finding out the opening shot of the blond gal holding the striped board isn’t her. First time I’ve ever shown a clip to a famous surfer in person and I blow it. (I made the fix, and now it’s all Mimi.) Anyway, is that Shangri-Las song now merrily ear-worming through your brain? Good. Now click over to Mimi’s Above the Roar interview, and send a wish out to the universe, as I often do, that someone will come along and make a documentary feature on this remarkable woman.

Thanks everybody, and see you next week.

Matt

[Rell Sunn pic by Jeff Divine]