RANDOM THINGIES 02-07-07
By corky carroll

I am on a trip down to my Mexico house right now and last night I was sitting on my deck talking to my good pal Bruce “Cross-step Shuffle Master” Romano.  He was telling us how his son Kevin had gotten into trouble at school for horsing around with some other kid at lunchtime.  He was saying that these days it is against the school rules to even play the game of “tag.”  My other pal, the Iguana, was sitting there listening to this and was sort of taken back at that.

“Why can’t they play tag anymore, geeze that was so much fun back when I was in grammar school.” He asked innocently.

So Bruce goes on to explain that the kids can’t play any kind of games like that because it can lead to “inappropriate touching.” 

“Inappropriate touching?” the Iguana bellowed.  “Kaaariminey…… no wonder nobody is learning anything anymore!”  

I had to crack up at that comment.  He’s right.  So I guess that leaves co-ed touch football completely out of the question.  No wonder the kids are coming out fat these days.

This brought me back to the horrible memory of a sixth grade incident that I had.   It was a tetherball issue as I remember it.  I had walked out to the grounds at recess to play a little tetherball.  There was a girl there and as I walked out she nailed me right in the face with the tetherball when I wasn’t looking.  I think I said something that I probably should not have said to her.  The next thing I knew she had me on the ground with one foot on one of my arms and her knee on the other.  She proceeded to punch me in the face about a dozen times until a teacher puller her off of me.  Her name was Pat Colony and she was in the eighth grade at the time and bigger than me.   I had to live with the stigma of getting punched out by a girl for months after that.  So, yes, I can see how these games can lead to inappropriate touching.  Getting your lights knocked out by a chick would certainly fall into that category. Where was anger management when I needed it?

Then we started talking about how growing up in California has changed since the Iguana was a kid.  That was during the era of black and white.  TV was black and white.  Photos were black and white.   Back then your parents could spank you if you screwed up and most of them did.  I know my dad did.  Hard.  That morning we had been driving through Ixtapa and saw this little local kid playing on some grass.  He tripped and did a huge face plant right on the sidewalk.  He got up embarrassed but laughing, and his pals and parents were laughing too.  In Newport Beach that would never have happened.  The boy would have been crying and screaming and the parents would have called 911 and a lawyer.  There would be a lawsuit to the city, the company who laid the sidewalk, the grower of the grass and the gardener who mows the lawn.   It’s crazy the way things have become.  We live in the age of lawsuits. 

Bruce came down here to do some surfing with me and introduce Kevin to this part of the world.  Also, to look at some land for sale.  There are some amazing opportunities to be had at this time down here.  They myth of not being able to own property down here is very wrong.  You can get beachfront property here that is breathtaking for less that a studio condo in Southern California.  I have been finding all sorts of beautiful spots with available lots.   It is amazing that the Iguana and I wound up as neighbors.  We have known each other since I was eight years old growing up in Surfside and he was the lifeguard on the beach in front of my house.  

On a different, and not so happy note, John Waters, the legendary surfer from the 1930’s and 40’s and beyond died Tuesday, January 30. He was 88 years old.  He was a leader and pioneer of California surfing and a graduate of Orange High School in 1936.  Ride on John, you will be missed.

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN SURF CITY

The Wave ~ 2-2-07
By Corky Carroll

It seems that this raging inferno of a war between Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz over the use of the term “Surf City” just will not go away.  I keep getting media releases telling me about this that and the other thing as the battles continue and the war trudges on.  Is this another one of those wars “We never should have gotten into?”  In my humble opinion the whole thing is kinda silly, entertaining, but silly nonetheless.  But then I am not thinking like a local businessman either.  That is another thing all together.

Having the title of “Surf City” actually brings in much more revenue to the local business community and is a genuine asset.  And having Dean Torrance as a local resident gives just that much more credence to the whole deal.  He is the Dean of the infamous singing duo “Jan and Dean,” who had the big hit song “Surf City.”  

I personally always thought of Huntington Beach as THAT place.  Although I also always wondered where the “two girls for every boy” was.  Hey, I am a boy.  Where are my two babes?  I’m getting ripped off here.  Some dude must have four.  

Anyway, I guess the latest thing is that this dispute is now in court up in San Francisco.  It was actually at first in the courts in Santa Cruz, not good for Huntington Beach.  Definite home court advantage there for the ice bergers.   But our very own Conference and Visitors Bureau dude, Doug Traub, got it moved up to San Francisco in an effort to level the playing field, so to speak.  

What I wonder is, who officially has the rights to use “Surf City” on clothing, t-shirts, hats and all that stuff.  I see it all over Huntington Beach.  In my mind I would think that would be owned by the writer of the song.  And, if that is the fact and I don’t know for sure that it is, but I think it would be, then wouldn’t it be up to him as to whom he would license the name out to for anything?  And, if that is the case, then why is this whole thing in a Federal Court? 

There are towns that actually are named Surf City too.  But I think that the thing in question here is the “illusion” of the fun in the sun, party all day and night, surf, babes, happiness of what the name represents in our minds.  Nirvana for surfers and sun seekers.  And people, like me for that matter, who romanticize about that kind of culture. 

Maybe there are some girls who would like the line changed to “two dudes for every girl.”  I don’t know.  It’s a state of mind I guess.   Actually that is exactly what the whole thing is about, a state of mind.  

There are executives working in tall buildings in every landlocked city in the United States who romanticize about this very state of mind.  Living at the beach.  Surfing all day and having wild parties every night.  Incredible babes all over the place just waiting to be picked like nectars off the vines.  No worries.  No Coats and ties.  Who was the idiot who started the tie thing anyway?  That dude ought to be shot on sight.  That is the most lame fashion mistake ever invented.  There should be a law in Surf City that says if you get caught wearing a tie you either have to leave immediately or get hung by it until your eyes pop and you agree never to wear one again.  And you have to do five years community service as an anti-tie terrorist fashion cop. 
Yeah, I like that.  If we are really going to be the actual Surf City then let’s get this party started.  You geeks that are tucking in your Hawaiian shirts…… cut it out.  Cut it out NOW.  Didn’t you get the memo?  They are not meant to be tucked in.  And mess up your hair a little bit OK.  You want the illusion of being brushed by unseen tropical breezes.  The Brill Cream era is over.  A little dab won’t do ya here amigos.   

If we are gonna do it, lets do it right.