[caption id="attachment_1222" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="(Photo: The surfer as a grom; John John Florence checking out the surf at Backdoor.) "][/caption] To say that I've had an association with John John since he was a wee bitty grom would be a gross understatement. Not only have we established a bond as surfers, but our friendship has always been tight and crossed-over into a kinship only known between my family, the Fletchers, and John John with his little brothers Nathan and Ivan, and mom Alex; Mom John. I wanted to share some of the photos I've taken of John John throughout the years. This here is just a miniscule piece of my much larger archive. Like my boards, paintings, and sculptures, photography is another artistic endeavor that I've involved my life with. [caption ...

[caption id="attachment_1205" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Herbie Fletcher's "Wrecktangle" at the Waikiki Edition Hotel "][/caption] Herbie will be in Oahu this week to promote his "Wrecktangle" board sculpture that's being featured in the lobby of The Waikiki Edition. Coming from the mastermind of Ian Schrager, The Waikiki Edition is a new type of hotel - kind of like an entity of its own - that's being introduced by the Marriott International. In collaboration with interior designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg and landscape designer Deborah Nevins, the Waikiki Edition resides as its own sanctuary on the sand; smack dab near the beaches and Marina shopping districts in a coastal urban sprawl. Truly, a visiting surfer's paradise. When you walk into the lobby, the first thing that captures your eye is the wall-to-wall "Wrecktangle" pieced ...

Dennis Hopper was a friend and I've had the pleasure of getting to know him over the years. Here are a few photos I found of Dennis and that I wanted to share with all of you. These first two pictures shows Dennis with artist Julian Schnabel, Kelly Slater, Bruce Irons and myself in Hawaii during the Eddie Aikau Awards Banquet. The kid next to Dennis is his son Henry. We're all having a good time and just goofing around.  What a great memory. I'll never forget it. [caption id="attachment_890" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Herbie Fletcher, Kelly Slater, Bruce Irons, Julian Schnabel, Henry Hopper, Dennis Hopper"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_891" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The Boys Hanging Out During The Eddie Aikau Awards Banquet"]...

[caption id="attachment_864" align="alignnone" width="401" caption="Herbie Fletcher. Photo by Art Brewer"][/caption] Herbie went on a boat trip to the Mentawai Islands this past fall. It was all-time. With a crew that consisted of Nathan Fletcher, Bruce Irons, John John Florence and Danny Fuller, how could it not be? And when Herbie came back to San Clemente, he came back in typical form: with lots of great tales of near-perfect surf and good times. He also took a bunch of photos for definitive proof of all of this. So stoked, so amped. Here Herbie takes us back to last October and how it all went down. Read it through and check out the pics while you're at it. To say the least, Herbie and the guys were going mental at the Mentawai Islands! This is Part ...

So we just got the report in, and it seems like Herbie's trip to New York was a great success. He met a lot of new people -cool people - hung out, explored SoHo, and even sold an art piece. Seriously, how rad is that? Despite the frigid temperature, New York and its inhabitants were more than welcoming to Herb and he had a blast. Herbie stayed with artist Julian Schnabel at Julian's place. Julian's son, Vito, who is the curator for the art show that Herbie is featured in (Brucennial 2010: Miseducation), was at opening night wearing a Christian Fletcher t-shirt. So sick. And as is always the case, Herbie's back here in good ole San Clemente, already back to the grind with other numerous projects in the works. Among them, he's working on restoring all the old Wave Warriors series and Adrenaline Surf Series so all you guys out there ...