Surfrider MOP post shows up on Facebook!

Thanks, Kapakahi!

Music Outreach Program featured in Surfrider CEO's Podcast

posted by Nicole Parisi-Smith, Surfrider San Francisco's Music Outreach Program Coordinator. A post very similar to this one appears on her personal blog, Pop Culture Activist.

Surfrider Foundation CEO Jim Moriarty has a podcast called "On The Beach."

Some info about the podcast, from the Surfrider website:

Surfrider Foundation is made up of a mosaic of amazing people. These people come at the idea of coastal conservation from many angles and have different life stories. What they have in common is a love of our oceans waves and beaches. Twice a month we will explore this mosaic by releasing an audible interview with a key player in our movement.

Jim's most recent podcast features DC Surfrider Chapter Chair Julie Lawson.

This is what Jim had to say about his talk with Julie:

Everything about this podcast fascinated me.

The Washington DC chapter is one of the few non-coastal chapters in our network. Julie Lawson and the DC crew have created muscle that is not only tied into the local watershed and the distant beach, but also the federal government around them. Lastly, rather than working to pass a blatant plastic bag ban, the DC chapter worked with other groups to tie the plastics issue to economics.

Julie and I sat down and walked through these issues and a few others. Don't let her humility fool you, this woman is a rock star.

Julie Lawson, recorded on the streets of Washington D.C.

Listen here!

You'll hear Julie and Jim talk about Surfrider's volunteer-run Music Outreach Program.

Thanks to everyone who helped me start the program - especially Julie and Laura Mazzarella, Surfrider's Marketing Manager.

Thanks, too, to DC Surfrider members Eli Kiljanek, Eric Dean, Jason Rubin, Joyce Rosado, Megan Kelley, and Mike Childs who not only supported me, but who literally stood by my side and helped me represent DC Surfrider at MOP's first few shows.

For a full list of "Friends of MOP" please see this blog's sidebar. Thanks, too to Surfrider San Francisco and DC Surfrider's Music Outreach Program Coordinator Chris Woods, who help keep it strong!

Brett Dennen - 9:30 Club - 11/17/2009

By Chris Woods, Surfrider DC Music Outreach Program Coordinator

On Tuesday, November 17, Ian Achimore, a California native, and I, a future California transplant, attended an excellent Brett Dennen and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals show.

We set up our Surfrider Foundation booth in the newly remodeled corner of the 9:30 Club, and displayed our chapter's new tee shirt designs, as well as memberships that come along with tote bags with an excellent surfing design. There was a lot of interest in our new 2010 Surfrider Foundation calendars. (Shoot us an email to get your copy- an excellent stocking stuffer!)


photo: Ian @ the booth

We signed up many new fans to our email list, and met some great folks. We were introduced to two ladies that were huge Surfrider and Brett Dennen fans, and had participated in the Barefoot Beach Cleanup with G.Love and Tristan Prettyman.


photo: Ian @ the booth talking with fans

Brett and Grace both put on excellent shows.


photo: Grace Potter performing @ the show, Flickr PZAO

And for those of you who like artists whose live shows are even better than their albums.....Go check Brett Dennen out ASAP!!!


photo: Brett performing @ the show, from Flickr PZAO

That's all for now, stay tuned for Surfrider Foundation's Music Outreach Programs next excellent concert.

Love concerts? Love DC Surfrider?

posted by Julie Lawson, DC Surfrider Chapter Chair. This was also emailed out to all DC Surfrider Chapter members yesterday.


The DC Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is looking for a new Music Outreach Program Coordinator. The Music Outreach Program started in 2007 and works with touring and local musicians to bring the Surfrider message to fans and concertgoers. MOP has given our volunteers access to shows by Jack Johnson, Donavon Frankenreiter, Colbie Caillat, Brian Wilson, Brett Dennen, Xavier Rudd, Incubus, ALO, G. Love, Matt Costa, and many more.

Our current coordinator, Chris Woods, is shipping off to the West Coast this winter, and we need a new person to organize and attend these shows and events! The position involves not just running a table at shows, but also recruiting volunteers and training them. You'll work independently, but under the advisement of a DC Chapter leader and MOP founder Nicole Parisi-Smith (currently based in San Francisco).

It's an excellent opportunity to get more involved with Surfrider, learn skills, make contacts, and, of course, get free concert tickets! (Like all chapter roles, this position is unpaid.)

Requirements:

- Enjoy live music and already go to shows of your own accord, and follow tour schedules and artist nonprofit interests
- Able to stay out late on weeknights
- Comfortable directing volunteers and doing outreach
- Proactive, dependable, timely, and organized

Preferred candidates will also have regular access to a car, as some venues are not Metro-accessible.

Because of the sensitive nature of networking within the music industry, we are asking interested candidates to submit a formal application (cover letter addressing the requirements above, and resume), obviously a more stringent process than we use for most volunteers. The deadline to apply is December 7.

Send questions and application materials to dcchapter@surfrider.org. For more information about MOP, visit our website and the MOP blog.

Colbie Caillat - 9:30 Club - 10/17/2009

photo: Julie Lawson & I

by Megan Kelley, Education Coordinator - DC Surfrider Chapter

DC Surfrider was out tabling at the Colbie Caillat concert on Saturday October 17th in Washington, DC. Julie Lawson (DC Surfrider Chapter Chair), Chris Woods (DC Surfrider Music Outreach Program Coordinator) and I helped educate and gain support for local campaigns in Maryland, Virginia and the District.


photo: Chris Woods and his brother Timmy.

We gathered signatures, linked concert goers up with Surfrider, and enjoyed a great show. We even met a surfer from Hawaii - go figure! Thanks to Colbie and the staff at the 9:30 club for supporting the Surfrider Foundation!


photo: Our view from the DC Surfrider table of the main floor of the 9:30 Club - before it became full of Colbie fans!

Bayonics - The Elbo Room - 10/30/2009

by Brooke Tessman, San Francisco Chapter Volunteer

On October 30th, The Surfrider San Francisco Chapter had the opportunity to participate in our second Bayonics show. The venue took place at the Elbo Room in the Mission District.


photo: Brooke & Nicole

Nicole Parisi-Smith and I arrived around 9pm. We were welcomed by a festive, Halloween influenced vibe that continued to get stronger throughout the night. Nick Arlas joined us at our outreach table at 10pm.


photo: Brooke & Nick

Nicole, Nick and I represented the Surfrider outreach, while opening band Orgone took the stage. Orgone is a California funk and soul band hailing from LA. I had the opportunity to chat with Orgone's trumpet player Devin Williams.

Having grown up in SF proper, but now living in LA, he loves playing SF gigs and having his good friends come out to support him. Devin was very interested in Surfrider's water quality testing program, and the “Clean Water at the ‘Bu” Campaign.


photo: Orgone's Devin Williams & Brooke.

Bayonics, our band headliner,finally took the stage around 11:30pm to an eager(and sweaty)crowd. Bayonics is best described as a funky, Latin influenced hip hop sound that easily gets your booty shakin'!

Several folks stopped by the Surfrider table, asking questions about our organization, while Nick and Nicole handed out Surfrider brochures.



Special thanks to Bayonics Manager, Jimmy Vargas. Congratulations on another successful show! Surfrider looks forward to working with you and Bayonics again soon!

Wild & Scenic Film Festival - Delancey Street Foundation Theater - 10/21/2009

review written by San Francisco Surfrider Member Christy O'Connell

I attended the Wild & Scenic Film Festival on Wednesday night, held at the Delancey Center Foundation screening room on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. The film festival was started by the South Yuba River Citizens League, SYRCL, a watershed advocacy group based in the Sierra foothills. The event was hosted by two Bay Area non-profits - International Rivers and the Women's Environmental Network. This film festival is the largest of it's kind in the United States. The festival travels from city to city so that a lot of people can see the films and hear their messages.

The Wednesday night San Francisco event was emceed by Michelle Chan, host of KPFA's radio program "Terra Verde." "Terra Verde" is a live public affairs program that investigates and analyzes environmental issues from a global perspective. The festival screened 11 films which varied from animation shorts to documentary style flicks.

The turnout was a variety of WEN members and pro-environment, Bay area folks. The Surfrider Foundation was one of five organizations co-sponsoring the event. (Our San Francisco Chapter's logo appeared in the film festival program.) Our table was shared with The Greywater Alliance.

I has the opportunity to learn more about greywater systems and how they can benefit homeowners. However, the purpose of the festival was to bring awareness to many topics covered by each film.

A few examples of flicks ranged from a clever animation about animals in the zoo, to how coal is ruining the Appalachian region of West Virginia's residents, pollution infecting the largest wetlands ecosystem in Puerto Rico, to one man's dutiful efforts to save the endangered Lora sea turtles from extinction.

This particular film, "Papa Tortuga" was extremely heart-warming. It followed Fernado from Tecolutla, Vera Cruz, Mexico on his daily chores of saving Lora sea turtle eggs from poachers and relocating them to safe nests til they are ready to hatch. He has a team of volunteers and has promoted his efforts through education. He invites local and distant school children to be a part of the annual release of 30, 000 baby sea turtles into the great big ocean.


photo: Children releasing the turtles

Check out the "Papa Tortuga" trailer --



It is quite remarkable to witness how one man's efforts have dramatically affected the life span of this ancient species of turtles.


photo: Papa Tortuga

It just goes to show you, that one person really can make a difference. Personally, I am going to follow-up on the mission and progress these films are promoting. They certainly have opened my eyes to environmental crises that are existing in a variety of national and international locations due to human consumerism.

Thanks to Karolo Aparicio of International Rivers who coordinated our Chapter's participation in the festival!

Kapakahi - Great American Music Hall - 9/30/2009

photo: Kapakahi @ Cafe Du Nord, June 28, 2009. Flickr photographer joesuave.

by Nick Arlas, San Francisco Volunteer

Neel and I rolled down to Slim's on September 30th to catch three reggae bands that are building larger fanbases at every show they play. Kapakahi, Philly based group The Movement, and DC-based SOJA rounded out the lineup that kept the audience stirring it up until close to 1am. The Movement, a talented 4-piece group, got the crowd going early with harmonizing vocals/rhymes combined with an excellent blend of electric reggae-rockin' guitars, bass, and irie beats. Local group Kapakahi followed with a high energy set that left the the crowd amping for the headliners SOJA to come on stage. After much anticipation, SOJA stepped up and got the crowd immediately singing their subtle lyrics and dancing to songs with a dub and traditional reggae feel. On the outreach side, we were able to spread the word about Surfrider Music Outreach Program to some future volunteers, as well as pass out a few beach clean-ups schedules-thanks to Hillary for the help. SOJA and Artist Chris Pederson also helped us out by placing a stack of schedules at their tables. Pederson's work is 100% epic surfscape fantasies and you can check it out at foreverstoked.com.

"Searching For Michael Peterson" & Music by Beau Young - The Victoria Theatre - 10/7/09

On Wednesday, October 7th the San Francisco Chapter had an outreach table at a surf film and music event at the historic Victoria Theatre in the Mission District of San Francisco. The theatre, built in 1908 as a vaudeville house, is now a city landmark and the oldest operating theatre in San Francisco.

110 event attendees watched a film by Australian Jolyon Hoff called "Searching for Michael Peterson" and heard music performed by Australian Beau Young.

Surfer Magazine has named Michael Peterson one of the 50 Greatest Surfers of All Time.

The film's website states that in 1977, in front of 20,000 people, Michael Peterson beat future 4 times world champion Mark Richards to win the first event of the surfing world tour. It was his last competition and he was only seen occasionally until 1983 when he was arrested in a 15-car police chase from Coolangatta to Brisbane. He never surfed again and, after years in Boggo Road goal, he was finally diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.


photo: Michael Peterson @ Sunset Beach, 1975. By Dan Merkel.

This film beautifully tells his story. The Australian tour had 22 sell out shows through March & April this year, and recently premiered in the USA at the NY Surf Film Festival. The NY Surf Film Festival has a nice interview with director Jolyon Hoff, here.



We really appreciated the tour's invitation to have our Chapter at the event. Jolyon wore one of our Chapter's t-shirts on stage when he did the film's introduction, and gave us a shout out!

Australian singer/songwriter and former 2 x World Longboard Champion Surfer (2000, 2003) Beau Young opened the evening with a 45 minute performance on the stage where the film would be shown later that night. Beau's first album "Waves of Change" was released in Australia and Japan in 2005, debuting at #13 on the independent charts in Australia, and then reaching #10 in the following weeks. Beau's second album, “One Step at a Time”, came out last year.

Beau also gave our Chapter a shout-out from the stage, during his performance.

This video interview with Beau features his music.



The film & Beau are currently touring So Cal. You can check out the remainder of their dates, here.

Jolyon, Beau, and Tour Manager Rick Christian all visted our outreach table and talked with us about our Chapter's events and programs, and also promoted our upcoming events from the stage.


Photo: Rick, Jolyon, Beau

Tim, a Surfrider Music Outreach Program volunteer, did a great job capturing attendees attention when they walked in the front door, and were passing by our outreach table.


photo: Tim & I

Tim and I spoke with a lot of Surfrider members, and handed out a lot of our Beach Cleanup Schedule Postcards, and got a lot of enthusiastic responses to our invitation to the October 15th Chapter surf film/music event at the Park Chalet. It was a great night!



Thanks to Beau, Jolyon, Rick, and Suzy for inviting us out to the event.

Coming Up - Bayonics

On October 30 the Surfrider San Francisco Chapter will have an outreach table at the Bayonics show at the Elbo Room in the Mission District of San Francisco, thanks to the invitation of Bayonics manager Jim Vargas. Also performing that night will be Los Angeles-based band Orgone.

The show starts at 10pm.
Tix not on sale yet, but when they become available, they can be purchased online here.

The band is also performing at the Elbo Room on Oct 31.

Brooke, Nick and Neel will be representing the chapter at the show.

Coming Up - Kapakahi

On Wednesday, September 30 the Surfrider San Francisco Chapter will have an outreach table at the Kapakahi show at Slim's, thanks to the awesome support of the band - particularly drummer Steve Salta. Also performing that night will be The Movement and SOJA.

Showtime: 9:00 PM (Doors: 8:00 PM)
Ticket price: $18 in advance/$21 at the door
Tickets available on-line at: slimstickets.com
Ages 6 and Over

We partnered with Kapakahi back in July - it was awesome! Kapakahi is a Hawaiian term which means "mixed up." We are very much looking forward to partnering with the band again this week. Nick and Neel will be representing Surfrider at the show, as Kapakahi's guests.

Check out Kapakahi's new video for LIGHT UP:



The Washington, DC based band SOJA has created their own blend of conscious roots music entwined with the traditional rhythms of reggae, it "comes across with passion and depth." (Washington Post '06) Since 2000, the quintet has issued three full length albums and two EP 's– their latest, "Stars and Stripes" (2008), is their fourth for the group's own label, DMV. The band released their second DVD "SOJA Live In Hawai'i ~ A Marc Carlini Film", followed by the album "Born In Babylon" earlier this year.

Colbie Caillat - Radio Alice 97.3 Now & Zen Festival - 9/27/2009

On September 15th the Surfrider Foundation announced that platinum singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat has partnered with Surfrider as an official supporter!

As supporter, Colbie is working with Surfrider to promote the organization and increase awareness about the importance of marine protected areas. Colbie is currently on tour in support of her new release, Breakthrough, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. She has invited Surfrider's chapters to set up outreach tables at selected cities on her tour, which began on September 15th and wraps up at the end of October.

For a complete list of tour dates, go here.

“We are extremely excited to be working with Colbie,” says Matt McClain, Surfrider Foundation’s Director of Marketing and Communications. “We are looking forward to working with her so that she can share her passion and enthusiasm for marine life and environments with her fans.”

Growing up in Malibu overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Colbie’s relationship began with the beach the moment she was born. Throughout her childhood, and to this day, Colbie and her family vacation on Kauai; walking the pristine beaches and enjoying the ocean. The beach is a place she retreats to when writing, and the salt water, cool breeze and grainy sand beneath her feet makes her feel at home. That sense of ease and nature underlies the mellow laid-back songs that have made her one of today’s most popular recording artists.

“The ocean has played such an important role in my life and musical career, it is disheartening to know that the health of some of our most gorgeous beaches and beautiful waves is at risk,” Colbie warns. “Only five minutes from where I was born, the Surfrider Beach in Malibu is one of the most polluted in the country. By joining up with the Surfrider Foundation, I’m able to make a difference and help protect our coastlines for future generations.”

The Malloy brothers directed a really funny video that was shot on a beach north of Malibu, for Colbie's new single "Fallin' For You." You can watch it here.



Alexis Henry, Surfrider's Communications Manager, worked with Colbie's management and Sarah Savage of On Board Entertainment in order to coordinate an outreach tent for the San Francisco Chapter at Radio Alice 97.3 FM's Now & Zen Festival. Thanks, all!



The festival took place on Sunday, September 27th at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California from 11am - 6pm. The artists performing included Dashboard Confessional, Howie Day, Colbie, and Train.



The Surfrider San Francisco Chapter was one of three nonprofits there - the other two were Conservation Value and Amnesty International. Sarah hooked us up with a great booth spot, next to the bands' merchandise tent and the VIP tent, and within close proximity to the stage. The festival provided us with a tent, folding table, chair, and allowed us to pull onto the lawn to load and unload our gear, and then provided us with a VIP parking spot. It was a really well-run event, and we were very thankful to get to participate in it.

Thanks to the very awesome Surfrider volunteers who helped out at the festival - Cristin, Mellie, Rachel, Jules and Victorianna!! Plus our mascots Fritz and Shorty who got a lot of attention from dog-loving fans. We had so much fun!


photo: Jules, Victorianna, Cristin, Nicole.


photo: Rachel, Victorianna, Cristin, Mellie, Nicole.

When the festival gates opened at 11am, we watched mostly teenage girls run to the front of the stage, to secure a good spot on the grass, in preparation for Colbie's 1:45pm set. By the time she took the stage the lawn was full for as far as I could see!

When fans stopped by our booth I'd ask them who they had come to see. I really enjoyed watching them smile when they said Colbie's name:) I had fun comparing notes with them about favorite Colbie songs, and hearing them talk about the duet with Taylor Swift, and other concerts they'd gone to. They were super cute!!! It was fun to watch Colbie's fans smile really big when we talked about Colbie's connection to the ocean, and I told them about Colbie's partnership with Surfrider, and specifically the outreach that we were doing on the Breakthrough Tour. Everyone who stopped at our booth - not just her fans - thought that was very cool. Yeah, Colbie! :)

Before the gates opened Colbie's Lighting Director, Joel, stopped by our tent to introduce himself and to tell us how much he loves Surfrider. He came back several times during the day to hang out and learn more about our chapter. We really enjoyed meeting him!



We were busy talking with fans from the moment that the gates opened until after the music had ended. I couldn't believe how busy we were! It was FANTASTIC! We handed out our beach cleanup calendar postcards, talked with fans about plastics in the ocean, commercial fishing practices (fans specifically asked about shrimp harvesting), shark fining, distributed the Monterey Bay Aquarium-produced Seafood wallet-sized guides, showed photos of a bird who died as a result of marine debris, had 73 fans sign a petition stating that they support a tax on plastic bags, collected 2.5 pages of email addresses for the San Francisco Chapter's e-newsletter mailing list, sold 10 Surfrider t-shirts, 1 sweatshirt, and 6 branded Chico bags, resulting in $265 for the chapter.



We also played a fun game with 3 jars of plastic items collected at 3 different beaches - one jar was from a San Francisco cleanup, another from a cleanup in Indonesia, and the third from a cleanup in El Salvador.



If a fan could correctly identify which jar came from which location, then the fan won a Chico bag to encourage the fan to use reusable bags instead of plastic bags.

It was really fun to see families and friends swirl the contents of the jars around and puzzle out which jar came from which location, and to hear their reasoning for how they arrived at their "final answers."



It was also really great to see some kids play the game and talk with us, and then come back with their friends and family members later on in the day so that their friends and family members could play the game, too.



Fans really spent a lot of time at our booth, listened to our talks, and engaged in thoughtful conversations with us. I loved it when fans asked questions and shared their personal experiences with us. The fans were amazing. It was a super rewarding day!


photo: Rachel talking with a young mom.

I particularly enjoyed talking with two Sacramento State students who had learned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from a sociology professor. The guys had a long talk with us about their experiences with upstream water pollution sources in their community. I also really enjoyed talking with a younger girl who came to the booth on her own to talk with us. Her father, who is a park ranger, takes her on beach cleanups and has taught her a lot about the impacts of marine debris on wildlife. She was very cute.

This might be my favorite group of the day, though. I loved the groups of teenage girls who came to our tent together.



This fan inquired about purchasing this sweatshirt, but didn't have cash in her wallet. The festival grounds did not have an ATM so she left the festival grounds to visit a neighborhood ATM, and then came back to purchase this sweatshirt. She was awesome!



We also met a good number of fans who are from So Cal, or take family camping trips down to spend time at San Onofre State Park and surf Trestles. In addition to hearing from Trestles fans, we also connected with a good number of fans who were not only interested in the beach cleanups, but who were also excited about our chapter's annual Women's Paddle Out, which takes place at Ocean Beach on Sunday, October 4th at 10am. I'm psyched at the prospect of having new people get involved with Surfrider and the marine debris issue!

I particularly enjoyed Howie Day's performance. I first saw him open for OAR in 2005 and have been a fan ever since. And of course Colbie's set was amazing. She opened her 45 minute set with "I Won't" and closed with "Fallin' For You."

These videos were recorded at the festival. Enjoy!!!!!!!



And of course the sing-a-longs were a lot of fun!!



Thanks again to everyone who made this day possible!

Chi McClean - Surfrider's annual Conference for California Chapters - San Francisco, CA - 8/15/2009

photo: Chi McClean. Taken by Alan Hondale.

Each year the Surfrider Foundation organizes a conference for the leaders of the California Surfrider Chapters, held at a hotel in California. This year's conference took place Friday, August 16 - Sunday, August 18 at the Hilton on Kearny Street in San Francisco. Chapters represented at the conference included the San Diego Chapter and the Humboldt Chapter, and many chapters in between, as well as National Staff Members Michelle, Chad, Ed, Angela, Bill, Nancy, Pete, and Sarah.


photo: Michelle Kremer presenting to the group at the hotel. Taken by Nancy Hastings.

On Saturday night the San Francisco Chapter organized a private outing on the environmentally-friendly cruise ship the Hornblower Hybrid, around the San Francisco Bay.


photo: The Surfrider crew in front of the ship. Taken by Nancy Hastings.


photo: Surfrider Foundation Staff and Surfrider Chapter Leaders.

Surfrider supporter, musician and San Francisco resident Chi McClean volunteered to donate his time and talents to us, and played a beautiful long set on the top level of the ship.

"Something Out There", Chi’s debut album released in 2009, is often described as melodic and soulful, drawing on complex guitar riffs, solid drum beats, upright bass playing, gritty B-3 organ, and vintage electric pianos. You can listen to full tracks from "Something Out There" here.


photo: beatboxer Marty Benson of the San Diego Chapter joined Chi on "the stage."

Chi graciously played his guitar and sang for us from the time that we left the dock, until we returned back to the dock. I particularly enjoyed hearing Chi cover Ben Harper in the open air, on the water, underneath the stars. It was a beautiful night! The Surfrider crew also had a great time chatting with Chi - he's a great guy. We really, really appreciated his thoughtfulness and contributions to Surfrider!


photo: Michael Stewart, who negotiated the cruise contract for us, and Wes Womack, our San Francisco Chapter Chair, with Chi McClean.

Check Chi out, here:



His tour dates are posted on his Myspace page.

Bayonics & Aphrodesia – The Great American Music Hall - 8/21/2009

by Neel Singh


Nick reppin’ Surfrider SF!

On August 21st, recent Surfrider member and Music Outreach Program (MOP) all-star Nick Arlas and I attended the Bayonics and Aphrodesia show at the Great American Music Hall.

Bayonics is a local band, mixing smooth Latin melodies with Jazz, Funk, Timba, Hip Hop, Reggae, and Rock. They’ve been rocking shows since 2001 and have been featured on bills with other local favorites such as Native Elements and 40Love.



San Francisco based Aphrodesia is an 11-piece ensemble that has been blending African music with polyrhythmic funk undertones since 2003.



Jim Vargas, the manager of Bayonics, contacted us and we were fortunate to be able conduct outreach at this event. We shared a table with Pete, the drummer from Bayonics, (selling merch) who’s a really cool, down-to-earth guy, and who’s also got chops on the kit!

The show started off with a chill atmosphere. GAMH was only about a third full when Bayonics took the stage, but they still brought their good vibes and energy, and rocked a full hour set.


Bayonics on Stage


By the time headliner, Aphrodesia took the stage the venue was full – a good mix of people of all ages bringing their positive energy together to celebrate the gift of music in one of the most beautiful venues in San Francisco. Also, let’s give some big ups to Gus, the MC, and DJ Jeremiah for keeping the vibes and groove going throughout the night.


11-piece Aphrodesia plus a few guests

Outreach for us was a success too! We signed up one new member, who had recently moved here from back east, added some new people to our email list, and raffled one of our stylish Surfrider T’s away (winner pictured below).


Raffle winner, Nick, and me

Overall it was a really great time of good music and good people. Nick and I met some of the members of Bayonics, all really cool, positive guys. Pete, from Bayonics, told me at the end of the show how much he appreciates the efforts of Surfrider and the MOP and welcomed us to table at any of their shows in the future, so let’s stay in touch!

Kapakahi - Slim's - 6/19/2009

Photo: Neel and I at the Surfrider/Save The Waves Coalition outreach table. Poor quality photo taken with my cell phone.

On Friday night new Surfrider volunteer Neel and I represented the San Francisco Chapter at the Kapakahi show at Slim's in San Francisco. It was a great success!

Steve Salta from Kapakahi invited us to conduct outreach at the show, set everything up for us with the venue, and put Neel and I on the guest list. He was fantastic!

We shared a table with Lindsey Davis, Office Manager & Outreach Coordinator for the Save The Waves Coalition, and Stranger, one of the opening bands from San Diego.


Photo: Lindsey and Neel at the Surfrider/Save The Waves Coalition outreach table. Poor quality photo taken with my cell phone.

Kapakahi played a great set, and guitarist/lead vocalist Mike Dayao gave Surfrider a shout out in the middle of one of their songs. It was awesome:) We were psyched to see Steve, who had been so supportive of us, on drums.

Check out this video from a previous show.



This is my personal favorite song, performed here solo acoustic by Mike:


We met a bunch of people who had not heard of Surfrider, but were interested in our work, and signed up to receive our chapter's e-newsletter. We met a member who needed to renew his membership. And we met a woman who lives at Ocean Beach who really wants to come out to our upcoming beach cleanups. It was a great all-ages audience. What a fun night! Thanks again to Kapakahi, Steve, and Slim's!