Issue 9 Reckless

reckless

manifold

spring/summer

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the a unisex magazine for the independent age. art. music. fashion. profiles.

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illustration x napua camarillo

letter from the editor reckless

When was the last time you did something for the f irst time? It was wild. It was reckless. It was probably a good memory or a funny story in retrospect, right? We tried to string those feelings together throughout this issue.

And as we were working on it I realized that the more years I add on to this life, the less reckless I get. Or maybe smarter is the word? I was a wild one! I miss those days where mom or dad would bail me out and the only thing I really had to worry about was drinking money for the night. Being reckless is fun. Not landing ever y trick holds a sense of g ratitude. Drinking too much then getting sober can feel freeing and clean. I mean what good is getting clean if you never got dirty? Learning things the hard way has kinda been my life’s undertone but coming out on the other end of things feels stronger and accomplished, seasoned and fulf illed.

Hope you enjoy this issue.

---Napua Camarillo Editor-in-Chief

We are an open submission magazine accepting any and all contributions at submit@TheManifoldMag.com. Come be part of our team.

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map x adele balderston

contents

FASHION

ART

PROFILE

SKATE

Let's get PRETT Y RECKLESS with photog rapher Tien Austin.

Joel Maxey takes us through the streets of SF and gets dark and gritty in the world of black and white photography.

Rhonda Jones goes to Japan to hunt down artist Jeremy Strength and f inds the truth behind his sobriety.

Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.

Land.

The unseen photos of skate photography by Matt Miller.

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VS

One poem VS another poem VS another.

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PROFILE

PROFILE

TRAVEL

MUSIC

Visual artist C.ME tells us about street art and the politics behind it.

Spanish photog rapher Lua Ocana gets a bit reckless with her work on Be Brave Benjamin’s “Devil’s Fool”

Pooja Munshi takes us on another adventure. This time to Senegal, Africa.

Taimane Gardner tells us how about Don Ho and her newest album.

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contributors EVAN MUTTER is an artist currently residing in Long Beach, CA. He loves to make artwork that is inspired by altered states of consciousness and esoteric cultural symbolism in which he was engulfed while traveling in the East. He enjoys creating within a variety of mediums, some of which include ink, acr ylic, spray paint and wood burning. He also enjoys skateboarding, writing, and playing music.

IG: mutterbutterr facebook.com/evan.mutter RHONDA JONES is seasoned in the act of recklessness. She balances broken bones and booze with advocacy efforts, free-styling, art creations, traveling, and nature. She has deg rees in Communications and Public Health. You might need to reintroduce yourself on several occasions, because she suffers from prosopagnosia.

GUILHERME ALVES, born and raised in Curitiba - Paraná, Brazil. Has been living in Honolulu since 2006 and when he is not teaching the DeRose Method at his School you can f ind him surf ing Ala Moana Bowls, Straightouts, or riding pools and sidewalk surf ing the streets of Chinatown.

If you wanna f ind out more about what Gui teaches go to: DeRoseMethodHawaii.com

MATT MILLER is a photographer born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. When not shooting photos, Matt can be found gripping skateboards and slanging shoes at Another Skate Shop. Af ter work guarantees a skate session and a few cold beers, and perhaps a bike ride on some local trails or through the streets.

MILES HANSON recently moved into a tent in his backyard so he could smoke without having to step out of the house.

That’s a basic explanation of Miles. Either he’s really dedicated to smoking, or just lazy. Ultimately the fact of the matter is that he can lie in bed, read, listen to music, or fall asleep, all while smoking a cigarette. This is a f itting description of his character, ambitions, and goals. On a side note, he also g raduated from UH Manoa with a BA in English, currently lives in Maui, and intends on making a living from either a professional career in skateboarding, or writing erotic novels.

JOEL MAXEY is a 30 year old skateboarder living in Kailua, Oahu. He rides for Shitty Kids and lived in SF for a while in the Tenderloin, where he shot the photos in the series “My New Cheaper Life” on page 24. He uses old half-frame cameras, pushes tri-x to 1600 and does all developing and printing himself. All photos here are scans from 8x10 darkroom prints.

TEDDY KANG is a fresh new Chinese illustrator who is currently based in Toronto. Besides pursuing his BFA degree at York University, he is currently working with a few magazines and various clients from all over the world, doing illustrations and designs. His works have also been featured by a few famous design and illustration blogs and websites, such as Tumblr Radar, DesignClever, Tumblr Open Arts, Designers of Tumblr, Baubau Haus, EatSleep Draw etc.

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W O R D

11 questions

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How has growing up in Hawaii affected your outlook on skateboarding?

It def initely forced me to be more creative and look differently at what you can skate and how you can skate it. Probably less handrails too.

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How is skateboarding in California, compared to skateboarding in Hawaii?

A world of difference, at least coming from Maui. Oahu is probably way better too just ‘cause there’s more parks, spots and people that are stoked on skating.

But California is just a massive skate park with skaters all over.

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What do you miss about Hawaii?

Surf ing in surf shorts and doing nothing and not feeling bad about it. Oh, and food!

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What is the worst thing about California?

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What is your opinion on the direction the skateboard industr y is heading?

Traff ic, parking, fake ass people.

Corporate takeover.

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What are the biggest perks of being a professional skateboarder?

Appearing cool when in fact you’re a loser.

interview x miles hanson photog raph x sam muller

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Besides skateboarding, what other hobbies do you have?

Surf ing and documentation of life on earth.

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What are your plans from this point for ward in your career?

Avoid slamming as hard as I did the other day.

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Any advice for anyone tr ying to pursue a career in skateboarding or the industr y?

Do it for love and prepare for it not to be what you think it is and love it still.

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What is your favorite sex position?

Do people ever really do more than about 3 or 4 different ones?

If you had to make out with any skateboarder who would you choose? (I’d choose Heath Kirchart, but that’s only because I have a man cr ush on him.

And he seems like he’d be cool with it. Or I guess I could choose Elissa Steamer, but even then I’d still choose Heath Kirchart.)

HK does love his bros but I’ll go with any one of my bros who’ve already drunkly kissed me multiple times.

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U L L E T S

13 Bullets

I was hitting on a female officer at 7 am in Waipahu trippin’, on acid, holding a bottle of Wild Turkey I had just stolen while my friend pissed in Don Quijote to distract the guard and he got the shit beat out of him for doing so.

Stones concert in Amsterdam and ended up stuck in the bathroom for two hours, later found myself in the Red Light district where I puked on a prostitutes stoop, right in front of her while she shook her fists in anger. amateur hour at its finest.

So one night I stumbled into what I thought was a cheap budget motel to get a room for the night. There was no one at the front desk and I decided to sit on the couch till they got back.

Next thing I know, I wake up with a bunch of old folks hanging out around me. I had crashed out in a retirement home, but on the plus side I didn’t have to pay for a room.

I was in Qatar for a four day pass with my buddy who we called “Sleazy Snatch”. We took off looking very American, in a country that wasn’t too fond of Americans. We went bar hopping to bunch of underground discos, hitting on every chick we could find and more or less acted like dickheads. Luckily for us we were picked up by the Qatar National Defense which is like the government police. They stuck guns to our heads, threw us in a van and drove us to an air field where the guy in charge had some words with an army major, expressing his desire to have us out of his country as soon as fucking possible.

One of my most reckless moments would be when I ate an 8th of shrooms before a Rolling

My reckless moment would have to be me and a friend bombing down a pitch black Baldwin Avenue on a skateboard buck-ass naked except for a helmet. My friend was driving behind us with her high beams on. She clocked us going at 55 mph but then got pulled over by a cop.

One “summer kick off party” I’ll never forget.

After working a long night relaunching a rooftop I worked at, we of course went out all night and had some celebratory cocktails that left us all extremely hungover. We had

all planned to go to the beach on Long Island the next day and despite how awful/drunk we still felt, my friend and I pulled it together and got to Penn Station. Well, pulled it together is a loose term as we headed straight for the busted TGIFridays that served us car-bombs and bloody beers before our train left. As we arrived to the beach, we brought a few champagne bottles to go and headed to the water. Upon arriving we spotted some boys playing catch and forced them to throw us the ball. Next thing ya know we were not only taking over their game but burying them in the sand and making them listen to us talk.

The next 6 hours are a blur...the couple boys we met quickly grew to a group and we had a whole fan club. We were the stars of the show, telling funny stories, feeding them endless champagne, what a day! Now, don’t let me leave out the most important detail. THEY WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL. So not only were we breaking the law, at one point I remember looking over and one of these little brats and my friend were all wrapped up like a pretzel, making out! Woof!! At least I wasn’t that bad...I was just calling everyone I knew to talk about life and do the drunk cry, including my mom. Finally, the sun was going down but the party wasn’t over! We got back to the city and of course got lost, my phone died, my contacts fell out of my eyes (must have been all the crying) and I even think I may have tumbled down a f light of stairs trying to use the bathroom in an unknown restaurant. Anywho, I woke up, by the grace of God, in my bed in a pool of sand, with bloody knees and a pounding headache.

We were working on a musical tour traveling the country by tour bus. After one of the shows the crew, my best friend and I went to a nearby bar outside of the Mile High Stadium.

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I’m not sure when or how long ago this took place. I must’ve been at least 21. Old enough to drink at a bar. It was a blurry part of my life..heh, still is. My grandma, along with everyone I knew always lectured about drinking and driving. “It’s dangerous”, “you could kill your self or worse, someone else.”

So obviously I drove drunk a lot. Probably why I have 1 car accident, 3 DUIs, no drivers license, but zero deaths. I was told I was a great drunk driver. They also lectured on sex.

illustration x a.c.

territory. These feelings were all new, it was awesome! But what wasn’t so awesome was the cop that had sped up behind me.

Instantly f looding my car with his head lights. Instantly killing my boner. She was like “what happened?” I’m like “we’re getting pulled over.” As the cop was walking up I finally had to make her stop. Now I can only imagine what the cop had seen. Guy with no shirt, un-buckled pants, girl with a hiked up skirt, casually wiping her face. Not to mention we reeked of booze. One look at officer “bad timing” I thought for sure I was fucked. He asks the usual; license, registration yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah. Then he asks me to step out of the car. That’s when I felt the chill run down my spine, then I realize I have no shirt on. So I ask “may I put a shirt on, and buckle up my pants?” He gives me a smirk and a nod. I walk the line, follow the pen, pass the tests, and blame the smell of booze on the girl.

After a few minutes of chit-chat about dis-ndat he tells me I’m free to go and to have a

good night. Honestly I knew I was good when the cop walked up chuckling to himself. I jumped back in my car and drove home. It was a PG rated car ride this time. I didn’t want to risk anything more. I was ready to get home.

Moral of the story; beer and sex can wait till home...nah that last part is bullshit.

I’m having a great day. I scoot to my favorite random place to start drinking- Bubba Gumps.

Some reason, they give me free shots there so I always go back. Three shots and two beers deep, I feel it is still safe to ride my scooter to Hideaway Bar in Waikiki. A beautiful slurry of booze and laughs ensue, and I end up at Irish Rose, then Tsunamis, then Downbeat.

I prepare to drunkenly scoot home cause of course, that’s a safe idea, only to find my scooter not where I had left it. A panic creeps over me and I call the police to report my scooter as stolen. I drunkenly tell my story to the police and tell them the bike is just GONE, and proceed to fill in the most mistakes laden police report in the history of drunkenly written police reports. I wrap up with police and head to my buddy’s house who I know is still awake and we proceed to mass-post Instgram and Facebook posts about the stolen scooter. I stumble home eventually and pass out. I wake later that afternoon to a barrage of texts and missed calls. All stating the same fact: “hey dummy, you left your scooter at Hideaway, its not stolen!” I shamefully arrive later at the Hideaway to see it parked just as I had left it. As I roll out, I see a cop at the 7-11, and out of fear of him seeing me on a scooter that had recently been reported stolen, I stop and try to bullshit him into closing the police report I had made saying I found the scooter that I reported as stolen, but lie about the circumstances, and do not tell him it was actually not stolen. Cop ensures me that they will keep the case open and find the thief. I now am a regular customer of Uber.

Read the rest of everyone’s reckless stories at

TheManifoldMag.com

B U L L E T S

I was 17 years old high-speed f leeing through a neighborhood evading a sheriff for going like maybe 10 miles over the speed limit in California.

“No glove, no love.”, “be good, and if you can’t, don’t get caught.”. Not sure how that works into the sex lecture, but Grandma said that a lot. But they never lectured on drinking and driving while having sex! Although this wasn’t quite sex. No penetration, not even the tip. I believe it’s called road head. I’ve never gotten that before. I was in uncharted

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The tour was huge, it probably had around 25-30 tour buses which would move from city to city much like a traveling circus. Days were long and drinks were usually our saving grace at the end of the nights. And some nights we were nowhere near a good bar. This night however was different. Shots, shots. Picture, picture. Rage! Party! Laugh! Almost barf.

And then my friend and I look around and see that the once bustling bar is now near empty.

And that’s not the only thing that’s empty, the parking lot once lined with buses is now sparse as well. One lone bus. One lone school bus painted white. A bus that contained the carnies from the literal traveling circus that was tagging along that year. A guy with huge plugs in his ears and a split tongue, a midget, a sword swallower, and a team of heroin addicted crew members. With no other option in sight, we begged the carnies to take us to the next location which was about 600 miles away. We made it to New Mexico two days later feeling pretty humbled and stupid. Being late now gives me extreme anxiety!

Pretty reckless photography x tien austin

styled x napua camarillo hair & makeup x isabella hashimoto

white body suit x 7527, halter x f21, socks x betsey johnson, shoes x maxstar, stylists own hat

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dress x necessary clothing, shoes x jessica simpson

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shirt x from phoenix with love, pants x american apparel, stylist own hat, jacket x f21

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dress x uniform, underwear x american apparel

My New Cheaper Life photog raphy & text x joel maxey

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interview x rhonda jones images courtesey of jeremy strength

Jeremy Strength has been living in Japan for four years, and for the past month he’s been playing tour guide, hosting skaters, graffiti artists, and those considering a move to Japan. We meet at the Machida rail station near Yokohama. It’s my first time meeting Jeremy and I’m nearly two hours late.

He presents me with a beer, as we walk and I explain my delay as the effects of partying in Tokyo the last several days, and getting lost that morning. We sit at his favorite local Thai restaurant and discuss skateboarding, growing up in the south, and almost shanking a cab driver in Cambodia. Jeremy’s passion is art, but here is a glimpse of the charismatic, straightfor ward, progressive person behind that work.

RJ: How did you end up in Hawaii?

Jeremy: I grew up and started skateboarding around Pensacola, a pretty small town in the Florida Panhandle. From making skate-trips all across the U.S. with friends I kind of started to get the idea that there was a lot more going on than what I knew about. So, a little af ter high school I decided to just start moving west. The big appeal about Hawaii was that it was so far away and I really didn’t know anything about it. I’d heard, and was kind of stoked on the idea, that in Hawaii white folks aren’t the majority or

much liked there… and also that I had no concept of why, I mean, it’s not like they teach about occupation and colonization in school. Hawaii seemed appealing because it was like, yeah, it’s the farthest place from home I could possibly go right now and white people get hated on there. I was like fuck yeah, that’s what I need! I’m tr ying to go get hated on you know, see the other side of this thing.

RJ: There’s an innate adventure-driven, reckless quality about people involved in skateboarding.

Can you comment on how that looks in the traditionally reserved Japanese culture?

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Jeremy: Skaters anywhere are reckless. I think skaters have a stronger sense of the variations in cultures, and a disregard for social norms. They’re coming from all backgrounds. And are willing to go anywhere they can skate. They usually keep an outsider’s perspective. In Japan, it’s still like that, but they can be a little more conservative. They’re really good about keeping up appearances as to the set norms. But that shit can also come off real quick.

RJ: What are you doing in Japan with art and work?

Jeremy: I work a job now, but I’m transitioning from that to just doing art full-time. There are visa issues with that, and the job is mostly for the visa’s sake. Plus, it gives me a schedule. I mean, living in Hawaii, it was wake up, crack a beer and go to the beach. Which is great when you’re fucking 100 years old, and retired. [Laughter] But I was in my mid-20’s, and I felt like I wasn’t accomplishing as much as I wanted to. I guess just getting to Hawaii was a sort of accomplishment, but I wanted to get more work done, and I wasn’t.

RJ: Right on.

Jeremy: But I was always making art. Mostly drawing and painting. At UH Manoa I dabbled in some other areas like printmaking and what not.

Then I did some studies here in Japan, and found a good place to set up for the move. This neighborhood I’m in now is a little cutty. It’s a cross of two major train lines, so it’s lively. It can get pretty rowdy around here. There was a decent sized dustup between a couple of rival moped gangs recently.

But it’s also not too big, it’s still got a local feeling where you can walk down the street and see people you know.

RJ: Can I ask you about recent sobriety?

Jeremy: [Laughs] Yeah, it’s not like, ‘Oh man, I have a problem and I have to go to meetings,’ and all that shit. I just needed to step up my work. I set some goals, and based on time and money constraints, if I’m going to accomplish them, the f irst thing I’ve got to cut is the frivolity. Basically, for at least the next year or so, I’m putting the shoulder back to the fucking plow and getting the work done. You know, I’d love a beer, but I’ve got to stay focused on the f ixed purpose to which I’m set.

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RJ: What are some of those goals?

Jeremy: So, I’ll be traveling a lot this year. I’m going to be in Hawaii for a bit, and then to Florida for a month to work and study at Hula Moon Tattoo. Mostly to study the business end, so as to start my own shop here. That’s a big part of the sobriety.

RJ: Any other travel plans?

Jeremy: Yeah, af ter I get back to Japan, I’m hoping to go back through Southeast Asia. Maybe show some work in Thailand and Vietnam. It’s easy to get over there from Tokyo and so I tr y to make the trip every other year or so.

RJ: Tell me a reckless story from Southeast Asia!

Jeremy: Well, I went from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia on a little solo mission to see Angkor Wat. I took this local train that goes from Bangkok to the border. You’re just cruising through the countr yside for seven hours sitting on a wooden plank, seeing things like some guy walking his elephant and monks walking with no apparent goal.

Where the train stops, there are hustlers with a fake border set up to take passports and extort you. Once you get past that, there’s some really hood shit, like young kids pickpocketing and it huff ing glue to quell hunger pains.

As you make your way out of Thailand and into Cambodia, there’s this little strip of no-man’s land between the two border checkpoints, and out of nowhere there’s a casino. I was just rollin’ dice with these old Thai ladies in the middle of the day and gettin’ pretty buck. I came up and af terwards some guy shows me the VIP border service, which is basically me bribing the Cambodian border police to get through the border in 5 minutes

instead of 5 hours. Then he directs me to a share taxi that’s off the beaten path. It was sketchy, but basically I just said fuck it, I’m gonna see what happens… ...and what happens is this cab driver just takes off, but there’s no one else in the car for the ride share. He goes two blocks and cuts it down some busted dirt road. We’re cruising, and there’s just random brush f ire everywhere and some rundown shanty buildings. The road is so bad, we’re basically just idling and I spot some young, maybe teenage guys kind of making an approach. The whole scene just came off as a setup. So I f latten my beer can out and rip it in half. Basically, I made it clear to the driver, if this shit goes south, you’re getting it f irst. The guy was so shook. He picked up the pace but was so nervous about slowing it down af ter that he just pummeled through a pack of wild dogs.

RJ: Holy shit! [Laughter] Jeremy: Yeah, about 15 minutes later we picked up a lady and her kid, then some other folks. Ever ything turned out ok. Ever yone fell asleep and me and the driver had a little laugh. When I got to Siem Reap, my cash card wouldn’t work at the ATM. I ended up barely stretching my casino winnings down to the last 30 cents and making about a 17+ hour trip back to Bangkok with no food or water. Perfect weekend.

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photog raphy x matt miller

Skateboarding isn’t always about landing the trick. Actually, for a lot of people who don’t land things f irst or second or third tr y, it’s MOSTLY about not landing the trick.

Of course it’s frustrating and of course it hurts. It can make or break your soul any given day. Failure is of ten an undocumented process, probably because skateboarders are the kind to never want to give up. Here is that side of skateboarding.

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text x napua camarillo

Born on Valentines Day in a cozy nook in San Diego, Hamburger Eyes let out it’s f irst cry. Originally from Hawaii, Hamburger Eyes was a black and white xeroxed ‘zine. 14 years later it’s an independent publisher who produces ‘zines, magazines and books.

Their submissions take you on a journey of random, interesting, thought provoking and artistic slices of daily life. Inspired by the docu-style photog raphy of Life Magazine and National Geographic, Hamburger Eyes takes it to the next level by being today’s “hungry eyes” into subcultures g ritty, scummy, and at times taboo. YUM.

With 16K followers on Instagram, each day’s post is a reminder why pursuing your dreams of ‘zine-dom can be pretty fuckin’ awesome. Check out some of our favorite reckless photographic posts.

To get your own copy of Hamburger Eyes or the numerous other publications they run go to their website.

HamburgerEyes.com

51 photo x john oliver hodges

photo x david potes

photo x dennis mcgrath

photo x nina mouritzen

photo x ted pushinsky

photo x arthur pollock

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V E R S U S

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a poem x evan mutter illustration x pat ishihara

We asked 4 different poets to write us a piece about the idea of recklessness. Here’s what they came up with.

We move north on the rail up through the coast.

Arcs and troughs.

The cliffs line the edge of the country with effortless stoic beauty.

Nooks and crannies of paradise within the eroded walls.

Where time could disappear into thin air.

We might’ve passed up a real gem back there. No one will ever know.

I feel most at home when I’m moving.

It’s a nice place to live.

Spacious and strange, isn’t it.

I leave my seat and the sun is calling. Something sweet is pulling me off.

But before I can even remember arriving, I’m left behind.

Everything is lost.

Some things worthless, other things even more.

Worthless.

But I soon remember.

If my home is in the now, In the eternally fleeting now How could I ever be left behind!

How could I ever even arrive!

But we must still intercept the tracks of THAT parallel universe.

A place where MY things. Are. Not things

They are lost Thinglessness!

This parallel universe is drifting.

It keeps slipping through my fingers.

Like sand time through strict scheduled fingers.

I’ll catch it soon enough I’m sure of it.

Even though these people are mad and even more so, doomed.

They are helpful. They seem to be on my side.

A rarity.

Most people are only on their own side. And that’s not even for certain.

They are tracking that elusive parallel universe down. Maybe pin it.

Just long enough to take back what was once my own, What I had worked so hard for. Some sanity.

When I finally arrive in the place between spaces.

I am greeted with all of my worthless worldly possessions.

I am glad.

This benevolent world and all it’s cruel lessons can be trying, But I am grateful for the beating.

Maybe one day these ancient bones of gold can settle.

They will lie, buried in peace.

Till the dawn comes to lay it’s warm hand down to heal.

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V E R S U S

V E R S U S

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a poem x trish waters illustration x sergio garzon

I f inally wrote a poem, a poem---about you.

Af ter all this time, af ter my stupidity stuck to the situation.

Simultaneous sympathy from your friends fought my mind.

I kept going.

You were a stop sign, NO----A red light at a major intersection and I ran it.

Crash.

STOP signs all over said STOP.

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V E R S U S

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a poem x ehren bowling illustration x teddy kang

V E R S U S

Sadly, “reckless”, they’d say: Disobeying their fear I gave a friend the remaining $ in my pocket today He gave me a drawing He didn’t have any $ I didn’t have a drawing It’s worth more than the $ I gave him Felt like I’s f inally free A guy I know called me crazy I asked him why For giving your $ away, he said I told him I didn’t That I invested it wisely What if my friend becomes as successful as he is talented Huh Do you pay insurance ever y month Yes When did you use it last I haven’t had to…thank god And what if you never do I will thank my lucky stars, I will And about how much $ over a lifetime you ‘spose you’d spent I don’t care ‘cause ever y penny was worth it Ah, yes. So you did it for a feeling. A feeling of comfort Well, yeah Well, yeah. Me too. Maybe I will buy a house with this piece of paper one day.

Or maybe it’ll just hang there…somewhere over my head…giving me comfort.

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V E R S U S

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a poem x luke sciberras illustration x martin cascu

V E R S U S

One quick glance over rumbling engine, then eyes meet The light drops to g reen A dumped clutch and the heart starts at a rapid pace losing face, a race!

Adrenaline f loods emotions accelerate each breath g rows stronger Ahead, a stalled truck No time to think, just react a wreck? a near miss Trembling hands, closed eyes the onset of a breakdown Exhale, pause, exhale Sometimes it is best the f inish line stays uncrossed.

Live for the real life.

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V E R S U S

interview x rhonda jones artwork courtesey of riser123

C.ME is a local street artist who started tagging Honolulu in the early 90’s. His work is aggressively pasted on removable store fronts in Chinatown, and bombed on walls and drainage ditches around the island.

Over the years his art has progressed, and expanded into acr ylic and textiles. But the punk-rock essence remains. And you see this in more than his crass images and acts of vandalism – it’s his authentic “fuck off” attitude. We met at his house on a Sunday to discuss street art and some of the politics behind it.

RJ: Describe the f irst time you touched a can. What did you paint?

C.ME: When I was about 13 years old [I] wrote the letter “L.” I liked the letter “L.” I thought I could pull one off [Laughter]. I think I did a g reat fucking “L.” It was yellow, I remember that much.

RJ: How has your work as an artist evolved from graff iti?

C.ME: I started as purely being a graff iti artist, and I got into a bunch of trouble and took a break. Started painting acrylic on canvases and didn’t take it ver y seriously.

I was just doing it to keep my hands busy. I got ok at it, and had really supportive friends. I just kept doing it and it became a thing. But it started as a break from g raff iti.

RJ: Where do your efforts in street art remain now?

C.ME: There are traditionalists that believe street art should be just bombing. I personally like to do it all – wheat paste, posters, stickering….

I like tagging, which most people don’t at all. I like the creation from destruction. Some people see it purely as destruction but it’s both. You can’t have one without the other.

RJ: Tell us about the name C.ME. C.ME: I actually went through a variety of names as I’ve been writing. I recently got that one. Honestly, at f irst it was f iguring out the letters, and I liked the letters. I think that graff iti, or street art, or whatever the hell you want to call it… when you put your art in the public eye, that’s the statement you’re making – C.ME. RJ: So in the past you went by other names?

C.ME: Yes. I did. But there were a lot of legal issues with that so I don’t really want to mention them [Laughter]. And that’s usually why somebody will drop a name, typically.

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RJ: Do you have concerns about anonymity since you’re using similar themes for street art and published pieces? Have you ever used a standin?

What I f ind, which is pretty tried and true, is that most writers are complete fucking assholes [Laughter]. And scumbags. That’s why they write on walls.

C.ME: I thought about that in the beginning. For a long time I was able to stay anonymous, and that’s how I wanted it to be forever. Start doing art shows, and POWWOW!, that’s not gonna happen. Doing this interview.

It puts little parts of me out there. To be completely anonymous would be to never be in the public. Not to even tell your closest friend your name at all.

So at this point, it’s like, well, fuck, people know who you are.

RJ: The fact that it’s illegal keeps it that much more endearing. Is your family supportive?

RJ: Has there ever been a time when you thought to stop? When police are involved, or a relationship is strained?

C.ME: Oh of course. There’s times when I’ve thought my life would be a lot easier if I didn’t do this. But it’s strange, it’s almost impossible to stop.

I do f ind a lot writers trying to justify it. Fuck justifying it. It’s an illegal act and you enjoy doing it. Just embrace the fact that you’re kind of a scumbag.

C.ME: My wife is 100 percent supportive, which is surprising because it’s actually destroyed a lot of relationships in the past. Well, partially. I mean, there’s that and other things [Laughter]. There are some people that get into it and think, whoa, this is just really interesting and different. But when they get to know it… The f irst time you get arrested, or you’re out super late and your girlfriend doesn’t know where you are… Sometimes is can be a ver y violent thing to do. And when shit comes to shit, some people really don’t want to be part of that.

RJ: Can you discuss the f ights? The different beef between crews?

C.ME: There’s been so many. Fighting,

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really, it shouldn’t be on the forefront of graff iti at all. I mean, ultimately, it should be just about the art and just about painting. But it’s a bunch of dudes with egos, being competitive, and wanting attention. Some don’t get along or disagree. And then they typically get into f ights. It can escalate really quickly. And when no one’s willing to back down it can get really bad. Really bad.

RJ: How bad have you seen it get?

C.ME: I can’t talk about that mess.

But it can get bad. It can. And that’s why I try to disassociate myself with those things. But, it’s just something that seems to be unavoidable. With the beefs, my comment is no comment.

Because I don’t want to give anyone that credit or attention. Cause that’s exactly what they want. Fuck dr y snitches.

RJ: What’s the reasoning? Ownership of space, or crews?

C.ME: From what I gather, it’s usually just a bunch of egomaniacs who want attention. Or disagreements on space.

Going over someone improperly. Not covering the surface properly. You would like to think that people would have respect for the people there before them. The people that have been dedicated for decades. But that’s not always the case.

RJ: Does it bother you that the Honolulu street art scene has recently drawn attention in a more commercial operation?

C.ME: Do I care that people are making money? I suppose if the wrong people are – the people that never really had anything to do with it. But other artists making money off of it, that have been doing it for a long time, doesn’t bother me.

RJ: What’s the impact of large companies sponsoring events and bringing more attention to street art?

C.ME: It’s like skateboarding. There are skateboarders that are still gnarly. They do their own thing, and there’s no corporate feel. But then you see Nike who owns a huge portion of skateboarding culture these days. But

as anything gets popularized, that’s what’s going to happen.

RJ: [Laughter] I supported Consolidated’s efforts to f ly “Just Don’t Do It” banners in California over Nike sponsored skateboarding events.

The banners would get shut down almost every time. Nike was probably paying them off. I’m still getting used to the idea of Nike in skateboarding [points to shoes].

C.ME: Fuck corporate America getting their hands in it. Fuck them for taking something they’d typically call the police for in any other circumstance, and then prof iting off of it – The people that would have you arrested if it doesn’t f it their agenda. But if it does f it their agenda, and they can make money off of it, then they will. There’s no justice in anything anymore. I mean, it’s just about money. Ever ything is about money.

RJ: Outside of street art, what are you working on?

C.ME: I’m trying to f igure out ways with screen printing, and things like that just to make the fucking rent. I

can print shirts here. And then I have another place where I print stuff. This, if anything, takes from my income.

But it’s an expense that I’m willing to fucking pay.

RJ: The struggle is real.

C.ME: I just really enjoy doing it.

I could make nothing out of it, and I would still really love it. It’s not necessarily technically the greatest thing in the world, but it is fun to look at. That’s what it is for me, is fun. If people enjoy it, right on. If they don’t, I honestly don’t give a fuck.

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create.

submit.

expose.

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the manifold magazine themanifoldmag.com

Submit your photos to submit@TheManifoldMag.com We want interesting, funny, and quality photography. G’on, take a risk. Send us your submissions.

interview x napua camarillo images courtesey of lua orana

~ Lua Ocana Finding Spanish photographer Lua Ocana was like f inding a twenty on the ground when you’re dead broke. Her work feels oxymoronic at times. Clean but dirty. Beautiful but kind of evil too.

Perhaps that’s what they were going for in these photo stills shot

by Ocana from the set of Be Brave Benjamin’s “Devil’s Fool” (check out the video on our website). Or maybe she’s captured the world tried and true.

Age: 33 Years doing photography: 10 Current Location: Barcelona Cameras: Minolta 300X, Olympus OM-1, Contax T2 Film Preference: Fujif ilm Superia 400iso // Ilford HP5 400iso Tell us about your start into photography.

I started with photography in the winter of 2004. I went to a workshop b&w lab and from that moment I “hooked” to the photographic world.

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We really enjoyed your perspective on Be Brave Benjamin’s music video for “Devil’s Fool.” The idea of happily reckless is sprinkled all throughout. Tell us about shooting with that team of creatives.

This video is my f irst job in the f ield of “still photog raphy”, I really enjoyed immensely. I was lucky that the director, Pablo Maestres, count on me to take pictures during f ilming.

He has a ver y similar vision to mine regarding the image, essence, myster y, light.. and I think we coordinate ver y well. Normally we met before the f ilming days and he talks me about what he has in mind and is creating... in this way, I have an idea we are interested to capture visually and conceptually and from there I plan a little as I consider the type of photo I want to get for the shooting days.

Ver y good vibration and a special energy between all equipment is created. I learn and enjoy alike, really are intense and exciting days.

What’s one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in life and photography?

The hardest thing is to be honest and straightfor ward with yourself, if you get this all that you think will be worth it.

You mostly work with film, can you tell us your passion behind this medium?

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The times I’ve worked capturing moments from video-clip f ilming have been ver y rewarding. The projects in which I have participated until today have always been ver y close to the aesthetics of my personal work, this makes it much easier when photographing get attractive results.

Are you working on anything currently?

I’m immersed in a personal photog raphic project “Empty Set Ø.” it’s a collection of small images with a major intimate load, you can see some of this on my website..

Finally, this issue’s theme is “Recklessness” what’s the most reckless thing you’ve done?

I think my biggest recklessness was at 18 years. I had my driver’s license just weeks ago. I lef t the car with f ive open doors on a hillside sloping without the handbrake on.

The car slid and stumbled with different trees with the music playing inside and I and my friends ran af ter it to stop! It was a big scare but hours later I was dancing carefree at a concert, with my car door broken and tied with a rope pilot to be kept closed.

www.luaocana.com

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text & photography x Pooja Munshi

My f irst sighting of waves in Senegal was in the legendar y movie Endless Summer.

One surreal and balmy evening in Costa Rica, Robert August told us about their young and reckless adventures in Senegal.

Af ter landing in Dakar, they headed straight to the little f ishing village NGor. A lone concrete hotel towered amidst the f ishermen huts. It was perfect. The NGor right break was only a paddle away and it was f iring.

I

’ve heard many people talk about the f irst stoke of their lives- just think how each of those stokes have layered on top of one another over the years to become an undeniable, constant force of energy in your life. That’s what I live with. Because of this, all my travel plans are plotted around surf ing. I travel to surf new breaks and in return, I am greeted with opportunities to savor the country’s history and culture. It’s a good combination deal. Af ter spending a few weeks in Morocco last year, my eyes went down the map of the western coast of Africa to seek out my next adventure. With all the visions from Endless Summer and a little bit of research, I landed on Senegal.

Friends, family and acquaintances asked if I was sure I was doing the right thing with Ebola and the Boko Haram still tearing down West Africa. To me, that just meant less crowded line ups- I had made up my mind. Before long, it was ParisDakar via Iberia. (Side note: if you are a surfer, avoid this airline. As an Europe rookie, I f lew with them and my surf bag got lef t behind).

Dakar, one of the oldest cities in West Africa, has been a part of ancient trade routes of Africa for centuries. Once known for its slave trade, the city has evolved now to a dusty, bustling city with immigrants from Guinea Bissau, Mali, and

83 Mauritania living in harmony with the friendly, big-hearted Senegalese people and a small fraction of ex-pats. People here speak in Wolof, the local language, French, and some English. The f ishing villages of Senegal may not have much yet they are rich in simple happiness, with loads to pass around in spite of language barriers. NGor Island is about 800 meters away from the NGor f ishing village on the mainland. It is a lazy, endearing little island that evokes an Afro-Caribbean vibe, drastically different from the buzz of downtown Dakar. Air here is cleaner and saltier, the gentle breeze is refreshing, and time slowly disappears.

I stayed at the island’s surf lodge, run

by Danish native Jesper Mouritzen, who came here years ago and never lef t. Samba, Jesper’s always-smiling local right hand man picked us up at the airport, led us to the beach through dark sandy streets and got us into the boat. It was pitch black with lights f lickering far in the distance and felt like a drug cartel adventure, but Samba’s loud laugh kept us reassured.

And besides, our boat was jam packed with board bags (All except mine of course.

Thanks to Iberia). We made it to the house and cleaned up for the night under candle light. The inverter gave us light from 6pm to 10pm ever y evening, af ter that it was all candle light. It was a bit nerve racking the f irst evening. What about charging my

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phone? And laptop? However, af ter day one, a routine for charging was in place and all was smooth sailing. Important lesson learned, even the digitally wired can do without twenty-four hours of electricity and save the planet some energy. The only transport to get to NGor Island from the mainland are the colorful pirogues, or small wooden boats. They are found swaying on the waters edge, when not out ferr ying or f ishing.

Travel time is usually three minutes- not counting the time you may have to wait for the boatman to f inish his game of cards. If you’re still feeling active af ter a day of surf ing, you can swim the distance pretty easily. The island is a time warp from the bustle of Dakar.

Little pathways are its high streets. No cars, no bikes. A leisurely walk around the island’s rocky edge takes all of twenty minutes. T wo cozy, gentle beaches, simply called Beach One and Beach T wo, are the spots where people tend to hangout. A majority of the houses on the island are holiday homes, empty for most of the year. On weekends the island is buzzing with lovers that spend the day here away from prying eyes of parents and family. Sarong and jewelry vendors circle the island with their wares daily, so much so that they turn into friends with whom a tête á tête is customar y.

Low key f ish shacks stand proudly alongside the odd high-end restaurant. What to eat? Fish.

Fish. Fish. The shacks sell the best brochette

lotte, local monkf ish kebabs that will give any restaurant a run for their money. There’s another local favorite that you should get your hands on, Senegalese pastels with the onion relish that never is quite enough! And do not return home without tasting the famous cafe touba. This native concoction of coffee and pepper is sure to get you revved up for the waves.

Due to its location on the Cabo Verde peninsula, the Dakar area is exposed to both the southern and northern swells, so its pretty safe to say you will get some swell, big or small, 365 days of the year. NGor Island, our base, picks up the north swell. NGor right, a few steps away from the surf lodge, is the home break. This reef spot is home to many sea urchins and tends to get pretty shallow during low tide. Af ter the f irst week without booties and my fair share of slashes and urchin spines, I had had enough and f inally succumbed to boots. If you’re paddling out for the f irst time, ask the locals to help you locate ‘Papy’ and ‘Mamie’. These two are the odd larger rocks that uncomfortably jut out where you are likely to take off. Many of the local surfers have their own tales of Papy, of ten showing off a scar to go with it. On good days it’s glassy, clean and powerful. Take offs can be thrilling with a pretty smooth ride and lots of wave face to play with. If you hit dawn patrol, you are likely to be amidst three to f ive other

surfers. Ever y few weeks however, it tends to go windy and onshore. That’s when its time to check out the other side of the mainland that picks up the southern swell.

The southern coast of Dakar, also known as Les Almadies, is spotted with numerous reef breaks and consistent offshore conditions. Le Vivier, Club Med and Secret all pick up the southern swell. Le Vivier has a lef t that works in high tide but can get dangerous in low tide. The right works in low tide and if you’re tr ying to up your barrel count, this is a good spot. Club Med is gnarly reefy break that is diff icult to access.

This fast, powerful wave breaks close to shore and has almost no bottom in low tide. Secret, sandwiched between Le Vivier and Club Med, is probably the most popular spot with front row seats to the action in the water. Slightly less intimidating, it offers up a fast right and lef t.

The surf report would be incomplete without a mention of the most famous and gnarly break of Senegal- Ouakam.

My Senegalese friend Thibaut de Longeville who grew up on these breaks jokingly calls it the “Pipeline of West Africa.” This spot works mostly in winter when the south coast picks up a considerate swell. A grand mosque towering over the beach will give you company as you tuck into powerful barreling A frames.

While most of these beaches are plotted on the wind gurus and the magic

87 seaweeds of the world, Jesper and the local surf guides from NGor Island Surf Camp are still discovering new breaks that pick up the swell. During our visit, when the north swell hit NGor at double overhead, we packed into a van and headed south to a tiny f ishing village in the middle of nowhere. Shoulder high sets and strong offshore winds greeted us as we rolled on to the beach break.

Village children found us amusing and hung out with us in between sessions.

Paddling out to an empty line up in the middle of nowhere alongside like minded folks from Algeria, Senegal, Spain & France was indescribable!

On smaller days when our bodies needed a break from 5 hours of daily surf, we did excursions that exposed us to more of Senegal’s raw beauty and radiance.

Lac Rose, about 45 minutes away from Dakar, is a salt water lake that turns pink because of a natural bacterial reaction. Floating in it was a surreal experience. I felt like a cork, with both my feet and head requiring no effort to stay af loat! If you’ve taken a trip to Lac Rose, don’t leave without quad biking on the neighboring dunes. It was my f irst time on quad bikes and I felt like a child again driving up and down the slopes with the wind blowing on my face and not a care in the world.

On other days we visited the markets of Dakar. Marche Kermel is Dakar’s oldest market since the French colonial days. Concentric circles of vendors neatly organized into vegetables, meat and f ish all striving to get you to buy

their product. Marche Malian was fascinating with alleyways full of sounds, color and sights.

Stalls of colorful African fabrics, local beauty aids like unref ined shea butter stood beside Malian jewelry. Excursions into the city center however tend to zap your energy away so plan accordingly.

If markets aren’t your thing, check out their national sport, wresting or Laamb.

Ever y weekend has a scheduled game and local audiences come out in throngs to support their local hero.

In the evenings, when the heat and dust has settled, the city turns into a melting pot of music.

African beats blend with reggae, jazz and blues, turning venues and roof tops into explorations of sound that make you sway from within. Artists like Youssou N’Dour and Dieuf Dieul are playing in ever y car, club and, roof top, making the soul of mama Africa come alive.

When the night dwindles down, we f ind ourselves staggering back to the NGor f ishing village.

Swimming across at that hour is doubtful, so we hunt down a boat man that is willing to take

us back to our island haven. It is 6am and af ter a bit of a hustle we settle on double the usual price.

Here, the boatman is king and we don’t really have any other choice. But that’s OK. He’ll get us to NGor Island in time for a couple hours of sleep before we paddle out to the NGor right home break which should be picking up some of the north swell tomorrow.

As I tr y to rest for the night, I f ind it hard to drif t off to sleep.

Sights, sounds & smells f lash in front of me, triggering sensations of different kinds. I think of the drug cartel like adventure into NGor isle, the friendly locals on the beach, that close call with the reef bottom, the f ishing village in the middle of nowhere with no food and spectacular waves, my f irst quad ride in the dunes, the daily nuggets of ocean knowledge from the local surfers, the warmth of the surf lodge and its guests, the f lavor of the music that made me dance from within. I didn’t want it to end.

But thankfully it didn’t have to. I still had a few more days lef t in Senegal. I could live this all over again, tomorrow. Senegal, she sure is a like a captivating lover that leaves you craving for more.

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Taimane Gardner

If you have ever seen Taimane Gardner perform you know what an amazing artist she really is. I am using the word artist instead of musician on purpose as what she does on stage goes far beyond the mere act of playing an instrument. Instead she’ll mesmerize you with the way she moves and dances and interacts with the audience. To say that she is a great ukulele player would undermine the greatness of what she brings to the stage. She def initely is one of the best ukulele players in the world, however Taimane is much more than that. She is a performer and a really good one at that. When you see her play you’re in for much more than a treat for your ears. I’d risk saying that you’re in for a treat for all of your senses...

photog raphed & styled x napua camarillo hair & makeup x isabella hashimoto interview x guilherme alves

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vintage Aloha shirt, necklace x f21

GA: You got your f irst big break when someone who played for Don Ho saw you performing in Waikiki when you were 13 and invited you to perform with Don. But I’m curious to know what happened af ter that? How did you become a professional musician?

TG: Well, af ter that I started playing at a lot of luaus and corporate gigs and from there festivals around the world. It blossomed from having a specif ic place to play where people started to notice me and from then on it just continued to unfold. So I really have to give it up to Don, not only because of this big break he gave me, but also because of his passing, which was such a public thing.

His passing gave me a huge stage to play and for people to see me and it went from there on, one thing lead to another.

GA: I don’t know much about your family, is your family into music? Are your parents musicians? How did you get involved with music?

TG: My mom was a singer, and also a dancer, and that’s where I got my artistic

L: dress x fire and nice, shoes x mossimo, sunglasses x metro, thrifted belt, necklace x f21 R: vintage dress, thrifted gold belt

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side. My dad is the person who helps me with my business side, making sure I have a good work ethic with scheduling and things like that.

GA: On your new album you have a song for ever y planet in the solar system.

What inspired you to write these songs?

Does it have anything to do with how you see the universe or your life in general?

TG: I’ve been always interested in the universe, the cosmos, even when I was young I would always do my projects on planets or stars, but that’s not the reason why I wrote this album. It’s funny, I was just talking to a friend about how cool it would be to put on a show about planets, about the universe and from there it just kind of clicked, I thought that was an amazing idea. So the album was actually born from a little show that I put on at Ong King, where I had a song for each planet and from there on I basically just recorded it. But I don’t know, I just had this cool idea that the planets are all connected to all the elements, earth, wind, f ire, water, and then from there they are all connected to the astrological signs as well.

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GA: What I’m also ver y curious to know is how did come to incorporate all the other types of music that you play on the ukulele? I mean, you play the ukulele in a ver y unique way, and that’s a good thing. Was that an inf luence from your mom? How did this happen?

TG: Well, when I started playing the ukulele I never saw the ukulele as being connected to Hawaiian music, I just saw it as an instrument. I was taught Hawaiian music, but I never connected with it (yet). So it was not until I met Jake (Shimabukuro), who is an amazing ukulele player, and who taught me that the ukulele is just like any other instrument. Just like a guitar, so he’d teach me Spanish strums and he’d teach me classical music on it, and from there I just started playing music that I enjoy listening to on it. Which is classical music, and classic rock. And also I have always been interested in cultural music, and so I incorporated as much of that as I could too. Just to tr y and broaden the ukulele and show that it is more than just a Hawaiian musical instrument, I can play Japanese music, I can play Native American music, I can play classical music and I really enjoy all those different types of genres. The ukulele is just basically what I g rew up playing, you know what I mean? So that’s how I get to connect with music and it just so happens to be through a ukulele.

GA: And would you say that f lamenco has a strong

vintage dress, shoes x mossimo

inf luence in the way you play or not necessarily?

TG: Good question. Performance wise f lamenco is very inf luential. I like to play passionately, I am a passionate performer and so f lamenco def initely helps me express that passion. But I also understand that I must f ind a balance to that. And that’s why I enjoy incorporating classical music, to have something sof ter.

GA: It just seems that you enjoy yourself more when you’re strumming f lamenco style, which also leads to you dancing more. It makes me think that you have learned how to dance f lamenco too? Or not necessarily? You come from a dancing background as well, right?

TG: Well, I enjoy dancing but I only took ballet for couple of years and I also like yoga and so I incorporate all of that into my ukulele playing. Honestly I think I connect more to dancing than to ukulele because you don’t have to think about dancing. As when I’m playing the ukulele I have to think like “ok, I have to play this chord,” you know what I mean? So

dancing has always been f luid for me.

GA: In terms of routine I have a question for you: do you have a structure where you rehearse so many times a week?

Do you sit and play just for the sake of training? Or do you only play when you feel inspired to create and write new songs?

TG: Good question. I am pretty strict about playing. I go through different phases though, right now I am in my creative phase, which is really fun, it’s like the best part. But for example, I didn’t allow myself to get into my creative phase until I f inished my last album. You need to f inish what you started, do it all the way to the end. Regarding practicing I should practice more, I don’t practice enough, however I play a lot, so that’s kind of like my practice. And when it comes to new stuff it just comes into different phases of my life, like I’ll probably write for a month and that’s all I do, I’ll just stay inside, enjoy some brownies, get inspired, and then from there there’s enough “gas” for me to make the next album and from there on it’s all about performing and

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L: dress x fire and nice, shoes x mossimo, sunglasses x metro, thrifted belt, necklace x f21 vintage R: aloha shirt, shorts x f21, socks x american apparel

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theatrics and collaborations. So it’s only like little bursts actually.

GA: I imagined that you practiced all the time to be so good. That you’d sit at home practicing and studying scales, but apparently you’re just that good, huh?

TG: Well, I practiced a lot of scales when I was young. That’s all I did, practice, practice, practice.

I use to even practice blindfolded. So it would help me to play without being able to look, so later I could focus on looking at the audience or looking at other things while I was playing. But that was from when I was 5 all the way to 10 years old and I was just a “sponge”, learning and practicing all the time. And it’s all muscle memor y now.

GA: Besides classical music, rock, Jake Shimabukuro, is there anyone in popular (or not so popular) music that have been an inspiration to you?

TG: Yes! And I have been studying quite a lot about that for my new project. Lindsey Stirling, she’s that violinist who also dances ballet at the same time. I like her because she plays classical, but she also does like dub-step, so I’m getting into the whole “electronic sound” with classical, which I enjoy. I’m trying to f igure out how to do that live. And then I love watching Nahko Bear

and Medicine for the People. I love what they stand for and their messages. He is def initely an inspirational person. How do you become someone like that? He’s amazing. And do you know Jerome? Jerome James? He is a local drummer. He is really fun and does a lot of crazy stuff on drums and I just enjoy his art as well. Those are like the three people that I have been listening to right now. Oh! And then Xavier Rudd! All of them incorporate some sort of electronic music to what they’re doing, but they also keep the really cultural side and they’re always introducing traditional, cultural sounds to keep it “g rounded”.

last word

Shit Head Keep your shit in the toilet where it belongs, not on my head, please. I will do the same with mine. It’s easy to forget when you are babies.

And we are all just big babies. Big scared babies. Scared there’s not enough food and land for our family. Scared there isn’t love for our hearts. Scared there’s not enough roofs for our heads. And that is OK. It is OK to be scared.

But it is not OK to be an asshole about it.

text x ehren bowling

We protect the big babies inside all of us in many different ways…a popular and easy one is justifying our way of life, all of our egocentricities and faults, with decisions and little stories from our own head or society of why it’s OK to do what we want to do and what we don’t want to do. And most of the time what we do is OK because it is not detrimental to those around us…as long it kills someone we can’t see, meh, I love my smart-phone and laptop as much as you do…and when we are doing something that is bothersome to those around us, most of us will stop the offending action. I am a big ol’ baby. I have lived with many other babies of all different ages and sizes and colors and speaking all kinda languages. One group of babies and I once lived on a giant volcano in the middle of the sea. One of the babies did not like turning off lights when he lef t rooms or washed a dish af ter he ate from it, he excused himself from these obligations of these responsibilities to the house he lived in and the roommates he lived with in exchange for broadening our horizons to include the plans on his map. How could we know what to do with our own lives without him? How fortunate we should be to have landed in his nest. Right?

Fuck No.

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So, you might f ind it hard to believe me when I say that I defended the offending baby to another baby in the house. I stated that the amount of energy wasted was absolutely minimal. We had energy saving bulbs and the light-bulb myth was long ago busted. However, society still appreciates the virtues of turning-off of lights. And this baby said he was speaking out on principle; that the older baby was self ish and inconsiderate and could not think beyond the very real limits of his f lesh-container; that the amount of energy wasted quantif ied monetarily was not significant. That it really was the principle of the thing. The one baby decided the other baby was an asshole and that the older baby only considered his own needs and wants and to hell with the rest of us. The one baby shit out his judgment all over the other baby’s head.

Then without ref lection or real insight the big younger baby got in his non-renewable resource powered machine to carr y himself less than a mile to buy a lot of McDonald’s and then eat a lot of McDonald’s.

The moral of the story is that no one in it is a bad person but we’re all assholes at some point or another. So, lets just all relax a bit. Try to give the next person who wrongs

you the same consideration you ask for when you looked-both-ways but still didn’t see that guy, or gal, coming and they had to slam on their brakes for you…or when you accidentally knocked the glass of water over onto the keyboard…we all fuck up. The older baby was a more obvious asshole but the younger baby was as equal an asshole. Lets not recklessly go blaming the thing standing in front of us.

The cliché about “the little things” springs to mind. When we walk around in judgment, it is easy to forget that all of our little tiny thrones and little tiny crowns and little tiny scepters are all of equal height and weight and hold the same amount of reign across each of our own personal individual little tiny Universe kingdoms. It’s OK to have many hats and wear them all proudly…except the asshole-hat.

Don’t put the pooper on your head, please. Or mine for that matter. Thank you for your time.

by Manny Aloha

“Focus” c Manny Aloha

SURF LIFE

103

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Rhonda@TheManifoldMag.com

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