Art Is Brighter When Sheltered From The Rain

There were plenty of BBQs, parties, and movie premieres on the North Shore yesterday, starting with afternoon into the night.

The North Shore is a spectacle to behold: it never ceases to amaze, the sheer amount of events that span the area from Haleiwa town to Turtle Bay between Thanksgiving and the finals of the Pipe Masters. Pre-Christmas on the North Shore is a shotgun blast of fun, and occasionally weird events, surfboards litter lawns, tourists dart across Kam Highway dodging cars while looking neither left nor right. The skatepark across the street from Pipeline is packed rain or shine. There are art shows, photo exhibitions, massive tubings, injuries, fights, and an air of testosterone that only arises when somewhere tropical is inundated by brawn, ego, fucked up talent on a surfboard, and gorgeous women from all over the world.

Yesterday, we scurried around all morning before crossing a congested Kam Highway, in the pouring rain and with a crisp NW wind, that soaked through Southern Californian attire.

We entered the Volcom House around 6:30. They were having an art show, the entire ground floor flipped that day into a gallery space, and complete with a complimentary wine and beer bar, music courtesy of Gavin Beschen’s wife and 11-year-old daughter who has the voice of a future star, or at the very least, someone who will spark a standing ovation at a karaoke bar in Waikiki – we hope for the first. She’s adorable.

The Family Beschen were stunning.

Noa Deane, a purveyor of fine art and finer surfing with Dave Wassel.

It was a classy event, but not in a pinkies out sort of way. There were gorgeous bites of fried chicken and fluffy waffle served on frilly toothpicks by a drop dead brunette with a silver nose ring, her hair tied back by a pink bandana. She returned shortly, much to Stab staff’s delight, with poke done two ways, fresh bruschetta, and local pineapple sprinkled with tajin.

As Volcom is an artistic environment, they presented work by Ozzie Wright, Drew Toons, Hank Photo, Shawn “Barney” Barron, Derek Ho, Gavin Beschen, Jamie Lin, Tai Van Dyke, Pepe Romero, Dave “Nellsymagicmoments” Nelson, Arto Sari, and Rich Landos.

Art in a rare form.

Noa Deane even had a piece. It consisted of a sledgehammer, crowbar and bolt cutter all spray painted silver. He called it “Keys to the City” and put a price tag on it that simply stated, “Make an Offer”. Jamie Lin bought it for an undisclosed sum of money – a piss-take, and a funny one at that.

Around 8 pm the rain squalls subsided. The party carried on. And we all got delightfully loose, our bellies full on delectable dishes, beer and wine.

Volcom has always known how to throw a party. And last night was no exception.