Cardiel SOTY 1992 Footage

Cardiel charges like a battered and hardened NorCal surfer. His lighting speed takes everything he does to a higher level:

Mark Gonzales - Non Fiction Street Part 1997

Neil Young Warehouse Fire

When we lived in Half Moon Bay Neil Young was just sometimes part of the landscape. Neil's connection with the San Mateo coast and Half Moon Bay is clear in his play Greendale. That whole play was a take on being a coast-sider in a small, northern CA town. I was a major Neil fan long before we ended up in that part of the country. In some kind of child-like way I always felt privileged knowing one of my heroes shared the same beaches, trails and open space that I felt so connected to. A lot of my teenage years were spent huddled over my Neil records and my guitar. He's got one of the best acoustic styles of playing that lends itself well to beginning guitarists (still does to this day).

Here's some sad news I saw today about a fire in one of Neil's warehouses in San Carlos, CA. Apparently they were able to save 60% of the items but loses included guitars, recordings, cars, equipment:

Spooky Montage: Halloween Ramp Jam 2010 - Newport, KY

Tons of skaters showed up for the Halloween Ramp Jam under the 471 Bridge. The young dudes resurfaced some of the worn mini and added a vert tombstone just to stay in season.

This is a chronological montage of the night with no soundtrack. Just sights and sounds from the deck. Things got crazier as the night progressed. Hope you enjoy the edit. This is what skating is all about.

Thanks Andrew/Galaxie Skate Shop and all the Newport guys who helped make this happen.

Big Drop Under The 471 Bridge

The 2010 Halloween Ramp Jam under the 471 bridge in Newport was a blast. Most of the young, local skaters organized this event and spent a few days before re-surfacing part of the mini-ramp. There is a bunch of footage coming. In the meantime check out Jap dropping in from the top of the tombstone:

9/11 Tribute: Neil's Finest Hour

I wanted to post a musical tribute today for remembrance of 9/11.

From Thrasher's Wheat:

---------------------------------------------------------

It was Neil Young's finest hour.

On September 21, 2001, just days after the 9-11 terror attack on the United States,

Neil Young performed John Lennon's "Imagine" on the broadcast musical benefit telethon "America:

A Tribute to Heroes".

Simulcast live from London, New York and Los Angeles on the four major TV networks and the

Internet, the program was seen by an estimated 89 million viewers and netted roughly $230

million in donations.

For many, Young's performance was emotionally wrenching and heart felt. Performing on a

grand piano and accompanied by a small orchestra of violins, Young's rendition of Lennon's

"Imagine" spoke to many of us who were suffering from the terrible tragedies in New York,

Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Notably, Young changed the lyrics from "imagine no possessions, to "I wonder if *I* can".

(thanks Marilyn)

Those in the studio that night, reported that Young appeared to be on the verge of tears upon

completing the song. Pulse Magazine wrote that Young's performance of "Imagine" on the

Benefit telecast was "one of those moments you never forget."

---------------------------------------------------------

Home Park "Mini-Line" - Branson

The garage mini-ramp is currently in repair for the upcoming cold season. We're going to resurface it and put a better bottom in place. For now we have one of the quarters pushed off to the side. This opened up a fun line between the quarter and a wood bank/stone extension:

Home Park "Mini-Line" - ep1: Wood To Stone from David Faul on Vimeo.

River People: End of summer montage - Original Music

End of summer montage from two days of skating. Clips are from a marathon Beech Acres session with Ben, Lew and Native from Fickle Boards plus Ghetto Justin and Dustin. I gave Branson the opening clip because he is skating so strong - layin' down early grab 180s and stomping them. The other park footage is from a trip with Jimmy to Dry Ridge, KY. Dry Ridge is another coveted Wally Hollyday designed/built park in our area. The other being the new Centerville, OH park that just opened this year.

Included is summer footage of some dirty skaters just washin' off in the river.

---------------------

Music

For this video short I used two pieces of original music and a clip from OCMS.

Intro: David Faul and Jared Manker - "Octave Space"

Recorded live at Apple Hill Studio. This was a two-part guitar instrumental. Jared improvised on a Spanish nylon string over my guitar that was tuned to open C and capoed up a fret or two. I do lots of guitar playing in all kinds of alternate tunings. For me it's an effective tool for bringing out new sonic qualities from a guitar and it opens endless paths for new creativity.

Main: David Faul - Anderson Rhodes Trio

Recorded live at Apple Hill with Jared Manker on bass, Chuck Sengo on drums and me on Fender Rhodes piano. This was an original, jazz-funk tune we wrote and recorded for our demo.

If anyone is interested I can send you full MP3 files of the original music you can add to your library.

Outro: Old Crow Medicine Show - "Caroline"

---------------------

River People: End of Summer Montage - Original Music from David Faul on Vimeo.

20 Years Ago Today...

What new, musical heights would Steve Ray Vaughn have reached if he were alive today? It's been 20 years since he flew away from a gig and never returned.

Here's a tribute to arguably the best blues guitarist in the world:

Caged Rats: Newport KY

Months of sweltering in the summer heat turns the caged rat to a state of manic and compulsive behavior. Excessive exercise such as this releases stored energy and creates a sense of calm within the pack. What appears to the eye as depravity is in fact one of the rats' keys to survival:

Caged Rat from David Faul on Vimeo.

New Colerain Bowl Footage + Bonus Clip!

Here's some footage of Ethan's few runs in the new Colerain bowl. It's crazy to be skating a bowl while the coping is being installed up above you. In some of these clips you can see Tom's crew in action while Ethan skates. Since the coping was still being set we obviously couldn't get on it. But the walls and lines felt incredible. Bowl skaters in the Cincinnati area are really lucky for this gem. Thanks to Tom at Who-Skates for building this park and for allowing us the chance to check it out. You can see more of Tom's work here.

Looks like the rustbelt is finally getting a piece of the action that has been happening up and down the west coast for years; legitimate skateparks offering all terrain for all skill levels, built and designed well and most importantly CONCRETE. The new mega-bowl bowl up in Centerville is another example of world class building going on close by. The pre-fab ramp builders (pump and dump) are facing some tough times ahead. Think about this - there are places in Oregon where you can find 10 parks of Colerain and Centerville quality all within an hours drive of each other. That's a lot of concrete being poured. I think the time will come when we have the same offering around here. How about Northside and Newport? I know there are already people working to make that happen. Good things to come.

No more of this --- please think about the children - look how sad and confused:



Music: Greyboy Allstars - V-Neck Sweater

Sneak Peak: Colerain, OH Bowl Footage from David Faul on Vimeo.

Sneak Peak: New Colerain Skate Park by Who-Skates

I've been following the progress of a much anticipated new skatepark in Colerain for well over a year. The original Grindline plans were thrown up on the web and what looked like an amazing park went a step further with an out-of-this-world 10 ft vert bowl including tiled pool coping. There are many bowls around town but nothing can really compare to what they had planned. Tom and his crew at Who-Skates (check his site here) were hired to build the park and began work in early 2009. Everyone was hoping to be skating a completed park by the fall. Heavy rains that year caused servere damage. Building was shut down around late summer and did not resume again until summer 2010.

As of now the park is near completion, however, there is still no word on the actual open date. This is a massive new facility that will house the park, huge kids playgrounds, baseball fields, etc...The word is that all this needs to be completed before it will be open regardless if the skate park is finished or not.

I had a few email conversations with the builder, Tom, and he invited me and the kids over to check out the park and have a run on this new, holy-ground of virgin concrete. I have to say that this was a truly generous offer on Tom's part and we're very grateful! Tom has been traveling around the country since 1987 building skate parks of this quality. It was a great experience to meet someone who follows their love and passion with that kind of dedication.

So we made the drive to Colerain in about 40 minutes and Ethan tagged along because he started convulsing when I told him where I was going. The park is amazing, all of it. But the bowl is something that must be seen in person and will possibly give you vertigo. It looked unworldy to me. Beautiful, smooth lines, rounded to vertical. Standing dead center in the deep end surrounded by 10 foot walls felt like I was in a church. Concrete so smooth and fast like only the best parks. This kind of design and building is where the industry is heading. The days of pre-fabricated, metal, death parks are coming to an end.

Here are a few pics:

Yeah, Ethan, sweep it up nice for daddy:

Tom and his small crew built all this with their hands, concrete and tools. It's functional art:

The park isn't just a single, bowl mecca. It's got two amazing, plaza-type street runs and a huge flow bowl. You can see the non-skate related work being done in the back ground:

Here's a shot of the flow-bowl with the big bowl in back:

July Monster Montage :::

Here's a bunch of new footage (early July) with friends at the Beech (more beech footage - yawn?). Tons of ripping going down, new lines discovered, a slow motion fly-out filmed specially for Andrew of the Galaxie Skateshop and a visit from Fickle Boards.

Andrew recently wrote a very interesting blog where he talks about the importance of staying true to the things that make skateboarding special. The whole skateboard community benefits from guys like this. You can check out his blog and get info about The Galaxie Skateshop here.

Hope you enjoy the vid.

July Monster Montage ::: NG Dirties and Friends from David Faul on Vimeo.

Heat Stroke: Dry Ridge and L-burg footage

Here's some footage of Jimmy, Ethan and I hitting up Dry Ridge and Lawrenceburg skate parks.

Music: Soulive, Uncle Junior from the album Get Down

Heat Stroke: Dry Ridge and L-burg June 2010 from David Faul on Vimeo.

Driveway post-park sesh: Another wild clip!

Check out Branson tryin' to get fancy:

Rock to Fakie Stone Wall What? from David Faul on Vimeo.

Josh Viles, Fickle Boards: Insane Over-vert Drop

Josh is a young ripper from Knoxville. He rides for Fickle. Check out this crazy drop-in from Ollies skatepark in N KY. For the small handful of people there at 1:00 am Sunday morning it was quite a show.

Crazy 16 ft over-vert drop-in: Josh Viles, Fickle Boards from David Faul on Vimeo.

Never too early for an early grab -

Click for clip.

Branson Bombing with Bruce Lee

A 30 second clip to get your day started off right.

I was going through some old studio recordings last night and came across this vamp I played and recorded on piano. It immediately reminded me of this mellow hill by Beech Acres where I had filmed Branson a few days ago. I put them both together and threw in a Bruce Lee quote for good measure. Hope you enjoy it for the simple reflection that it is.

Branson Bombing with Bruce Lee from David Faul on Vimeo.

Rollin' On Monmouth with Galaxie Skate Shop --- Newport, KY Mem. Day Parade

Branson and I headed down to Newport, KY to roll with Galaxie Skateshop in the 2010 Memorial Day Parade. All hell broke loose as the Galaxie crew shredded down Monmouth for this epic five block journey.

Mixed in with these photos are a few clips of Kokomo Joe, Gary Collins and Wes Vickers on the Newport bridge ramp during the Galaxie/Instrument BBQ fundraiser.

Make sure to stop in to Galaxie Skate Shop whenever you are in Newport. Andrew runs one of the best independent shops in our entire area and is constantly giving back to the skate community.

Rollin' On Monmouth with Galaxie Skate Shop from David Faul on Vimeo.

No Good Dirty --- Dry Ridge Skate Park with Fickle

Jimmy, Zulu, Lew, Ben and I hit up Dry Ridge, KY for some fun on an old school snake run. Please note most robots were to be found in cubicles and golf courses on this morning.

Lew Ross and Ben Osborne of Fickle Boards are insanely talented skaters. Lew is the creator and owner of Fickle Boards, one of Cincinnati's finest skateboard companies. He started his company with very limited capital and has worked tirelessly to build a successful, small business. Lew and his team are constantly on the road. When they are not ripping up a local park in their hometown area you'll find them picking up fresh wood in PA, hosting a local skate night somewhere in Georgia or talking to a new shop, in person, in TN. I have a lot of respect for guys like this who not only follow their passions but ACTUALLY live and breathe it.

http://www.fickleboards.com/

No Good Dirty --- Dry Ridge, KY Skatepark With Fickle from David Faul on Vimeo.

Chillin' in the garden... PLUS A BONUS CLIP!

This was a great encounter in my sister's back-yard gardens. Don't kill snakes!

I've included a bonus clip of Branson going BIG at the Beech on Saturday:

Black Rat Snake, Cincinnati, Ohio from David Faul on Vimeo.

Season Opener 2010: Rust On The Coping

After a long winter's sleep the east side is back up and running. Enjoy these clips featuring just a few of the talented skaters from this part of town: Evan, Jimmy, Nik, Branson, Ethan, Logan, Eric, Westside Mark, New Richmond dude, Jace, Drew.

Season Opener 2010: Beech Acres Skate Park, Cincinnati, OH from David Faul on Vimeo.

Determined As The Seasons...

The spring weather is making Branson crazy. Check out this short clip of him learning to fly-out over a two board stack.

Two Board Stack! from David Faul on Vimeo.

Ollies blossom as the Rust Belt thaws.

Branson's First Drop In -

Check out this short video of Branson's first drop in on transition. I was so proud of him. He had been running around the house all week saying he was going to do it. So when he said he was ready I grabbed my camera. So glad I did.

Branson's 1st Time Dropping In from David Faul on Vimeo.

That's the Way the World Goes Round ::: Learning to roll out

Branson is on cloud nine after learning how to roll out of the mini ramp today. Enjoy this 30 second clip as he puts the pieces together on this fundamental move.

Set to John Prine's That's the Way the World Goes Round.

Branson Learning to Roll Out ::: John Prine -World Goes Round from David Faul on Vimeo.

Into The Mystic: Venice, CA Skate Edit

Had a great time spending a few days in Venice, CA with Dickey. Here's some footage of the boardwalk scene and the new Venice skate park (still less than six months old).

Untitled from David Faul on Vimeo.

Ollie's Skatepark Edit

Here's a quick edit of Branson and some unknown shredders at Ollie's skatepark today in Kentucky. Branson is having a blast and starting to look much more comfortable on his board.

The music is Greyboy Allstars with Inira George - How Glad I Am. Check 'em out out here.

Ollies Skate Park Edit - Branson/6 yrs old ::: Greyboy Allstars - How Glad I Am from David Faul on Vimeo.

When Jazz Ruled The World

After leaving California in 2004 I knew I wanted to start a Fender Rhodes based jazz trio in Cincinnati. My goal was to create something authentic and different from the typical jazz piano trio. I searched for two months and found what I was looking for: a 1975 Rhodes Mark II and a 1974 Fender Twin Reverb. Those two pieces combined weigh in at about 150 lbs and can make gigging a nightmare (as I found out throughout the year). But, the tone and look of a Rhodes is unmistakable and incomparable.

I was lucky to hook up with two extremely talented musicians and improvisers. Chuck Sengo, a Tanzanian drummer/percussionist who had toured the world but somehow ended up in this town looking for gigs. Chuck was years ahead of me in terms of jazz improv and his overall sense of time. Jared Manker at the time was just in his early 20s yet well versed in jazz theory and possessed an exceptional gift for technical, Victor Wooten-style type runs on the bass.

In early 2005 we formed as Anderson Rhodes Trio and played throughout town for the year. Our set list was focused on 1950s-60s be-bop/hard-pop and more jazz-funk modern stuff like John Scofield. In fact, have a listen to Anderson Rhodes Trio's version of John Scofield's Hottentot below. This track and entire demo were recorded LIVE at Apple Hill Studios in 2005.

The trio disbanded at the end of 2005 but Jared, Charles and I continued to make music together in other projects. Throughout the course of the project we all found out how extremely difficult it is in this town, or any town for that matter, to keep a jazz trio working consistently. There is not much of a demand for jazz these days. But the spirit of the project was realized and there are some great tunes left behind.

Hope you enjoy this track from the archives:

Anderson Rhodes Trio - Hottentot (scofield)

Powered by Podbean.com

Caught Inside at the Rust Belt

I wasn't kidding, folks. I think we are at least 10 days into this carnage of White Death. I'm coming up gasping for air on this beautiful Sunday morning...just to see I'm about to take another one right on top of the head. For all those dedicated to the sacred ground that is dry concrete let's hope this is winter's final swell.

If you're interested in real carnage, real swells and hell-man chargers then check out the highlights from yesterday's 2010 Mavericks Surf Contest from our old town of Half Moon Bay, CA. When the winter swells are big enough this small little spot, just a few miles south of San Francisco, will see waves break larger than anywhere else in the continental United States. It's an amazing thing to see. $50K was awarded to the winner.

Here's the article and re-cap from yesterday's contest:

Chris Bertish Wins The Mavericks Surf Contest

Get it while you can! Ain't you heard? White Death's a comin'!

I knew today was going to be the last day to get some skating and filming in before White Death hits the tri-state area. Oh, it's comin'. And it will leave a wrath of moisture rendering any outdoor skating surface unrideable for at least five to ten days. That's a big deal, people. The good news is that there will be plenty of time for music.

The video edit below would never have been possible without a stranger named Greg Maloney. Greg works at Parkside Church right next to the skate park on Salem Rd. He saw my video camera and brand new fisheye lens fall off the back of my bumper as I left the park yesterday. After searching endlessly up and down Salem and calling the cops I pretty much gave up.

Now, I'm not a bible thumper but I do believe in God. Something in the back of my mind the next morning told me, "You have to check the church." Greg has worked at Parkside for 15 years and he had the biggest smile on his face when he saw me pull up the next day. He yelled, "You lost your camera, didn't you?" Man, that dude is alright. If you ever lose anything I hope you have an angel like Greg looking over you. So, here's a shout out to Greg and Parkside Christian church on Salem Rd. Get on in and get your Jesus on!

The short edit below features another Beech Acres ripper named Nik Smith. Nik's got great style. Very steezy. Charger. Poor guy said he's never seen any footage of himself. That's not right. Now it's fixed. I hope you enjoy this edit with music by Xavier Rudd - Messages.

Remember that the real gifts in life are not things at all. The real gifts exist in our experiences with those we love, those we befriend and those moments within the nature surrounding us. Well, at least in my opinion.

Nick Smith edit - Beech Acres skate park - Cincinnati, OH 2010 from David Faul on Vimeo.

A Break In The Music - For Skating...

The sun was shining and the concrete was dry on February 1st, 2010. In the dead of winter that equals perfect skating conditions no matter what the temperature. With this gift on a Monday, a mid-day park session was in order.

1 minute video edit from the session:

There are a few shots of my old, decrepit self in here but most of these clips are of my friend and local ripper, Ethan. Ethan is one of those guys driven by skating for the pure love of it. He doesn't follow the pros, read the mags or really care anything about that entire scene. He knows it's all about fun. I've seen that attitude take his skating to new levels over the past year.

I ran into Ethan at Beech Acres skate park almost exactly one year ago to the day. We'd skate the mini-ramp for hours while the park was empty. As we got to know each other he revealed, "Man, I can't even frontside carve, kick-turn or anything." Yet, his backside skating was decent. With his passion it was clear that his skating was going to take off. One year later and he's doing flip tricks on transition!

Is this story/video proof of so many things that are rarely recognized in the general public about skateboarding;

a) it's ability to drive us to higher levels mentally and physically
b) it's ability to help us overcome our fears and recognize our limitations
c) it's ability to foster our own creativity
d) it's ability to connect us in a unique way with nature and our own surroundings

The list could be endless but in the end it's all about fun. That's the beauty of it all.

Beech Acres Skate Park Edit - Xavier Rudd - Yirra-Kurl from David Faul on Vimeo.

"Lovers But Not At All" - More Hammond and Piano Tracking

Tyler Morrison, owner of Liquid Sound Studios in Louisville, Ky, sent me the final mix of another track we worked on together this month: "Lovers But Not At All" by Tyler Stiller. Stiller is a young guy from Louisville who writes, sings and plays guitar in a style similar to John Mayer. He has a ton of personality and has serious chops for someone his age. I think he is barely 20 years old. I was lucky enough to be able to lay down both Hammond organ and acoustic piano on this track. Morrison's final mix, you can hear below, is probably one of the best I've heard from him. Morrison himself is only in his mid-20s and already has a recording/producing resume many would dream of. Both of these guys are laying a solid foundation for success.

"Lovers But Not At All" hasn't been available for sale as of yet. Feel free to enjoy the track here on my page. Use some nice speakers and crank it for full effect.

Powered by Podbean.com

Recording Hammond organ for I Remember You Re-Make

This week I've been working on laying down a Hammond organ track for Dan Varner's upcoming single release, I Remember You. Dan and Tyler Morrison (Liquid Sound Studios, Louisville, Ky) have done an incredible job on this recording. It's a modern mix on this classic, rock anthem from 1989. If you were in high school in the late 80's or early 90's then you'll remember this mega-hit from Skid Row.

All tracking and producing, besides the organ, was completed at Liquid Sound Studios in Louisville. Working remotely my goal on the Hammond track was to capture the best performance AND the best sound quality so that Tyler can receive the track for final mixing.

I'll post the final track once it's released. Looking forward to hearing how the Hammond organ eventually sat in the mix.

Here are the details on the organ track:

Hammond XK-3

Roadbox MKII Leslie cabinet

Stereo condenser microphones on cabinet

Here's a clip showing the tracking process in action:

Recording Hammond B3 - I Remember You remake - from David Faul on Vimeo.

Dead of Winter - But signs of life everywhere

After nearly six months without recording capabilities I'm finally back up and running in the studio. The tones on the acoustic guitars, drums and Hammond B3 are sounding better than I remember. For my piano tracks I continue to go back to my Kurzweil PC2x controller running a MiniGrand PT plug-in.

Performed and recorded in Apple Hill Studios using Protools 8.03 with DIGI 002

Guitar: Martin OM-28V
Piano: Kurzweil PC2x running MiniGrand plug-in
Drums: Vintage Rogers kit, 1971

Stereo microphone recording on drums and guitar using Shure SM-81 and RODE NT-1000

Press play below to hear:

Dead Of Winter, David Faul, 1/2010

Powered by Podbean.com

Like what you hear? Buy your own MP3 download of "Dead of Winter" for $.75 cents! Damn, that's cheap.Buy Now