Photo: Brendita21

The Other Raw Fish Dish

Cooking raw fish in citrus juice is at the heart of one of South America’s most popular dishes, Ceviche. This centuries old technique uses the acid from lime/lemon juice to cure or ‘cook’ the fish. Often served as a starter or a light lunch, it’s a refreshing and tasty meal and renowned as a very good hangover cure (first hand experience also confirms this).

Ceviche has many different forms across Latin America and the Caribbean and each country has its own distinctive take using local ingredients. They all involve either fish, shellfish, squid or octopus being marinated in either lemon or lime juice.

In Ecuador and Peru, the shellfish is seared for 20-30 seconds in order to intensify and improve the flavour before marinating. It is then served with toasted corn or sweet potato. In Panama, ceviche is served with crackers or little pastry shells called “canastitas”. In Mexico, it often is accompanied by tacos and guacamole.

Photo: thousandflavors

Important Cooking Tips

1) The one most important factor to remember is that you must use fresh ingredients.
2) Ceviche needs to be made and eaten the same day.
3) Bear in mind what fresh fish is readily available; look for what is in season.
4) Buy your fish from a reputable source. Your local fishmonger or fish counter knows more about their own produce and will know what’s best. Do not risk making ceviche with pre-packaged fish.
5) Always use a non-reactive (i.e. not metal) bowl/dish so that you avoid any metallic after taste.
6) Don’t over-marinade the fish. If left for longer than 4 hours, the acidity will overpower the dish.

Photo: GerberBabyTalk

Mexican-style Fish Ceviche – 4 servings

400g of firm, fresh fish fillets (snapper, sea bass, halibut), cut into slices on the diagonal
50ml cup of freshly squeezed lime juice (2-3 limes)
50ml cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 purple onion, finely diced
3-4 freshly peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely diced
2 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro, chopped finely
Salt, pepper and Tabasco to taste

Put the slices of fish in a glass/non-reactive dish. Mix together the juices, onion, tomatoes and jalapeño and pour this over the fish, ensuring it is covered. Put some cling film over the dish and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Tabasco and serve with warm tacos, tostadas or tortilla chips.

Photo: rudygiron

Ecuadorian-style Shrimp Ceviche – 4 servings

150ml orange juice
100ml freshly squeezed lime juice (4-5 limes)
50ml tomato juice/passata
500g shrimp, peeled and cleaned
1 large fresh tomato, peeled and seeded
2 jalapeño peppers, roasted peeled and seeded
2 red peppers, roasted peeled and seeded
1/2 white onion
Sugar, salt and Tabasco to taste

Grill the tomato, peppers and onion under a high heat until they are blackened. Put them into a plastic bag and when cooled, remove the skins. Sear the shrimp in a frying pan / grill over a high heat for 20-30 seconds. Plunge into cold water.

Blend together the roasted vegetables with the juices (orange, lime and tomato) and pour the sauce over the drained shrimp in a freezer-proof container. Cover and chill for 25-30 mins in the freezer. Serve with toasted corn or ‘chifles’ (plantain chips) and a green salad.

Photo by lakerae

When the first hurricane hit Florida, I lay in bed. The day was dark as night. Dark inside, too, since the power had gone out. By noon the winds had come in full fury, east to west, no swirling, and no gusts like normal storms, just a sheer wall of sound, trees bent, not billowing.

Otherwise it was eerily quiet, for there is little electrical activity during hurricanes, unlike the usual cataclysmic thunderstorms that erupt every afternoon. Plant City is far enough inland, maybe 40 miles from the Gulf Coast and even farther from the Atlantic, so the danger was not great.

I did jump onto the floor a few times, crouched between bed and dresser as the huge oak tree curled over my bedroom screamed with broken limbs. After a while I got used to the falling branches; the roof was strong enough to withstand a few thumps.

Photo by ASurroca

I just lay in bed all day, into late evening, the window cracked to better hear the rushing torrents, and let in cooler air.

The power stayed out for two weeks, much longer for some. There was one local restaurant/bar that had a generator, so they reopened the night after the storm. With the summer heat returning and most businesses and schools closed, the only reasonable thing to do was buy a newspaper and head to the bar when they opened at 11 in the morning, driving on twig and leaf littered roads, through intersections left chaotic by deadened traffic lights.

Once at the bar I would order icy mugs of beer – only light domestics available – and pass the time, maybe stare at the TV, or into the void, or gnaw on fried cheese.

By the next Friday another hurricane was bearing down. The bar was sparsely filled now, only the dedicated flies were out, while most stayed at home, lest an early slap of wind knock a tree onto their car, or send a projectile right through their God-fearing face – and to prepare, of course, lighting candles, taping windows, filling bathtubs with emergency water.

Hurricanes came every weekend that August, and with each of Mother Nature’s wolf cries the populace grew more at ease, the numbers at the bar on the eve of storms increased, and the conversation about the nearing storm had the tone of chatting about the local football team. There might even be a bit of an argument, “I think it’s cutting south,” “No, I think it’s going to hook up the coast.”

Photo by Otaku

August ended. The power came back on. Lawns were raked clean.

And nothing changed. Nothing ever changes in Plant City. I left four years ago, after doing 24 years’ time, and when I visit now and then it’s exactly the same. The locals swear that change is constant and it seems to even sadden some, though most are proud of their growth. A new hardware store, a new chain restaurant, a new neighborhood where an orange grove used to be.

In the bars, the waitresses had children at fifteen, the fathers gone from memory by kindergarten. Aging beauty queens sit at round tables, faces frozen, beside their fawning royal court and their fattened quarterbacks and plastic babies. They look the same as in junior high, just a bit softer, smaller, tired, scared. All with eyes as unaware as a doll’s. All laughing on schedule like jack-in-the-boxes. They don’t realize they are barely even the approximation of aristocrats.

At the bar counter the patrons mumble in your ear about the niggers and spics that plague them, as they give you that knowing look, a little grin, because it’s something to bond over: fear and ignorance. It’s a tradition.

Photo: Brandon Hambright

101-in-1 Explosive Megamix For DS

It seems like a foolproof monotony-buster from where we sit. $20 bucks will nab you this new DS title, which features 101 ways to kill an hour. The games are wireless multi-player, for those of you who are looking to be social. In your own, dorky way.

Dengue Fever: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong DVD

A Cambodian singer returns to her country after a five-year absense, with her America-based band in tow. A very interesting documentary concept, given that the Pol Pot did everything possible to destroy this kind of music, which sounds a bit like surf tunes on acid.

Manchester Orchestra

Hailing from Georgia, Manchester Orchestra has built their following like REM did; by touring nonstop. Mean Everything To Nothing may be their first stab at the bigtime but that won’t matter to the legion of fans who turn up at shows, screaming along to lyrics as fast as singer Andy Hull can sing them.

Caprica

We’re very nervous about this one. Battlestar Galactica finished so brilliantly that nobody wants to see the sci-fi equivalent of “Joey”, which is what some online chatter is predicting. Releasing the pilot almost a year before the first episode makes for an interesting marketing campaign. Eric Holtz is praying to The Gods that this one puts him back on the map.

Feature photo by Amir Chamdin. Photo above by superbomba.

First up: Nathan Larson of the band A Camp.

1. Best Acid-Inspired Movie With Burt Lancaster Set in Connecticut: 

The Swimmer (1968)



Truly a bizarre piece of film making, this 1968 release is actually a dark hallucinatory horror picture dressed up like a sunny domestic drama. Or something. The mind boggles at the thought of marketing this one.

Essentially, Lancaster plays a well to do businessman who is determined to “swim home” via the pools in the backyards of a well to-do-county in Connecticut. Lots of tripped out stuff happens along the way, Lancaster looks fantastic without a shirt, and the whole thing is incredibly sad and very very disturbing.

Inspired one of the first A-Camp songs, “Sympathy For Ned Merrill.” Classic! (the film , not the song).


2. Best Greek Pop Star of the Early 70′S

: Demis Roussos

1973 was the year of Demis Roussos’ bust-out hit “Forever and Ever” (and we challenge you to forget this melody, once heard), but this was by no means the beginning of his career. Demis had been in the Greek prog rock bank Aphrodite’s Child with none other than Vangelis, the man who would go on to score such classic films as “Chariots Of Fire” and “Bladerunner.”

But Demis was never overshadowed, and remains a massive star in Germany, Spain, Latin America, etc. When A-Camp was mixing “Colonia” we couldn’t get enough of Demis, and bumped him on YouTube nonstop, particularly the amazingly unselfconscious documentary from about ‘75, which depicts his screaming , buck naked pubescent son getting baptized in a very frightening looking Greek Orthodox ritual. Great stuff.

3. Best Falafel in a Swedish Port Town: 
Falafel # 1, Malmo, Sweden



Tastes good! We eat it. We ate it today at rehearsal. Actually, we ate it the day before yesterday too. The only reason we didn’t eat it yesterday is because we felt guilty about eating it three days in a row. 



4. Best Name for a Falafel Joint in Malmo, Sweden

: Tusen Hallo!



It means “A Thousand Hellos!” Somebody asked the dude who owns the place what the name was all about… there’s an expression “tusen tack”, it means “a thousand thanks,” so his reasoning was why not say “a thousand hellos!!!” when people came in your spot, just ‘cos you were really psyched they would choose to eat there! And who can argue with that? Tip: Food’s not as good as Falafel #1.



Photo by tinou bao.

5. Best Swedish Black Metal Band We Have Met on a British College Campus (Playing Hacky Sack): Dark Funeral

Well, the best and the only. Dark Funeral. For real, it was a nice day and here they were in full regalia and corpse-paint, out on the green playing hacky sack amidst the bemused students eating their lunches, there on the Manchester University campus. 



From Wikipedia:

Dark Funeral is a black metal band from Stockholm, Sweden. In their earlier years their lyrical themes usually revolved specifically around depictions of Hell and Satan, but since Emperor Magus Caligula joined the band their lyrics have focused more on blasphemy and anti-Christian rhetoric although there have been several exceptions to this.



Nathan gave his phone number to the drummer, this dude Tomas (a.k.a Alzazmon) who called him in NYC for a while. Tomas was cool but mostly he really wanted to talk about how Dark Funeral practice had gone that day etc (”Oh, it was brutal. It was super brutal….”) And so on.

Apparently Tomas is now in a Norwegian band called Gorgoroth who are supposed to be even more brutal and evil although they all seemed like pretty swell people, though who knows what folks are up to in private. 

When it comes to evil we say keep your eyes on the twee pop people. There lies the true darkness.

Nathan Larson cut his teeth and hurt our ears (in a good way) in the seminal indie rock band Shudder To Think. Colonia, the second album from his new band A Camp (which also features his wife, Nina Person), will be released in America on April 28th. Learn more about A Camp here.

After a long stint working as wilderness therapy instructors, Gregg Treinish and Deia Schlosberg were in need of some serious change. Lovers of travel and the outdoors, they began planning an extensive trek in the Andes. They researched and talked to fellow adventurers who had been there, but nothing could prepare them for the hardships and elation their two year journey would bring.

All photos courtesy of Gregg Treinish and Deia Schlosberg

By the time they finally reached Tierra del Fuego, Treinish and Schlosberg had trekked up mountains, waded through boggy marshes, bonded with local families, bushwhacked through bamboo, and even contracted typhoid fever.

The couple’s journey recently made them National Geographic Adventurers of the Year, and has secured their place in the history books of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

I caught up with Gregg and Deia to discuss leaving normal life behind in order to embark on a life changing trek, the big lessons they learned, and how they impacted the people they met along the way.

(MT): You decide to take off from your regular lives and trek the Andes. What goes through your head and heart before embarking on such an adventure?

To me, the unknown has always been incredibly exciting. Not having any clue what lay around the next corner captures this special place inside my head that is very deeply attached to a visceral feeling of being alive, of doing something worthwhile.

Oftentimes, I find myself saying that had I known what was in store I might not have gone; this is certainly the case with the Andes as the challenges were far greater than either of us anticipated. Before the journey, there was a lot of fear, which my mind somehow translates to excitement.

I think that it would only be fair to say that there was a high level of disillusionment as well. While I obviously thought about what it was going to be like, I somehow let myself believe that it was going to be fun day in and day out, this despite a cognitive recognition that it wasn’t going to be fun in many cases.

I think that in order to follow through with something that you know could very well be your demise requires a certain level of denial.

Travel is obviously a catalyst for learning. What were some preconceived notions or expectations you had that quickly disappeared once you got into your trek?

The preconceived notion that most-quickly comes to mind for me is the idea of poverty that we went into the continent with. My expectation was to see poverty, to see hunger, to see people living in tragedy.

What I found was that while it certainly exists in South America, the vast majority of people in the Andes are living with everything they need and in many cases more. They don’t have many of the modern amenities that we have grown so accustomed to, and which I must admit I missed from time to time along the way.

They do, however have food, shelter, clothing, access to health care, and perhaps most importantly, a connection to their families and where they come from. They live lives of leisure, at least for the majority of the year. They get what they need from the earth, and she takes care of them well.

In your second installment in Wend Magazine, Deia wrote: “How much and what kind of an impact have we had by being in any of those places along the length of the Andes? Do we want that impact to be more or less than it actually was? What impact have they each had on us?”

Having been back for awhile, can you now quantify that impact? How do you incorporate it into your current life?

I don’t think I’ll ever know our true impact on the people and places we encountered. I do know that we’ve kept in touch with several people we met along the way, and we’ve heard from many others who told us they were inspired by what we did–which is a wonderful thing to hear….

When I originally wrote that entry, I was talking about our impact environmentally, and I sure want to believe that our presence had a positive net impact. We tried to educate people as often as we could about human influence on the environment and about the concept of living sustainably.

Whenever people thought we were nuts for carrying our trash out of the field instead of tossing it on the ground, we would try to start a discussion about why. Things like that happened very frequently, and along with our very small carbon footprint, I think we came out on top.

The impact each place we passed through had on us is profound. Some more than others, obviously, but not necessarily the ones I would have thought at the time.

For example, although Fitzroy was perhaps the most stunning place visually, I think our internal processes at any given time had much more to do with the impact of a particular place, such that a nondescript corner in an unnamed canyon meant more to me than Fitzroy because of a particular realization I had there.

I think the only way to quantify that impact would be in terms of the number of people we’ve had the opportunity to share our story with, and especially, to share the lessons of our journey with.

To date, we’ve done presentations for maybe a thousand people spread out amongst several venues around the country, we’ve written for Wend Magazine, been in National Geographic Adventure, Backpacker, Outside, and many smaller publications.

And hopefully, for each person who saw our story, we were able to give them or remind them of one small thing they could take back with them to their daily lives. My hope is that the little bit that stuck was a mindfulness of our connection to the rest of the world and the significance we each have in contributing to the big picture.

In terms of sharing what you’ve learned with the greater community, what is one crucial lesson gained from your trip that you hope others will consider?

One of the most important things we learned from the trip is how connected to the outside world the people of the Andes are. While they don’t have modern amenities they do have AM/FM radios, often charged by solar power. They listen to the news, they know American politics, and they form their opinions of us largely from the media they see and hear.

Whether for good reason or not, the people of the developing world look up to us. They see America as the land of the way things should be and they very much strive to “progress” to what we have.

This becomes essential when we look at the choices both individually and with legislation that we make in the years to come. If we adopt new and “green” ways of life, the rest of the world will certainly follow.

If we continue consuming at a rate far greater than the rest of the world, the rest of the world will continue to consume more and more. Simply put, we are models for the rest of the world to follow.

Trekking 7,800 miles is pretty impressive and you were recently named National Geographic Adventurers of the year. Did you ever dream your trip would lead to so much press and acknowledgment? Did the two of you plan this trip with the intention of putting yourselves in the history of adventurers?

When we set out on what we thought would be a one year 5,000 mile journey, we had no idea no one had done what we were attempting. We had no idea that it would be as difficult as it was either, which may explain the lack of success people have had down there.

Somewhere near the end of the journey– after maybe 7,000 miles of walking– we joked with one another that it would be cool if we could write about our adventure for some of the magazines. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine we would get the honor that we did from National Geographic and never did we think others would genuinely want to hear our story.

One thing is clear, you guys are used to walking, so I have one final question: Do people make fun of you now when you choose to take the car to go somewhere instead of walking?

“Did you walk here?” is definitely one of the questions we have been asked the most since being home. That goes for a trip across the country or to the local bar. People really just don’t comprehend what it is like to travel on foot for so long. In our modern world of convenience we have forgotten how great it can be to slow down and enjoy what is around us.

You can listen to Gregg and Deia read the first part of their story published in Wend Magazine on podcast! Check out Wend Magazine’s Digital Story Project.

Community Connection

For those interested in a portrait of a local community in the Peruvian Andes, check out Huayhuash: A Convergence of Change and Resilience.

You’ve probably heard the word thrown around to represent a large mix of various elements - a smörgåsbord of features, a smörgåsbord of activities, etc.

Well, this Swedish word traditionally refers to a buffet-style spread of small dishes – mostly cold with a few hot plates.

From mounds of herring and salmon to various cold salads and meats, some of the usual suspects have been identified below.

Mustard herring, tomato herring, pickled herring…you name it. As long as condiments exist, you’ll find some form of herring doused or drenched in them.





If the taste of herring overpowers you, dig into alternative plates of smoked, poached, baked, or pinwheeled salmon that’s always available.





Move over leafy greens, cold salads such as red beet salad, pea salad, and mushroom salad regularly make appearances.





Various pâtés, terrines, and cold meats such as dried ham and smoked lamb provide a welcome change from seafood.





For the die-hard carnivores amongst us, roast beef, pork, and sometimes reindeer meat are offered to appease meat eaters.





A smörgåsbord without shellfish? Heresy!





Ketchup? Fries? Not here. Side dishes include yellow almond potatoes, roe, and black caviar…the cheap kind.





And of course, if it’s got a crust and is filled with either almond paste, marzipan, or vanilla sauce, you’ll find it at the dessert table.


Photos by Lola Akinmade.

Anvil! The Story Of Anvil

The buzz out of Sundance is that it might be the best Rock Doc ever made. We’re salivating. Do yourself a huge favor and watch the trailer. Anvil! The Story Of Anvil (note: band name twice, one exclamation point) opens on the 10th.

Sesame Street: Being Green DVD

Paul Rudd goes for an Emmy as Mr. Earth, a planet-shaped character who teaches Sesame Street the values of being Green. We are running to Borders as you read this.

Simon Reeve (Dull Travel Guy)

Who is this dude? The BBC2 travel host has dogged us on current trips, always on the screen in a hotel or airport. While somewhat gorgeous, Reeve is a fascinating study in just how boring one person can make the world appear to be. “Just around the corner is a lake.” Ohhhhhh. “This is just nature showing off.” Mmmmm. We’re not kidding. Watch him even take all of the fun out of weed.

Doves

This wildly talented and under-appreciated band from the UK release Kingdom Of Rust, their first album in four years. Known for rather spacey live shows, this album was recorded over 18 months in a “farmhouse-come-studio”. The CD/DVD version of the album features a documentary with live footage and a making-of.

Photo by Niko Villegas

Drop Bombs Elsewhere

You’ve downed the seafood platter at The Chowder Pot and important body parts have gone off autopilot. Make for the lobby bathroom instead of the place where you might have shower sex in two hours.

Alone Time

The brochure pictures are a lie. You cannot spend seven days on a beach, looking suggestively at your girlfriend’s lips. Agreeing to a break in the day will probably come as a welcome relief to her as well – she was hoping to take a long bath and shave her legs anyway.

Be A Little Silly

Suggest picking the ugliest car in the rental lot. Walk through Disney playing a game of “Is he gay or just German?” Romance isn’t all flowers – it’s remembering the spark that you had before the dog started sleeping in your bed.

Guidebook Highlights

Take two highlighters along for the trip, one color for each of you. Go nuts on the guidebook with your color and have Lewis mark the things that he’s interested in. Overlap makes for easy planning, as well as a good chance to re-learn the color wheel.

Be Aware Of Annoying Ticks In Tedious Scenarios

The bus is crowded, your pits are wet and you just want to be back in your room. Prime Time Cranky. Your boyfriend Brett breaks into a fit of whistling, breaking out a Creedence medley right there in 16B. You keep quiet but add this to column of negatives that you’ll save for tomorrow’s overdue vacation fight.

“Whatever You Want To Do”

The kiss of death for anyone in a relationship that is not dominated by one Type A: How many couples have had dinners full of silent resentment because one person didn’t say that there just weren’t in the f’ing mood for f’ing Mexican again?

Stories, please! Maybe share a little dirt? We’re curious about what things drive have driven you to “the bad place” on vacation, as well as any advice that you can offer for going into a trip with your +1.

Spencer. A young dad. Another day at work. Linville Gorge, North Carolina. Photo courtesy: Spencer Cooke

Growing up, all I wanted to do was go kayaking. All my crew wanted was to go kayaking. As we went to college, we worked guiding rafts, teaching kids how to paddle at summer camps, working at gear shops, whatever seemed to help get you get river time. But nobody–it seemed to me–seriously considered being able to translate paddling into a career.

Over the years I’ve been stoked to see a few people make this happen however. One of them is Matador member Spencer Cooke. In this quick interview, Spencer talks about the realities of kayaking as a career, and introduces us to his latest production, The Eddy Feeling, a film about why people kayak.

David: Hey Spencer, can you give a quick intro on who you are and what you do?

I’m Spencer Cooke, owner and operator of Effort Inc, a media, sales and marketing company based in Western North Carolina. Water has been my element of choice for work and play for the past 13 years.

Effort Inc handles sales repping for paddlesports gear companies Immersion Research and Shred Ready. I also represent and endorse these and other brands as an athlete in whitewater and surf kayaking.

Rounding out the business model Effort Inc offers custom, contract video production and photography in addition to kayaking films sold through my company web site www.Effort.tv and the video site RapidTransitVideo.com.

Rapid Transit is a kayak filmmaker collaborative I began a year ago and through which my new film, THE EDDY FEELING, has been marketed.

Making Linville look easy. Photo courtesy: Spencer Cooke.

What’s it like working as a professional in the paddlesports industry?

On the outside it may appear to some folks that “I kayak for a living” and that is a quick, easy explanation for those who don’t or can’t understand how I make a living.

That comment is for in-laws and grandparents, though there are a ton of kayakers who truly think that a “rep” just goes around and kayaks and competes in competitions. It’s a pretty common misconception.

In reality I spend a ton of time in the office, in the car and on the phone and computer. Making all the sales, marketing and media occur happens only partially on the water but mostly with an ear to a phone and eyes on a computer screen.

Over the years the perks of this occupation have definitely been the fun of travel and exploration through which I’ve been able to collect a large library of photos, video footage and written journals… captured memories really.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have the support of kayak companies such as IR, Shred Ready & Aquabound to help fund paddling and surfing trips to Ecuador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ireland, Morocco, Canada (BC, Quebec, Ontario) and all over the United States.

Filmmaking and video production haven’t been the most profitable endeavor but have certainly helped defray the costs of all the travel. I’ve produced or co-produced at least twenty of the most popular kayaking films out there.

How long have you been paddling / filming?

Paddling for 15 years, filming for 11 of those. One of my high school teachers along with my father got me into paddling in 1993. I started out paddling a 16 foot canoe and progressed from there. I have been a national champion twice, represented the USA at two world championships and had a laundry list of top finishes in various disciplines of kayaking.

I’ve been a skateboarder for 25 years and always enjoyed watching skate videos. My desire for the sport of kayaking has always been to do what videos did for me in the sport of skateboarding, which was to get me really excited and enthusiastic about getting out and doing it. Video has the power to get you stoked and it is probably the best learning tool you could have.

Linville Gorge. The most remote canyon in the Eastern US. Photo: Spencer Cooke.

I loved The Eddy Feeling. It’s different than any paddling film I’ve ever seen before. Can you talk about storyline, and what inspired you to tell it?

Yes, I haven’t ever done a real documentary, a serious film, and this film definitely fits that genre. It’s a story about people. Probably only half the 58 minutes actually show kayaking. Everything else is about these people, their lives, their spouses, home lives, their workplace.

It shows normal people living their lives who also happen to enjoy kayaking. More than that it shows how much kayaking means to these people even though some of them may only spend weekends or vacations on the water, at best.

The action junkie is not left dissatisfied though. There is a plethora of footage of that took me three years to shoot from the Class V rapids of the Linville Gorge, and it is all to an incredible soundtrack.

To top it off one of the cast members successfully runs a first descent of an 80 foot waterfall at the end of the film. This is the pro paddler character, not the banker of course. I feel the varied content rounds out the film to satiate every viewer from the teenage hair-boater to the elderly outdoor enthusiast and non-paddler.

Where have you shown it so far? What has reaction been?

It has been shown in theaters in Athens GA, Asheville NC, and Charlotte NC so far and has received rave reviews. Beauty is certainly in the eyes and ears of the beholder. That being said I am happy with this video after spending a couple years editing and shooting.

Let’s put it this way: a non-kayaker friend of mine who has never commented enthusiastically on any of my past kayak films made it a point to call me with his excitement and followed up with an email critique. He said “bravo” and that meant enough to me to just stop right there. My work was finished.

Community Connection

Please check out our review of The Eddy Feeling.

Interested in getting into paddling? Matador has a step by step guide that can help get you out on the river.