East Coast Special with Enrique 'Moose' Huerta

Moose Huerta

​[00:00:00]

tyler: [00:01:00] Hello and welcome to the Swell Season Surf Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Brewer. Our guest today is a very old friend of mine. In fact, he was my freshman year roommate at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. Back then, Enrique Moose Huerta was a stoked and stylish, goofy foot from Pensacola, Florida.

Who would [00:02:00] occasionally take great pleasure in tormenting me, but as years have worn on our lives would intersect from time to time. And our friendship and mutual respect for each other has come a long way from those freshman years. Since those dorm room days, moose has had a career that's danced around the surf industry without ever getting sucked into its vortex, working as a creative producer for Vice Media, Nike Double Day Cartright, and now he's running his own independent consultancy Land Sea, where he works on everything from films to brand storytelling that touch, surf, skate and culture at large.

What I'm most excited to talk to him about is his brand new podcast, east Coast Special. Imagine if Eastern Surf Magazine and Longboard Magazine had a love child. He and his guests excavate stories about what makes East Coast surf culture what it is, equal parts grit, charm, [00:03:00] and weird. It's a wonderful love letter to East Coast surfing and something I feel is important to the culture, listening to it stirs up so many great collective memories and experiences as an East Coast surfer, and it's been a long time since Flagler and I'm excited to catch up and swap a few stories with my old roommate.

I'm also equal parts nervous for embarrassing stories about me. He might drop, but I'm really excited. Without further ado, welcome to show Moose. Thank

Moose: you Tyler. I really appreciate the kind words in the trip down memory lane. Oh

tyler: my gosh, man. Crazy, right? Yeah. All these years later, what? Like almost 30 years.

We're getting new, 28 years later. That happened. Do you, do you remember our first time eating?

Moose: Yes, I do. Definitely. But before we get into it, oh, okay. I, I come bearing gifts. Okay. Um, this is something that I procured

tyler: [00:04:00] listeners. He's got

Moose: a

tyler: bottle.

Moose: I know it's early. Oh, no way. From the Basque region of Spain. Shut up. I was able to procure a, for the listeners, a manion from our friend Santo Rodriguez. No

tyler: fucking way. Who's

Moose: just, uh, featured in the latest surfers journal courtesy of Zig Jake Zilstra in Ventura, California.

Had to move heaven and earth to get that today. Are you fucking shitting me, dude? No. Yeah,

tyler: dude, this is, I'm about to cry. This is getting me all the CLMs here. Like, oh my God.

Moose: Now I know it's nine 30. Holy shit. In the morning. Let's crack it open and, uh, well, I'm told that it's best chilled for, uh, 20 minutes.

Ah, okay. And then, and then we can crack it open at some point. So Joe,

tyler: put this in the fridge.

Moose: And Joe, I didn't, I didn't leave you out. I brought three glasses. My wife was like, why do you have three glasses? So it's like, we gotta be an all inclusive in the experience. So, dude,

tyler: are

Moose: you kidding me?

tyler: Yeah. This is so [00:05:00] fucking unreal.

I can't, so I'm just gonna say, one of the things I've noticed about you. Over the years and also, especially through this podcast, even your incredible attention to detail and thoughtfulness. You are a very thoughtful person. Like you really, like, I notice it in your, your interviews, but also just in general.

I've always seen you just go out of your way.

Moose: Hmm.

tyler: I'm not about to cry. I have something in my throat, I swear. Go outta your way and let me tell you something. I'm gonna

Moose: make you cry.

tyler: I'm gonna make me cry. Get off the clip. Um, no, but it's like, it's where I'm curious like where did that come from? Where did you learn that?

'cause that is, I'll be honest, like I'm not very thoughtful at times and, and I'm thoughtful to the people, very close to me, but not [00:06:00] everyone. And you have this ability to spread that thoughtfulness and it's like really incredible. So I was just curious where you learned that

Moose: from? I mean, from my mother.

You know, it, we, I grew up, you know, we had, we were very, uh, humble, you know, short of means. And I was taught in an early age that manners doesn't cost anything. Being polite is free. So I just always tried to put that into practice and then it just, I dunno, becomes second nature as well as just being observant.

Yeah. You know, it, um, I think sometimes people think that, uh, I. F things can be more engineered than they are random. Mm-hmm. More contrived than they are lucky. But I just am always observant. So I, I pick up these little things that is just Okay. Also, like, with trying that, like Yeah. I just, it's a mutual friend of ours.

Yeah. And that wasn't engineered, that was random. And it, [00:07:00] you know, never hurts to ask, you know, so it's like, you can always try and attempt and the answer's no. The answer's no, but the answer's always no. Unless you ask, you know,

tyler: it's, I'm like so touched by this. Oh, good. I really, and uh, for our listeners, like Sancho is, uh, this legendary figure, I feel like in Basque region of Spain.

Like, he's just this gregarious, outgoing person, very smart, very thoughtful, super creative, super energetic. And, uh, he ran the film festival there for over, well over a decade. That was really successful. And then he, his, he comes from a lineage of, uh, you know, family that had owned vineyards and, uh, he started his own, you know, about 10 years ago, I think.

And, uh. That I've never had a chance to really sample his wine, so it's really exciting.

Moose: Yeah. No, he's, it's really cool to see what he's doing and, [00:08:00] and even in a thoughtful manner, you know, of Okay. The company's named after somebody that worked for his family for some 40 years and, and he's doing it his way in his style.

I, I saw him, uh, last summer, I believe it was. Mm-hmm. And, um, it was just cool to hear what he was doing. And they did a, uh, collaboration with, uh, the bass clothing brand, reac Mendan. And uh, it's just cool, like, it's cool to add that kind of surf, skate marketing flavor into like quality product. So yeah,

tyler: it's awesome.

And how fucking great is that area that he lives in? Yeah. Like that's definitely. If I win the lotto, like that's where I want to retire, you know? Yeah, yeah.

Moose: I'd say there's something wrong with you if, if you're

tyler: not, dude, I mean, it's, go there

Moose: and say

tyler: that. Yeah. It's like waves food. Oh yeah. It's culture.

It's perfect, like perfect, uh, size city. Mm-hmm. To San Sebastian where you can, it's walkable, but not too small either. Like it feels big enough, [00:09:00] you know, especially coming from like New York. Mm-hmm. Like such a special place. Yeah. No, it's amazing. So getting back to our first meeting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, it was interesting, like, I remember like, uh, so I went to Flagler College in St. Augustine. Both of us did. And uh, it's a really cool school, like really small. Uh, I mean like how many people? Like 9,000? No, how even close to that 2000, 2,500? Yeah. Yeah. Like small school right on the beach basically. Um, you know, great surf community.

Um, real great arts community too. Um, it was, I, um, it was a really cool place to go to school. And, uh, I remember like that summer getting your phone number and talking and just. I was stoked to have like someone who surfed as a roommate. And what I found interesting and, and what I think is interesting is that we both kind of, you know, grew up in [00:10:00] places that are unlikely for surf.

Uh, like Pensacola Panhandle is as unlikely for surf or as surf star for surf as, as New York and, and less so in some ways. In a lot of ways. Yeah. Yeah. Many ways. You know, and so I think we had that in common in some way. You know, like I, I don't know, like, I'm curious like, we'll get to this, but like, I'm curious like your upbringing there too.

Mm-hmm. And what was that like? Um, and was surfing a mainstream thing in your school or was that like something that a random select people did?

Moose: Uh, I mean, it's completely random and, um, you know, I grew up in the west side of Pensacola, uh, the Purto area, Perdido Bay, Perdido Key, um, which wasn't as well known for surfing scene.

It had waves. Mm-hmm. Um, but then for high school, uh, I remember I was mostly skateboarding. Mm-hmm. And, uh. I had spent my eighth grade year in [00:11:00] Westchester County. I was curious, like, I don't

tyler: remember you telling me that in, in college either. Yeah. And I remember hearing that. I was like, what? Yeah, it, I'm so, I must have forgot.

Moose: No, both of my sisters went to Tarrytown, uh, Mary Mountain Terrytown. Mm-hmm. And they're 13 and nine years older than me. So, um, in the early nineties, there was a bad economy. My mom couldn't find work and my sisters were like, well, come up. We worked at this bagel shop in Austin called Bagel Emporium through college, and they need a manager.

So we had to do what we had to do. Yeah. And it was just, it was insightful for my mom. 'cause it was like, well before you start high school or whatever, let's go up there. And I was just big time into skateboarding then. So, um, and my sisters. I lived in Manhattan. Yeah. And that was a crazy golden era of skateboarding in New York.

Uh, so I was game, you know, it's like, let's do it. And um, I actually was in eighth grade with the photographer Andy Ryan. Shut up. Yeah. Yeah. [00:12:00] We He's

tyler: the biggest mensch. I love him. Yeah.

Moose: We used to, um, we, my mom and I had an apartment which was close to the school, and as eighth graders you could leave for lunch.

Yeah. And a group of us would go to, um, our apartment and I would play Andrew Dice Clay while we ate our lunch. It was amazing. Like, uh, but um, but yeah, that's where you got some of that humor from. Yeah. Yep. But, um, but yeah, so I moved back to Florida. I lived with my grandparents for most of my freshman year and my mom came back from New York and she said, I just want to be by the beach.

I miss it so much from being away from it. And she said, I want to be able to drive home from work. Go over in Pensacola, we have the three mile bridge, see the sun setting. And the smart ass me said, well, we can live in town and you can go there and back and enjoy it twice. You know, I did not wanna move to the beach 'cause you know, there wasn't, um, you know, ledges and parking lots and stairs and things that I was skating back then.

Yeah. But, um. You know, there, there [00:13:00] was a segment of Pensacola Beach, which was more apartments and townhouses that were, alright. These are the people that serve the vacation community. Yeah. Um, and we were at the far, um, east end of the beach, an area called Regency. Mm-hmm. And, uh, literally the break, not just the water, the break was 200 yards from my driveway.

Wow. And uh, you know, it was really before surf forecast and you had surf reports you'd call in and they kind of give their Yeah. You know, amateur meteorology take of what was gonna happen. But I would just follow the sea breeze. Yeah. And I would just, okay, the wind's gonna do this. And I watched the weather channel scroll and, and I just really committed myself to surfing.

Um, previously I had dabbled in it. Um, there were kids in my neighborhood and yeah. I probably started boogie boarding and standing up on those and that like in, uh, probably when I was eight. Yeah. But then, um, you know, the thing [00:14:00] with North Florida is the water gets cold. Yeah. Like, it'll, it'll drop down to 52 40 nines.

The coldest I've experienced. Yeah. I didn't realize it get drops that far. Yeah. Because when the front's ripped through and, you know, you think of the citrus, frost and all of that, it like drops hard. Totally. And, um, yeah, so. It was a summertime activity until I could get a summer job or work and buy my own wetsuit.

So that was around, uh, freshman year.

tyler: Did you have a lot of groms around you that you'd surf with or was it like, uh, you know, you were the lone surfer at all?

Moose: Um, no. There, there was. Yeah. Yeah, there was actually a friend, um, that was very impactful in my life that, uh, lived in our neighborhood. Uh, Matt Martin, his dad was, uh, Robin Martin, who was kind of a local legend, and they called him the Animal, and Matt was called the Critter.

And, uh, yeah, they, they lived in my neighborhood and we would surf. And uh, yeah, it's just [00:15:00] interesting to think, I don't know the ages of people that were around me, but we were like little, yeah. You know, so, um, yeah.

tyler: I, I feel like, I guess for me, like growing up, like I, I was much more isolated when it came to surfing.

Like, uh, we didn't live on the beach and, uh, it was, you know, no one in my school surfed, I got made fun of for being surfing. Mm-hmm. You know, for being a surfer. But I still, I think both you and I share this feeling of like kind of being an outcast in the surf world. Mm-hmm. You know, because we came from these places that didn't have like, access to good waves or, or even part of like, the industry as much.

So Yeah. And I think that changes your perspective of surfing, uh, you know, makes you a little bit more passionate maybe, and a little bit more. Uh, you want to, you just want to like devour everything.

Moose: Yeah. And part of your earlier question that I didn't answer was mm-hmm. There weren't any, well, there was a couple of servers at my school, but Yeah.

Um, [00:16:00] you know, my mom's priority for, uh, her kids was education was first and foremost. Yeah. So we made a lot of sacrifices. Then I had, I attended what was viewed to be the best school in town, which was the Catholic school. Yeah. Um, so I had a solid 40 minute commute to school every day. And within that, you know, in the south, in Pensacola, Northern Florida Bible belt.

Yeah. You know, it was very much a good old boy, baseball, football. I mean, I had most in common with the soccer players. 'cause those were the long-haired stoners and, you know, surfer adjacent. Yes. Um, but yeah, no, I, I didn't have a surf community. I was like the surfer in our school. And, um, there were some people later, younger than me, but I can, maybe three people Yeah.

That, that surfed at my school. So I definitely, um, felt like college for me. Going to a surf centric school that had a surf team that had things, it was just like, oh, [00:17:00] those are my people. That's the greener grass. Definitely.

tyler: I'm curious then, like, you know, you, you did mention in one of your podcasts, like you're, you.

Loved your college experience. Mm-hmm. And your, and, but you also said your high school experience wasn't enjoyable for you. And I was curious, like if you could expand on that a little bit more, what your high school experience was like and how you feel that shaped your, you know, your view of college.

Moose: Yeah. I mean, I think as you age, you can reverse engineer things and see logic mm-hmm. Versus I tried to not, um, live life through a forced narrative. Yeah. You know, there was very much a good old boy scene there. Um, I remember wanting to date girls and what I did was of no interest to them. You know what I mean?

Yeah. But then also I see that, hey, as small of a town as that was and as invested as parents were in their kids' lives, like the Latino kid who lives with a single mom [00:18:00] who's a latchkey kid alone on the beach, like that's probably not, you know, who you want, you know, your daughters to be hanging out with, you know?

Yeah. Um, so yeah, there, there was a bit of that. But it, you know, the thing for me, and I, and I've mentioned this on my podcast, was that I really feel foundationally that my parents being immigrants, myself being the first generation, um. I just knew that I wasn't gonna live in my hometown. Yeah. Like I, it was just as I remember my first time consciously being on a plane and thinking like, all right, this is it.

This is life. Yeah. Like I, and I'm not going to be here. And then, you know, that false narrative, like, I don't know, maybe, maybe shit wasn't that bad, you know? Yeah. But I knew that I needed to make it seem that bad to me to motivate me to like leave and Right. See the world and procure Spanish wines and things, you know, like I wanted that.

Yeah. And, um, yeah. And, but you know, when I had my wife's family, when we [00:19:00] were early days of dating before marrying, it was, the idea was, okay, families need to meet. And they came into town and we went down to Fort Pickens, the National Park, and their Civil war forts. And they just had this breathtaking moment of, wow, this place is really beautiful.

And I had to have that realization that yeah, it is. Mm-hmm. Like, there's people that, there's somebody in, you know, Huntsville, Alabama or Nashville, Tennessee that's saying, I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to make it to Pensacola to live there. Yeah. And I have to respect and appreciate that, you know,

tyler: it, it's interesting, like we, I feel like surfing, like helps drive that too.

You know? It makes you wanna go out and see what else is beyond the surf break. Mm-hmm. You know, in many regards now. Yeah. I remember us talking on the phone and being like. I was stoked. I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna live with another surfer. This could be fucking awesome. And. Then I remember the first day getting [00:20:00] there and it was so funny 'cause like you got there early.

You got there early, you claimed all the good shit. Yeah. Like this motherfucker, like I came in, he had the lone bed already. He had the right, the good dresser, the closet. I was like, can I tell you my memory of that? Yeah. So my mom probably made a big deal about it too. I think

Moose: my mom and I, and I actually have pictures of me waiting in line, but my mom and I were first in line, right?

So I was first in line, I got my keys, I went to the room. Yeah. And then I quickly deduced that I didn't get one of the standalone closets. Oh no. I had an extra key. I ran back, yeah. Ran to the front of the line and said, I want a better, like gimme the other key. And, and got it. This motherfucker. It's awesome.

Yeah. No, and I was hustling. And then, and the other thing I remember about that day is being first in line and that was the day that, uh, princess Diana passed.

tyler: Yeah. I know. My mom [00:21:00] and I remember like, she brings this up all the time still. She says like, remember when we went to your college and I dropped you?

And then Princess Diana died. And I'm like, yeah, I remember. That was a bummer.

Moose: Yeah.

tyler: That was fucking

Moose: awful. Yeah. That was crazy. And um, but yeah, no, that was, I definitely, I It was even worse than you remembered. Yeah. I really worked at getting all the good shit.

tyler: But you know, like that's. You are hungry for it.

Yeah. You know, like I, I'm fucking coming down like, ah, I'm gonna be whatever, you know? And like I see that and I'm like, oh, this is what that is. But it was, it was

Moose: like

tyler: respect though,

Moose: you know? Yeah. I mean, that's why I, in part why I think I love New York so much is that mm-hmm. Is, you know, my upbringing left me a little feral.

Yeah. And, uh, you know, I, I sink or swim. If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere like that. That's in the texture of New York City. Yeah. And, um, I didn't know that back then, but I knew [00:22:00] who I was and I knew that was my personality. You know, I,

tyler: I just remember you being really curious about surfing New York too.

You would ask all the time, and I would be like, tell you about certain spots that we won't name. Uh, you know, but it was like, I remember, but you also were so fucking proud of Pensacola. Mm-hmm. There was this pride that you carried about it. I remember too. And I remember you always, you, you, you definitely like, like made it sound awesome.

Like I, and it was mm-hmm. I'm, I'm sure it was like I, but it was like really. This pride, like when you take, you have like a lot of pride in all the places you go, you know, and spend time in. And I, I really appreciate that and admire that. 'cause I don't think I was as proud at the time of being from New York in college.

Like, I was always kind of felt ashamed, almost like, oh, no one's gonna take me serious in surfing if I'm, you know, from this lackluster surf place. Yeah.

Moose: I

tyler: [00:23:00] feel like, you know, um, yeah, those first few days were fun though. I mean, it was, it was, what, what did you make of it? Oh,

Moose: man, I, I, it felt like it, there's a very few moments in life where it feels like it's the first day of the rest of your life.

Yeah. And being a freshman, being in the dorms, like all the magic that comes with that of like being an adult. Mm-hmm. And the world is your oyster and such. Uh, it, that's it. It was electric, you know. Um,

tyler: it You applied only to Flagler. Yeah. By the way. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. Like you took a crap shoot.

I mean, I don't know, your, your grades were probably fine. It was probably safe for you, you know, but like, still

Moose: like, yeah. Yeah. That's probably something that I've been working on as a, you know, through all throughout life is. Being so tunnel vision to all my eggs in one [00:24:00] basket, because I had envisioned my reality and there was no compromise.

Mm. And, um, but I worked at it, man. I, I like, yeah. My grades were fine. I, I, my saving grace and multiple ways is that, um, I had 21 credit hours before my freshman year through doing dual enrollment in high school. Mm-hmm. Um, and that probably spoke more than my grades. Um, but my mom and I drove to St.

Augustine, interviewed with the guidance person or the admissions office. And then before I had received my acceptance, I was, I think I was in St. Augustine doing a contest mm-hmm. Or maybe just a surf trip. And I stopped by the admissions office again and I said, Hey, how's it going? And, and slipper, slipper a few bills and be like, I'm getting in.

Right. No. And, and, well, the, the gentleman, I'm, I'm, I forget his name, I can picture his face clear as day mustache. He came out and he said, hello. The secretary went and [00:25:00] got him. He's like, yeah, um, thank you. We're still, you know, making decisions and, but I let him see my face. Yeah. You know, and I showed him that I was, um, committed and there was a, the public high school near me was, uh, Gulf Breeze High School.

Mm-hmm. To where Sterling Spencer, Yancy Spencer, all of them went. Yeah. And, um. He got waitlisted, and I think our grades were pretty comparable. So what gave me that edge was that, you know, initiative. Yeah.

tyler: Well it's, it's funny. Like I, I applied to schools that were way outta my league, but just because they were close to surf, you know, and it was just so funny.

Like, and Flagler was like there, and I was like, it, it made the most sense actually to me. But I, it was funny because I definitely was like aiming for like San Diego or Santa Barbara, and I did not have the grades. I didn't have any, any of the experiences that would make me qualified for that as well. [00:26:00] So I was like, yeah, this will be great.

It's East Coast, it's warm.

Moose: Yeah. I think for me it was, um, you know, it's approximately a six hour, five and a half, six hour drive from Pensacola to St. Augustine. Yeah. So it was just far enough, um, where, you know, it, it took effort to get there. Yeah. You couldn't really do it in one day. Yeah. Um, but it was close enough to home, you know?

Yeah.

tyler: What do you think, like, you have this very strong affinity for St. Augustine. Like, uh, you said in some of your podcasts, like it's one of the few places you felt like, like almost like attached to home. Mm-hmm. You know, like that, that you didn't feel in Pensacola at times. And I was curious like. What about St.

Augustine for you makes it that, you know, and, and how, how, how has your love with that city changed over time?

Moose: I don't know that [00:27:00] it's changed. I mean, I've changed. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, it's, um, I don't know. It's an example for me of a coastal community. I mean, I, I go into it with Tory Strange about the entrepreneurial spirit.

Yeah. And, you know, I feel like a lot of people both local and, you know, people that go to make their life there. Yeah. There's just something in the primordial soup there that really is different. Yeah. You know, and, and I constantly look at examples. Right. And sometimes it can come off as name droppy or, but I, we toured through there with, um, Thomas Campbell and the Sprout.

Yeah. And he said to me, he goes, I was standing at the pier. I looked around and I thought, this is somewhere I could live in Florida.

tyler: Yeah.

Moose: And um, you know, there, there's not a lot of places like it. And you know, when people say, oh, Florida this, Florida that. I said, yeah, fair enough. But have you been to St.

Augustine? Mm-hmm. Because there's just [00:28:00] something very different there. And, and for people that haven't been there, it's. Debatably, the, uh, nation's oldest city Pensacola, they found an artifact in the last 10 years that dates predates that. Um, so the idea being that, uh, Pensacola was formed, it got wiped out by a hurricane in St.

Augustine's is the first permanently established city in the new world. Wow. Um, those French OTs got around. Yeah. But you, you feel it like in the architecture, I always, there's, I'd say if there's a three stops within cities of St. Augustine, Savannah, and Charleston mm-hmm. You, you, you feel something different there.

And yeah. It's just beautiful. And, um, there's waves and of those three cities, it has the best waves. There's a very strong surf culture there. And yeah. I, our,

tyler: um, we haven't brought up our, our other roommate Ben Worms. Before we do that, can we crack open that [00:29:00] 20,

Moose: uh, mini chill bottle? Let's do this,

tyler: let's, let's pour one out.

Breaking out the mugs. Oh yeah.

Moose: Question is, we have a bottle opener.

tyler: Do you have a bottle opener? I did have one mine might, might gotta run downstairs to the restaurant. Lemme see. Oh my gosh. Everyone is searching right now for a bottle opener or oh, wait a minute.

tyler: All right. We are about to, we had a little misadventure, uh, we had to find a, I forgot line opener. So here we are pouring our, our good friends Sancho wine. It's natural. So we're

Moose: supposed to let it breathe a bit. I was told. But we should get the raw dog taste too. Yeah. [00:30:00]

tyler: We've got all morning. It's Friday.

Damn it. Yep. It's five o'clock somewhere. Yeah. All right. Here you are, sir. We, what do you, how do you want to do a toast here? Right in the middle? Do, do we do the Reba Bajo to

Moose: time technology and Yeah, of course. Cheers. Thanks for letting me join.

tyler: Cheers.

Moose: Oh, that's nice. What do you taste? No, no wrong answers.

tyler: There's a lightness to it. Like, um, it's not a heavy wine at all. It's, um,

Moose: yeah, it's supposed to be mostly Grenache, a little bit of blend, but it is, that's why they mentioned chilling it a bit. Yeah. 'cause it's light and delicate. Um, Jake Zilstra, who made it happen, um, he had a wine shop in Ventura that he's converting into a restaurant.

Nice. Uh, so he has a case that he's allowing to age, but, um, I asked him for the name of the restaurant. He says they're going through some trademark copyright things, but, uh, yeah, [00:31:00] he, it it'll be available in Ventura. They're hoping to open in February and I'll somehow put it out there, what it is. Keep a

tyler: lookout for that.

And, uh, menin, uh, the wine, if you find it, get it. 'cause it is delicious.

Moose: And in the most recent Surfers Journal article Yeah. There's a eight page, oh sorry, eight page spread on Sancho. And it's really cool to see his approach to wine and how he thinks about it. And it's, it's pretty cool. God, I love that guy.

tyler: This is, this is really good. Especially like if we chilled it a little bit more, like this'll be. I mean, like, he could pound it. Yeah. I mean, I won't, I won't. Let's see. We got legs on this thing. So, going back, I wanted to touch on, um, our old roommate, Ben Worms. Do you remember him? Uh, of course you keep in [00:32:00] touch with him still.

Uh, you know what, from time to time

Moose: through Instagram. Yeah. You know, I, I, uh, that's one of the good things about social media mm-hmm. And bad things. I mean, you feel like you can be connected to somebody's life. And, um, really this podcast has helped me reach out to those people and have, yeah, phone calls that I haven't had for 20 years or plus.

And, uh, yeah, we DMD a bit. Not sure how he found me on social media, but we did a number of years ago and yeah, I, I called him and it was cool to connect with him. He, um,

tyler: he was a big Huey Lewis in the news fan, like listeners, like this was hilarious. So this is like 97, 98, and uh, you know, you have two surfers living in the dorm and, and then a third person thrown in.

So this is like a. You had two dormitories. You had one in Flagler in the, the, the main building where it was like beautiful [00:33:00] Tiffany windows. Stunning, but had no air conditioning. And then you had ours, which was like a cell block, but had air conditioning. And I remember like, I mean the room must have been what, like 10 by 30 maybe?

Like, it felt like probably triple this space that we're in. Yeah. Like it was tiny. It was three of us in there. And, uh, you had two surfers. And then you have this kid from Ohio who has this unique infatuation with Huey Lewis in the news, which is like in the late nineties, so not on trend at all. And so kind of quirky in a sense.

Moose: Corn fed Midwest

tyler: boy. Seriously. But it was like this funny like kind of kind of blue crush kind of dynamic of like the footballer, surfer, you know, kind of, uh, obviously not in the romantic sense, but you know, it's like that that, oh, that clash of culture, which kind of mixed Well, [00:34:00] actually, yeah, it was

Moose: hilarious.

It was a life lesson, you know, I, I went from thinking that, uh, I would be hanging out with only surfers. Mm-hmm. To. And I didn't learn this until I connected with him that he was a last minute decision to be our roommate. Really? Yeah. 'cause I, I kind of had a forced memory of calling him, but then I'm like, did that happen?

I remember clearly calling you. Yeah. And so what happened is there was that opening day where you could call the admissions, get, uh, your roommate's phone number. Yeah. And then call them. Um, and, and I, I guess I didn't call him. Yeah, I remember calling you clearly. Yes. Um, but, uh, yeah, some room he was supposed to be in.

Somebody had a fallout and he got put with us

tyler: and I slept underneath him. God. Like, I remember when he was puking off the side of, I still remember this, like he was puking off the side of the bunk bed onto me. And I was like, Ben, what the fuck? He's like, I'm [00:35:00] sorry. No, what, what you said specifically tell me, I forgot

Moose: this asshole's pissing on me.

But then he was peeing on the bed. That was it. He pissed through the fucking bed. No, no,

tyler: no. He puked And you thought he was peeing. I thought it was, that was it. Yeah. God, that I just fucking Hell yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So good. Sorry Ben, you're catching straights here.

You, but you, um. You, I left Flagler after two years. I, I, for me, like, I felt like I wanted to push myself a little bit with writing and stuff. I thought I was gonna be more serious about it. And, you know, I went to the new school up in New York, came back up here. But you stayed and like you cultivated, helped cultivate this incredible community.

And I want to talk about, like, one of the things you did was start the single fin hoe down. Mm-hmm. Where did that come from? And, and it's like, it's so interesting [00:36:00] because I feel like you and Jeremy Dean were the only ones that would ride like single fins.

Moose: Yeah. I, uh, I mean I, I feel as if talking about forced narratives and whatnot Yeah.

And giving credit where credit's due and not co-opting other people's stories. Yeah. Uh, I was inspired by the Cosmic Creek Challenge at the time. Yeah. And, um, I was also at the time sponsored by the company that was called Free. Oh yes. Andy Davis. Yep. And, uh, I knew that hey, as opposed to getting a shot in ESM hosting a contest that they sponsored that their name was on, that was affiliated with the surf station and all of that was, you know, of value.

Yeah. And also during that era, there was like a contest almost every weekend. So it wasn't this. Big production thing Yeah. That you thought had to happen and waiting period and this and that. It was, you know, [00:37:00] like my analogy for it is yeah, there's people that play varsity sports and there's the state championship.

Yeah. But then there's also the neighborhood scrimmage. Mm-hmm. And or street ball here in New York, you know what I mean? And, and that was what I wanted it to be. It was just something that wasn't taken too serious, but was innovative. And yeah. I mean, I, I was equal friends with all the crazy short borderers in St.

Augustine and, you know, longboard people up and down the coast were my people. But I wanted to have something that kind of gave equal ground and broke down barriers and allowed us to have fun. It was awesome. Who won the first year? Jeremy Kreer. Jeremy Kreer? Yeah. Wow. For, for those that don't know Jeremy Kreer, uh, early Volcom guy.

Phenomenal surfer. Yeah. Um, some would say like, very good small wave surfer. Yeah. But I, I would have to, [00:38:00] you know, my memory is that he didn't like to fly. Mm-hmm. Which really got in the way of. His surf career progressing and whatnot. But yeah, he was an East coast legend and yeah, he borrowed a board, handed me a wadded up $20 bill and took home 200 bucks.

That's sick. And, uh, yeah, I can't think of a better person to win it.

tyler: And now this, that contest got picked up eventually, uh, and still runs to this day.

Moose: Yeah. Yeah. So the second year, I only did it for two years. Yeah. Um, first year was my, uh, senior college. Um, I kind of more or less thesis, right? Yeah. Like, this is event that I'm gonna do.

Um, and then we had a lot of fun. And then, uh, my college girlfriend at the time was, uh, a year younger than me, and I was waiting around hoping that she would move to California with me. She did not. But, uh, I was dead set on going to California. And, uh, so we had the contest and it was kind of a way for me to say bye [00:39:00] to friends and get people together.

And, um, yeah, Chris Ro was, I am guessing a 16-year-old, 15-year-old that was in it with his friends with Xander Morton. Mm-hmm. And a whole bunch of those guys. And, uh, yeah, he was there. And then several years later, he used to do, uh, several years later, maybe realistically four or five years later, he would do the Cinco de Mayo contest.

Yeah. Which was just like, you know, sombreros and ponchos and. Beers on the beach and you know, that's where the costume thing, 'cause we didn't do costumes like I was a soul daddy. I wasn't doing costumes. No. But, um, but yeah, it was, he, he hit me up and he said, Hey Moose, um, we wanna bring back the single fin hoe down.

Do we have your blessing? And I said, of course. Yeah. Let me know how I can help. He's like, cool. It's next week.

tyler: Like, oh, so

Moose: okay.

tyler: Someone told him like, Hey, you may wanna check with moose

Moose: on this, right? [00:40:00] Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, so, um, so yeah, he brought it back and he is kind of given it its own life and the similarities and differences.

It's cool, you know, it, it's, uh, it's gotten so much bigger of an audience Yeah. Than I could have ever given it at the time and, and whatnot. So it's cool. Well, it's super, it

tyler: was super forward thinking, you know, like at that time people weren't riding these boards as much.

Moose: I don't wanna overcomplicate it, you know, just, no.

But it was,

tyler: it was, it was like, there were lots of seeds being planted, you know, uh, not to quote the seedling, you know, but, uh, Thomas Campbell. But, you know, it's like. Those things help spur where we are today and what, what people are riding. And it's like kind of crazy, you know, like when we grew up, I mean shoots, man, you were kind of like longboard.

And there was obviously like a lot of the short borders would be like, ah, moose riding a log today. You know, [00:41:00] like that, that, that stupid attitude that I think a lot of young people have at times. And, you know, you, you had an open mind, you had a real open mind and I was curious like where that open mind for equipment came from.

Um, so besides necessity,

Moose: yeah. I mean, you know, I always feel like people who longboard, like I used to shortboard, but I started out shortboarding. Yeah. Like that's what I wanted to do. And um, but also coming from my skate background, there was just, you know, the John Cardell's, the Mark Gonzalez, the Naus Caucus.

There was this enigma that they had that i, I was really drawn towards. And I didn't really feel that until I saw Joel like footage and magazine, you know, featuring Joel Tudor. But, um, there was a neighbor that I had named John Douglas, uh, who ripped Yeah. He managed [00:42:00] the Fort Walton Interlight. And, um, he just was kind of this carefree guy.

And it's interesting because I'm sure I could figure out, but I don't know what our age difference is. Yeah. And when you're a kid, you know, four years is massive. Yeah. But I would guess that when I was 16, John Douglas was probably 25, I don't know. Mm-hmm. Um, but he had an amazing style ripped and that was like my version of Joel Tutter that happened to live a hundred yards from me.

Yeah. And uh, then, you know, when you spoke about pride in, in Pensacola, I think it was 95 or 96, we had three US champions in our town. Wow. Yancy Spencer, uh, Charlie Schueller. Yeah. And Joey Dillard. And uh, you know, when you, as far as representation, you know, you, you're at that age, you're looking, you're seeing, alright, I'm seeing something that's good, but in the global scale at [00:43:00] least I thought, well, how good is it?

Yeah. And to know that they were US champs was just All right. Well, it it was a roadmap. Yeah. And yeah, I mean I'm, you know, you get older, you still feel guilt sharing stories. Um. Jay Norris, Dana Hills used to get weed from John Douglas. Yes. And it was small summer days, and we would smoke weed and, uh, go long boarding.

And we had this, like, we'd get all Stony and we'd go d like and, uh, you know, do the Dick Dale surf guitar in our heads. And we just had so much fun and yeah, it was out of necessity. And then, um, yeah, I, I just, I, I kept to it and, and, you know, for that era of Shortboarding too, you know, lost was more influential to me and my friends mm-hmm.

Than, um, momentum was Yeah. Like what's really going on? What's really going [00:44:00] wrong? Five, five by 19 and a quarter on the road with Spike. Those videos, uh, really impacted us. Yeah. And they were surfing groves and experimental equipment and, uh, so that's what my Shortboard friends were riding out of necessity.

Yeah. Um, or functionality. Right. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, so that's kind of what started my idea of being open-minded to it. I had conventional short boards, but they just weren't as much fun for me and I couldn't afford to really have a quiver. Yeah. So I, if like that board took up a space that I could liquidate to get another board that I could surf more regularly.

Yeah. So, yeah, I guess I kind of abandoned in that manner.

tyler: Um. When you left Flagler, you know, I'm, I'm curious, like was it, did you have the intention of going to California and were you like, I'm gonna work in the surf industry, or was it something you just didn't know what you were gonna go out for? 'cause it, [00:45:00] it's interesting, like you've had this career that's been adjacent to surf, but not fully throated in the bro industry, you know?

Mm-hmm. And I'm curious like how intentional that was that, and what was your intention when you left the university?

Moose: Yeah. I, I wanted to figure out a way to travel to see the world, you know? And, um, I would say, I mean, and, and I like hearing what other people have to say as opposed to talking about myself, right?

Yeah. 'cause there's data in what you're perceived via talent or this, but it there, I gotta overwhelming sense from people that I was suited for the industry. Yeah. It's like, all right, that's somebody that could either be a rep or do something and, but I didn't want to stay in Florida. Yeah. I wanted to go west and, um.

There was something as simple as Thomas Campbell shooting the, um, ad campaigns for Nixon. [00:46:00] Mm-hmm. Uh, that, and he, having made seedling that I was like, okay, there's a company that values his surf skate point of view. And another example in my life where I put all my eggs in one basket, I saw that they had some jobs available.

Mm-hmm. And I wasn't going to apply for those jobs from Florida. I was going, going to move out there. Mm-hmm. And I was gonna get that job. And, um, you leave yourself vulnerable Yeah. When you put all your eggs in one basket. But I got the job at Nixon. And, um, that's kind of what started, I, I wanted to experience what having a career within surfing in an area that has waves and that culture and, and see what I could do in-house as opposed to a rep back

tyler: east.

Well, I feel like you keep saying, you put your, all your eggs in one basket, but I would say you, you just fucking committed. Mm. You know, you decided to paddle for that wave as opposed to hesitate or to wonder, is [00:47:00] there another wave behind it? Like, no, this is, I'm just gonna do this. And when you do that, like it forces you to make it happen.

I feel like for a lot of people,

Moose: I also think you could miss out on other opportunities. True. You know, that, that might be a. You know, to draw an analogy of if you're going to score this girl for, you know, whatever you're, you're who you're after. Yeah. Right. There could be somebody that's very interested in you, better suited mm-hmm.

Better that you're just overlooking. 'cause you gotta win. Right. You know, and, and, um, I'm not gonna live an alternate reality, but yeah. I, I try to stay open to opportunity more so now in, in life.

tyler: Well, it's, but it's, I think when you're young, that's kind of good though, to have that focus. It's good. Like, that's what you kind of need.

Yes. You, you can miss out on things, but sometimes when you know what you want, like, it's, it's good to have that, especially when you have that energy to put it somewhere. Like that's when you're older, like [00:48:00] your energy kinda diffuses a little bit, so you start to be like, oh, well there's other stuff around actually.

Yeah. I think where when you're young, you're just like, anxious and want to get started, I guess. Yeah.

Moose: Yeah. I guess when in mentoring younger people or having discussions, I just, I can sense that in somebody else. Mm-hmm. And I try to lend the insight that, hey, it's okay if it doesn't happen. Yeah. But just look at other possibilities and, um, I, it's not that I'm wanting you to lose.

Yeah. I want you to win, but I also, there's, there's not singular versions of what winning is.

tyler: Exactly. What was that experience like then for Nixon and then. You, you had this interesting career 'cause it was like Nixon, but then Thomas Campbell working with him, Michael, how band Chris Malloy, like icons. You know, I would say, you know, especially, I mean all gifted visual, uh, [00:49:00] visual artists.

Moose: Yeah. It's, uh, you know, try not to, it's disrespect, but try not to disrespect Nixon. Yeah. But it was 2002, 2003. And the environment then, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to travel. Yeah. So the idea of that was, all right, I would work in customer service, but I would focus on the outer US territories. Yeah. So the Caribbean, Canada, nice.

Which would lead to international sales, international business, which would get me on a plane. Yeah. Um, but my sales manager, the line was. You know how many resumes I have coming across my desk. Are you complaining about something because there is an army waiting hungry for your job. Damn. And that's a motivating factor and times evolve and things change.

But that was the environment. And you know, our hours were 8:00 AM to [00:50:00] 5:00 PM which you can't leave right at five. Yeah. You had to stay to six. And in the winter I wouldn't see daylight, you know, it was, um, in the summer, yeah, sun goes down later you could get waves. But here I was in this environment where I wasn't even surfing and you're seeing team members come in and this whole culture of like, you know, making them heroes and putting 'em on this pedestal and thing, and it's just like, alright, now I'm just kind of feel like a fanboy as opposed to a part of the culture.

Mm-hmm. And within that, um, I got to know Thomas, um, Andy Davis. I had known through our history and he advocated for me. And, um, you know, I've never really properly thanked Andy for that. He, um, you know, he lent me a lot of credibility and, and somebody that was ambitious that, you know, got the nod from a Joel tutor, Andy Davis, Thomas Campbell, uh, when the [00:51:00] Malloys went to start their own distribution of their films, uh, I was this young, ambitious guy that is like, all right, he's a worker.

Yeah. And, um, it was short-lived, you know, in the surf community, a lot of people look at that, and it was really only a year and a half of my life. And I don't mean to rest my laurels on that experience. Yeah. Um, it is a feather in the cap. It is an honor, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a snapshot.

Um, but yeah, Thomas was working on Sprout and the Malloys were working on what would be named broke down Melody. They had, um, thicker than water, September sessions. Um, shelter. Shelter. And then there was the seedling that was already, uh, hadn't been put on DVD and wasn't being really distributed through the us and then you had Sprout and broke down Melody.

So they had a catalog of six movies mm-hmm. Um, that were to be distributed for them. Direct to consumer [00:52:00] was direct to wholesale. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, so after a year of doing that, um, I, how many

tyler: calls did you have with Chris Darling at Surf Video Network? Well, I'll, I'll, I'll link that in.

Moose: So, um, what had happened was.

And I, I'd have to ask him, and I don't really, yeah. It, it, it doesn't mean much to me now. But we had taken on the distribution and they sold the distribution rights a, a year later. Wow. So it was almost like a flip. Mm-hmm. You know, they built up the equity, they owned everything. Right. And then, um, uh, action sports, video action sports.

VAS was backed by Waserman Media. Mm-hmm. And they sold it. So I was left without a job. And, um, there was a surf video network and video action sports had beef. Yes. And there was some gray market stuff going on, or I don't know, you know. Uh, so yeah. Yeah. Anyways, I, um, you know, I [00:53:00] was faced with the decision of, okay, do I look for a job in Ventura?

And there wasn't much industry there. Mm-hmm. I mean, that era was very ucky. Yes. You know, it was, there was Patagonia, but that, you know, I talk about eggs in one basket. There are people that move there and it's like, I am working for you. I will do whatever it takes. Yeah. And I didn't have that in me. And, and Thomas was, um, editing out here with the Diamond Brothers, and I, you know, was coming out here.

I was actually. You know, dating, um, a New Yorker that lived in London and, and, uh, New York was our meeting place, you know, she grew up here and her family was here. Yeah. And family. Her uncle actually gave me the nickname Moose. Uh, but yeah, New York was just, uh, I was, felt comfortable. And I remember Carla Malloy, like I, you know, I was sad.

Like I essentially got fired, you know? Yeah. And, and this company was dissolved and, and she said to [00:54:00] me, you know, and I was an emotional state, she said, we just all thought you'd go to New York. And that was cool to hear, you know, that was like, gave me that oomph and, uh, yeah, that's, that's kind of what pushed me out of the surf industry.

Probably the best thing ever

tyler: too. Yeah. It's, it's so funny when you grow up in these places that are far from the industry and you have this perception of it that, oh, I work for the surf industry. You'll be surfing all the time. We'll be bros and hanging out and, and then when you get closer, you're just like, Ugh.

Not all that enjoyable. Actually, in some ways, like, I'm not surfing as much.

Moose: Yeah. And I mean, I'll, I'll say it here and I should really say that to them individually, to Thomas and Chris and Car. That I was an ambitious little 25-year-old dickhead. I'm sure I rubbed them the wrong way, p plenty. And it wasn't, I was by no means a victim in it, [00:55:00] you know?

Yeah. It, it, it, uh, and the ugh of surf industry there. I mean, I think there's honor and all work. Yeah. You know, but it was just, uh, I don't know that experience at Nixon, I didn't look to climb the corporate ladder of, within the surf industry. Yeah. You know, it, and it also was like very west coast centric and that never really felt like home to me.

Yeah. You know, it was just like, okay, I can fit in here. Yeah. But it's

tyler: not home. Yeah. How did you get connected then with Mr. Hal's band?

Moose: So, uh, we were touring Sprout, so, uh. Basically, Thomas had this vision of an east and west coast tour, um, which was really, I mean, pre-social media. Yeah. So it was, it was humiliating, gut wrenching, humbling to go to a town.

And, uh, I would go to the local Kinkos and print out the flyers, cut 'em in half, and stand on near [00:56:00] whatever the boardwalks were and Dam Malloy myself, we would hand out flyers. Wow. And till this day, whenever there's somebody on a corner handing out a flyer, always take it because I've been that person that people just like will say the most insulting things to you.

Yeah. And you're just trying to do your job. Yeah. Um, but uh, as we determined the tour, uh, Thomas had premiered the ceiling with Michael in New York, I believe, at the anthology archive. Yep. And, um, so he had an experience with Michael, and I didn't know it at the time, but Michael was working on surf book with Joel and he put us in touch.

And then, um, converse was a sponsor for the film and Michael will tell you the story. Yeah. But, uh, he wanted Converse to pay for the printing of t-shirts for surf movie night at, in East Hampton. Yeah, I remember that movie Premiere. And there was, we had, [00:57:00] we were, I was. Learning and working with the contract, I guess limitations with Converse and we couldn't do it.

And, and people think, okay, big company, right. But there's budgets assigned to different things and just because they can afford it doesn't mean I have access to that budget. Exactly. And Michael was really pushing hard for Converse to pay for the T-shirts. And later I learned that like, look, Michael and I are somebody that, a short conversation for us is 30 minutes, and we're, we're usually in the hour to an hour and a half territory.

Easily. Yeah. And he was just f comfortable with me and he was kind of working to, and I had no power to make that happen. So finally, you know, I said to him, I said, dude, you're kind of being rude. And he, and here I am, 25 years old, he's, you know, in his early to mid forties and he said, you know what, fuck you.

And you know, I stood my ground, you know, and, and, um, [00:58:00] there was awkwardness when we saw each other, but, you know, that conflict and really how I processed it and didn't try to cancel him or talk shit on him or whatever. Yeah. It's just like, Hey dude, like respect to you and I'm gonna stand my ground. Yeah.

Like, you're not gonna push me around. You're not. And he probably wasn't. I was just being overly sensitive. Yeah. But, um, but yeah, that's how I met Michael. That's hilarious. And, and then. And that next year, um, when I moved to New York, he was releasing surf book and uh, I knew all the shops, like yeah. I knew like everybody that wanted the, the artsy film.

Mm-hmm. Whatever. I knew the managers, I knew the distribution channel. Yeah. And it was just, Hey, yeah dude, let's do this. Like I'll, I'll help you, um, you know, distribute it and get it into the right shops. And, uh, then I took on a job at, with a fashion company, whatever, and had a job that I'd have for four years after that.

But yeah, there was a, a moment of working with Michael. [00:59:00] It was

tyler: great. 'cause I remember then getting a phone call from you randomly at my dad's shop, and you're like,

Moose: what's up motherfucker? It's like, who the fuck is this? You're like, it's moose. And I was like, oh my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's, there's still people that that, uh, experience the what's up motherfucker version of me.

But yeah. That, that's true. Yeah.

tyler: But it was, it was really cool. And you're like, I'm in New York. I'm like, oh shit, here we go. Now I gotta move. But yeah, yeah. Fully, nah, it was, it was hilarious. But it was like really cool. And then to see you kind of, you know, kind of get into the whole scene here and get to know everyone and it was just like, it was really cool to see like, you become a New Yorker in a sense, you know?

I thoroughly enjoyed that. Um. I wanna ask, like you used to be very [01:00:00] rambunctious when you were young. There was a lot of energy, um, like you said, could be borderline obnoxious at times. As, as we all can be when we're young. I'm, I'm, I'm as, as guilty as it is, as any, but we all experienced things that kind of helped change that.

And I'm curious for you, like what helped you calm down? Mellow. Mellow me? Yeah. Like, we'll, we'll, we'll, self-actualize, you're very, you're super self-aware of person, you know now, like you're very aware of things that you do and you're also, again, like I, like we talked at the beginning, like you're very thoughtful and, and I was curious like, were there any experiences or people that helped to manage that?

Like, help you kind of realize those things and to kind of, uh, grow?

Moose: Yeah. I mean, it, it's pretty simple in that in hindsight, I see it's choice versus necessity. Yeah. Right. Um, [01:01:00] I surf a longboard because that's my choice. Yeah. That's what I love. And I choose not to invest my time in shortboarding. Yeah. Um, I live in New York because I tried it and I love it.

Yeah. I do things that I, I go experience it and I listen to myself as far as. Am I doing this because I'm forced to do it or I'm doing it because I love it? Is it, is it a choice or a necessity? And, um, I mean, part of that honestly was, um, living in New York City and my mid to late twenties and being single and being the guy that, you know, was a late bloomer and the high, the prom queens weren't interested in and blah, blah, blah, blah.

And you come to a city where you're surrounded by beautiful people for me, beautiful women, that it's just like, okay, I am dating, it's overwhelming way outta my league right now. And, um, you know, it's like, okay, well I want these things in life out of choice. And [01:02:00] yeah, I mean with that it's um, you know, finding a partner, choosing, you know, having the experience to choose somebody that fits you well and you get along with and you're willing to retire the, you know, whatever the bachelorhood and, and yeah, I don't know that it's, it's just experiencing life because, um, you know, as we are in our middle age, you see people that go through midlife crisis and I kind of look and say, were you ever young?

Yeah. Like, did you ever, you know, are you trying to recreate your youth? Are you trying to, I don't know, like what did, and generally I find that it's people that were. Locked into relationships when they were young. Yeah. And didn't get to be young and want to feel what that feels like. I'm lucky that I felt that.

So life experience really.

tyler: And your wife, I

Moose: assume. Yeah. No, she's awesome.

tyler: I'm waiting for you. I'm, I'm, I teed it up for you to give her a [01:03:00] wonderful compliment. You just with that No, no, no. She knows me well enough. She's heard

Moose: the What's up motherfucker version of me. Like, you know, it's, it's, yes. I mean, she's amazing and, you know, meeting a partner and what I'll say briefly on that was, you know, I, I go through things that I look at really anthropologically, you know, and, and some people might think of it as being judgemental, but it's just happens in a flash.

Yeah. Like a picture's worth a thousand words. It comes in an instant to me. And, um, what I experienced in my late twenties was there's this element of, within New York culture, that you have single women who are in their late twenties, early thirties who, um, they're interested in you. And it's no longer necessarily fun.

It's like, well, why am I investing time in you? Like, what are we gonna go any further than this? Mm-hmm. But then there's also the, you know, what I call the lizards that regenerates its tale of the [01:04:00] hottest, you know, 23 year olds moving into New York, male, female, whatever. Yeah. And, um, there was, having experienced that, there was that energy of that that's just like, uh, you know.

It, it was a lot. And then there was the constant questioning and um, you know, with Jane, it, uh, she's six years my senior and I met somebody who was very confident in themselves Yeah. That didn't want to talk about work. It's like, yeah, work isn't my identity and these are the things that make me happy, and you're actually one of them.

Oh. And it was like really, like liberating and gratifying to experience that. And, uh, yeah, I don't know. That's, that's kind of, and I mean, there's shared experience, right? Yeah. She's a Latina, she grew up in Florida and she loves New York City. So those boom three things with an experience, and then there's the life that we've built together over the last 16 years.

But yeah.

tyler: Yeah. It's, it's, it's amazing what a good [01:05:00] partner can do to turn you around and just make you feel at ease with yourself a little bit more at times. Like giving you permission to be yourself as opposed to feeling this need to be a front or to have put a certain image out there. Yeah. Uh, it, it, I've I've found marriage to be really enlightening in that way and, and just, God, obviously, I, I hope it's made me a better person.

I think it has.

Moose: Yeah. And I mean, again. For me not to over romanticize it. It's like marriages take a lot of work. Yeah. And when you have two strong-willed people, like she knows me better than anyone. She's seen the dark side of me. The bright side of me. Yeah. The and uh, yeah. I mean, I, I just, it's not all roses, you know?

I, and I, I, I want to give that reality to young people that think it's gonna be this walk in the park. It, it's awesome. But it takes work. A lot of work.

tyler: Yeah. A lot of your own self work. And particularly for men, I think we have a lot of work to do. 'cause it, it we [01:06:00] develop later. Yeah. You know, we mature later and, yeah.

No, it's, it's dude, I mean, putting in ton of time, learning how to communicate what your needs are is really hard. Yeah.

Moose: And then when I put in more, she's gotta deal with my bullshit

tyler: more

Moose: so than I gotta deal with her. So don't seriously.

tyler: I know. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get to East Coast special. Cool. I mean, this fucking podcast makes me so angry.

'cause I love it so much. And you're so good at it. Like, you know, it's interesting, like we talked over the last few years of, of you wanting to do a podcast and it's, I love how much thought you've put into it. Like, I've watched this evolution because when we first started talking, it was one thing and it's evolved into something that was, I think, bigger scope actually.

But it's still properly niche, you know? And I love how you've just put detail into it and the concept. I'm curious, like what was your planning journey like? [01:07:00] Like from where and what, what started this journey for you in doing it?

Moose: There's several contributing factors, um, being, so with COVID, being in Rhode Island, we have a home in Rhode Island.

Mm-hmm. We've had it for the last 10 years. And, um, trying to explain to somebody there what a creative director is or what a strategist, creative strategist is, or a creative producer or all of those things just seems esoteric. Yeah. And, um, but a lot of what I work on is, you know, I can't share 'cause it's proprietary in nature.

Yeah. So I wanted to create something that was an external expression of my thought process and my storytelling ability. Um, and with that, you know, there, you know, it's, I, I am a huge basketball fan, and when somebody says something like [01:08:00] in a surprise manner, Candace Parker said to Shaq, knock that surprise out of your mouth.

You know, so it's when somebody's like, wow, this is really good. And it's like, not that surprise outta your mouth, you know, but I just wanted to have an external expression of what I do or how I think. And, um. Back to the Nixon days. I remember going to my sales manager and kind of oversharing what I was doing, and now realizing that maybe that was a bit of a trauma response and that, you know, it seemed, it came off as I wasn't confident in what I was doing.

Mm-hmm. What he wanted to know is like, you got this, I don't need to worry about you. Right. And if I make my own thing, I can make my own rules. And you and Lauren Hill are two people that I really leaned on to say, all right, hey, you know, maybe I approached it with humility, which might've come off as, Hey, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing and I'm trying, but I really just wanted to have a [01:09:00] community.

Yeah. Because, um, when I started my company, we did a lot of events and we did a lot of content creation and a lot of heavy lifting, but then it evolved into, you know, what's in between my two ears, you know? Yeah. And concept and strategy and point of views, and, and so it's very internal and it's even more internal during COVID, and it's even more internal when you're in the middle of the woods near the beach in Rhode Island.

Yes. And your social circle just thinks you're bullshitting. Like, and, uh, so yeah, I, I, I like the idea that a, I could reach out and have these conversations, but then also have conversations from people from my past. And, um, yeah, I, I, I pulled inspiration, um. You know, to credit different things. Like I pulled different pieces of different, there's, uh, a podcast called Beyond Boards.

It's for skateboarding. Yeah. The whole podcast is about external questions. Um, and I was really inspired by, um, Bo [01:10:00] Burnham's inside, uh, which it was a, he's a comedian, but he's brilliant. Yeah. He did the whole piece. It's called Inside. It's on Netflix. Yeah. If, if anybody wants to watch it. That, um, it just amazed me that he did that all by himself.

And then I also kind of tried to, I always try to poke holes in things to see what the truth is, and it's like, yeah, it was the little guest house next to his big house, and he got things delivered via Amazon and whatnot. But then, um, in hindsight, uh, before I started releasing episodes, um, I'm very close friends with Trace Marshall.

Mm-hmm. And, and Malibu, who's a genius. And, and, uh, he told me, he said to me, uh, you're like the Nathan Fielder of surfing. And I, I, and I'll, I'll be honest with my own ignorance, I had no, I, I, I had seen, um, you know, his special being promoted on, on uh, you know, Instagram or different socials. Yeah. And I sat down and watched it not knowing [01:11:00] anything about the concept.

And when it unfolded, I don't wanna ruin it. For the listeners who haven't seen it, it was just like, give me more like his. Flow charts. Yeah. And the concept and everything was just like, I experienced like happiness and euphoria with it. And, um, yeah. It's, it's called rehearsal. Yes. Uh, but yeah, I, I just, I, you know, so in hindsight there's a little bit of that and, um, yeah, I, I just wanted to have creative freedom on something that I could do for myself and make the rules and make it what I wanted to make it what I love, like

tyler: a couple things, like technically like one, you have a very good podcast voice, a radio voice.

Thank you. No, it's, it's like, it's very soft. It's calming. You're great at listening. One thing I noticed is like, you're great at getting out of the way for your guests. And one thing I was curious, like I, I don't know if you're the way you're editing or not, but it's [01:12:00] like beautifully uninterrupted. Like, you ask this question and they just go and I don't know actually if you're editing out like the Uhhuh s and you know, kind of in between, but it's just so perfectly quiet, but so succinct and I really appreciate, 'cause you can focus on your guests where I tend to interject a lot, you know, so it, it, it's a different style, but I, I, I really enjoyed it.

'cause it feels

Moose: meditative. Thank you. Yeah. I, um, something that in listening to other podcasts. The host when, what I notice when they interject themselves, because they're always there. They're the constant. Yeah. You start to hear the same stories over and over again. Oh, totally. Which in some cases comes off as self-affirmation or the need for validation.

And, um, I was just very conscious of that. And, um, you know, when I asked questions, uh, admittedly I have shared experience with [01:13:00] everybody I've interviewed so far. My idea was to start it with people that would trust my concept or trust my point of view. Um, and now we're getting into the place. Mikey de Temple was actually the first episode where he had listened to episodes mm-hmm.

Before his episode. And I think you can hear that in the quality of our conversation because a lot of people have reached out and said, oh, you know, when are you doing me? Yeah. Yeah. And, um, so yeah, I also, knowing the history, I like to allow the space to, uh, you know, either celebrate, uh. Uh, communicate remorse.

It's just, I want it to be about what that person uses, that platform and that opportunity to, to do. And sometimes I know a different version of the question that I'm asking based off the research that I've done. Mm-hmm. And it's that person's opportunity to tell their side of the story. And I, I'm, I keep all that really to myself.

It's [01:14:00] not to have a gotcha moment, it's just to have an honest moment. Yeah. So, no, it's,

tyler: it's really nice. And what also I really appreciate is you traveled for all these interviews. Like you didn't just, you know, like sometimes we, uh, do it digitally. Like, you went to California, you went to Florida. Were, was that like you traveled just for the podcast or were there other, uh, aspects for it as well?

Mostly for the podcast. That's fucking awesome. Yeah. That's commitment.

Moose: Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Serious. If I was gonna make the rules, I, you know, I, we like, like, I don't know how many years it's been since we've seen each other. And I, and as you get older, you go decades, you, it, it maybe five years, you know? And I, I just really had this thing where I felt like I was connected to people with their life via social media.

I mean, there's people that know what my wife looked like, but they've never met her. Yeah. They know her name. They've never met her. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I know that I've, uh, Brent Russell, I went down there and I've never met his son. And I [01:15:00] think his son's like eight or 10 years old, you know? And, and so I really wanted the purpose of it to be as a means to go out and s.

Get together with friends face to face. Yeah. I mean, I don't have the budget to go meet up with Ashton Goggins in Hawaii or Laurn Hill, not yet in Australia. So we're doing it via Zoom and whatnot. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it, it, it's, you know, in theory when I do my Mid-Atlantic, um, interviews, it's gonna be timed around a swell and or a wave pool now.

Yeah, true. Yeah. In Virginia. Yeah. That just

tyler: opened, so, you know, yeah, it's, um, I really appreciate that because it, you know, you can tell like when you're in person, like there's definitely something else going on as op, you know, there's a lot more body language that you can feed off of. And it is also a comfort level, especially, I, I mean this is great in the studio and I love this, but there's definitely something about like, being on the couch or being somewhere comfortable [01:16:00] and you can get people to open up really easily sometimes or put them at ease.

What, like, what did you study in terms of other podcasts? How people ask questions, you know, who are, who are the influencers? I know you mentioned a couple before, like Bill Byrne, but like who were some people you looked towards that kind of, you wanted to kind of bring certain elements or flavors in there?

Moose: Uh, Zach Lowe from, uh, the, he formerly of the Low post on ESPN, um, I think, I forget what his new one's called. 'cause he got let go from ESPN. He is down the ringer, but I am, I Devour basketball podcast. Yeah. And the cool thing about basketball podcast is that, um, the players are NBA, or I'm sorry, the players are media trained.

Yeah. So now for them to start podcasts, being from the culture, what's your favorite ice cream? Rocky Road? No. The correct way to answer that is my [01:17:00] favorite ice cream is Rocky Road. Right. And they're media trained. Yeah. So they're very natural and very good at podcasting. And um, you know, it's also a moving target, right?

It, it's, uh, there's new things going on. There's that and yeah. Um, Zach Low, Brian Windhorst, Tim McMahon, Tim Bon temps, they'll never hear this. You know, you never know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean they, I that's really it. One of them might surf in New York. Yeah. But we don't know about, nah. Leonard ate a lot of npr. RA lot of

tyler: WNYC.

Oh, I Ms. Leonard ate. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he got canceled. That was a shame. Yeah. Yeah, they're, um, Brian Lehrer was still, still one of my favorites. Yeah.

Moose: There's a lot of Enrique from Manhattan with the question, because if I said moose, I know it wasn't

tyler: gonna get

Moose: through. Yeah.

tyler: Well, what I really enjoy actually about your podcast, like listeners, he does this thing where.

One, like I appreciate the research you put into your interviews. Like you're just not just reading, you're calling around their friends and [01:18:00] people that know them too to get information. And then you record a lot of questions from people who know them and ask them questions. And I love that you play that and it's, it's got a little, this is your life kind of element to it.

But also it's something that I think allows them to feel a little comfort, more comfortable. And I'm curious, like that element, how, how has that been going? 'cause it must not be easy always to get the people for that.

Moose: Yeah. The,

tyler: and discuss like what your intention was. Yeah. The primary

Moose: intention of that was honesty.

tyler: Yeah.

Moose: Right. Because people can overdramatize their past, but with, when you have a voice that comes from that place in your life mm-hmm. You immediately, I, my intention was immediately like, I have to be truthful. Yeah. Right. So I could tell people that I was this, you know, soul daddy tortured artist going through college, but you're like, no, that dude was a horn ball.

Yeah. You know? And that's, I have to be honest, you know, [01:19:00] so there's that. But then there's also, you know, the intention of, I wanted this, this is gonna be a finite podcast. Yeah. Right. That I have a, a, I have an end in sight. Mm-hmm. And I want it to be something on the digital shelf that. You know, selfishly, the 17-year-old version myself that's putting all his eggs in one basket, listens to it and says, this is how these 30 people made it happen.

Right. And even their parents can listen to it and say, wow, okay, this is a route, this is, you know, hindsight. And, um, yeah, I wanted there to be voices connected to the people that meant something to them. I can ask the same question. Yeah. But I wanted them to hear that and connect with that. Um,

tyler: I really wanna learn, like, I wanna know like what you've learned in this process of making the podcast.

What, what surprised you? Uh, what going into it, did you have an idea and what coming [01:20:00] out has been different or, or the same even?

Moose: There's been a lot of great things. I mean, I think an affirming thing is hearing other people's memories of, of moments that you felt might have been more important to you or, or, and, you know, in a spectrum way more important to you that was impactful to them.

Um, that, you know, our youth did really mean something, you know, that it, there, there were formative moments. Um, and then there's also, you know, various conflict, right? That there's listening to people process conflict and, and the, the full spectrum of it. You know, there's, um, you know, people that reference the Marshall Brothers in it.

And how mean they were to them. Yeah. So I call up the marshals and say, Hey, do you remember this? And like, who, what? So it's like, okay, this means something to somebody. And they don't even remember that instance. Yeah. And then [01:21:00] various people's recollection of things. And you know, I, I myself, uh, you know, think with cancel culture, it's just people need to learn how to work through conflict.

Yeah. Because even with Michael Hausman, he said, fuck you to me. And now he's one of like, yeah. Somebody that is so insanely important to me. You

tyler: know, someone could put Tabasco sauce on someone's, uh, you know, uh, makeshift, uh, saxophone on the read and then ask 'em to play it. I mean, and, and now they can be friends.

I forgot I did that. I'm sorry. See, I'm sorry. Listeners. When we were, I had this thing, it was like this little bamboo saxophone, flute thing, and I used to play sax or whatever, and I was like, oh, maybe I'll try getting back into it. And I come into the room, you and all the boys are hanging, and they like, Todd, play us to sax, man, play us.

And I'm like, okay. And like, I'm like, oh, why are my lips burning? And [01:22:00] then you all are laughing. It was fucking hilarious.

Moose: So, well, you know, to that, so good. So good though. To that point. I mean, as before we get into stories, like, I honestly want to, did I ever make you feel unsafe?

tyler: No, not unsafe. No. Never unsafe.

I mean, I was like, double your size, like, never felt unsafe. You know, I think, I think both of us had, uh, like a, like a competitive tension between us. Mm-hmm. You know, uh, at that time. And I think, uh, that probably, you know, manifested in different ways and different behaviors, you know? Mm-hmm. I think, uh, we both were, had some insecurities to work through, you know?

Uh, I was, I definitely, I mean, shit still working through 'em, but, you know, it's like,

Moose: yeah, because, you know, as I collected stories or memories or things, you know, I was telling. My wife. That's like, I did shit that I could have got kicked outta school for a current date. Yeah.

tyler: 1000%. Dude, [01:23:00] I almost got kicked out of school because, uh, you guys were drinking in the room and I just walked in and got busted at the wrong time.

I wasn't there. I Oh, uh,

Moose: no you weren't. Fuck,

tyler: I forgot

Moose: I was surfing Panama City. So lucky with Gabe

tyler: Kling listeners. I walked into our room and they were all having beers, and I just walked in and said, Hey guys. And the RA walked in right after, and then I got in trouble. I had to go in front of the, the student court, which really was weird.

And then I had to have a talk with the, the president and he, he uses this example, well, what if they were u doing cocaine? Why wouldn't you tell on them? And I was like, you don't tell on your friends. Yeah. Oh, it was so weird. Yeah. I had such a weird conversation with the President Flagler.

Moose: Yeah. There was.

So the way I described Flagler to people is that, um, in New York specifically, there's a bit of Cooper Union where, I don't know if it's still this way, but if you get accepted, it's free. Right? Yeah. Whereas. Uh, [01:24:00] at the time, Flagler and may still be, Flagler was relatively hard to get into, and once you got in, it was relatively affordable for the education that you received.

Um, but it was, you know, a very short year. So it started in mid-September. Mm-hmm. Um, let out in mid-April, but there was a very strict attendance policy. Yeah. All freshmen had to live on campus, and then post freshman year you could live off campus, which is cool because it gave everybody that college experience community.

Yeah. But there was like a lot of strict rules and, and for me, coming from a Catholic school, I was just like, all right, I know how to get around this. I know how to navigate this. And we had a phenomenal dorm. 'cause we were right by the entrance where we could sneak in girls, sneak in beard, do all of that.

But we

tyler: were on the first floor, you could go in and outta the window too, you know? Yeah. Like it was, I had so much to learn.

Moose: Oh. And when I say sneak in girls, uh, that it wasn't, they were, they weren't co Yeah,

tyler: it was, it was separated women. Yeah. Yeah. It [01:25:00] wasn't

Moose: co-ed. The girls had their dorms, the boys had their dorms and that was that.

tyler: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, some great scandalous stories, man. Yeah. Yeah. God, I remember back to the podcast though. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. No. Um. The other thing I noticed in your podcast, um, you know, through the episodes I've listened to, there's, there's a through line that I've picked up on and there's a sense of mentorship that seems to come through in all of the stories and whether it's like Leah Dawson, you know, sleeping on the couch for like a month, or, you know, Mikey to Temple, you know, having numerous influences there from Takayama to Robert August and, and like even Tori, you know, like, and I'm curious, like, who were your mentors?

Who were the people that helped influence you, you, uh, as you've, you know, gotten older and like your career professionally, emotionally, you know, [01:26:00] who are the people you, you would say helped influence you?

Moose: Yeah. Not, I, I want to give respect, but also not get into the weeds. Um. But Jim Whitehouse, uh, was the business side of Free.

Yeah. And, um, we've lost a bit of touch. We we're connected through, you know, some social media channels, but, uh, he was a guy that was very supportive of me while living in Florida and moving out to California. And he and his wife, uh, you know, I, things like I dog sat for them when they traveled, which gave me a nice house and a home.

And he, um, he also managed, uh, Joel Tudor Surfboards at the time. Um, and then, uh, Chris Christensen is a, somebody I've had a strong friendship with, and there was a six year age difference between us, which when I was younger was like, you know, seemed like the world of difference. Yeah. Like he's an adult.

Yeah. But, um, you know, he, he is somebody, you know, it's hard because there's friendships that, again, that were more random verse [01:27:00] engineered and people see this shaping star and he was just my friend, you know? Yeah. That, that, yeah. People kind of knew his boards, but he wasn't anything special.

tyler: I remember like when I bought for my dad's shop, even, you know, we'd see the Christian like, oh, what are the, and when he was doing high performance short boards mm-hmm.

And when he started to evolve past that, that's when he really blossomed, I think.

Moose: Yeah. Um, so in the first episode, yeah. Um, something that I, yeah. I don't say gif, but part of the episode is that whoever the interviewee is, they get to choose an advertisement that I put at the beginning of it. Mm. They get to support something.

So for that episode, I chose Christensen and the reason, the way I got to meet him was his, uh, college best friend in college, Eric Henderson, uh, was from Jacksonville. Mm-hmm. And Chris [01:28:00] had the curiosity of going to Jacksonville after his freshman year of college to live and work there and, and be there.

He wanted to experience something different. And um, Eric had known me, Eric after college, moved back to Florida and he told Chris like, moose is somebody that you should get on your boards and, and do that. I, I very vividly remember the conversation, every detail of it. John Comey's house on 14th Street being in the kitchen, the, you know, there's a phone in the graphics, which is those, um, uh, VTECH phones.

Yeah. We had a red vtech phone that I called and uh, I called him back 'cause I got the answering machine message. Yeah. And he said, look, Eric said great things about you. I know we've met and um, I'd really love for you to get some boards and, um. Yeah. I mean, so he's been a mentor for me. Like everything, you know, there, there are times where, you know, when that age gap shrinks [01:29:00] and it's like, all right, I don't need you to be my big brother right now.

Yeah. Like, you could just listen, like I can teach you something too, man. Um, and then, you know, going beyond that, um, Neil Mar, uh, with someone, somebody, I, I believe he's a high up at, uh, Ralph Lauren now, but when I worked for Rogan Loom Stated Fashion Company, he was a brilliant mind that taught me a lot in the time that he was there.

And then, um, Ben Diet's advice, uh, he was their SVP biggest tire. You can have a business development, but he really showed me what it was like to be creative and business-minded. Mm. Like being creative wasn't necessarily a campaign or something. It was your approach to strategy and Yeah. And, and that really, uh, left an imprint on me.

And, um, yeah. I mean, those are people, I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody, and I'm sorry, but they, those are, you know, what, immediately come to mind,

tyler: what have you learned in

Moose: the

tyler: process

Moose: of making this podcast? [01:30:00] Uh, you know, it. With giving it context. It's, it sounds selfish, but it it's what I want to do. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And, and part of the reason that I did it, there was influence through, um, there's a podcast that TJ writings does called Linac. Longboarding is Not a Crime. And while listening to that, I thought, all right, if he ever makes it over to the East Coast, it might be, it will be Justin Quintal and Mikey De Temple, maybe Steven Slater.

Yeah. And, um, you know, so it's just like the way media exists now, it's like, what's stopping me? Yeah. You know, the idea of, all right, to make a magazine, you gotta print, you gotta advertise, you gotta get distribution, all of that. It's like, all of this is in the, in our pocket right now if you want it to be.

So, um, but there are people that, that have reached out to me. It's like, you need to cover this person. You need to cover that person. And hating really talking about myself, I didn't really [01:31:00] lay out my intention or the criteria of it. And, um, yeah. It, it was just like, look, if, if you wanna celebrate those people, these are essentially people that are, were meaningful in the formation of my life Yeah.

And my friends' lives, and who I have curiosity

tyler: towards. Yeah. It, it is funny, like, as a podcast host, like, yeah, oh, you need to do this person, you need to do that person. You're like, for me at least, like, uh, this is a selfish endeavor. Mm-hmm. Like, I don't, like Yeah. There's an op, there's, there are. Benefits to documenting everyone, but this is me purely indulging in my passion and what I love to do.

And I'm always like, well, if you wanna do it, you can do it. You know, like, and I'll even host it on my podcast, like, I'll, you could do the interview. Like, I, I'm very encouraging of that, but it always is like, it is funny, like when everyone's telling you and you're just like, yeah, maybe,

Moose: you know, I'm, I'm

tyler: interested

Moose: in this thing

tyler: now.

You know,

Moose: and you know, the, the point of the external questions, [01:32:00] right. That's the big, the most work. Yeah. It's hounding people to get the questions in. But something I I wanna apologize for is that you had interviewed me previously five years ago. Yeah. You took the time and I asked you not to run it, not because of anything controversial.

I was just like, that was two friends, um, you know, connecting. Yeah. And it, to me it felt self-important. Yeah. And, um, you know, I didn't wanna celebrate myself without anything to talk about, you know? Yeah. So I, you, you killed it. You know, you, I don't know how far, if you even started editing it or whatnot, I probably

tyler: have it sitting there somewhere, you know?

Moose: Yeah. I mean, but um, you know, so there is, you know, the idea that I, I wanted something I didn't, culturally, I feel that there's this generational change in etiquette when it comes to self-promotion. Yeah. And, um, now you have the power to self-promote yourself. It's much more accessible. [01:33:00] But where I was from was that if somebody chose to point their camera at you is because you had the talent.

Yeah. And it was their choice to include you less than it was advocating for yourself. And, um, a fucking man preach it, brother.

tyler: Yeah. I mean, that, that's, you know, it's, it's true. Like, I, I find it so cringey and weird, uh, having to do self-promotion. Like, I started my own company this summer and I had to fucking do a video where I talked into my fucking phone promoting my product for LinkedIn.

And it's like, I hated every moment of that. You know, like even though I'm a good salesperson and I could promote other people, no problem. But when it comes to myself, it's such an uncomfortable thing because of how we grew up in surfing. Particularly like you didn't talk about yourself. You, you play it cool almost.

And wait for someone to notice as [01:34:00] opposed to, look at me, I did this. You

Moose: know? Yeah. And, and that's something also the other side of it that I've learned in these conversations is that I have friends who were phenomenally talented. Yeah. US champions that rested on talent alone. Mm. And they didn't get as far as some people with less talent and it.

Like great marketing abilities. Yeah. And at the end of the day, you know, I, I regret a lot of ageism in hindsight, you know, when I, the way I perceived Tory, who was 20 years, my senior when I was 19, and he was 39, and I thought he didn't know what the fuck was up and was going on. You know, now, now that I'm older than him, it's just like, wow, that was ignorant.

Yeah. Like, that was straight up ignorance towards ageism. Um, where I still feel that way about my dad though. Yeah. When I work

tyler: in the store, but whatever. Yeah. Yeah.

Moose: But, uh, but yeah, with, um, you know, in regards to, I look at his, all right, well, [01:35:00] the kid that's learning how to do edits on their phone and, and technology, they, they're probably gonna be a phenomenal marketer.

Yeah. But then I see the middle aged people promoting themselves and it, for me, this is unfair, but it's akin to a midlife crisis. Yeah. Like, it's like, why, why do you need that validation? Is it because nobody celebrated you in that era? Or, you know, and it's really, there are no rules. Yeah. And, and that's probably my own ageism and ignorance or whatever, and it doesn't really fucking matter.

But that's how I feel. And, and, and I have to work on contextualizing that for myself.

tyler: It's, it is interesting, like, I always have to remind myself it's a different generation. They have different value sets than we do, and, and that's okay. 'cause we had different value sets than some of the older people.

Mm-hmm. You know, and. You know, and, and in one way it's benefiting many of them. They're able to make a living just promoting what they're doing, which is, you know, wonderful if you, they're happy, um, good on [01:36:00] them, you know, who am I to say? But it is like such, um, it's such a mental block for me. Mm-hmm. I, I find, uh, because it's like, oh, I don't wanna put myself out there in that way.

Like, I can ask people questions, but I hate being like, about myself. And I think you feel that same way. And that's why like that podcast you didn't want to air because it's like that, that, that, that kind of mental block

Moose: for you. Yeah. Yeah. You know, uh, John Brooks, who I have history with, he invited me on his podcast and my answer was, dude, let me get a whole season under my belt.

Mm-hmm. Before we even entertain that. And it was, his response was, no, people know you far and wide. And I was just like, I, I feel as if I have to commit to the culture mm-hmm. The podcast culture to show that I have consistency in things before I even allow myself into that space. Yeah. And, um. It's funny, but John never asked me to be on the podcast.

Oh, shoot. Kidding. [01:37:00] But, uh, yeah, I mean, there, that's, I don't know, there's some core Lord stuff to that. I'm sure there's its own love show, you know? No,

tyler: well, no, Kevin and I are, I mean, I've hosted the show with them. Oh, I just refer to Cor Lord is

Moose: the term not even the show. Yeah. No, no, no, no. I

tyler: mean on, on the, the Florida Surf Film Festival podcast.

Gotcha.

Moose: Yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I, it's, that's something that I, I carry with me and I, and I apply it to the approach of, of what I do, you know?

tyler: So, uh, I have to ask you, I'm gonna turn the roles on you mm-hmm. And reverse the roles on you and ask these final questions.

Moose: Okay.

tyler: Who, who's your Huda guy? So, so Moose at the end of his podcast, sorry, spoiler, but he ask these questions of his listeners, which I love.

And you know, it's funny, I used to do something like that. I would do the, um, inside the actor studio type of questions. But I love that you've added this element and I think it's [01:38:00] great. 'cause it's all the. Again, I, I, the, the podcast is so great because I, as an east coast surfer grew up reading ESM and also Longboard Magazine.

And like you said, when you described it to me as the love child of those two things, it was wonderful because we all had these collective memories from those magazines. And I love that you brought that back into this. So it brings up all this nostalgia. So who is your who to guy?

Moose: So I'm doing an interview with Brent and Brandon Russell.

Um, they're gonna be episode eight and nine. And, um, there's moments in life where if you don't know who somebody is, that's on you, that's not on them. Mm-hmm. And they're very understated. Not self-promoting, but if you're. A Florida surfer. Yeah, an East coast surfer. A long borderer. And you don't know who they are [01:39:00] that's on you.

So Brent and Brandon Russell, collectively between the two of them have three us three US championships, I'm sure. Multiple East Coast championships. Uh, Brent Russell, uh, had, is one of the few that had a takayama longboard model and a Takayama fish model. Yeah. And, um, but he doesn't self-promote. So the, the Russell brothers and, and Tim and Brendan Russell, their parents who allowed me to crash on their couch, allowed my friends to crash on their couch.

That, that Russell family are, is my who to guy. Love it. What's your surfer's ear? Surfer's ear? Uh, I really love that kind of indie rock era, you know. Um, Elliot Smith was huge, uh, built to spill Yeah. Pavement. Um, that era when it was, you know, wasn't alternative, wasn't grunge, I'm sorry. It was considered alternative, but wasn't Grunge, wasn't emo was [01:40:00] that kind of indie rock era.

That's, I feel like that slow type of music that, um, I feel is timeless, uh, is what I would do.

tyler: It pulls from all different genres. You have a bit of country in there, you have pop, you have mm-hmm. Like all of those guys, like, they pull from so many different influences, which I, ab I mean Sedo, you know? Yeah.

I mean all of those bands like Nate Knapsack even.

Moose: Yeah.

tyler: Like even a little bit of Getup kids, you know, into more of the emo stuff. Yeah. But like, I really, that whole thing, uh, you know, it was just always so fun because each song never, it never always felt the same either.

Moose: Yeah. You know, pick a song off Elliot Smith, either or, and we're good.

Serious. Who is your dropping in on dropping in? Um, there's a kid in, well, a young man in, uh, Rhode Island, Mick Chivers, uh, he's. He's brilliant. Like he, um, I believe he's 23. He just [01:41:00] started, uh, med school at Brown. Um, wow. But they're a very interesting family. His, uh, father was, uh, a Cornell graduate war journalist for the New York Times.

Wow. Um, they farm at their house. They have an oyster farm. Uh, they're just super interesting and, um, but beyond all of that, uh, he's a goofy footer that is committed to the wave that he loves and yeah, he, he loves surfing. So, and in quick side note, yeah. Uh, east Coast Special was, in part one of the inspirational moments was, um, Caton was premiering their, uh, their movie and, and they toured it last year.

Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, Saxon Wilson, who I absolutely love, uh, was talking with Mick and saying, you're going on a trip out to California. It's different out there. It's uh, it's not the east coast. And he was kind of painting a picture for somebody who hadn't been out there. [01:42:00] And I just sat back. And then when Mick got back from California, I asked him about his experience and he absolutely loved it.

Yeah. And I said, dude, it's not as crowded as everybody said it was. It wasn't. He had a perception Yeah. Of what it would be like. And it was different. So set the bar real low. Yeah. I

tyler: mean, when you go to Cali, you can still get waves. Yeah. Oh dude, there's so many fucking waves. Are you kidding me? Like, there's, there's so many spots you can go if you're not, if you're willing to take a slightly lesser wave, you could surf alone.

Still there are still spots. A hundred percent. Um, all right, last question here. Favorite burrito in New York City. 'cause you are, your podcast is, is you've declared it a burrito podcast and you are like a burrito master. Yeah.

Moose: Yeah. Um, so when I first moved to New York, what I would tell people is that, uh, there's burritos here.

It's double the price, half the quality, right? Mm-hmm. [01:43:00] Now it's still double the price. Same quality. Um, Sundale North, uh, they have two locations. One is in the lower East side, one, uh, conveniently in the West Village, close to our place. Nice. Uh, but they're, um, Northern Mexico style. They're very true. They, they're just, uh, beans, cheese, proteins.

They don't do the rice, they don't have the San Diego style. Right. But it is, they import their, uh, tortillas from, from Mexico. Wow. Mm-hmm. I try to buy them from 'em. They're like, Uhuh,

tyler: you are, you are the burrito king. I think we're gonna have to call you.

Moose: I treat it like wine, you know? I love it. I love it.

Let pull out the nuances. Would

tyler: you, what burrito would you pair with this uh, uh, wine here? Any burrito. Any burrito. This is wine's delicious. I would go with the barbacoa, you know, I feel like that would work well with the red wine, you know, chicken with more white wine, you know? Would it not work? Yeah.

All right. So where can our listeners find you Moose? Where can they find the East Coast special?

Moose: Uh, [01:44:00] on Instagram, east coast.special.com. Uh, I am going to be introducing a substack member platform for the second, like iteration after season one, uh, that I will be submitting as a membership benefit that you can submit a question that I left out of the interview.

Yeah. So if there's the interactive quality, you'll be able to get that there. And, uh, members will be able to list their East Coast longboards for sale at no fee. That's awesome. As a part of a membership, uh, benefit. And the other stuff that I cook up. And that will be Substack East Coast special, or I'll direct east coast special.com to it.

tyler: Um, I love it. And are you gonna have like a phone line that people can call in, leave a message on a, on a real, uh, voicemail or a answering machine? I, I have to figure that out. Yeah, I think you should. Yeah. I think that'd be fucking hilarious. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Moose: Well, speaking of, hi [01:45:00] guys, this is Joe. Joe, what's it, Joe?

Hey, um, we have a, uh, a special, uh, question that came in from our friend. Um, who could that be? Who could this be? Oh boy. We mentioned him earlier, Ben Worms. And, um, we had spoken offline and I usually don't do this where I jump on the mic and speak with everyone, but, but we've had some wine, right? Yeah, we've had a bit of wine and I'm feeling good.

Um, I thought I should share it with you, so, uh, gimme one second while I pull it up. You,

tyler: oh, shit. Here we go. Some embarrassing stories are gonna come out.

Moose: Well, hello there fellas, A little blast from the past. Uh, this is your old, uh, freshman dorm roommate, Ben Worms. Uh, Tyler Moose. Hope you guys are doing well.

So, thinking about a question to ask you gentlemen, I'd love to hear your thoughts and like, uh, kind of conversation around the fact that, uh, you both come from backgrounds of, uh, hitting the waves and surfing Tyler, you up on the East coast, moose, you down in, uh, the kind of the Gulf Coast. And then, uh, day one, week one of our journey [01:46:00] together, our freshman year of, uh, being roommates in the dorms, you guys had somebody from the middle of cornfields in Ohio, um, kind of tossed into the mix with two surfers, uh, from the beach.

Uh, I'd love to, you know, kind of hear what you guys have to say or your kind of thoughts around, um, having someone to get kind of mixed in in your lives. Uh, that's, you know, from a bit of a different background, um, and, uh, kind of how that, you know, if it changed your mentalities, anything like that, uh, throughout the year.

Uh, hope you guys are doing well, and, uh, look forward to getting in touch with you guys soon. We'll talk to you later. Dude,

tyler: that is hilarious. Oh my God, it's time travel, man. He's still a fucking hick. No, I'm kidding. I, I'm just kidding. Um, I love that question though. Um, I would say, man, like he, I love Ben because he was so, he was so earnest and genuine.

There wasn't like. I never felt maliciousness from him at all. [01:47:00] Like, it was always very, he came from such a kind, caring, sweet place, uh, for everything. He was always very thoughtful, except for when he was puking on me. But like, he was always considerate. He was always down to listen. Um, no, I think, I think, uh, I think he helped to create a good, better open mind for, for both of us.

I mean, at least for me, like to, I think it's so important that we experience people from different backgrounds so that we learn where people come from and we don't dehumanize. And I, I mean like, I've, I actually think like we should have like some sort of national service where we blend people from different backgrounds all over the country.

I think it would help our situation, you know, because then when you're able to put a human face to things, you're able to, you know, embrace 'em a bit more and learn something about yourself. So I, I fucking loved living with Ben and I thought he was great and I was really bummed when he left after [01:48:00] like, you know, the first year basically.

Mm-hmm. But he wanted to be with his girlfriend. Mm-hmm. That he don't,

Moose: he has two kids with Oh,

tyler: no way. Yeah. High school sweetheart. That is. He remember how obs, how, not obsessed, but how he just, it was part of his identity. He ate for

Moose: her. Yeah. It would Mary. Yeah, Mary. He'd be like,

tyler: oh, Mary.

Moose: Yeah, she's golden.

He'd get wasted

tyler: and be like, she's golden, bro. She's golden. She's better than me. I don't deserve her. I remember a couple conversations like that. Know you have to talk '

Moose: em off the ledge. Yeah. No. What about you? I mean the, it's as simple as choice first necessity. You know what I mean? I had this perception that I was only gonna be friends with surfers.

And that's what your barrier of entry was, that we had to speak that language and. You know, I act, I loved hanging out with Ben and, and, um, it, as much as I had been surrounded by nons surfers having a nons surfer in the mix, I mean, it wasn't just us. Yeah. It was the whole [01:49:00] crew would come through our place.

Absolutely. And, um,

tyler: it was like him and Johann were the non surfers.

Moose: Yeah. And I don't know, maybe it was the placement of our dorm room, but we were the community hub.

tyler: It was the hub. It was, it was the reason it was Austin and, uh, a Mike a you know, Ashley and all. Ashley and Mark Hur,

Moose: you know. Yeah. But I mean, the fact that you walked in and everybody was drinking in our room is 'cause it was the hub, it was the room and he, nobody thought less of him.

Nobody. It was just, and it sounds ignorant to say that anybody would think less of him. Mm-hmm. But, you know, I, I, I know about, uh, Mary from St. St. Henry Ohio because it meant something to him. Yeah. And I learned about a place of the world that I still haven't even been. You know, I, I,

tyler: I really adored Ben and just thought he was really sweet and really enjoyed, uh, having him as a roommate.

And I would love Ben. Shoot me a message, man. Yeah. I would love to connect with you. Come on out to New York. Come hang out with us.

Moose: Do we have time for one [01:50:00] quick Colin story of each other? Absolutely. And then we can end it on that. Yeah.

tyler: I mean, alright. I have to think of these stories now. Okay. Go for it.

So.

Moose: You had this thing where you would we, so the setup of our room was that we had three of us in one room. Yeah. We shared a bathroom with another three. Yeah. So we were suite mates. Yeah. You shared the bathroom. So six, I hated that 18-year-old men shared a bathroom and shower. Yeah. Like toilet shower.

And um, when the new Surface Journal would come in, you would go into the bathroom and sit there for half an hour to an hour reading it. Yeah. And I would get so pissed off. 'cause I was like, dude, like I gotta go. What, what the fuck? And I, I posed a theoretical as like, one day somebody's gonna forget that you're there and they're gonna lock you in.

So the new surfers journal came in and you were in there and you know, I like opened the door. Fuck man. What a, you [01:51:00] know. So what I did was I went to our suite mates, I locked the door, came back over to ours, locked the door, went over to their room, called our phone. So you were locked in the bathroom. Like, and Ben was present for it and he thought you were gonna rip the doors off the henges.

But that was, and you know, full circle moment here, our buddy that's in the latest, uh, surfers journal with uh, you know, eight pages, uh, sending us a bottle of wine. So hilarious.

tyler: I, I. Listeners. I grew up reading surf magazines on the toilet. They kind of went hand in hand. Nothing weird went on. I just would read the magazines, you know what it was like, the toilet for me was a safe space.

And growing up, like it was a way to avoid doing responsible things, doing homework and stuff. So I just had this horrible habit of reading magazines on the [01:52:00] toilet for, until I finished the magazine almost. And that was really it. And then, so not having the self-awareness of living with other people and not having multiple bathrooms was problematic.

And I could totally, you were justified. And it was a perfectly good prank. Do you remember being locked in the bathroom? Yes. Okay. Yes. And you know, it's like, but now looking back, I'm like, fuck, man, that was a dick move. But I didn't realize it at the time. And uh, you know, rightfully so. But the encyclopedic knowledge has, has, uh, helped me in many ways.

But I've learned I what I judged you for, I've done multiple times in my life. So, I mean, it's, well, you know, you know what? It's come to bite me in the ass with hemorrhoids and stuff. So literally my bad, my bad.

Moose: I went

tyler: there, it was

Moose: really like five minutes, but it sounded like, no, it was like 45 minutes, man.

I would

tyler: be in there, you know? So I've learned my lesson. Yeah. Yeah. Now I have to be more careful. [01:53:00] Um. My story. I mean, man, like, honestly, like it's gonna be, 'cause I don't want to, I don't wanna share the torture story. I mean, I already shared the, the Tabasco story, honestly. Like I, one of my favorite memories of you is the surfing memory.

Moose: Hmm.

tyler: Like you, we, it was, you know, you know how we would get some of those big days in St. Augustine, we would just be kind of barreling out the back and it'd be really good. It'd be like one of those like southern swells. Sometimes there'd be a lot of rights to it. But I remember like seeing you on your log grabbing rail, fucking like, like looking like wing nutted cloudbreak there.

And I just always have this memory of you, like, just looking stylish and good. Thank you. Um, that one, I remember when we tried out for the surf team, that was really cool. You know, you're like the only long boarder, so of course you made the team. But I was like, shit, I gotta go through these rounds and shit and surf small waves against [01:54:00] everyone.

Uh, I, I, I just remember like lots of good surf sessions. I remember lots of conversations about Gulf Coast and how good it is and how I need to get out there. I mean, fuck man.

Good times. So I have one

Moose: more story go on that I need to redeem myself. Um, and is is, it's a very true story. Yeah. Do you know that the only time I've ever been to Temple was with you? Yes.

tyler: With Alan. That kid Allen. You went Alan Greenfield. Yes.

Moose: So, um, you know, I was raised Catholic. I'm personally agnostic, but um, you know, it was either Rosh Hashan or Yom Kippur.

Yes. And, um, it meant something to you guys to go to Temple. Yeah. And I, you know, I remember Chase Nan, I remember people being like, yeah, no, I'm going surfing, man. I ain't doing that. And I knew, I saw how important it was to you guys. And I, I went, yeah. Like we loaded up at my shitty VW [01:55:00] bug and we drove over and, um, fuck.

I forgot about that bug. Yeah. And um, you know, I was versed. It was a different, I'll equate it to language. It was a different language. And, you know, I remember the sermon, it was about. The golden age of the Jews in Spain and their persecution and, um, you know, the rhythm of, of Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't even know what they call it.

Um, if it's sermon or ma like we call it mass. Yeah. Um, but I remember at the end they were so excited to see, you know, the young, young people, young people there, and they go to Alan, they go, you know, and it was all about the persecution of the Spanish on the Jews. Mm-hmm. And they go to Alan and go, and, and yourself, Alan Greenfield.

Oh, Alan Greenfield. And they go to you, Tyler Brewer, and like, oh, Tyler Brewer. And they go to you. And I didn't say moose. I go, Enrique Francisco, Huerta, there's a rat in the kitchen motherfuckers.

tyler: That is so fucking good.

Moose: Oh my God. But in [01:56:00] hindsight, I, you know, I, I am proud of myself to respect somebody else's beliefs and support it, even though it was different from mine.

And I knew how important it was to you guys. So

tyler: that means a lot. No, man. It was, it's a good time, man. I mean, I miss, I really enjoyed St. Augustine. It's funny, like I went to new school in the city here. I didn't keep in touch with any, any of the kids from that school. But I still keep in touch with. A lot of my friends from Flagler, and that says something, uh, about the school and the people that it attracts, I think.

Moose: Mm-hmm.

tyler: And you know, what I also love is that how many people from Flagler moved to New York and had have all, like a lot of them have succeeded in so many different areas. It's amazing. Like how, how well everyone has done from that area, from that school. And it's really, it's nice to see, you know, and, uh, and I love it and I love seeing you like thrive and like do [01:57:00] well and like this podcast is, like I said, listeners, go download it.

It's really good. Like, I really enjoy this. He's, he does such a lovely job with it. It's really well edited, again, very well thought out. Um, and give it a five star review. Yes. Somebody gave it a one star

Moose: review. What? Yeah. I don't

tyler: know. Who did that was, that was not me. I have review it. It's

Moose: somebody from my past and I'm guessing I wronged, but it, I, I appreciate the effort that if someone's

tyler: taken the piss

Moose: Yeah.

Whatever. Yeah. But

tyler: man, it's, it's really good. And like, uh, I'm just stoked. I'm stoked that you came on and I'm like, really stoked to get you in here, man. I mean, ulti and now I'm like kind of wasted from this mind, by the way.

Moose: Ultimately I want it to have, you know, as much access as we have to social media and things like I want it to.

You know, for us to experience the world, we had to go there and do it. Yeah. Right. And now the form of validation comes from do we follow each other? Do they like my post? Do we dm, do we have bantering? It's a cyber pen pal. Yeah. And my hope [01:58:00] is that there's a kid in the town where I spend time in and Rhode Island that has connected with somebody in St.

Augustine and they buy a direct flight from Providence down to Jacksonville. They don't even travel with boards because they've developed this friendship where it's like, I've got boards for you. Yeah. And people bring this social connection to in real life and it expands worldviews. And part of that is us getting together in person, meeting Joe and hanging out and it's, it's just drinking natural wine, getting

tyler: hammered on a Friday morning in real life.

So I love it. I love it. Listeners, go check it out. East Coast special and uh, obviously don't forget to like, subscribe and hit the five star mark for swell season as well. And gotta give a quick shout out to Joe here with Rockefeller Center in the newsstand studio who's just always on point, keeping us sounding good.

And uh, and all the people out in the hallway that have been looking at us the whole time. Yeah. They're like, what's this like two minute, what's this thing? [01:59:00] And uh, listeners, we'll check you all down the line soon. [02:00:00] [02:01:00] [02:02:00] [02:03:00] [02:04:00] [02:05:00] [02:06:00] [02:07:00] [02:08:00]