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Surfing on Second Life is a (virtual) reality, according to an article on Surf Nation.

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To get more info on Colm Lynch check out his website colmlynchmusic.com

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AC/DC may have once observed that Rock 'n' Roll aint noise pollution but trying to enjoy your music in Ireland's modern urban landscape is driving Sound Waves to distraction and that is because, to our sensitive ears, the levels of ambient noise that exist in urban centres like Dublin are far too high for the output of the average set of headphones. In fact, it is getting to the stage that the only place SW can listen to music is in the safety of their car at night on an empty road or overlooking a deserted beach at dusk. People, vehicles (SUVs and 4WDs are the worst), buses, construction sites all conspire to obliterate the ability to simply hear what is on your MP3 player and consequently you find yourself racking up the volume control just to assess what it is that is playing.

In fact, noise pollution is becoming such a problem that the Department of the Enviroment has issued a guide to noise regulations within Ireland. Perhaps its time for rockers to tell noise polluters to shut it.

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Matt Costa Official Website

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Not going to spend too much time on this, Dennis Wilson was a legend and was the only Beach Boy who could actually surf. His surfing in turn inspired Brian Wilson to write the soundtrack to the Californian Surf Experience, a legacy that Cali is still trying to shake off in 2008. 'Pacific Ocean Blue' was Dennis' masterpiece and it is now available in a deluxe legacy edition. Check it out at this link.

Pacific Ocean Blue

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First things first, Sound Waves was against the Lisbon Treaty and viewed the YES lobby as attempting nothing less than selling out the Irish People and the Irish Constitution of 1937. In fact, Sound Waves took the view that either the YES lobby did not understand the true implications of ratifying the treaty or they were lying through their teeth. How against are we ? Lets put it this way, in the 2009 local elections we will be voting for Sinn Fein and to be honest Sound Waves would not be a Sinn Fein supporter. Let me qualify that, we are going to vote Sinn Fein but only as long as they do not strike a vote transfer deal with anyone, individual or organisation that supported a YES vote for Lisbon, or alter their position on Lisbon.

I'm not sure when or where the penny dropped that the EU, after enlargement, was not some big Pro-Paddy love in but I suspect, intimations of it came when Dustin was being booed at the Semi Finals of the Eurovision in the former stronghold of the genocidal mass murderer Slobodan Milosovic, Belgrade. Friendly people the Serbians, as long as you don't live beside them, or near them, or anywhere that they can reach by tank. I guess Dustin got off light, a little booing is certainly better then being raped, shot in the back of the head and then dumped in an unmarked, mass grave. But hey, that was back in the 1990s. Now I'm not anti the former Eastern Bloc, I'm just pro democracy and human rights, issues that EU member states such as Poland and Romania have an, at times, less than firm grasp as may be seen with regard to their role in rendition, something that the EU itself rebuked them over.

But I am digressing. You see, I didn't understand why we would send Dustin or even why some Irish people expected that he might do reasonably well. It appeared to me that Europe in general would not get the joke in the same way that Italian game shows would be incomprehensible to us in Ireland. I just didn't expect the booing and neither did all those Irish people tuning in to see Dustin roasted live on air. Perhaps, just perhaps the penny dropped that the EU was not that friendly a place to be and that we need to hold on to our existing assets, such as a Constitution so robust and vital that it ensured through the legal action of Raymond Crotty that we got to vote on Lisbon in the first place, for dear life.

In one sense Dustin's Serbian adventure was a failure, but on another level, I suspect we owe the bird a debt of thanks.

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In our inaugural end of year review in 2007, Sound Waves made the point that it was Ireland's discovery as a big wave spot that kicked off the Celtic XXL revolution. A film that played a pivitol role in that advance, even though it did not feature the now famous Aileens, was 'ABC - A Blank Canvas' made by photographer / bodyboarder Mickey Smith. Charting a quest by a group of top notch boogers across a range of codenamed European spots, the filmmakers came across Aileens in County Clare, known already to a group of locals but unridden at the time, and set about a plan to surf it that would  lead to the Carve h2o project and a series of photo features in Surfing Magazine, Carve Magazine and Surfer Magazine as well as credits in the Irish Times. These features made the international reputation of the brilliant Mickey Smith, already a highly rated surf photographer, and placed Ireland on the big wave map in a way homegrown initiatives did not have the resources to do. Interestingly though, 'ABC' did not feature Aileens in the final cut as the boys did not have the resources at the time to get out to and into the wave itself. Anyway, here is the trailer for a surf movie that led a quantum shift in Irish Surf Culture.

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Last Sunday, the Sunday Tribune published an article claiming that there is a boom in West of Ireland beach front holiday homes that is being driven by affluent surfers who want a window on the waves. Sound Waves found this article very interesting because it told us something that, notwithstanding we are plugged into a niche of the Irish surf scene, we did not know and were unware of in our circle of wave riders. In a nutshell, we know of nobody who has bought, is in the process of buying, or intends to buy any such property, although we know of a number of people who have invested in that most hated of vehicles, to the presenters of Top Gear at least, the camper van. If there is such a boom we do not think that it is being driven by Irish surfers who spend their year chasing the swell from one end of the island to the other, and therefore prefer not to be tied to one spot, but rather by local business people in the West who may seek to buy to let such houses to travelling wave riders, usually from Dublin.

Sound Waves, contrary to what you might think, is not in favour of the camper van mentality and our rather emotional position has been backed up by the findings of a New Zeland study which found that camper van holidays have a carbon footprint four times higher than trips conducted with a private car where the travellers stay in B&Bs. When it comes to surf trips, whether in Ireland or abroad, our view is that it is preferable to stay in a self catering house or B&B thus providing income for the local economy and use a car with better fuel consumption and lower emmissions than trundle around the country in the civilian equivalent of a Panzer tank,driving across fragile dunes, ripping up the sand, grass and other natural fauna in the process just so that you can park on surf breaks.

Separately, The Irish Independent has reported today that Kerry County Council are clamping down on illegal camping and camper vans at coastal beauty spots and that, according to Cllr Dan Kiely, camper vans parked on access roads to beaches in Ballybunion were causing huge problems.

Interestingly, Volkswagen has unveiled a retro concept VW camper van which used solar power and an electric engine instead of the tradtional VW engine.

(Photo c/o Magic Seaweed Photo Lab)

 In the meantime, here is one good use for a camper van courtesy of Top Gear.

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