john birges and the factory that didn't burn down.

john birges and i used to work together at beatty products. i was a fin boxer and a hot coater. i sucked at my job. john was glossing, glassing and shaping. he had "parole boards". he was kind to me and helped me out with some shit. it was an amazing time in my life. i am lucky to have been where i was when i was. at the time, i was building Gene's web page, learning theoretical math, building a web page for steve brom, surfing rincon, el cap, and sand spit...listening to slayer and neurosis in the shop while working from midnight to 4 a.m. i worked in that funk zone where clyde had people like wayne rich, Reynolds Yater, Lauren Yater, Max McDonald and Skip the wood worker. It was crazy.

this one time John was employing my buddy Gramiel Dan. they were supposed to be re-roofing clyde's factory. i went up to see if Dan wanted to take a smoke break. i had just come about some smoke worth sharing.
when i got up to the roof , there was no one there. plenty of roofing equipment lay thither and hither...but no roofers. i saw some smoke coming from this one area of the roof. i walk over and find a hole in the roof with smoke billowing out.
i look in the hole and see flames. i sat there looking at it for a bit...marveling at how the roofing process seems to be somewhat destructive. then it occurred to me , that this might not actually be part of the roofing process.
i run about looking for a fire extinguisher. i run down to the shop and round one up, the fire department is called, the shop is saved. john was over speaking with Lauren , getting some templates or something. they had apparently just "finished" some work and were taking a break.

good times.

oh, by the way....from the looks of things...john's work is on FIRE!!! how beautiful is this board?

spencer kellog sent me the pix and the following words via surfapig@live.com: Hi there, My name is Spencer Kellogg and I build Spence Surfboards in Ventura. John Birges asked me to post some pictures of a replica of a 1961 Weber Pig he's been working on. It features a series of cedar stringers interweaving through the board from nose to tail. Glassed with 10 oz volan and isophthalic resin. Thanks. Spence