The Endless Summer is a seminal 1966 surf movie.

Director Bruce Brown follows two surfers, Mike Hynson and Robert August, on a surfing trip around the world. Despite the balmy climate of their native California, cold ocean currents make local beaches inhospitable during the winter. They travel to the coasts of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii in a quest for new surf spots and introduce locals to the sport. Other important surfers of the time, such as Miki Dora, Eugene Harris, Phil Edwards and Butch Van Artsdalen, also appear.

Its title comes from the idea, expressed at both the beginning and end of the film, that if one had enough time and money it would be possible to follow the summer around the world, making it endless. The concept of the film was born through the suggestion of a travel agent to Bruce Brown during the planning stages of the film. The travel agent suggested that the flight from Los Angeles to Cape Town, South Africa and back would cost $50 more than a trip circumnavigating the world. After which, Bruce came up with the idea of following the summer season by traveling around the world.

The narrative presentation eases from the stiff and formal documentary of the 1950s and early 1960s to a more casual and fun-loving personal style filled with sly humor. The surf-rock soundtrack to the film was provided by The Sandals. The "Theme to the Endless Summer" was written by Gaston Georis and John Blakeley of the Sandals. It has become one of the best known film themes in the surf movie genre.

When the movie was first shown, it encouraged many surfers to go abroad, giving birth to the "surf-and-travel" culture, which prizes finding "uncrowded surf", meeting new people and riding the perfect wave. It also introduced the sport, which had become popular outside of Hawaii and the Polynesian Islands in places like California and Australia, to a broader audience. In addition, it set the style for later surf-and-travel movies, including Momentum, (These Are) Better Days, and Thicker Than Water.

In 2002, The Endless Summer was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Development[link]

Bruce Brown started surfing in the early 1950s.^[1] He took still photographs to show his mother what the draw of the sport was. While serving in the United States Navy on Oahu years later, he used an 8 mm movie camera to photograph surfers from California. Once Brown got back to the state, he edited his footage into an hour-long film. Surfer Dale Velzy showed it at his San Clemente shop, charging 25 cents for admission. Velzy bought Brown a 16 mm camera and together they raised $5,000 to make Slippery When Wet, Brown's first "real" surf film.^[1]

In the winter of 1958, Brown went back to Hawaii to film the North Shore's big surf. On the plane ride over, the novice filmmaker read a book about how to make movies. Brown said, "I never had formal training in filmmaking and that probably worked to my advantage".^[1] By 1962, he had spent five years making one surf film per year. He would shoot during the fall and winter months, edit during the spring and show the finished product during the summer. Brown remembered, "I felt if I could take two years to make a film, maybe I could make something special".^[1] To do this, he would need a bigger budget than he had on previous films. To raise the $50,000 budget for The Endless Summer, Brown took the best footage from his four previous films and made Waterlogged.^[1]

Brown took his completed film to several Hollywood studio distributors but was rejected because they did not think it would have mainstream appeal.^[1] In January, he took The Endless Summer to Wichita, Kansas for two weeks where moviegoers lined up in snowy weather in the middle of winter and it went on to selling out multiple screenings.^[2] Distributors were still not convinced and Brown rented a theater in New York City where his film ran successfully for a year.^[1] After the success of the run at New York's Kips Bay Theater, Don Rugoff of Cinema 5 distribution said he did not want the film or poster changed and wanted them distributed as is, thus Brown selected him over other distributors who wished to alter the poster.^[3]

Reaction[link]

When The Endless Summer debuted, it grossed over $20 Million.^[1]

Roger Ebert said of Brown's work, "the beautiful photography he brought home almost makes you wonder if Hollywood hasn't been trying too hard".^[4] Time magazine wrote, "Brown leaves analysis of the surf-cult mystique to seagoing sociologists, but demonstrates quite spiritedly that some of the brave souls mistaken for beachniks are, in fact, converts to a difficult, dangerous and dazzling sport".^[5]

In his review for The New York Times, Robert Alden wrote, "the subject matter itself — the challenge and the joy of a sport that is part swimming, part skiing, part sky-diving and part Russian roulette — is buoyant fun".^[6]

Legacy[link]

The then-unknown break off Cape St. Francis in South Africa became one of the world's most famous surfing sites thanks to The Endless Summer.^[7]

In 2002, The Endless Summer was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Sequels[link]

In 1994, Brown released a sequel, The Endless Summer II, in which surfers Pat O'Connell and Robert "Wingnut" Weaver retrace the steps of Hynson and August. It shows the growth and evolution of the surfing scene since the first film, which presented only classic longboard surfing. O'Connell rides a shortboard, which was developed in the time between the two movies, and there are scenes of windsurfing and bodyboarding. The film illustrates how far surfing had spread, with footage of surf sessions in France, South Africa, Costa Rica, Bali, Java, and even Alaska.

In 2000, Dana Brown, Bruce's son, released The Endless Summer Revisited, which consisted of unused footage from the first two films, as well as original cast interviews.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bruce Brown Films
• The Endless Summer Official Website
• The Endless Summer at the Internet Movie Database
• The Endless Summer at Rotten Tomatoes

Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me performing in 2010 in Puerto Rico.
Background information
Origin	Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Genres	Progressive metal, metalcore, death metal
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Lifeforce, Victory, Metal Blade
Associated acts	Glass Casket, Prayer for Cleansing
Members
Tommy Giles Rogers Paul Waggoner Dustie Waring Dan Briggs Blake Richardson
Past members
Will Goodyear Nicholas Shawn Fletcher Jason Schofield King Mark Edward Castillo Kevin Falk Shane Blay Jason Roe

Between the Buried and Me is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They have released a total of five studio albums, as well as a cover album, an EP and a live DVD/CD. A majority of the group's releases were made through Victory Records, until their shift to Metal Blade in 2011 where they released their first EP, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues through the label on April 12, 2011.

Biography[link]

Between the Buried and Me was founded in 2000 in Raleigh, North Carolina by vocalist Thomas Giles Rogers Jr., guitarist Paul Waggoner, drummer Will Goodyear, guitarist Nick Fletcher (formerly of Empire Falls), and bassist Jason King. The band's name is derived from a section of lyrics in the Counting Crows song, "Ghost Train;" "Took the cannonball down to the ocean/Across the desert from the sea to shining sea/I rode a ladder that climbed across the nation/Fifty million feet of earth between the buried and me."^[1]

Between the Buried and Me's first release was a three-song demo, containing the tracks "Use of a Weapon", "What We Have Become", and "More of Myself to Kill". These three tracks were re-recorded for the band's self-titled debut album, released through Lifeforce Records in 2002. The album includes the track "Arsonist", a protest against the beliefs and practices of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. The song "Aspirations" became the band's first music video. At the time, the release was not widely known, but did manage to catch the attention of Victory Records, to which they later signed. Victory reissued the album in 2004 as an enhanced CD. Today, songs from the album are rarely played live.

In 2003, the band released their second studio album, The Silent Circus, featuring the singles "Mordecai", "Aesthetic", and "Camilla Rhodes".^[2] "Mordecai" was produced as their second music video. The album was re-released in 2006 with a live DVD of the band's performance at The Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on July 17, 2005. Mark Castillo played drums on The Silent Circus, replacing Will Goodyear, though for the live DVD Blake Richardson, Dustie Waring, and Dan Briggs had already joined the band, and recording for the third Between the Buried and Me album, Alaska, was already finished.

After the release of The Silent Circus, the band went through numerous members before the current lineup was assembled for Alaska. On drums, Mark Castillo was replaced by Jason Roe, and later by Blake Richardson. On guitar, Nick Fletcher was replaced by Shane Blay, and later by Dustie Waring. And on bass, Jason King (not to be confused with their engineer/producer Jamie King) was replaced by Kevin Falk, and later by Dan Briggs. This remains the current lineup.

In the summer of 2005, Between the Buried and Me released their third studio album, Alaska. The title track "Alaska" became their third music video. The album released the songs "Selkies: The Endless Obsession", "The Primer", and "Backwards Marathon" as singles. Then in the following year, the band released The Anatomy Of, a collection of covers of bands that influenced Between the Buried and Me, including Metallica, King Crimson, Pantera, Queen, Pink Floyd, Earth Crisis, Counting Crows, and Soundgarden.

In September 2007, the band released their fourth studio album, Colors. Band members have said that "it's a 65 minute opus of non stop pummeling beautiful music... we have described this release as 'new wave polka grunge'."^[3] The band has also described the album as "adult contemporary progressive death metal".^[4]

On November 6, 2008 the song "Prequel to the Sequel" was made available as downloadable content for the video game Rock Band 2, for free download to users who redeemed a one-time use code in new copies of the game.^[5] Since then, the tracks "Mordecai", "Obfuscation", "Alaska" and "Selkies: The Endless Obsession" have also been made available via the Rock Band Network.

On May 31, 2009, the group went into the studio to record their fifth original album, The Great Misdirect. They have described one song as having "a noisy Coalesce breakdown, 3/4 Mastodon groove, 9/8 The Mars Volta, Queen chromatic build up, and Megadeth chorus".^[6] Tommy Giles Rogers had stated that they planned to "out do Colors".^[7]

In early fall 2010, the group confirmed that they were recording an EP, which was cited as being a possible precursor for their next full-length album.^[8] In October 2010, they put up a video on their YouTube account with the band in the studio.^[9] January 18 a second teaser with them in the studio was posted.^[10]

On February 21, 2011, Between the Buried and Me stated their move from Victory to Metal Blade Records, on which they released their EP entitled, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues on April 12, 2011.^[11] In May, Victory Records announced the release of a greatest hits album as a three-disc set.^[12] On January 16, 2012, Between the Buried and Me revealed that work on the part two to The Parallax has begun and it will be a full-length album rather than an EP.^[13]

Touring[link]

This article or section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, as This is simply an unverified list of tour dates.. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (May 2009)

In early 2006, Between the Buried and Me was on tour supporting Bleeding Through along with Every Time I Die and Haste the Day. They were also on the Ozzfest 2006 Second Stage.^[14] In late 2006, they were on the Radio Rebellion Tour headlined by Norma Jean.^[15]

In September 2007, after the release of Colors, the band went on tour with Animosity and Horse the Band. Giant (now known as BraveYoung) also supported their shows in the USA. The run concluded with their November 4 appearance at the Saints and Sinners Fest in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In December 2007, they again embarked on a headlining tour, supported by August Burns Red and Behold... The Arctopus. The band were also the main support on The Dillinger Escape Plan's 2008 U.K. tour. Between the Buried and Me were one of the acts that took part at "Progressive Nation '08", the first in what became an annual progressive music festival, also featuring Dream Theater, Opeth, and 3.

Starting in summer 2008 and continuing in the fall, they performed as a supporting act for Children of Bodom's US headlining tour, alongside The Black Dahlia Murder. In early December 2008, they went on a short 4-show tour around the Carolinas and Georgia (US) with other Carolina-based bands, such as He Is Legend, Advent, and Nightbear. Between the Buried and Me finished a month-long tour of Australia on January 9 with headliners Bleeding Through, As Blood Runs Black, In Trenches and The Abandonment. In September 2009, Between the Buried and Me performed a Canadian Tour with Killswitch Engage and In Flames co-headlining, along with the support of Protest the Hero.^[16]

In early 2010, Between the Buried and Me toured across North America with Cynic, Devin Townsend, and Scale the Summit.^[17] Afterwards, they traveled to Europe supporting Lamb of God, along with Job for a Cowboy and August Burns Red.

In February 2010, Between the Buried and Me supported Mastodon along with Baroness on their US headlining tour. During the summer of 2010, they were on the Cool Tour with As I Lay Dying, Underoath, War of Ages, The Acacia Strain, Architects, Cancer Bats and Blessthefall.^[18]

In February 2011, Between the Buried and Me were confirmed to play at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival on Saturday, April 16 in Worcester, MA. They will be main support for Hatebreed. In April and May 2011 they will headline a tour featuring Job for a Cowboy, The Ocean and on select dates Cephalic Carnage.

Between the Buried and Me also announced a headline European tour beginning in Paris, France on 02 Sept 2011 and continuing throughout the mainland and into the UK, ending up in Moscow, Russia on September 30. The tour was be supported by Animals as Leaders.

In July 2011, Between the Buried and Me announced their headlining North American tour, "Saints&Sinners Tour" playing throughout November and December with Animals as Leaders and Tesseract. The band created a few medleys just for this tour, and performed songs that they hadn't played in years.

They are confirmed to play on the 2012 Summer Slaughter tour with bands like Cannibal Corpse, Periphery, and Job For A Cowboy.

Musical style and influence[link]

Between the Buried and Me's general musical style has been stated by critics to be primarily a blend of metalcore,^[19] progressive metal^[19] and death metal,^[19][20][21] along with various musical styles: "One minute the band may be playing thrash metal and the next they're flowing into death metal growls and thick guitar riffs... the metal take on things can seemingly change in a flash as lead singer Tommy Rogers flashes out his vocals and utilizes the keyboards to create something that sounds more like it should be on a Smashing Pumpkins album".^[22]

On the band's cover album, The Anatomy Of, the band pays tribute to many of their diverse influences, including Metallica, Queen, King Crimson, Soundgarden, Pantera, Pink Floyd, Earth Crisis, and The Smashing Pumpkins.^[23]

Band members[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Between the Buried and Me (2002, Lifeforce)
• The Silent Circus (2003, Victory)
• Alaska (2005, Victory)
• Colors (2007, Victory)
• The Great Misdirect (2009, Victory)

Other projects[link]

• Tommy Giles Rogers has an electronica side project named Giles. A music video for the song "Slumber Party" is featured on the DVD that is included on the re-release for Between the Buried and Me's second album The Silent Circus. Rogers also released a solo album on February 1, 2011, entitled Pulse. The album is credited under the name Thomas Giles.
• Dustie Waring and Blake Richardson are members of the deathcore band Glass Casket.
• Rogers and Jacob Troth run a clothing line named Jacob Rogers.
• Dan Briggs and members of Fear Before and Abigail Williams are members of an experimental supergroup named Orbs.
• Will Goodyear is now the drumline instructor for the East Carolina University Marching Pirates.^[24]
• Shane Blay is now in the Christian metalcore band Oh, Sleeper.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Between the Buried and Me on Facebook