When sitting it the editing room cutting the film TO' Day of Days, I dreamed of showing it on a big screen to an audience of surfers. Now almost 10 months later, I've been able to live my dream at ten different locations around Australia.

It all started out with my associate Sinclair Black and I talking about showing TO' around the country. Sinclair and I had shown Occy, 9 Lives, and Endless Summer 2 on the big screen outdoors at our local surf club as a fund raiser over the past three years. Each year we'd play to several hundred locals who came out an sat under the stars to watch surfing on the big screen. We attributed our success to the outdoor experience but deep down we both felt that showing surfing films on the big screen was missing here in Australia and we should give it a go. The excuse to see my film TO' on the big screen was the driving force for me to make it happen.

I started the ball rolling by clearing TO' for the big screen festival with Thierry Fouchet from OXBOW, the European sportswear company who sponsor Laird, and sponsored the trip to Tahiti. They were stoked with the big screen festival format and gave me their blessings. Along with TO' we would need at least another hour of programming. I immediately thought of Jack Johnsons The September Sessions. It had been release in Australia last year, but didn't get the exposure I felt it deserved. Jack Johnsons style came out in the filming and in the music and I felt it was the most soulful little film around. It was a natural choice. With Jack's blessings we included it in the festival.

To complement the rest of the festival program we opted for contacting Billabong, Rich Jakovich, and Vance Burrow to see if they were willing to allow us show an abbreviated version of their new release MONTAJ. The opportunity to be a part of the festival and let Taj's fans have the opportunity to see him in full flight on the big screen was as exciting for them as it was for us.
We also thank Phil Ward for helping us make it happen.

We then had a complete program. Now for the hard part. Booking the tour. How many locations and nights in those locations should we show. We were very unsure at what sort of response we would have. Because we were putting all of our time, energy, and lots of our own money in doing this, we were on the conservative side when booking everything. We were really unsure if we could pull this off outside of our Palm Beach sure thing.

We also had to search for some sponsorship to put what would be an expensive exercise to get the tour out there. I only wanted to do the tour with state of the art video projection and presentation. The nightly rental on that equipment was not cheap, but with the help of Tropicsurf, the high quality surfing travel company, we were able to use only the finest gear available. Thanks again Tropicsurf for your help and support.

We started the tour at the Palm Beach Surf Club on January 4. Once again, as it had done in the year before, we sold out before the showing. We were super stoked and the festival's first night came together under the stars almost perfectly. I say almost as we had a slight hic up at the start. After making the opening introduction and asking for the show to begin, Sinclair hit the play button, and sparks flew out of the projector. With heart attacks alround from the crew, we quickly refired the projector and away it went without any further hitches.

The next show was to be the real test to see if we could get people to come back to the surfing films on a big screen. This show was at the Gold Coast Arts Centre, a beautiful venue that holds over 1000 people.

We arrived and set up late that afternoon having pre sold over 500 tickets. We thought we'd be stoked if we got 800. An hour before the show a huge crowd started to assemble and it was apparent that we'd have a full house. As we opened the doors, stoked surfers were amping to get the best vantage point. Tropicsurf had provided us with a brochure that we placed on each seat. After opening the door's, I went outside to help with sales and explain to those who had been turned away, that we were on the next night and that they could purchase tickets now for then. We had to turn several hundred away. It really blew me out.

Fifteen minutes after we were to start, Sinclair came out and got me to start the show. When I walked into the theatre, I was hit with a shot that I'll never forget. 90% of the Tropicsurf brochures were in the air turned into paper airlanes. The sky was full of hundreds of them.

The show went off perfectly and I had a chance to sit in the audience and enjoy my film with over 1000 other surfers. It was the greatest show I think I've ever done. I wished Laird could have been there to experience the energy that was going off under this one roof. It was insane, it was electric! The next night was much the same, people coming from Brisbane and Byron to see it. Again we turned several hundred away. We were staggered at the response. There was not one person who was not stoked. Must people came out in shock. The whole experience blew them away. The second night on the Gold Coast was much the same.

We were off on a flying start.

Two night's later though we were brought back to earth. On a Monday night at a local RSL club in Coffs Harbor, we only half filled the hall. There were issues with people signing into the club that we learned on the trot. Those that saw the program however, were stoked to the max.

After intermission at each show, we had some door prizes courtesy of Billabong, Oakley, and "Floor Boards", the 100% wool mats shaped and coloured like surfboards. I would always look for the smallest grommet to bring onstage to draw the lucky winners. In the spirit of "Kids say the darnest things" we had some classics. That night at Coffs, I asked a cute little girl where she was from, thinking like everyone she'd say "Coffs Harbour". We all cracked up when she said...."Australia!"

Next stop was Perth. My history of showing surfing films at the Regal Theatre go back to 1973. The opening night we invited 250 industry and surfing personalities to attend. It was great to see Rick Jakovich and his family up from down south to see his film on the big screen. For the next four nights the crowds grew and grew until we put the "House Full" sign up on the last night. This was also the night that 8 mates in the 3rd row all jumped up together and claimed Lairds big wave when he came out by punching the sky in sync. They were pumped.

From Perth it was to Newcastle. With the help of Warren Smith who handled our local promotion, we had two incredible nights at the Civic Theatre. The Civic is a classic old deco National trust theatre. We were able to present the programs on the largest screen of the whole tour. Those shows went off. With friends Peter McCabe, Sam Egan, and the One Mile Beach lifeguards in attendance, it was a real stoke to sit in the audience with them all and enjoy the show.

We were not quite sure if we should hold the festival in the small room or the big room at our next stop Wollongong. We decided to go safe with the small room and ended up turning more people away. The small room was long and narrow with just under 300 in attendance. It felt like deja vu. It had the same atmosphere as so many other surfing films I'd shown over the years in little halls. For the half time draw we had two young brothers who could not make up their minds who would mix up the entries and who would pick the winner. That turned into a full comedy act. Thanks to WaveRiderz TV and the Byrne Brothers for helping make our shows there such a success.

From there we spent two nights in the middle of Melbourne at the Capital Theatre. Just before the show started, our projector played up and we had a serious stress as to if we were going to be able to put the sold out show on. The theatre manager came to our rescue with another one that was perfect. About half an hour before the screen time, Mother Nature let off the biggest storm of the summer that rocked the city with a lighting storm that would rival any in the world. The theatre also started to leak directly over our sound equipment. It was radical. But things settled down and we were able to put on great show that once again left everyone stoked and in shock at what they'd seen.

We arrived late in the afternoon for our next show on the Central Coast. We were greeted with a great staff at the Ettalong RSL club. The auditorium had two bars open and tables that people could sit around and enjoy the show. Warren Delbridge, one of our main sponsors from Video 8, was there with all the other Central Coast locals. There were also lots of grommets who came out claiming the big screen showing of surfing films were the only way to go. They had passed thru what was once a rite of passage in our sport.....The big screen surf movie.

The final three nights in Sydney were very very special. We were fortunate to be showing in the beautiful old Cremorne Orepheum Theatre. We were sold out all shows a week before the first night. The theatre even hired a person to answer the phone because of all the calls wanting to book seats. We were once again suprised at the response.

The Orepheum has red velvet seats. We also hired the Hammond Organ player who comes up from under the centre stage playing his favourite hits for 15 minutes and then slowly, dropping under the stage, finishes his set to hoots and hollers.

Last time I played at the Orepheum two years earlier, my daughter Indi came on stage with me. For the Wed and Friday night shows she introduced me to the audience. It was such a buzz for both of us to be up there introducing the show together. We also had the pleasure of Rob Hurst from the Oils and all the INXS lads show up to see the festival. Once again I was able to sit among the audience and enjoy TO' on the big screen with a stoked audience. It was great. Just what I'd dreamed of 10 months before.

I would especially like to thank Hadley Perrett, Nick and Jeremy Black, and Sinclair from Monsoon Tsunami for helping making the festival happen. To all the theatres and halls we played in around the country. To our sponsors Tropicsurf, Tracks Magazine, and the Surfrider Foundation. Also to Tim Mckenna who allowed us to use his photos for the publicity and poster. To> Billabong, Rick, and Vance for allowing us to use MONTAJ, Jack Johnson and Kelly Slater for The September Sessions, and Thierry Fouchet and OXBOW for allowing us to share TO' with such an amazing reception. And finally we were pleased to be able to raise money and awareness for the Surfrider Foundation.

It was a real honour to share the festival with all those who attended. I thank you all very much for coming. It showed me that surfing films are alive an well and that part of our surf culture is still like it was back in the days of Bud Brown, John Severson, Greg Noll, and Bruce Brown, our founding fathers of surfing films. To share the stoke together is an experience that I hope to continue to bring to the rest of the tribe as long as I can. See you all next year.

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