Split Peak Soup
Welcome to Split Peak Soup Podcast! I’m your host, Neal Kearney. I feel very blessed to have been born and raised here in Santa Cruz, California. Santa Cruz is a hotbed for talented individuals, including, but not limited to: professional surfers and skaters, master surfboard shapers, internationally renowned artists, expert musicians, boundary pushing intellectual thinkers, and out-of-this-world explorers of consciousness. Working as a professional journalist for the past twenty-plus years, I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with these extraordinary humans and in-depth and insightful chats. While these discussions have helped inform many written pieces that I’m proud of, I oftentimes felt that I was leaving a lot of meat left on the bone, as the few quotes I’d incorporate into my writing oftentimes seemed to strip my interviewees of their own authentic voices. Luckily, we are entering a brave new world, where the podcast has risen as a popular form of storytelling and media consumption. From Joe Rogan to Conan O’Brien, podcasters have officially taken over. And now, I’m joining the fray. The Split Peak Soup Podcast is my way of using my skills as a story-teller to offer long format conversations with those whose stories deserve to be told. So, what are you waiting for? Pull up a cozy chair, grab a napkin and your favorite spoon, and get ready to dig into another savory serving of Split Peak Soup!
Episodes
I’ve always admired surfboard shapers. The amount of tenacity, grit, and dedication required to consistently produce boards that work is staggering. Materials are costly, and it takes thousands of hours of work and hundreds of finished shapes before a shaper can claim any semblance of mastery over their craft.
In order to be profitable, not only does a shaper have to believe in themselves, they have to have a product...
It’s no secret that professional surfers are a dying breed, especially here in Santa Cruz. Twenty-five years ago, in order to get a paycheck from a big surf brand, all you needed was a decent air game and a good relationship with at least one local photographer. Nowadays, if you wanna see any coin come your way, you better have that, a boatload of charisma, connections, and good looks.
Luckily, thirty-two year-old Se...
It’s not rare for pioneers to be labeled as “crazy” or “lunatics”. After all, they’re treading ground where no one’s been before. From the outside looking in, this can appears reckless or misguided.
While this reaction may have its merit, it falls short of seeing the big picture—as an action that seems insane or impossible today, comes to be routine and mundane tomorrow. Just look at big wave surfing or base-jumping...
What a gift it is to call Santa Cruz, California, home. For those of us lucky enough to have grown up in this idyllic beach town, familiarity with the ocean often starts at an early age. Whether the introduction comes in the form of surf lessons by a family member or participation in the Junior Lifeguard programs, we learn early on how to protect ourselves, and others, from the perils of an unruly sea.
And ...
From the late 1980’s, up until the late 2000’s, being a professional surfer in Santa Cruz was a legitimate career path. Sure, you had to have skill, a strong work ethic and enough charisma to secure corporate sponsorships, but there was enough money floating around during those years that a host of local surfers were able to forgo higher education and 9-5 jobs to live as handsomely paid pro surfers. Just look at the...
Think about all the conversations you have throughout the course of the day. Unless you were at silent meditation retreat or alone in some remote, off-grid location, it’s safe to say you made contact with, and interacted with, a number of other individuals. How many of these encounters yielded anything deeper than a customary greeting or surface level life, love, health, or happiness update? Conversations such as th...
There is sometimes an unflattering, and often undeserved, stereotype of older surfboard shapers: that they are cantankerous and jaded old grumps limping through their shaping bays like lame prize horses, their brains frazzled from long-term exposure to hazardous resin, foam and fiberglass (that, or from all the acid they dropped in the ’60s and ’70s).
Seventy-six year-old boardmaker and longboarder Michel J...
Santa Cruz, California is well-known throughout the world as a surfing mecca. From iconic waves such as Steamer Lane and Pleasure Point, to surfing royalty such as Peter Mel and Nat Young, our town lives and breathes surfing. With such a reputation, surfers come from far and wide to live in and visit this gem of a surfing destination, bringing in valuable funds that greatly benefit the local economy. While surfing&a...
The life of a professional artist is far from glamorous. The amount of hustle and discipline required to make it big is mind boggling. Rarely can you rely on natural talent alone--successful artists really have to think outside the box to secure that bag. One lovely individual who's doing a fabulous job of paving her own path in the world of art is none other than Anastasiya Bachmanova.
Over the past decade-plu...
Coming back from a life-changing spinal cord injury has got to be one of the most difficult things a person could go through in their lives. These people are confronted with a choice....either rise to the occasion and make the best of their traumatic event, or submit to the enormity of it all.
One man who is not letting his spinal cord injury get in the way of accomplishing his dreams is Claudio Morales Be...
Clifford Dinsmore is about as real as they come. As a young man coming of age in the early 80’s, he was attracted to the raw, rebellious, and raucous new phenomenon known as punk rock. In the beginning, he was just another rabid fan who cut his teeth on in-your-face acts such as the Circle Jerks and Black Flag.
It wasn’t long thereafter that he started lending his violent vocals to M.A.D., a hardcore punk ...
Shane Rafferty is a force to be reckoned with in the Santa Cruz music scene. From his early days in the punk rock scene as lead singer of Lost Cause, to his exploration of Outlaw Country with his latest band, Wagon Wreckers, Rafferty has left robust musical mark. In addition to his musical pursuits, here we chat about the frustrations of surfing, battling addiction, raising children, being a brother of three, workin...
Imagine leaving your friends, family, and home country to chase your dreams in a foreign land, especially when your destination is known for being extremely hostile to non-native surfers. Well, that's what Brazil's Andre Gioranelli did back in 2006, when he uprooted from Rio de Janeiro and moved to Santa Cruz, California. Andre has made a name for himself as a humble human, expert surfer, and successful su...
Meet Ethan Estess, an environmental artist and activist who is truly making a difference with his unique and eye-catching art. He takes literal trash from sea, such as fishing rope and golf balls, and transforms them into thought-provoking creations that not only look amazing, but send a powerful message as well. His reclaimed material art offerings have garnered the attention of surf giants such as Outerknown and t...
Jimbo Phillips was born to be an artist. Son of legendary Santa Cruz artist Jim Phillips, who designed iconic Santa Cruz Skateboard graphics such as "The Screaming Hand" and "Classic Dot", Jimbo has forged his own path in the world of art, with similar success. Over the past 30+ years, he's been designing amazingly eye-catching skateboard graphics, logos, murals, rock posters, and more. In t...
Meet Lanny Headrick of Sawdust Imagery. Lanny has been making truly whimsical wooden creations for years, from guitars to skateboards, robots to ravens. In this episode, Lanny and I have a hoot of a time discussing the road that led him to where he is today. Issues that we touch upon include: his upbringing, migration to Santa Cruz, time spent as a touring skateboard photographer, introduction to woodworking, fallin...
A candid conversation with Matt Myers, of Myers Surf Mentorship. Here we discuss his role as a surf coach, what it takes to be a successful professional surfing in today's competitive environment, the current crop of hot talent coming out of Santa Cruz, wave pools, fatherhood, and more!!
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