As I stood on stage beside my friend Garrett (better known as G Love) & looked out at the over 525 smiling familiar faces, I felt the magic in the air. The committee members whose hard work made this happen finally got to enjoy the moment. The fans watched in awe & excitement as G busted out the blues in their little beach community. I was really feeling the love from the supportive people who came out to experience my art exhibit. Kids and adults alike sharing a night creating memories. That’s what art and music is all about. The months of meetings, planning & idea swapping seemed like a small price to pay for this night to manifest itself.
G Love & Jay Alders on stage at SurfBash - Oct 15 2010
The theatre was filled with my kinda’ peeps…friends, surf buds, fans and family who not only made this night possible but my career itself. So when I grabbed the mic from Garrett to say a few words, I had the best intentions to express my love for everyone. When I think back to what I said, I remember it as something like ‘I love you all, blah blah, thank you so much for being here, blah blah, you have made our creative dreams possible…with some more blah blah’s’. I’m kind of a light weight when it comes to booze, so I wish the microphone had a breathalyzer before I started rambling on and on…nevertheless, it was words from the heart 🙂
My profound gratitude probably sounded like...Blah Blah Blah Blah after a few too many beers
I had just had a solo show a month before at the same gallery when Brushfire Records recording artist & friend Matt Costa performed, so I really wanted to switch things around for this show. I decided to dust off some old original paintings from the past decade for this art exhibit. It was stoked to get some appreciative onlookers to paintings of mine which showed the timeline of my current style. By the end of the event my art show had standing room only with hundreds of people packed in the gallery space.
Here’s a video clip of the beginning of G’s performance. Music has a huge influence on my creative process and G Love’s tunes are often playing in my studio playlist, so having my artwork projected behind him during the show really was special.
G Love performing at Surf Bash in Manasquan, NJ - Oct 15, 2010
As it often goes with such events, Surf Bash ended in what seemed like a blink of an eye. The crowd was buzzin’ with energy and happy substances…It was time to call it a night.
I set up Emily Elbert set up as the opening act after seeing her perform with G Love online. I think she made a lot of new fans that night when she belted out some incredible music. We invited our new friends Emily,Rhianna & Megan to stay over and we had a fun slumber party the next couple nights.
Much thanks go out to all the magnificent people who made this night happen.
