Please join us for a book signing and author talk with Matthew Shaw in conversation with Kaylie Saidin. Shaw’s new book “The Sea in Every Sound: Chasing the Influence of Surf Music in America” was released by Chicago Review Press this month.

We’ll be screening classic surf films and playing influential surf records.

This is a free event.

Reviews for “The Sea in Every Sound”:

“Like an Alan Lomax for the surfing set, Matthew Shaw went broad and deep for this exhaustive, lively, and surprising study of wave riding’s influence on music. No pat recount of dripping reverb, writer/surfer/musician Shaw lays down the roots of surf sound from Sol Hoopii to Bud Shank to the Pixies. Surfing has long deserved this rigor, this open-mindedness. Shaw delivered.” —Scott Hulet, creative director of the Surfer’s Journal and author of Flow Violento 

“The best music writing doubles as cultural history. Shaw documents how a spiritual and countercultural religion took root and spawned sounds immediately identifiable and forever associated with the beach, the sun, and sliding on waves. What is it about surf culture that has always captivated artists and the public? This is a great book for anyone who wants to see how an idea spreads.” —Jay Caspian Kang, columnist at the New Yorker and author of The Loneliest Americans 

“The Sea in Every Sound is an immersive plunge into the vast and lively world of surf culture. Matthew Shaw’s heartfelt narrative history interrogates the inextricable link between music and surfing, illuminating the almost cosmic interconnectedness between them. A vivid blend of reporting and storytelling.” —Brady Brickner-Wood, contributing writer at the New Yorker 

“Matthew Shaw writes the definitive history of music’s relationship to surfing, and vice versa, making it an essential read for students of either, or both. Better, though, is the writing itself: informative, sharp, and very witty. Even people who hate surfing or music will love it. It makes me jealous. Five out of five stars.” —Chas Smith, founder of BeachGrit and author of Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell

The Fuzzy Needle is proud to welcome Wilmington’s own The Paper Stars with support from Navigation.

From Denver Syntax:

The Paper Stars embody an image of the opening of the eyes and the taking-in of light. Illustrated otherwise, they are a catalog of human emotion punctuated by visions of a man taking responsibility for what is his. Altman’s songs are vast – in sonic dimension and lyrical aptitude. Without a doubt, Altman has a grasp on that mysterious place where the words and music intersect. At once earnest in that ultra-human pursuit of making things right – and making an attempt at anything honest, The Paper Stars is a collection of sounds and stories; perfunctory calls to everything elevated. Both transcendent and secular. Altman’s lyrics wind through western canyons of love lost and every dawn of solace washed in bright lights.

See you there. Doors at 7 pm, show at 8 pm. $12 presale, $15 day of.