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Surfer Mag: Jack Johnson Announces Live Screenings of Surf Films That Launched His Career
Sept. 29, 2025, midnight
Before he was a multi-platinum artist who sold 25 million albums, Jack Johnson was just another surf-stoked kid from the North Shore. But after head-butting the reef at Pipeline as a rising star, Jack decided it was perhaps safer to pursue other, in the words of The Clash, career opportunities. So he enrolled in college in Santa Barbara, studied film, started to write songs, and met his eventual wife.Two things Jack had going for him as he set out was his crew of friends, which included surf buddies Chris Malloy, Rob Machado and Kelly Slater, and his soulful knack for storytelling. In 1999, Jack, with the help of Chris and Emmett Malloy, released “Thicker Than Water.” They followed that up with “The September Sessions” in 2000. Shot on 16mm film, featuring some of the most dreamy surfscapes and performances at the turn of the century, wrapped around a score that stands the test of time, like that, Jack was a bonafide surf filmmaker well before he was a world-renowned musician.“Everything was going to video, I liked the look and feel and process of shooting on film. It’s more work, but it was worth it in the end,” Jack recently explained.