#leon johnson

Guyana are the West Indies first-class champions for the fifth time in a row

Guyana have been confirmed as the WICB Professional Cricket League Regional Four-Day Tournament 2018-19 after Leeward Islands, second on the table and needing the full 24 points on offer from their last game against Barbados, collapsed for 90 in their first innings.

It’s the fifth title win in a row for Guyana, making them the first team in the Cricket West Indies Professional Cricket League…

Innovator Talks

Halstead’s Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Leone sat down with Fine Artist Leon Johnson

MATT: Leon, thanks for the time. First, congratulations on the amazing piece of after-hours art you recently completed outside of our 831 Broadway storefront. Can you tell us your inspiration for that?

LEON: I appreciate the compliment. Tatiana Kilibarda was the art director for this project. She wanted a walking scene with a specific color scheme. I was inspired by everyday “moments of fun,” and “moments of simplicity” in New York City. I love to observe the diverse and vibrant sights and sounds of the city; I love meeting new people, documenting new experiences--I wanted the gate to be representative of the fun, yet simple moments of everyday life (young boy riding his bicycle; fashionable lady with matching shoes, skirt, and handbag; businessman in a suit, etc.) in New York City. Using vibrant colors helped me to create a bright, but simple scene of moments frozen in time.

Leon Johnson will open the batting tomorrow: Jason Holder

West Indies batsman Leon Johnson will come into the side in place of Rajendra Chandrika. (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Ahead of the third Test match against India to be played at the Darren Sammy Stadium, West Indies skipper Jason Holder has gone on to confirm that Leon Johnson will indeed open the batting along with Kraigg Brathwaite. Johnson, who had missed out on the first two…

Thomas, my friend:

  This morning my son Chest texted me regarding something both bewildered and baffled my senses.  Apparently he has been a frequent visitor to your blog, and he often keeps me updated on the happenings/questions/comments that routinely surface there.  Up until this morning, all he has reported to me, I've found to be uplifting and optimistic in the surf-dwelling world.  Virtually every report, each time, escalating to another higher level each time,  has lead me to believe that you are "more than" on target....you get it....almost to the point where you've touched beach-messiah level.  It's evident that you are more then a messenger of stoke......you're philosophy runs much deeper than anyone I've encountered in the last 20 years.  Back in the day, there were few fringe members of our T-street crew that spoke of the same things.....but all of them fell shy of fulfilling the walk of their talk because of poor personal decisions in their life.  Guys like 'String Bean' had a problem with the sauce and pot, and Ryan Blinkson couldn't keep his mouth shut when the law was on scene, which believe you me, always ended bad.....they were good guys with good intent with a good message, which is why we let them hang with us, but nothing they preached ever came to any meaningful fruition because their personal demons always got in the way of momentum.

  Which leads me to my point.  Chest claims that your blacksheep crew has grown to the point where your now demanding an application be submitted.  Furthermore, Chest informed me that you are also expecting to conduct some kind of an interview process to be included.  Thomas, this is all a bad move, and I'm pretty damn sure it goes against several key points in the Code.  It appears you are trying to over-commericalize, and over-corporatize the very free-spirited crew that you painstakingly have tried to put together in the right way......I fear you've been blinded by admiration of others......it's an honest falter, trust me I've seen it before.  When Voit emerged when sponsorship offers to Nico back in '79, overnight he became a different person.....and arrogant a-hole that got caught up in the booze, endorsement life and chicks, and he was alltoohappy to shit on all of his crew friends to get some face time for himself........we were able to bring him back to his senses with a late night beach intervention a few months later, but there has been nary a day since then, where he hasn't held his broken, thus crooked nose over our heads.  Nico did well financially later in life, and when several members of our old crew fell on hard times (one actually was living under a bridge) and came to him for help......he held that intervention over their heads, and turned some good guys that were simply down on their luck away, rather than to help a brother out.

  Thomas, I'm simply trying to warn/save you from yourself.  To save you from having to do the same thing to your crew, that Nico did to ours, you know,  in the future. 15 years from now, You don't want to have to clown and turn away that guy Potatohead or Mitchell or Starsky or Burnham or Roper or Rollo, when they come to you for a leg up, because you made it and they made poor decsions and are down on their luck.

  My advice....drop the application and interview process man....that doesn't jive with the beach scene.  Look, I gotta go....Mackie got popped at 6pm on PcH tonite with his 2nd deuce in 5 years.  If I've told him once, I've told him a thousand times when we've been out at Don's Inn at the Harbor....it's just not worth it to light it up and roll the dice like that....just call a damn cab, but like others I've known, he makes poors decisions and I end up being inconvenienced...as I now need to go down to Bell Bail Bonds and figure this shit out so he can be popped in the morning.  It really sucks, because Aricelli came back into town this morning from visiting her family in Mex, and we had planned to go walking down at Point Dume tonite, and every time that has ever happened a moonlit bonefest on a blanket on the sand has followed shortly thereafter.....and now that plan has been blown to hell.

  Look Thomas, please just keep it real......follow your heart.....lead them, but don't dictate. You'll thank me later if you drop this application nonsense.

  By the way, I'll ask again, is there any room for any members of me and my old crew in your Crew?  Our stories alone could advance your cause.  I never heard back when I asked the first time, so this will be the last time I ask.

The King invited me to his party, see below:

I know it's a bit late, but I wanted to inform you that Nico is throwing one of his best blowouts I've seen in the past decade.  Chicks everywhere, man.  Kevin Costner and his people were here earlier, apparently there is a beach property he is about to make an offer on to Nico...Cool guy, did you know he bodysurfs?.  Nico's pad is up on PCH, and there are a A LOT of people here and everyone is hammered right now......you should see the amount of tail in the spa right now.  We've had an epic day at the beach today.....we had three seperate session in the water....and we sauced on the sand in between each one... unfortunately, no Bsurfing, because we chose to ride Couny Line on short boards instead.....man the older I get, the harder it is to ride a shorty.....I got some decent rides, but today may have been the last time I'll do it.  I had to double up on the vikes just to take the edge off of my shoulder pain after the second session in the water.

  I think it would be good if you came up to the party tonite.....trust me it would be worth it.  This bash is shaping up to be one for the ages.  An hour ago, we ran out of whiskey, so I went down to the Trancas Market to grab a few liters, on my way out the door, some broad (no clue who she was, but she was an impressive piece of strange) said she'd like to come with me.......the next thing I know, I'm getting road head while having a road beer on the way there........are you kidding me?......I think she is the niece of one of Nico's real estate clients.....she's in her early 30's.....we've been back at the house for an hour now, and I've tried to hang out and just mingle by the firepit and all around, but this broad keeps honing in on me across the vast spaces of the house and backyard with intentive bedroom eyes.....obviously I'm gonna have to seal the deal at some point, but for god's sake,  it's only 10pm.

  Listen, we need to talk about the Blacksheep Crew......is there room for Leon and my son Chest in it?  Anywhere in it?  Please let me know.  (forget about Nico, I told him I was going to ask, and he clowned me, and told me he thought it was gay, and wanted no part of it).

First Leon got pissed at me:

Thomas,

  I sincerely hope things have been well for you as of late.  I know it's been a while since you've heard anything from me, but as you might remember, I've been dealing with a shoulder injury, and my insurance still doesn't kick in until the end of the month.  Nico has been great throughout this ordeal, hooking me up with his friend Dr. Saltzman who has provided me enough vikes and P.T. instructions to weather this storm.  Last month, Dr. Saltzman sent me down to one of his colleagues in National City, who previously had a practice in TJ, for some treatment of something called Prolotherapy.  I got the treatment for free, all I had to do was deliver some shoe box sized package to him, and he didn't have any quams whatsoever with working on me.  I was down there for a few weeks getting the treatment, and I swear I'm pretty close to being better now..........I mean, the shoulder ain't what it was before the injury, but I can sleep on it finally, and at least now the Cutty and vikes can kill the pain when it rears its ugly head, because before the treatment that stuff barely took the edge off.  Plus, I've gotten back out and charged at Pescador and the Strand in the past week.  I think things are really looking up for me.  Hopefully I can avoid surgery.  The results from this treatment have been amazing............I've even pulled a few chicks because I have my confidence back in the water.  When I got out of the water at Pescador, I was able to get a couple of 30 something year old broads who were watching me charge, to go back to Don's Inn at the Harbor for a few cocktails.......and the next thing you know, one of them was in the stink bug position in Nico's spa and I honestly don't know what Nico was doing with the other one.  With spring and summer on the horizon, timing for my shoulder to heal couldn't be better man. 

  In the last few months I've checked out your website a few times, but not recently, as I've given up all electronics for Lent.  But the posts I've seen, are awe inspiring to say the least.  You are a man of your word, a man of stoke, a man who knows fear exists, but is inclined first to smile at it, then trudge forward instead of retreat from it, and if shit goes bad because of that, then you'll deal with it when it presents itself.  You remind me of myself back in the day.   

  I'm emailing now because of some very recent things that I've been hearing from my crew and my son........and I'm sad to say, that the news I'm referring to isn't of a jovial nature.  As a matter of fact, with the reports I've been getting from Chest, Fernie, Mel, Sizemore,  and some others....I'd say it was equivalent to taking a big healthy bite of a shit sandwich.

  I'm breaking my Lent vow right now, as Nico is my witness.......Hell, I'm writing because........I'm gonna be honest here............. I'm not too altogether happy about a few things that I heard this weekend from my friends.   First off, Chest told me that you posted something about making a bsurf movie, and he said you referrred to me in that post, and that the movie would be about me.  Believe you me Hot Shot, that's not such a great idea Thomas......and I gotta warn you, if you plan to name that movie "Stoke on Film", you will have a shitstorm coming at you from me, buddy.  I've already told you I started filming a bsurf flick back in '07 and '08 and half of it is finished and in the can........I just ran out of funding and support (That sunuvabitch Nico really dicked me on that deal, especially when he recommended to Bert I. Gordon that he walk away from the deal too).  Funny thing though, one of Mr. Gordon's reps just contacted me 2 weeks ago to talk about finishing "Stoke on Film" and I have a lunch meeting with her on Wednesday.......and she's pretty hot, so the chances are good the deal will be sealed.  So do you see now why I'm so pissed about your recent post of jumping the gun on your movie?  I suspect you are scheming to steal my dream and get your movie made before I can, and knowing your cunning, you'll be tempted to use the name "Stoke on Film".  I respect you, but if you venture into this realm, you will be venturing into an abyss that I'm positive you are unfamiliar with, and I am an old salt in it.  From one friend/adversary to another......you've been warned my friend.

  The other disturbing thing came from a phone call I got from Mackie on Saturday.  He is on vacation with Panama, an old member from our T-Street crew back in the 80's, in Waikiki.  Mackie and Panama called me on Sat. to make me jealous that they were in a rented Ford Escape heading to the North Shore because there was a swell.  A little over an hour later, they called back and told me something that made the Stella I was drinking shoot out my nose.  Mackie said he saw you and a pack of dudes walking on the beach.  At first I told him to go introduce himself and Panama to you, but then he started describing the beach scenario to me, and something that he said seemed very unsettling if not unnerving.  He said your crew looked very ominous with fins in hand, almost with intent to intimidate any onlookers.  He was pretty sure one of the dudes was Gary Hall Jr., the rogue olympian with the "ugly american" attitude.  He said he swore he saw Burnham in the mix too...........which is when I, subsequently, told him to get the hell out of there and find another break up the shore, which him and Panama promptly did.

  My question to you is, why the hell are you hanging with a crew like this?  I didn't even know you were going to the NS.  It's as if you have also pilfered my idea of creating a Unity Crew, and you've done it all unbeknownest to me - completely cutting me out of the deal.  I know I've been out with an injury, but a shout out could have been the least you could have done brother.  Haven't I warned you that it's not a good idea to enlist liars, cheats, braggarts, dudes full of AHola, malcontents, thugs into a crew that really should just want to ride waves and maintain an anti-kook order just like our forefathers did?  Guys like this don't care about the code.......they would just assume whip their dicks out and piss on the code, rather than to give some green-horn-up-and-comer a chance to drop in and sharpen their craft on any wave.  Having guys like this can only lead to trouble, man, can't you see that?.  And now your flaunting this crew on the North Shore of all places?  I'm sure if you keep up these antics over there, there will be a 'visit' to your porch from some fellas wearing black shorts real soon.

  I wish you would have consulted me man.  I wish you would have told me about this trip. If you need any help, just let me know man.

  Respectfully Dissappointed,

  Leon 'King' Johnson

Then he apologized:

  Thomas,

  First and Foremost, I sincerely want to apologize for the cowardly, hysterical and frantical, if not ultimately disrespectful email I sent to you the other night while on vacation.  I am begging your forgiveness because I was suffering from a severe case of intemperence.......what I'm trying to say is that a few hours before I emailed you, my ex-wife's lawyer had just paid me a visit at Nico's pad on PCH to inform me that she is going after A LOT more monthly money from me than what was originally agreed upon between us and the court moderator about 4 or 5 years ago.  If she wins, it will literally leave me with exactly $38 dollars a month spending money.....she'll get the rest, for life.  How in the name of all that is holy can this happen in this country???  After he left, I coped with a bottle of Knob Creek, with a few Kettle One Dirties mixed in.  The next thing I knew, I was breaking my Lent vow by emailing, (all the while Nico, that sunuvabitch, was egging me on) and I ended up doing a severely dispicable deed..............attacking you, a good person.  I woke up the next morning, slumped over the keyboard and in a booze filled foggy haze, then I read what I had wrote the night before..........and immediatley had a panic attack and had several sharp pains in my chest........., mixed that in with the inability to shake off the dew from the night before...thank god Aricelli was there to talk me off the mental ledge I was on...that day was quite possibly the worst of my life.....shame, embarrassment, anger, worthlessness, impending doom...Aricelli got me out of that dark place, it certainly didn't hurt that she allowed me to have a shower beer while getting blown....I felt all these emotions that morning, it was like a whirlwind that I never want to go through again..  I've spent the rest of the week soul searching, and finding the courage to make ammends..... I've learned a valuable life lesson.....I want you to know that.

  Mackie and Panama were out on the NS looking at a potential property that Nico is thinking of investing in and they saw you and your crew this afternoon / evening again walking down the beach to charge somewhere.....and they called me......and this time I actually told them that I was wrong about you, told them I was hammered the other night and told them to go and make contact and offer aloha to you and your crew......but apparently I freaked them out pretty bad from my comments about your crew on Sunday, and they adamantly refused to do it..........they even went so far as accusing me of setting them up.  They thought I was leading them into some kind of shakedown, where they would either be ridiculed, clowned, or even beat down.  They thought I was in co-hoots with your crew.......that whole conversation with them tonite baffled me....I've never heard Mackie or Panama talk like this in such panic, never have they jumped bad with me in the 29 years they've been in me and Nico's crew..............which leads me to the next question, what in the hell are you guys doing/acting like over there that can cause this kind of paranoid mayhem in their minds?  I wish I was there to make all of it right, dammit.

  Look, I know I said some mean things about you and many of your friends, and I wanna make things right.......especially with Burnham.  I've seen him charge, and I've seen him mentor younger chargers, and do a lot of goodwill in the water.......so I have no right calling you and him sunzabitches and yellow bastards, and furthermore accuse you all of thuggishly delivering up sucker punches to the back of any unsuspecting inlander's head while they are  changing out of their wetsuit in the parking lot......I should have never said that......and I'm trying to make that apology statement right now.....by apologizing.....I'm hoping for a clean slate.  Will you please tell him I mean well and have total respect for him and want to offer him an olive basket once and for all?

  It's  just that, at times, he can also be a real a-hole with ill intent, which is why I warn others about him,he needs to change that about him, by the way,  have I told you that he has personally threatened me with bodily harm via the Yahoo group on many occassions, and he has proven to be a loose cannon with no center ground, so you should continue to watch him with one eye, because he can't be fully trusted and you should keep things in check with that guy at all times.. 

  About your version of creating your own Unity Crew and your idea of a movie.  I am cool with it.......because you are the next generation, and my time has passed......but of course, I do have an offer.  Maybe we could parnter in the venture, or at least you could include me in on the ground floor of these ventures.....so at the minimum, I could reap some small dividends in the deals.....I've already told you I have a lot of footage ready to go in the can.....and I have a guy with connections that seems interested again, see this link, his shop is legit , though his kids do most of the business dealings for him these days.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_the_Giants

  Look, it's bad enough that I feel like an ass for verbally attacking you, so my purpose is establishing legimacy right now.  I've attached a pic of me and Greg Deets when he gifted me a pair of his old skool UDT's in his backyard a few years back.  And I've also attached a pic of my Father Bruno (hung up in Nico's Stabbin' Cabin), taken in our backyard in Capo Beach back in the mid 70's when I was in my teens.  He was the one who taught me the Code, as his father taught him, he was the one with the stories of relying on his UDT's in a jam during his military service, was the one who taught a young Elvis Presely how to charge waves during down periods of the filmings of Blue Hawaii and Paradise Hawaiian Style  on Oahu in the 60's(legit story - no bullshit).  The old man was a mean, distant, cold hearted sunuvatbitch as a dad, but at least he taught me the basics of beach-scene insticts and how to handle the big shit.

  Thomas, I am the real deal......just way past my prime and in an alien world where localism and thuggery reigns supreme and I feel like I'm trying to swim upstream against a ridiculous current..... but  I plan on having you up to Nico's Annual Spring Fever Bash at his pad on PCH,........it's annually epic....... last year he chartered a Moosehead Lager Truck to roll up in the driveway until 4am.......tons of chicks and McConnehy and his hanger-ons are usually there in full force, though kooks, they tend to give the place "atmosphere"..... and I promise you, that you and your wife, can stay in the Stabbin' Cabin as long as you wish, and your friends too can crash in the house, enjoy the spa and the LACO waves just down the bluff....but we'll have to discuss Burnham's presence prior to it, cool?........just as long as you include me in any further deals that are in development by you.  Think about it, and get back to me when you get back stateside.

I love this guy.

Ask and you shall receive. Leon "King" Johnson watched me butcher the code, so he had to step in. A lot of this is a tongue lashing at me, so skip to the BOLD  stuff if you just want to read about THE CODE.

Mr. Melum,

  I wanted to let you know, that while me and you are still are in good standing..........you've opined on something that I am not at all in agreeance with.  Henceforth, I must diligently rebut it, and hopefully try to change your way of thinking about a certain very important subject.

  My son Chest just texted me from Rincon in a frantic tone, telling me to go to your blog..............I did.............and as Chest told me I would...........I was none too happy with what I read.

  Apparently, about a week ago, you stepped up to the plate and tried to explain what the 'Code' is.  I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I am that would venture in a subject matter that you are a mere infant in.  I had just begun explaining to you about this obviously lost code in our few correspondences, thus, you were no where near ready to formulate an opinion on the matter.....I'm so angry.....I can already see where this is going....I need to count to ten, take a shot, and remember why the important ones told me it was you that I should.......dammit.....

  .....wait....perhaps it is partially  my fault....perhaps I hadn't explained enough to you prior.  I'll take that, I'll take some of the blame.....and for that I won't lash out against you, rathercome at you with an educationist point of direction.  It's not your fault.....you are ignorant as are almost all these days.....my father, Bruno, told me a long time ago that I'd see this ignorance in my lifetime, and I've reacted incorrectly once it happened.....and for that I apologize.  You are the guy, Thomas, the one to bring it all back, to resurrect it.....even Nico agrees.

  As much as it dissuaded me from even commenting on what you wrote, your view on my view, and your own view of the Code is totally off kilter, totally sideways out of the realm of what it is and what it is meant to be.  You got a few things right, but the majority of it was, at best, disheartening and huge letdown.....but I still feel your potential fire burning. 

  First off, my shoulder is a mess.  MRI came back and it's shredded....Labrum is torn, and rotator cuff has a rupture, and they think the bicep tendon is less then 50% intact...........surgery is in March (once my Ins. kicks in).....so I'm out of the game, maybe for life......which is exactly why time is of the essence to get you on the right page you need to be on to carry on for the hope of the next generation.

  Second off, the Code has nothing to do with staring at dolphins.....sure they are great, but realistically, I could give two craps about dolphins.....don't catch them in tuna nets, or chum for them and gaff them........all that stuff I'm for, but in the grand scheme of things, screw them.....that ain't part of the code.  Furthermore, the code has nothing to do with the harmony of the beach scene, hippies, or handed out bagels to homeless people on the onramp of Camino Las Ramblas in O.C.  None of it.  Dammit man can't you see?  Perhaps you are ignorant of it because you haven't led the life I've been enriched with.....because your father, and his father before that.....were expert watermen who mastered both fins and boards in the big shit.....you see, they were part of something, something special amongst the elite that were worthy of paddling or swimming out in stuff that made most , farmer tanned, short sleeved button downed, blue collared kooks quake and just stare at in awe upon their brief visits to the beach with their obese, hair piled high wives.    My father Bruno may have been one cold hearted SOB that I hated when I was young and he was alive, but it's been only in my last 19 years that I finally realized what he was trying to teach me.......and now it's my time to give back and try to make things right.

  Look man, I"ve said too much.....my intent on this email is to assure myself that you are the one....and that you won't 'Say too much' before you are ready.   Because you seem to be so viral, and are quick to put to print what you don't really know, yet have the potential of knowing, I'll give you the Cliffnotes on the past 5 generations passed down......... 

The Code means respect...of ability to charge, to be cool, to pull chicks, to handle their liquor, to be a stoic represenative of the culture of the beach,.....plain and simple......The Code has nothing to do with Beach Thuggery in any form......The Code means localism doesn't exist as long as you can hold up your end of the stick in the heavy shit regardless of what break it is you are holding iup...if you have the ability to be out there, and give respect, then respect should be forthcoming..The Code means being kind to a guy who's skills may be less than yours, even when he is out there trying to hone and advance his skills.......even if that means he screws up a few waves you were lined up with and could have killed.....The Code is about honor, and when a disagreement happens on the sand, whether it be about being snaked, or a chick, etc...a simple handshake and soon to follow "Charge-Off" in the waves settles the whole matter...and even if some blows occurs being sets, and blood spills you could still end up having a beer with the guy afterwards, on the sand next to a bonfire with chicks around everywhere, and things are mellow.  The Code means, people of the ocean stick together, because inlanders don't get it, and can often be disruptive kooks (although, you should always be on the lookout for inlanders with pure beach instincts and a good heart and a desire to learn the artful guts of dropping in the big shit).  The Code is about booze, because after staring double overhead sets in the face, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and being pounded relentlessy fearing for your very life, the least a successful waterman in those situations should be able to do is reap the benefits of that subsiding adrenaline by partaking in some spirits on the sand with his friends as the sun goes down.  The Code is about chicks and the understanding if someone has a better day in the water then you, and at the afterparty you've been honing in on some broad all night, yet somehow your stoke filled friend ends up bending her over later.........then ultimately, you are happy for him because he earned it...........you don't get vindictive and sucker punch him at first opportunity.

  Look man, I've said too much already.  It's tough typing one handed........I've only scraped the tip of the pyramid of what the Code is, but before you went too far in the wrong direction I thought you needed this tough love email,  and me and Nico (and Mackie too) are hopeful that you will be a good student and not spout off too much about what you know not of......yet.  You are the hope of the next generation, unbeknownest to the Boomer Thugs (but in the grand scheme of things, who the hell are those clowns anyway?)to rid the good spots of worthless, and relentess, and pointless localism and thuggery that has cast a shadow from S. Cruz to San Diego for the better part of the last 35 years, each year growing worse then the one previous to it.

  Stay strong Thomas, there are many that are praying for you.