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
20 episodes
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 20--Nat Young
Modern day competitive surfing is not for the faint of heart. For starters, you're dealing with the many moods and faces of an unpredictable ocean, where simply having a quality wave come your way requires a tremendous amount of luck. ...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 19-- Anthony Ruffo
There are few places in the world of surf that have left an impact as powerful as Santa Cruz, California. From big-wave legends such as Richard Schmidt and Peter Mel, aerial pioneers Shawn “Barney” Barron and Jason “Ratboy” Collins, to competit...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 18-- Shane Heath
Caffeine. For all its many blessings, there can be a cost. Anxiety, jitters, irritability and fatigue can occur in those who overindulge in their preferred form of caffeine, but due to it’s ubiquity and accessibility, people can find themselves...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 17--Scott Crump
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 b...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 16--Noah "Waggy" Wegrich
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 l...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 15--Brock Johnson
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 ...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 14--Kyle Marty
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 lesson...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 13-- Tyler Fox
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 ...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 12-- Kyle Thiermann
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...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 11-- Michel Junod
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 exp...
Split Peak Soup Episode 10--Shaun Burns
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 reputa...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 9--Clifford Dinsmore
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...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 8-- Claudio Morales Bettini
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 tra...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 7--Ana Bachmanova
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 secur...
Split Peak Soup Episode 6--Jimbo Phillips
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...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 5--Ethan Estess
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 crea...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 4--Andre Gioranelli
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 ...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 3--Shane Rafferty
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 r...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 2-- Lanny Hendrick
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 wher...
Split Peak Soup Podcast Episode 1--Matt Myers
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 Sa...
