We’ve seen the two of them on the covers of magazines. We know their stories. But in the Sundance Channel’s original series “Iconoclasts” we get to hear it straight from Laird Hamilton and Eddie Vedder themselves. The series features two
We’ve seen the two of them on the covers of magazines. We know their stories.
But in the Sundance Channel’s original series “Iconoclasts” we get to hear it straight from Laird Hamilton and Eddie Vedder themselves.
The series features two leading innovators from different fields who come together to discuss their passions and creative processes. If you get the Sundance Channel, you’re going to want to tune in this Thursday at 6 p.m. to see the two of them interviewing and admiring each other.
“Anyone who loves the ocean is a friend of mine,” Hamilton said of Vedder.
Vedder said he used to daydream of surfing while sitting in school.
“I would be dreaming of waves and drawing waves on my notebooks,” Vedder said. “Laird is the person who turned those dreams into reality.”
The episode, which kicks off the second season of the show, starts off with Vedder visiting Hamilton’s home on Maui. And it’s pretty cool to hear Hamilton speaking pidgin and watching Vedder walking around strumming the ‘ukulele.
Hamilton shares his workout secrets and his trick to surfing the big waves.
“Having a song in my head while surfing helps slow things down,” he said.
It’s only a coincidence that he’s telling Vedder this, when Vedder at the time had just released a new album with a song titled “Big Wave” on it.
As Vedder plays it for him, Hamilton declares that it just might be his new theme song for surfing.
One of the episode’s highlights is when Vedder turns a photograph of Hamilton on a big wave into an over-sized painting and gives it to him as a gift.
“It’s interesting. If you take this person off the wave, then it’s just a wave,” Vedder said. “With Laird in it, he gives it a scale. Then you realize just how big the wave is and you appreciate the size.”
As well as a musician, Vedder is quite a painter.
The second half of the show picks up in Santa Barbara, Calif., at a Pearl Jam show.
Hamilton bikes to the show all the way from his home in Malibu — perhaps additional practice for the Pedal-n-Paddle for autism trek he recently completed. When it came time to perform the song “Big Wave,” Vedder dedicated it to his buddy Hamilton.
Out of all the interview shows on right now, this “Iconoclasts” is a special one. It’s almost like following two friends around, and it’s uplifting and not intrusive.
Both Hamilton and Vedder are far from media darlings, so the rare glimpse into the personal lives of these two icons was refreshing. And encouraging — they seem like genuinely nice guys.
Vedder will be in Hawai‘i again on Dec. 2 for a Pearl Jam show with the Kings of Leon at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu. The following week, Pearl Jam opens for U2 at Aloha Stadium.
“Iconoclasts” airs Thursdays on Oceanic Digital cable 646 at 6 p.m. and again 9 p.m.
Future features on “Iconoclasts” include the pairings of director Quentin Tarantino and musician Fiona Apple and poet Maya Angelou and comedian Dave Chappelle.
