Sunshine, hot days and summer vacation have induced the seasonal migration to the beaches. After months of flat seas, a couple of storms have come up the East Coast over the past few weeks, bringing some nice waist-to-chest-high swells to the area, and surprisingly, a deluge of surf-inspired media. Two big-name surf movies, a variety of surf music and a local zine are currently washing across our shores.

In a session at North Beach in Hampton last week, amongst the Wall-to-Wall crowds vying for waves I realized just how popular surfing has become, even in a place where wetsuits are worn year round.

Here's the surf report for dry land.

When Thomas Campbell's new surfing movie Sprout plays at The Music Hall this weekend, it will literally be the world premiere of the movie, which will be making a horseshoe-shaped tour of the East, Gulf and West coasts of America. I talked with Campbell on the phone from New York last Friday, where he was doing some last-minute editing of the movie-"fierce editing," in his words.

As opposed to other surf movies, such as 2003's Step Into Liquid, which is geared toward more of a general audience, Sprout is more for surfers. "When I was making the movie, I didn't worry if something was too technical," says Campbell. With that said, the movie should be enjoyable for those who don't surf, too. Compared with his previous film, The Seedling, Sprout is "more developed and higher quality." While The Seedling was exclusively traditional single-fin longboarding, Sprout also includes body boarders and surfers on modern short boards, eggs and fishes (modern shapes, in less technical terms).

Campbell grew up in California and worked as a rider and a photographer for Transworld Skateboarding Magazine and Skateboarder Magazine for 10 years. "Joel Tudor, who is one of the best longboarders in the world, is a friend of mine. We used to skate together, and he convinced me to start filming him. That's where The Seedling came from."

Campbell's movies follow in the tradition of '60s surf filmmakers like Bud Brown, Greg MacGillivray, and Bruce Brown, who used to tour their movies around the country. Campbell has created a sort of festival feel to his movie tours, combining a musical act, stars from the film, a talk about the film, a raffle, and the movie showing. For the Portsmouth showing, Campbell will be joined by surfers Alex Knost, CJ Nelson, Devon Howard and Dan Malloy. The showing will also feature a live musical performance by Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney before the screening.

"(Sprout) has a gorgeous soundtrack-really pretty, actually. It's not slow, but I think it fits better with surfing than, say, punk rock. I mean, I love punk rock, but I don't think it works too well with longboarding." The soundtrack includes artists such as Tortoise, Hope Sandoval, The Mojave Three, Tommy Guerrero, Him and the Sprout house band, which is comprised of Jack Johnson and Tommy Guerrero, among others, playing instrumental music they wrote for the film.

What's next for Thomas Campbell? "My main job is as an artist. I'm a painter. I do exhibitions. That's mostly how I make money-making these movies is how I lose it." Campbell is looking forward to getting back to painting and a less hectic life; but fear not, he says he has way too much footage, so within the next year or so he plans to put together another film. The DVD for Sprout comes out in November.

Campbell and crew are looking forward to getting into our frosty waters. "The furthest north I've surfed was around Montauk (eastern tip of Long Island, New York). We're all actually really looking forward to it."

Sprout will play The Music Hall on Saturday and Sunday, July 31 and Aug. 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12, and they can be purchased by calling 603-436-2400 or by visiting The Music Hall box office at 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth. The Web site for the movie is www.trimyourlifeaway.com.

more tasty waves coming soon

Surf movies at The Music Hall don't stop with Sprout. On Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m., Riding Giants, Stacy Peralta's documentary about big-wave riding arrives as part of the Real to Reel movie series. Skateboard innovator and godfather Peralta's previous documentary, Dog Town and Z Boys, delved into the world of 1970s Southern California and the birth of modern skateboarding.

Riding Giants brings the big-wave-riding culture to light in the same well-documented fashion. Peralta provides an in depth history of surf culture and technology over the past 30 years in a way that's captivating to surfers and non-surfers alike. At the same time, the film brings the viewer directly into the waves-to experience the sheer vertical drops and intense speed of an adrenaline sport.

Narrated by Sean Penn, Riding Giants was the opening film selection at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

surf movies on DVD

Looking for a bigger fix? I talked with employee Kevin Rafferty at Cinnamon Rainbows surf shop in Hampton about recommending some picks for home viewing.

Siestas & Olas (Dan O Surf Films, 1998): Dan Wozniak's surfing journey through Mexico, a three-month-long road trip along the entire Mexican Pacific coastline from the Baja Peninsula to Puerto Escondido. Spanish for "Naps & Waves," it's old-school surfing with a mellow soundtrack.

The Far Shore (Soul Carver Productions, 2002): Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson, the original surf explorers disappeared in 1972 for 10 years to California, Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Ireland, West Africa, Morocco, France and Fiji. This film chronicles that adventure through still photos and Super 8 footage.

Step Into Liquid (Top Secret Productions, 2003): Dana Brown brings a well-rounded film that caters to surfers and non-surfers alike. Following in his father Bruce's footsteps, this is pretty much Endless Summer 3, updated for the new millennium. Includes a segment on big wave tow-in surfing.

Campaign (Poor Specimen Productions, 2003): Taylor Steele's new-school surf movie does battle with the long-reaching tentacles of commercialism and the corporatization of the surf world.

Drive Thru (Poor Specimen Productions, 2004): The third in the Drive Thru series heads to Australia for 14 days with three surfers.

Wanderjahr (Justin Game Productions, 2004): Brendon "Margo" Margieson is one of the best "freeriding" surfers on the planet. This documentary follows him as he spends a year traveling and surfing-plain and simple. He's managed to carve out a niche for himself while staying out of the competition aspect of the sport.

and more locally....

Project Swich (VarCity Productions, 2003): Joe Carter is a local surfer from Hampton who started making movies as a youngster. His fourth movie takes him to exotic locales like New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey (with travel section footage from Hawaii, Costa Rica and California). This is "the best Northeast video ever" according to Rafferty. Soundtrack includes local bands such as Satan's Teardrops and Thee Monkey Butlers.

Rica Rico: Ralph Fatello is a local guy who is dedicated to surfing. He regularly records friends and family surfing and puts it on DVD. His latest movie brings to the small screen the spoils of the East Coast's winter surfing refuge-Costa Rica and Puerto Rico.

for the literary set

The Summer Sessions (volume 1, session 1, July 2004): This free, eight-page zine started popping up around the Seacoast last week in local surf shops and downtown record stores. Styled with black-and-white minimalism, it's filled with personal essays that delve into the soul of surfing in New England, an interview with a local board shaper, CD reviews, and even a recipe for apple walnut pancakes for long-lasting surf sustenance. Creator Pete Miller of Elliot and Adena Harford of South Berwick spent the winter dreaming about surfing at school at St. Michael's College in Vermont. Lots of literal cutting, pasting and photocopying later, The Summer Sessions came to life. While I was sitting in an overly air-conditioned office writing about surfing, Miller was out riding great waves until after dark. In fact, he was barely able to drag himself out of the surf by press time. "We wanted to write about surfing, to write about something we love," he said when we reached him. The pair hopes to have their second issue out in September.