(gentle music) - Coming up on "Curate."

(upbeat music) - [Danny] To have the museum recognize me, not for the work that I did in the '80s, but for the work that I've been developing, that's everything an artist could ever want.

- [Jacob] Tonight is the proof that the future of filmmaking is in great hands.

(upbeat music continues) - [Tracy] To have students able to have their work validated and honored, it goes beyond just the school.

- Thanks for tuning into "Curate."

I'm Jason Kypros.

- And I'm Heather Mazzoni.

What a ride it's been for Danny O, the Navy veteran turned surf culture icon.

- His unforgettable T-shirt designs paint an indelible chapter of Virginia Beach history, and his personal story is one of resilience and redemption, overcoming the roughest of seas to land in a most celebrated place.

- The Boardwalk Art Show's featured artist reflects on his legacy and the lessons that shaped him.

(sandpaper scratching) - Joining the Navy was not a dream of mine, it was a result of skipping school the whole time I was in high school and only going to the art room.

(upbeat music) My sister became sick with cancer my first year of high school, and I went to school every day, but I never went to class.

I used the dark room, I did silk screen, I did lithography, I did drawing, I painted murals, and then when it was time to apply to college, I had zero grades.

My grandfather was an electrician for the Navy, but he was also a photographer as a real serious hobby.

I drove to the recruiter's office and I just bluffed him.

I said, "If you can make me a Photo Mate, I'll join, otherwise I'll probably go talk to someone else."

And then he said, "You tested very high visually and they wanna offer you that position."

My whole plan was photograph these naval situations and then make illustrations from them, and that's what I started doing.

An admiral saw my portfolio and turned me into an Illustrator Draftsman.

There was no war happening, (upbeat music) so there wasn't a lot of work.

That's when I started drawing these guys.

(upbeat music) I got moved to a squadron called TACRON 21, and they were stationed down in Little Creek.

Around the same time, I'd discovered Virginia Beach and there was this surf scene and I thought, "This is the culture that I want to become a part of."

And so I wanted to use art to infiltrate that surf community.

The original shirt was a cluster of surfers with no mouths.

The tall one was West Laine.

I don't know if Wes ever knew that.

There was the guy that always had his back to you, and if he didn't have a shirt on, he had a butt crack.

He was always making out with a girl.

And then there were the dudes flanking on the ends that always had the flock of seagulls hair.

And those were all based on the true surfers from First Street.

I went to meet Lee Jones at 17th Street.

Lee looks at the design and he says, "You make this one pickin' his nose and give that dog a cigarette and I'll buy it.

How much you want for it?"

I said, "50 bucks."

And he says, "Okay."

And so they released it on Memorial Day weekend and they sold out right away.

It was the nose picker being this slightly naughty thing.

A lot of families with high moral fiber wouldn't let their kids wear 'em.

Then I came up with a shirt called Surf Naked and that shirt was banned in schools, and because that shirt was banned, all the kids wanted it.

They were selling 500,000 shirts a year.

It became iconic.

That's a pretty great feeling when you're 21, 22.

Fame is the wrong word, but well-known, and I had access to every club.

I did all their flyers, I did all their calendars.

(upbeat music continues) I got to have this amazing life.

I was loving being Danny O.

(seagulls squawking) (gentle music) At a certain point when the shirts are selling, one day I say to Lee, "Hey, instead of 50 bucks a design, can I get 75?"

And he had a bad reaction to that.

He says, "You didn't create this.

I did this.

I created this.

Get outta here."

And basically fires me.

And he immediately started hiring high school kids who were knocking off my style already and he started paying them.

When I packed up my stuff and left town, that was crushing, going through those tunnels I could barely see, and when I got to the other side, I pulled over and I was just a wreck because I had given everything to it and I was leaving it and I wasn't leaving like a winner.

It wasn't about the money, it was about the family that I thought I was a part of, and it was about this thing that I knew that I played a role in creating and it was over in an instant.

For decades, I carried that welt.

It haunted me and affected me.

Then I realized, "Well, what did I get from that happening?"

And it was the name Danny O was out everywhere and had a certain potency, so to have that as a young artist allowed me to stay in the game when the well was dry, there was no money in the bank, when I wasn't selling anything 'cause there was also a long period of time where I didn't have that.

(soft music) Many years later, I got sick with cancer, stage four, I had a big tumor on my neck and they whisked me in the naval hospital and they took care of me and cured me, and when I recovered from that, I asked myself, "What was the happiest time of my life?"

And it was Virginia Beach.

Good morning.

I applied to Neptune, I came down for that.

Came down two weeks later for the Boardwalk Show, had a great show, and then this year they selected me to be the featured artist.

- Congratulations.

- Thank you.

Appreciate it.

To have the museum recognize me, not for the work that I did in the '80s, but for the work that I've been developing, that's everything an artist could ever want.

The nose picker character itself, which is this guy right here.

- Oh my god, I love it.

- There he is.

- He's the one that really stuck.

Usually at those shows, there's a lot of downtime, and that show is not like that at all.

I was on my feet the whole time, I was talking to people the whole time.

Being the featured artist and getting all the publicity that they give you, the signage they give you, and the T-shirts sold out before noon, and that was awesome for me too.

- We are with Danny O, our featured artist as part of the Boardwalk Art Show.

- To give the art talk at the museum with my painting behind me, it was the best art day of my life.

To be able to share with people my story and then to follow it up with signing prints, it's almost like a surreal moment.

For the Virginia Beach art community to love me the way they do is an amazing thing.

The tribe or the band that you hang with really shapes who you are and there's a really great group of people that I've been blessed to have show up in my life.

(quiet music) There was a time where I made a prayer that I wanted to be an artist, and didn't feel like I had the intellectual property to inherit that crown, but I had the work ethic of my mother and my father, and I said, "I'll do good things."

And because of that, opportunities come to me.

Over time, I have learned to take a negative and turn it into a positive.

All these things that I could have looked at with an attitude, and I did maybe for decades, and when I came back to Virginia Beach, I was like, "I don't wanna bring any of that bad feeling.

I wanna bring the lessons that I learned from that."

And because I was the person sharing the lessons and not the angst, I think I was able to grow that goodness.

The art world would say, "Putting your art on shirts is like a low-level thing to do."

And I say, "How big is the reach?"

- Right.

- The reach is gigantic.

- Exactly.

- And affordable to everyone, it's wearable.

I can't really digest what has happened in the last two weeks that I've been here.

It still feels like I'm gonna wake up from it, or I gotta get used to it, and I'm leaning more towards getting used to it.

(upbeat music) - "Retro Underground" provides a comprehensive exploration of classic punk, post-punk, hardcore and new wave music, Saturday nights at 10:00 on WHRV, and Sunday night at 8:00 on WFOS.

When the movie industry was shut down during the pandemic, award-winning actors Trent Garrett and Jacob Young had an epiphany.

- They realized that location no longer mattered and that people all over the world should have the same opportunities that people in Hollywood are afforded, and so they came up with Next Generation Storytellers.

- The program teaches students the art of cinema, both virtually and in-person, and it's been a roaring success.

- Faculty and students from the cities of Hampton-Newport News and Charleston, South Carolina, converged on the campus of CNU to view the films they created and celebrate each other's successes.

- Now without further ado, the creators of the Next Generation Storytellers, Trent Garrett and Jacob Young.

(audience cheering and applauding) - One of the silver linings of Covid was normalizing platforms like Zoom and Google Meets, and so we found for the first time a pathway and opportunity to connect Hollywood to hometowns, and we started right here in Hampton Roads, my hometown.

- We're beyond thrilled to be here tonight, celebrating the incredible talent of these young filmmakers.

- We created a 24-week curriculum on how to make a movie.

First eight weeks is a screenwriting program, and then the next 16 weeks we go through cinematography, camera operating, sound design, sound mixing, all the way through production assistance, and then at the end of the 24 weeks, we make their movie, bring it to life.

We started Next Gen with one mission, to elevate those voices that are too often unheard, unseen, and underestimated.

- And tonight is the proof that the future of filmmaking is in great hands.

- We, working with Hampton City Schools, Newport News Public Schools, three different Charleston County school districts, and Christopher Newport University, which is the Ferguson Center where we're at right now, they gifted their beautiful venue for our film festival.

- Acting is one of the most challenging parts of filmmaking.

It requires stepping into a character's shoes and bringing them to life on screen, and that's what these young actors have done so well.

(audience cheering and applauding) - When I wrote this, I had to face the fact that my dreams actually might be possible.

Thank you.

(audience cheering and applauding) - High school students don't really have that much of a voice, so I feel like this is a great opportunity to tell a story of a part of society that's not really talked about as much.

- Every experience we learn from, so it's beautiful to see the power of your point of view.

Don't ever lose that.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Originally I was just looking into acting on stage, but now it's truly given me a chance to see what being in a film is like, so this is genuinely something I'm considering now too.

- If you're a young, aspiring actor, you're told, "Oh, you gotta go to LA, you gotta go to New York."

With this program, you don't need to go anywhere.

That's just incredible.

(audience cheering and applauding) Thank you.

- When we saw it on the screen, it was just crazy because we made that, we were the actors, or directing, and it was just such a cool experience.

- I am thrilled to announce the recipient of the very first Christopher Newport University Next Generation Storytellers scholarship, Antonio Pitts.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Welcome to "Curate Presents."

I am Kayda Plus and I am here with Madysen and Tracy.

So, working with Next Generation Storytellers, did you ever think that there would be opportunities like this in Hampton Roads?

- Absolutely not.

Any town that isn't in New York, California, big places, they don't get a lot of Hollywood stuff.

You don't see that kind of thing, so it was very surprising to get the email saying, "Hey, you wanna join this?"

- What are some of the things that first come to mind when thinking about what you learned during this process?

- I learned a lot about all the different roles that come into play when filming.

A lot of people think mainly about the actors and the directors and the main people, but they forget about everyone else that's doing so much to make these films happen.

- Yeah, teamwork makes the dream work.

Speaking of making the dream work, I got this list of awards and I couldn't, there was no way I could have memorized all this.

What's this, VAFF Official Selection, Indie Short Fest Nominee, Best Student Director and Best Student Short, Young Filmmakers Official Selection.

You got Indie X Film Fest Nominee, Best Drama Short.

There's a lot of them, there's a lot of awards.

How do you feel about this?

- Trent calls and he's like, "Hey, I entered you into a bunch of these contests and hey, you won this one and you won this one and you got into official selections in this one," and it's just, it's insane.

- Yeah, that's beautiful.

What's it like being an educator, seeing something like this happen with a student?

- To have students able to have an opportunity, not just to do the thing that they think they like, right, but to experience the full version of it, to really like go to work on this project, and then to see their work validated and honored and awarded and then it goes beyond just the school, right?

It goes to all of Hampton-Newport News, to this giant film festival that Trent and Jacob have created, and then it goes to the States and all the people around the state are seeing it, and now it's all over the country and international.

That's amazing.

- So let's talk about the film, "Until Daylight Comes."

What's that about?

- [Madysen] It's a drama about two brothers and one of them has cystic fibrosis, so we see them dealing with family stuff, with sibling bonds, and also dealing with everything that comes with a disease like that.

- All right, so as far as your future in filmmaking, how does that look?

- I wanna keep with it.

I have applied to college and I am hoping to get in and continue a career in writing and minor in film so that I can continue doing this.

- What's next with Next Generation Storytellers?

- We have had screenplays submitted.

They're off to the reviewers to read and to pick our next round of films.

We're also, at the same time as they're doing that, having workshops, Movies 101, where we're teaching students who think they might be interested in working on the movies, what it takes to make a movie, and then we'll have auditions, and we expect, I believe, to shoot our next round of films probably around the June timeframe as we've been doing, and magic will happen.

- I definitely believe it will.

It has been great talking with you both.

I thank you for letting me pick your brain a little bit.

- Thank you.

- And with that being said, we get to see "Until Daylight Comes."

- [Benj] With all due respect, which is none, how exactly are we gonna get back out of here?

- [James] Come on, Benj, I mean, look, I know these woods like the back of my hand.

Don't you trust me?

- [Benj] Not really.

(gentle music) - And look, we're almost there.

(metal clanking) Thanks.

(gentle music continues) (birds chirping) (leaves crunching) After you.

(gentle music continues) (birds chirping) You know, I think this is the first time you let me take you out into the woods, I mean, since we were little kids and you know, Dad was still here and all, but you know, after a few years you outgrow it and preferred books to my frankly amazing company.

- You just looked so excited about camping.

Don't let that go to your head.

- Yeah, all right.

- James?

- Mm-hmm.

- Do you think I'm gonna live long?

- What kind of question is that?

- I don't know, it's just all the research I've done on this stupid disease.

I know we've come far in how long you can live with CF, but what if I'm not one of them?

What if it gets bad?

We already lost Dad, how could I do that to Mom?

- Look, you're not gonna do that to Mom, all right?

You know why?

Because you're gonna live until you're old and you're as wrinkled as a raisin, okay?

Look, Benj, as long as I'm here, that stupid disease wouldn't dare take your life from this world.

(gentle music) - Thanks James.

- Yeah.

(gentle music continues) (owl hooting) Do you remember that song that Dad used to sing us?

It's something like, "I'll tell you a story about a..." No, no, no, no.

- "I'll tell you a story about a boy like you, a happy boy like Jamesie, no one ever knew."

- How do you remember that?

I mean, you were like eight when he died.

- I don't know.

I remember the whole thing.

- That's crazy.

Good memory, man.

I couldn't even think of that.

The whole thing.

- Yeah.

(gentle music) (mourning dove cooing) (Benj coughing) - You okay?

- Yeah.

(coughing) I'm fine.

It's just usual.

(coughing continues) - All right.

Here.

Dude, you gotta work on your catching skills.

- Yeah, yeah.

Anyway, wanna head home?

Mom's probably expecting us back soon.

- Sure, yeah, let's get picked up.

(gentle music) (birds chirping) She probably hates me.

(gentle music continues) - You remember that.

(laughing) Hey, Mom.

- Yeah, we're back.

- Back from where, James?

I got home and you had just disappeared.

- We were camping, remember?

Benji's celebration.

- What is this some kind of game?

I can't handle losing another son.

- Losing another...

Mom, what do you mean losing another?

(Benji coughing) Benji, please.

Why don't you get evaluated?

- I don't wanna deal with getting a transplant until it's necessary.

Doc said my lungs are doing better, all things considered.

What's the worst that could happen giving myself a few extra years before I take that chance?

- Yeah.

Okay, I guess I can see that.

Yeah, you're probably right.

(gentle pensive music) - We've done everything that we possibly could.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

(mom weeping) (somber music) (James weeping) - No.

No.

No.

(somber music continues) No.

(somber music continues) (James weeping and panting) He's gone.

He's really gone.

(birds chirping) (reflective music) (leaves crunching) (birds chirping) (reflective music continues) (birds chirping continues) (reflective music continues) (birds chirping continues) (reflective music continues) (birds chirping continues) I'll tell you a story about a kid like you, a happy boy like Jamesie, no one ever knew.

And along came Benji, here to save the day.

(birds chirping) He was Jamesie's hero.

It was them against the fray.

(birds chirping) (pensive music) I know now that you're really gone, but I miss you.

(birds chirping) I hope that you're with me.

(pensive music) (leaves crunching) (pensive music continues) - Wow.

Did high school students really come up with that?

- Yeah, it's amazing.

- I can't believe that was created right here in Hampton Roads.

I mean, it felt like something you would see on the big screen.

- It just goes to show you that with the right tutelage and equipment, anyone can bring Hollywood to their own backyard.

- Yeah.

I love that.

- Me too.

- Hey, and don't forget, our segments and TV shows can all be found on WHRO.org/curate.

- That's right, and we will see you next time.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues)