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Skate the Hate (STH) is a New England blade competition, organized each year by Gabe Holm on the hottest and most humid day of the year, in the middle of nowhere Massachusetts. Despite these things, STH also happens to continually be my favorite event of the summer. The unique location allows for the entire competition to go down at a single spot, local sponsors get a chance to open shop, and the entrepreneurial bladers light up their grills and open food stands. Like any event, it’s also a great way to spend the day with friends and familiar faces.
It’s about 6:30 pm on a Friday and I’m currently sitting in a hell I like to call a hospital waiting room. My leg is nine different colors and swollen after making the decision last week that I’d warm up by transferring a kink rail at “A Day in the Zoo,” Kalamazoo, Michigan’s semiannual street and park comp. I figured I would write this article while here in the waiting room ’cause I know I’ll probably be here for the next few hours…
“Strange Creatures” is a new blade video by Amir Amadi featuring the best up and comers from California as well as a select few guests. The premiere was held this weekend at Amir’s auto shop in San Clemente. The event drew a great crowd of support from not only all of California, but also Phoenix, touring friends from Chicago, and representatives of Valo, Rat-Tail, Revolution, Vibralux, and SDSF who all proudly endorse the flick.
Greg Sturino and I met up with good friend and west coast photographer Jeremy Condamine in the Bronx, then headed out to some spots. We decided to warm-up on this kinked handicapped rail, which is a famous NYC spot located near Fordham University. The rail has been featured in several NYC videos such as “1131,” “Nature ONE,” and “Urban Royalty.” This place is a great warm-up spot, not only because of the perfectly mellow, kinked handi, but also the waxed up c-ledge at the bottom. Most choose to skate this rail from top to bottom, but Greg laced this trick going the other direction. As the rail launched him out onto a large sidewalk, Greg laced this bomb 360. I was able to time the shot perfectly to show the huge air he caught. Shot with one strobe up and left beyond the gate. — Sam DeAngelis
The Gypsy Tour rolls on. Here’s a look at the tour’s third stop in Winnipeg. If you read French, check their site for a full write up. — ONE
Paul John just sent over this ad he worked up for the new JUG Shoes line. It features Brian “BFree” Freeman, and Rory Melehand and Adam Exline aided with the production. Directed, of course, by Paul John for Midnight Cinema. — ONE
It’s a Sunday afternoon, there are three cars of bladers and no clue where to skate. We ended up at the new skate plaza in East LA, but were at a loss for ideas after that. Turns out I left my camera bag at Abel’s place after picking him up in Eagle Rock, so I had to backtrack with two cars following me. We ended up eating while trying to figure out spots. As luck would have it, we were near some low handicap rails in the area we’ve been meaning to check out for a while. On the way, we came across these down rails. You might recognize them from Alex Broskow’s “Drip Drop” section — he backslides the entire thing through the curve. Let me say it is far more daunting in person. It’s steep, fast and the bushes have thorns. That doesn’t stop Anthony Gallegos. He laces half cab fish and Half Cab Top Mistrial through the curve. Though it took me more than a few tries to get the timing right since he was flying down the rail. He was patient and consistent, two great assets while trying to photograph a rollerblader. He still killed it at the next spot, but that’s another story completely. Canon 7d, Tamron 17-50mm, Nikon sb-25 up top at full power, and sb-24 down below at half power; 1/500, f/5.6, iso 640. — Jonathan Labez
There’s been some changes at the LA All Day, one of which is to the schedule. Carlos and Tracy want everyone to know there is NOT an event this weekend. The next LA All Day is August 7th. We suggest you come out and support a great happening in the world of blading. If you’re gonna come, check out the site for updates on what to expect/do. — ONE
Want to share the story of your scene and what you’re doing on blades this summer? Then take a note on initiative from Cesar Macay who dropped this gem in our inbox. Check out what he captured one day when a bunch of NYC legends got together on a 100-degree day at the recently unveiled Flushing Meadows skate plaza. Disla. Nunez. Dedentro. Do it. — ONE
Tri-State Skate Shop, located in Hillburn, NY, is the only rollerblader owned shop in the New York area, and this past weekend Tri-State Skate welcomed NIMH Pro Rider Montre Livivngston. Montre brought with him renowned photo/videographer Kevin Dowling, recent winner of the Olympus PEN Contest. They are currently working on filming a documentary which has potential to further expand worldwide appreciation for the rollerblading industry.
Crowd shot from the top of the ramps.
On July 10th, Woodward West opened up the camp to host hundreds of rollerbladers for the latest AIL contest and the Intuiton $500 best trick.
As a long time Woodward fan, I have enjoyed checking out the facilities at the camps that are scattered across the U.S. I believe that these camps are ideal for training in hope of becoming an action sports champion.
July 25th is the 4th Annual Skate the Hate comp in Carlisle, MA, hosted by Gabe Holm (check out his sick pic in ONE #17). Judging from last year’s turnout, we’re pretty sure most of you in the area are planning on attending. There’s three divisions: 30+, Open and Grom. Look for more info at the comp’s website, and check back later for the full story. — ONE
Greenville, SC got a taste of some great blading last weekend when David Dodge’s Shredfest 2010 went down at Ximeno Skatepark. Bladers from all over the Carolinas came out to show their support and roll with friends, and now Dodge has blessed us with this edit showcasing the action which led to these final results: Jon Cooley, 3rd; Phil Gripper, 2nd; Thomas Martin, 1st; and Best Trick went to Riley Hilsman. — ONE
What a country we live in. America has given the world jazz, boombap, the airplane, the iron lung, bubble gum, sunglasses, the electric guitar, fast food, deodorant, napalm, the microwave oven, cable television, the zamboni, the internet, potato chips, rolled toilet paper, the escalator, photographic film, air conditioning, and, of course, rollerblading… you’re welcome.
It’s was Saturday afternoon in Long Beach, California. I went to skate with my buddies Gregory Preston and Anthony Gallagos, to see what spots Long Beach had to offer. I met up with them downtown and to my surprise, Dylan Davis and Mike Dempsy were there, too. We went to a church with a painted stair set you can grind across, and a strangely-placed rail with a stairwell that leads into dirt. Mike tinkered with a few tricks but ultimately decided on backside royale to inspin 180 wallride. He’s filming for his latest video, “Lunch,” so he was trying to get the trick just right. It worked out for me since it gave me time to figure out the shot. It was a tough spot to setup for, with the church reflecting the unadulterated midday sun. I thought about strobes for half a second, but it was already bright. Even at full blast, the two speedlites I had on me wouldn’t be able to surpass the blinding sun. That’s fine, why complicate things, right? Another problem I had was with timing. Either catching Mike too early or too late on the wall. I wanted both feet on but it wasn’t happening. Anthony made the suggestion of shooting it as a sequence, which was brilliant! The 7D shoots 8 frames a second, capping out at 20-25 frames, which was plenty for the trick. I shot 4-5 sequence shots; the last set I thought was the IT shot. Mike had one more try in him, so I thought why not try a single shot since I figured I had the timing down from the sequences. Mike went and I hit the trigger. Picture perfect. I knew then and there that it was the shot. Canon 7D, Tamron 17-50mm. 1/400th sec, f/4.5, iso 100. — Jonathan Labez
As a resident of a blading house, one must learn to be ready to go at the drop of a hat. It rarely ever happens, and I rarely ever am, but sometimes the stars align and we manage to get something done. Arizona summers discourage this behavior, which is why we get generators and go out at night. Here’s Luke Kimberly with a backside backslide while wrapping up filming for Devan Stewart’s “Friendsyoucaneat.” The generator offered virtually no light to my camera, so I had a Vivitar 383 at 1/2 power at the bottom of the stairs, and a Vivitar sf-4000 about 8 feet directly behind Luke. Camera was set at f/3.5, ISO 800, at 1/125 second. Shot with a Canon 7D and Canon EF28-135mm IS USM. — Kris Troyer
Here it is, your first look at ONE Issue #17. We’ve spent the last several months compiling the best blading materials to make this issue possible. Featuring outstanding BCSD X coverage from John Haynes, a Spotlight with wunderkind David Sizemore shot on-location in Georgia by Dustin Spengler, a trip around Chicago for a Spotlight with Paul John, a history-filled 15 Minutes with Minnesota legend Jon Robinson, Sound Check with Brother Ali, a Scene check in Australia, Folio with ONE friend Ryan Schude, and a Picks gallery that runs deep. Get your copy in August when it touches down worldwide. — ONE
Okay, Rob, let’s get this started. What have you been up to these last few months?
Working mad overtime. The air conditioning business in South Texas is almost more than any of the local companies can handle. Money is good, so I can’t really complain. I’ve been trying to blade when I can throughout the week. Bought my ticket for SDSF Open. Juiced on seeing people I haven’t seen in years. Being 28 and paying rent takes somewhat of a toll, but I blade hard for the love. Just hope to inspire the younger cats to get in as deep as myself.
We got this dispatch off a carrier pigeon Matt Mickey sent from Tehachapi where he’s been living it up for Intuition week:
“This weekend is a HUGE AIL contest, as well as the highly anticipated $500 Intuition Best Trick. Chris Haffey will be here to defend his best trick victory from the same comp last year. Intuition riders Jeff Stockwell and Rachard Johnson will also be shredding for the cash. Arlo is working on a one of a kind mural in the exclusive Art Park section of Woodward West, which will be unveiled at the contest on saturday.”
Along with the message was a video. It’s embedded below the break.
We’re not sure if this comp goes all the way back to the events Matt Lorch used to host, but we’ll pretend it does. If you’re a blader around or near Indianapolis then you should mark your calendar for September 12th so you’re sure to make it to the Major Taylor Blade Jam. Check www.indianainline.com for more info. — ONE
I was on tour in Mannheim, Germany, with Grindhouse rider Maik Lojewski and Patrick Ridder. We wanted to get enough clips together for a “One Minute One Spot” Be-mag Edit, but unfortunately ended up having the clips not on one spot, but on several! We’d been skating a dfd-kinked ledge where Patrick laid down some sick lines but got injured doing a topside pornstar, giving himself a bloody ankle. So I spent some time shooting Maik at Mannheim’s University that also turned out pretty good. Despite Patrick’s ankle situation, we still wanted to shoot photos, so we went to Worms, a smaller town right next to Mannheim. That’s where we found some nice concrete curbs and this rail to gap. Always super motivated, Patrick got pumped to do this “shifty” to Gap for the photo first try. Strobist: Canon 7D, 50 mm f 1.8, and two speedlights on full power camera left. — Peter Bender
For the past six months, the Oakland Thursday Night Skate has been a staple in the rollerblading community. It’s a session that is reflective of the old Friday night sessions that would go down at EMB in the late ’90s. The skatepark is a little run down, the ramps are warped and have nails sticking out, but every Thursday this session makes a person proud to be a rollerblader. The amount of community and support brought by the different people really shows the family that has emerged from a Thursday night skate. Sean Salazar has been shredding Thursday nights before I ever started attending. This pic of Sean is on one of the more sketchy obstacles at the park. The banks are slippery, the ledge is high, and the angle iron is sharp. Sean was a boss and laced this Acid Soul a few times will I was setting up to shoot it. Once I got everything set up, he laced the ledge a few more times until I got the shot I liked. The setup was simple: a Canon 5D MRK II with a 50mm 1.4 lens, shot at around F8 at 200, and I used a pro-photo ring flash at 1/2 power. If you’re ever in Oakland on Thursday you should hit up the session, it’s on 18th street off Adeline. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. And Sean, welcome to JSF. — Matt Bolger
I first met Texas’ Mason Richard and Scott Wells at Revolution’s Thursday Night Skate as they were passing through Arizona on a little two-man road trip. That same night at a little get together we got to talking, and decided I would tag along to California with them in the morning. In true rollerblader fashion, a few hours delay had me thinking it was just a good booze-inspired idea. They pulled through though and we headed out through the desert. One of my favorite things about rollerblading is the ability to go on spontaneous adventures with people you’ve known for less than a day, simply because you’re down with blading.
If you think about Texas, you’ll surely think about Dallas, San Antonio, Houston or Austin. If you think about west Texas, you’ll think of the red necks, cattle, oil fields that smell like money, dry spaces, drugs from Mexico, and strict cops. San Angelo, a city in the middle of nowhere, is a bit different. But is there love and inline skating in the land of the Concho River, where the dirt hurts your eyes and the sun burns your ass off?
This just landed in our inbox from Paul John. New York City. Billy O’Neill. Create Originals frames. We think you should check it out. — ONE
After recently moving out to Los Angeles, Mike Dempsey came home to Connecticut for a few days earlier this summer. After a couple of sessions at our lovely hometown park, we decided to go out and shoot a photo. We have been skating this rail for a long, long time. It’s actually right outside the high school we all graduated from. After an encounter with the new principal, he allowed us to continue shooting. Not more then 10 minutes later Mike delivered with this Front Torque. — Drew Amato
Saturday was an epic blade day at San Diego’s Robb Field Skatepark as bladers from all over SD, Long Beach, LA and elsewhere united in appreciation of blading and BBQ. Host Beau Cottington not only brought the grill, he brought his GoPro Hero cam and made this edit. Looking forward to the next session already. — ONE
We were searching for spots in a small Austrian village. After finding this nice little spot, Miro Kolb and Michael Witzemann were discussing tricks while I was setting up the flashes. I had to hurry, as it was already getting dark and I still wanted some of the mountains in the back to be visible in the shot. I think the snow covered peaks really add to the shot, so that’s at least something winter is good for! — Lui Summer
So Print Brigade is adding new team members and Mark Golembeski keeps making ridiculously quality edits. We like. Here’s new team rider Zach Smith shredding some skatepark on his new blades. Check PB for more info and stuff. — ONE
In August, Valo will release the Soichiro Kanashima tv. 2, the first pro skate from a Japanese skater. It’s surprising it has taken so long, as Japan has always had a strong scene and been a part of skating’s progression since the very beginning. No further proof
of that is needed than looking at the names of two of our most basic tricks: the Mizu and Makio.
Hey Central East Coast bladers, dunno what you’re doin’ on July 10th, but if you’re a drive away from Greenville, SC go meet up with David Dodge and Co. for Shredfest 2010. It’s at Ximeno Skatepark. As the flyer states, “This is a contest for rollerblading.” What more do you need to know? — ONE
I went on a gut feeling that this year the Montreal Classic would fucking rock. The last two years were epic and I wouldn’t expect any less in 2010. The Classic brings good vibes, good times, and amazing people, all mashed up into one venue. To me, the contest has always been the type of event where once-acquaintances become long-term, close friends.
After things came together with a last minute decision, we made the road trip from NYC to Montreal, Canada, safe and sound. We checked into a sweet hotel in the heart of the city and got some rest. At sundown, we then cruised over to Southparc Skate Park to be greeted with a free session and BBQ hosted by Danny Laroche, and Guillaume Roy of Lylac Skate Shop. Fast-forward to the free session. I immediately noticed raw talent, new faces, and even some old friends as well. It seemed as though the competition hype was focused into a chill vibe. Everyone was skating on such a tight level, and not necessarily to compete with each other. It felt like a session with close friends.
This kicked the trip off with some positive energy and set a mood for the entire weekend. Here’s what the contest itself looked like, through the lens of Sam DeAngelis. — Franco Cammayo
I got to shoot this photo because I was in Nyiregyhaza for the Autumn in the City skatepark contest. After the comp was over and the results were given, I went with Darco Baclija to the local football stadium rails where we were able to take this photo. Lucky for us the stadium was vacant. At first, Darco laced this rail royale, and after that he did top acid, but I thought the best trick for a photo on this handrail would be his soyale. Darco couldn’t see too much, because the light was not very good for skating, but even so he laced this Soyale, then we were off to the contest’s after party. — Arpad Zentai
While relaxing in the air conditioning at Revolution Skate Shop one day, James tipped us off to an abandoned hotel he’d heard a skateboard photographer talking about. He spoke of some stair rails and gaps, and best of all, an abandoned pool; something most, or none, of us have had the pleasure of shredding before. We set out in Arizona’s famous summer heat — I believe it was 113 degrees — to find this new spot. After climbing or squeezing through a rather large fence with an equally large “No Trespassing” sign, and wandering through the barren courtyard following decaying “POOL” signs, we discovered a massive pool with a 3-foot transition and 7 feet of vert. After some carving around and excessive sweating (and retreating to the gas station for more water), Chad came up with this Drop to Soul in the deep end, with a perfect 180 Mute grab out to flat. The failing batteries in my flash forced Chad to do this several times, and he did it again for a clip immediately after this shot. Shot at f/8.0, 1/250, with a Vivitar 383 about 15 ft left of the subject on full power. — Kris Troyer
If you’re a mean-jean electro-clashy sorta band and you made big waves with your first eponymously-named “major” album in 2008, then you travel and tour and make more waves with your crazy antics, why not release a new album two years later with the same (self-titled) name as the first? If you’re Crystal Castles you do that and don’t give a damn because you know it’s better than the last, and the haters can suck it. Gotta respect that. So the new album is out, and the haters are sucking it, and meanwhile “Crystal Castles” is earning itself the adoration of the music press once again. For bladers, we’re sure it’s on rotation and set to find its way into all manner of online blade edits. Sparkly, dramatic synths? Present. Distorted bass riffs? Of course. Alice Glass screeching and preening in a mesmerizing deluge of sonic engagement? You know it. Mix that with a driving beat that manages to mend itself with your body’s tempo and that’s something that’s hard to ignore. So don’t. Go see them on tour. All dates below the break. — ONE
Name: Craig Parsons
Hometown: Medina, Ohio
Years Blading: 13 years
Strongest Inspiration: Skateparks I haven’t been to. In the beginning it was guys like Arlo Eisenberg and Randy Spizer for their style and tricks.
Favorite Tricks: Top Acids and Unitys
Best Blade Memory: I remember the first time I ever saw Arlo, it was in an elevator in Las Vegas—for the championships. He asked me if I had change for a five dollar bill. I was just star-struck from that moment on.
Most Prized Piece of Blade Memorabilia: All the ASA medals I won, which are now really good coasters for the table.
Hey San Diego bladers, or bladers from elsewhere who may be in or near San Diego on June 26, come out to Robb Field Skate Park in Ocean Beach for some BBQ and blade action. Last time some pretty awesome and legendary dudes showed up, some of whom can be seen here, so we’re confident this session will serve up more good times and surprise visits. Thanks to organizers Beau Cottington and Kato for getting everyone together. — ONE
I don’t really have an amazing story, or a list of japes that lead to this shot of my good mate and all round spot slayer Adam Galwas being captured. All there is to be said is right now I’m starting to shoot a profile on Adam for UK-rolling, so keep your eyes open for that. I had this angle for this spot in mind for a while, and with Adam in full effect, as ever, we made our way to the spot where he bashed out this Truespin Mistral. I shot with my Sigma 10mm fisheye, lit the scene and Adam up with a Canon 540EZ at 1/4 power and a Vivitar 285HV at 1/4 power, both with diffusers, one flash was half way up the stairs and the other at the bottom. — Sam Cooper
Brandon “B Love” Hardin came to LA and did what most cannot — became a unique human. His style alone has set him apart from the beginning. One thing I remember about B is that he used to have this pair of shants (not quite shorts, not quite pants) that had duct tape all over the knee; he would wear them every day we skated. In hindsight they were horrible, but back in 1994-95, most of what we all wore was horrible. B has a coolness about him that is hard to find. His love of music, skating, women and combs drove his rollerblading success. His skating style is like no other. Not huge on the competition scene, but he does sport a gold medal for best trick from the first X-Games (farside soul to soul). An old school favorite of many pros today, B Love Hardin has set his legacy in stone, forever. B still lives in Venice Beach and is a die-hard Lakers fan. You can catch him balling on the Venice Beach courts most days… and hitting on chicks! — MO
This shot of Sacha Lopez was taken last fall. A small part of this was already used for the header of his rider’s page on the Grindhouse website. However, no one has seen the full shot so far. Something with the rim light went wrong due to some dust, or whatever it was that was in the air. But you can’t take everything in account, and sometimes the best shots are results of an accident. I really love how the rim light works with this cloud of dust. Later, I also saw the word “Farben” in the back, which means “colours” in German, and goes perfectly with the red sculpture of a car and the green plants in the front. — Lui Summer
Having been to Sweden before we can say, yeah, we’re jealous as shit. Fish and D. George are flying to the land of blondes and fjords to rep USD for a tour with the amazing crew at Hedonskate. If you’re able to meet up with the tour, do it. If, like us, you can’t, well, then, that’s why we’ll be showing/telling you all about it. Green is better! — ONE
A few weeks ago we went on little trip to Toronto, Canada with Brian Weis, Mikey Blair, and James Fisher. It started off pretty good, with me making it past the border despite not having my enhanced license. But we soon ran into problems. On the first day of blading we got booted out of almost every spot. The next day we got rear-ended, and couple of days later I split my head open. But despite all of that we had a great time. Thanks to Kevin Chow for being a great host, to his girlfriend Rebecca for putting up with us, and to the Toronto bladers for coming out and skating with us. Even though it was way too hot outside. — Cody Boulay
This past weekend I met up with Ramelle Knight, Rafael Herrera, John Stephens, and imagynethat.com. These New York City natives traveled to New Jersey to catch some clips for Joseph Perez’s new video titled “Fitted.” Ramelle Knight is known for his textbook style and expansive trick vocabulary, and certainly shows it in this picture. Ramelle has laced every spot in New Jersey I’ve taken him to beyond my expectations. In this shot, Ramelle is sliding Mach 10 on this perfect Front Torque and then threw a burly 180 to end the trick with incredible steeze. Expect to see this trick and many more from New York and New Jersey’s finest bladers in “Fitted.” Nikon D60. Shot with one strobe located by my feet and another up top at camera left. — Sam DeAngelis
Name: Ron King
Hometown: Spokane, WA
Years Blading: 19
Strongest Inspiration: All my friends that still skate.
Favorite Tricks: Sweatstance and anything negative.
Best Blade Memory: Probably staying at Azikiwee’s house back in ‘96 and skating with all the pros of the time in San Francisco.
Most Prized Piece of Blade Memorabilia: I have every issue of Daily Bread, in perfect condition, except Issue #1.
(Ed’s Note: STAY GOLD is a new web feature focusing on bladers over 30 who are out on their blades shredding. We’ve been getting a lot of emails, and finally decided to do something with all of it. Got something to share, then do it: submit@believeinone.com.)
Everyone knows that rainy days suck, but a few days in a row of constant rain is the worst possible situation, especially in the middle of May, which even in Poland is expected to be sunny. So the city was sinking (literally, we’ve got some serious flood problems right now in Poland), and all I could do was think about going out and taking some good pics of my friends skating.
That’s about when Adam Zurawiecki, aka Maly, called me to team up with him, Gawron and Igor to go searching for some indoor spots. The city of Czestochowa has plenty of abandoned locations that might be interesting and useful for bladers, but we decided to explore one particular location: the post-industrial grounds of the old Welnopol manufacture facility.
Print Brigade, the only East Coast clothing company with “Cattitude,” just put together this promo edit for their summer line featuring new team rider John Lyke, a bunch of clothes, and his armada of grind rails. Filmed and edited by Mark Golembeski, half of the team that made “Breakfast,” we can’t think of ever seeing PVC driveway blading look this inspired. Check out some production shots, thanks to notorious photo goomba Drew Amato (who’s been hiding under a rock), and then catch the edit. — ONE
Shooting this photo was a little difficult. First off, there is almost no room for a decent angle, and on top of that the spot is a complete and total bust. The only reason I agreed to shoot the photo was because I haven’t been caught on the property yet. A few people have been arrested at this spot, which has also been in a magazine, I believe, and a few videos. It’s pretty amazing, considering the lack of good spots in Birmingham. I’m not saying that there aren’t places to blade, but not too many have as much stuff to shred and aren’t falling apart. Despite this fact, Alabama definitely has diversity when it comes to skate spots. Daniel Pope, being the skater he is, decided he wanted to get this pic and was determined to make it happen. Having been busted at this spot multiple times, he was definitely pushing his luck by going back, but luckily nothing happened. He did his trick a few times to get a good picture then we were out of there and on our way to the next spot. Shooting with Daniel is fun, there’s always some kind of action going on. Whether he’s yelling at rude pedestrians, or cursing at shitty drivers, it’s always exicting. For this photo I was shooting with Canon 50d, Peleng 8mm lens, and a 580ex2 flash to my left. — Cody Smith
Tracy on the mic during a heat of the Elite division.
The second LA All Day event of 2010 went down this past Saturday, and photographer Jeremy Condamine was at the Santa Monica Boys and Girls Club snapping pics while we ran around getting footage for our edit and hung with the bladers. Here’s some of what he got, with some quick words about what was going down. See you all at the next event, which is on July 24. — ONE
It’s really no one else’s fault that I missed my flight this morning. I could blame traffic, or blame my wife for driving “too slow” (though she did not drive too slow), or blame the dude at the ticket counter for not being there to let me on the plane, or blame TSA for hand-checking my camera bag and taking their sweet time in doing so. In reality it’s my fault for misreading my itinerary and thinking 6:15 am meant 6:50 am. So here I sit, waiting for another flight and texting my contact on the other end who is less than thrilled to have to rearrange his whole day because of me. I figured I may as well write a PHOTO JOURNAL while I wait.
(Ed’s note: John’s talking about flying to meet with the VX/STAR dudes.)
From the first day that I met Tony Rivituso, he has been a close friend. His intense, fast-paced, always-fakie-or-switch approach to skating is a stark contrast to his laid-back, mellow and generously kind personality. And over the past year his skating has been speaking for itself, from contests to edits, proving that he is hungry and capable of staking his claim in blading. At the humble age of 26, Tony is by no means a rookie to our sport, and if this is your first look at him, it certainly won’t be your last…
I headed out to McCarren skatepark/pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to meet up with James Perez, and a few others, so that we could take some photos. When we arrived, we had to climb over a fence to get into the pool area where the rail was. After a few warm up tricks, James laced a few back savannahs back-to-back every time. I think this was the best of them. Nikon D200, Promaster 17-50 2.8 at 17mm F5, 1/250 iso 100, Nikon sb26 at camera left, sunpak 544 at camera right. — Drew Humphrey
As you may already know, Montre Livingston has officially joined the Create Originals team. Montre spent a few days filming with us, and we announced his arrival to the team at the new Pier 62 skate park in money makin’ Manhattan. We put together an edit of not just what went down at the park, but a bunch of street footage as well. Once again, welcome to the team, Montre, and happy birthday! We are honored to have you join the ranks of the BADDEST team in blading! — CO 2010
To everyone who plans on attending the upcoming L.A. All Day comp: In order for us to continue to hold the competition at the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club, my CEO has asked me to make some changes in the way we run the events. Due to the increasingly large scale of the event, we will no longer have the front and back gates open for access to the park. Everyone will have to enter through the front door and scan in with their IDs to receive a visitors pass for the day. Please download the waiver and have your parents sign if you are under 18. Only competitors and pros (with wristbands that we issue) will be able to skate the course and p-rails. Please remember this is the Boys & Girls Club, and respect all rules in and around the building — the including adjacent parking lots (no smoking, drinking, etc). We are committed to helping the growth of rollerblading and appreciate your cooperation in these matters. Also, be sure to follow the schedule because the event will begin and end earlier than before. We look forward to seeing all the bladeheads out to support our 5th year of L.A. All Day and, if all goes well, we will be able to finish out the year with more comps at the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club. — Tracy White
Contest Schedule
10–11:30 Warm Up
11:30–12 Beginner Division
12–12:45 Intermediate Division
12:45–1:30 Advanced Division
1:30–2:30 Elite Division
2:45–3 Awards
3–4 Break down & clean up
“Mikey (Froemling) fell off a bridge and hurt his ankle,” Dallas Kilpatrick was telling someone on the phone, and with that the session took a decidedly mellow turn. We wound up at Estabrook Park, where an old tennis court has become Milwaukee’s version of Portland’s homemade Burnside skatepark (you know, that array of cement bowls, ramps, etc.). Bikers, skateboarders and a few bladers are frequently installing and fine-tuning rails, grind boxes and other haphazard obstacles on this fenced-in patch of concrete. Like this one: a launch wedge to an angle-iron-edged grind box turned on its side. — Adam Morris
If the X-Games was European, badass, and actually represented the action sports community, it would be called FISE (Festival International Sports Extreme). Recently, the FISE World Finals were held in Montpellier, France, from May 12–16th. Thousands of fans and athletes from every corner of the action sports world descended on the city like moths to flame. The obstacles provided for every sport, from wakeboarding to BMX to freestyle motocross, were unreal, and as far as rollerblading went, peep the edits, watch the crowd, listen to their cheers, gauge their reactions, and imagine this many people crammed into Modern Skatepark or, better yet, just imagine The Bitter Cold Showdown on this scale in general.
Nick Wood gave Jon’s frames a custom art job.
It’s Saturday the 29th and your Skater of the Year just got on a plane to Austin to meet up with the VX/Street Artist posse for a six-week tour. We know ’cause we took him to get on that plane, but before that we had laughs, tanked some brews, and filmed some stuff for his forthcoming SOTY coverage in issue #18. Here’s some of the sights and side stories of his visit. No big deal. — ONE
Rocket 360 / Photo By Sam Butt
So check it out. In the past months, weeks, days, whatever, I’ve been looking at a lot of edits that come out on the web from what I would call the fourth generation of street skaters. And when it comes to generations I look at it like this: Rollerblading has been around for how ever long ,but the “progressive street skating” aspect had to arise from somewhere. That particular “somewhere” in my mind started with the likes of Eisenberg, Edwards, Brooke, B Smith, etc. Then the second generation of dudes progressing shit was Julio, Shima, Latimer, Petty, etc. Then came my generation, which includes Broskow, Farmer, Fish, Haffey etc. And I don’t think a lot of people would argue that, so let’s just move this monkey show along and talk about the fourth generation.
Watching Kevin explore spots - -the cityscape, really — is very interesting. He’s playful; it looks like he’s thinking “what if..?” the whole day, and then decides to do these really calculated, focused maneuvers.
This spot is just around the corner from the engineering firm Kevin works at in San Francisco, CA. He told me he eats lunch on those steps with co-workers, silently contemplating trick possibilities. In this photo, he’s pushing off the little up-ledge with his right foot, then Mute Wallriding with his left foot above your head. If you go to this spot I guarantee you’ll wonder how he got up so high.
Kevin’s favorite part about this photo is the homies chillin’ in the background…
I shot this pic with a Rebel XTi and a zoom lens from across the street in the financial district. Cars drove in front of me just before and after I snapped the photo. Lucky, huh?
— Jeremy Raff
I have know Shawn for over 10 years now. I have seen him grow from a grom into a legit blader. I have been blamed for blacking out his entire face with a sharpie when it was obviously Chance Dunstan, and I have been fortunate enough to listen to him talk about himself the entire time. Watching Shawn mature into the rollerblader he is today has been amazing. He’s developed such a unique and original style, mixing in OG tricks and hammers. All while keeping the Manteca belt tradition alive. The day I shot Shawn doing this fish brain was chill. We had just finished checking out this abandoned pool that needed a good days cleaning before we could skate it, then decided to skate something else before it got dark, so we went to the burm. Shawn, Colin and I skated the burm for a while and once the lighting was right I set up. Shawn Fishbrained the chain a couple of times, while I got my framing for the picture. After that it was only a few tries before we got the pic. My set-up for this shoot was simple: Canon 5D with a fixed 50mm lens, one strobe set up to the camera’s right at 1/8 power. — Matt Bolger
Pier 62 Skate Park is designed for some serious flow skating. With the smooth cement, variety of obstacles, and abundant transitions, you find yourself lacing the whole park in one run. Pier 62 is filled with your favorite obstacles and a variety of coping styles for all types of rollerbladers. The park also evokes a creative mind when piecing together tricks for a line. Pier 62 is city owned and funded, so the entrance is free. The park doesn’t require any padding, and has proven to be a great place to skate or just enjoy the view on the Hudson River. Best of all, it’s located on the West Side Highway, which is close to several of NYC’s most famous street spots…
“‘Some Free Advice’ is a journey into the philosophies of inline skating. From simple grinds on street to 720 McTwists on vert to Misty Flips over fun boxes… this film displays and describes the tricks in full detail. Watch skaters like Ryan Jacklone and Dave Ortega perform their favorite tricks and then hear them describe how they do it.” — From the back cover
The idea of an instructional video for blading always seemed strange to me, but the ’90s gave us at least three of them. Two Volumes of “Some Free Advice” and “Ride Like Aaron,” which was made by the guys who brought us Heavy Wheel company. “Ride Like Aaron” was supposed to teach you to skate like Aaron Feinberg. It was horrid. Imagine descriptions of how to do a back royale while the same clip of Aaron doing a back royale played on loop for several minutes in slow-mo…
I took a trip down to Richmond, Virginia, for a weekend. On my second day there we took a journey to find this ditch, which was by some bridge. It took some driving around, but we found it. When we first noticed the part with the wallride, Eddie Chung was all about landing something alley-oop. After a few warm up runs getting used to it, Eddie landed this sweet AO Wallride 180 out. Shot with a Nikon D200, Promaster 17-50 2.8 @ 17mm, F6.3, 1/160, iso 100, and a Sunpak 544 at camera right. — Drew Humphrey
It is astonishing how much easier and more efficient the internet has made our daily lives. A concept that one generation ago would have been right at home in a science fiction novel has become the norm under which we conduct business, educate our youth, and inform the masses. Because of the internet, someone living in Arizona is able to interview someone living in Florida, then send all of the photos and text to someone living in California where he can edit the info and post, Tweet, blog, or fist-fuck it from Tokyo to Topeka. Without this innovation in technology, the very idea of any of this would be just that—an idea. I bring all this up because this next interview is with someone who I first met utilizing the internet and all of its social networking majesty. 20-year-old Floridian Jon Fromm is all over the internet, whether appearing in numerous edits, popping up in Photo Journals and posts, or chatting with me on Facebook. He is continuously pushing himself, progressing his skating while developing a unique style all his own; which is why you’re sitting down to a computer or, for that matter, looking at your phone and reading this interview. — Ben Karris
It was my last day shooting with Josh Glowicki in Dallas, and we wanted to try and get one more photo before I left. Josh had shown me this gap the day before, and we both agreed it would be totally rad to shoot. Shortly after arriving, I chose this angle, set a flash to my right, and used the sun to give Josh some backlight. Josh nailed this Mute 180 first try, then did it several more times for the Rolling Mission video camera. It was a great way to end a very short, yet productive weekend before driving 8 hours back to my house. Look for the fruits of our labor in future issues of ONE. — Greg King
Anthony Williams, Damen Franklin, and Rachard Johnson
When the LA All Day 2010 series kicked off on May 1st, photographer and shredder Scott Moffat was in Santa Monica to get down. And get down he did, randomly re-dislocating his shoulder during the first moments of his heat, which was a major bummer. But he still managed to focus his chicken and hold it down with this barrage of action shots. Rachard dubbed him “Mo-Fire,” we don’t disagree. — ONE
ONE magazine created the Skater of the Year award to give skaters around the world the chance to decide who and what constitutes the best blader in the world. This year more than 10,000 votes were submitted in the Skater of the Year award voting process. And when the voting stopped and the tallies were added up, a blader from New Jersey named John Bolino had more votes than anyone else. In having the most votes, he earned himself the prestigious honor of being named by his peers and fellow rollers worldwide the skater they feel best represents rollerblading. Congratulattions are due, and you can join in the celebration when John’s feature Skater of the Year coverage drops in ONE Issue #18. In the meantime, check the pics below. — ONE
“Then I heard from Jose that Ryan’s a little bitter toward skating; he’s actually angry at skating I guess right now, because a lot of people don’t really remember him. And that’s our fault, you know?” — Billy O’Neill in ONE #16
This past week I had a great opportunity to shoot some pictures with Franco Cammayo. I met the Valo rider as he got off work in Brooklyn, New York. Franco works at Thursday’s Child, which is an Early Intervention program serving the needs of children diagnosed with PDD/Autism. We headed right up to Williamsburg, located between Brooklyn and Manhattan, in search for new spots. We came across this beer distributor with an up rail, which lead to a series of iceboxes, and it seemed to catch Franco’s attention. I didn’t think it was possible, but after only a couple tries, Franco laced this Front Farf up to Back Backslide across the first icebox and landed fakie. For this shot I used two strobes, one on either side of me, to illuminate the entire scene. Be sure to look of for some new clips of Franco in the upcoming Valo video titled “We Are Valo 4.” Not only is Franco Cammayo a stand up guy and a vital industry representative, but he also continues to push rollerblading to the next level with his unique trick styling. — Sam DeAngelis
We don’t have many places for skating in Budapest when it’s raining, because over here all the indoor skateparks are closed. This photo was made on a rainy day, when we went into a big shopping center’s parking garage. We started skating in a laid down flagstaff.* Later, some of my friends tried this handrail, which was at the edge of the parking garage. I quickly decided to take a picture because I liked the atmosphere of the spot. This picture was taken with two flashes, one placed at the column’s bottom (see on the left side of picture), because I didn’t have a tripod. I used the second flash further back to lighten up the column on the right. This is one of my favorite shots I’ve made so far. — Arpad Zentai
(Ed’s Note: We don’t know what a “laid down flagstaff is, but we’re stoked to check out cool pics from Hungary.)
Your man Dan is back with another over-the-top interview like only he and too many (now empty) tall boys can pull off. This time he corners OC ripper Dean Coward, proceeds to make him uncomfortable, reveals more of his strange fixation with Brandon Smith (Dan, we know he’s amazing, but he is a man! Flesh and blood!), and keeps Dean and guest stars Adam and Keith Brierly giggling like school girls. But then there’s plenty of snickers and belchs from Dan and his peanut gallery… starting to get the picture? For nonsense and some blade info-tainment, here’s another edition of THAT’S HOLLYWOOD. — ONE
Tom Coley-Sowry / 360 Top Soul to Fakie on the very high sub box.
Held in Adelaide, South Australia on April 17, the 2010 Australian Rolling Open wasn’t the international superstar showcase that we saw in ‘09. In fact, some of our local stars weren’t present or competing. We did see the return of Gavin Drumm to the podium after having been out of the game for 18 months from knee surgery in ‘08, and it did see the continuing rise of New Zealand’s Danny Jensen, whose stunts continue to change what we think is humanly possible on skates.
One strange day, in 2002 or so, my friend Nick and I were sitting at a bus stop in Springfield, VA about to board a greyhound to Nashville, Tennessee en route to Plano, Texas for The Hoedown. We both sat smoking, silently contemplating the long trip ahead. A random stranger approached asking for a cigarette. I handed him a Camel from my pack. As he lit the cigarette he casually asked if I was wearing a Senate sweatshirt. I replied that I was, and he responded “That’s crazy. I grew up next door to Arlo Eisenberg in Orange County.” His name was Shelby, named after the Ford Mustang, and he had just arrived here to wait for a bus transfer back to California from Virginia beach. He talked to us for a few minutes, claiming to have once dropped a young Roadhouse with one punch in the face, and seeing Arlo selling the first Senate wheels out of his backpack at the local skatepark. Senate grew from the early days of making grindplates in their garage and selling wheels out of backpacks to at one point bringing in $10 million a year in sales.
There has never been a human being born who didn’t have more than one name. We are all many different people to the many different people we encounter. And as a collective community of many different people who all share the same passion for rollerblading, I think it’s fucking fantastic rollerblading is actually starting to get differently cool.
Don’t twist it either; this isn’t a motivational speech or something to get all proud about. But it’s about time this community turned on the light in the attic, used some brain, and got some attitude.
In the past, especially around the turn of the new millennium, there was so much fucking garbage coming out. Every dude looked the same, skated the same shit, and tried to do the same tricks. It was a beat and unexciting time for rollerblading.
The 2010 LA All Day season kicked-off this past Saturday, so ONE made the trip from SD to show support and hang out with the all-ages crowd these awesome grassroots events bring together. Lots of little shredders rolling around the park — and plenty of full-bore shredders repping the advanced and elite divisions, earning WRS points. Here’s some of what we saw go down. — ONE
I first met Gavin Fitch well over 10 years ago, when he was just a grom attending a skate camp put on by the folks at K2. I went to hang out with some friends and help them teach kids fundamentals of riding ramps. I might have helped Gavin ride his first mini-ramp, too. From grom to grown-up, from learning to drop in on a ramp to lacing steezy Backside Farvs on high long ledges, Gavin has stayed true to the Seattle rolling scene. If he’s not out shredding, he’s behind the camera filming and spotlighting NW rolling. This photo was taken on my portable ladder to get some elevation on the shot. Other gear used included my Canon 20D with 50mm lens, and 2 flashes camera right. After a first attempt and bail into stinging needle bushes, Gavin decided to put on his jacket for added protection against the shrubs, which I think added to the overall steez and contrast. — Erik Allas
Hey blade-nation, how’s your week going? Ready for a blade-related distraction? Well, too bad if you’re not, because here’s dose numero dos of THAT’S HOLLYWOOD, featuring Dan chatting it up with quirky Parisian blader Umberto Tosseli. — ONE
Thumper Nagasako, Tim Franken, The Imagyne Crew and myself headed toward upstate New York to catch some clips for Joe Perez’s upcoming video “Fitted.” That’s how we got to this amazing spot in New Rochelle, NY that has potential for several hammers to be thrown. In order to capture Thumper’s massive Disaster Alley Oop Soul, I had to lie on the steps just below his feet. Some call me crazy, but Thumper laced this trick flawlessly and 360d out over my head. I shot this picture using one flash on a stand behind me. Be sure to check out Thumper Nagasako’s unbelievable vert rollerblading DVD, “HighRollaz”. Support Rollerblading. — Sam DeAngelis
This past week the world lost one of the greatest emcees of all-time, Keith Elam, Guru of Gang Starr. It is hard for me to put into words what his music has meant to me over the years, how much it taught me, and how much it helped me get through hard times. I know many other rollerbladers who feel the same way. Much love to the guys over at SHOCK who already briefly spoke on it. Like many others, my introduction to the Gifted Universal Rhymes Unlimited came through Jason Marshall and Eric Schrijn’s sections in “VG4: Puppets of Destiny.”
I’ve been skating with Ray Kronenberg since he was 7 years old. Back then, I knew he was going to be something special in the skating world, and now that he is 16, he’s starting to make the first big step. Ray has been skating the only skatepark in Chattanooga since he started rollerblading, but, finally, a new park has opened up. We went to check it out. After getting warmed up, Ray asked if a gap to fishbrain on the upper ledge would be a cool photo. Although the ledge had no angle iron or coping on it, and certain parts of the wood were raised up, he said it would be no problem, he could grind right through it. After testing it out a few times, he rode over to me and said, “Ok, right here.” He launched up, slid the whole thing, landed it, and asked, “Was that one okay?” We looked at the screen on the back of the camera, then I turned to him and said, “Why do you have so much steez?” — Josh Hayes
Dan “Hollywood Mike Miranda” Leifeld’s long history of cult-cut videos reaches new boiling points in his latest bastard incarnate: the THAT’S HOLLYWOOD video interview series. While rough around the edges in that “Oh just so ‘Hollywood’” way, this unique mix of blade footage with accompanying simulcast interview shows plenty of future merit. Here’s the first installment, a chat with Adam Exline. — ONE
Our pals at RB just sent over this edit of flow rider Quentin Lamb, filmed in Nashville, TN. Quentin keeps it fresh with a diverse trick vocabulary, an eye for interesting spots, and a fondness for 720s. Check it out! — ONE
It’s the 5th Anniversary for the L.A. All Day, and the team in Santa Monica is working harder than ever to grow blading in the surrounding area. This year they’ve cooked up a five-contest series that caters to bladers of all ability levels, and regularly draws the likes of local pros Demetrios George and Rachard Johnson, and legends like Dave Paine, B Love Hardin and Alex Miranda. This year the L.A. All Day joins ranks with the WRS, earning each event in the series a 3-star rating. The 2010 season kicks off on Saturday, May 1st, and we suggest you come check out the good vibes that make up every one of these events we’ve attended (which is a lot!). — ONE
Well, it was our first day of spring here in New York, and after fabulous weather during the week, me, Jose Disla, Jon Ortiz, Dave, and a few other New York rollers came out to roll at the Red Hook ledge, which by far is one of the best ledges Brooklyn has to offer. After the guys had been tearing it up for about an hour, I decided to take off my blades and set up my gear. It’d been a few months since I’d shot any photos, and for this I was using the oldest of the old — a Nikon d1 that my wife got for me. Just know that this thing was old… about 10 years old. It was the most difficult thing to get used to. But I made it work out. This is the shot that I love the most from the spot, and I hope you all enjoy it. I should be getting my camera back from the shop soon, so thank god, and my wife. I will be out in Santee in the middle of May, so I’ll see you guys on the West Coast soon. — Josh Diaz
We just uploaded ONE Issue #15 to Issuu for your online enjoyment. Take another read through Joey Chase’s interview and check the pics by Nick Korompilas, revisit Sam Butt’s photos and story on the Nimh in Europe tour, learn what vert legend Rene Hulgreen’s been doing since his days with Roces, Philly-based artist/designer Mike Rios shows his Folio, Drew Bachrach has Casual Sax for a Sound Check, and that’s just the tip. We swear! See it all again (or for the first time) here, now, because… it’s free. — ONE
“Skating has to mature and grow, which it hasn’t. It has regressed.” — Beau Cottington
It has been 12 years since Joe Navran’s film “The Future of Rollerblading” was released. In between every section there were interludes about our future. Some of them were quotes from skaters about their views, and some were quotes from rappers taken out of context that were pulled from the 1997 DJ Krush album “Milight.”
In some ways, we have come a long way since this video was released. Skating itself has progressed tremendously. On the other hand, the number of skaters has dropped. Almost all of the interludes in the film could have been recorded last week, put into a video, and still make sense. We have had the same problems facing our culture and industry since 1998. Not much has really changed. I have transcribed all these interludes below…
Jeremy Townsend has been a force in the NW rolling scene for some time now. He developed the first message board for Seattle rollers, organized countless events, plays host, and has entertained a large portion of the rolling industry when they come through Seattle. Perhaps Jeremy’s greatest accomplishment is the Street Battle Seattle contest that he hosts every year. August 21, 2010 marks 10 years, and the final Street Battle Seattle contest. You can find out more information at www.streetbattleseattle.com.
Thanks, Jeremy, for holding Seattle down all these years. — Erik Allas
I said in my interview prior to the Pow-wow, “I have some good ideas, and some bad ideas.” Well, having planned for Aaron “Pinky” Entsminger as the contest emcee and after party comic relief was the worst idea I’ve had for a Pow-wow to date. Most in attendance would agree with me, but some thought otherwise though and were quite entertained…
I spent this past weekend with videographer Joseph Perez, the Imagyne Media Crew, and Daniel Fabiano from Con.Artist / Scribe Ind. We went on a skate spot search throughout most of Northern New Jersey, and captured some great footage. This perfect spot was found while cruising around my hometown. We checked it out, realized the potential, and decided to come back later that day when the Post Office was closed. As the sun was going down I captured this shot of skater Lonnie Pearson, Imagyne Team rider, and native of the Bronx, New York. Lonnie laced this Front Savannah right above my head, and finished with a huge 450 spin over the pole. I set one flash on a stand to the far right, and another at my feet facing the sky. — Sam DeAngelis
Joey Chase defies expectations. With a wild-man image forged on online clips and blade flick b-roll, coupled with his hard-nosed blade style, it’s easy to see how he catches an intimidating rep. Hell, I’ve seen him so crusty I bet he’d make a seasoned MC gang member proud. But beyond all the stunts and grime and shots of mystery grossness, Joey’s got a level head, which he sets to reaching his goal: get somewhere in blading. For this interview it meant swapping SIM cards, hopping around on WiFi connections, borrowing computers and shooting over three days in unfamiliar territory with an unfamiliar photographer. All handled with a steady hand. Could Joey Chase be our new favorite blader? Maybe. Watch his interview from Issue #15 to make up your own mind. — ONE
This interview with Jon Julio appeared in the March 1999 issue of Box Magazine. It is an interesting snapshot of his career at that point. This is several years after his profile in “VG4,” and by this point Julio was established as a top professional. He had recently left Fiction and founded England Clothing, and left his long-time sponsors Roces and Cozmo for USD and the short-lived United Urethane*. At the time he was under some scrutiny from the kids on the Sequence Magazine message board for what was perceived as selling out. Julio speaks about his frustrations with competitions at the time, and the need for more grassroots events. The seeds for IMYTA had already been planted in his head. He makes a lot of points that are as timeless as his skating. Check out the interview. — Ben Rogers
A while back, Jason Zwack, Rob Zbranek, and myself drove out to Port Aransas to check out a new cement skatepark that was being built. Parks seem to be popping up everywhere nowadays. I guess Texas is finally catching up to the rest of the world. This particular park was nothing special, but still a fresh spot none the less. We shot some sweet bowl pics, ran over a little kid, and saw some true skate hoes at work. Jason and I remembered a school nearby that we had been to years ago, and decided to try to find it. I remembered there being some pretty cool kinked ledges there, but when we arrived I realized they were ankle high. Rob spotted these picnic tables, and then he and Jason went to work on a launch. I set one flash off to my right, aimed at the wall, and another slightly off to my left, aimed at the ceiling. This angle was a little scary to shoot, but Jason was hauling so much ass off his skitch that he flew well over my head and stomped the landing. — Greg King
Ripping pages out of the magazine just got ONE upped. ONE magazine is proud to introduce rollerblading art that’s ready to frame and hang on a wall near you. The Photographer Lithograph Series #1: Wes Driver is a set of eight 11″ x 17″ prints on heavy-stock, featuring a selection of photos hand-picked by Wes as the favorites he’s taken during his tenure at ONE. This is a limited edition, collectible item with only 150 units produced. Each set of eight prints comes packaged in a special foil-stamped custom portfolio. Order now from the ONE online store! See the unboxing here.— ONE
Pro Results
1 Brain Aragon, Razors
2 David Sizemore, RB
3 Eric Michaels, RB
4 Roman Daricek, Remz
5 Julian Bah, M1
6 Blake Kelly, Clearwater FL
7 Bret Urbas, Modern Skate Park
8 Gabriel Hyden, Nimh
9 Josh Glowicki, Razors
10 Frakie morales, Remz
11 Gumby, Nimh
12 Oli Short, Nimh
13 Andrew Jucuzzi, Valo
AM Results
1 Andrew Jacuzzi, Valo
2 Wild Bill, Razors
3 Chris Luton, Orlando FL
4 Josh Glowicki, Razors
5 Keaton Newsome, Valo
6 Matty Shrock, Nimh
7 Alex Braunagel, Sarasota FL
8 Carson Starnes, ATL
9 Franky Irvin, Orlando FL
10 Daniel Henderson, Warner Robins GA
11 Quinton Lamb, RB
Beau Cottington hosted a cookout/blade bash at San Diego’s Robb Field Skatepark on April 3rd, and ONE showed up with our Canon pocket rocket to capture some of the flavor. Check out cameos by Mike Johnson, Louie Zamora, Keith Wilson, Brent Hicks, and more San Diego local shredders, plus some blading from Lyle Shivak, Robert Lievanos, Geoff Acers and Russell Day. Short and sweet, take a look. — ONE
Martin Walchshofer is on a mission to promote Nimh in Austria and the neighboring countries. Here he busts out his signature trick in one of Switzerland’s many great concrete parks, a shot we were able to get right before it got too dark to see anything. There were loads of kids driving like crazy through the skatepark on their bicycles. So this needed some teamwork. I was happy that I had my human flash holders, aka Tim Helbock and Flo Koch, right at hand. — Lui Summer
Chris and I are the only two rollers in the small town of Stellenbosch, an hour’s drive from Cape Town in South Africa. Me being a photographer, and him killing it, we work quite well together. He was keen to go and skate this rail at a local school, and had big things in mind. He warmed up with a few back roys, waiting for the sun to go down, then got this Switch AO Top Porn clean second go (the first time he just grabbed the rail a bit). Next, he tried a true porn, before moving onto what he rally wanted, but it didn’t work out too well, and he missed, catching the last upright quite solidly between the legs. That ended the session, but we’ll be back for sure to get the pic we set out for.
Shooting this spot was a bit tricky. The rather narrow passageway meant I needed to place my flashes quite tight around the landing, with one on either side. I always love a bit of rim light, and placed a flash top right of the stairs for that, and to project a shadow on the wall. Could’ve been a bit quicker on the trigger to get the entire shadow in, but the most important bits are in, so I can live with it. — Eric Palmer
Brian Bell’s late ’90s video “My Daily Routine” is a certified classic. It’s the perfect place to kick off a column about blade treasures from the past. “My Daily Routine” looks exactly like what it is, a bunch of friends going out and fucking around with a video camera. It makes skating look like a lot of fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is full of shots filmed with poorly-sized fisheye lenses, lines on small ledges and benches, 360s off of curbs, graffiti, break dancing, booty shakin, boozing, fights, enough mushroom blading to make those guys from Vancouver proud, homemade bombs, and plenty of other shit to make your mom upset that she bought it for you. All of that B-roll helped keep the video interesting and added to the flow of it. It was always a favorite of my friends that didn’t blade…
Where did Blake Taylor come from?
My blading days were born in northeast Ohio, Akron (Norka) to be exact. My folks moved down to Pensacola, Florida when I graduated high school. Not really having any post high school plans, I was soon to follow. In between this transition, there was a six month stint when you (JE) and I roomed together in Akron. It’s safe to say that I wasn’t ready to be the only 18-year-old in a house full of 20-somethings.
I now live in Tallahassee, Florida. I work full-time as an insurance sales rep.,and just got engaged last fall. My mid-20s almost ended my skating days because it kept getting lower and lower on my list of priorities. It’s funny how graduating college allowed me to put my focus back into skating. I now skate pretty frequently, like 3-5 times a week. I would say that at almost 30 years old, I am better than I have ever been, and am actually peaking again.
This coffee’s too strong and I’m too sober. Life’s got ahold of me again, in the form of a 5’9’’ brunette with big tits and, oh no, a sense of humor… or so she thinks. A bar babe, a total bro-nette, and I, deep with wine and whiskey, and wearing a cape with my friend Captain C. Clairvoyance and his new black pal Tat’d Tony — right off the streets and out of the gutter — asking for change, any and all. All he could get out of us was a drink, and we, well, we’d get his conversation. What does a black man with face tats and a leather cowboy hat think? Much less think about rollerblading?
I’m coughing up blood again. Hold on, I’m going to have a cigarette.
David Jones, with his bleach blonde hair and blue eyes — a true product of Southern California — is probably a name that you should acquaint yourself with, if you haven’t already. He’s been killing it all over SoCal, Woodward, and on the contest circuit, while doing everything in his power to promote blading. Last month in Detroit, David proved to everyone in attendance that he could hang with the pros; lacing technical tricks in all of his heats at BCSD. Which makes this the perfect time for a quick look into the life of my friend Davey, from LA.
Spring is here in Western New York, which means longer days, warmer temperatures, and finally leaving the skatepark to skate some street. Taking advantage of this, a few of us were in Rochester this past weekend for a day of skating and shooting. Towards the end of the day we ended up at Kodak World Headquarters at these marble ledges. This photo seemed to take forever to shoot, with the traffic to blame. From Josh’s first attempt, to his forth attempt and final shot, seventeen minutes had passed. I was shooting across four lanes of traffic, and needed all four to be clear or a car would have been somewhere in the bottom of the shot. When Josh’s landing was clear, there were cars passing in the closest lanes to me, and when my shot was clear Josh would have landed in front of a bus and been flattened. The plus side of things taking so long is that I was able to notice the reflection of the building behind Josh in the sunroof of a car, and placed that in the bottom third of the frame which made for a much better composition than the street. This was a two flash setup, both camera right. ISO 200, f5.6, 1/125sec, 120mm. — Nick DeMarchi
ONE homie Adam Killgore copped himself some K2 Varsity skates and found a dry minute in Philly to test them out. Here’s a real short edit of a short session with your man the Dub Caesar. It’s worth a look. — ONE
Do you like to blade? Enjoy BBQ? Think blading with other bladers is pretty cool? Then your boy Beau Cottington deserves your thanks for dreaming up the Geezer Sessions. Come by the Robb Field Skatepark (yes, Robb) in Ocean Beach, San Diego this Saturday to share some boot-time with good people, some of them “geezers.” — ONE
It’s the first weekend of spring and everyone is ready to skate. We tried to keep sessions tight, in order to avoid the possibility of getting thrown out of spots, but that was quick to change. Skaters from all over the East Coast came out to skate the Tri-State area which consists of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. These skaters include world-renowned Thumper Nagasako, REMZ flow and Tri-State Skate rider Tim Franken, Razors flow Joey Zitelli, Con.Artist Brand and Scribe Ind. owner Daniel Fabiano, and many more. The weekend was nothing short of amazing, and I was lucky enough to capture everything on my Nikon D60. — Sam DeAngelis
Partying after the Beat the Chump 2 contest, I was somehow convinced to make a special trip from Seattle to Portland. The plan was to hang with our Portland friends, party it up, skate, and shoot. This rail was the first stop of the day—a skinny 14-stair located somewhere in NE Portland. I originally set up on this shot to shoot long and from the bottom of the stairs. Action going towards you is not exactly the best location to be on the alley-oop trick, so I repositioned myself on the top of the stairs and was able to capture this banger of a Truespin Top Pornstar by Shane Lapointe. Lighting was completed with Vivitar 285HVs on both sides of the rail, one on the bottom and the other on the top of the stairs. Camera is a 20D with 50mm lens, completed with a set of Pocket Wizards to trigger the strobes. — Erik Allas
Jason Zwack, for years, was dubbed “Superman”… and for good reason! The kid would fling gnarly backflips, gainers, and misty flips during exhibitions at the local skating rink that had a makeshift skatepark in the back. It was like he defied gravity. He even wore that big “S” Superman t-shirt like it was somehow part of his gig. I used to watch him do the dirtiest, steepest 30-stair rail first try. More switchups in his arsenal than he knows what to do with. Jason is as raw as ground meat. An absolute spectacle to behold. Jason makes your heart stop when he’s set on doing something that doesn’t seem possible. He’s not making a comeback because he never really left. He just grew up. One of the most free spirited individuals in the game. This is a guy who can make you believe in rollerblading. This, is Jason Zwack…
On one of the last warm sunny days of the year I can remember, me and a few of the guys headed out for a city skate. With our skates on, and the good time feeling flowing through us all, we cruised around the streets of Cambridge looking for adventure in the form of new spots. A few spots and shots later we found ourselves at a one of our reguar haunts. After a little time on the curved rail, the sesh soon moved on up to the benches where Rupert had a trick planned. An awkward trick if ever I saw one, Ru was planning to 180 onto the very tight lower platform then Zerospin Alley-oop Makio the upper platform, and after a few attempts he banged it out clean as you like. The shot was captured with a 10mm Sigma fishye and lit up with a Vivitar 285 HV at 1/4 power, on top of a bin to the right, and with a Canon 540EZ speedlite at 1/2 power on a bench adjacent to this bench. — Sam Cooper
With a skate scene like the one we have in Phoenix, AZ, and the incomparable climate, it’s no surprise that week after week we are constantly playing host to a varied assortment of visitors. This past week the honored guests were The Kelso Brothers, Steve “Alf” Iacono, ONE Cover Boy: Billy O’Neill, and the rollerblader you would most love to bring home to your mother, Sean Cullen. Since 90% of the time when someone is visiting Phoenix they’re sleeping on Jon Jenkin’s floor space, I figured I would sit down with Baby Jenkins (X Rated) and find out what he and the East Coast visitors were up to all those late night nights during their stay…
I was on my way home from the bank. I’d just deposited seven whole dollars when my stomach started acting up, calling for attention. “If you won’t feed me, I’ll f*ck you.” It started tightening and contracting, twisting, squeezing any life left within into a potential spray and splatter. I didn’t have long, I had to do something. I started to hurry. I saw the sign of the time, “no public restroom” in every direction. “For paying customers only”… I hurried my pace. The cool coffee shop was crowded with cuties, surely they’d hear the splash down, the thud and thunk of turds. I sped up past the shop and around the corner…
If you know Steven Tat, you know his happy-go-lucky, scatter-minded personality. I’ve never been able to figure out how that guy works. He can roll up to a rail, and you think he’s just looking at it, but he’ll whip out a back savannah. It almost pisses me off how he can’t see the danger in what he’s doing. It’s almost like because he can’t see it, it doesn’t exist, because he never seems to get hurt, or even fall for that matter. He is without a doubt one of my favorite people to skate with. Not just because he is an incredible skater, but because he somehow makes you feel like you are an awesome skater regardless of your skill level. In Kentucky there is no “A” team or “B” team. There is just a team of skaters. If you have a pair of rollerblades, you’re considered family. On this particular day, Cody Porche and some friends and I drove up there to see an Of Montreal concert, and didn’t really plan on skating. When I told Steven that I wanted to take some pictures, he didn’t hesitate to bring me to a spot where he already had a trick in mind. Despite the fact that there was still snow on the ground and the rail was covered with ice, Steven rolled up to the rail and did front savannah — first trick, first try. The combination of the below-freezing temperatures and a brick wall messing with my triggers made me have to ask him to redo it about eight times. Not once did he bitch or mess up. The dude is a robot. — Dustin Spengler
All right, it starts now (and ends 4/18). After waiting until after the WRS Finals, recognizing it as the last event of 2009, we gave you all the whole month of January to pick these Top 10 Finalists, and pick you did. Nomination votes already outnumber last year’s total finalists vote count, so that tells us you guys appreciate having the chance to decide what skater best represents rollerblading — as you see it. Look at it as a “desert island disk” list, or a “who’s the best,” or who you think makes skating look the best, or all or none of the above. That’s the beauty — it’s totally up to you. Now take a few moments to consider the candidates then cast your vote. Once you’ve submitted your survey, you’ve helped make history, again. On behalf of these Top 10 Finalists, we thank you for your participation. — ONE
Dozens of car loads of rollerbladers headed up to Woodward West for the first contest of the 2010 Amateur Inline League season. The stage was set, and kids antsy and anxious after a long winter were poised to get their blade on. And blade they did. Rollerbladers came from as far away as Utah, Brazil, and Venezuala, and of course all over California, for the chance to compete in the AIL and skate the highly-regarded Hangar 18 park at Woodward West. Snow fell outside as the action inside began to heat up.
A few years ago, I left MN in the winter to travel around Europe. Since then, I have made it a point to get out of dodge in the winter if at all possible. This year, my travels proved to be exhausting, but I returned to high temps in the 40s! The last time I felt 40 degrees outside in Minnesota it was the beginning of November, so I was pretty excited to celebrate by getting a few blade jams. Mike Garlinghouse wanted to build a snowman in the middle of a stair set and kick its head off. Sounded good to me…
Bittercold has come and gone and everyone is still bitter and showing no signs of giving up, and who could blame them? Most of us are paying for that misadventure in one way or another. The memories certainly aren’t paying for my upcoming credit card bill, and all my funny money went to bus tickets, past hi-jinks, and generally to guzzle away the memories of my manic mayhem from that weekend. Nothing is what it is, and there is always another story to tell. My condolences to the winners and us losers, we should of had some consolation prize, something to ease the moody blues from Monday through March. You turn eighteen, get a job, get a degree, or go into plastic’s debt, and it ain’t a bad place to be for a few years. Until it becomes your student loan and you’ve learned too much about rollerblading, life, and now learn how to pay for it. If you want to make it in rollerblading, sign the dotted line and you can buy tickets to paradises where you smoke cheap, drink cheap, eat ramen, double cheeseburgers, and learn; that nothing is free, the couch you sleep on is the grave you dug. Detroit was a reminder of the times I’ve traveled and a reminder of a price tag still to be paid.
Tri-State Skate Shop, located in Hillburn, NY, is the only rollerblader-owned shop in the New York area. In honor of Tri-State Skate’s growing success over the past year, several big names in the rollerblading industry came to show support for their first anniversary. That included people such as Mac from Razors, Ramelle Knight, Ryan Many, Angelo Ferrer, Tim Franken, John Stephens, and the iRollNY crew. As if this turnout wasn’t enough, Razors and Sunshine Distribution sent WRS World Champion Brian Aragon to give recognition to shop owner Greg Kieffer, an acknowledgment for his outstanding dedication and success in this growing industry. On March 7th 2010, all who attended the session welcomed Brian Aragon with open arms. Here’s some pictures from the session. — Sam DeAngelis
We were there when Beau Cottington premiered “Forest Fire” in San Diego at ASR in 1999. What a night! This video is just about as legendary as they come, and changed the blade video game when it dropped. Shit, T-Rex himself has the opening clip! Abdiel, Elliott, Santiago, Zamora, Lievanos, Petty, Sagona, Champion, the list could go on forever. Anyone who was anyone in blading at the turn of the century had clips in this joint. If you’ve got it on VHS, watch it for a fun trip down memory lane; if you’ve never seen it, hurry up and get yourself educated. — ONE
Vert skating has never been an American thing, barring Mr. Edwards’ wickedness circa 1990-1994. European and Australian skaters soon dominated this field in the mid- to late ’90s. Their different styles and tricks were a refreshing change for the skate industry. One of these men was Denmark’s René Hulgreen. René was a lot different from most vert skaters — he learned to skate ramps on quad skates or “roller skates,” as most of you might know them. Also, he had a distinct appearance. With his long red hair, and almost always a beer in hand, he was a straight up Nordic viking! The inventor of the viking flip, an awkward mctwist, sort of a side-flip 540, was different, amazing and refreshing. René started skating back in 1988, and his career took him around the world, but after years of touring and traveling he has settled back in his home country and made his second favorite pastime — drinking beer — his second career. At age 39 he is a proud brewmeister and father. “Qua vos vado illic mos usquequaque exsisto beer.” It’s Latin… look it up! — Mike Opalek
Join the enthusiastic ranks of the AIL at the 2010 season opening event, this Saturday, March 13, at Woodward West. Can’t make it? Lame. But you can check back here after the event for coverage, or find out when an AIL is going down near you. — ONE
This paticular day we had set out to do some hunting, and maybe get a few shots on some big bucks outside the small town of Exeter, CA. Though we didn’t see any big bucks, we did run into a huge cougar, a coyote, and did some varmant hunting. We decided to hit a few skate spots on the hour and a half trip back home. Along the way we ran into these banks, so we waxed them up and Joey Ihara ended up being the only one who skated the spot. This AO Fish was only one of the tricks he layed down on this bank. Shot at 3 p.m., on a Canon SLR with a 70-200mm lens, 2.8l IS, one Sunpak 522 left and back of the camera, and some beautiful clouds. — Joshua Steinhauer
Ricardo Lino and his homies have arranged a tour throughout Portugal in April called the BOOM Tour. Participating bladers include: Al Hooi, Lino, Bruno Santos, Samuel Dias, Rob Pinho, and more. If they’re coming through your area, be sure to meet up for shredding, and if, like us, Portugal is pretty far away, stay tuned for updates from the road. — ONE
Bitter Cold Showdown 2010 through the lenses of ONE. Delayed bags, snowy roads, industry meetings, the crowded tradeshow, and the main event — here’s yet another recap of the action to add to the memory banks. Featuring the blading of Jeff Stockwell, Alex Broskow, Chris Haffey, John Bolino, Soichiro Kanashima, David Sizemore, Michael Garlinghouse, Billy O’Neill, and more. — ONE
Blake Taylor, organizer of the Panhandle Pow-wow, just sent us this promo edit made up of footage from events past. As you’ll be reminded, bad-ass shredding goes down every year when skaters from the world over descend on sleepy Pensacola, Florida for a weekend of blade debauchery. Stay tuned for more event promo, info, and coverage. — ONE
Detroit crack rock city has been the focus of every egocentric thought in our industry this week. It’s become a big axe wound and somehow everyone is hurting, and piecing the puzzling pussy blackout back together with misinformation, hints about heroes, and CLUE — it was Chuck Haffey in the skate park with a prototype. Right? Wrong? Who knows? BCSD is an amazing event, a brotherhood, and a hobby. There’s going to be heroes and there will be an axis of evil judges, but truly the thing that really sucks about BCSD is that it ends. It leaves a hangover so sharp, you have to go back to reality, work, and school, and girlfriends, and without a daily network you can really bond with. Back at home you’re just a black sheep, you can’t nod and know they know what’s up. It’s a lifestyle, a short weekend, and once a year, and that’s why BCSD really sucks.
Every year now, since I care to think back, me and the boys have had our annual trip to the amazing city of Barcelona and 2009 was no different from the years previous. With the usual heads out to play, this tight-knit group of friends headed to the sun of Spain in late August, hoping for the best holiday of skating, drinking, hanging out, and genral japery. This year proved to be no let down and without a doubt the best trip to date, but with a heavy night previously day two had a slow start, but once things got moving everyone got well into whatever spot was on the menu. The arrival of day two also marked the arrival of Marat “the crazy Russian,” kicking things off by annihilating this ledge with trick after trick, the true topsoul being the best of a good bunch. I shot the trick using my Sigma 55-200mm and lit it up with a Canon 540EZ Speedlite at 1/4 the power, positioned just down the hill and to the left of the camera, choosing to do so as I wanted to create a spotlight effect on Marat and the trick he was lacing. — Sam Cooper
While most bladers were on the message boards gossiping and preparing themselves for one of the year’s biggest competitions, New York City bladers were busy preparing themselves for one of the biggest video premieres of the year. Sunday February 21, 2010 Jason Staine and Rolling Film Media premiered its first official release, Signature.
Signature is a video profiling Tim Franken, Jeff Dalnas, Alex Nunez, and Mark Wojda that had its theatrical world premiere in the Anthology Film Archive in New York, NY. Legends, veterans, pros, AMs, and groms alike all came out to show their support for one of the biggest videos of the year. Names like Jon Ortiz, Sam Grimm, Victor Callender, Ramelle Knight, Alex Nunez and many more were all in attendance. What better place to showcase a video featuring an amazing and heart felt New York section dedicated to our lost friend Brian “Cozmik” Scott than in his own hometown of New York?
David Lynch meets rollerblading in this genre-smashing edit from Paul John and Midnight Cinema. Graphic, stylized, and featuring some truly amazing blading. Watch it. — ONE
^Pic 1^
Okay, so we need some help. We were looking through some of the best pics photographer John Haynes shot while BCSD X unfolded, and we found ourselves getting distracted by some of the awesome, random crowd moments today’s ultra-high resolution cameras provide us a glimpse of in the backgrounds. Which is where you folks come in. Let’s get some captions from you guys. How about our favorite caption wins their choice of a ONE t-shirt or lithograph set? Let the fun begin, and see the action we cropped out of these shots when the pics hit the pages next issue. — ONE
New York City in the house! A big year for our man Fish gets even better with his first-ever cover shot… and you saw it here first. Billy’s interview was shot in NYC by long-time friend and roommate Jeremy Stephenson, and shows the diversity, difficulty and style of blading this East Coast legend has made his own. And not only did Fish bust out for the camera, but he breaks off a huge chunk of knowledge in his interview, covering topics from the crash in Barcelona, The Truth, his family life, living and blading in the City, and what it means for a company to be “skater-owned.” Hell, he even shares a story about Ryan Jacklone. In an issue packed with content we can’t even tell you all about just yet, this is one feature you don’t want to miss. Premiering at BCSD X, come by our booth to be one of the 300 bladers lucky enough to get their hands on the newest issue. See you there. — ONE
Doesn`t matter where you`re from, I suppose each country has the same sort of cities: one with strong inline “crews,” with many people skating at a very good level, with a great atmosphere for skating. For me, here in Poland, Czestochowa suits this description perfectly. I took one of the first “proper” inline shoots there (with Adam Zurawiecki and Mirek Ragan), and every time I go there I come back home with more and more shots to postprocess. Photos like this one, which was taken at night, when the alley leading to the monastery was almost empty and the buildings are softly illuminated. I used two flashes and the 10.5 fisheye to separate the skater from the background, and to catch the monastery. — Kuba Urbanczyk
Winterclash 2010 through the eyes of ONE! Travel with JE and his Canon 960is Pocket Rocket from San Diego to Berlin for a look at the journey, the people, the city of Berlin, and the event itself. This edit could be shorter, tighter, and in HD, but dammit, this one tells the story just right. — ONE
The power of BCSD and Twitter have combined to bring you live updates from this year’s event! WEB ROLL’s Brian Krans will pick up the @BCSD_news feed on Thursday as folks from around the country begin to converge on Detroit’s Modern Skatepark. From then on, stay tuned to @BCSD_news and @ONEblademag for constant updates on the tradeshow, the parties, and the contest. Add #BCSD_X to your own Tweets and help us give the most complete coverage possible. This is year ten of the biggest blade event in North America — time to do it up right! — ONE
Our friends at Create Originals just dropped this “Welcome to the Team” edit from their days at Rye Airfield with Alex Broskow and Chris Farmer, alongside teammates Billy O’Neill, John Bolino and Colin Kelso. Yes, hot deals ensued. Check them all out in this edit, and see the whole Spring Line beneath the break. — ONE
With less than a week until the tenth annual Bitter Cold Showdown in lovely (read: fucking freezing) Michigan, I can barely keep my ass in a chair. So let’s make this quick.
Ripping pages out of the magazine just got ONE upped. ONE magazine is proud to introduce rollerblading art that’s ready to frame and hang on a wall near you. The Photographer Lithograph Series #1: Wes Driver is a set of eight 11″ x 17″ prints on heavy-stock, featuring a selection of photos hand-picked by Wes as the favorites he’s taken during his tenure at ONE. This is a limited edition, collectible item with only 150 units produced. Each set of eight prints comes packaged in a special foil-stamped custom portfolio. We suggest copping your set at BCSD before they are gone forever… — ONE
ORDER NOW DIRECT FROM OUR BIG CARTEL STORE!
Get a quick look at the obstacles awaiting bladers at Modern Skatepark in this edit by Brian Weis and the crew at Integrated Distribution. Some street, some park, just a little something to put more Bitter Cold thoughts in your head. It’s next week! — ONE
Print Brigade co-owner Jamie Murrett rocks some bigger-sized blades and is always on the prowl for new down-sizing options. And when he got ahold of some Nimhs, he decided the removal of additional material from the toe might not be his best option. Behold, the heel cut. Watch the video and then decide if this is something you want to try. And if you do, let us know how it works for you! — ONE
This photo was one Casey Bagozzi and I had been talking about for a couple weeks. It’s a spot that is in no way safe — the roof is disgusting and the metal ledge can easily destroy your shins. Upon arriving at the spot, Casey and I looked around to try to find something that would improve the horrible approach. After looking around the school we found a perfect Piece of JSF wood to put down. Then it was time to get down to business. Casey started to warm up for the back unity, and on about the fifth try he laced it. But after looking over the pic and the clip Casey decided he wanted to get it better. After about three more hours we finally got a clip and a photo that Casey was happy with. The set up for this picture was fairly simple, it was shot at the magic hour with a simple Sunpak 544 at 1/16 power at camera-left to fill in the shadows. — Matt Bolger
Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is three days late — but a solo mission to Berlin for Winterclash sorta interrupted our regular schedule. So get over it! Here’s Krans’ latest batch of online musings on what other sites are posting and what you should be thinking about heading into Bitter Cold. Speaking of which, see you all in two weeks. — ONE
Stefan Brandow was in town for the Last Man Standing comp back in September and I wanted to get a few shots of him. Before the comp started we decided to go off to this box that they have at the banks and I told him he should try hitting it from the outside part of the angle iron. After a few tries, Stefan laced the makio straight up and down. Shot with Nikon D200|iso 200|f4|nikkor 35mm F2 ai. — Drew Humphrey
Hedonskate just sent us this trailer for their new team video “Not For Sissies,” which will be released at Winterclash in two days. Just like everything Hedon undertakes, the fit and finish on this trailer is tight. Wanna see more? Buy a copy! — ONE
New York has been forgiving with the weather for a few days now, meaning it’s bearable to session and shoot photos. Bronx skater, and flow rider for USD, Malik Ashby and I went one afternoon to shoot some photos on this rail in downtown Soho and it was a bust. We came back at night, around 1:30 am, and the streets were dead and no one bothered us. That let us finally get a nice shot of Malik breaking in his new Carbons doing this laced Frontside Unity. Two Canon speedlights with diffusers were used on a 430 EX, and a 580 EX II, triggered with pocket wizards. — Cesar Macay
Ok, so here’s the official press release to address all of the rumors about the Create Originals pro team. When the three of us started Create, we had a vision for how we wanted to portray the company, team and image. Our goal is to provide the best for the skate community in all aspects, not only with our product, but with our team image and riders as well. Basically, we wanted to offer more than a new product, we wanted to give the skate community something to be excited about and proud of. That being said, we at Create Originals are very proud to announce our TWO newest pro riders, Chris Farmer and Alex Broskow. We’re excited to have them onboard, and you can expect to see a lot of cool things coming from Create Originals in 2010. Welcome to the team, fellas! CO. — Billy O’Neill
Edit beneath the break!
How many times you’ve been to the Winterclash?
This will be the third time.
What was the best year for you?
I would have to say last year.
I took this photo of Timm Kittlitz while we were driving through the tiny European country of Lichtenstein. We drove around, searching for something fun to end the day with, as we had already shot some hammers earlier. Luckily, we found this small bank behind a bush and an electricity box. Timm ended the day with a steezy Fishy on a unique spot. — Lui Summer
Jeremy Townsend hosted the belated second showing of the Beat The Chump competition in Seattle at the City of Bellvue’s indoor park. It was a morning-time event, with guys like Jeremy, Rob Inks, and Aaron Feinberg judging (and as seen above, shredding). The event welcomed bladers of all levels, and had prominent area dudes like Randy Juarez, Kawika Jarman, Brandon Weller, Jake Dotson, along with with up and coming stars like Adam Exline, JT Truitt, Dustin Jamieson and Brendan Phillips in attendance. Check out the action in the edit, along with another pic and full results beneath the break! — ONE
Stop, rant, and roll! This week Krans brings us some questionable blade ‘news’ regarding Shaq, adds perspective to the many digs at blading taking place in the swelling social network blogosphere, shares ways to spread blading, finds an edit that didn’t drown in a sea of hate when it hit the news sites, and realizes, thanks to Winterclash, that rollerblading is far from dead. But then you already knew that, right? — ONE
Carlos Montenegro, or as other rollers in NYC know him, “Loso,” laced this Topsoul in complete darkness. We began our day around 10 a.m. at Penn Station, waiting for people to meet up with us. But after many flakes, we were able to arrive at Drop In skatepark with only five minutes to spare. After walking tracks, hoping trains, and skating it all the way up hill from a long travel, we barely made it in. Everyone knows that most skateparks charge an entrance fee, but luckily the guys over at Drop In were kind enough to let us in for free after hearing our struggle to get there. One minute after setting up my camera and having a friend hold my flash by hand, I was able to capture this shot with only the use of my manual focus and sense of hearing. The run up of the ramp was the only indication that Carlos was taking off. I was set at 0.004 sec (1/250) at an aperture of f3.5 on my regular 18mm kit lens. To get a better perspective of how the day went feel free to check out the set. — David Toro (okasu)
Mark Heuss just sent out this bonus slam edit from PARTY. Filmed in Munich, Berlin, Ruhrpott, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Regensburg, Budapest and Barcelona, and shot with a Canon XH-A1 (sometimes with the Redrock Micro and Canon FD lenses), this edit with no color correction and no music is all about pure pain. You asked where the fall sections on today’s videos went, and here’s your answer. — ONE
Our dudes in Poland sent this through today (Thanks, Bart), so we thought we’d put it up for your viewing pleasure. There’s sections from bladers that show off the scene in Cracow City. Though we can’t understand anything anyone says, the international language of blading, and passion for blading, translates just fine. — ONE
How many times you’ve been to the Winterclash?
I think this will be my fourth time!
What was the best year for you?
2008… because my bros Worapoj Boonim and Alan Mak were there.
I can remember watching Sean Cowen thrown down in at the AIL competitions when he was just a little grom, competing against all the 18 & ups. These days, Sean has definitely grown into his skates and is skating solid in local comps like the LA All Day, and is coming just as strong on the street. We sessioned SoCal’s Pepperdine University recently, and after a bit of exploring and skating fast rails, David Jones got us kicked out for scratching the new paint on the University’s handrails. This shot was a quick setup on our way out — literally last shot of the day — and Sean only had to go twice before I had my flashes exposed right. I set one flash at the top right of the stairs, aiming down towards Sean, and the other was on-camera and angled up, as to not blowout the ground in front of me. Equipment used: Nikon Speedlight SB-900 off-camera, Nikon Speedlight SB-800 on-camera, Nikon D300 DSLR and a Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye lens. — Scott Moffat
How many times you’ve been to the Winterclash?
I’ve been to all of them. Never missed one since the beginning. Not always competed though.
What was the best year for you?
I think the last Muhlhausen, so that must’ve been like, 2008, I think? That one was the illest for me. I came there with a van with like 10 friends, and we all just enjoyed that weekend so much. It will be hard to top that one…
This bridge underpass has been in the back of my mind since the first time I saw it in 2004. But I never took the opportunity to go out and photograph it, and in all honesty I am glad I didn’t, ’cause this shot with Frank Joubert, one of South Africa’s top skaters, turned out to be one of my favorite images ever shot.
We spent a Sunday morning in the banking district of Johannesburg, which is notorious for being a bust, although luck was on our side this morning and Frank managed to get three shots for his magazine profile before we decided to leave for spot two, on this strangely quite Jozi morning. I recalled this bridge a couple of blocks down, and we left to go and have a look. I asked Frank to do whatever he could from the bank (the angle is extremely severe), so he managed to run from across the road, side stepping up the bank as high as he possibly could, and doing this Mute 180 off. I am not sure how he managed to get this high!
The lighting was fairly simple, seeing that there wasn’t enough natural light on the background. I used two Sunpak Auto 555 flashes, placed almost 45 degrees front right to light Frank, and the same from the back left, used as both a rim on Frank and background light on the bank. I used whatever little natural light there was on the foreground to frame the shot. Shot on a Nikon D700 DSLR with a 24-70mm lens. — George Rabe
Being a German Rollerblader, what do you have to say about the Winterclash? being in Berlin this year, and are you going?
First of all, I’m proud that the biggest comp in rollerblading is held in Germany. I would love to go but I do not have enough money to go this year.
What do you enjoy most about the Winterclash?
The skatepark where they have the comps are always sick. Just everybody is always there, and skating in front of over 1,500 people kinda pushes me. There is just no other comp like the Wintertrash.
Can you believe it’s been over seven months? Well, another week, another look at both the inspirational and idiotic rumblings of online bladerhood. Get the rundown on why you HAVE to make it to one of the blade events in February, Xsjado announcing their newest pro, getting over the FML mentality, a wag of the finger at drunk divers, and more in this latest dose of verbal venom from our man by the bay. — ONE
How many times you’ve been to the Winterclash?
Four times; I just missed the first one.
What was the best year for you?
I think it was 2008. Had a great apartment with all good people around, and the natural Winterclash flair, of course! Mühlhausen was a good place.
Martin Walchshofer came to my place to shoot for an interview in Balance Magazine. As there happened to be a RollTogether session in Switzerland, we went there. Before anybody arrived, we took the chance to get a shot without any lurkers in the background — Martin Walchshofer, the Austrian Nimh flow rider, representing with a Truespin Backside Savannah.
As the sun was shining, I stopped down to f9 at iso100 and 1/250. I used two flashes for the skater, as well as a rimlight right behind the ledge. I chose to make the shot black and white because the colors in the skatepark are not too nice. — Lui Summer
How many times you’ve been to the Winterclash?
Didn’t miss a single Clash ’till now.
What was the best year for you?
First year was mad!
How many times you’ve been to the Winterclash?
Four times. This will be the fifth.
What was the best year for you?
2006 and 2009.
Our homies at NY’s Psyko Clothing hit us up to announce that they are living it up, having a great time touring in Puerto Rico. While most of use contend with sub-zero temps, typhoons and mudslides, Damien Wilson, Franky Morales, Miguel Ramos and Alejandro Velez are partying and blading in the sun. (Dicks!) For more info and updates check out the Pysko site, and while you’re there, check out the new lineup of artists Josh Diaz has got lined up. There’s moves a-brewin’ for this Brooklyn-based company. — ONE
What is your full name?
Mason Joseph Richard.
My middle name is Joseph too! Right on.
Yeahhhh!
How old are you, and how long have you been blading?
I’m 16 and I’ve been in the blade game for five years now. Six years on June 21st.
How many times you’ve been to the Winterclash?
I think three times now(?). At least three… maybe four? I think this year will be four.
What was the best year for you?
I always have a good time catching up with friends I don’t get to see that much and at the parties, but I have yet to skate well in one! Ha, ha.
Chris Lorimer is normally hitting rails when we skate street, so as I watched him scope out this gap and lace it, I was still walking down the hill to set up my lights. We were skating Malibu High School and had already been kicked out, but the security was chill and let us skate in the parking lot. This parking lot’s driveway had a long, continuous bank to fence, which was interrupted by two additional features, one being a very mellow handicapped rail, and the other being this gap that Chris holds a solid Mute Air over. It was partially overcast, so I lit the scene with three Speedlights; two you can see in the frame, and the third is on camera. The first two created the highlights I wanted on his front and back, and the third is on camera to fill the shadows. The equipment used was 2x Nikon Speedlight SB-900 off-camera, Nikon Speedlight SB-800 on-camera, Nikon D300 DSLR, and a Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye lens. — Scott Moffat
After nearly two years of filming, Ricky Coster, myself, and everyone else invovled in B-ROLL are anxious to fianlly be able to drop it online. B-ROLL is an video showcasing the Buffalo, NY scene, as well as keeping you tuned in on the great bladers of Rochester, NY. Featuring Ricky Coster, Dan Barnes, Josh Marlinski, Cris Parwulski, Malik Glen, Neil Heary, Tim Adams, Grant Hazelton, Steve Bruning, Mike Torres, Kris Troyer, and Nate Hall, it was filmed by Ricky Coster, Cris Parwulski, Josh Marlinski and myself. Ricky handled the editing.
The video started as a rather loose idea and was going rather slow at first. However, this past summer everyone jumped fully on board and busted out as much and as hard as we possibly could. I can speak for everyone, saying that it was one of the best summers ever, skating-wise, and we are all excited to have it captured. Most importantly, we are thrilled to put Buffalo on the map as a major blade scene with dedicated skaters who have nothing but love and heart for the sport.
I hope you guys enjoy the skating, filming and editing, and if it makes you want to go strap on a pair of blades… mission accomplished! Keep blading and staying to true to yourself and one of the most unique sports out there. Enjoy. — Dan Barnes
All right, ONE #14 (V4N2) is online now, but we’re mixing things up a bit. Instead of simply providing the download link to the PDF, we’re trying out the online publication browser Issuu. We think you’ll like the faster, easier viewing experience when re-reading Chris Farmer’s interview, or catching up with Ross Kuhn, or wrapping your mind around Dave Paine’s 15 Minutes one more time. Better yet, pass it along to anyone or post it anywhere you want to make a statement about blading. After all, that’s what it’s all about. #14 viewer embedded beneath the break, or click a link to get started. — ONE
After last week’s shit storm of blade-bashing, Krans brings haters of all sorts to task, with the full-force of four-lettered profanity and amusing anecdotal reference — which is sort of his thing. But, as WEB ROLL continues to prove, sometimes there’s things that just need to be said. This week is no exception. — ONE
BCSD and ONE present an open call for video submissions documenting YOUR best BCSD experiences. Whether you went to shred or to watch the shredding, now’s the time to get in front of the camera and tell the world about it. When you’ve got your video ready to send, fire it off to dk@bittercoldshowdown.com to help celebrate this momentous 10th anniversary, being sure to include your name and location. And while we’ve got your attention, check out this first installment featuring bladers like JC Rowe, Casey Geraghty, Chris Haffey, Stefan Brandow, and Jason Reyna, with guest appearances by Lamar Odom! — ONE
This particular shot was taken in Lower Manhattan, at what LES skaters call “The AMP” (Fish did a front torque on the down-rails seen in “Truth II” located further right from where the shot was taken). Jesus’ warm up to this 540 was a 180 that itself was inspired by a Dare-To-Straight-Air from a fellow blader known only as Buffalo. I captured the 1:30 shot free hand with what I believed to be a fast enough shutter speed (1/400sec), but anyone paying close attention can tell that the shot is a little out of focus. I didn’t expect Jesus to jump straight in and go mach 5, which he did. Personally, I thought the grab was on point.
For those of you who aren’t so familiar with Jesus Medina, he’s a pretty well-known-yet-underrated roller in the NY scene who has had the pleasure of being featured in some of your favorite magazines and videos. For those of you that are familiar with him, you know that he is very on point with the hammers that he laces from time to time. I would have to describe him as really laid back, yet a cool dude to be around. Being the humble guy that he is, he never lets anyone down when it comes to staying true to his word, and showing up on time to a session. — David Toro (okasu)
Grif Kerry of RollCam packed up his bags this summer and made the voyage from the UK to the US, where he landed straight on the RocKillers’ couch. Not bad! Here’s an edit he put together featuring bladers like Russell Day, Demetrios George, Colin Mcleod, Iain Mcleod, Anthony Williams, Demetrios George, and Winston Wardwell. (We suggest putting in your summer 2010 stay-over requests with the RocKillers now, cause floor space reservations are filling up fast.) — ONE
Just three years ago, the Pow Wow was one of those local competitions that only one or two big names showed up to. Today, it has become one of the fastest-growing competitions in America. The event this past weekend was no exception, and it was only the amateur qualifiers…
Full results and more pics below.
The day Chris and I shot this image was one of those driving around days. You know, the days where you spend more time in the car looking for new spots than you do actually skating. After messing around here and there, we ended up back in the city at the spot you see here. It’s a launch up to the rail, that you can’t see due to the low angle I chose. I still had a friend’s Canon 10-22mm lens in my bag that he left in there from the wedding he shot with me the night before, so I threw it on and got low. One flash was off to camera right and the other was next to me on my left, extended about 6 feet up. I love catching the golden hour, and that contributed to the nice warm light that falls everywhere in the rest of the photo. Image link not working for you? Try this link right here. — Nick DeMarchi
When Jeph Howard and Brett Dasovic told us they were working on their next installment of “A Day with Brett & Jeph” over two days and at two parks, and planned to end the whole thing with some sledding, we said “Count us in!” And here’s the results, twenty minutes of blading, blade lifestyle, and some commentary on the new issue from our homies in MN. Featuring: Jeph, Brett, Chris Farmer, Blake O’Brien, Shane McClay, Aaron Peterson, John Haynes, Michael Garlinghouse, and more! And since our Twitter widget funks up the coding for the above links, click right here to watch on Vimeo. — ONE
I wanted to call his one “Cigarettes and Alcohol and Rollerblading,” but I guess that name is already taken.
I came up with the idea after drinking a fifth of the Beam and smoking half a pack of Pall Malls. Then I tried stealing Ivan’s car while he was sleeping, failed to find his keys, put on my blades, skated to the Castro, looked for a transvestite hooker, offered he/she or she/he fifty bucks to drop trou just so I could point and go, “Eww.”
That’s when I realized I didn’t have $50. I later awoke up on someone’s couch. It smelled of two decades of dried farts and a long, Viagra-fueled weekend of giz.
Either way, I saw some blading shit on the Internet this week. Wrote a column about it. Like to read it? Here it go…
It has gotten to be that time of the year where skating outside for fun can become a challenge. Getting more than three skaters out at the same time can seem impossible. A simple fall turns into a more a painfull one. I’m talking about the cold weather. Lately, since it gets dark around 3:30 pm, getting some day shots requires days of advance notice and a keen sense of coming weather patterns.
While looking out the window and getting fooled by the blue sky I forgot for a second that it would be freezing, so I started to call skater after skater to see who was down for a productive photo shoot. As I called, emailed and texted it seemed that no one was available, and then Dave Lang appeared on Facebook.
All right, the Black Lips are coming back to San Diego! And they’re coming to a town near you (probably), so we’ve got all the tour dates below the break so you can plan your encounter. But in case your forgot and to protect ourselves from YOU saying that we don’t remember shit, we posted the write up we ran in Issue #9 recounting the last time we saw them play The Casbah. Hoping it’s not too much different when we catch up with ‘em on the 24th (minus the moshing, of course). — ONE
A few months back, the Razors team stopped in Buffalo for a day to film for their upcoming video. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to call in to work “sick” so I could go skate and shoot photos. We shot this image early in the day at the University at Buffalo. There is a short run up to the rail, and to make the trick and line harder, Brian did a big 360 over the first set and had to jump just after he landed the spin. I chose to shoot long in order to frame him between the two rails and wall to his back. One flash was set up directly facing him from camera left, while the other was back and to the right on top of the first set. The flat, overcast lighting made for a great black and white image. — Nick DeMarchi
Starting with the obvious questions, who is Jeph Howard, where does he call home, and what is he doing as we speak? (well, type rather)?
Well, he is a 25-year-old, really awesome dude, who works at a dope pizza shop called Punch Pizza. I currently live in St. Paul, Minnesota with Michael Garlinghouse, and I am waiting in my living room for a box of ONE magazines to arrive for the next “Day with Brett and Jeph” edit. Ha, ha.
Sometimes my impatience borderlines a handicap. So, I’ve decided to not wait for ONE to come up with the democratically-decided Skater of the Year Award. However, one award for the whole year seems a bit lazy, so here is an amassing of people I think should deserve some recognition for what they did in 2009…
(And to clarify, these awards do not reflect the thoughts or opinions of the ONE editorial board. They were decided solely by me, Brian Krans, in an attempt to show some respect and/or be funny.)
Sacha Lopez originally came to Wangen to check out the newly-built kinked ledges, and I went there to take a few photos. Unfortunately, the new ledges were way too crowded to place my flashes properly, so we decided snap a few photos at the good old Ucon ledge. After warming up with a few super-steezy Truespin Topsouls, Sacha decided that this trick was too easy for a photo he wanted to get used somewhere. So, after four attempts, he killed the ledge with an ultra-fast Truespin Crossgrab Fishbrain. Then he did it three more times to get a shot that looked exactly the way he wanted it to look. — Lui Summer
Remember that guy we mentioned, um, yesterday, named Jason Staine, who was making a video called “Signature”? Well, it looks like his trailer got posted today, and thanks to I Roll NY we saw it. Looks like some fresh blading from Alex Nunez, Jeff Dalnas, John Bolino, Mark Wojda and more. See the rest from Rolling Film Media here. — ONE
While filming for a new video coming out of New York/New Jersey from Jason Staine called “Signature,” my friend Ryan Many and I took a drive out to Jersey City to get clips. In NJ we met up with Jason and some other bladers and some serious hammers were thrown down for the video, so be on the lookout for it soon. During the session we found this spot next to some rails. Ryan hopped over this rail that was maybe 4 ft high (or more) to ledge roll to 180. — Cesar Macay
Jason Zwack and I went to this spot hoping to get a nice soyale on a much larger drop rail, but it had rained a few days before and there was some residual moisture on the run up. This nearby kinker, on the other hand, was puddle-free, so Jason agreed to give it a good old fashioned Topsoul. Right after I set up and fired off a test shot, security came out and informed us that we couldn’t “shoot movies” there. After the guard was done threatening our lives, he went inside and Jason gave it a few tries. Pictured here is try number three… laced. Note the swell color coordination on Jason’s part. — Greg King
To watch evolution is amazing. Since I started skating, I have been lucky enough to watch and be part of one of the most progressive and innovative ’sports’ that the world has to offer. During this period of time, rollerblading as we know it went through a vast change, going through innovations in skate technology and trends. Skates were getting better, and skaters were becoming more aware of how they presented themselves. What was once an entire group of guys skating Tarmacs, wearing wide-legged jeans with chain wallets, became something more. The stereotypical ideal of what a skater was supposed to look like became harder to pinpoint. These trends transitioned through a few different phases, and some of your favorite skaters grew into their present day personas before our eyes. Today, I look at what rollerblading has become and I am amazed. There’s more style and diversity than I’ve ever seen. We as a community should be celebrating these things and being proud of rollerblading and how far it’s come and will continue to grow. In my eyes, we are at our peak and continuing to mature and present ourselves better as a community, year by year. We are all a part of that evolution.
I spent too much of this week working and getting inappropriately drunk, so I have no clue what was going on in the blading world. Well, less than usual. So, I rant…
Another trip, another Photo Journal. A few months ago I needed to take a brake from the crazy mess of New York City, so I asked my friend to get me on a flight to Puerto Rico with one of his buddy passes. Which worked, and was amazing ’cause it was a red-eye flight on a Monday and one of my long-lost friends was working at the departure gate. I got to travel first class; there is nothing like a free ticket and first class meal.
Jeremy Townsend is planning an event on January 31, 2010 at the newly-remodeled City of Bellevue indoor park. Turns out Jeremy worked there 10 years ago, and actually held his first-ever comp at the park 1999. That event was called Beat the Chump, so this “follow up” event will carry that legacy by being dubbed Beat the Chump 2. This year’s event is open to all ages and abilities; perfect for a city with a large and diverse community of rollers ranging in ages from 10–30+. If you’re in the PacWest on the 31st, try to make it to the park to see what’s up. — ONE
Adam Ehalt from Atlanta gets to come visit his family and friends in Macon whenever he’s out of school. Pending my work schedule, I try to come up with time to go out and take some pictures of him while he is here. We went to this spot, originally to skate some curved handicap rails, and Adam ended up doing a line across the bridge behind the rails pictured. He started with a hop onto a line of bricks, did a backside across a little rail, then jumped a stairset over the top rail onto the middle flat of the steps, then one big hop later jumped into a soul on this tall kink rail. For light on Adam, I decided to put one flash to camera right to light the stairs, and the key light for the subject. To light the top of the rail and add some rim light to Adam, I put one above the stairs at camera left, just out of the frame. — Corey Oringderff
All your holiday spirit, wants, likes, loves, and disappointment is wrapped up with a verbal bow by your lyrical laureate, Brian Krans. Here’s another present you can rip into without fear of leaving scraps on your mom’s floors or finding another sweater from your Aunt Lucy. Enjoy! — ONE
It’s that time of year when the major contests series and events have come and gone, hotly-anticipated videos have made their ways into viewers’ hands, and most of us are ready to rip open some presents and toss back some bubbly. Which means it’s the perfect time to reflect on the year in blading and decide who should earn the prestigious honor of being the second-ever ONE magazine Skater Of The Year. From this moment until the end of January we’ll be accepting YOUR nominations through the form below. Submit your choice now, and at the end of the month we’ll figure out the top ten most voted-for bladers, then let you decide which of those finalists takes the title. Got questions? Leave a comment and we’ll address as needed. Thanks for participating again. — ONE
Skating and shooting photos with David Jones is always a good time that leaves me juiced about skating. Our afternoon of skating in the L.A. area ended here, in between a parking structure and a business building. We took full advantage of the rail-happy landscaping. Numerous grinds were held through the entire length of this rail with its nine sections. Likewise, David had no problem with this Savannah. My exposure for this shot was 1/13 @ f/5 ISO 320. To expose for the lights on the trees, I dragged the shutter. I had no tripod, so that’s what’s up with the blurry trees. I used two Quantum Flash units to light David, and was shooting on a Nikon D3 with a Sigma 50-500mm lens (thanks Richie!). — Scott Moffat
The holiday spirit (panic?) and a major snowstorm may have you dreaming of sugarplums and new blade gear in your stocking, but Krans is busy finding new and unusual ways to rant about blading. This week amongst carpet skating, Shred Till You’re Dead sections, and bizarre presents he braves the turgid waters of online discussion regarding gender equality in blading. “Chicks, man?” Indeed. Read on. — ONE
I shot this photo of Alex “Dench” Harlan at some random apartment complex somewhere on the East side of Austin. It was my first day in town and Alex had skipped work to show me around, trying to get some photos. By the time we arrived at this particular spot, Alex only had an hour before he had to be at school. I quickly set up my flashes while he sweatstanced the rail several times to get the feel for it. The rail itself was perfect, but as always, there were a few factors to take into account… narrow approach, jagged rocks, and oncoming traffic to name a few. Knowing how sweet an AO Top Acid would be, Alex didn’t let those things get to him. After getting some support from one of the nearby tenants, and eating shit a couple times, he hammered it out and was off to school. — Greg King
This interview, what the kids really want to know is: Whose boobs are those in your Be-Mag signature, are they real, and if your plane had to make an emergency landing in the ocean, could you use them as a flotation device ;)?
HAHAHA, best question I think I’ve ever got in an interview. Yeah, that would be my girlfriend’s boobs you’re talking about — ha, ha — and yes, they’re real. And if we crash landed into the ocean you bet your ass I’m holding on to those for floation.
Shooting in LA recently, I got some great photos of one of Santa Monica’s locals, Byron Snatchywaters. This 19-stair had a run-up with one push worth of space before you had to jump for the rail. This was no problem for Byron though, and after he had landed a clean Soul and a Makio with Rocket grab, I shot this Acid grind. This shot was for Jon Julio for hooking Byron up with his new Valos. Camera settings were 1/320 @ f/5.6 ISO 320. I set up two Quantum Flashes at 45º left and right of the rail, pointing them up so that they would fall off towards the foreground. Camera: Nikon D3. Lens: Sigma 50-500mm. — Scott Moffat
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re a day late getting Krans’ latest foray into the blade-o-sphere up onto the web for eager eyes, but life happens. Which is saying more than a little about this week’s topics: pint-sized interviewers, badger-surfing babies, some discourse about online “debate,” and the latest-breaking news item that is sure to have you thinking “2010!” — ONE
The day started out pretty rough. Brian Long and I had just gotten kicked out of a spot in Cambridge that I’ve that wanted to shoot at for a while, and I was already an hour late for work. Given the situation, we ended up getting escorted out of there by the fuzz. I don’t think we’ll be welcome there for a while. Walking back to the train station I was bummed, until I remembered a unique spot nearby that no one ever skates. By the time we got there the sun had gone down completely, so I set up one flash at camera right and another slightly behind Brian. Thankfully, Brian is one of the most talented, stylish skaters I know, and laced this Zero Fishbrain with ease. — John O’Donnell
The Nimh team went to Europe and all Brian Shima got was this cover! Sam Butt shoots and writes the story of their travels, offering his two cents on the increasing importance of being skater-owned and the energy of Montre Livingston. Joey Chase wasn’t on that tour, but as chance would have it he nabbed himself the feature interview in the very same issue. We sent Drew Amato to shoot in Florida during the Pow-Wow but Joey broke his ankle, so shooting was postponed until a hectic three-day stretch in San Diego. Called in for the job of capturing the action was NorCal’s Nick Korompilas, and the results are every bit as raw as Joey’s reputation. See all this and more when ONE Issue #15 ships this month. — ONE
Alright Brett, I figured that I could come up with better questions if I could sympathize with you Minnesota kids as far as terribly cold weather goes, so I waited until getting home to Cleveland to write these. You know, step into your shoes a bit… Now that we have that on the table (pause for sip of hot chocolate), tell us a little bit about yourself.
Well, my name is Brett Anthony Dasovic, I am 23 years young, I am the type of person who gets excited about the smallest details, and is known by his friends and family for being excitable and talkative. I do my best to be articulate and care for everyone around me. I skate just like I live my life. I care about every detail, and I use that caring attitude to be productive, as well as defined, in what I choose to do with my tricks and attitude towards the sport. I am influenced by everything from music and life events, to how my friends are feeling and what my current living situation is. I am who I am, and even though it can be a bit too much for some people, I have learned who truly appreciates my attitude and demeanor, and I do my best to show them all the respect in the world because in the end that is who I am… a person in the world who just wants to gain respect, and show the same to others.
Adam Ehalt is one of the funnest people to take pictures with. No matter how hard or absurd the trick is, he will do it over and over until he gets a picture that looks just right. Like, arms controlled, and he has to make sure he was leaning inside the rail perfectly. This picture had some obvious obstacles as far as the photo taking process itself. I wanted to really show the heel lift, yet have the whole rail, and ran into the problem of the rail I took the picture through covering up some of the parts I wanted to show. So I decided to frame him inside the second rail, and this is what we got. — Corey Oringderff
Given the ass-ripping Krans laid down the past two weeks, we figured he’d have reached maximum velocity and be due for a flame-out. Wrong. With his web-scouring and mega-bitching skills in place, here’s a piece of what’s on Krans’ mind this week. — ONE
This is a shot of Johnny Wu (John Williams) steezing out a crossgrab fishbrian. I had a hard time deciding which of these two photos were better, so here are both: The stair set is a bit claustrophobic with walls on both sides and I wanted to show that. I shot the long angle first and liked it because at first glance it’s not exactly clear what he’s doing. Is he gapping the stair set, or is he grinding the rail? It’s tough to tell without a closer look. The second fisheye angle I thought was cool because it’s easier to see the skater, and I also liked the composition, even though I’m not usually a fan of the crooked fisheye. Which shot do you prefer? — Gabe Holm
First and foremost, I want to set the record straight. In spite of whatever misconceptions are out there and the nonsense that the message board trolls have to say, in your own words, who is David Sizemore?
I am one of 327 David Sizemores in the U.S.
Do you simply just let the haters hate, or does this ever really get to you?
I try not to let the hate on message boards get to me personally, but I do try to at least hear what the people have to say. While some people have a huge internet ego and post mindless hatred against people just to get their reactions, other people actually know what they are talking about and post their blunt opinions for more of an outcome than just just to piss someone off. Some posts can help someone fine tune their skating. I’m not saying that someone should completely change their style or tricks because of what some posts say, but to improve the tricks by hearing out the flaws that the person might not see or choose to ignore.
It was a cold night in Austin when we arrived at this slick drop rail. I was excited to find a spot that could do without the fisheye, and Mason was excited to be out of school for Thanksgiving. When he told me he could do an AO Unity, I knew exactly where I wanted to shoot it from. I set one flash off to my left, and another on the stairs for some backlight. One thing you can’t really tell from this photo is that riding off the end of the rail puts you directly on top of the curb, making for a difficult landing. But Mason kills, so, a few flashes and butt-scrapes later, the trick was laced. — Greg King
From the middle of nowhere comes a small blade flick from an even smaller town. Branching out of Cheshire, CT, BREAKFAST features sections of Casey Geraghty, Mike Dempsey, John Lyke, and a split section with Nick Taylor and Zach Smith. This video will be posted online for free (in HD) on December first. You can view the trailer here. — Drew Amato
Tell people who you are.
My name is Erik Stokley, I’m 19, I don’t go to school, I live in New Jersey but I will soon be bailing from this shit-hole once again. I love beer and sluts. Rollerblading’s pretty cool if you ask me.
Should they care about you? Or, are you concerned with saying anything that will make people care about Erik Stokley for more than just his sweet blade maneuvers?
Nope.
Blake Taylor (founder of the Panhandle Pow-Wow) and Geoff Valcourt (of the legendary FU Circuit) have created a qualifier event for the upcoming 2010 Panhandle Pow-Wow. The event is designed for area Ams to skate for a chance to pre-qualify for the 2010 Pro Event. The top 5 get pre-qualification and the winner receives a cash prize. For more details check the web site and flyer. — ONE
In celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday, Krans takes the time to thank some of the basic, fundamental elements that make rollerblading even possible. Join us with this unlikely rundown while you finish digesting that glut of turkey and stuffing you jammed down your gullet over the past two days. — ONE
Skating on the central coast of California has been a solo event for me until recently. I finally found another rollerblader to not only skate with, but also go to school and live with. Chris Lorimer moved out here from Ohio to study photography, I intercepted him at school orientation, and we’ve been skating and shooting quite a bit. We were skating some street in Ventura and came upon Camarillo Middle school which, among many other obstacles, had an amazing five kink rail. There was no run up, and Chris was throwing himself off the fence just to get speed. After a few attempts Chris smoothly layed down a solid Pornstar all the way through the last six inch length of the rail. Chris is representing Ohio strong out here in Cali. — Scott Moffat
I feel like I need to say something about an alarming trend I have seen in skating. I read a photo caption in Be-Mag saying “we just watch skateboarding edits online and go to the spots.” I have also been taken to several skateboarding spots in the last several months to get photos. This is something that is overwhelmingly detrimental to skating. We need to stop, once and for all, trying to be skateboarders. I am not sure if rollerblading will ever “get cool” again, but the sooner that we can stop feeling like “skateboarding jr.” the better. Our sport is invisible, people who care hate us, and people who don’t care can’t see us.
Print Brigade co-owner and ONE supporter Jamie Murrett sent in this edit of him putting in his blade work. Filmed and edited by Erik Ustach, here’s a little look at the pain and pleasure Jamie experiences while getting his blade on in Connecticut.— ONE
You are one of the toughest critics of style in our industry, and for good reasons; what do you think led to the way that blading as a whole has changed from the FP days to how we know it today?
Skating changes, like anything else that progresses or is new. Skating has changed due to many things over the years… it’s hard to pinpoint, but in my head, as I’m thinking about it, the word ‘trends’ keeps comming to mind. Tricks that are in, fashions, prominent pros; all things that have changed in skating. I guess if you’re trying to compare how the “FP Days” were compared to how skating is today, it’s the attitude that FP brought and the way we portrayed skating and the way we felt we should skate. Maybe it’s because FP was in the spotlight and our general delivery of skating was very raw, uncut, hard. So to me I feel like I related these things to skating more-so then, than I do now. The more personality, and origionality you have as an individual, the more it’s going to rub off in your skating. It’s not that we don’t have that with pros nowadays, I just think with FP being at the forfront at the time, and with that being the first representation of rollerblading being portrayed like that, that maybe it felt different? But that wasn’t really the first, ’cause weren’t Brian Smith, Arlo and Brooke pulling knives, wearing halos, and baking cookies and all that?
When the weather is overcast, which it usually is this time of year, it’s important to try and divert from having the sky dominate the image, so I chose an angle which would be interesting enough in the foreground and would use the grey sky as a nice background to keep the skater clear. I set up one rear flash behind the hedges to light up the rail and the skater’s body, and another on the front right to make sure the skates were gleaming and there were no boring shadows hiding details behind the skater or in the hedges he was grinding over. Simon’s arm is slightly blurred from the motion, so a higher shutter speed would probably have been a better choice, and the glare on the right is due to the flash not being placed a sufficient distance out of the shot. — Tom McClelland
Six months of doing this and I think I’ve earned a little space to rant more than usual, so I use it for revolving door-bitching topics. So, I’ll be the guy on the right and let you readers be the guy on the left…
Your humble narrator Ben Price and Tim Kelly, Boston Street Battle blood brothers.
If Razors’ toe-brakes were even halfway functional, this article would be a lot better. But they aren’t, so I accidentally head-butted the hell out of Tim Kelly, and you’re getting writing that’s slightly… concussed. Blame Geoff Acers. It was kind of fitting though — blood was sort of the thing to wear at the 2009 Boston Street Battle. But I’m ahead of myself. I’ll back up.
Our buddies at RB sent us this edit highlighting their team riders at the WRS Finals. Check it out. — ONE
Gainesville, FL is known for football and college parties. A little-known secret is that it has some of the nicest skate spots in Florida. Having spent my whole childhood in Gainesville, I knew the potential, but to be honest I was really surprised when I came back. The girls seemed to have gotten better-looking, the parties seemed to have gotten wilder, the rails seemed to have gotten more-perfect, and the scenery couldn’t be better. So when Jon Fromm told me he and a bunch of my good buddies from down south were coming up, I couldn’t wait to show them a good time. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take them to any of the good spots, but at least they got to see the town a little bit, as well as the skatepark. Another thing that Gainesville is known for is its lack of bladers, so when some good ones came into town the skateboarders were nothing less than appalled. — Dustin Spengler
We know, we know, it’s been a while, but in the ensuing months the ONE team has been busy building the new issue, and we’re glad to say it’s on its way. This time out Nimh tours Europe and Sam Butt was there to document the action, John Haynes Spotlights Blake O’Brien shredding the Twin Cities, Joey Chase gets a high-pressure interview shoot with Nick Korompilas, Carlos Pianowski gives us a Take 5, Marc Moreno shreds Barcelona for an Am Hour, Danish vert legend Rene Hulgreen gets his 15 Minutes, Mike Rios delivers a Folio, the largest Picks gallery ever, and too much more to list. Reserve your copy now, or be on the lookout for a copy at your local retailer in December. — ONE
I captured this shot on our last trip with Matthias von Gostomski and Maik Lojewski in the so called “Ruhrgebiet,” which is in western Germany. We had been there for three days and were trying to shoot as much as possible to get something for an upcoming Be-Mag, a new RollTogether flyer, and some shots for web only. This shot here from Matthias was on our last day, at Bochum University’s parking lot. I used a stativ, for a long exposure which was at 1/2 second, ISO 100 and a 50mm lens at f 2.2. It took Matthias a couple tries to grind the rail, but after like five tries he laced this Front Farv to 180 gap perfectly, so we finished our little trip with this shot and a nice pizza after it. — Peter Bender
Scott Moffat met up with ONE at the 2009 LA All Day series finals not only to shoot photos, but to blade in the Advanced division. Long story short: he won, and is no longer allowed to skate Advanced… so next year check him out in the Elite Division. But we’re digressing. Here’s a look at the action Scott captured last weekend in Santa Monica. If you weren’t there you missed some top-notch blading. — ONE
Watch out! Krans is shooting from the hip this week and you’re bound to get clipped. From litigiousness as a road to riches for bladers, Arlo ranting and people ranting about Arlo, and the upside to being unemployed, Krans has your week-in-blading wrap right here. — ONE
Ireland blade homies from KALTIK sent this our way to show off their upcoming second team video. Includes footage from Albert Hooi, Balazs Zima, Kevin and Paraic McGlouhlin, Beethoven Pitanga, Conor Manweiler, Jirka Tomasek, Joey Egan, Johny Mulligan and Keir Lindsay. Edited by Kevin McGloughlin. — ONE
An interesting thing about the band Wrong Crowd is that Brenton Wheeler is on drums. They toured and John Haynes caught up with them to shoot pics. This is what he got. — ONE
After a long day in Manhattan looking for an HD camera for Mr. Ramos, we headed out to find a cool spot to film and shoot. I remembered going to this crazy-looking spot with some skaters from Long Island this summer, and told Miguel about it, so we head out. After two hours in Manhattan traffic we got there and got so upset because there were a whole bunch of trucks parked in front. After long negotiations with the drivers we got them to move the trucks, and they let us skate for a few shots. We got three: the first was an AO Top Soul; second, a Mute Grab Air; third, this sweet, stylish AO Top Acid. Miguel sure is one talented guy, and a genuine dude. — Josh Diaz
On our way to the Kamloops Popularity Contest this summer, the goal was to skate as many skateparks as possible. First stop was the town of Golden and their amazing skatepark. A relatively new and small park, but extremely well-built and empty! For a few hours we had the park to ourselves. With an empty skatepark at his disposal Jack Phavone took advantage of the opportunity. He began charging from one end to the other and launching massive airs out of the quarter bowl. I suggested he throw down a few different grabs and we get a photo. We settled on a Cross Grab Liu Kang, I set up three flashes, I tried a few different angles, and this was our result. — Chris Wedman
In his issue #14 interview, Chris Farmer opened up to ONE like we were Barbara Walters. He told us about playing in his brother’s band, realizing skating was a job, and why he dicks around at contests. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For an in-depth look at what’s going on inside the mind of one of blading’s most prolific innovators, be sure to check this out. — ONE
Okay, so the zombie hoax thing must have blown over since Krans is back in the saddle, again, (with respects, Steve Tyler) delivering a dose of WEB ROLL. This week brings lots of video and more than a little praise for Footage Tape. There’s also something about liners with teeth, shredding in houses, and some event that went down in Vegas(?). Guess you’ll just have to read it. — ONE
On a rare fair-weather fall day, Jeph Howard did a 180 over this fence. I just got a new camera that shoots video, so it took me longer to set up than normal because I was playing around with it. I lit this with a strobe about 11 feet up and on the other side of the fence to the left of camera. Another strobe was hidden in the gap between the ledge and fence at about eye level. The second light was much brighter to really rim a specific part of the fence as well as separate Jeph from the tree in the background. The sun was directly camera right and filling the whole thing in. The lighting was not the special thing about this photo. The most challenging part is shooting at a different point in a grab. When someone jumps over something, they very rarely grab as they are ascending, and almost always grab as they are just beginning to descend. I was getting the grab on his first two failed attempts, but he was slightly below the fence which was not cool looking. I knew he would land it the next try and this is not the kind of trick that it’s okay to ask for another try on, so I honed my seven years of experience and watched, getting the grab before he started to drop. I shot this before even he knew he was grabbing. — John Haynes
Okay, so this video is completely unedited, straight off the pocket rocket, but it’s 1:15 of bladers just being bladers, partying on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas on Friday night before the WRS finals. Includes the obligatory “I Love You, Man” moment from our man Rob G, a motley cast of characters, and, well, just a pretty unprecedented look at bladers mixing it up socially, in the wild. — ONE
It was only Friday night but the natives were restless.
Didn’t get to Vegas? Well, that’s too bad, ’cause it was a good time. But thankfully plenty of us folks with cameras were, and the media trove is stacking up. We’ll throw some more pics on the pile with these snapshots from Friday and Saturday on Fremont Street, Saturday night after the comp, and a couple shots of costumes at the skatepark. Check ‘em out while we sort out our video clips for an edit and decide what we need to hold for print. — ONE
Sounds like some hectic times are ahead for Krans, but while he wrangles with the legal implications of being involved with the creation of a bogus (obviously) zombie epidemic, you can get a sordid glimpse into the online world of blading in this week’s WEB ROLL. It may be a couple days late, but as Brian pointed out in his title, Everyone’s in Vegas anyway. (Except him!) — ONE
When we were creating our AM team at Create, we wanted to keep the same ideas and principles in mind that we had when we made the Pro team. For the Pro team, our idea was to have a small group of skaters that we feel have not only been progressing skating for many years already, but will continue to progress for years to come. With the AM team, we wanted to have a small group of guys that we feel are headed in this same direction.
This years AIL World Championships was an event filled with tons of positive energy, friends skating with friends, and countless rollers coming together from all over the world to do what they dig the most, skate! There were rollers tearing up The Hanger at Woodward West from all over the States, East Asia and Europe. There were countless Pro riders like Demetrios George, Chris Haffey, Erik Bailey, Alex Broskow, Dustin Latimer and many more, along with industry Legends such as Arlo Eisenberg, Chris Edwards and Jon Julio…
Thought the WRS Finals next weekend marked the end of the contest season? Think again. November 7th is the LA All Day 2009 Finals, marking another year of blading outreach in the heart of Santa Monica. Come out for another chill day of Tracy White and Carlos Kessell’s irreproachable hospitality. — ONE
A bunch of the Missoula heads and I made a trip down to Idaho to meet up with the Shred ’till You’re Dead Tour. During our days with the tour we hit up a lot of insanely tight concrete parks out in the middle of nowhere. After camping and skating for four days, it was time to head back. We drove into a small town and stopped to get gas. As we got out of the car, Brandon saw a mural with a real truck bed coming out of the wall. I said, “We have to get a photo on this.” The people inside the gas station were watching us and did not look like they would approve of us skating it. While Howie pumped the gas, Brandon put on his skates, I set up, and he threw down a quick 270 back savannah. Then we all jumped back in the car and headed home. — Josh Hayes
If you’ve ever gone anywhere near a blade message board, then you’ve probably been exposed to the Mamba phenomenon. His search for what some may call a fictitious product knows no bounds. And this week it’s just one of the blade-o-sphere goings-on that came across Krans’ screen. Thought you knew about board-rage at the skateparks? Read the rest to see just how wrong you are… — ONE
Be on the lookout for the ONE booth at the AIL finals weekend, kicking off tomorrow, October 23. Come cop back issues, DVDs, ONE t-shirts, or just shoot the breeze. There’s a 10-hour window for booths, so you’ll know where to find us. Best of luck to all the young shredders looking to blade strong. We’ll see you there. — ONE
Have you ever wondered what the climate or behind-the-scenes-goings-ons were like when, at the peak of rollerblading popularity, the ASA formed and became the defacto business of blade contests? We’re pretty sure some of you have, just like us, so it’s lucky that our friend and blade memorabilia collector and former pro skater, Tracy White, dug up some letters he received from the ASA back in ‘94/’95, as the organization was setting its agenda and signing on talent for its inaugural year. For blade history buffs it’s pretty fascinating stuff. In them there’s mention of skaters signing deals to skate ASA exclusively, and ESPN 2 coverage to millions of people, in hundreds of countries. Oh, not to overlook a little experimental event called ESPN’s Extreme Games. All this was happening 14 years ago, but there’s knowledge to be gained just the same. On the eve of this year’s AIL and WRS Finals, the WRS itself wrapping up its inaugural year, let’s celebrate a strong 2009 of grassroots blade efforts, and focus on carving out a future for our athletes, sport and enthusiasts that lives up to a standard set long, long ago. With the diverse talent and dedication present and interconnected in the blade world, we can make it happen.— ONE
This year the Boston Street Battle is on November 14th. As a cold street contest this event marks the end of 2009 and comfortable street skating weather and the beginning of indoor, winter skatepark sessions in New England.
6th Place Josh Glowicki and 2009 Hoedown winner CJ Wellsmore.
I truly thought 2008 was going to be the last Hoedown EVER. At least concerning the way over-hyped rumors circulated around this giant talent cess pool of a state! Ha, ha! Anyhow, not one of these words, including the shamelessly abused adjectives, nouns, the punctuations, any “terrible angles” online edit, the over exposed photos due to innumerable flashes simultaneously firing, do any justice as to what the Hoedown REALLY is.
With the city of Calgary receiving an early dose of snow from Mother Nature, we had no choice but to escape. The mission: drive as far south as possible to find a place to skate with warm weather and no snow. We immediately loaded up the car and set our sights south on the city of Medicine Hat…
Besides dissing the “Save Rollerblading” post that accompanies the phony photo above, lamenting missing the Hoedown, and paying respects to a fallen roller, Krans delivers that thing he does. Now do your part and read it. — ONE
The cross country road trip is one of those things that is nostalgic for almost everyone. Whether the people romanticizing the idea have ever been on one is only half relevant. We all have memories of them, or thoughts of what one would be like. Both are likely equally inaccurate. Driving across this country is something I have done many times, and what I remember and look forward to, and what it actually is, happen to be starkly different things. What I remember and look forward to is antics, ridiculous stories, middle of no where pit stops, and local yokels. What I always conveniently forget and will forget this time as well is the hours of looking out windows at nothing, missing my wife, being crowded and uncomfortable, and needing to pee the whole time. This is a photo essay of a group of skaters waking up, getting in a car in Dallas, Texas and driving to a skate stop in Wichita, Kansas. Alex Broskow, Adam Johnson, Adam Exline, John Bolino, Don Bambrick, Mike Garlinghouse, and me. Driving to blade. No big deal. — John Haynes
Mark Heuss sent us this section from his video project PARTY that features skater Alex Rudolf and a giant backpack. As the description that accompanied the section said: “It’s a not so serious way of looking at skating starring Alex Rudolf.” Watch and see for yourself just how accurate that statement really is! Filmed during the summer of 2008 all across Germany (check out the river surfing!), it’s got some great skating… with a great big “rucksack.” Think you could do it? — ONE
Check out this site to learn more about a group of Romanian bladers planning their second chartered bus trip to Winterclash, appropriately called We Tour II. Last time they partnered up with Mountain Dew and Hedonskate, so we’re curious to see what they come up with this year. Guess we’ll see them in Berlin and find out for ourselves. — ONE
If everything went the way we wanted, then Brian Scott would have continued to impress the skaters around him and would have eventually established himself among the long line of great skaters in NYC. The title “great” has been thrown around a lot in NYC, but I think we need to look into the word “great” and compare it to Cozmik and see what the two had in common. Cozmik was a great friend to many, and made great jokes, he had great skating skills, and had a great inner personality. He was grateful for what skating had done for him, and skating was grateful for what he has done for it. When it comes down to it, “great” may be an understatement. The word we are looking for to define this great human being may not even exist. If we as fellow skaters felt his presence this strongly then imagine the family that was fortunate enough to have known him for years…
Long-time German super shredder Daniel Prell finally answered the questions we sent him like a month ago now that he’s been released from the hospital. Turns out this guy knows how to have a little bit too much of a good time, and what happened in Barcelona didn’t exactly stay in Barcelona. Glad to hear you’re better man! Anyway, here’s some insight and imagery to familiarize you with this staple of the European skate scene. — ONE
Superstitions are some of the weirdest things that I have encountered while rolleblading. They seem to always hold a special significance for me when I’m out skating, or when I’m about to go skate…
I built a practice rail out of a fat PVC pipe that I skate on a roller hockey rink outside of my apartment in southeastern Massachusetts. Jeff came up to skate it with me and naturally destroyed it. This is a shot of his signature grabbed backslide holding the grab and popping off to fakie. Shot in natural light at ISO400 and a f-8, I used a shutter speed of 1/2500. — Gabe Holm
Krans sent this in with a note that he thought it might not make any sense. Hence the self-appointed title. But with some commentary on “Whip It” and other instances of blading creeping up in mainstream channels and how we can benefit from it with open minds, dude is right on the money. Preach on brother Krans! Educate the masses. We know you will next week too. — ONE
This was shot during Intuition week up at Woodward West this past summer. A few of us were having a session in the Hanger after all the campers went to lunch, this being the only time we could get it to ourselves. Intuition Team Rider Derek Henderson started throwing bank-to-bank hammers on the box right off the bat. After a couple takes I shot this AO Soul 360. This was day one of the week and the following days were full of more sick skating. For this shoot I set up two flashes, one to the left and one to the right. This created the trapped shadow that I filled in with my on-camera flash. Camera settings were f/5.6 @ 1/250, ISO 400. — Scott Moffat
From Ben Shelbourne comes “Let It Never End,” starring Nick Lomax, Mike Salt, Andy Spary and Alex Burston, including mini-views on Lee Devereux and Scott Hallows, and featuring skaters such as Frazer Watson, Andrew Hosker, Chaz Sands, Si Cox, Sim Warren, Leon Humphries, Blake Bird, Joey Egan, Matt Chilvers, Elliot Stevens and many more. You can check out all the details at the film’s website. — ONE
Dean, getting right down to biz, why don’t we start off with you telling the readers a little something about yourself; who is Dean Coward?
I’m a 17 year old blader from Orange County California (the home of Ryan Sheckler), who is attending Saddleback College and skating every chance that I can.
Hey everyone, sorry this week’s WEB ROLL is a couple days late. Life sorta got busy this weekend, and, well, good things are worth waiting for. Krans is back up and running with full internet access and the ability to peddle his prose. We’ve read it; it’s worth a read. — ONE
Featuring Joe Atkinson, Pete Bexley, Blake Bird, James Bower, Matt Chlivers, Sunni Hodge, Neil Ingall, Fergus Jenkins, Mike McCann, and Phil Ryan, check out this edit from England that Grif Kerry sent over. — ONE
Leiterman is known for his cess slides and front flips. While trying this trick Andy got worked several times. After slipping out and falling over the drop a couple times, he laced this front royale cess slide to drop perfectly, rolled away for a few feet, and then body checked the fence post on the right hand side. Andy Leiterman is a beast and put together a badass section skating to T-Rex for my new video “It’s About Time” which I actually just uploaded. Who else front flips off switch sweatstances on rails? No one. — Gabe Holm
All right, all right, all right. You saw the online Vibralux edits, right? Well, AJ just hooked ya’ll up with this m4v version of all three edited together, and formatted for your iPods. Quality looks proper on Quicktime through the ‘puter and we can imagine it’ll look damn good on your 3″ LCD. Download and enjoy. — ONE
Wondering what Krans dug up for this week’s sacrificial offering to the lords of blade bloggery? Well, dig into the new, and congratulate Brian for keeping this up for four months… with many more installments to come. We think this week’s high water mark is the letter to David Sizemore… — ONE
Many of you may not recognize the name Howie Bennett, but he’s one of the sickest skaters I have had the privilege of skating with. He makes a photographer’s job easy because his style is so good. Howie and I had talked about getting a unique shot to show off his fresh new turquoise skates and I thought it would be the perfect chance to try out a technique called HDR (high dynamic range), a series of shots at different exposures that are combined to make one super-detailed photo. HDR is a technique that is hard to make look good, but if done right can produce a natural, yet dramatic effect. I haven’t seen very much of this in rollerblading photography, but I think it suits it very well. — Josh Hayes
David Allen Paine is 38 years old and living the dream… no, seriously, he is! He quit a very stable, decent-paying job — probably with a union — one that your parents told you to get after college, where after your 40 years of services you’re on Easy Street. But he wanted more out of life and wasn’t going to settle just for a decent job. Dave had dreams and he made them come true. At a young age he always wanted to skate and film. Growing up in the Philadelphia area is where he cut his teeth, and in the early ’90s, like most of you now, found that filming could be just as gratifying as skating. Now he’s been rolling and filming for 17 years. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Irene, and works for the action sports TV channel Fuel. — Mike Opalek
When rolling on his home turf, Richie’s skating is filled with an intense energy that comes out in the form of random Flatspin 360s over boxes that most are down to just grind. This was an awesome session, with all of the inline campers getting pumped off Richie’s skating, and throwing down hammers themselves. Setting up this shot, I positioned two of my flashes at 90 degrees to the left and right of the ramp. This lighting is great for separating the skater from the background, especially in an indoor park like the Hanger at Woodward West. My third flash was on-camera, and used to set off the other two, in addition to adding some fill light to the shadow areas. Camera settings were f/5 @ 1/200, ISO 400. — Scott Moffat
I first met Rob in the summer of ‘98, at the local skating rink in Corpus Christi, TX. “City Skates” was the place to be at the time. They had the traditional skating rink in the middle, and off to the side was a miniature skate park set-up. Ballpark nachos, sick grind rails, girls in booty shorts, ghetto rap music and dope sessions were what was happening on Saturday nights.
We all got kicked out of the rink eventually, but it was cool, because that was the beginning of our progression, our lives taking shape. At the time, Corpus had no public skateparks, so we opted to take our skating from the rink to the streets of downtown Corpus Christi. We quickly accepted the fact that downtown was our new skating rink, and we had more than nachos and prop rails. We had huge stair rails, bums with shanks, prostitutes, and a kick-ass view of the bay.
This shot of Kyle Couture doing a 180 over a double set was taken on a hot and humid August day this past summer in Maine. After taking a few run ups to size up the gap, Kyle charged at it with plenty of speed, spun 180, and threw a safety grab in there for style. Everything looked good until his wheels touched the pavement, where they fell off. I’m not sure if this was due to riding anti-rocker, the heat, the wheels, or a combination of all three, but I’ve never seen something like this happen before with rollerblade wheels. Both of his back wheels were cracked through the cores, leaving only the rear axles and bearings in place. Falling back instantly, sliding about eight feet on his back, Kyle managed to keep his head up and roll it out onto his side. Although he was lucky enough to walk away from this one, he was walking on frames with no back wheels. Lesson learned? Use caution skating on hot days in Maine. Your wheels might explode. (Shot in natural light with a shutter speed of 1/1600 at f.10 and ISO800) — Gabe Holm
Who is Mark Korte and what does he have to do with rollerblading?
I can basically answer that by saying… I am the USD Enforcer, one of the founders of the Stretch Crew, and a Powerslide veteran… since a lot of kids might not know what in the hell that means, I will break it down. I came to be part of USD in the late part of ‘98, when the team was Arlo, Champ, Dustin, Jon, and Josh… at the time I was only hired by Powerslide to push papers, but that changed after a week or so. To make a long story short, I had found my calling. I got to know all of the USD team (which was going through a transition period, much like we are now) and I ended up being the filter between the company and the team; I might even go as far as to say the glue, and at the same time I was the International Sales Manager at Powerslide. So I was able to combine all of that into helping make USD (and The Conference Brands that followed) the hottest thing available. During this period, of which I am very proud to be a part of, we had the undisputed best team in Rolling, I built a worldwide flow team to rival all others at the time, and worked with distributors in over 40 countries building USD. I was very adament about everything having structure, and working with the best team of rollers in the world has moulded my personality to this day, and I am grateful to each and every one who ever rolled for USD.
Another week and another WEB ROLL. Busy entertaining some friends from Iowa in SF for a little visit, Krans found time to cobble together a quick look at some of the trending blade topics that caught his attention. Give it a look, and let this screen grab of Montre from the WRS trailer motivate you along the way. — ONE
I remember being 17 when my best friend and only friend within a 2-hour radius who skated went to college. I was happy to see him go, but a different feeling overcame me, too. It was the end of an era, it was the first time “growing up” and my skate world had intersected; it would not be the last. I always swore that I would never quit skating, that I would not stop loving this no matter what happened. That has been true, though “growing up” has made some very serious footprints in every part of my life. Shortly after the watershed moment of my best friend moving from our rural area to Minneapolis, I took a picture of Anders Carlson-Wee doing a backslide on a tiny rail reflected in a metalic sphere. I put that photo on my Myspace, and two years later it caught the eye of a young woman who thought it was so cool that she wrote me an email. That girl is Rachel Rueter, and on September 12, 2009 I married her, almost eight years after the photo was taken. I have been her boyfriend for a long time, our relationship has cut in to the amount of time I spend making the images that you see in ONE, but the time I spend at skate sessions also cuts in to the time I want to spend loving Rachel. I will spend my life with her, and I will also spend my life taking pictures of some of the most memorable moments in skating. Grown-up life is inevitable for virtually everyone reading this, but as real as getting older is, and what it may mean for you, skating is just as real. Cherish the carefree moments you have skating, but don’t be foolish when the most amazing woman on the planet wants some of your time. I count my self infinitely blessed to be both gifted in photography, and in love with a woman as beautiful, kind, courageous, faithful, and joyful as Rachel. I look forward to many more pictures and even more years of being in love. — John Haynes
The finals of the European Halfpipe Championship were held the second weekend of September. This event takes place in Mallorca, Montana, and Rotterdam; all European cities. Particpants are from all around the globe, among them big names like Fabiola da Silva and Eito Yasutoko. As to be expected the level of skating was phenomenal. Nowdays all the vert pros do their tricks in “double-mode.” Double backflip, double flatspin, double-anything! I also saw some complicated grind combinations, and of course the original crazy spins from mister Yasutoko. Marco de Santi from Brazil performed a perfect run, with loads of air time and hard spins high above the coping. This capture of a Cross Rocket Air was one the many tricks he pulled to impress the judges and win the whole event. (Technical data: 50mm, F2.2, 1/1600, 200 iso) — Thomas Vahe
This last weekend was a big one for New York City. As you guys all know, Last Man Standing went down, and we had a good share of visitors from all over the world. Miguel Ramos showed up at my door this past week and was like, “Yo, was up. Let’s go and skate some spots.” After a long day traveling around from spot to spot, we found this bank that apparently is a local spot for bikers and Miguel banged out this beautiful wallride; Miguel Ramos is def one great skater. — Josh Diaz
I made it down to Santa Monica last weekend and got some shots at the LA All Day, which was an awesome event, you should have been there! Amazing skating went down in not only the Beginner division, but even the Intermediate, Advanced, and Elite. Competitions like the LA All Day are so diverse in the level of skating, and that’s the way it needs to be! There are little Groms out there skating their hearts out and looking up to the upper divisions with hopes and ambitions of the next year’s season. They are the future and people like Tracy White, Carlos Kessell, and Matt Mickey are fueling the fire of Rollerblading.
Brian Scott, known to his friends as Cozmik, is a new school skater with less than six years under his belt. His skills, however, are superb, and versatile to the point that many of his friends are amazed by how quickly he has managed climb up the ranks in NYC. With a very humble personality and a constant smile on his face, he is one of the first to come to mind when thinking about up-and-comers in our skate scene. Now, New York City can be a very big place, which makes it hard to meet up with skaters from the other side of the city, and after a couple months of planning we were able to meet up in Manhattan for a photo shoot. The challenge for me was that I had to find a spot that has not been covered lately in order to stay diverse in terms of the skate spots that I shoot. My first instinct was to think of a spot that you would normally find skateboarders at; that’s when I came up with this highway divider spot. This spot is famous for being featured in skateboard ads and videos as a challenging yet interesting obstacle. When we arrived, of course, we found a couple of skateboarders sessioning it. When Cozmik got started, it was as if they were surprised that a rollerblader could hit the ledge after using the little make-shift bank that was attached to the divider. During the weeks before this photo my flashes kept breaking, but I was fortunate enough to have received three Sunpak 544 flashes the night before. I was more than stoked to have a chance to light things up a bit, and set up a nice shot while Cozmik waxed the ledge. It was literally within the first minute of the photo shoot that Cozmik laced a Truespin Topside Pornstar on the ledge with a 270 out. With the cheers of the skateboards when he landed it, I was sure that this would make a great photo. I can’t usually be too sure of whether a shot is good or bad, but something felt right about this shot the second I took it. With that we packed up before our time was spent, and went to get more shots. — Angelo Ferrer
It’s pretty amazing how much better the blade community is getting recently in video production. Everybody is stepping their game up. Paul John is no exception. Recently, Paul John has been working on creating skate edits that focus on style. There is a lot of talk about how contemporary skate videos/edits don’t capture the style of the skaters as well as they did in the mid-90’s. Many people are trying to change this. It is my opinion that PJ is one of the best film makers at capturing people’s style and making blading look good. Here are some behind the scenes stills of a production PJ is working on with Jon Murakami featuring Chris Farmer. — Collin Martin
There’s a lot of finger pointing going on this week, well, at least in the TruTV video we’ve got for you, along with a look at the Supergirl Jam, NYC’s Last Man Standing, Ashley Peterson’s latest edit, and some controversy surrounding the announced finalists for the 2009 “Industry Awards.” See how Krans fits it all together in his latest WEB ROLL. — ONE
Ian had come to visit from San Antonio, Texas, for the summer so I wanted to build up a nice little archive of photos from the trip. We travelled two hours on barely any fuel just to get to this one spot with only 45 minutes to skate, film and shoot photos before having to rush back for work. Normally I have a shot in my head when I arrive, but this turned out to be the most boring looking rail around, in the middle of a field with dull brown green colours on a horribly overcast white sky. This meant the only angle that would suit was up close and personal to capture the action. My flashes were set on high power to capture the skater and rail as the aperature was pretty small to at least capture some grey from the sky and keep the image sharp. After trying some conventional fisheye angles from the bottom and top of the steps the shots were coming out fine, but nothing to make the trip worth the hassle. Filming still had to come so we decided to wrap up the photos with one last shot, by walking around the spot with camera-to-eye I finally saw the angle that made the shot. Camera Settings: Canon EOS-1D 1/320s f/9 — Tom McClelland
What’s your name and how old are you?
My name is Steve Iacono, and I am 24 years old.
Where are you from?
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Cameron Talbott, Howie Bennett, and myself decided to make a trip to middle-of-nowhere, MT, which consists of some cows, a grocery store and one church. We were headed there to check out a new concrete skate park that we had heard was small, but free, and very good. After having a good session at the park — which lived up to our expectations — we spotted the church and what appeared to be a really sick kinked rail. We skated over to it and Cameron immediately walked to the top of the stairs and said, “Do you want to get a photo of this?” “You bet,” I replied. It seemed to be an easy shot at first. However, when I looked at the different angles from which to take the photo, they did not show all of the challenging aspects of the trick. I moved back and zoomed to 35mm, which allowed me to show the big drop on one side and also what Cameron was going to have to gap off of from his topsoul at the end of the rail. I set the exposure to f/4.5 at 1/400 of a second (ISO 320). I told him I was ready and he laced it. — Josh Hayes
Greetings from Jamaica! I have met several kind and knowledgeable rastas in West End Negril this week. Ras Rody (local organic, vegetarian roadside shack owner) has two sons who got hooked up with rollerblades from Dre Powell’s mom. Random, yet incredible…
Sure, the big news this week was Joe Navran announcing the end of Franco Shade, which pretty much no one saw coming. But our favorite online troll, Krans, is here to add some perspective to that news, as well as sprinkling in some other bits about Der Führer and the X-Games, K2’s “new” boot, Jeff Dalnas’ b-ball prowess, and plenty more. Link, links and links — there’s plenty to keep you amused and informed in this week’s WEB ROLL. — ONE
Brandon Sanwick is Mr. Fishbrain, although gnarly ledges and rails are more his style than makeshift banks to walls.
I recently drove an hour southwest of Milwaukee to a town called Janesville, to shoot some banger photos on Wisconsin ripper Ashley Peterson’s home turf. We didn’t get to shoot the two craziest spots (a wood drop kink and a drop rail on a lonesome staircase in a field), but blame unforeseeable difficulties.
As we wrapped up our abbreviated session, Brandon nailed this trick behind a supposedly haunted manor house. One strobe lit Brandon, the wall and the bank from just outside the left of the frame. A second strobe kicked in a little light from atop the wall outside the right edge of the photo. My Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens provided the proper perspective. Nice way to end the day. — Adam Morris
Daniel Kinney just shot over this preview of the new BCSD DVD, and tells us the disk is in stock now and shipping from Integrated Distribution. Featuring solid blading from shredders Brandon Smith and Jeff Dalnas, here’s a look at just some of the many tricks that went down during the contest. For the rest, check the DVD. — ONE
This Jeph Howard photo is something we shot this spring and just never found its way into the pages of ONE even though it’s totally nasty. The conditions were great — open shade with enough ambient light to focus on just lighting Jeph and knowing the spot would still be well exposed. The trick is AO Makio, which is really, really insane to do on the inside so I wanted to be very clear about the nature of this beast rail. A fisheye when used correctly can really exaggerate aspects of a scene. In this case I wanted the first support very distorted and pointing in to the frame, which meant (as it frequently does) being scary close. This is when experience comes in to play. Not only do you not want your piece getting smashed but you also don’t want the skater to be unable to do their trick ’cause you are laying on the stairs. Finding out how close is too close can be an expensive operation, but unless you are retarded-close there is really no point putting your fisheye on in the first place. I framed up on a few practice runs, which consisted of Jeph jumping over the rail, and found a place where he could skate but still showed the double rail perfectly, and we went to work. Lighting is a light straight on from the end of the rail about eye level and very close. The other is boomed to the fence using Manfrotto grip clamps; also very close. It’s important to have your lights close to your subject during the day to be able to freeze the action (turning your lights down means a faster flash duration, thus more stopping power). The flecks are water droplets kicked up by Jeph’s skates from the melting snow everywhere. And yes, that is Chris Farmer in the background watching for cars. Safety first. — John Haynes
As the edit we posted a week ago showed, the Denial team was recently at Camp Woodward. Besides taking their own advice to GO & ROLL, the team shot pics for their Fall 2009 Lookbook and undoubtedly had themselves a swell, if not hotter-than-satan’s-own-sauna, time. Photographer Andrew Nemiroski was kind enough to share these shots of the team in action, and since Ross Anthony’s article about the week finally showed up, we’ve got that in here too. — ONE
For rollers in the Kentucky area, this weekend is the 9th Annual Kentucky Battle. For full details check out their blog. Organizer Doug Williams worked with local businesses to drum up awareness, an idea we think sounds pretty cool. Good luck everyone. — ONE
This was our first day of shooting. I had just moved back up to Missoula, MT, and had only been in town a couple days. It was good to see the old crew — with one new face, Brandon Mateer, who had moved up here five months ago. We all met up and started sessioning the park. Brandon asked if I wanted to shoot a topsoul up a ledge, so I grabbed my 14-24mm lens and threw it on. Shooting with such a wide angle means that you are right in there. You are able to see the skater’s facial expressions, but can also get the entire trick and landing in the frame. I took a quick meter reading and set it to f/2.8 with a shutter speed of 1/3000 at ISO 200. I focused on the part of the ledge that I thought Brandon would be most steezed out at. I released the shutter when he reached my focus point and quickly jumped out of the way as he flew by. When I looked at this photo on the computer, Brandon just happened to be wearing the perfect shirt to separate him from the background, so I instantly turned it black and white. To finish the photo, I used burning and dodging in order to direct the viewer’s eye, which is key for me when I use natural light. — Josh Hayes
Make your way to the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club on Saturday, September 5th, for the next installment of LA All Day. If you’re wondering how to grow blading in your spot, come take notes. — ONE
There’s no way to do the normal WEB ROLL when such a terrible thing happened in the blade community this week.
Mr. Small’s Skatepark was hosting its second Summer Skate Xtravaganza in Pittsburgh, PA, and after Montre had already murdered the park and the rain had passed he spotted someone with an umbrella. About a minute later he was he was walking around the park with the umbrella over his head. I was joking around with him about how he should hit a rail with the umbrella in the rain and how sick a photo would be. He just said, “well it’s not raining so I’ll just backslide this rail with it real quick.” He told me to go grab the picture, so I ran down to the bottom of the rail without even getting to check my lighting and within seconds he was on the rail and he laced it first try, umbrella in hand. — Justin Boyd
For the third year in a row, rollerbladers from far and wide gathered for the King Of Street Competition in Calgary, Alberta. Every year, rollerbladers take to three street spots and battle it out for $1,000 in cash which is divided between the top three. Organized and presided over by old school blader Tom Dixon, the skaters are led around the city throwing themselves at the most legendary spots. What makes the competition so special is that the spectators and the competitors vote for the winner, and each individual vote is counted and tallied at the after party in front of everyone…
This photo was taken on Scottish Rolling’s recent trip to Barcelona. We were lucky enough to be staying in an apartment just around the corner form the famous Forum ledges, which was ideal as it made for the perfect spot to hit at night and shoot some photos, as we could just walk there. This is definitely the hardest spot I’ve ever had to light in terms of skating shots, but I had to get by with the equipment I brought with me which was two Vivitar 285HVs. I must have spent between 10-15 minutes setting up for this shot, the reason being having to take several test shots and adjust the powers on my flashes numerous times. The flash placement was one Vivitar just out of shot to the left at the bottom of the ledge around 6ft high on 1/4 power, and the second flash was hand held high up, just out of shot to the right, directly in line with the ledge on 1/2 power. This photo was taken with an aperture of ƒ4.5, a shutter speed of 1/160, and an ISO of 400. The shot was taken while I was standing on top of one of the ledges further along, which didn’t feel very safe, so I wanted to get the shot done as quickly as possible after I was up there. — David Andrew
Well, Krans must be starting to feel at home in his new home because he pulled himself up a soap box this week and decided to let us all know how he really feels. From time at Woodward West, to upstart blade blogs, to thoughts on seeding for the new generation of bladers, he’s all over the place, doing his part to bring the blade-o-sphere to you in easy-to-swallow form. And now it’s time to take your medicine… — ONE
Streetmasters is the Dutch extreme street Olympics, yeah! Skateboarding, bmx, breakdancing, streetdance, freestyle soccer, flatland, free running and, of course, rollerblading, are the disciplines of Streetmasters. There are six preliminaries on six different locations. Everybody has to enter the preliminary round to compete for big cash prizes in the finals and so — unsurprisingly — a lot of excellent extreme street-athletes participate. The preliminary in Amsterdam is held on the streets, which is a big contrast with the other preliminaries organized in skateparks. Daan Hegt, a top Dutch skater showed up and nailed this stylish Fakie Front Farv to 270 off, securing his entry for the finals.
Looking back at the technical data, the ISO cloud be lower. (50mm, F2.8 , 1/2000, ISO 1000) — Thomas Vahe
One of the most unique and forgotten aspects of blading is the fact that as bladers we develop eyes that constantly are on the lookout for the newest and best spots. Whether it be a perfect stair set, ledge, or random object that could be sessioned with a little time and thought. This aspect of skating is one I truly cherish because it is a permanent vision. I often think of how exciting it will be when I am older and randomly walking around an urban area and spotting something new to skate. Chances are my body won’t allow it, but it will still be exciting, envisioning the possibilities and picturing yourself as a youth destroying a spot…
Chris Majette just sent us this edit by Will Start of the Denial team’s week at Camp Woodward. Lots of serious shredding went down, as well as the usual good times with friends. Check it out for a dose of Montre, Jon Jon, Koliner, Iacono, Anthony, Fromm and more. — ONE
Imagine those hot (and I mean really hot) lazy summer days, days you spend with your inline “crew” and friends, days so hot that after 10 minutes of skating you’re totaly wet. Somewhere in the middle of July we had many days like that — skating,