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Client Client Pr Pr oject oject Date Date 431 Pine Street 431 Pine Street Burlington Burlington , , Ve Ve rmont USA 05401 rmont USA 05401 802.864.7123 802.864.7123 Colors Colors : : Contact Info Contact Info : : APPRO APPRO VA VA LS LS 12.11.08 12.11.08 NOTES: THIS PAGE ON IFC AND, THERFORE PRINTED ON ZINE COVER STOCK CONS CONS Paper: Paper: CONS ZINE CONS ZINE SCOTT RIVERS - 802.859.2121 [email protected] SCOTT RIVERS - 802.859.2121 [email protected] Scal Scal e e 1: 1: 1 1 Plese Initial Plese Initial onl onl y y if content is corr if content is corr ect ect MOHAWK OPTIONS DTC 130# PC WHITE SM POP-TONES 70LB TEXT WHITE Other: Other: IFC

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ANGELO COLLETTI

SCOtt RIvERS - [email protected] POP-tONES 70 LB tEXt

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“Fat Free” image by Mr. Bingo

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RAIBYNCABILING

POP-tONES 70 LB tEXt BERRYLICIOUS

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12.11.08 12.11.08

photographersJon BradfordDouglass ClarkKevin Craft Matt DaughtersPeter GrahamDave HoangBen KarpinskiBrendan Klien Nick LavecchiaRaymond MolinarAndres Mora Rhino Jeremy Weiss

Mr. Bingo is a human man trapped in the body of a boy. He lives and works in East London, UK. As a job, Mr. Bingo draws things to help to try and make the world look prettier for all your little eyes.

When he’s not making pictures, it’s likely you’ll find Mr. Bingo working on his other passion - music. With help from his two cats, Master Sock-Rah-Teez and Harrison ‘Scratch’ Phord he is working on his debut album ‘Bohemian Raps Today’ which is penciled in for a winter release on his own label Deaf Jam.

Earlier this year, Mr. Bingo invented a new urban subculture called ‘Beatbusking’, which although it has it’s roots in Shoreditch, has reportedly already been spotted as far away as The Isle Of Wight.

cover artistMr. BingO

learn morewww.converseskateboarding.comwww.mr-bingo.org.uk

© 2008 Converse Inc. All rights reserved.

“you can almost learn anything in 10 years. you can become a doctor in 12. how long does it take to master skateboarding? longer than a lifetime.” - anthony pappalardo This book embodies the spirit of a community – the unending, creative journey of exploration that begins on a board and goes everywhere else. parlour is a mix of sport and art and dedication and guts. It is of, by, and for all those who understand what that means – together, and in their own ways.

volume 1 - spring 2009

writersKevin CraftFrank IngleChris NieratkoNeftalie Williams

illustratorsMr. BingoDouglass ClarkMatt JonesDennis McNett Jeff ProctorSi Scott

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photo - dave hoang

i don’t know. i just have always wanted to live back in that time – like the ’70s. people are always like ‘are you kidding me? those years sucked!’ but i thought the stuff was cool: the cars and photos and fake grapes.”

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there’s something in the mind of those who dedicate themselves to riding a skateboard that lends favorably to the creation of art.

R A Y M O N DMOLINAR

words - kevin craft photo - jeremy weiss†

Maybe it’s because of their world view. Where some see decrepit schoolyards skaters see a beautiful array of obstacles used to express his or her self. This reordering of the world breaks the mind out of the proverbial box many fervently attempt to look outside of. This point of view is not only fundamental to skateboarding, but is a prerequisite for creating art.

We can experience this restructuring of reality through the lens of Raymond Molinar. For the last few years Raymond has grown fond of the immediate gratification and warm analog feel of instant still-image cameras. His fondness borders on obsession, “I have, like, six of those,” he tells me, pointing at an old camera in an antique shop in Long Beach, CA. Pointing to another he says, “I have two of these but I’m trying to get different models.”

Frequenting antique stores is the latest fascination to grip Raymond. I ask him why. “I don’t know. I just have always wanted to live back in that time – like the ’70s. I thought the stuff was cool: The cars and photos and fake grapes.” Good friend and roommate Dave Hoang offers more insight on Raymond’s passion for antiques, “I think it reminds him of the house that he grew up in. I think his folks gave him his taste.” The product of an El Salvadorian and an Alpine Texan, Raymond grew up in Riverside, CA — the heart of the Inland Empire. A supportive family gave Raymond the tools and freedom to not only become an accomplished skateboarder, but also a proficient musician and prolific photographer.

Back from the antique store Raymond rummages through hundreds of pictures. The images are simple yet interesting and seem saturated with stories. He has an eye for taking good pictures, but Raymond’s intent isn’t to be some great, artistic photographer. When asked what drives him to take pictures he remarks, “I want to capture moments to remember when I get older. Just, like, friends and family, you know. For a while I was shooting sick, abstract stuff, and stuff that looks cool which is always nice, but I’m more interested in my friends and family.”

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photo - ben karpinski

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raymondmolinar.blogspot.com

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PEOPLE’S SKATEBOARDiNG STY LES ARE WiN— DOWS TO THE iR PERSONAL iTY. TH i S BECOMES APPAREnT AS I TALK TO AND WATCH AnTHOnY PAPPAL ARDo in HiS NEW FURNiTURE STUDiO.

Ph

oto

- Kev

in Cra

ft

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H

PHOTOS - JOHN BRADFORD WORDS - KEVIN CRAFT

is nonchalant skating style translates to the way he talks and navigates his space. His let-it-happen smoothness might seem contrary to the craziness of New York City, but his is a nonchalance you must have to not go postal from all the things that could bother you in the Big Apple. If you don’t have some level of disconnect then you’re not going to make it.

How do you disconnect from the craziness? Stay connected with the things you love – for Anthony that’s skateboarding and carpentry. He’s been able to carve himself (no pun intended) a safe haven in a newly acquired basement studio. You would never realize the space was there if someone didn’t tell you. “That’s the great thing about New York. We could just be in fucking, like, Syria outside or something and you could just go down into an apartment and just never know what is in there,” Anthony mentions as he walks me around the Bushwick, Brooklyn studio. He seems ecstatic to have a space completely devoted to his craft of furniture making. “It’s been three weeks in here.We’ve spent 10 full days on trying to get it set up. It’s pretty wild.”

The first thing I notice when entering the unassuming basement-turned- studio is how awesome it looks, with every imaginable tool and instrument of wood manipulation you could imagine. Piles of stained wood line a wall, a table saw sits in waiting, a multitude of measuring instruments and odd looking tools adorn the other walls. There’s a calming energy in the studio, probably due to hours of Zen-like concentration and contemplation on creating wooden works of art.

It might seem odd to some – I mean, why furniture? But really it’s pretty obvious. A professional skateboarder is someone who artistically manipulates wood; I suppose it makes sense that he would take wood manipulation to whole new level. Yet even if Anthony didn’t skate, there still might be a good chance he would have become a carpenter. A huge source of inspiration comes from the handiness and craftsmanship of his grandfather. Pappalardo becomes visibly excited when talking about him, “He was an electrician, but he could build a house with his hands if he needed to.” A lot of the tools in Anthony’s shop were inherited from his grandfather. “He’s probably my biggest inspiration I would say,” he continues. “He’s the one guy that

doesn’t make me depressed about becoming old. He’s an 85-year-old man and still has his stuff together, he can build anything, and he’s just psyched on life. It’s pretty cool. Just any engineering, or building, or any type of carpentry – he’s pretty in sync with all of that stuff.”

Anthony even resides on his grandfather’s old stomping grounds. “My grandfather grew up right in Williamsburg [an area in Brooklyn], right next to where I live now,” says Anthony. “I took him there just a couple of weeks ago and he was just saying how different it was. When he was there, there were all farms and stuff.” The farms have made way for residences, shops and the ever present bars. With the hipster, party scene in full effect in Williamsburg now, it can be easy to find the aforementioned disconnect at the bottom of a glass of whiskey, an all too common trap for artists and skaters alike. Being in an industry notoriously fond of happy hour only adds fuel to the fire. More than a few professional and amateur skaters have awakened from the party to see their lives spiraling out of control – and some never wake at all.

“All skateboarders are definitely creative beings,” Anthony reminds me. “There’s no argument to be said about that. That’s something that is there in every skateboarder. I always say that you can learn anything within 10 years, you can be a doctor in 12. But how long does it take to master skateboarding? It takes longer than a lifetime and some people never get it. You know, technically you could learn anything in a couple years, but not skateboarding. It’s a lifelong path. But when you’re not skating, you need to put that energy into something else. That’s why I think you see certain skateboarders go a certain route or path, because that energy is so great or misdirected.”

Today Anthony avoids the party for the most part. “I haven’t had a drink in 10 months,” he tells me. He fortunately channels his energy through skateboarding and building furniture. “It’s just a release for when you get all this shit built up in your head. It’s, like, you have all these ideas and stuff. Some people have to write it out, some people have to talk it out, some people have to do yoga, or play baseball or something. I like to skateboard and make stuff.”

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An old saying goes, “We plan, and God laughs.” God must have been laughing his ass off when we were planning to meet and interview Sammy Baca. Twice I bought flights, booked hotels, got ready to shred with Sammy in Vegas and maybe shoot a few craps games while I was at it, only to get the phone call, “Dude, Sammy bailed to somewhere in Oregon.” OK. Cancel the flight and hotel. It’s cool, he has a court date coming up and he has to be home for that; I’ll catch him then. Buy another flight, book another hotel and get ready to go. The day before I leave Dave Hoang calls, “Dude, sucks but Sammy bailed again.” Baca has no phone or email and trying to get in touch with him is like trying to locate Sasquatch. Like Sasquatch, the only proof I have of his existence are stories from other people.

It must be something in the Las Vegas water that breeds humans who abandon convention and embrace societal disobedience. Some of the most insane skateboarders, who seem to have little regard for their lives or their liver, hail from Sin City. I can name names but simply adding Sammy to the list tips the scales heavily in favor of the notion that Vegas nurtures a certain rebelliousness. Whenever Sammy’s name is mentioned around his friends or acquaintances someone usually blurts out some crazy experience they had with him. The stories at times may seem like tales of recklessness, but are really accounts of living at full speed.

Sammy lives moment to moment; allergic to mediocrity, he constantly pushes his limits. Actually, he has no limits; he flies headfirst into all things, just going without thinking about consequences. These feats of daring usually result in spectacular crashes; but sometimes he pulls off the impossible – this is a useful approach for a skateboarder. Sammy is a skateboarding mad man; equally annihilating street and transition with the same recklessness he approaches all aspects of his life. Do yourself a favor and watch his part in the new Death Wish video and witness some top-notch stunt wood handling. Of course there would be a lot more coverage of his skills if anyone was ever able to find him.

Photos by Brendan Klien Words by Kevin Craft Art by Matt Jones

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words - kevin craft photos - dave hoang

Professional skateboarding has some of the most interesting individuals in any culture I’ve experienced. As a writer, I’d love to ascribe some flowery words in an attempt to describe this certain something about skateboarders, but it would be an exercise in futility. It’s like trying to slap a “hello my name is” sticker on the sky – not only would it not stick, it would look ugly. Or, as Ethan says, “To name it would be to name the universe. It is large and otherwise unknown to man or myself.”

Ethan Fowler contributes generously to the mosaic of interesting personalities. His “incredibly immense brain” doesn’t work like the majority of humans.’ He’s painfully individualistic and confidently walks an unbeaten path. This is not to say the man isn’t brave, but his individualism isn’t the product of courage but more an incessant nagging, pulling him to go a different direction.

This became apparent when we went skating at a spot in Downtown L.A. It was a metal ledge with an added degree of difficulty because the ground was cracked and gravelly and there were two large metal poles, about five feet tall, sticking out of either side. You had to thread the needle if you wanted to grind the thing. We were taking turns doing manuals and grinding the ledge when Ethan comes from left field and busts a kickflip over one of the poles. It was funny how obvious his line seemed after he’d taken it yet, before he arrived, I hadn’t noticed it. I suppose that’s what geniuses do – they point out the obvious, revealing the inevitable brilliance of the moment.

Ethan will be the first to let you know that he’s a genius. When asked what he’d be doing if he weren’t riding a skateboard he says, “I would be in school enlarging my already immense mind.” I’ve been watching him skate for over a decade and I have come to the conclusion that, yes, he is a genius. If you ride a skateboard you cannot help but respect this man’s contribution to the art of roller boarding. He’s blessed us with some memorably stylish performances and continues to slaughter the streets with reckless and stylish abandon. Now 20 years into the art of skating, he’s still going strong. What keeps him going? “I skateboard because it fulfills in me some desire that is otherwise left unchecked,” he dictates in a medieval-sounding voice. He continues, “Skateboarding has been to me one of those things that I come back to no matter what the obstacle. It permeates my mind like a serrated razor and cuts through the scope of life as if a burst of blood.”

His choice of Old English vernacular gives me flashes of a time when men slayed dragons and fought each other in metal suits. Ethan would have definitely been a knight if he lived in medieval times – if not a knight then a wizard: I can see him now: casting spells on unsuspecting lasses, sacking villages with his magic. In modern times Ethan’s wizardry is not only expressed on his skateboard, but in his music. Like skateboarding, music occupies an intimate place in Ethan, “I enjoy making music.” He adds, “The thing that keeps me continuing to make music is the hollow in my soul that will never be filled.” Music isn’t just a hobby for Ethan, he takes it very seriously. He is a hellacious guitar shredder and heads the rock band Green and Wood.

I went to his rehearsal space in Downtown L.A. to watch him get all shreddy on the axe and was blown away by the music. It bordered on heavy metal but was more just straight, unrelenting rock – and it sounded good. The music is reminiscent of the rock which gloriously flowed from groundbreaking bands in the ’70s, an era Ethan is greatly fond of. His long hair, beard, slightly flared at the bottom pants and t-shirt harkens to that age of VW buses and peace symbols. A friend and fellow skateboarder commented that, “Going to Ethan’s house is like stepping into a time machine to 1970.”

The skateboard world is bearing witness to Ethan’s ’70s aesthetic in his new board company Bummer High. An evil twist on the “Free Love” era, Bummer High bursts on the scene with a ’70s hippy-meets-heavy metal flavor. To hear Ethan talk about his new venture sounds confusing and cryptic, “Bummer High is the child of my mind. It is the thing and it is not the thing that I wish it to be. It exists within and without me, without my creating it. One could say that it has created me. It is an embrace and at the same time the iron fist of love.” Sometimes geniuses can be hard to understand, but they always sound really cool.

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While wrapping-up this first issue of Parlour we received a phone call notifying us that a new ambassador was joining Ethan, Anthony, Raymond and Sammy. The incredibly talented, young-Arizonian skater, Nick Trapasso would be added to an already stacked team representing skateboarding’s elite. With only a week to go before shipping the issue, we decided that we had to have Nick in the pages of Parlour’s maiden issue.

So I called Nick planning to talk about skateboarding and life, but just before the call I received a bunch of photos of Nick from Dave Hoang. The interesting thing about these photos was Nick’s wardrobe. Nick Trapasso has the strangest collection of t-shirts I’ve ever seen. On a path paved by numerous skateboard adventures, Nick has found himself in a slew of gas stations located in the middle of nowhere.

To Nick these aren’t just gas stations but beautiful museums of Americana: strange bastions where ugly sunglasses, $1 sandals,

straw hats and ridiculous t-shirts become works of art. These Middle America outposts are Nick’s muse, inspiring him to seek out the most interesting t-shirts even when not in the middle of nowhere. “I don’t know where I got it from,” Nick says talking about his taste, “probably from too much Arizona heat.”

In an era where skateboarders take their flares and styles so seriously Nick’s strange obsession with weird clothes reflects the most important aspect of skateboarding… fun. “Some people think they can wear fancy clothes and not skate anymore,” Nick mentions illustrating that his style isn’t all about form but also function. It’s a philosophy that might see him move into a career of designing clothes in the future. “Hell yeah! I’d be down,” he responds enthusiastically when asked if he’d be into designing some shirts of his own. Perhaps one day we’ll be buying Trapasso designed shirts in those forlorn gas stations. In the meantime enjoy some of Nick’s favorite tees modeled by the man himself.

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At a recent Sa-ra show, Taz Arnold addressed the crowd saying, “You are the architect of your own destiny.” This is the philosophy that has allowed Sa-ra to come together and create something popular music has yet to hear. Like a post-modern funk-jazz fusion, Sa-ra has come trumpeting the arrival of a new age of musical-spiritual realism. now, if they could just get the masses to listen.

It wasn’t your typical beginning to an interview. One of the Sa-Ra creative partners, Taz Arnold, led me into the house where every imaginable instrument lay strewn about the modest flat. I met Taz a couple years previous at a photo shoot and the one thing I could say about him is that he’s a fashion victim. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. I guess he’s more of a fashion maven or specialist. Think of the most famous names in high-end fashion from America to Europe and he’s got the limited-edition, exclusive version of it. So when he showed up to the door in his boxers and t-shirt, I was a little taken aback. The luminous Shafiq, another member of the Sa-Ra trio, emerged from the depth of the kitchen weaving through a museum of keyboards also adorned in boxers. The only dude that was half-dressed was Om’Mas who was busy making deals, talking and typing like a Tasmanian devil on his P.D.A.

As soon as I entered the Sa-Ra domain, I heard interesting rhythms emanating from everywhere. Shafiq sat his big self down near the kitchen and busied himself behind a keyboard and started tweaking the saturating beat. Taz slid behind a keyboard and started to sprinkle some warm keys over the thumping percussions. Om’Mas handed me a guitar and asked, “Can you play?” before moseying over to the drums to display the skills he attained by training with some of the jazz world’s greatest drummers. Before I knew it, we were engaged in a jam session. I’m not shabby on the guitar – I practice daily and take it pretty seriously,

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so having the ability to jam with these guys was pretty amazing. This is what Sa-Ra is all about: being open and building with their peers. They attribute their success to their community. “You only see us dealing with people like ourselves,” Om’Mas would later admit. “One of the reasons we have been catapulted into this position is because of our peer group.”

Sa-Ra’s peers are some of the most influential names in music and each member has a very impressive resume. In early 2000 they were signed to a major label. Although that was the first time the group as a whole had been signed to a major, the individual members all have label experience. Shafiq has worked with virtually everyone in the hip-hop world, and has credit on a number of ground-breaking albums. Taz grew up in South Central LA; he was signed as a youngster and has contributed to some of the most classic albums to emerge from the region. Om’Mas was raised around legendary artists, his father was a jazz artist and some of the most legendary jazz musicians, many whom Om’Mas considered his “uncles,” helped mold him as a young musician. As a teenager, Om’Mas was one of the youngest sound engineers working in New York City. He worked with everyone including some of the most popular mainstream artists. Each member of Sa-Ra brings immense experience and talent, and belongs to an exclusive sect of artists.

During the past few years, Sa-Ra has been through the perils of label bureaucracy and has found it difficult for label heads to share their vision. Their music is so far ahead of its time that some of the label suits probably just don’t get it. But the artists do and many have used Sa-Ra to add flavor to their projects. Lately Sa-Ra has collaborated with the hottest names in music and they are highly sought- after producers.

This is just the beginning for the psychedelic Sa-Ra. They are not afraid to be different and, like other pioneers of music, their unique persona is symptom of their genius. Taz agrees, “People think that we are from way leftfield and we are underground but what group that changed music wasn’t coming from way out. The influential people who pioneered new sounds weren’t afraid to be different and do what they wanted despite of critics and the status quo. We are bringing something that people haven’t heard before.”

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photos - nick lavecchia words - chris nieratko

sid abruzzithe GodfatherSittinG With the don

Sid, for those who don’t know who you are, what exactly is your role in East Coast skateboarding history?We were one of the first guys. We were the first to bring skateboarding inland from the beaches. We lived right on the coast in Newport, Rhode Island. We went from metal wheels to the transition period, and in 1971 I opened up Water Bros Surf and Skate shop. The only boards we could actually buy were completes. We were in it from clay wheels on – when everything began to be sold separately. We were selling the undrilled decks back when you had to drill them yourself using that stupid frame to line up the holes. For actual skateboarding, we were the first guys to go into Boston and Providence. Usually we’d go into the cities on a Sunday because the towns were shut down on Sunday. None of the stores were open so we could go into the parking lots and eight-story garages, hit up all the banks, skate the city hospital – that later became a hot spot. We brought all of that up from Newport. I don’t want to get all “we did it before them” because we were at the same time but in a parallel universe of sorts. We were right there with the first wave of ramps and skateboard parks. My best friend was a legendary pioneer in surf and skateboarding advancement. This guy had the first cutout rails on a skateboard; he also put the first p-tex on a snowboard. We were the first ones to bring a quarterpipe to the tradeshows. I have been in it since day one and haven’t stopped. We were skating all weekend actually. Wasn’t your shop the first to sell wheels with precision bearings?We were the first shop to have them, there’s no doubt about it. We were number one. I still have all the shit right here. These kids broke into this old warehouse in Cranston, Rhode Island. They had this mad-dog scientific old guy that formulated the wheels with the first precision bearing. The guys came down to our place because we were the only

skate guys around and they just handed us tons of the wheel to test out. Before that we went down to Florida in the wintertime in Jacksonville, where the standard wheel that most of us rode were made. We used to buy hundreds of those wheels before precision bearing wheels came around. You used to have to drop the ball bearings in yourself on the axles when you sold a kid a complete and you’re all wrecked and stoned and you dropped one ball bearing and the whole wheel would fall apart – in front of a mom. You’d be a longhaired freak and be like, “I need to get out of here.” It was funny. That was pretty much a daily experience. Eventually they sold the right to those wheels and it all got moved out to California. Next to their old building was a warehouse full of the precision bearing wheels and their patches, posters, everything and these kids from across the Bay broke into the place like 20 years ago, whatever the statute of limitations for prosecution is, and they brought me so much shit.

What is “The Pit” and what happens there?The Pit is the Rock & Roll Mecca of this town. It was an original dirt floor cellar in the ’70s with punk rock posters everywhere. After every skate session we’d go back and party in the basement.

Isn’t it in your mom’s basement?Yeah, but my mom has been in a home for a while so now it’s in my basement! When my dad died, we cemented the floor with him under it.

really?No, I’m just kidding. It’s like the perfect skate-surf bar in my basement now. My band Big World got back together over the past five years and it’s like a constant Hollywood jam session down there. A couple amps, nice drum set, PAs – it’s the older guys Rock & Roll set up. I got like 500 skate decks on the ceilings and walls. It’s really tight. I got bones from Africa, a warthog skull, elephant hip bones, all this stuff. Before they clamped down on bringing bones back I brought a ton in like five trips.

What is your fondest memory of skateboarding?When I used to be able to drive down to the shop on the beach when we had the vert ramp there. It was nine foot, 16 inches wide, and the parking lot was completely no rules. It was at the end of Newport Beach, but it was a separate parking lot on a private beach and my landlords were cool. You had all the crazy dudes sitting on the seawall partying. We ran great contests; that was the most fun. The late ’80s were the good’ ole days for me. Having a ramp on the beach with platforms overlooking the ocean with all the heavies and all the guys just showing up to skate and party. That’s the time I miss the most. That was a pretty good scene. I love those days.

We Were one of the firSt GuyS. We Were the firSt to BrinG SKateBoardinG inLand froM the BeaCheS.

For more of Sid go to Waterbros.net For more of Chris Nieratko go to Chrisnieratko.com

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every town has that skate shop. you know the one – it’s the epicenter of your town’s skate scene. a skateboarder’s veritable home away from home where you can meet with your friends, kick it and watch the latest videos, get tips from local shredders and see your favorite pros. there’s always some old bench or flatbar you can drag to the street to session, it’s the place where games of SKate last all day. for Brooklyn, new york this shop is undoubtedly KCdC.

words - kevin craft art - dennis mcnett

KCdCBrooKLyn, ny

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not onLy iS aMy Gunther prettier than your LoCaL SKateShop oWner, But She MiGht Be More dediCated to SKateBoardinG too.The model/actress has had an intimate relationship with skateboard culture since childhood. “A lot of my friends were skateboarders, and it was such a family feeling and such a true, loyal type of deal. Where I grew up there weren’t a lot of kids, so all of us that were into it kind of bound together and I just really loved that feeling.” This same type of communal feel and sense of belonging is something she wanted to recreate at KCDC. She understands the importance of having a place where people feel welcome. “I was put into situations that weren’t necessarily the best – my family wasn’t the best and modeling was tough, so to be able to go back to my friends and have a home and feeling of security was really nice. I really wanted to do something to give kids that sort of outlet if they didn’t feel comfortable being at home.”

Amy first tried her hand at skate shop ownership in the suburbs of New York. She remembers it being a good learning experience. “It was a little easier to make mistakes there and learn from your mistakes in the suburbs. Kids in the city are a bit more sophisticated.” After that experience, Amy partnered with Nevett Steele and decided to sign a lease for the first KCDC shop on August 28, 2001. Two weeks later all hell broke loose.

“When the towers fell,” Amy recalls, “that was another crossroad for us because we didn’t know if we needed to open a skate shop when our city was in a dire state. We went back to the drawing board.”

After reassessing why they wanted to have a skate shop in the first place, Amy and Nevett decided that the best thing to do for the city was to go forward with their vision, “We felt to open a small business now as New Yorkers is what we should do. We should try our best to bring more business to the city and show that stuff is still going on, and we are strong. We really kind of played off of that. It really gave us some fire to open the store and do our best.”

KCDC skate shop is the nucleus of the Brooklyn and New York City skate scenes. They have a beautiful indoor mini ramp for those terrible East Coast winters, are constantly having events and they continuously give back to the community. People like Nevett and Amy are the silent fuel that keeps our culture’s engine running. Support your local skate shop!

KCdC partner nevett SteeLe’S favorite ShoeS

nevett Steele is just as passionate about skateboarding as his KCDC partner Amy gunther and, when it comes to skate shoes, being a skate shop owner makes him a connoisseur on what works and what’s wack. Here he talks about his favorite skate shoe of all time:

My favorite skate shoe of all time is the Converse Fast Break from the ’80s. It had nice padding around the ankles, but it wasn’t gnarly-puffy. The back of the shoe was cut down where your Achilles tendon was, so you could move your foot like in lo-tops. The toe of the shoe was tapered, not rounded, which was different from a lot of the other shoes. You could feel your tricks and feel your ollie. Kickflips were just coming in and that shoe was perfect for that, you could feel it. There wasn’t too much junk in the shoe, it wasn’t too techy. The heel was wide but it wasn’t bulky, it was wide but flared at the bottom. If you were about to roll your ankle it would squish and stop before it totally rolled. The beautiful thing is that it had a court sole, man! At the time, other skate shoe companies were coming out with their basketball style skate shoes, but most had ridiculously hard soles that you could never break in. By the time you broke them in, you had a hole in them and you were done. The Fast Breaks had nice, soft leather and court soles. I don’t mean to blow smoke up Converse’s butt, honestly, those Fast Breaks were the best skate shoes ever. I found them at the mall and bought every size ten that they had.

photos - kevin craft

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words - neftalie williams

CatChinG up With JereMy

We are a nation obsessed with fame. Amongst the madness of the “hot now-bye later” pop up, over-produced consumer culture we live in, very few people rise above the hype to become legends. Jeremy Henderson is a man who has earned that title.

Many pro skateboarders can claim they influenced skateboarding through various stages, however very few can claim they helped usher in new eras many times over. Even fewer accomplished it consistently by effortlessly integrating into skate scenes on both the East and West coasts. Now add in the ability to inject organic growth trans-continentally, and be so humble as to never care if you go down in the skate history books. Well that adds up to legendary skate Godfather Jeremy Henderson.

We caught up with the 46-year-old skateboarder and artist to grab a glimpse into his global influence.

Hey brother, how is everything going down in Newport?Jeremy Henderson: Things are great. I just went skating the other day. There was a bank I saw and I stopped everything (laughing). I laugh now because I still have the same love for skateboarding. I totally parked illegally on the highway and left the dog in the car, everything. All the while I’m getting mentally prepared for dealing with “the man.”

“Ok officer, I realize I left my car running on the side of the road, and I’m not supposed to be trespassing. Yes, I’m 46. Yes, it seemed like and still is a good idea for me to be skating here (laughing).”

You mentioned you were working on a lot of new art lately?I have been. I like to use alot of metaphors, and the objects of metaphors. I like to paint on doors and represent the doors of perception, and I always paint on skateboards amongst other things because it’s always been a part of my life.

I was talking to a veteran skater from England about doing your interview and he said he’s know you since he was a kid. I didn’t know you were connected to the London skate scene.I belonged to the London scene since the ’70s. In ’78 we skated for the leaders of the United Arab Emirates; they built us 14-foot half pipe. We went all around the world.

My manager also managed a famous rock band. They didn’t know how to place skateboarding then, so we basically were young rock stars. They sent us to Paris, Amsterdam, etc. That’s what we did every weekend.

You completed part of that scene circle, but you also helped push street skating in the ’80s. Tell us a little about the scene back then.I used to go back and forth to the states when I was younger. My dad was stationed all over, so I would gather up some skateboarding from everywhere. Naturally the progression was the same when I became pro. We would go back and forth to the coasts and we’d all learn together.

You skated with some of the original street innovators back then as well, right? I did. We skated with all the crew in Venice and Santa Monica during the early street days. Skating was really moving hard toward the street in leaps and bounds. I was still traveling constantly. All the guys from California used to come stay with me and sleep on my floor in the Village. My house was one of the original couch surfing spots. Everyone stayed with me.

It seems like with each generation you were in the midst of it all?Well back then we just ushered in everyone else and kept skating as the new kids came up. All the West Coast guys loved coming to New York and we had it on lock. It was fun just hitting the city and making it ours.

Is that what helped birth the brands you helped build?That was a natural progression. We just had the illest kids in and around the city. Everyone contributed – we all came to the table together then. We pressed our own boards and cut the shapes, and it was a family.

We had one of the best teams ever. We were terrorizing the contest circuit. We won all of our divisions all the time. Kids were losing their minds when we came through.

It all laid the groundwork for the takeover.It did. All of the young NY skaters knew their history. The next batch of young-street skaters were under our wings and we released them on the world.

So you feel like your place in history was locked down by seeing the new squad at the time?I do. Accolades and credit never mattered to me. I just wanted to do my part and be the best skateboarder I could be. Personally one of the best accolades I ever received is one witnessed by the world, but its meaning was only known by a chosen few.

Skateboarding is a part of us all and the best always have a little something extra. That crew took up the torch. Things happened but the brand we helped to build is back in the city where it belongs. I feel great about that and what we did!

photos - peter graham

Jeremy Henderson a LeGend iS Born

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My ManaGer aLSo ManaGed a faMouS roCK Band. they didn’t KnoW hoW to pLaCe SKateBoardinG then, So We BaSiCaLLy Were younG roCK StarS.”

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For young children, every moment is magic and they are awed by what adults perceive as mundane. Their young eyes have yet to succumb to the repetition and burden of a “responsible life,” as adults replace the whimsical with the practical.

It was a longing to reconnect with the imagination that created Savoir Adore. Paul Hammer and Deidre Muro were college students. Paul was studying the business side of music, and Deidre spent her time learning music journalism. Both were singer/songwriters who did most of their composing on acoustic guitars. Though at different colleges within the same university they both gravitated toward the same club. “We met at probably the cheesiest club ever: The Songwrit-ers and Performers Society,” says Deidre. At the time they both were at creative crossroads, “We wanted to step out of our shells as singer/songwriters,” remembers Paul. We were both traditional singer/songwriters talking about life and our experiences with love, and we both kind of hit a wall at the same time, a point where we wanted to grow and break out of the box.”

So they boarded a train to upstate New York to spend three days at Paul’s parent’s house with one rule: no acoustic guitars. On the train ride they came up with seven song titles and a fantastical story which was the muse for their first EP The Adventures of Mr. Pumpernickel and the Girl with Animals in Her Throat. “Over the next three days we recorded and wrote the entire thing,” Paul says. “We still weren’t an official band; we just did it for fun.”

The whimsical EP is a twisted love story that takes place in a wooded forest filled with mystical creatures. Each song follows one point of the story to the next and a map of the forest where the story takes place accompanies the CD. Bear in mind this isn’t your grandma’s fairy tale. This fantasy has suicide, jealous nymphs, and a girl with animals in her throat. The result of this exercise in unbridled imagining is a project with a consistent concept but relentlessly, yet refreshingly, varied music. “There’s a definitive flavor or emotional feel to our music,” says Paul “but there isn’t something that one can point out and say, ‘oh that’s the Savoir Adore riff or dance beat’.” “We are constantly changing,” adds Deidre. “Our music is largely thematic. The most consistent sounds in our music are the blending of our voices, but we are constantly visiting a number of genres. No genre is safe.”

The EP was originally only intended for themselves, friends and family. “We never anticipated this but slowly it started meaning more and more – people really dug it,” says Paul. The inventive EP caught the attention of a New York-based indie music label. “The label urged us to keep playing,” says Deidre. “They heard the EP. They gave us the motivation to keep doing what we are doing. They’ve supported us from the beginning.” With support from the label they decided to name themselves Savoir Adore, which roughly translates to “Know Love,” and a band was born.

Both Diedre and Paul come from musical homes. Diedre’s mother is a church organist and a choir director and naturally she was in the church choir at a young age. Her father created synthesizer music and facilitated synth demonstrations and workshops as the technology blossomed in the ’80s. She has fond memories of spending time in the basement at their home studio in Long Island, NY.

Paul also grew up with a home studio. His father is a legend in synthesizer and jazz fusion, most recognized for crafting a theme song for a popular ’80s television show. “It’s an uncontrollable reaction to everything going on,” says Paul. “If I have a bad day or a good day everyday growing up I would always just sit at the piano for ten minutes and just make sounds.” This continues with Savoir Adore. “It’s a reaction to everything that’s going on in our lives. All of our writing is done in the studio as we’re recording. Deidre will write a melody to the song as we’re recording.” This approach makes the music an honest representation of the moment. As Savoir Adore moves through their mystical world of music, Paul quips on what effects he hopes the music will have on people. “If I could conjure spells with my music I would conjure the ability for the music to make people fall in love.” Savoir Adore indeed.

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words - kevin craft photo - andres mora

rodney torreS: the reaL KinG of QueenS

You had the greatest instructional video on how to do a slappie. I need to know if you were acting or not? Because that shit was funny as hell.That was a funny idea to teach people how to do slappies. It’s not the craziest thing to do, but it’s universal. I had to film a trick tip for my team’s website. I happened to just find fresh-painted curbs and a fresh-paved parking lot. It was a perfect lesson. Thanks to the editors for pushing it out there.

I’m very proud to have you on our shop’s team and I know you are as proud of New Jersey as I am. What is so great about Jersey?The spots are ruff, obscure, hard to find, but there’s a lot to offer. Saturday morning I’ll pick up some ackee ’n saltfish and fried dumplings, maybe go visit where my dad has worked for 40 years as a doctor. Cruise to get some Brazilian churrascaria and an acai smoothie and drive to different towns in search for new spots to skate. If we have material to fix up a spot we’ll do it. That’s the best part of Jersey.

For the younger kids who don’t know, tell me a bit about your brother Mike Cardona who passed away, another great skater to come out of Jersey.There’s not a day I don’t think of my bro. He will be missed. Nobody could 360 flip likeMike. I’m talking over a tall picnic table, no joke. Skater for life, Bredren of Jah...

Aside from skateboarding I know you work some other jobs, tell me about those.I built movie sets for a horror flick. It took place in an abandoned mental asylum in Jersey. Last month I did the behind the scenes work for another film. A family of people who have children who skate, who work with their hearts to make a difference contacted me to be a part of a special event. I stay busy.

We’re both Portuguese, have you ever spent any time over there skating?Yeah. My pops is from Villa Real and, when I went there in 2003, I found a skate park. It’s the Barcelona that no one skated. Come on Chris, we got to make it there someday.

For more of Quim go to www.myspace.com/q_links and quimtime.blogspot.comFor more of Chris Nieratko go to www.chrisnieratko.com

words - chris nieratko photo - matt daughters

JerSey’S oWn QuiM Cardona

How are the ladies treating you?The ladies LOVE them some EL TORO!

What’s the worst thing about skateboarding on the East Coast?The winter. It’s hard to motivate yourself to go out in below freezing temperatures; but if you really want to skate, you’ll do what you have to do and deal with it.

A unique thing about being a skater from the East Coast is you have to brave these brutal winters. I’ve heard some pretty major stories about your dedication during the winters. Give us a good, die-hard winter skateboard story:Yeah man, I used to lay plywood on snow and launch over snowmen. Just kidding. It’s true that the winters out here are brutal. We’ve missioned out in the snow to go skate a set of stairs in 10 degree weather. But really there are no words – you have to experience it for yourself.

What’s the best thing about skateboarding on the East Coast?The best thing about skating on the East Coast is pretty much everything. When the

weather is warm here in NYC, you can cruise all around the city, see all the hottest women, and party all through the night. The city literally never sleeps.

Tell us your most memorable skateboard traveling moment.I’ve had so many memorable traveling moments in my skateboarding life that I honestly can’t even remember one right now. It’s all a blur...

Has skateboarding in NY changed much since you started?It’s grown a lot over the years and is more accepted in the mainstream.

Why is it better?Well, because of how big skateboarding has gotten over the years, it’s now more accepted.I’m cooler now then I was when I started. Also a lot of people are able to do more within their local communities for the kids. More skateparks, events, shops and companies are coming up everywhere.

Thanks Rodney. Go easy on the ladies.You know it.

east Coast iConS

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who’s your dealer?

It’s important to support the local skateshop. It’s the core

of our community. Go to converseskateboarding.com to geek-out on our interactive

skatemap: converseskate boarding.com/skatemap. It’s your golden ticket to a vast

world of skatespots coast to coast. It will also help you

locate your local dealer.

art - jeff proctor