Browsing “History”

Over at the SbA site we have just commissioned James James to cut this ripping Recon piece on the West Hobart Bowl which is the 2^nd oldest park in Australia. Here is a little sample of the visuals. The video is over here.

If geologists rated skateparks the West Hobart Bowl would be classified as Jurassic. It is a crusty, meandrous beast that will happily spit you (and your flesh) into the stratosphere if you hesitate or make an error in judgment. It is a lumpy 100m roller coaster ride that takes you from a shallow dish, through the belly of a snake, past the demonic ‘Thrasher’ corner into the actual bowl. The West Hobart Bowl, (which is actually more of a snake run) has been sessioned for thirty three years now…. (continued here)

So, yeah, last summer I was curating a few chunks of that huge skateboard art show in Paris called Public Domaine… This one.  Among other things, I was in charge of a deck exhibit downstairs under the moniker Agents Provocateurs -an anthology of offensive/controversial/political/message-charged skateboard graphics from then (1990-ish) to now. So that could have been that.

But the venue in question bares a souvenirs-type of shop, and I thought it’d be cool to pick a few of the graphics exhibited and make super high-quality silk-screen prints of them, just a run of 100 prints for each. The two chosen ones ended up being the Sean Cliver “Charles Manson Brown” done for 101 in 1993, and Todd Francis’ “Nature’s Revenge” deck for Julien Stranger out on Antihero.

To make sure this awesome art was going to be treated right, I really wanted to work with Anagraphis/Les Freres Lumineux, whose outstanding portfolio print work for legendary alternative cartoonists (Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton etc) is mind-blowing, albeit of course not cheap at all.

Prints were made, they looked great, a bunch sold at the show… But the leftover was pretty much promised to rot in the shop’s basement once it was over. It killed me to see it going to waste. So in broke-ass, yet super-hero-ish fashion, I went and salvaged the about 50 prints of each graphic left. The only thing I forgot is that I might not have at all the money for it but fuck it, I bought them all back -scooped them up American Pickers-style, minus the profit. And here they are now, available exclusively on Memory Screened!

Back in 1991 in Blagnac, France, the H Street team came and did a demo. We all got really perplexed when we saw that Danny Way didn’t bring a vert board. Instead what he carried was one of these straight-railed, round-tailed, mini-wheeled (and no riser pads ! The heresy…) set-ups that hadn’t really reached France yet. “He just switched to street skating,” we thought, right before D.Way dropped on the monstrous vert ramp and killed it like nobody before –two tricks from that day even ended up in Questionable. Just one out of a million anecdotes testifying D.Way’s progression-oriented mind, as I’m pretty sure a certain documentary will soon assess better than my unsignificant 2-cents… For the rest, from H-Street to Plan B through Alien Workshop and Blind, Danny found a bit of time to discuss his own five favorite graphics. It’s all on Memory Screened.

Photo © Arto Saari / Artofoto

Proudly hailing from Liverpool, no wonder Geoff Rowley’s career has been maculated with various winks at football culture -the most famous being of course his use of Gerry And The Pacemakers’ “You’ll Never Walk Alone” song in his Really Sorry part, which doubles as Liverpool Football Club’s anthem, duh. How did that one tune come into the picture? Geoff explains on A Visual Sound.

I had loosely suspected it before. It became really obvious when I started working on curating the board exhibit for that one show in Paris last summer: in 2011, there aren’t that many skateboard graphics that have something to say. I mean, by “newer” artists -which immediately sets asides the Templetons, Eli Gesners, Mike Hills, Todd Francises, Clivers, McKees and Aly Moores of Droorstalgic times past.
Not to tout the expired stale fart trumpet again, but my theme being called Agents Provocateurs -a journey through offensive/political board graphics- I sadly only had a couple names in mind when time came not to make this an all-90s board exhibit.
Thanks lil’ Baby Jesus though, there’s still a handful of artists who still carry the maculate torch today. Among the Siebens, the Winston Tsengs (enjoi) and the Whoever-thinks-of-these-sick-Skatementals-concepts, Ben Horton has remained one of my personal faves since he launched $LAVE Skateboards.  The brilliance of it all, the video, Ben Raybourn : the guy behind it had to be a Midas of sorts, I thought.  Well, he is. But he’ll never admit it. Enjoy his interview over at Memory Screened.

When it comes to documenting Australian skateboarding in moving pictures, Chris Middlebrook is the most well known and no doubt one of the most devoted. Two of his most recent accomplishments include Nike SB Chronicles #1 and what is arguably the video part of the year: Nick Boserio’s Life Splicing part.

Aside from VX and HD Midds is also a bit of a Super 8 lord. Over at the SbA site we have recently unearthed Chris Middlebrook’s Super 8 reel from 2008. Inside you will find archival footage of: Shane O’Neill, Andrew Brophy Dane Burman, Lewis Marnell, Andrew Currie, Bryce Golder, Nick Boserio, Alex Campbell, Justin Brock, Tommy Fynn and a myriad of other talented rolling units.

Chris Middlebrook is currently working on a part for the next Transworld Video “The Cinematographer Project”: be prepared for some locally spawned lunacy in that one.

Merry Merry Season peoples. See you next year.

TOP 8 from THE ISLAND

1ST: Chima Ferguson ($4000)

2ND: Tommy Fynn ($2500)

3RD: Jack Fardell ($1500)

4TH: Jack Kirk ($800)

5TH: Jake Duncombe ($500)

6TH: Reece Warren ($300)

7TH: Alex Campbell ($200)

8TH: Joel McIlroy ($200)

ISLAND WRAP

Cockatoo Island is not only the largest isle in Sydney Harbour; it has one of the most colourful histories. Prior to being home to the first ever SbA Pro/Am Grand Final it was an imperial prison, an industrial school, a reformatory, a jail and was the site of one of Australia’s largest boat building docks. Cockatoo is also closely aligned with the legend of bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, who was one of two prisoners to ever escape the island. Their escape was aided by Thunder’s lover Mary Ann Bugg who swam through the harbours shark-infested waters to save them. Thunderbolt was given his name whilst on the job: during one of his robberies he knocked on a door as a clap of thunder and lightening ignited the skies. The victim asked who was at the door to which he replied: “Thunderbolt”. Of course prior to the intervention of colonialism Cockatoo was no doubt a sacred stomping ground for indigenous tribes and possibly the odd cockatoo.

During event lead up there were several trips out to the island. My first trip was with Cuzz and we were in charge of surface checks on the heritage-listed ground. After a serious run in with an egg-guarding screech-burger of a sea gull, and several heated discussions regarding the logistical problems of holding a comp on the island, we thought we would calm our nerves with a beverage. Whilst ordering the edge was taking off by a gruff but jovial chinless wonder of a Hungarian tuck-shop manager. He was the kind of odd character you would find in an old Bond film. His vibe somehow smoothed the situation and mid bev we ran back over to the site and finally sussed how the course could work.

Over the months of prep that followed it was no doubt that Logistics Manager Steve Murphy went through the most trials and tribulations. At one point he was heard ordering some fluorescent inflatable tower lights over the phone: “So how big are they mate?“… (pause)… “Oh so about as big as a fat person?” The attention to detail was phenomenal. So how do you get a skate course built on an island you ask? Every element had to come by barge: 24 of them! The course design and construction was a combination of efforts between SbA, Convic and Shane Serena’s Revolution crews. The course housed elements such as the bank to ledge to bank, the out rail (based on Perth’s swing out bar), the doorstop slappy kickers, the wheel chair ramp and the Sydney Harbour Bridge China Bank. (article continued with video over on the sba site)

(link straight to video)

Last May California announced plans to close one quarter of their 278 parks, a devastating move that is intended to save the state a mere $22 million per year. The closure list includes thousands of acres of park land, recreation areas, wildlife reserves, and 50% of the State’s historical parks. By July 2012 Californians will be bereft of 70 magnificent natural parks.

The First 70 is a short film about Californians banding together to enact change and develop solutions in the face of a glaring bureaucratic oversight. Money raised via Kickstarter will help Lauren Valentino, Jarratt Moody and Corey Brown finish the documentary about the National Parks to help bring awareness.

Visit heathhenfilms.com to find out more and donate. Every little bit counts and we only have 29 days left to pledge.

Join their Facebook and Twitter.

‘A to B’ is one of the SbA video regulars. It is a study of the journey from A to B on a skateboard. To instigate the mission I make a map on Google maps, give the map to the filmer and skater. I make sure that the path does take the duo past some good spots, and they are allowed to differ from the supplied route by maximum of one block. Once the mission is completed the filmer completes the edit. I chose Melbourne ripper Jeremy Corea as the subject of the first Victorian ‘A to B’, the filmer was SbA contributor Josh Roberts. Josh is the man responsible for the recent ‘In Good Company’ video from the 4 Skateboard Company, he also filmed the Alex Campbell ‘Three Spots’ from a couple of months back. For now: feast on the A to B with Jeremy Corea and I’ll keep you posted with any further additions.

Just in case u missed the link: A to B with Jeremy Corea

Life and its tribulations did it: they ended up turning John Cardiel into Juan Love, a reknown reggae riddim sommelier. Having fed each other with rare Jamaican music over the last few years, it felt just natural that some day, we’d have to sit down and talk strictly about a music that, you might be surprised to find out, doesn’t have anything to do with hippieness. Or maybe it does: just dare and call Sizzla, Barrington Levy or Scientist “tree-huggers” next time you bump into them. Results may vary. Conversation to be read at A Visual Sound.