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| Q&A: Michael Brooke - Publisher, Concrete Wave Magazine (7141 Posts)
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skeery
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On 3/21/2006 snoball
wrote in from
United States
(65.35.nnn.nnn)
sumdum, you're freaking me out.
did you ever skate at LBCC? corkscrew/overpass?
Lakewood mall...you mean Lakewood, Ca or...?
( cue twilight zone music...)
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Best Story
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On 3/21/2006
Craigo
wrote in from
United States
(209.221.nnn.nnn)
Here's my recent true story - My Experience with the Buckeye Open #1. I had been checking the weather all week, the rain that had been predicted was slowly improving as the week progressed. Gary Fluitt shipped my new Splitfire front truck via 2nd day so that I would receive it on Friday and have it on my new Skaterbuilt GS for the ride south Saturday morning. I got the truck Friday as promised, and the weather outlook was good for Saturday's race in Columbus. While at work on Friday, my wife called and said the brakes sounded bad on the van. I told her I would check it out when I got home. Sure enough, the pad was gone on the driver's side. On the way to bowling that night, I bought new brake pads with the intention of replacing them after bowling. The pad swap that began at about 10:30 that night resulted in two broken wheel studs and a bent breaker bar from the 3 foot long piece of pipe it took to remove the lug nuts. I got to bed at midnight after packing for my morning trip. Saturday morning I left the house about 6AM in my car, arrived at Big Run Park in Columbus at about 9:30. 50 feet into the drive back to the hill, my water pump fails, complete with spewing coolant and loss of alternator, power steering, etc. Mollica said that due to the threatening weather (the sky looked bad), I should take some runs before looking into getting the car fixed. Good advice. Five runs through cones with the new setup on pristine asphalt and things felt much better. Then the rain hit. It was after 10AM. The tow truck took its time coming, as I sat in the car with a buddy who also drove down for the race (thanks, SWARD!). The tow truck arrived to find us sitting in the car with the windows steamed up, because I could't run the defroster. Normally this would be okay, except that there were other cars parked nearby with their windows steamed up for other reasons. Got the car to Pep boys after 1PM. Four hours, two hoagies, and several beers later we were back at Pep Boys to check the status of the car. I am still amazed that they had a water pump in stock for a 1999 BMW 528i. Anyway, the car was fixed and ready to go - or so I thought. I paid my bill, said adios to Scott, filled the tank and headed north. At this rate I could be home by 9:30! 30 miles out from Columbus, my battery light came on, followed by loss of power steering and then the overheat indicator came on. Crap! I managed to get the car into a gas station near the exit ramp. The accessory drive belt had disintegrated. I spent the next hour on the phone - trying to call Scott, calling the Pep Boys towing hotline, and talking with the manager at Pep Boys trying to get them to stay late to fix the car for the second time. Tow truck #2 arrived, got me back to Pep Boys. After removing my car from the bed, the tow truck's hydraulics failed, leaving the bed in the angled and lowered position. I told the driver that my bad luck was rubbing off. by 9:30, the car was repaired and I thanked the store manager for staying late to get me back on the road. A couple of Red Bulls and one detour later, I arrived home at 1:05 Sunday morning. All for five runs down a hill.
Then there was the time driving my old Taurus when my fuel pump failed at midnight in a crummy part of Detroit on the way back from conducting the Bill Danforth interview...
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Re: Lucky Skater
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On 3/20/2006
Sumdumsurfer
wrote in from
United States
(71.107.nnn.nnn)
"you can have fun with a board and 4 wheels (or 6 for Chris)."
Yeah, but he's a freakishly weird cat. Wait, does he read this forum? Just kidding. Oh... hiya, Chris! How's it going?
=)
SK8/SURF 4 LIFE!
Sumdumsurfer
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Greatest Feeling
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On 3/20/2006
jaybyrd
wrote in from
Mexico
(207.17.nnn.nnn)
"Watching them grow up and progress is the most rewarding responsibility I've ever had. Every session is another addition to the collection of great memories.
Does this all sounds a trifle corny? Perhaps to some... but, to me, I'm the luckiest Dad on this ball that we call Earth."
In no way does this sound corny, as a matter of fact it was'nt untill we started skating together that my son and I really started to bond. I enjoy alot of the same music that he does and he's starting to listen to alot more old school rock.
Skating has created a gateway for all ages and backgrounds to unite in something that is trully unique in that no matter where you are in life or "on this ball we call Earth" you can have fun with a board and 4 wheels (or 6 for Chris).
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Lucky Skater
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On 3/20/2006
Sumdumsurfer
wrote in from
United States
(71.107.nnn.nnn)
I may not be the luckiest, but when I was fifteen years of age, I was caught skating the Rad-Ramp (plexiglas huge portable halfpipe for those too young to know) in the Lakewood Center mall parking lot. It was around midnight and we'd taken the lock & chain off so we could ride. An orange Bricklin pulls up as I'm in the middle of my run. I noticed that all of my friends and their brothers split. I stepped down from the ramp and Joel Vest approaches me. He asked if I dug on the ramp and that there was going to be a huge skatepark built on the very spot we were standing. I answered YES and NO WAY! Right then and there, I was hired to work with helping the construction crews build and also a staff employee when the skatepark was finally completed. One of the best jobs I ever had... and a rock throw from my house. It was Heaven on Earth. Working at El Dorado Skates and the skatepark was a great way to work my way through high school. My childhood friend, Ray Zimmerman, also worked there and the Lakewood Theatre right nextdoor. So, needless to say, we had many fringe benefits and a LOTTA popcorn.
Fast forward to the last fourteen years; I'm extremely lucky to have two great sons that took to skateboarding when they were in diapers and began surfing when they were four. Spending so much time together, on our boards, brings us together closer than the typical father/son relationship... we're more like best friends and also dig the same type of music. We go to shows (The Adicts, The Dickies, Channel 3, etc.) when we can, surf, skate, and generally have a good time. Watching them grow up and progress is the most rewarding responsibility I've ever had. Every session is another addition to the collection of great memories.
Does this all sounds a trifle corny? Perhaps to some... but, to me, I'm the luckiest Dad on this ball that we call Earth.
SK8/SURF 4 LIFE!
Sumdumsurfer
P.S. SKATEBOARD and/or SURF with your kids and friends as much as humanly possible, for we're not on this planet very long.
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Lucky
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On 3/18/2006
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Although it's not a good story, I'd have to say that the luckiest thing to happen to me was three-fold.
1. Being born in 1961
2. Living near the beach in Southern California
3. My mother's fear of me drowning
When I was about 13 to 14 years old, members of the opposite sex started to become increasingly more desirable to me. I figured that just being a good student wasn't what girls were looking for in a guy, and that I needed an angle - a way into the in crowd. I decided that being a surf cat would give me the best opportunity for success with the ladies, because my friends who surfed seem to know a lot of cute tan girls in bikinis. The only problem was that my mother was afraid that without 47 years of Junior Lifeguard training, I would invariably drown alone at the beach and that it wouldn't look good with respect to her parenting skills. Dream crusher. Fortunately skateboarding was becoming popular and was "close enough" to surfing to get me the image I was looking for. The location, the culture, and the weather were all perfect for being a skate cat, but perhaps the luckiest thing of all was the timing at which skateboarding was beginning to grow. I practically slept with my skateboard (because no woman would) and the rest is history.
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fire in the hole!
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On 3/18/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(70.50.nnn.nnn)
Michael
I am interested in hearing more about the Vans factory fire...that must have been crazy.
Also, if it's not karma....what is it? Luck, chance, randomness?
Are things preordained? Do they happen for a reason?
Butterfly affect anyone?
Chaos theory?
Bueller?
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karmic skatepark
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On 3/18/2006 tom from toronto
wrote in from
Canada
(142.20.nnn.nnn)
I was a skater in the 70s, then we moved to the country and I gave it up. Fast forward 25 years later, I have twin boys age 9, looking for something fun to do with dad. So I take them to a skatepark - first time for all of us - and I see some guy MY AGE skating the hell out of the place. I think, if he can do that, maybe I can too! As it happens, the guy I saw that day was Michael Brooke. He was showing some of the kids a new copy of Concrete Wave. I thought I had just entered some kind of weird parallel universe. My eyes were opened. I bought quality decks for the kids and a longboard for me. Its the best thing we've ever done, and we've been all about skating for the past 3 years. I now enjoy making all my own decks, using all my own artwork and design concepts. Its become a way of life, and a true bonding experience for me and my boys. Thanks.
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Karma
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On 3/18/2006 Michael (Octane)
wrote in from
United Kingdom
(87.115.nnn.nnn)
In 1983 Paul Price and I wrote to 20 different companies in the US looking for a summer job. There was a program for students to work for the summer in the U.S. legally. The program was really looking for camp councillors for summer camps near New York.
We wrote to Vans in Anaheim as we had their address on a box.
We were both offered a summer job, and accomodation. What a summer!
As an aside, once I finished college I applied for a highly paid job in Belgium, for which I was way underqualified, but the headhunter was an American lady, she interviewed me as I was the only applicant who had worked abroad in any capacity. I got the job, leading to 10 fruitful years working in many countries.
I am wearing Vans as I type.
(as for Karma...thats a load of crap...the Vans factory burnt down while we worked there!)
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keep the karma koming...
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On 3/18/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(70.49.nnn.nnn)
I am fascinated by this topic...and I will award prizes for best stories...I will award one Lords of Dogtown book to whoever posts the best story. We'll run this for the next 4 days and fill up this forum with stories, then we'll deliberate..
so far we have
1. Wes and his Turner gift
2. Gary Fluitt as a hitchhiker
3. Trish's experiences
C'mon and add yours..
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Luckiest Skater
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On 3/17/2006
Utah Trish
wrote in from
United States
(71.37.nnn.nnn)
Karma, it's all about the Karma! I just started to slalom last summer. Only because my brother called and told me a guy by the name of Martin Drayton was in my area and and was looking for boarders to skate with. I have made some really great friends because of that. And it has continued. I have been more outgoing and crazy because of all this. I make friends in elevators! I make friends while having a nice steak and lobster dinner in Texas. LOL. I even got a great job last week and because I am a bit outspoken/weird or whatever, they decided that I would be a nice supervisor...mmm Karma. History in the makin' and lucky to be a part of this "community"
Ride On!
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Fluitt & Jackie Lee Smith
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On 3/17/2006
Joe I
wrote in from
United States
(63.87.nnn.nnn)
Fluitt,
You are lucky! All respect to Jack, imagine pulling up to some 12 year old kids now and asking them if you want to go to a race.
Your lucky Jack didn't make a belt out of your skin and bury you in the backyard.
Anyway, I'm Lucky to have found thhe NCDSA and count you guys as my friends (you too Jack). I'm having the time of my life and it just keeps getting better.
Joe
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luck of the commuter
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On 3/17/2006
fluitt
wrote in from
United States
(192.18.nnn.nnn)
When I was about 12 years old I use to "commute" the 1 mile from my house into town, down Los Osos Valley Road (what would now be a suicide mission). I had a homemade board with Roller Sports.
One day this guy drives past me in a green 1969 Thunderbird (with white interior), pulls over with a screeching hault and flings open his passanger door.
When I get to the car and cautiously look in, the guy had an uncanny resemblence of Jimmy Conners - on speed. In Fact it was Jack Smith, on his way to a slalom race that he was putting on.
He said "hey man - wanna go to a skateboard race"? I never met the guy but I jumped in the car and went to my first ever skateboard competition. Racing around death cones as tall as I was. At that race I met Paul Dunn (riding a fiberflex -oooh ah).
I guess that was a lucky day for me.
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this is EPIC
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On 3/17/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(65.95.nnn.nnn)
I would equate this story with getting a free set of golf clubs from Tiger Woods!
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As luck would have it . . .
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On 3/17/2006
WT
wrote in from
United States
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was getting my first Turner Summerski FREE from Tommy Ryan. I've told the story a hundred times, but I love repeating it. Here's the letter that came with the board on that momentous day 28 years ago:
Although 90% of my time on a board before that was spent slaloming (I had a Hester FibreFlex,) after that yellow cut-away beauty came UPS, I never did anything else again on a skateboard but run cones and downhill. No more 360s, high jumps, banks or nose wheelies.
I rode that board til it finally gave up the ghost and sagged out in 1982. Looking back I wished I had saved the carcass, but in my insatiable curiousity I "dissected" it completely to see what was inside. It was the fist time I could see the individual layers of glass and the gray foam core. Here's the one picture I have of me riding it from a contest in 1979:
Man, was I lucky!
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luck of the Irish...
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On 3/17/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(65.95.nnn.nnn)
At my blog, I posted some lucky stories about skateboarding...but I'd like to hear yours...
what's the luckiest thing or things you've encountered as a skater?
what luck have you had while skateboarding?
is luck karama? or is karma just luck?
green beer anyone?
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Go Fish
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On 3/16/2006
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
The Buyer's Guide is off the hook. It's like Christmas in our neck of the woods. I really LOVE looking at page after page of boards that have a different nose than tail, and lengths from 22" to 80 1/2". Urethane wheels ranging from 97mm to 51mm, and big rubber ones as well. Trucks that turn and hanger widths going from 88mm to over 254mm, and the styles, geomtries, and compression systems vary greatly. Bearings made for skateboards, tools, safety equipment, gizmos, all geared for the STOKE of skateboarding. Not a lick on shoes, sodas, fashion and "what not to wear for 2006".
It appears that there are some people in this industry with a passion for producing great products for the "other" demographic. This is going to snowball. This is big. This is exciting. And if it's exciting to an old fart like me, the youth is going to take to it like a fish to water.
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the guide..
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On 3/16/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(64.229.nnn.nnn)
the guides are slowly getting out there. Since it's a bonus issue, the guides are sent in bulk mail...it can take a little longer, but they will get there...of course, if it's April 20, and you STILL don't have the guide, email me and I will resend.
It's amazing how fast mail in some areas is and how utterly slow other areas are.
have faith...the bg is on its way
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buyers guide
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On 3/15/2006
Paul Steuri
wrote in from
United States
(207.200.nnn.nnn)
Hey, I ordered a subsription like a month and a half ago, I asked when the first issue would come, and I got an email saying the buyers guide in March. I still haven't gotten it yet!
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Danger, Will Robinson
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On 3/15/2006 Jamie M.
wrote in from
Canada
(65.93.nnn.nnn)
I would agree with Ians post. My worst falls have been in the basement at work, and trying out new setups just down the the street from work!(Hmm maybe Its just work thats dangerous!)Both times I wasn't paying much attention to what I was doing, and of course had no protective gear on!
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more of CW
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On 3/15/2006 tom t
wrote in from
Canada
(142.20.nnn.nnn)
I'm surprised my question to MB generated so many responses, but then I guess everyone can relate. Michael, love the mag. Give us more...and maybe a spread on the likes of Danny Way wouldn't be a bad idea?
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good post Ian
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On 3/15/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(192.30.nnn.nnn)
I am reminded of the gentleman who ran Flux risers - Brian, who just by chance hit a pebble or a crack and by some fluke, landed on his head and was dead shortly thereafter.
There is no question that there are times when we skate and its effortless....and there are times when things don't gel. My sense has always been to mix things up...so if you can't land a specific technical trick, you could always go back and try just cruising or carving or whatever.
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Complacency
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On 3/15/2006
Bud
wrote in from
United States
(68.57.nnn.nnn)
Ian made a great point, there. In '95, I tore my ACL missing a simple, everyday ollie to tail on a 5 ft mini. And, WHY did I miss a simple ollie to tail on a 5' mini ramp, you ask? Because, mentally, I was partying a little too hard over the carving backside nosegraind revert I'd just landed for the first time a couple tricks earlier. Lesson learned: Focus on the ramp, dude, and save the cocky self-back-slapping for the rollout deck- because celebrating on crutches sucks.
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Dangerous Skateboarding...
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On 3/15/2006 Gary H.
wrote in from
United States
(17.221.nnn.nnn)
Is skateboarding dangerous? That is something I don't think about when riding. Sure I pad up when I skate the parks or a pool, but I don't take the time to think about the dangers of riding. I do always make it a point to stretch and take a few warm up runs. Maybe most importantly I try and free my mind by not thinking about work and other things not related to skateboarding while I ride. The reason for riding is having fun and after 30 years of it I'm still rolling and having fun.
Here's a link to a little movie (38mb) I made last month:
http://homepage.mac.com/garyholl/iMovieTheater59.html
enjoy,
Gary
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Dangerous Skating
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On 3/15/2006 Ian
wrote in from
Canada
(70.50.nnn.nnn)
The most dangerous form of skating is skating complacently.
It happens a lot to people who skate day-in day-out. The very activity of ollieing or getting axle on coping is something we've done hundreds if not thousands of times. It becomes second nature and the motions can be done by instinct. This is where the complacency becomes an issue. The simple fact that the odds of your body positioning and wheels and trucks and deck and everything all being in the right place at the right time is so low, you've started a real dangerous gamble.
I don't want to sound all hokey-Zen-like in what I'm trying to say here, but skatebaording is first and formemost a martial art. The word "martial" derives from the latin term for "mind", which is to say that martial arts are about the mind's ability to control the body. Second nature and instinct aren't going to cut it. Skateboarding requires focus and a cleansing of all other thoughts that can interfere with split second decision making.
I have had to run down a ten stair handrail and figure out a way to not nut myself or seperate a shoulder nor get hit by the board that is on its own trajectory somewhere around me; and do this ten or fifteen times within a period of five minutes before sticking it. No injuries. I put myslef in the hospital for seven days and needed 4 blood transfusions and had my lung cauterized back together because I bailed on a 5-0 grind on a skate-park bench that I've ground a hundred times over.
A lot of people claim that their bodies start to fail them as they age. We've all seen Mike goes on a lot about skateboard attrition amongst people hitting their early twenties. One aspect of this attrition that he never seems to mention but I've always felt was a determining factor in why people give up skating is that adulthood means more responsibility and more things on our minds. These thoughts can start entering our skating, probably not at the point of the ollie, but maybe in the run up to the ledge, or during the actual grind itself, during the easy stuff. We bail, we get hurt, we get sick of being hurt, we wonder if skating is any good for us.
Skating is very good for us, if we focus at it while we are doing it.
Don't worry about what is dangerous skateboarding for your child, there's dangerous riding in cars with aggressive traffic, there's dangerous eating growth hormone injected meat from the supermarket, there's dangerous inhaling of polluted air in a socitey dependent on aggressive traffic. Just keep your kid focused on skating while they're skating. If he or she doesn't feel like it, go and chill on the lawn or go for a swim. They'll always want to go skating again later if they get the same Zen-like cleansing it gives the rest of us.
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