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| Q&A: Michael Brooke - Publisher, Concrete Wave Magazine (7141 Posts)
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Concrete Disiples?
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On 7/10/2006
cad
wrote in from
United States
(71.105.nnn.nnn)
Concrete Disiples?
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already seen it...
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On 7/8/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(204.239.nnn.nnn)
someone with waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands
British Columbia is AMAZING...heading to Vancouver tomorrow
we hit Kicking Horse yesterday...mountain bike madness...what a mountain!
more skating today in Kamloops and then off to Whistler tomorrow night
but before that, the 4:20 Seawall Cruise in Vancouver
praying for NO rain!
cheers
michael
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We're totally not gay!
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On 7/8/2006
Bud
wrote in from
United States
(68.57.nnn.nnn)
That came from Concrete Disciples, by the way. Apparently, they're the gay experts over there....
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CW elsewhere
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On 7/7/2006 TEX
wrote in from
United States
(71.132.nnn.nnn)
Michael there is some chatter going on at another website about CW, thought you and your readers would be interested.
http://www.concretedisciples.com/bbs/index.php?action=vthread&forum=6&topic=14055&page=0
Looking forward to the new issue. Have a wonderful time with your son this weekend.
TEX
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spring 2006 issue
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On 7/4/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(65.93.nnn.nnn)
I would check tailtap.com or socalskateshop.com or sk8supply.com
they might have copies...
folks, I am 17 hours away or so from leaving on a trip with my son to Calgary and then Vancouver...it will be a BLAST
I am not sure how much I will be able to post.
Happy 4th of July to everyone...
There are a TON of surprises about to hit...
The Jay Adams book is at press...it is something extraordinary - previews will be up soon at www.tailtap.com
cheers
michael
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Spring, 2006 issue
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On 7/4/2006
FastEddie
wrote in from
United States
(68.122.nnn.nnn)
How can I get a couple copies of the Spring, 2006, issue?
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Happy 4th
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On 7/4/2006
Steve C.
wrote in from
United States
(168.103.nnn.nnn)
Have a good forth of July. I know not all of us are American but the 4th is one of the best holidays of all. How can you beat BBQ, Booze, and blowing stuff up. Be careful! Don't blow your hand off!
And I for one think it is great that CW is not a static mag covering the same stuff. It is ever evolving and I salute Mike and his staff for stepping up and doing what needs to be done. Keep up the good work! Now I have to go crack a cold one and start building a black powder/duct tape bomb.
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yep.
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On 7/4/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(65.93.nnn.nnn)
I think what you are seeing with CW is progression...we barely crawled...now, I can begin to see things falling into place.
Buddy, you are absolutely correct - I never want to leave skaters out - this is something that over time we will keep finessing...how to best present it ALL.
Inclusion is KEY.
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Sure
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On 7/4/2006
Bud
wrote in from
United States
(68.57.nnn.nnn)
Makes very good sense to me.....
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100%
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On 7/3/2006
Buddy Rawls
wrote in from
United States
(152.163.nnn.nnn)
I may have started this last debate concerning displaying of street skating in response to the 100% theme. BUT, It's not necessarily because I want to see street skating. It is because I want CW to never be accused of leaving street skating out. The newest pics and articles are hitting it more than adequately. My twist was like this: the articles and pics need to be highlighted as CW's coverage of 100% skateboarding, not as a novelty and not as expos'e. Think of it like this. An issue that covers a street luge standout (or company) along with a street skater (or company) would be a full spectrum type of look that would fit the 100% theme.
In the marketplace, make no bones about, declare that CW did not leave street skaters high and dry like the mainstream market did for the other disciplines.
Its not about wanting the street skating, its about staking a claim that the mainstream market cannot make. Thats my angle.
If CW is a niche mag, then it can easily speak to the street skaters as it does to the 70's skaters (like myself) with a ty page interview, or racers or whatever. If CW is a niche magazine and has a street article or a luge article, I dont mind it, because I know CW is about skateboarding. If I see a race article in a mainstream mag its because of a previous oversight for the past 20 freakin' years, and they are attempting to make up for lost time.
Does that make sense, from reader point of view.
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SAc park
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On 7/3/2006 Chris Olden
wrote in from
(75.18.nnn.nnn)
hey Nick!!
Wally told T.Metz that the "teardrop/keyhole/canyon of death"
was 12' deep. It "looks" like the face wall is 10/2...
but the side walls might be 9/3...?
Guess we'll find out whenever...
co
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SACTOWN PARK
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On 7/3/2006
NICKTHERIPPER
wrote in from
United States
(66.234.nnn.nnn)
MICHAEL,
that is a CA Skate Parks design, ol Wallie has out done himself this time. I believe that the keyhole is thirteen feet deep.
Just wanted to plug our new boards at afroman, the hustler 2 and the old school are the most soild boards I've riddin. 8 ply for me is just right.
I can't wait to ride that 3/4 pipe with steel coping.
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and that's why I call him "BUD"
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On 7/3/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(65.95.nnn.nnn)
I am not going to give you Bud's real name...but suffice to say "Bud" gets it..
We will continue to foster ALL types of discussion
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Mr. Middle Ground Guy
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On 7/3/2006
Bud
wrote in from
United States
(68.57.nnn.nnn)
I seem to spend a lot of times these days playing Mr. Middle Ground Guy. Which is sorta fun. Thanks for the opportunity.
First of all, all input is welcomed around here; we like input. We like hearing what the readers have to say- the good, the bad, the ugly, whatever. So, noone should get any crap for giving an opinion around here. That's first.
Secondly.. I'm speaking for me here, but I'm sure Mike feels mush the same way.. I don't think of any sort of skateboarding as being any less, or any more "valid" than any other type of skateboarding. But, I also have a very underdeveloped sense of soup-can-labeling about skateboarding, so it might just be me, being a nut. Skateboarding is skateboarding, and that's about as far as I go with it.
What we do here at CW is open to debate, argument, and misconception. We try to showcase all that is skateboarding. Put another way, we attempt to showcase, report on, and put in the public's eye the entirety of "skateboarding", not just little snippets of it. And, we try to do it 5 times a year (the buyer's guide notwithstanding), and at about 100 pages an issue. It's a big job, but somebody outta be doing it. So, it's our bag, and we're holding it pretty well, I'd hope.
Noone here nags on street skating. I am largely a street skater. I grew up street skating- that's what I did, and it's still a big chunk of what I do. Other guys grew up doing different things, and that leads to our collective, all-embracing view of skateboarding. We can all appreciate what the other guys like doing, and it works out pretty good at the end of the day.
I, for one, do not care whether a guy is standing up and doing tricks (street skating), or laying down and getting the maximum possible velocity out of any given hill (street luge)- I consider it all a valid form of skateboarding. Yes, some are far more specialized than others, and that's fine. It's gonna happen, as certain goals require certain equipment and certain setups, and sometimes singular approaches to a singular sort of problem. Streetluge is an incredibly specialized form of skateboarding, the goal being to achieve the fastest velocity possible on a lean-steer vehicle, with the least amount of outside resistance (wind resistance being the specific resistence that minimally affects streetluges, compared to, say, any type of stand-up skateboard). Now, a stand-up street deck, or a pool deck, or a longboard, could certainly approach this sort of performance, but could never quite match it, due to the inherent laws of simple physics. So, specialized vehicles were developed to overcome these laws. I, for one, do consider it a valid form of skateboarding... heck, I even built, and rode, a streetluge in 1990, after TransWorld and Thrasher both did articles on 'em. It was pretty damned fun. And, if I lived anywhere near a hill (Indiana being devoid of hills, of course), I might be inclined to do it again. But, that's me, Mr. Nutty speaking. If it's not someone else's idea of a good time, well, that's just fine by me, too.
Our job is not to convince you into liking, or even appreciating, any single aspect of skateboarding. Our job is to make you aware that they exist-. The final decisions, though, are always yours to make. And, whatever you do with that knowledge is just fine by us. As an aside: Covering these things is fun for us. We learn something here and there, too. So, that's why we keep doing it.
What we do sort of bag on around here is the simple fact that, noone else in our industry, or our media, takes a similar, all-inclusive view of our sport. This inevitably gets translated as "We don't like these mags because they DO cover this-and-that". Thats' inaccurate. Our position is more like, "Why DON'T they cover the other stuff?!" As I mentioned, TWS and Thrasher USED to cover all sorts of things. Heck, Jake Phelps once reviewed a Santa Cruz Graphite-Loaded slalom deck. There were articles on freestyle and longboarding. Maybe not regularly, and maybe not every issue... but, they were there. People were exposed to them. And, it stirred interest, and fostered understanding and acceptance. That is precisely what is missing from today's definition of "skateboarding". That is precisely what we are working toward correcting. We are basically anti-nothing, and pro-everything. Please, remember that, okay?
These boards are no different. Anti-noone, pro-everyone. Call us "kooks" for being such obvious idiots, fine, whatever, we don't care. Being idealistic and open-minded may not be very "cool" these days- but, as Ron Cameron so wisely pointed out, "When faced with a choice between cool, and uncool, go for uncool every time!" We embrace our geekiness, because it at least beats ass-kissing conformity. Steve C, Chappy, thanks for both of your inputs. Seriously. You both make valid points... and it gets me, for one- and, hopefully others- at least thinking about these sorts of issues, and that is always a positive outcome.
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Well...
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On 7/3/2006
Steve C.
wrote in from
United States
(168.103.nnn.nnn)
Well Kickflipping can be done up, on, over, down, to grind, to boardslide, with the overall emphasis on style. So from your definition of soul carving I am drawing the conclusion that kickflipping can be substituted for turning. Therefore, it is a discpline.
Since heelflipping is different than kickflipping, and can be done up, down, on, over, to grind, ect. it is its own discpline. Makes sense to me!
The reality is that it is all skateboarding, and trying to put it into a bunch of different catagories is stupid. Most people carve turns, whether you ride a bowl, a hill, flat ground, full pipe, whatever. I guess I think it is stupid to try and somehow seperate it all. It is an attempt to try and call out certain styles of skating. I guess styles would be a better word, not discplines. Discplines makes it sound like the olympics or something.
So, Chris, are you the worlds foremost expert on the different skating disciplines? I am just wondering since I would not want to define a trick as a discpline and vice versa. The only discipline I am involved in is skateboarding. Trying to make it to where I go deep carving and trick skating is dumb. I go skateboarding.
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trip to Ottawa
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On 7/3/2006
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(65.95.nnn.nnn)
The vibe at the Ottawa race was excellent. It was great to see so many competitors. While it was nice to bring the entire family, my 5 year old got restless pretty fast...the 10 year old soon followed and so I didn't get to see as much as I'd like.
On another note, Ottawa is truly AN AMAZING PLACE. I get lost EVERY time I go, but man, what a great place to skate (the park is VERY hard to find, just park next to the bus station, off of Woodruffe Ave!) the museums are incredible and the place is ULTRA clean and green.
Back to race...super cool vibe...lots of folks...and Wes did great! Congrats to all...Of worthy mention was the dude that sat on a bus for 72 hours from Vancouver to attend...that is commitment.
The faces on the two kids that won special prizes (from Roe and Splitfire) were priceless.
Contests like this truly represent the soul of skateboarding. It's not about big money or big crowds..just pure stoke.
Back to the conversation at hand...all good responses...Bud has some great ideas brewing.
I guess for me, I dig the fact that folks can interact with the magazine this way...this forum is like an interactive blog...and I do take posts very seriously....so keep it coming.
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Carves
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On 7/2/2006
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Soul carving is just carving a hill, slope, ditch, driveway for the pure enjoyment of it, or with an emphasis on style. There aren't necessarily any tricks involved, or any real speed necessary. The snowboard equivalent would be just going down the hill for the fun of it.
Deep or hard carving is an aggressive approach to carving a hill at speed. It often includes standing slides, low slides with slide gloves, high speed drifts, bombing, pumping, etc. The snowboard equivalent would be alpine hard boot carving.
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haha
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On 7/2/2006
Steve C
wrote in from
United States
(65.19.nnn.nnn)
Chris, I am not trying to tell MB what to do with his mag. It is called input. He don't have to listen to me but I think he appreciates input.
And hell, someone should ban me from this board. I have violated the rules by talking about shortboarding.
And how is soul carving and deep carving 2 distinct discplines. And carving a turn does not take forever. It is over in a second and you do it again. It is more repetitive than most street skating. carving is part of skating, but a dicpline?
I know you have no respect for me or anyone who thinks differently than you. You especially don't have respect for people who have the balls to stand up and speak their mind. With that I will depart these boards, have fun guys.
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Anti-Anti
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On 7/2/2006
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Steve, Why do you "lash out" at streetluge? Oh wait, you "jab", I "lash out". Right. My comment was about all of the bozos who want to tell MB what he should do with his magazine. They want to control the content of something they don't own. They are the most vocal, and the least proactive. They tend tend to be what I called "self proclaimed" core skaters. I do not recognize them as core skaters. It's just how they fancy themselves. I'm sure you know the type. Maybe you are one of them. Core skaters are busy skating, and not trying to control content and tell others what to do.
Kickflipping, switch hardflipping to 5'o grinding, Switch bluntsliding a flat rail, switch heelflipping, crooked grinding, switch crooked grinding, are NOT "disciplines" - they are TRICKS. Disciplines tend to last longer than half of a second.
I've never said that street is a small discipline. I'm saying that street is ONE discipline. One of many. And that much of the media is focused on just that ONE discipline. I personally tire of doing just one thing over and over and over again, and I tire even more quickly of seeing the same thing over and over again. Since many of the kids have only those types of magazines available to them, that's all they see. They live on the island of street, where it's ledges and rails ad nauseum. MB is already balancing street into the MANY disciplines covered in his mag. He isn't "anti-street". He's pro-diversity. He's pro-hard goods. Things that are tangible, real, and evolving. If he's "anti" anything, it would be "anti-exclusionary". He does exclude some things though, like shoe ads, pimple cream, and "lifestyle only" products that have little to nothing to do with skateboards and skateboarding. He could add all of these things, pander to the demographic, and sell out his vision, but we already have magazines like that. Why add another?
It's okay to be smart. It's okay to be old. It's okay to have fun. It's okay to carve, cruise, whatever. It's okay to be a girl. It's okay to not wear the uniform. It's okay to be yourself and get involved in skating at whatever level you feel comfortable. That's the message. Not everything is "ride to live, live to ride".
You like to include yourself in this "army" of skaters and you say that "I need to show you some respect". Respect is earned. Period. I don't just give it out to someone because he wants it or asks for it. What exactly have I ever seen you do besides type words into a message board? If you have a life, then you don't need a "lifestyle" to define yourself. If you have a brain and a soul, you don't need to run around trying to convince everyone that you are "core". Much of what the other mags provide is more about "how to fit in" than "how to stand out". I want more than just to fit in. I want to contribute. And in the area of street, I don't have much to offer that hasn't already been done a million times. There's nothing wrong with street, lifestyle, and core attitudes. It's just that I got it the first time, and the last few million times didn't sweeten the pot any.
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I am so
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On 7/2/2006
Steve C
wrote in from
United States
(65.19.nnn.nnn)
Chris, why do you always have to lash out at what you call "Core" skaters? Honestly you put forth your ideas so eloquently then turn to sophistry. Why do you do this? My street luge jab was just that, a little jab at your disciplines of skating.
Here are some more "disciplines."
Kickflipping
switch hardflipping to 5'o grinding
Switch bluntsliding a flat rail
switch heelflipping
crooked grinding
switch crooked grinding
and so on
I guess everything is its own discipline? It is all skateboarding. Hell, street luge is a continuation of butt boarding. Most of us have went down a hill on our asses on a skateboard. So yeah I guess you can call it skateboarding. It is a small niche in the overall scheme of things.
I am not trying to tell anyone anything. Instead I am playing the devil advocate. And I stand by my statements. You say street skating is a one small discipline. In fact, it is the most diverse of all the disciplines. To be a world class street skater takes more skill, more practise and more balls than most people give it credit for. I am just sticking by my guns on this one. I have called out for Micheal to give street skating a little credit. I have never tried to convince him or anyone that it needed to be the dominant force in his mag. I just found a lot of negativity in his mag in the past regarding street skating and found his claims that he was not anti-street unfounded. I can site some examples if you like. I don't feel it is needed at this point as Mike and his crew have stepped up and given a glimpse of street skating in a mag basically devoid of it. I applaud him for that. I feel that this is a huge step in getting people interested in more diversity. If he can appeal to a larger market he can bring his message to more people. I have been under the impression that is what he wants to do, expose people to the diversity in skateboarding.
I could care less what you do on your board. Everyones path is different and that is great. I guess what I want to say in this post Chris is that you are downright negative about what you call "core" or "lifestyle" skating. Call me and the masses what you like. We are SKATEBOARDERS. We are proud of that. Not because of the clothes we wear or what kind of sports drink we consume. There is an army of us and you need to show us some respect. Stop calling us names! Stop acting like we are clones who define ourselves based on what we read in magazines. We are the core of skating, skateboarders.
The only reason I waste my time posting this crap is because I care about skating and it pains me that so many people like to point the finger and say "this is wrong." I am sick of hearing people calling other skaters names like "mall boarder" or "lifestyle skater." God give it a rest. The funny thing is Chris I thought your last post was very well put until you went and resorted to insulting people and name calling.
I feel like the letters and the posts I have made have made a difference. You can call me whatever you like. I am a skateboarder and I am proud. Hear my cry!
And once again read Kent's article in the Skateboard mag. Mike, I think Kent deserves to be interviewed for your magazine. He is doing more than most people for skateboarding. He has made it his lifes work. Not to make money, not to be cool, but to help skateboarders!
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Streetluge
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On 7/1/2006
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
True, Streetluge isn't skateboarding, but it's a skateboard variant. Streetluges are the fastest skate-related vehicles on the planet today, and most of (but not all) of the best streetlugers are skaters. I've learned a TON of valuable information about skateboarding by learning to design, build, and ride streetluges and buttboards. This knowledge has lead to the creation of Flywheels (1st and 2nd Gen), Flashbacks, Gumballs, Grippins, Strikers, and Zig Zags, Biltin Bearings, and multi-angle baseplates and trucks. They have lead to an understanding of drop-decks, wide boards, long wheelbases, higher turning angles, double-truck configurations, and bushing designs, etc.
At the end of the day, whatever people can do to enjoy themselves on urethane wheels is cool with me. Some people (and magazines) are so quick to tell others what skateboarding isn't, that they lose sight of what skatebaording is, has been, and can be. I'm very graeteful to have learn about streetluging from some excellent riders. There's no question in my mind whatsoever that the world is a place with better SKATEBOARD equipment as a direct result of streetluge. Just because Skateboarder mag has featured streetluge doesn't mean that all mags have to cover it, but it wouldn't hurt anyone to see it in a skateboard magazine either. As a matter of fact, if Concrete Wave were to do a feature on "skaters who streetluge", it would be great. The people who "always wanted to know but were too cool to ask" would like it, and all of the self-proclaimed "core" skaters would blow a gasket and go into their "sky is falling" diatribe about what is and isn't skateboarding.
Either way, it's fine with me.
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Canada
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On 7/1/2006
WT
wrote in from
United States
(64.12.nnn.nnn)
I LOVE Canada!
I should have come up here and raced sooner.
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Street skating
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On 6/30/2006
Bud
wrote in from
United States
(68.57.nnn.nnn)
Just to clarify: I in no way, would ever want to see CW "dominated", for lack of a better word, by any one discipline. Which would include street skating, of course.
What I had in mind was more like, a proportionate amount of everything. For example then- using Chappy's 30 or so disciplines... that would be about 3.33% of each of his disciplines, which would equal about 100%. For "100% skateboarding."
I'm thinking "balance" here. And, to the previous poster: Good point. It'd be nice if "other" mags were more balanced, as well. But, that's for you to take up with them, I suppose.
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Streetsk8ting?????????
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On 6/30/2006 Longy/slalom
wrote in from
Germany
(213.160.nnn.nnn)
Why must we have the street discipline in our mostly loved magazine if we can not find a sentence about our disciplines in streetskate magazines???????????
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check it out
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On 6/30/2006
Steve C
wrote in from
United States
(65.19.nnn.nnn)
You all should check something out in the new issue of the skateboardmag. It is a guest column written by Kent Dhalgren, of skatersforpuclicskateparks.com. A refreshing, markedly different approach to the differences a lot of people have with street skating. You all should read it even if you end up thinking it is a load of crap.
Also check out Omar's legend article. A true all around skater!
Skateboardmag is stepping up. They cover a lot of different skating. While there is no longboarding or racing, skating is much more diverse these days and the mag is covering more than just rails. It may still dominate but there is more ditches, pools, parks and ramps. Take a look.
And street luge is not really skating chaput. it is more like sledding.
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