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Q&A: Michael Brooke - Publisher, Concrete Wave Magazine (7141 Posts)
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thank you all...
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On 3/24/2008
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(76.70.nnn.nnn)
Hello All,
I want to thank Adam for letting me host this forum here at the NCDSA. Over the years, the NCDSA has played an incredible role within the world of skateboarding. It's staggering to think that 5 years ago I started up with forum. Time seems to have gone by so quickly. It's even more unbelievable to see that The NCDSA has hit almost 12 years. Time sure does fly!
For those of you who contributed or just lurked, I want to say thanks for taking the time.
As we head into spring, I wish you all the very best.
If you would like to contact me, feel free to email at mbrooke@interlog.com
Best wishes,
Michael
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download of the entire 2008 buyers guide
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On 3/14/2008
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(74.15.nnn.nnn)
enjoy!
http://www.skullandbonesskateboards.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=874797#874797
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Drehobl, Haslam & Trujillo
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On 3/4/2008
Rich Sayers
wrote in from
United States
(67.174.nnn.nnn)
Drehobl, Haslam & Trujillo are three of my 12 favorite skaters (in that order)! Almost Round Three is fantastic --one of my most-played skate DVD's for sure. Drehobl does some awesome skatepark riding in the Grindline DVD that came with The Skateboard Mag a while back. Trujillo and the gang are fun to watch in Tent City.
Have been fortunate to meet all three of those guys and watch them skate up close -- Haslam at Vans Triple Crown in Oceanside 2003 - awesome in the street prelims but he got tight and didn't do well as contest progressed. Drehobl at Martinez skatepark around 2005 when he was getting filmed. I was in a Thrasher video of the day with Dan. I layed on my back under a low rail while Dan landed a board slide right over my face then he slid the whole rail. My nose was about 3 inches below the rail and my ears rang a little from the sound of his board smacking down from a big ollie! Met Trujillo briefly at Sunnyvale on Go Skateboarding Day last year-- but he did not skate much due to injury.
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Fully Flared
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On 3/3/2008 Mr. Surly
wrote in from
United States
(129.33.nnn.nnn)
The Fully Flared video is amazing. Some parts are so tech that it's hard to figure out what just happened without playing it in slo-mo.
Rich, another couple of guys with flow and meets your "4 things" list would be Tony Trujillo, Chris Haslam [Almost, Round 3/Cheese & Crackers], and Dan Drehobl [watch Dan's part(s) in Thrasher's "Shotgun" vid .... holy jeebus!]
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Marc Johson
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On 2/26/2008
Steve C.
wrote in from
United States
(67.60.nnn.nnn)
So if you liked that Rick you have to check out Marc Johnsons part. It is seriously obscene. The hardest stuff, combo type Tony Hawk Pro Skater style. It is pretty rediculous.
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Awesome tech skaters video
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Chad
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On 2/26/2008
Steve Chrisman
wrote in from
United States
(67.60.nnn.nnn)
There is a guy from Seattle named Chad Vogt. Ever heard of him? Made up a ton of tech lip tricks on mini and vert. They were logical progressions of other tricks. And example. ally oopp 50-50 to lip slide to frontside 5-0 to frontside pivot to fakie. lots of tricks going from grind to disaster and back to grind or pivot, tons of revert tricks. Super sick.
There have been lots of new trick created lately. Combos, but you can't really pin down who "made them up." And just a note, many, if not most of Rodney's tricks were flat ground. So he made up the kickflip, but who made up the kickflip-(insert whatever you want, manny, blunt, grind, nose-tail slide). That is what daewon has done. So did he make up the frontside 180 kickflip switch nose manual to fakie 360 flip? Yep, he did. In this case he may have made up more than rodney. I think it is cool that street skating has come so far that the wacky stuff in the Tony Hawk video game is actually stuff people are doing.
For those of you who want to see the cutting edge of street skating I recommend you see Lakai's Fully Flared. Yeah, it is from a shoe company, but seriously check it out. I would say that you should check out so and so but the whole video is off the hook. Guy Mariano, Mike Carrol, and Marc Johnson stand out(MJ has a 3 song part and it is sick!).
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Style, Technical Ability, Courage, Fun
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On 2/23/2008
Rich Sayers
wrote in from
United States
(67.174.nnn.nnn)
There are four things I admire when watching skateboarders: 1) Style 2) Technical Ability 3) Courage 4) Fun
Numerous skaters have unique and pleasing-to-the-eye Style. Rodney Mullen is by far # 1 for overall Technical Ability Danny Way and Bob Burnquist have done some of the most courageous innovations Tons of skaters have fun and it's great to enjoy their stoke
Bob Burnquist is my overall favorite for all of the above. His skating looks so natural and flowing - even when skating switch. Great technical stuff like vert kick-flip to finger flip. Outstanding courgage (Baldy loop attempts, Grand Canyon rail, X Games performance on mega ramp following Jake's fall). Bob seems to have a lot of fun on his board too.
Regarding Rodney Mullen and all the super technical tricks he has invented-- is anyone else even close? The only candidate I can think of for doing lots of super tech tricks is Daewon Song, but I don't know how many Daewon has invented.
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Love
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On 2/14/2008 isabelle
wrote in from
United States
(209.66.nnn.nnn)
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY MICHAEL B!!!!!!!!!!!
and of copurse a phat CHEERS too!
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Old age + Treachery,,,
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On 2/12/2008 PSR
wrote in from
United States
(75.68.nnn.nnn)
Actually, not to 'speak for the man'(not even, would dis' him in that way!), nowadays, Wenzle is the proverbial "W.W." skater at a slalom race. He'll show up, all tan and lean, pull some mean 70's vintage warm-up moves like spinning 9-to-20 360's, Daffy's, then go rip up a T.K.-Set Hybrid course as if that's his routine practice run, chalked up just for today's event. Then again, he Surfs whenever... O.k., so the W.W. theory goes out then+there, 'cause the rest of us are enslaved to making $$$$ for 'The Corp., Inc', and get no free time to go play for ourselves! ;-)
However, on the flip side, kinda: the 30-somethin's, the guys who do still grind curbs, but know flow and laybacks mixed in with Mc-Twists and nollies-to-No Comply, they absolutely Terrorize in some local parks! It's cool to watch teens just Back Away from an Aggro 30 year old who's got the lines figured in a park run... Barrett, btw, man, you Kill It! Even on 56mm little wheels!
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Buddy....
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On 2/12/2008
Steve C.
wrote in from
United States
(72.55.nnn.nnn)
Dude, I have to admit that there are so many styles that it is hard to nail down which is the best. Smooth is good, but so it out of control I think they are going to die style. I saw John Cardiel skate Burnside a bunch of times. I would not call his style smooth so much as balls out suicidal. It was freaking scary to watch because it seriously looked like there was no possible way he could hold on. But he did. Radness.
Style is pretty subjective. Basically when someone rips they have style. I think Hawk's style is pretty rad. It is way different that anyone elses.
My problem is that "style" is too often presented as being one thing and not all things. I have style. So do you. Too often someone will criticize someone who skates in a "style" different from their own.
Is it the most important thing? NO! It is all about fun. Style is for suckers.
Just kidding.
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the style csyndrome
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On 2/12/2008
buddy rawls
wrote in from
United States
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
The Style Syndrome, B. Rawls Sept 03
Is it the trick or maneuver that gets all the hoopla? Or is it the smoothness or effortlessness or gnarliness that the skater presents?
For example, Hardley McRad just flat out rips anything he skates. On the flip side, it looks like he is going to slam at any second, yet he manages to hold on.
Then there is Sergio Surfmiester. He rips likewise. He skates with total control, as if he could do it in his sleep, and he is so smooth.
What’s different in these two scenarios? They both skate very well. Sergio is poetry in motion. Get the video camera out for Hardley because a slam is only a wall away. It’s not the tricks, it’s the finesse that gets the memories. Both have style!!
Waldorf Grinder pulled off a massive pogo rock-n-roll, skying to 8ft before slapping his board down on the coping. Did you happen to notice that his feet were not even on the board. What gets remembered more? The trick, or that he was not even in touch with the board.
There is an ‘air’ (pardon the pun) to skating that is deeply rooted in presentation; and that presentation is style. It’s in the style presented, not the trick or maneuver, that people remember. Why did people hate Tony Hawk? Was it because he did bizarre bio tricks or was it because he skated like a robot and most every move looked like an floating ollie of some sort? It was his presentation; his style. Now he and others are so bionic, that bionic has become their style. It’s not the trick so much as the energy surrounding them when they skate.
Bionic, smooth, surfy, out-of-control, focused, kamakazi, and many more, are elements of style that transcend the actual trick or maneuvers being performed.
Style is what its all about.
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Steve C
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On 2/12/2008 Dave
wrote in from
United States
(72.42.nnn.nnn)
I totally agree! Have fun yourself...I'm still waiting for the snow to melt!
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Dave
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On 2/12/2008
Steve C.
wrote in from
United States
(72.55.nnn.nnn)
Style is in the eye of the beholder. What I am trying to get at, my point, is this: fun. Have fun. And if someone elses fun is something you don't relate to, let it go. Just try and enjoy your skateboarding.
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Hey Slim
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On 2/12/2008 Dave
wrote in from
United States
(66.223.nnn.nnn)
My bad, I think the Zboys "weekend warrior" label was just the wrong execution of the right idea. Let's put it another way...I believe that the progression of skating is heavily influenced by the pockets of average Joes who aren't paid to skate 24/7. Somebody's got to invent the lastest trick or put their signature flare on an established move and it's not just at the pro level that this occurs. Sometimes it's the one guy or small group of guys living in Nowhere USA, throwing down on any given weekend, skating for the fun of it, that end up catching our attention and briefly(or permanently)changing our skating direction. All we know about skating was/is started in the streets by relative nobodies and is filtered upward and outward.
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progression
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On 2/12/2008
buddy rawls
wrote in from
United States
(128.158.nnn.nnn)
peters wrote: "getting comfortable racing, getting faster coming out of turns, and learning to control slides and hold traction at the 30-40mph range over the years is another solid progression"
oh heck, that longboarding not skateboarding. Skateboarding is where the progression is. Thats what my magazines tell me, and also what jeans are the hottest.
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Warriorrrsssss.... Come out to playeeeyayyyy
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On 2/12/2008
peters
wrote in from
United States
(24.18.nnn.nnn)
"...isn't much "new" or "better" in niche skateboarding right now to me and there's way to much of a grumpy old man attitude. I don't want to be "that guy." -slim
Slim old buddy, you're becoming that guy. :-D
Not sure what fuels the angst, but I know that my way of skating embodies some of the things that Slim can't stand -- which is fine by me.
I skate for myself, skate for personal goals, and skate to progress. Learning how to drop into bowls and tack on vert a couple years ago, at 38 years of age, was one of the most incredible rushes, and nobody can whine enough about my style to take that sheer fun out of it for me. Yep, the dirty word-- fun!
Getting fit from skateboarding is a ways off the beaten track, but it's also been an accomplishment--it's from being more of a "weekly warrior" than a weekend warrior and riding passionately almost every day. (this is 'quantity over quality' in Slim's book) And -- getting comfortable racing, getting faster coming out of turns, and learning to control slides and hold traction at the 30-40mph range over the years is another solid progression.
Why a guy gets so down on people re-learning and getting better whenever their busy life schedules allow it, as opposed to quitting their jobs, divorcing their families, and then doing it, is beyond me. The post-college days of perpetual freedom and zero responsibilities have passed -- and we deal with it!
There is one new niche of skateboarding, that one where you frown while you skate and obsess about labelling other skaters who don't do what you do: Niche Keyboarding :-p
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miss a day, miss a lot...
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On 2/12/2008
Michael Brooke
wrote in from
Canada
(67.70.nnn.nnn)
niche, not niche...
ah, who really knows.
I do know one thing....GOLF has progressed, but people of all ages feel like they can pick up a set of clubs and enjoy it...
HOCKEY has progessed, but people of all ages feel like they can pick up a stick and enjoy it...
SURFING, SKIING, SNOWBOARDING ETC. ETC. have all progressed... and yet millions of people seem to enjoy just goofing around in the water and on the snow...
Progression is NOT a dirty word. No one said it was.
But you know what is dirty? The bs that floats around the skateworld. The smoke and mirrors and myopic thinking. Many skaters, from many different backgrounds, ages and areas have much to offer skateboarding. But in most cases, they are ignored and marginalized. Sad, but true.
Slim, I think a lot of older skaters just skate. Respect/attention? Sure, some want it/wish it. But most are just happy to be rolling around.
What I care about is when other skaters, or other skate companies work their asses off and get no respect because they don't happen to be part of the "system" (aka the "cool kids club"). The very fact that people equate street or vert skateboarding with the only type of progression out there is sad. Skateboarding, in order to thrive, needs all types of skaters and all types of skateboards.
Of course, if you've read this far, you already knew that...
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oops I forgot--weekend warrior
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On 2/12/2008
buddy rawls
wrote in from
United States
(128.158.nnn.nnn)
I forgot to hit on an idea of the weekend warriors. As long as skateboarding has been doing its thing, its always been the pros and younger set that bring the skateboarding higher and higher. Its not the weekend warrior set.
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weekend warrior
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On 2/12/2008
buddy rawls
wrote in from
United States
(128.158.nnn.nnn)
While I often disagree with slim, I do agree that progression of skating is occurring via the pros and "younger group". I have lots of reasons why this is occurring and it is directly tied to what has happened in the market, in the terms of narrow focus skating in the past 15 years, but that is not really the focus of this thread.
With regards to the weekend warriors adding to the progression, I am not seeing either. What I do see with the weekend warriors is an added/needed dimension to skateboarding broadening the horizons from the narrow focus of the past 15 years. This coming in the form of simply riding for the shear drive of riding and excelling, whether it is racing, pools, freestyle, parks, or whatever. If this is the progression that is being spoke of, then I see it. But if total domination of board skills in the sense of current skateboarding, then I disagree.
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z-boys
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On 2/12/2008
slim
wrote in from
United States
(76.231.nnn.nnn)
I'm not understanding what was weekend warrior about the z-boys. They weren't going to work and supporting families and then skating on the weekend. They were kids! They surfed and skated whenever they wanted. To this day a lot of those dudes still have that freedom.
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Steve C
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On 2/11/2008 Dave
wrote in from
United States
(69.178.nnn.nnn)
Gotta agree with you on Rick's post--beautifully put! My point with the Zboys comment was simply to illustrate that the "weekend warrior" crowd does indeed affect the progression of skating, not just the heavily bank-rolled skaters. BTW, Style--a quality of imagination and/or individual expression in ones' actions. Convoluted(a.k.a. intricate or complicated)? Nah, pretty simple to me.
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Right on Rick
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On 2/11/2008
Steve C.
wrote in from
United States
(72.55.nnn.nnn)
Dude, Ricks stoke is dead on.
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ONE MORE THING
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On 2/11/2008 KLUDY
wrote in from
United States
(68.8.nnn.nnn)
I MAY NOT BE GOOD BUT I CAN RIDE POOLS, STREET, RAMPS, DITCHES, CAN JUMP FROM ONE BOARD TO ANOTHER STILL LIKE 15 FEET. CAN DO HAND -STANDS WITH BOARDs STACKED FOUR DEEP, MY RECORD WAS 10 BOARDS ! hAVE JUMPED 20 FEET FROM BOARD TO BOARD. uSE TO GET DRINKS BY JUMPing OVER CARS THE LONG WAY . mY BROTHER AND I WOULD BET TRUCK DRIVER AT TRUCK STOPS THAT I COULD LAND MY BOARD OFF THE TOP OF A 18 WHEELER, THEY WOULD PAY JUST TO SEE ME DO IT AGAIN ! sKATED PARKS BEFORE THEY KWEN HOW TO BUILD THEM. IT WAS JUST FUN AND AT TIMES IT WAS FOOD WE NEEDED AND MY SKATEBOARD HELPED. I JUSt, A FEW MONTHS AGO DID BREAK NECK SPEEDS IN COLARDO, WHY ? BECAUSE IT IS FUN ! NOT ABOUT PROVING ANYTHING. JUST THE WAY IT IS ! What did I get out of it ? Well , I have seen places I never would have and I know great people all around the world. Thats egouht for this man !
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Skateboarding , A way of life
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On 2/11/2008
Rick Ramon Kludy
wrote in from
United States
(68.8.nnn.nnn)
I only share here because I can. Skateboarding to me is like walking down the street, I just do it. Remimmer when I was young in N.C. skateing this small hill at the docs. cinic, forgive my spellin. A older man was walking out and saw me. I had been there for hours. He told me if I was to do that all my life I would stay young, never forgot that. In Tampa Fla. in my teens I would go to a run down B.Bal court in a very bad part of town,and would just do tricks for hours and I was the only one in that area with blonde hair, ha s#@! whent down all the time around me but I never cared and I never was messed with. I think its because all the local thought I was insane and just left my alone. Skateboard is and always will be a way of life for me , even now that I dont ride much because I am really putting all I have into my kids , Stay go out one a week at night just to feel the wind in my face. I raced skateboards for a long time for only one reason, just to see if I could. There is nothing but a big smile from me for want I do, ( It a way of life ) My skateboarding has never been good and I never cared because it is just fun to do. Thats why all of this is happening. Its called planting a seed. Yah I may not be able to race anymore, who cares. Yah not a great skater, who cares. What really maters is me haviing fun on my skateboard when ever I want to. May not ride for a long time and at 46 it is still real easy to just grab it off my rack and ride. I told a woman just the other night, ( My skateboard, she never lets me down )) Skateboards are the best and I love riding , even if its just a few feet. All the skater this and skater that mean very little in guys like me. There are alot of us out there 40 plus that just straight up love to ride the thing. I know a few times in my life when stuff got real heavy with life , Money, bills, wife, kids. I would just get on my skateboard and ride for hours. Have been told that I dont look or act the age that I am. I can tell you all right now its because of a peace of wood and 4 wheels ! Thanks for letting me share, felt good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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