I made a “Master Cluster” notebook. Check it out.
Continue reading “A New Notebook: Three More Giant Influences”
Sean Walling: My Mind Spray
Okay, I’ve been sitting on this one for way too long. Originally slated for my zine-in-progress, “Fractal Pterodactyl,” this interview with my man Sean Walling (a.k.a. SIR ONE) is over a year old. What it lacks in timeliness it makes up for in pretty pictures. Continue reading “Sean Walling: My Mind Spray”
Lori Damiano: Getting Nowhere Faster
Lori Damiano has been skateboarding and making stuff for so long that I can’t even remember when or where I was first introduced to her work. Somewhere among her involvement in the zine Villa Villa Cola, her animation (she did the menus for the Spike Jones DVD, for one example), and skateboarding like a madwoman, she recently earned a master’s degree in experimental animation from The California Institute of the Arts and helped VVC get the Getting Nowhere Faster DVD out. Continue reading “Lori Damiano: Getting Nowhere Faster”
Taj Mihelich: Terrible One
In the early 90s, the sport of BMX all but died. The magazines, sanctioning bodies, and many of the companies disappeared. In the void left, the pros of the previous era started their own companies and events, following the model Steve Rocco had established in skateboarding in the late 80s. With many of the old pros busy with companies and organizations and the field of riders thinned-out in general, this new milieu left room for new pros. It was during this time that Taj Mihelich emerged as one of BMX’s new stars. Continue reading “Taj Mihelich: Terrible One”
Hal Brindley: Wild Boy
Remember when thoughts and theories about so-called “Generation X” were on the tip of everyone’s tongue? We were called “slackers,” and older people said we lacked motivation and passion. I’ve always taken issue with these characterizations because I’ve constantly seen people my age pursuing paths and interests that had no prior archetype — and working very hard at them. Now that the focus has shifted to the next generation, and now that we’ve been pushing for a while, our generation is emerging in new careers and pursuits quite different from our forebears — and in many that didn’t exist before. Continue reading “Hal Brindley: Wild Boy”
Tod Swank: Foundation’s Edge
Tod Swank started Foundation Skateboard Company (the name comes from the Isaac Asimov sci-fi series of the same name) fifteen years ago. That’s no small feat in the cutthroat skateboard industry. Skateboard brands come and go as often as the tides of the Pacific lap the shores of San Diego. He’s since built a small empire, launching such brands as Pig, Toy Machine, Zero, Dekline, and Deathbox, among many others. Continue reading “Tod Swank: Foundation’s Edge”
Jared Souney: By Design
From riding flatland, ramps and street on his BMX bike to designing magazine layouts and T-shirts as well as stealing many souls from behind a shutter, Jared Souney is many things to many poeple. Those in the BMX world know him as a rider from New England who made the move to the Left Coast to do design work and shoot photos for Ride BMX magazine and beyond. Continue reading “Jared Souney: By Design”
Gareth Branwyn: Media Jam
Gareth Branwyn has been media hacking for nearly three decades. His book, Jamming the Media (Chronicle Books, 1997), is the media hacker’s bible, an invaluable sourcebook of resources, how-tos and examples written with evident working-knowledge, exhaustive research, and fearless wit. He’s also the “Jargon Watch” guy at Wired, runs the tech-review site, Street Tech, and has written several other books and countless articles on the web, technology, jargon, and alternative media. Continue reading “Gareth Branwyn: Media Jam”
Leif Valin: Do the Math
I met Sean McKinney several years ago at a jam in Olympia, Washington. As we were yammering on about flatland, college and beer, he stopped me mid-sentence and asked if I knew Leif Valin. I admitted that I did not, but that I knew who he was. Sean said I looked and acted like him. I thought it was weird, but we continued our rambling undaunted. Continue reading “Leif Valin: Do the Math”
Stapled and Xeroxed Paper: The Power of Zines
You’re right, Roy, you’re hopeless. Hopelessly obsessed with a time in your sport that died a long time ago… — McGoo
Even after being dissed in Ride BMX (see the November/December 1995 issue) by McGoo, I still believe whole-heartedly in the power of zines. In his lengthy debunking of my DIY print media enthusiasm, McGoo enlisted the help of Andy Jenkins (an explanation of his importance in the zine world is too long to list here) saying, “If Andy’s own words don’t convince a thousand zine kids to throw away their Kinko’s cards and get on with their lives, BMX will remain locked in an era of Club Homeboy wristwraps, Army pants and Vision hipsacks forever.” Continue reading “Stapled and Xeroxed Paper: The Power of Zines”