Songs Illuminated #6A

Songs Illuminated: 6 “Embiggens e Smallest“

Back in issue 3 I wrote in this section about pushing through “false starts and failures.” It’s two years later, and things could be better, but have certainly been worse. Calling anything post-COVID a win is easier said than done when you're months in on an injury with no end in sight. Mental health suffers, and takes the rest of life down with it. is time around, I finally convinced myself I really am the only one that can turn this around, and to stay grateful for all I have left. If skateboarding teaches us anything, it's to get back up on that hair of the dog that bit you, so that's exactly what I did. I “went back to the spot” regardless of how many times things went sideways.

I've never wanted to quit more, so instead I went all in. And in return you get your Business Up Front, and even some Party In e Back. More photos, more contributors, and double the pages. Even double the covers, just to be like that.

Right now I’m stoked on everything Spanky’s been up to, Magenta and French street skating, A Visual Sound-era Stereo, e iPath Promo-era Bobby Puleo, Barker’s afterdark in the ank Fools edit, how chill knee surgery in 2022 was (versus ’99), switching jobs, doing actual design again, and cutting more and more bullshit out of my life on a daily basis.

Miss all y'all a ton. Can’t wait to get out there again as soon as humanly possible.

Out ere

Ganja in his brain? All aboard the crazy train? Matt Pailes cuts the crusts off this native edible on an anything-but-black Sabbath afternoon.

In Here

Can a Sadplant be “properly decked” like a front rock? Will Male runs an experiment in his undies and still passes e Grosso Test. Photo: Moose

Photo: Jake Levon

[o]* Mike Rafter

Sean Blueitt. Gap back tail, coming and going. [o]* Mike Rafter

with

Matt Beaton

Four Wheels. Four Pages. Four Questions. Four Times.

First Time Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and Transworld’s Feedback/ e Reason double feature DVD!

Last Time We showed the homie from Missouri San Francisco for his first time, got some clips, night skated, and drove home listening to Sabbath!!

Next Time We’re all skating a lot right now, every session is a gift!

Every Time Dawgpound Fan Club, yelling before I do a trick, seeing my friends skate!!

Julian Aguilar

Julian Aguilar

Reagan Boetius. Long distance.

Brian Fuentes. Nollie heel 180º.

Gary Lemmons. Back 180º overcrook..

David Failla. 1 80º Switch Front Smith. Malik Barnett. Double-tré

Anonymous. Suski Grind, I think.

Noping back bluntslide ov er the hip.

“It makes the search for weightlessness much less … heavy?” — Dutch

Liam Pace. Front Feebs, full speed. Beebs. [o]* Moose

Jake Yank. Indy Divebomb. Beeblebowl. [o]* Moose

Joey Vela, inverted. Weirdobowl. [o]* Moose

Scott Foss. Andrecht. Beebs. [o]* Jake

Mondrian Mendez. Andrecht. Newark. [o]* Bill Cain

Josh Rodriguez. Front Blunt. Newark. [o]* Bill Cain

JD Sanchez. Stalefish. Newark. [o]* Bill Cain

Bobby Dalton. Nosegrind. Hollywood High. [o]* Julian Aguilar

Marcus Waldron

Skate Jawn #67 & #68

Multi-format O ff set / Bound / Half / 76 & 72p / Ads

Notable spots on Ty Hopkins (below) and Erick Winkowski.

Kara Yap

Close Your Eyes to See (Cierro tus ojos para ver) #4 Color / Staple / Half / 18p

Art, SF spots. Cool concept.

Tyler Hopkins

Cemental #16 & #17 and Single Use

B&W / Staple / Half / 32p ea. Treasure Island and SF trip, plus all the requisite pool shit from the original Poolshit-ters themselves.

Reece Leung

Vague #23

Matte Offset / Bound / Half / ick / Ads

UK standard drops with the artist French, and a feature on Amanda Perez @destroyedbrains

Graham Tait

North #29

Gloss Offset / Bound / Square / ick Ads

Film photography, vintage Livi skatepark. UK title.

Nik Freitas

Tule Fog

Gloss O ff set / Hardback / Full / ick A proper book collecting the work of musician and former rasher photog in and around Visalia and beyond, c. 1992-2004.

Eby Ghafarian

Stoops #11

Matte Offset / Bound / Half / 7p / Ads

e J. Worth pic taken at the old MacWarehouse bump to bar on Arden that blew up IG for a minute earlier in 2022 graces the TOC, so you know it's on from the jump.. is is the Mental Health issue, with a each skater speaking to the disorder they experience.

Wolfgang Brardt

86'd #8

Gloss O ff set / Bound / Half / ick / Ads Return favorite. is time gets you Zach Allen, T Funk, and Leo Valls. Check Magenta’s LA Tapes edit for more from this crew.

Oliver Tielsch & Stefan Schwinghammer

Solo #34 & 46

Matte o ff set / Bound / Full / ≥96pp

Apparently any and all Leo Valls-coverage will bring my milkshake to the yard lately, but instead I found the successor to the late-great Canadian COLOR. I’m hard to impress when it comes to this sort of thing, but this mag simply kills it. Rarely do I find the same stoke as I did in the early-’00s, when trips to Tower Books ruled my dreams. Photos, design, writing; all very much on point. If you’re curious about checking into the Euro skate scene, but not sure where to start, vióla.

From Top Left: Cemental, Vague, Curb Culture, Anomaly, Lifers, 86'd, ank You Skateboarding, Willow, So You’re Having A Mid-Life Crisis, Stoops.

Henry Kingsford

Grey #13

Gloss O ff set / Bound / Full / ick / Ads

Solid commercial mag out of Europe. If you find yourself missing Transworld in your post-Transworld world, this should set things right again.

Will Harmon, Arthur Derrien

Free #41–43

Gloss O ff set / Bound / Full / ick / Ads

You likely know their YouTube channel as the Euro-counterpart to the rasher firehose. e mag holds up their rep. Look for the big ass red dot on every cover.

Daniel Fedkenheuer

Next Wave

O ff set matte / Bound / Half / 228p Get those bar bucks flowing on trivia night. ese bite-sized landmarks from skateboarding’s more recent history (’99 to ’20), are a great way to reconnect what happened with when.

Gary Scott Davis

Skate Fate #77

Matte O ff set / Bound / Full / 16  p

A mid-80s timecapsule by a guy so smack dab in the middle of it all that he invented e Boneless One along the way. Letters, contest/jam flyers, art, photos, masthead designs.

Russell Ramirez

Curb Butter # 9–10

B&W / Folded / Tiny / 8pp ea. Yummy, bite-sized travel stories.

Jaime Owens

Closer #1 & #2

Gloss O ff set / Bound / Full / ick / Ads

When you start with an issue featuring Clyde, Hawk, Lotties’ Mike, Louie, Adams, and Lucero, there's only one way to follow it up: drop a second issue that bookends Owens’ deep archive with pages on Lance, Spanky, and more. Very welcome contender to e Bible’s throne.

Andrew Mecum

Graphite #1–6

Letterpress / Staple / Half / 36p

Pencil sketches by a loads of skate-art luminaries: Millard, Jenkins, Jacobs, Pope, Herndon, Sieben, Fish, Fos, Porous, Jai, Cody, Lotti (Brian, not Mike).

ese are beautifully and lovingly crafted, old-world style. Super sick. Deluxe was packing them in orders so you might come up on one sooner than you think.

Dan Parks

Unearthed #14

B&W / Staple / Half / 24p / Ads

Valley Tour by some Central Coast locals, laid out collage style.

José Vadi

Vadi Party

Color inkjet / Staple / Half / 8p Short ’n’ sweet street photography by the recent valley transplant better known for his words. José has written on skate culture for a handful of little publications like the LA Times and Wall Street Journal. Check out his book Inter State. (review next issue)

Zach Hudson

How Dare You #27

B&W / Staple / Half / 4  p Raw dog, handwritten interview issue by veteran/survivor of the Fucktards/Tent City lane of skateboarding. Sargent, Barrow, Figgy, Burnside. Recent interview with Zach on Talkin‘ Schmitt is in my top 3 episodes.

John Freeborn w/ Jai Tanju

Tails of… #3

O ff set matte / Bound / Half / ≥96p Great addition to a new favorite. eme this time makes it a book of a magazine by skaters about magazines and books by skaters.

Meghan “Migzy” McGuire

Bigfoot #3

Gloss O ff set / Staple / Half / 56p

Sweet '90s girls mag parody this issue. e move south to HelLA hasn’t slowed their stride.

Richard Hart

Push Periodical #19

Gloss O ff set / Bound / Full / ick Photo heavy, artsy.

Public Service Announcement: More skate mags than ever, but never harder to find. Dying to get your hands on more than rasher but don't know where to start (or choke on international postage)? Check out Josh Stewart’s TOA distro. ey keep the free mags nearly that, ship cheap from NY. theoriesofatlantis.com

Micah Roth. Flip-to-catch-to-fake-to-make. [o*] Jake Levon

MATT BEATON

photo: Julian Aguilar