a brief glance skateboardmag 14 by a brief glance skateboardmag

issue / 14

a brief glance

BOARD FEEL

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EDITORIAL / 14 I started skateboarding in 1988 and I have always considered Brian Lotti one of the most stylish skateboarders in history. Twenty-four years later I find myself publishing a photograph of Brian Lotti shot by Spike Jonze in 1988, on the cover of a skateboard magazine. Breathless.

COVER STORY:

Davide Biondani.

“I got a call one day from Frank Atwater, a really sick pool and ditch skater who, like myself, also rode for Gullwing trucks. Frank told me to pick him up and that we should go to skate Henderson ditch because these guys from Homeboy mag were in town and wanted to shoot some skaters for an article they were making about skateboarding in Las Vegas. On the way to the ditch, Frank kept talking about some photographer named “Spike.” Frank and I skated the ditch with Andy Jenkins, Spike Jonze, and Mark Lewman and Spike shot a bunch of photos. About two months later I got a big manilla envelope in the mail with 2 copies of the Homeboy magazine with the Vegas article, and Andy Jenkins had also included a rad B&W print of a frontside ollie that wasn’t run. I remember being psyched to get that photo and then a funny thing happened when I went to California a few months later and ran into Jenkins and the Homeboy guys. I was night skating with some friends outside the tradeshow in Long Beach, and was wearing the same Gullwing shirt, black pants, and Vision Street Wear shoes I had been wearing for the shoot at the Henderson Ditch. Jenkins popped out of the Van, gave me a high ﬁve, then noticed I had the same exact kit on as the last time he had seen me. He looked at me, laughed out loud, then turned back to the van and said to the other guys, “Look, he’s wearing the exact same thing he wore last time!” and laughed again. He got back in the van and they sped oﬀ. The good kits were harder to come by back in the day, so if you found something that worked, you rocked it a lot for a while! “ Brian Lotti. a brief glance

Brian Lotti, fs ollie. Photo Spike Jonze. Henderson ditch, Las Vegas. Nevada, 1988.

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SWITCH HEEL SWITCH B/S NOSEBLUNT | BLABAC PHOTO

SEE HOW MATT MILLER WAS SELECTED AS ONE OF THE NEW PROS FOR STREET LEAGUE 2012 AT DCSHOES.COM/SKATEBOARDING

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ISSUE / 14

CONTENTS

FRAGMENTS

LDN RIDE / nike sb in London interview

/ brian lotti

PLACES 14 / hong kong

FALLEN RISCIO’ TOUR 2012

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EDITOR and CONCEPT Davide Biondani. (davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR Guido Bendotti. PHOTOGRAPHERS Leo Sharp, Kévin Mètallier, Friedjof Feye, Garric Ray, Fabio Montagner, Marcello Guardigli, Eric Antoine, Alan Maag, Chiara Terraneo, Bertrand Trichet, John Coulthard, Seu Trinh, Jacob Messex, Katy Levin, Seb Carayol, Brian Beshhold, Davide Biondani, Spike Jonze. CONTRIBUTORS Andrew Zolin, Francesco Paolo Chielli, Jonathan Levin, Oli Buergin, Danny Galli, Mauro Caruso, Jerome Campbell, Ale Martoriati, Holger von Krosigk, Niall Neeson, Simone Bertozzi. DESIGN Fake Donkey Lab.

www.abriefglance.com

GET ALL THE INFOS at:

info@abriefglance.com abrief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by fake donkey skateboard asd. No part of this pubblication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. All right reserved.

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www.abriefglance.com

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www.abriefglance.com fake donkey lab

davide biondani photo. a brief glance

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FRAGMENTS

Adrien Bulard, Wallride. Photo: Kévin Mètallier. Bordeaux.

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Horsey, Kickflip. Photo: Kévin Mètallier. London.

F FRAGMENTS

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FRAGMENTS a brief glance

Kyron Davis, Kickflip wallride. Photo: Davide Biondani. London. a brief glance

FRAGMENTS

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Daniel Pannemann, Fs wallride. Photo: Friedjof Feye. Valencia.

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MULLEN DAEWON CREAGER BREZINSKI ZERED LORENZO MANNY ORTIZ

ZERE D AP PRO VED

EW RE

TENSOR 10s - BEST TRUCKS - EVER!

“Really hyped on the new trucks! They’re light & great to get your swerve on!” -Zered Bassett tensortrucks.com tensortrucks @tensortrucks

NIKE SB IN LONDON STARRING / MAURO CARUSO LUCA CRESTANI NEIL SMITH WIEGER VAN WAGENINGEN MARCO LAMBERTUCCI LUCA DONEDDU JACOPO CAROZZI

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PUSHING YOUR SKATEBOARD IN THE STREETS OF LONDON IS PRICELESS, AND MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD, EVEN IF SOMETIMES THE PAVEMENT IS ROUGH AND THE RAIN IS ALMOST NEVER LACKING .. YOU PUSH YOUR SKATEBOARD, YOU LOOK AROUND AND YOU’RE FINE. ABSOLUTELY FINE. THE GREAT CITIES OF THE WORLD ARE THOSE IN WHICH THINGS HAPPEN, ARE THOSE THAT HAVE THE COURAGE TO CHANGE, TO INVEST, TO IMPROVE, OR TO SAY IT IN ONE WORD, INNOVATION. LONDON HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CUTTING EDGE CITY IN EVERYTHING. IT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CITIES IN THE WORLD, THE MOST IMPORTANT UNDER MANY ASPECTS, DEFINITELY. INNOVATION IS A VERY IMPORTANT CONCEPT FOR LONDON IN 2012 AND THE ARCHITECTURAL ASPECT IS THAT IN WHICH, MORE THAN ANY OTHER, INNOVATION IS EVIDENT: THE SHARD, THE NEW HERON TOWER, THE ORBIT ARE THE CLEAREST EXAMPLES OF IT. BECAUSE, IN THE END, THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE OLYMPICS AND, AS ALWAYS HAPPENS ON SUCH OCCASIONS, ARCHITECTURE EXPLODES WHEN EXTERNAL EVENTS PROVIDE EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ITS ACCELERATION. THE IDEA BEHIND THE NIKE SB LDN RIDE WAS NOT RANDOM, BUT WAS STRONGLY RELATED TO THE CONCEPT OF INNOVATION THAT NIKE SB IS PURSUING, AND WHICH WILL LEAD, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TO THE NEXT OPENING OF A NEW GREAT SKATEPARK IN LONDON. EIGHT DAYS WITH THE ITALIAN AND UK NIKE SB TEAMS VISITING THE CITY AND SKATING THE SPOTS BETWEEN ONE RAINSHOWER AND ANOTHER. db.

PHOTOGRAPHY / DAVIDE BIONDANI DIARY / LUCA DONEDDU ART CONCEPT / GIULIANO GARONZI

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DAY ONE Arriving by train into town from the airport I saw a bridge, I noticed the presence of a large number of policemen, a strange movement of boats was underway in the waters of the Thames and thousands of people were standing along the banks of the river in the pouring rain holding thousands of British flags. The city was celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s ascension to the throne. We all arrived in the city at different times and completely missing out on the first day of the tour. The meeting point was at the hostel whose “beautiful rooms” were so small that we tossed a coin every morning to decide who would get up first, since it was impossible to stand up more than one person at a time. As soon as I arrived Jacopo and Davide welcomed me with a big cold pint at the bar. We did the same with Mauro a few hours later waiting for the others to join us later in the evening.

DAY TWO I woke up sweating as if I had had two nightmares together, when I realized that the mattress of the bed was covered with plastic. 100% antiperspirant. A real nightmare! After a quick breakfast and after buying 7 Oyster cards, we decided to take a ride around the area near Russell Square. Pushing through the streets we arrived casually at the famous bank next to Euston Station. Lambi immediately walked over to the spot and started to skate it, the pressure of being kicked out helped Marco to land a perfect switch crooks on the ledge into the bank in a few tries. This was the first trick of the trip. After filming some lines at a manny pad not far away we decided to move to the London Eye area. As soon as we came out of the subway it started to rain, so we decided to go skate South Banks where we met Jerome Campbell who was on tour in Sicily with us last year. I was so glad to see Jerome. In the meantime, the rain stopped and a bright sun illuminated the city so we took the opportunity to skate some spots in the area with the help of Peppe, an Italian friend of ours who lives in London. Mauro brought home a couple of tricks including a nice fs smith grind on a flat bar attached to a wall. Good job son. We ended the evening with a dinner in a nice Greek restaurant where the food was good and the guys were nice. Jacopo fell asleep on the table becoming the victim of the most idiot jokes of the year. As we were leaving the restaurant a rat ran across the whole room to disappear behind a wall. Ok, it was time to go.

DAY THREE

We met Neil Smith outside our hostel around lunchtime, he came to pick us up to go skate some spots in the Mile End area. We barely made it to Mile End skatepark when it started to rain. We skated the indoor micro ramp and spent some time at the skate shop. Then we left, took a tube and went skating at Meanwhile 2. I was really excited to be at that spot, Meanwhile 2 is a key spot in the history of skateboarding. Gonz was the first to ollie the channel in 1987!!! While Crest and Jacopo were skating the ditch the rest of the crew was having fun in the park on the side together with some locals. It was almost dark and we decided to return to the hostel and go out to celebrate the birthday of Sergio, the filmer. Happy birthday mate.

DAY FOUR I woke up with Lambi’s ghettoblaster that was still pumping Rick Ross from the previous evening… Within 4 minutes I got dressed and ran out of the room, also because it was the first morning that it was not raining. The plan for the day was to do some ‘shooting around the city and skate some spots near the symbols of the “new London”: the Foster Tower, the Millennium Bridge, The Shard. First stop was the Millennium Bridge, I was struck by the majesty and the design of the bridge, and by the thousands of people walking over it. Not to mention the view you can enjoy: it literally leaves you breathless. We found a spot under the bridge, a bank from which you could jump off the side. Since the landing was rough and the run up partially covered in mud, Jacopo had the “brilliant idea” of using Davide’s board to try the trick, with the excuse that with soft wheels it would have been easier. Trick landed perfectly under a heavy rain and Davide’s board ready for the bin. After a brief shooting along the river Thames we arrived at The Shard, where we met Joey Pressey, Smithy, Colin Kennedy, and Wieger. Joey showed up jumping down a 10 stairs set without ollieing, just goin’ straight down it! Ah ha ha! We moved together skating from spot to spot, up to a square where we skated a little, filmed some lines and met Jak Pietryga who was with us for the following days. The last spot of the day was a gap with a landing on a busy street. It was impossible to skate it since the traffic was too heavy, but Mauro spotted an interesting thing to skate: the entrance of a house where he had to ollie up a step to super quick ollie over a small wall and immediately ollie to nosebonk on the following small wall. It took some time to understand how to skate the spot but then he landed the trick 5 times consecutively.

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The following stop was a nice restaurant where we spent the evening eating, drinking and chatting until we were kindly invited to leave since the place was about to close. So we moved to a pub for some pints. Smithy then took us to another club. The place was all dark, divided into small rooms and full of strange characters: in a room a band of four fifty year-old heroin-addicted skinny men was playing some sad music in front of 8 people, 3 of which were dancing. In another room some dudes were playing pool. We opted for the second. We had some beers and did a little chatting while watching the “local hero” humiliate the other locals. The “local hero” was a skinny black guy, wearing a brown wool dress and moving as if he was acting a part in a movie. Unbelievable. The guy had incredibly gotten into his role and his followers were clearly fascinated by his style and his skills. His followers were evidently a bunch of assholes. A couple of hours later Wieger challenged the guy and humiliated him three times in a row. The dude went mad because of the humiliation in front of the other idiots who were laughing silently, and he refused to shake hands with Wieger. Ah ha ha, fantastic. Good night “local hero”.

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mauro caruso. OLLIE UP TO BS NOSE GRIND.

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luca crestani. WALLRIDE NOLLIE POP OUT.

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marco lambertucci. SWITCH CROOKS.

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jacopo carozzi. TRE FLIP.

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DAY FIVE We planned a mission at the Olympic Village for a team shooting in the middle of the new Olympic facilities. After a 1-hour train ride we went out to Stratford to find out that it was raining cats and dogs and the Olympic village was actually still a construction site...closed. We bought 5 mini umbrellas and after a 20 minute walk under the pouring rain we reached a bridge where we could do some filming of the team with the Orbit, the 115 meter-high steel sculpture in the background. After this “shower on the road” we agreed it was a good idea to go back to the hostel, change into some dry clothes and go to city center for some shopping. And so we did.

DAY SIX We met Colin, Smithy and Jerome at a spot not far from where we slept, a steep bank with a hole in the middle which was actually a metal sculpture that looked a lot like a wave. Crest was about to kickflip the hole to fakie but it started to rain and he had to stop. Everyone sought shelter under the trees not too far away, except Lambi who went on to try his trick until he landed a classic fs kickflip on the steep wet bank. After lunch the rain stopped and we took the opportunity to skate a spot where you had to ollie up a narrow brick ledge and then do the trick on a box whose grindable surface was as thin as a blade. Mauro didn’t waste time and in 30 minutes he landed a nice bs nosegrind pop out. Before the sun went down completely, we found the time to go to a bank to wall spot where Luca could try a trick he had in mind. Ollie up to wallride nollie pop out. Luca spent the whole week solving one-thousand problems a day to ensure that the tour worked well. It was only thanks to him if all the problems were solved and the tour went well. I’m glad he landed that trick, because he deserved it, really. We spent the evening in a cool pub, where we met a lot of people including Neil Chester and Paul Shier. Beers, stories and more beers until late at night when we decided to go to sleep. Pushing on the way back we passed by the British Museum, where, clearly drunk, we began a skate session in the dark on the stone lions that stand in front the entrance of the museum. Priceless.

DAY SEVEN I opened my eyes and it was sunny outside. I woke up the other guys and we went out in a hurry to meet Colin and the others at Mile End skatepark. The Mile End Park is so cool. It was a struggle to stop the session, but we wanted to see some street spots. First stop was at a wooden bench with a flowerbed attached to it. We noticed that despite being full of skate stoppers it was still skateable. I immediately started to try a fs tailslide and as soon as I saw it worked I started to try to get out of the fs tailslide with a bigspin. It took me a good half hour and a couple of hard falls, but eventually I landed a couple. Mauro skated with me taking home a perfect fs bluntslide pop out. Big up Mauro! Then we went to a flat bar that goes into a bank, under a huge, completely abandoned building. Here Jacopo spent an hour trying a good trick, but he ended up hurting his ankle really badly. He could not walk at all so we put him on Joey’s bike and pushed him to the next spot: a bank along a very wide sidewalk where Jak, Luca and Kyron Davis, who joined us shortly before, filmed some lines till the sun went down.

DAY EIGHT

It was the last day of the tour and I was a bit sad for this. We went to a big rail early in the morning that Lambi had seen the day before. He tried to skate it, but we got kicked out numerous times by a security guard. Just around the corner we noticed a long bank where I decided to try a fs heel flip, which made me sweat a little, but that I landed within a few minutes thankfully. At the opposite corner, the bank formed a hip where Luca, Neil and Joey were skating. After waxing the lip made of rough concrete Smithy landed a fs tail slide over the hip on dangerous metal grate. This was the last spot of the tour since shortly after, the rain started falling heavily. After the greetings, hugs and promises to meet again as soon as possible we returned to the hostel. At 3 am, I was waiting for a bus to go to the airport. Thank you, my friends. Luca Doneddu.

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luca doneddu. FS HEEL FLIP.

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mauro caruso. FS SMITHGRIND. a brief glance

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neil smith. OLLIE UP TO FS TAILSLIDE OVER THE HIP.

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mauro caruso. FS BLUNTSLIDE TO POP OVER.

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NIKE SB IN LONDON

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marco lambertucci. FS KICKFLIP.

wieger van wageningen. FAKIE OLLIE TO FAKIE 5-0 BS OUT.

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NIKE SB IN LONDON

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mauro caruso. OLLIE UP TO OLLIE OVER TO NOSEBONK.

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NIKE SB IN LONDON

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/ INTERVIEW

BRIAN LOTTI

Wallride nollie pop out. Photo John Coulthard.

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Brian Lotti is a skateboarding icon who exploded during the late 80's /early 90's and was one of the few skaters to push style forward during that complicated period during which tricks were invented every day, when doing the trick was more important than HOW it was done. His few videoparts are proof that style, no matter during what era, is something that stands out and is greatly appreciated. Style is not just in skateboarding, but in life as well, and when you decide to make a skate video (or two), instead of chasing that banger on the largest rail out there, you call up some people and do the dopest thing in skateboarding: going from one spot to another pushing through the city, enjoying the sound of the asphalt under your wheels...so damn simple that nobody had thought of it. Style also means taking something so simple and elevating it to an artform, like skateboarding. Thanks Brian. GB.

Interview Guido Bendotti. a brief glance

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Bs ollie. Photo Seu Trinh.

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Let’s start with a classic question: the big spin or Lotti spin;

Allen stayed with me for a contest once, then Mike and Greg

time (after Mc twist and Caballerial) that a skater would have

was nice about letting me visit California on little trips with

why was not the name Lotti spin? It would have been the first given his name to a trick, probably the first time in street.

The name “Bigspin” is really a 3 way play on words, dubbed by

H-Street ripper of old Alphonso Rawls. Alf and I were skating with the photographer Dan Sturt after an am contest in San

Diego in 1988. At that time, the California Lottery was really

popular and there was a big awards show every Saturday night called “the Bigspin.” People spun a wheel to try and win a

million bucks... wheel of fortune style. Dan was shooting photo

Carroll and Matt Hensley stayed at my place, too. My mom

my friends. I did a lot of skateboarding in California during

my years as a high school student. But the best thing about Las

Vegas was the fact that there were a lot of really good ditches to

skate and there was actually a really incredible skate scene in Las Vegas complete with an “East” side and a “West” side as well as

a “Vert” scene and a “Street” scene. Lots of ridiculous and funny rivalries and even fights at times, too! Lol !

with us and I kept doing the trick on flat. Alf watched and

Many skateboarders coming from Las Vegas have left their

kept saying “Lottery,” “Lottery” and then he had the big idea

Szafranski, Ragdoll, just to name a few. The Sin City seems to

joked around calling me “Lottery” - a play on my last name. He that the trick I was doing could be called “the Big Spin” - partly

because of Lotti & “Lottery” and partly because the trick looked like a “Big” spin of some sort. A nice play on words, and Alf

kept saying it over and over again... I didn’t name the trick and

probably wouldn’t have. But Alf ’s name stuck after that day and the trick has been called “Bigspin” ever since.

How was being a pro skater in the ‘80s and earlier ‘90s?

The pendulum swung toward “street” skating in 1990, and

Vertical, or ramp skating, took a serious nose dive shortly after. I turned pro in 1990 and was part of that first generation of

“street” pros that changed skateboarding from the rockstar, bigramp, big-pro era to more or less what it has become today. The tricks a lot of these early street skaters were adapting from vert

mark in the skateboard scene, you, Kenny Anderson, Muska,

produce skaters of a certain thickness… Do you agree? How is the scene down there now?

Yes, Vegas definitely has a history of having a really strong skate scene. This is due in part to a certain Las Vegas sense of law-

lessness and anything goes, the perennial abundance of excellent ditches and empty backyard pools, and Vegas’s proximity to California. When I was 14 and 15 I saw a lot of pros visit

Las Vegas for demos or just to hang out: Chris Miller, Lance

Mountain, Mark Gonzales, Steve Rocco, and John Lucero. We got to see these guys skate firsthand, then start learning all the tricks we watched them do! I skated with Kenny Anderson

every day after school with a few other friends. We all had our eyes on keeping up with the scene in California.

to street: smith grinds on curbs and blocks, backside lipslides,

After the Blind days and a few tricks in “Tim & Henry pack

handrails! I remember that not everybody was psyched about

many rumors were circulating about you… even you had

bluntslides, etc. - now everyone does these maneuvers down

young kids like myself suddenly becoming “pro”. But the ex-

perience of being a pro skateboarder back then was really great, and really simple. Just take care of yourself and skate and see if you can push the limits and do some tricks you’ve never done

before. I never earned more than $1500, $2000 a month - but

this was all I needed to pay rent, gas, food, and be able to go play pool or air hockey with my friends. Being a pro in the early 90’s

was an amusing life with little fanfare! Skateboarding still wasn’t really cool in popular culture yet.

You are from Las Vegas, in the ‘80s it was hard to get noticed in

of lies” you basically “disappeared” from the skateboard scene, started following Buddhism… what happened after the Blind days?

I kept getting hurt after I got on Blind and never really got to film a full new part like I was wanting to do. The raw energy built up and I turned to photography and drawing, and then to painting. At the same time I was growing bored with all

the Rocco - World Industries stuff, and even skateboarding.

I realize now that I needed to learn how to be a human! My

father passed away when I was 15, and I never really dealt with

that - just got totally into skating. When skating’s joy started to

fade, I questioned who I was, and what I was doing with my life.

the skateboard scene if you were not from California and even

I dislocated my shoulder really bad and decided to make a clean

under this point of view?

future for myself.

more if you were not a vert skater how was your experience

There were always a lot of contests in Las Vegas - both vert and street. A lot of guys from California rolled through all the time and I started making friends with people. Tom Knox and Ron a brief glance

break from skateboarding and go back to college and work on a

Then I became interested in philosophy and Buddhism, and eventually moved to Hawaii to study Zen with an American Zen master. That was a diﬃcult, but really incredible time. I learned a lot about life and art and culture and everything. Buddhism actually got me firmly on the path of being an artist, and this eventually led me back to skateboarding!

old, young, good, or horrible you are. We wanted to make a ﬁlm

One of the photos that hit me the most was the “ One more

a very beautiful place. It allows for a very simple life where one

try” in which you asked to a fat woman one more try on a

yellow curb with the smallest wheels ever… What do you remember most about that time?

I remember skating almost every day with Ocean Howell, Ted

Lee and Marcus Wyndham. We all lived within blocks of each other in downtown San Diego, and would just start pushing around the city and skate Balboa park everyday.

We skated the fountain at Balboa Park and that was our private little EMB. A round stage block with an inner manual pad

thing, and also a really high block for noseslides, or if you were really gnarly, cooked grinds. My favorite thing to do then was

to backside 180 flip up onto round stage block. I could do that pretty easily and it felt good.

After a long absence you came back in the skateboard scene

that, more than inspiring awe or fear, would remind people about how fun it is to just go out and skate.

In “Free Pagasus” you shifted the focus from LA to BCN

giving an “ultra clean” image of Barcelona, this is how you perceive the Catalan Capital?

I don’t perceive Barca as clean, but it is certainly a very fluid and can focus on the essentials and avoid a lot of bullshit.

Perhaps the Pegaus video paints a romantic picture of the city

and the skateboard scene. Certainly Barcelona has some seedy aspects, but experiencing the skateboard community there

is unmistakeable. After skating in Barcelona I truly realized how skateboarding is a universal and dynamic language that bridges any kind of cultural divide. Skateboarding is an art,

a language and a culture and it’s here to stay! I don’t know if we succeeded, but we were trying to record and express that

gracious and serendipitous “spirit of skateboarding” that one can experience in Barca.

Pegasus is a fun film, but that’s probably the last skateboarding

story-video I’ll shoot. Really going to focus in on skateboarding itself in my next film.

with two videos that I think are among the most beautiful in

How did you choose the skaters for these videos and do you

“First and Hope” you focused on cruising and pushing from

A lot of skateboarders were around in Los Angeles when we

recent years: “First & Hope” and “Free Pegasus”. Especially in spot to spot, something that has been forgotten… Why did you decided to realize a video like this when skateboarding seemed to be more (or only) interested in bangers?

Thanks for your kind words, it’s encouraging when I hear that people understand and appreciate those films! They definitely

flew under the radar for a lot of folks, but then, they were pretty left of the center of mainstream skateboarding.

I think because I HAD been outside of the skateboarding world for so long, I had some critical distance. I had been watching all the new videos come out and seeing the magazines, I felt

like it was all a bunch of artifice. Like everything in skateboarding was staged just to get that photo, or just to get that trick

down that handrail. It all kind of seemed untrue... like not real skateboarding where you roll around, but posturing - holding

poses for cameras! Now I understand that truly, this is what the game is all about. But people are rolling better and harder than

think to continue the series? I really hope so.

shot “1st and Hope”. Word had gotten out that we were shooting a film that was a little different, and a lot of people were

psyched to come out and be a part of the proess. Then with Free Pegasus, I went to Barca a few times with the intent of scouting for a film. I had been skating there and hanging with

people like Hector Garcia and Thomas Winkle who really laid it on the line that they would help to support and organize a

project. Free Pegasus was all about a moment in time and a little network of 3 or 4 overlapping scenes within the Barca skate

community. Everyone there was very kind to welcome me in and collaborate like that. Portrait du Barca!

Yes, I do hope to continue the series in some fashion. I would

love to shoot a film in a western German city, a city like Genoa, Tokyo, and New York. That’s my wish list !

ever before. Dennis Busentiz is awesome! Even Chris Cole has

a flow and swagger when he skates. At any rate, “1st and Hope”

was an attempt to cut through the politics and present a picture of actually skateboarding through a city. This is the basic skateboarding experience that everyone can relate to, no matter how

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Bs no comply wallride. Photo Jacob Messex, september 2012.

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Mike Manzoori, oli on panel 2012.

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Kenny Anderson, Goauche on paper.

VX 1, oli on canvas 2012. A telegraph hill, oli on canvas.

Arto Saari, oli on canvas.

Greg Hunt, oli on panel 2012. a brief glance

Did you use some special techniques in these video?

I try and push the continuity of the cinematography and also frame a lot of great views of the city. We shot with bicycle trailers in “1st and Hope” and then we

played around with a split screen shot in Free Pegasus. I’m doing preproduction

now for a new skateboard film and we definitely want to push the cinematogra-

phy... get closer and get more action, and also create a greater sense of continuity along the unfolding landscape.

Do you consider these videos as a starting point for a career as director or filmmaker? In which art projects are you involved now?

Hmm. That would be nice. Digital distribution appears to be working, so there

is hope for “indy” guys who are inclined to work from an internal vision and who tend to curate toward what we’d like to see. I like to think that there can be a model for realizing cool skate films for the sake of entertainment. Certainly,

making skateboard films is a nice primer for exploring the world of film makaing. Location, timing, logistics, lighting, aesthetics - all factor into making skateboard videos. I recently shot a sketch-piece with a young cinematographer and some skateboarders here in the Los Angeles area. This short piece was storyboarded, locations were prescribed, and in many cases, the cinematography determined how the skateboarding happened. I’m now doing preproduction work for a sessions-oriented skateboard film to be shot this winter.

You are now involved in a board project. What can give a new company in the current market of skateboarding? Which are the motivations and the ideas behind Telegraph Skateboards?

Well, shoots! Creating and operating Telegraph skateboards was fun while it

lasted, but I had to stop making decks earlier this year. It takes a lot of money to profitably run a skateboard company in this day and age, and the numbers

weren’t adding up. I’d rather make films and paintings and even contribute to other companies now.

The motivation for Telegraph was to make really sick skateboards and also function as a skateboard film-production company. I skate for Stacks Skateboards now!

BRIAN LOTTI a brief glance

Fs pivot grind, Photo Brian Beshold, 1988.

“But the experience of being a pro skateboarder back then was really great, and really simple. Just take care of yourself and skate and see if you can push the limits and do some tricks you’ve never done before. ” a brief glance

Brian Lotti. Photo Katy Levin.

Scenes from dayshooting â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mountains to seaâ&#x20AC;? Photos Seb Carayol.

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Until 15 years ago skateboard graphics were extremely im-

and strive to progress simply because it is amusing!

skateboarders were more attentive to this aspect. I’m thin-

You were one of the first skaters of World Industries when

Graphics were not only a serious matter, but it was something

What do you think about that period, about the energy of

portant and represented a style, sent a message and maybe

king about the works of Jim Phillips, Neil Blender, McKee… fundamental for a board co. and for a skater. Do you think the graphics and the artistic side of skateboarding are still important today?

Yes, I think things are turning around and companies are put-

ting more into the skateboards they create and sell. Anti-Hero, Polar, Creature, Deathwish and Girl have really been pushing

their graphics in the past two years. They run logo boards, but

they also run a lot of edgy, and really creative graphics that are

sick! Love the new pigeon series the Anti guys have going and even their pigeon stickers.

Love Todd Bratrud’s work, his translucent color separations. Many skater, pro skaters, artists who started working in the

skateboard industry are today famous artists, film directors, etc. etc. Why do you think many of the people that rotate around skateboarding have this kind of feeling?

Skateboarders are notoriously fearless, focussed and at times

Steve Rocco kicked the “established rules” in skateboarding. those years?

I loved hanging and skating with Shiloh Greathouse, Dune,

Kareem Campbell, Guy, Rudy, Tim Gavin, and all the LA guys. We drove around a lot looking for good spots to skate... it was a real wild west back then. Some of the World Industries shena-

nigans were interesting, but a lot of it became really coarse and crude. I was a pretty modest kid and grew up with a mother

who had been a feminist, so a lot of the Rocco stuff didn’t make

much sense. Rocco hated women, I think because he didn’t have good luck with them (at the time).

I did like the World boards and the Blind jeans and the quality of the products - but all the offensive graphics and maneuvers those guys did got a little old. Jeff Tremaine, Sean Cliver, Earl

Parker and Rick Kosick of Big Brother (inhouse at World Industries back then) were all a lot of fun to be around. Very creative guys who were pushing the boundaries.

totally self-obsessed. It seems that a person usually needs a good

What’s in the future of Brian Lotti? In what projects are you

jumped wholeheartedly into acting, and Ed Templeton stepped

As I mentioned, I’ve been doing the groundwork for a new

bit of these things to get anything done in this world. Jason Lee

into making art and taking photos. Spike Jonze has always been pushing the creative potentials in situations he encounters as long as I have heard of him.

But maybe more than anything else, if you skateboard, you really

develop your own sense of an aesthetic - you develop your own eye and preference for things... What is rad, and what is not. Most

all skateboarders have some kind of personal aesthetic that they have developed. And by it’s nature, skateboarding encourages

this in all participants. The “real” world is a bit more bleak and will more likely discourage, tell you what to do, and make you

working now?

full-length, sessions style skate film. Hoping to jump a lot of

my favorite skaters into this thing... a nice blend of transition

skating AND street skating. Should be fun, and I think a lot of

folks will enjoy this film. If I can pull this off, then hopefully I’ll be getting my act together as a proper director and who knows, maybe work on another skateboard film in Europe, maybe start working on an actual story-movie.

Thanks for your time Brian, and for your style.

afraid of pushing the boundaries. Skateboarders push boundaries

Location drawings for a treatment. Brian Lotti 2012.

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No comply wallride. Photo Jacob Messex, september 2012.

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hong kong PLACES / 14

Photos: KĂŠvin MĂ¨tallier.

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PLACES / 14

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Photos: Kévin Mètallier.

PLACES / 14

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hong kong

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PLACES / 14

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FALLEN RISCIO’ 2012 TOUR The Emilia-Romagna Riviera is an area in Italy that has always been well-known not only for its bustling night-life and discos but also for skateboarding. This is also the reason why this area has often hosted numerous important skateboard contests and tours from all over Europe. The Italian Fallen team, thanks to Raffaele Schirinzi who in fact happens to live in the area, decided to return to the Riviera and stay at his family’s hotel, kindly made available to them. The idea was to try and skate new spots, or old spots from another point of view. The result is what you will see in the next pages; one week of sun, “piadina” bread, fun and 100% skateboarding! I’m gonna book myself a spot for next year! (Danny Galli).

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Photography: Davide Biondani. Words: Guido Bendotti.

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Cool right? It looks like some Thrasher spot, when super pros travel around Arizona skating ditches so perfect they look like skateparks. But this is Italy, and this ditch is a sewer, the ground is really rough and the smell is nauseating. Daniel Cardone flew over the gap using a makeshift wooden bump. The board used by Baro was rotten after it fell into the sewer ten times. Danny lent his board to Baro, who landed the trick shortly thereafter. How his legs were able to withstand pushing at 200 km/hour for two hours on the rough ground is a mystery.

FILIPPO BARONELLO / kickflip.

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FALLEN RISCIO’ TOUR 2012

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FALLEN RISCIO’ 2012 TOUR

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For years we went to this spot, looking at it from every angle, but nobody ever thought of wallriding over the hole. Skiro is a non-conventional beast, who instead of trying a classic bs wallride, decided to give it a fs wallride straight off the bat. Skiro is the N째1 crazy dude.

RAFFAELE SCHIRINZI / fs wallride over the hole.

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Guido Stazi is a strange beast that does not need to warm up, theoretically does not eat, sleep or drink. He cracks jokes and jumps down the biggest spots around without thinking too much... and those are the only moments he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell jokes. We gotta bring him to even bigger spots and hope it takes him a little longer to land tricks so we can rest our ears a little.

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GUIDO STAZI / bs ollie.

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Why do things half-assed? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sweat on small stuff... Everybody always skates the end part of this spot, popping the tricks onto flat. Dave doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t waste time trying to imitate others. Feeble fs out in the middle of the rail and he brings home another Never Been Done in a super-skated spot. Sometimes even basic tricks can be NBD if skaters use spots differently! a brief glance

DAVE GUARNIERI / feeble grind to fs out.

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FILIPPO BARONELLO / fs 50-50 grind.

The “goin’ back to spots” tour. They kicked us out twice from this hotel but Baro had this 50-50 stuck in his head, and when he decides to do something he does it. Even if the rail is practically blind and to ollie onto it you have to go by intuition because the column above practically covers the view of the rail. Why does every single rail in Italy have defects like this? Who cares, Baro 50-50’s it anyways.

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RAFFAELE SCHIRINZI / heelflip.

You don’t see regular heelflips too often. Everybody does kickflips or switch heelflips down stairs. Heelflip seems to be a trick nobody wants to do. Skiro doesn’t do tricks everybody else does, and heelflip is his warm-up trick when it’s time to jump down large sets of stairs. And obviously he lands it in a few tries too. For once the asphalt is safe.

DAVE GUARNIERI / Ollie.

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GUIDO STAZI / Impossible into the bank.

FALLEN RISCIOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; TOUR 2012

Guido Stazi busted our balls for two days for us to bring him to this super super super gnarly spot and try his trick. At first we kinda hoped heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d fall into the canal with his board, but the asshole landed the trick and started saying senseless things again.

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RAFFAELE SCHIRINZI / Ollie to 5-0.

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DAVE GUARNIERI / Wallie to 50-50 grind.

Dave Guarnieri’s hobby is boxing, so we really hoped he’d be humming Rocky Balboa’s soundtrack while doing this wallie to 50-50 grind. I would not have wanted to be the guy who stopped to argue with him because he was skateando along the road.

FALLEN RISCIO’ TOUR 2012 a brief glance

Raffaele Schirinzi is an awesome dude in every way. If you read his interview in abg issue n.3 you may have figured it out, but we love him like mad. He skates like a pneumatic drill, he dies trying tricks, he searches for spots nobody skates and is not afraid of destroying some asphalt when he falls, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cause you gotta know that the asphalt shakes when Skiro falls. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a good looking lad! He split his head open on the rough asphalt of this unskateable rail, and after a few tries landed the trick... and laughing as usual he was already thinking about the next spot to kill.

RAFFAELE SCHIRINZI / Fs boardslide.

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photo davide biondani

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why stop? a brief glance

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