issue / 03
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Mirko Obkircher, fs smith grind pop out. Foto Davide Biondani.
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EDITORIAL / 03
Who owns skateboarding?
Rob Maatman, 50-50 grind. Foto Marcel Veldman.
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ISSUE / 03
CONTENTS
fragment places RVCA
for them incidentals
raw power Cover: Leo Romero, fs nosegrind. Foto Davide Biondani.
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ts/ Fotografie /Venezia /tour
mselves /
Viga
/ Book / Raffaele Schirinzi a brief glance
EDITOR and CONCEPT Davide Biondani. (davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR Guido Bendotti. PHOTOGRAPHERS Eric Antoine, Leo Sharp, Eric Mirbach, Marcel Veldman, Steve Gilman, Davide Biondani. CONTRIBUTORS Francesco Paolo Chielli, Anton Jandet, Simone Bertozzi, Ailsa Hay, Fabiano Ferronato, Mauro Caruso. DESIGN Fake Donkey Lab.
www.abriefglance.com GET ALL THE INFOS at:
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abrief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by fake donkey skateboard asd.
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* autumn.
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AUTUMN*
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Oscar Candon, Ollie crail. Photo: Eric Antoine.
FRAGMENTS
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FRAGMENTS
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Barney Page, Ollie. Photo: Leo Sharp.
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FRAGMENTS
Kilian Heuberger, Fs feeble grind. Photo: Eric Mirbach.
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FRAGMENTS
RJ, Window bs smith. Photo: Steve Gilman.
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PLACES/03
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Venezia under the snow. 10.00 am. Foto Davide Biondani
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PLACES/03
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Venezia. 02.00 pm. Foto Davide Biondani
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PLACES/03
nothing can come close to...
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.Viga.
Cristian Mantovani.
dedicated to all the amazingly talented skateboarders out there who don’t care and keep on pushing for themselves.
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Foto and words Davide Biondani.
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Viga, nollie kicflip.
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RVCA tour 2010 / Italy
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Photograpy Davide Biondani. Words Guido Bendotti.
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CAIRO FOSTER
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Fs nosegrind. Cairo is one of the nicest guy in the skateboarding world: polite, always smiling, with a positive atti-
tude and without flair. He simply skate and enjoy it. When skate magazines refer to some spots as
“Cairo’s spot” they usually talk about the biggest or sketchiest ledges that drop down some serious set
of stairs. A true skate warrior that in the last 15 or
so years never disappointed the expectations of his fans.
This spot is rough, it doesn’t grind and it hasn’t been skated that much. Cairo can skate it with
ease and in a couple of tries he landed this nosegrind pop out with style.
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KEVIN LONG
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Beanplant. Talkin’ about nice guys. Kevin Long (can you call him
Spanky anymore?) is a humble and down to earth person
with an easy attitude. He simply doesn’t care about all the attention he gets for his skateboarding, flair and nice guy looking. How can you be so lucky? You’re an handsome guy, you’ve cool sponsors, you travel the world for a li-
ving and you can skate so good. Now tell us that you’re
no jealous. Next time you’ll meet him just buy him a beer
‘cause you can have an interesting talk with a cool guy with
sense of humor and a lot of interesting things to talk about. Ah, this beanplant to fakie in one of the tightest transition around looks so easy it hurts.
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PHILIPP SCHUSTER
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Half cab noseslide to bs tailslide.
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I met Philipp 5 years ago under the blazing sun during the Slam Trick contest and he simply killed the street course with a thousand tricks; seriously, whenever you took a look he was
landing some super tech shit. I had never heard of him, but at the night party we started talking about
life, skateboarding and beers and he was really funny. 5 years later I’ve met him around the corner of a
street spot near my house and we started talking again and we went buy beers for the night. Pretty simple. Is this interesting? How can you throw a new tech trick on an abused curb filmed in Fully Flared ? Ask Philipp!
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TOBI FLEISCHER
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Fs lipslide. We were skating around Milano Bicocca, the university
block, and we stopped by this spot; the rail is chest high
(typical European rails standard) and it’s a double rail‌ a
lot of things can go wrong with a rail like this. Not for Tobi.
Just some tries and he landed a clean fs lip with private security guards trying to kick us out of the place even if it was on a public street. Green wheels means luck!
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NESTOR JUDKINS
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Ollie up to fs blutslide. Nestor Judkins is a classy guy, a little bit underground and sometimes he
reminds me of Ed Templeton‌ ba-
sically for the way he dress, you know dickies and stuff. This ollie up to fs
bluntslide was shot almost by accident while Brandon was filming a line at this spot where you have to be fast:
fast at ollieing up the block and slid
the fs blunt and fast to run away since the place is in front of a library and
in five minutes usually police arrive to
kick you out. This is a great trick and I
ask myself how can Nestor skate with his trucks so loose.
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CORY KENNEDY
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Bs kickflip. Cory didn’t skate too much during this part of the trip but when he skated I got impressed
by his style and by the control he has, what hit me more was the speed his board spins when he try a trick. I have seen really few skateboarders that skates the way he skates.
It seems that every Kennedy that comes to this concrete transition got inspired by bs
kickflipping it: Colin Kennedy few years ago and this time Cory Kennedy. Funny coincidence.
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LEO ROMERO
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Fs feeble grind. Mustache and cowboy hat. What’s that? An hipster catalog? Oh wait...this is Leo! If you can skate like
him you can dress or act the way you want, because
Leo is a win win situation. This rail is in Brescia and was never skated until Cairo bs lipped it 4 years ago during a filming session on another RVCA tour. In a bunch of minutes Leo landed pretty much eve-
rything in few tries: 5.0 grind, lipslide, fs boadslide
all first try, nosegrind, fs K-grind, and this fs feeble that closed the skate session. Now make fun of him for his crazy cap . His skateboarding is so solid and he knows how to skate everything, but you know
this‌now open your forum account and start tal-
king shit about his cowboy hat or buy yourself one too.
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BOOK
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“...the „Incidentals“, these observations made while working to get the said trick, are what really make you want to go skate yourself, to push towards sundown, to fight for a trick, face wreathing in pain, to enter his very peculiar state in between pain and having fun, to lie in the dirt, to discover foreign places and people, and to skateboard....” Eric Mirbach is a photographer from Germany we have the pleasure to collaborate with. A few months ago he told us his book was about to be ready...right now we are holding the result of his work in our hands...55 shots to describe the joy, the pain, the flavour and the dirt in skateboarders life...we spent a few minutes with Eric talking about his book. db. Hi Eric when did you start shooting? I just turned 27, so it must have been ten years now. Ouch. Where you passion for photography comes from? It’s all skateboarding’s fault. I was your typical hyped skatekid but to be honest, I pretty much suck at skating. So photography came along, I started shooting photos of my friends and luckily had found something I could be good at while still sticking around. Did you study photography at school? I majored photography at University of Applied Sciences & Design in Dortmund, Germany for four years. „Incidentals“ is my final year thesis. Which was the concept behind the project? I bought a Nikon FM2 a couple years ago and started to take it on skatetrips with me. It’s a camera with a history and all of a sudden these photographs just started to happen to me, I just kind of found them. One day I realized: “Hey, wait a minute, you got something here”. Maybe it’s a book? This coincidental part of it played a big role. „Incidentals“ are, well, incidents, photos that just happen along the road when you’re working on something else. And all of a sudden, I had the material to do a book that kept close to skating and to the culture and to the people in it but that
wasn’t driven by hard tricks and crazy stunts. I wanted it to be quiet and to be more on skaters and on our culture then on the actual skateboarding. Is a diy project or do you have a publisher that helped you? First off, I was thinking I would need a publisher, but nowadays, with digital printing, I could have the most freedom possible and do it on my own. I got the help of a few sponsors though… Thanks to DC Shoes, Ezekiel Europe, Nike SB & Matix. Are you happy about the book? I mean, you know how it is with something you invest years in – you never have the feeling to be done, to be satisfied with it. But yeah, I’m stoked on what we pulled off – I had friends write the texts and do the layout and I’m happy for all of us. Which was your first camera? I started off with a digital point&shoot back in the days, it had 2 mp and these bigass memory cards. It sucked. Then I jobbed as a pizza delivery boy to buy a Nikon F100. I was so proud when I had it, even though I had no clue how to handle that thing. Which one do you use more now? A whole bunch. Hasselblad for stills, Canon for sequences, the FM2 of course… you know the drill. It depends.
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Keno Ringering / Malaga, Spain / 2008
Marc Heine / Brooklyn, New York, USA / 2008
Pat Lindenberger / Izmir, Turkey / 2009
Laif Draasch / Marbella, Spain / 2008
Max Beinhofer / Cologne, Germany / 2008 Danny Sommerfeld / Wroclaw, Poland / 2009 a brief glance
If you would have to leave for a long trip and you could carry only one camera which one would you choose? Depends on the trip. But I guess I would still bring the FM2 and a couple of lenses. Digi or film? I don’t care. I mean, for me, I obviously do choose carefully, depending on what to shoot. But in the end all that counts is if you’ve shot a good photo or not. This whole discussion on film vs digital is pointless. Pick what is best for the result you’re trying to achieve, period. A lot of people from different parts of Europe moved to Berlin last year… Yeah. This whole Berlin craze doesn’t add up for me. I personally don’t like to be in Berlin that much. It’s all right for a visit, but living there? Not so much. But yeah, I hear people say that, in- and outside of skating. People in New York are all like: “You’re from Germany? I so wanna move to Berlin” and I’m like: “What, why? You live in New York, damn it!”. I don’t get it. Which is your favorite skateboard mag? and outside skateboarding? My favourite mag in the world for sure is the one I’m involved with, Monster Skateboard Magazine. But I love what Color from Canada does. I also
Willow / Cologne, Germany / 2007
really enjoy Monster Children from Australia, even though I rarely get my hands on one of their issues. Last time we got in touch you were in NYC any project in the big apple? Yeah, I had three articles lined up for Monster Magazine, so I took care of that first. Besides, I shot quite some fashion, it’s been a lot of preparation to set this up, so I was pretty swamped with that. Are you into other kind of photography beside skateboarding? Yeah, as I said, I’m working on my fashion portfolio, it’s kind of fun to take what you learned in skating (being quick shooting on location for instance) and use it for something else. I really enjoy it, it’s a change of pace in many ways. Any plan for next year? Loads… so many ideas and plans I don’t even know where to begin. 2011 is going to be crazy – I’m just waiting to see in which way exactly. I hope to be surprised. Ok, that’s it Eric, thanks for your time and don’t forget to send some photos ha ha ha. I have to thank you for your interest, I appreciate it. And you bet I will!
Nino, Fabian, Xaver / Miami, Florida, USA / 2010 a brief glance
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intervallo
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RAW POWER
Foto Davide Biondani. Words Guido Bendotti.
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Raffaele Schirinzi
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Raffa, is a good guy. You basically just want to be his friend when you first meet him. He’s charismatic, always got the biggest smile stuck in his face during the skate sessions and usually he’s the one that gets the biggest slams. Seriously I would be dead already with some of his slams. He’s a great skateboarder and a great character keen on finding funny things everywhere. He’s also a great surfer and traveller that can feel like home pretty much everywhere. If you ever meet him, just put Raffa in front of the junkiest transition, or the biggest set of stairs... he will throw himself down there (or up there) with little to no warm up. You can see him slam hard, then land the tricks always with the same happy smile. Hey, life is easy so have fun!
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FAKIE KICKFLIP
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FS FEEBLE GRIND
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BS LIPSLIDE
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Hey Raffa what’s up? I’m dead man, I’ve surfed all day long. I was in water ‘till 7PM, it was dead dark and I was still catchin’ waves, it was a good swell. You’re really down with surfing, right? Yes. It’s something you can’t control. You get mad about it, whenever there’s waves I’m there. It’s like skateboarding, but if you can skate whenever you want, you can only surf when there are the right waves so whenever I find some waves around I give up working and go surfing. Crazy no? Ha ha ha. So you’re surfing good ? Yes. Today there was a regional contest here on the Adriatic sea. I’ve surfed good, take a lot of waves, did loads of tricks, but I haven’t made it to the finals. I don’t know why, the other surfers said I was surfing really good, but somehow some other dudes make it to the finals. Always the same…. Sounds like a skateboard contest... It’s the same ah ha ha. I’m not the judges protégé… But who fucking cares. I was happy anyway, hey, at least I wasn’t working. Do you still work as wall painter? Yes, I’m still doing it. It’s hard sometimes, you’ve got crazy working hours, but it’s good money and I can take my time for skateboarding and surfing. How can you surf the Adriatic sea? It’s not Sri Lanka but we’ve some waves. Do you know that one time I’ve found Gianni Zattoni and other Ravenna’s heads on the line up. It’s funny ‘cause Gianni is pretty new to surf, and I’ve surfed for over ten years, so I can surf better than him ha ha ha! It’s like a revenge against one of your childhood heros... FOR SURE ha ha ha. After all the time he a brief glance
kicked my ass skateboarding I’ve found something I can do better than him. Talking about Gianni and the Romagna’s boys. All the skate heads that I’ve met during the years, they seem pretty crazy in some way. Ya know: the Zattoni brothers, you, Lambertucci… mad guys. Why is that? Is it because of Garbino (the Adriatic wind)? Ha ha ha, no It’s not Garbino’s fault, maybe is one of Romagna’s caracters, but in a way or another we’re all fucked up: in 20 years we haven’t changed our way of life, we’re all maniacs ha ha ha. Do you know that Marco Lambertucci got a baby? Can you believe it? And is a good father too! He’s still crazy as fuck but he’s a good dad… Can’t wait to see when he will take his son skating with him, at 50 years old he will be on the top of a huge stack of stairs landing fs kickflips with headphones on! Can’t wait either! Lambi is out of control sometimes. You’ve always skated good, but you were never in the center of skateboarding world right? Well, I was out for 5 months due to a broken foot, but during the years I’ve lost my passion for contests and stuff. I love to skate everyday, take pictures and film, but not in the middle of a heated session. Plus whenever there’s waves I’d prefer to surf, ‘cause surfing is fresher to me, and I’m mad about it. I love to skate, It’s my first passion, but I can skate whenever I want. I’ve seen you take some of the biggest slam and walk away with a smile, how you can do it? Ha ha ha, sometimes I broke myself, like the last foot injury, but basically it’s like this: I’ve been into judo for a lot of years, and somehow I’ve learned how to slam. Plus surf give you extra strength, you’re more physically trained, so you can take more slams and get away with it. Considering the slams i took, If it wasn’t for my judo training I guess I’d be dead right now.
OLLIE OVER
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KICKFLIP
So now you can kick everybody’s ass with judo? I’m not a figher, I don’t fight people! And if I’ve got to fight I don’t think about judo, I think about giving the first punch because you never know who is fronting you. There’s tons of dangerous dickheads around, so you have to be careful. I never start a fight, but I don’t wanna get my ass kicked. So next time I’m gonna kick your ass ! Ha ha ha just try! What about the rail you’ve bs lipped for this interview? I’ve seen this rail some months ago, and it was looking perfect, but I wasn’t’ skating during that time, ‘cause I was hurt. When we talk with Dave (Biondani) about take pictures I’ve think about this rail and think about the trick. We went there and the landing was full of sands and rocks. You know, the rail is on the beachwalk, and the wind and stuff move the sand. Me and Dave work for like two hours to remove all the sand and rocks.. we worked hard! After that I land on my hand during a boardslide warm up attempt… I was getting mad. I’ve worked for two hours and get hurt with a boardslide. I was ready to give up. Then Dave and the others start make fun of me, saying I’m pussy and stuff… got mad again, and I land it pretty quick. It was easier to bs lip then to boardslide it. It seems like you never get mad, I’ve always seen you with a positive attitude and a big smile on your face. Well, when I work I get mad sometimes, angry and stuff. Usually we see each other at contests or tours, and when I’m skating I’m the happiest guy around. No stress, no worries, just friends and skateboarding. Whatever happens I’m happy anyway.
Have you travelled a lot for skateboarding and surfing? Yes, I’ve been all around, especially for surfing. I’ve been in Sri Lanka 5 times, and I’ve seen the changes that are goin’ on down there. What’s happening? Well, years ago it was really natural, simple life, and fucking cheap. With 10 euros a day you could live like a king. After Tsunami American and UK companies started invest there and they built a highway that cross the island to make easy transportation of tourists. It’s all good, but now It’s more expensive and people down there start getting commercial. It was an easy way of life, now It’s going to be another tourist island. So what’s going on Skiro? I don’t know, I’m skating, surfing and working, life is pretty nice right now. What else do you wanna say to close your interview? What? I was waiting for the answers!!! We were just talking and you’ve recorded? It’s the easiest way to take interviews when you don’t know I’m recording you. Ha ha ha. Right. No closing sentences. I’ve to think about it. Is it important? No. Oh well, so well done! I’ve done my job ha ha ha… So, what’s up with your bowl? (and we continue talking for another hour, laughin’ and crackin’ jokes.. Yes, my job’s so easy!)
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BS KIKCFLIP a brief glance
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get ready a brief glance
for the cold
winter
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