a brief glance skateboardmag 11

issue / 11

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

COVER: Jacopo Picozza, fs nose grind pop out. Photo Davide Biondani.

a brief glance

EDITORIAL / 11

EVERY TIME YOU REACH A CEILING IT TURNS INTO A NEW FLOOR...

a brief glance

The Swift S is DC’s first skate shoe with a Unilite™ outsole. This material is ultra light, comfortable, flexible and provides longlasting cushioning and impact protection.

Because our revolutionary Unilite™ is durable as well as lightweight, rubber is needed only in critical wear areas for extra grip.

The Swift S Black / White

Switch Heelflip

Blabac .Photo

SKATEBOARDING

DCSHOES.COM/SKATEBOARDING

ISSUE / 11

CONTENTS

a brief glance

FRAGMENTS black is the new black

a strange skateboards tour.

PLACES / 11

ethiopia

nyc to detroit ON THE balcan ROAD

a brief glance

EDITOR and CONCEPT Davide Biondani. (davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR Guido Bendotti.

PHOTOGRAPHERS Eric Antoine, Leo Sharp, Eric Mirbach, Marcel Veldman, Kévin Métallier, Federico Tognoli, Friedjof Feye, Garric Ray, Alex Irvine, Fabio Montagner, Chiara Tiso, Marcello Guardigli, Alan Maag, Kirsty Smith, Chiara Terraneo, Bertrand Trichet, Davide Biondani.

CONTRIBUTORS Mauro Caruso, Francesco Paolo Chielli, Jonathan Levin, Ailsa Hay, Leo Sharp, Ale Martoriati,Fabiano Ferronato, Mark Baines, Jeroen Smeets, Simone Bertozzi, Bram De Cleen.

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.

a brief glance

www.abriefglance.com

a brief glance

a brief glance

fake donkey lab

a brief glance

www.abriefglance.com

davide biondani photo.

a brief glance

F

FRAGMENTS

Andrew Zolin, Bluntslide shove-it out.

Photo: Davide Biondani.

Verona, Italy.

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

FRAGMENTS

a brief glance

a brief glance

FRAGMENTS

a brief glance

Alessandro Cesario, Fs bluntslide pop out.

Photo: Davide Biondani.

Verona, Italy.

a brief glance

FRAGMENTS

Neil Smith, Nollie lipslide.

Photo: Davide Biondani.

Verona, Italy.

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

F FRAGMENTS

a brief glance

a brief glance

F

FRAGMENTS

Mauro Caruso, Switch bs kickflip.

Photo: Davide Biondani.

Brescia, Italy.

a brief glance

a brief glance

FRAGMENTS a brief glance

JOSH HARMONY & TOMMY SANDOVAL TURKEY

A DOCUMENTARY FILM BY FALLEN FOOTWEAR

black is the new black

a brief glance

a strange skateboards tour.

a brief glance

Having a skateboard team sometimes feels like having a far away girlfriend.

You spend months organizing a vacation (which in this case is called a tour) by way of sms, chat, FB, and skype.

Then you meet her at the meeting point and immediately understand why you're going out together.

A skateboard tour with your team is the only moment it is really worth waking up every day, driving one hour, turning on your Mac and selling shoes in a freezing shop in a provincial town.

Thanks to my team I'm coping with this 2012 crisis which will bring the world economy who knows where, but I know exactly where it will bring us: to skate more.

And if the crisis eventually hits us and we won't be able to afford to buy gas any longer, believe me you'll find us skating curbs by the house.

Black is the new Black.

Davide Martinazzo

a brief glance

photography Davide Biondani

a brief glance

black is the new black

a brief glance

JACOPO PICOZZA CROOKS TO NOLLIE KICKFLIP OUT.

a brief glance

a brief glance

FABIO MONTAGNER CROOKED GRIND.

a brief glance

a brief glance

black is the new black

One song you usually listen to on

Best spot and best trick?

you like?

the small square in Senigallia with the

tours or listened to on this tour that There are a few, but for sure one song I always listen to is “Look Back in

Anger” by David Bowie, especially

during this tour where we drove a lot...

According to my taste the best spot was 3 grindable steps. Best trick I would say Picozza’s fs nosegrind pop out on the curved downhill ledge in Pescara.

an excellent soundtrack for a trip.

Worst thing of the tour?

The best thing about going on tour?

Montagner totally drunk or Mr. Flat

Seeing new places, skating different spots and being in good company.

The best or funniest moment during this tour?

I can’t make up my mind between talking all the time...!!!

The most psycho dude on the team?

Me?

I guess the fact we were all present was

The Team Manager being a pain in the

we hadn’t all gone on tour together. A

The fake footage with black t-shirts and

definitely cool...it was since 2007 that

funny moment was when these chicks from a famous energy drink stopped

with their car at this spot along the seafront in Pescara to give us some cans to drink while we were skating...of course they were immediately assaulted by all of us and “relieved” of a great number

of cans...and the startled looks on the

faces of passers-by who couldn’t figure

ass?

Beverly Hills 90210 smiles on our faces and the flicks on the beach in Novella 2000-style...

I’m joking of course. There were never any pain in the ass moments, we’re all good friends first of all so it’s always fun to do things together...

Even the most boring.

out who the hell we were and why they weren’t getting any free cans...

ALESSANDRO BERTI FS NOSE SLIDE.

a brief glance

a brief glance

FRANCESCO MARCONATO SWITCH HARDFLIP.

a brief glance

FRANCESCO MARCONATO

One song you usually listen to on tours or

Best spot and best trick?

During the tour I was forced to listen to

Port of Pescara, with many spots

listened to on this tour that you like?

Picozza’s compilation spaced out with Montagner’s disco/tecno dj set in my own car because I forgot my mp3 at home...The songs most listened to were definitely “Home” by

For me the best spot was the seafront at the nearby...like cool ledges and manual pads to skate! Best trick for sure was Jacopo Picozza’s nosegrind pop out.

Edward Sharpe, “The Magnetic Zeros” and

Worst thing of the tour?

Picozza cut off the neck of his t-shirts and

“Wet Wipes” by Cam’ron.

The best thing about going on tour?

For sure hanging out with good friends,

having fun, skating, eating...all together!

Worst moment of the tour was seeing

having to stand the smell in the car ha ha ha!

Seeing new places, going around and seeing

The most psycho dude on the team?

board tour.

friends).. .even if we all know how to behave

new things...That’s the best part of a skate-

The best or funniest moment during this

Psycho award goes to Colzani (or Jim for his like idiots! Ha ha ha.

tour?

The Team Manager being a pain in the ass?

tes skate because I don’t get to see them all

Manager!! I was about to say: “Skating in

Best memory is for sure seeing my team mathe time, then seeing Colzani getting pissed off and making him even more pissed, and

definitely the flashbacks of the dopest tricks

No pain in the ass at all, we love the Team the morning!”, but we usually always got

going around noon ah ah. Thanks Marti!!

landed during the tour!

black is the new black

a brief glance

DANIELE ZENNARO FS 5-0 GRIND.

One song you usually listen to on tours or listened to

though that kid dresses kinda strange.

Schubert’s Hail Mary, kinda old song but always dope!

Worst thing of the tour?

on this tour that you like?

The best thing about going on tour?

Can there be a worst thing about a skateboard tour?

Making Andrea Colzani nervous.

The most psycho dude on the team?

The best or funniest moment during this tour?

or later he’s gonna stab me.

When Colzani got mad at me and threatened me.

Best spot and best trick?

Picozza’s fs nosegrind pop out...sooo stylish, even

Andrea Colzani for sure, he seems peaceful but sooner

The Team Manager being a pain in the ass?

When he didn’t allow me to tattoo my team mates while they were sleeping.

a brief glance

One song you usually listen to on tours

or listened to on this tour that you like?

During this tour while I skated: Foals, “Hummer”. On the way back by train: Bob Dylan, “Desolation row”.

The best thing about going on tour?

Leaving everything behind you and going skating.

The best or funniest moment during this tour?

Doin’ that deadly downhill with Montagner a little drunk after a dinner at like 2-3 A.M.

Best spot and best trick?

The rails in Pesaro (only name I remember). For the best trick I can’t make up

my mind between Monty’s smith grind

on the rail after he’d just woken up after

two hours of sleep in the car, or my slam during the run up to this gap where I landed on my shoulder in the street.

Worst thing of the tour?

Waking up early in the morning thinking of having to do everything in a short amount of time.

The most psycho dude on the team?

Andrea Colzani a.k.a. Jim Carrey is pretty damn psychedelic! But even Marco-

nato a.k.a. “Talky Talky” with his infinite thoughtful quiet moments could easily become a Pink Floyd member.

The Team Manager being a pain in the ass?

Martinazzo waking you up way too early

in the morning, or worse still Montagner waking you up with his way too loud Hail Mary.

a brief glance

JACOPO PICOZZA FS TAILSLIDE.

black is the new black

a strange skateboards tour. a brief glance

a brief glance

One song you usually listen to on tours or listened to on this tour that you like?

I don’t have a favorite song, but I often listen to “Home” by Edward Sharpe., cause it makes me wanna go on tour.

The best thing about going on tour?

Well for sure the fact the whole team gets together and also going around new spots and different cities.

The best or funniest moment during this tour?

Without a doubt the guitar hero! They shouldn’t have made me discover him!

Best spot and best trick?

FABIO MONTAGNER FS SMITH GRIND.

Best spot, I liked the rails I did smith grinds on and the best trick probably Picozza’s nosegrind pop out on the curved hubba.

Worst thing of the tour?

It exhausts you, and every time you get to sleep very little and skate a lot.

The most psycho dude on the team?

Andrea Colzani for sure, he seems peaceful but sooner or later he’s gonna stab me.

The Team Manager being a pain in the ass?

When he push you to try impossible tricks.

a brief glance

PLACES / 11

ethiopia photography Chiara Terraneo

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

PLACES / 11

ethiopia

a brief glance

a brief glance

PLACES / 11

ethiopia

a brief glance

From the Hudson River shore to Lake Erie

a brief glance

nyc to detroit photography Bertrand Trichet words Bram De Cleen.

Carhartt riders Hjalte Halberg, Phil Zwijsen, Rob Smith, Pontus Alv and Bram De Cleen joined the 5boro guys for a two weeks trip skating the streets of NYC and Detroit.

a brief glance

New York City.

a brief glance

a brief glance

nyc to detroit

Bram De Cleen / fs boardslide pop out / Bronx / NYC.

a brief glance

Italy, France, Mongolia, Spain, Finland, Sweden, ...

The Carhartt skateboard department has done more than its fair share of traveling. Left, right, up and down. Across the pond as well to Costa Rica. Japan even, not too long ago. But never in all these years has it paid visit to that one place. You know, Stars and Stripes, the birthplace of jeans, skateboarding, Carhartt, 5boro and a whole lot of other stuff.

Last spring a bunch of Carhartt team riders packed their bags, said farewell to their respective countries and met up at JFK airport for two weeks of pushing around and eating fried food. Waiting for them at the airport was 5boro team manager Tombo, who would take them to meet the rest of his crew, which was the whole idea behind this trip.

Personally, I had never been to the United States of America either. Actually “the United States” is not what it’s called in my brain. It’s called “Amerika”.

Pronounced really harshly with every letter sounding like it sounds in the alphabet of my native Flemish tongue. It’s kind of hard explaining that in English writing. /am rika/ America sounds like it’s very far away, I can tell you that, and it contains some type of disbelief. If a little kid says it his eyes open widely and he secretly wonders if the place even exists. Kids get told all kinds of bullshit stories, and America could perfectly be one of them.

By the time I checked in my bag at the airport in Brussels I was pretty sure that I was going to an actual location but in a way it still felt as if I was going to fly into my grandmother’s television.

“Jay F Kay”, “cowboys”, “Chicago”.

This feeling only got confirmed once I landed.

Everything looked and sounded just like it does in movies and TV shows. A police car drove by and I felt as if I could pick it up and crash it into the rest of my Duplo toys.

An hour and a half traffic jam later we were in 5boro’s new office on Broadway where the rest of the guys were waiting around. We shook hands, looked at skatemags and shared a New York pizza. When that was done we went outside for beer to seal the deal. So much for cultural differences.

The next couple of days would be spent in New York City. We never made it to Staten Island but got a taste of the four other boroughs. 5boro obviously took the lead and knew where to go, but I’m sure the enthusiasm of the guys who had never been in NYC was part of the equation as well. Half of the crew had seen it all before and the other half looked at it with fresh eyes.

After that we would go to Detroit, Michigan, where all of us would be equally lost.

Fifteen hours of driving, each one longer than the one before, away from the liveliness of New York.

All the way through Pennsylvania and Ohio, in a van that seemed to get smaller every passing second.

We got our hands on the most elaborate spot- book ever, but Detroit was a hard place to get a grip on.

I’ve been back home for a while now, and still don’t really know what to think about it.

The same goes for NYC, actually. A week’s time seems barely enough to understand only the scale of it. Everyday I spent there made the city seem bigger than it already did.

I skated, ate, and did the same things I do when I’m at home. NYC is NYC, Detroit is Detroit and home is home, but skating, eating and doing random stuff have the same essence wherever you go. Off course Broadway has a different vibe than the 8 Mile road or my home- town, but a no-comply is still a no-comply and pizza is still pizza. I’m sure you can imagine the differences by yourself. If this is not the case, I sure as hell am not the right person to explain them to you.

a brief glance

Bram De Cleen / rock to fakie / Bronx / NYC.

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

Pontus Alv / wallie / Downtown Detroit.

nyc to detroit a brief glance

nyc to detroit

Dan Pensyl / ollie / Brooklyn / NYC.

a brief glance

a brief glance

Detroit.

a brief glance

a brief glance

Detroit.

nyc to detroit

a brief glance

a brief glance

Robert Smith / wallride / Detroit.

a brief glance

nyc to detroit

a brief glance

Phil Swijsen / 360 flip / Detroit.

nyc to detroit a brief glance

a brief glance

Jimmy Mc Donald / Sugarcane / Detroit.

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

nyc to detroit

Hjalte Halberg /ollie / Detroit.

Dan Pensyl / transfert to lipslide / Detroit.

Phil Swijsen / fs nosegrind / Detroit.

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

Dan Pensyl / smith grind / Detroit.

Detroit skateboard guide.

Jim Tumey is a Detroit-based skater and filmer. When we met up with him on our first day in Detroit he gave each of us a copy of what must be the most elaborate spot- book in skateboarding history. Maybe not the biggest one ever, but definitely the most detailed and precise. This means photos, pictograms (!), the preferable time to skate each spot, flatground description and tons of other infor- mation, including a color-coded map of the city. Reason enough to believe this guy has some things to say about Detroit, and reason enough to believe that those things make sense.

a brief glance

You seem to know Detroit inside and out, how long have you

much freedom, and it took a while for people to pick up on that

I’ve been skating here for as long as I can remember, butI made

in any creative way possible. Artisits, musicians, and photogra-

been skating and living there?

the move downtown about two years ago.

freedom and really go crazy with it. Utilizing the decayed spaces phers see Detroit as a new medium in art.

What’s the sketchiest thing that’s happened to you while you

If you’ve never been to Detroit, the place looks kind of post-

Other than those occasional car break-ins, I’ve been more for-

city–but I know there is new life taking use of all the vacant spa-

were out skating?

tunate than others. I was once chased away from a spot by a guy with this huge sword. Not sure what his plan of

attack was, but I wasn’t interested in sticking around.

For the uninformed reader, what the hell happened to Detroit?

Visually, Detroit is so different than any other city. Right next

door to some Mies van der Rohe towers, you’ll find a dozen rug-

ged/decayed buildings. The decay is formed from years of neglect; nobody really cared down here, and everyone was moving out of the city to the suburbs,

yet still commuting here daily for business/work. Detroit offers so

apocalyptic, and I guess in a way it really is. It’s a big, empty

ces. How is this new Detroit evolving? What is it turning into?

I guess people are seeing it as a blank canvas. If you have an idea, you can really go crazy with it and actually make it happen. For the most part, everyone is pretty suppor- tive of fresh ideas and

individuals trying to do something here. The people that live down here want to be here, so there’s a sense of pride in everything

that goes on. I’ve lived in other cities before, and nothing really compares to the energy here. As far as what the city will evolve

into, I really have no idea, but I think that’s what makes Detroit so awesome.

a brief glance

a brief glance

Willy Akers / wallride grab out / Brooklyn / NYC.

nyc to detroit a brief glance

push, search, push, find.........

a brief glance

..SKATE

a brief glance

a brief glance

ON THE balcan ROAD A story and photographs by Kevin Metallier.

a brief glance

a brief glance

Wandering is a rather vague notion. The frantic search for images can sometimes lead to enter some wandering. Losing ground, not knowing which way proceed. Not foresee, not to provide ...

In the words of Raymond Depardon in one of his books with the same tittle : “Wandering is driving without a stated purpose ... a unique adventure, a great happiness, great freedom. The adventure of wandering allowed me to live in the present, to be fairly well in this .... “ It is perhaps this wandering, as relative as it is, which had guided me often and led in improbable destinations.

This time we are on the Balkans route, and it’s in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, that we finally stop a few days ... We turned around, lost any notion of the north and south, far and near. Here nothing is the same, even if everything seems the same. The remains of Soviet communism and almost 15 years of war are still palpable and leave an indelible mark on some facades of downtown and in the collective memory...

Serbia does not figure in the hit parade of the best top touristic destinations catalog of travel agencies. From the first minutes in the cockpit of this old Airbus of Air Jat Airways (just the name of the company gives you the shivers ...), we understand quickly that this trip looks unusual to say the least. Probably dating from the early 70’s, the unit seems to be a collector’s item with ashtrays still embedded in the armrests of the seats worn by the weight of years. This gives you a strange sensation, as if the last passenger calmly smoked a little one. Also, in terms of service, here too contemporary standards were not really essential. For sum up, the hostess who served us our stale sandwich during the flight was about to be as kind as a prison door and I would have preferred me to fourth apnea in a trench tank rather than exchange three sentences with this freaky lady ...

Once there, one of the first things that hold our attention, like good western tourists we are, is the women’s bodies. We must recognize that aboriginal female type, have certain remarkable advantages. The legend wants that Eastern women are endowed with a physique reminiscent closer than a top model than a potatoes bag mounted on a pair of leg-shaped zucchini seems quite realistic and verifiable at first glance ... In other words, i can simply say that in Serbia even ugly girls are pretty and that while many Western women bent on keeping their body shape fit with eating organic cereals ultra light, the Serbs are simply demonstrating that beauty is much more about genetics than corn flakes...

The other key aspect during a trip, is always about the local cuisine and this scrubbing issue but so basic and vital that everyone is asking : “but what there is to eat in the neighborhood? “. The short answer to this question, say that Serbia is again a good destination in terms of food, both economically and qualitatively way. Here products are mostly of good quality, the food is pretty sophisticated, varied dishes, and the portions served generally very hearty! I would give a special mention to the local vegetables soup and the beef carpaccio. Note however that the only breach of taste that we did was an experiment culinary regrettable when faced with the absence of English menu we thought wise to trust the tastes of the server who finally did propose to us plate of large sausages of unknown origin ... After a few bites as delectable as a piece of steak of rat cooked in motor oil, each of us prefer not to eat for a few hours rather than risk indigestion with irreversible consequences for our bodies...

a brief glance

a brief glance

Romain Jorda, kickflip noseslide.

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

JP Trioulier, fs kikcflip.

There are a lot of gypsies in Serbia. These nomadic people from Romania or Bulgaria often pass through the Balkans and Serbia. My knowledge is pretty thin in gypsy culture but I have to say that all of them we did meet during our trip in Belgrade was at least friendly and welcoming, all very curious to see us practicing skateboarding in their neighborhood and many of them willing to try this toy out of control ... About Communism, whose remains are still palpable across the country and also in the capital. One night we started a conversation with some locals about communism. Apparently here it’s rather unusual to see a Ferrari car or a homeless in the streets, because the differences in wealth are low and as they said, it’s a good consequence of communism heritage. At the time, the communist dictatorship, promised shelter, work and food on the table for everyone. In the other hand, people must comply with the requirements of the party, I am no teacher of history and geography, but you can imagine it was not good to be a journalist, writer or even an artist with a free mind at this time… Everyone earned roughly the same amount of money, an engineer or an employee. Once minimized inequality, violence no longer existed in the neighborhoods and people didn’t even closed their home door. Even today, we can feel the atmosphere rather quiet even in the poor suburbs of Belgrade. I also remember our local guide Milosh saying : “I know the good and bad sides of communism, but still not the good of capitalism “. I would just say to conclude, take the Balkans route, travel over the new countries formed out of the Yugoslavia dislocated and make your own experience, then you’ll be maybe able to say if Milosh is right or wrong…

Special thanks to Sonia and Sebastian Sol for everything they have done for us during our stay in Belgrade !!!

Oscar Candon, ollie. a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

Bastien Duverdier, crooked grind.

a brief glance

Remy Taveira, kickflip.

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

a brief glance

roll to the and se something a brief glance

next town earch g to shred a brief glance

issue / 11