Vol. 16 No. 3 Winter 2017

PRINTED AND DESIGNED IN CANADA

For Skaters. By Skaters.

Thank you all for supporting over 20 years of publishing. It is a privilege to stoke you all out.

ConcreteWave

1136 Centre Street Suite 293

Thornhill, Ontario

L4J 3M8

(416) 807 • 0805 concretewavemagazine.com

Cover Photo:

Dasha “Duck Vader” Bondarenko

Riders:

Lyde Begue followed by Giulia Bottazzin

Publisher:

Michael Brooke

Editor in Chief & Magazine Layout:

#NinjaMasterLu

Copy Editor:

Miren Suarez

Associated Editors: Candy Dungan

Daniel Fedkenheuer

“It’s finally not a sausage fest,” Aaron Hampshire, ranked 3rd in Opens on the 2017 IDF World Tour, overheard a fellow, male racer say during the 2017 International Downhill Federation (IDF) Eurotour.

Crude, but not wrong.

25 Racers. 4 Rounds. This was Kozakov Challenge, and the other three European IDF races were close behind in terms of the number and skills of female racers.

Photo: Lady Nayevo

AS THE WORLD TURNS...

Hello and welcome to a special mini-edition of Concrete Wave Magazine. This issue will only be available at Agenda, Long Beach, Shred Expo, Leipzig and the Longboard Embassy @ ISPO, Munich. As I write this editorial, the world is heading out of what has been quite an upside-down year. As things keep turning, make sure you take the time to get out there and ride.

Joe Strummer of The Clash famously stated “the future is unwritten.” As a publisher, I am acutely aware of this. While I agree with Joe, all I can add is that I know for certain my future involves skateboarding.

2018 is bringing skateboarding closer to the 2020 Olympics. A lot of skaters are wondering about this move to bigger realms. A number of folks are also concerned about the future of the independent skateshop. We asked skaters to give us their thoughts. While it might be difficult to predict the future, it’s fun to go back in time and look at something relatively small that eventually had a big impact. In this regard, we are shining a spotlight on Big Brother Magazine. It gained the reputation as the most notorious skateboard magazine in the world. It was both loved and hated. Big Brother also changed the face of skateboarding.

I am pleased to announce that the Concrete Wave (the history of skateboarding) book is going for a second edition. Written by Daniel Fedkenheuer and tentatively entitled The Next Wave, the book chronicles what happened in skateboarding after the first book was published back in 1999. Look for the book to hit skateshops in the spring of 2019.

We are proud to not only have females grace our cover, we’re stoked that we have a feature on female downhill skaters. Tip of the hat and shout out to Don “Fish” Fisher who inspired this micro-zine idea. With time and space being very precious commodities, we hope you enjoy the quick read and portability of Concrete Wave at the various trade shows. Here’s to a happy and safe new year!

Enjoy the issue, Michael Brooke Publisher

The Fine Print

Special secret messages to our European friends: Martijn & Lisa – The Netherlands: Wortels!

Sebastian, Andy, Alex, Natasha, Ritchie and Heiko – Germany: Eierlegende-wollmilchsau

Jeremy, Daniel and Coco – Switzerland: You guys could never be Tüpflischiessers!

Kilian Martin

Photo: Aaron Smith

THE FUTURE IS FEMALE

by Candy Dungan

Europe was the only continent in 2017 to have more than nine women racing per event, and to make it even more interesting - almost every one of those female racers possessed the skills to make it to the finals’ heat. Every heat was close, and no podium was received without a fight.

The women also DOMINATED the B-bracket. It became protocol to see all women B-bracket semi-finals and finals. More women raced their way into Opens, than did men. The future is female, and Europe is leading the charge.

Here are the women you should know and why.

Ranked third in the World, second in Europe, and first in good vibes, Jenny is the only European woman to race the full IDF World Circuit. No IDF race would be complete without the female stoke, love, and encouragement that Jenny brings everywhere she goes - but don’t take our word for it! See what she has to say below.

Years Racing: 3 | Sponsors: Don’t Trip Skateboards, BTR Leathers

“IDF races are wicked because everyone’s there to skate, party, and be together in beautiful mountains and countries. Traveling with my skateboard is the best thing I’ve ever done. In a race heat, I push myself to skate fast and slightly over my limits every time, with my best mates right beside me. It’s a game, and it makes me feel alive - it’s adrenaline, baby!

Women, we want YOU! Come skate with us ladies! If I can do this, damn, you can do this too! Trust me, you will grow so strong and experience the high of life over and over again! Don’t just sit at home, and let the boys play… we deserve to play too! It’s so awesome to be a woman, and we are allowed to show that!”

Lyde is the 2017 European Womens’ Champion, and she placed 14th overall in the European Opens category. She took home the gold at Verdicchio IDF Race 2017, where she won every heat she raced. Coming in at maybe 100 pounds, this woman is one of the best technical skaters in the world - male or female.

Years racing: 4

Sponsors: CDK Shop, Riptide Bushings, Longboard Girls Crew, BTR Leathers

“Seeing your friend smiling through their visor when you’re skating down (the hill) is priceless. Also, I feel so small and alive every time I see a new, beautiful landscape. Skateboarding shows me the beauty of nature, and I love it. Racing shows me what I have to improve on.”

JENNY SCHAUERTE - GERMANY

LYDE BEGUE - FRANCE

Photo: Christian Kreuter “CK Photography”

Photo: Mikel Echegaray

ANNA PIXNER - AUSTRIA

Anna is an extremely talented, technical skater that everyone repeatedly underestimates. Although cautious on practice day, she switches gears for racing. She’s the one chasing your tail, waiting for her chance to take a better line than you and make her move. Always in control, and always with the cleanest lines, Anna snagged third place overall for Women on the European circuit this year.

Years Racing: 3

Sponsors: Icone Longboards, Moreboards, A.D.O Precision Trucks, Hanfstube

“Skateboarding makes me experience more freedom and joy than anything else in the world, but I can’t

GIULIA BOTTAZZIN - ITALY

describe why exactly. I just know that starting to skate is the best thing that happened to me in my life.

I like that racing gets me to push myself more than I would if I freeride. I would actually consider myself a very careful person; when I ride by myself, I tend to skate in my comfort zone. However, in a race, I push my limits and realize I’m more capable than I originally thought. In the future, I would like to see all women consider themselves just as capable of being a good rider as men.”

Giulia conquered the Italian races! Not only did she make it to finals at Verdicchio IDF Race, but she won the Italian Nationals and secured the “Women’s Italian Champion” title. Blowing our socks off with her full grip lines, expect to see big things from Giulia.

Years Racing: 2

Sponsors: None (Someone get the Italian Female Champion some sponsors!)

“I like racing because you can measure your progression. When I race, I try my best to overcome

my limits. This way, I can learn and improve quickly - especially when I crash! The most important thing I learned this year was, “always race for yourself.” I think this is the best way to race and, most importantly, to HAVE FUN!

I hope to see more women skating on fire: to be brave and crazy enough to follow their dreams, to let themselves be guided from the deepest part of their souls, to give themselves the chance to do what they love, and to share their passion to make the world a better place.”

Photo: Mikel Echegaray

Photo: Dasha “Duck Vader” Bondarenko

P: Kevin Carlton

25 th Anniversary Spotlight

Had it had survived, Big Brother Magazine would have turned 25 years old this year. Launched in 1992 by World Industries founder Steve Rocco, the magazine’s impact continues to be felt today. In the summer of 2017, Hulu created a documentary about the magazine called Dumb. It is a fascinating look with scenes that range from insane to absolutely surreal.

Rocco famously created the magazine in response to another skateboard magazine banning one of his ads. While the magazine was ostensibly about skateboarding it featured a ton of nudity, rip off schemes (how to make fake ID or how to steal bus stop posters) and stories about weed and drinking. Their “Slayer Goes to Disneyland” feature got the band permanently barred from the magic kingdom.

Jeff Tremaine, helped give birth to the magazine, gave an interview with Vice recently. He was asked

about the magazine’s mission statement. “Rocco’s primary focus was to make sure Big Brother was as wild as the kids on his team were. He wanted it to be the example of everything parents didn’t want their kids to be exposed to.”

Back in the early 1990’s, skateboarding was changing rapidly. Video was coming into its element and the magazine printed dozens of frame grabs, sparking the other skate mags to do the same.

A number of people who worked at Big Brother went onto some fairly high profile careers. This includes Spike Jonze, Steve O, Wee Man and of course, Johnny Knoxville. With Big Brother, there were no taboos and nothing was off limits. They attacked a wide range of topics: the skate industry, religion and anything else deemed worthy of their wrath or sarcasm. The “How to Kill Yourself” article

was featured on local news and fuelled their notoriety. Big Brother’s outrageous content led to lawsuits (famously from Dr Laura Schlessinger whose kid picked up an issue in a skate shop in Costa Mesa.)

Speaking of taboo, Larry Flynt (publisher of Hustler and dozens of other magazines) bought Big Brother in 1997 and started to change the magazine. Although the magazine was cleaned up under Flynt’s reign, a subscription snafu meant that Big Brother subscribers received Taboo (one of Flynt’s most hardcore porn mags) and vice versa.

Big Brother was truly a creative place and long before Fail Army videos on YouTube, the magazine was the catalyst that spawned Jackass. The fact the magazine was bankrolled by World Industries was indeed a godsend. Each issue printed reportedly lost $50,000.

“Rocco’s primary focus was to make sure Big Brother was as wild as the kids on his team were. He wanted it to be the example of everything parents didn’t want their kids to be exposed to.”

Concrete Wave is pretty lame compared to this shit

Had it had survived, Big Brother Magazine would have turned 25 years old this year.

Censored by L. FLYNT

Most of the material published in Big Brother was way beyond what most would consider appropriate for a magazine on skateboarding. Their “Kids” issue landed them in a ton of hot water. Despite their notorious reputation and trial of destruction, I have sincere admiration for the creativity and sheer zero-f**ks attitude that Big Brother cultivated. In 1994, they decided to put their magazine inside a cereal box. Inspired by this sheer lunacy, we were so close to packaging this edition in a cereal box. It was this idea that led me to another idea: why not interview one of the key players at Big Brother and get his take on things. Cue Dave Carnie, a former editor.

Were you involved at the time when Big Brother did the cereal box edition? If so, tell me what it was like? If not, well do you have any recollection of it?

Dave Carnie: I was involved then. My history with the magazine began with issue #2. They printed a large photo I had taken of Chris Pontius boardsliding a handrail in San Luis Obispo. I was a contributor for the first few years, eventually became staff, then Editor In Chief. So while I was part of the mag when the cereal box issue came out, I wasn’t part of the magazine on a day-to-day basis at that point and didn’t have any input with the creation of that idea. But as I understand it, it was Rocco’s idea to have the mag come in a cereal box. He was really into gimmicks and wanted every issue to be different. We had a square issue, a spiral bound issue, one issue came with trading cards, etc. The cereal box of Sugar Coated Penis Pops was definitely the one people remember best.

Looking back, it was a twelve year bender. Could it have survived if Rocco had not sold it?

Rocco sold it, along with the snowboard title, BLUNT, to Larry Flynt in 1997. BLUNT would be dead within the year, but Big Brother carried on for another solid seven years. We might have had a better chance at succeeding under Rocco simply because Rocco was a skateboarder and understands how the skateboard industry works and what kids want. We did too, but unfortunately Flynt’s executive team was a little slow to implement the suggestions we were making to help market the mag.

They made porn magazines, so they weren’t familiar with how skateboarding works. They couldn’t seem to understand how important stickers and t-shirts are to skateboarding. I understand Thrasher makes a fortune in merch sales?

There were many reasons why Big Brother died, but one of them was that the magazine literally sold itself those last years: we weren’t able to produce any merchandise or other marketing schwag because Flynt’s lawyers were embroiled in some sort of trademark inquiry with the TV show “Big Brother.” I don’t think there really was any problem, but Larry Flynt is a government target and so everything he does has to be above board and by the book. He has to be extra careful in his legal matters because he’s a popular target for litigation. So they were handling the trademark issue with extra precaution. We weren’t allowed to make any product until they worked that out. It dragged on for years. Like I said, that was one of many reasons why the mag collapsed, but I don’t think we would have had that issue if we were still under the umbrella of the guy who came out with the cereal box issue. I’m sure the other issues would have been equally problematic, but Big Brother was born out of marketing and promotion and Rocco was not shy about making noise.

I know at one time you told me that lucrative Jackass money never seemed to flow your way. Could it have? I sense many folks on YouTube owe you royalties too.

No, I was definitely not rolling in the Jackass dough. Could I have? I mean, I helped create it and I was invited to be a part of the cast, so I guess so. But I was also invited to become the editor in chief of one of the biggest skateboard magazines in the world. Obviously I chose the latter. Even knowing now the success that Jackass enjoyed, I’d make the same decision today. Jackass was Tremaine and Knoxville’s baby, while I would be Editor In Chief of Big Brother—the idea of running my own show was much more attractive.

I’m a skater and a writer, so it was an easy decision to make: travel the world and write about skateboarding, or get kicked in the balls in front of millions of people? And I suppose that was the other thing: the money at the beginning of Jackass didn’t seem worth leaving skateboarding for. It wasn’t much and there was no guarantee that the show would succeed and “lead to bigger and better things.” I’m very proud of what little I contributed to Jackass, and even more proud of what those guys made it into. It was a very unique team/family that was created there and I don’t know if it would have been the same had one of them been missing, or if there was another person added to the mix. Like would The Beatles have been The Beatles if there were three of them, or five of them?

If you ran a magazine called Little Sister, what would it have inside? I would not run a magazine called Little Sister.

What piece of advice would you give a skate magazine for 2018 and beyond?

I would stay away from any magazine titles that begin with the letters B and M. Because, as you probably know, BM is also an acronym for “bowel movement.” It’s sort of an archaic term. I don’t often hear young people saying, “After coffee I have my morning BM,” but I still hear the term occasionally. So BM probably isn’t the best choice for a skateboard magazine title—unless of course your magazine really is a stinking, hot pile of shit, then I suppose BM would be appropriate.

And I think on that note, we’ll end it there.

Most of the material published in Big Brother was way beyond what most would consider appropriate for a magazine on skateboarding.

Aloha, I am honored to be part of the Concrete Wave crew and being featured this month for my art is a real pleasure. I grew up surfing and skating in Santa Cruz California in the early 80’s. I ended up entering a lot of freestyle skateboarding contests during the same time in LA and I became one of the top pros.

This was a wonderful time for freestyle skateboarding, and I was glad to be a part of it. I went on to serve 21 years in the United States Marine Corps, and served in both Iraq, and Afghanistan. I came out alive and thankful. I am now a parent of three teenagers in Hawaii. At 51, I am in college and I paint to relax. I find painting to be extremely cathartic, creative, and soothing. I need it, like people need food; I enjoy the process so much. All I really want is for the viewer to feel something from my soul. Like a wonderful, unexpected gift from a stranger. I want my art to stop people from stressing over life, even if it’s just for a few moments

That kook Mike Brooke tried to censor our shi but by the grace of our Lord and Savior the all mighty Skatan fun has prevailed, so for revenge Samson hid anal beads somewhere in this magazine. See more uncensored kookery on our Instagram. @zero–fucks–bolt –co

2018 Crystal Ball Predictions

We asked a number of folks within the worldwide skate community to give us their thoughts on the upcoming year.

Bud Stratford Skate Everything Blog

Fedkenheuer Associate Editor, Concrete Wave

No matter how cyclical skateboarding may be, its future in 2018 is in the control of those who care enough to alter its trajectory. Those who spend the year training for the Olympics will be the new leaders who help share our lifestyle to the masses. Those who spend the year rejecting the Olympics will (hopefully) channel their energy into making their local scenes stronger out of spite. Skateboarding will still be here when 2019 rolls around and I speculate that the industry will be on the rise by then. However, it all comes down to what we put into it first.

The future does not look bright for mom and pop shops, unless and until the industry makes some very quick and decisive commitments toward saving this critical industry infrastructure. The Olympics might well be a macro-level boom for the popularity of skateboarding worldwide, and that’s probably why the industry is largely supportive of the idea. As for me, personally, I’m completely indifferent to it. I certainly don’t support it, and I definitely won’t be watching it.

Contests are out. Why do we want to promote a paradigm where a thousand kids show up for a day, maybe a hundred actually skate, and only a handful leave as the “winners?” That seems stupid and self-defeating for promoting a pastime across all ages, genders, and abilities. Grassroots, all-inclusive events that promote widespread participation in a fun and easygoing format are the future. Jam sessions, get-togethers at the local park, longboard cruises, micro trade shows, bbq’s - things like that are the future of events.

Uncle Funky’s Skateshop, Greenwich Village, NYC

Mom and pop shops are hanging tough. Shops that are still in business have figured out how to keep costs under control and provide a muchneeded service in their respective skate communities. We’re seeing a boom in skateboarding of all styles with more and more beginners walking into the shop. There’s also a sort of skate renaissance happening where teenage kids are gravitating towards the old-school shaped boards, and reissue graphics. Along with cruiser setups and longboards, the demand for different types of skateboards continues to grow.

Alex Newton Clutch Manufacturing

When skateboarding is uncool, skateboarding becomes cool. When skateboarding is no longer cool, skateboarding is cool again. Time after time. I can’t tell you where skateboarding is going to go next year, I never should have picked one up in the first place, but then again, I’ve never been very cool.

In October I gave all my furniture away, threw all my skateboards into a cargo box and threw my books, clothes and dog in my car. I drove 2500 miles back across the country to a place where I can set up Clutch Manufacturing. In 2018, Russ is going crazy with his new screen-printing rig, and I’m going to make some skateboards for the awesome, and weird Soda Factory community.

Douglas Palace Skateboard Shop, Kingston, Jamaica

It’s very good for skateboarding in Jamaica for 2018. Skateparks are in the process of building and will be completed in 2018. The Jamaica Skateboard Federation will be extending the skateboard program into the schools of Jamaica with the ministry of Education, and Ministry of Culture and Sports. Our shop is doing great; we will be opening another store in Montego Bay, and also Ocho Rios in 2018.

Bryan Trullinger Moonshine Mfg,

The future is bright for skateshops that add value for their customers. Example: In-person demos, events, maintenance and exclusive product offerings…benefits that you cannot get online. Skate parks, pump tracks and destination events all have a place in skate, and bring more options to the sport. The key is to keep them INCLUSIVE and AFFORDABLE.

Candy Dungan Pro-Rider, Associate Editor, Momentum Marketing & PR

The skate industry is in a state of flux. The circle of skate life is out of sync (brands support events/ shops/media -> events/shops/media support skaters -> skaters support brands/shops). The female scene is growing. New female skaters are popping up daily in my news feeds, and the skill level of women’s skating is rising. Only time will tell whether or not the skate industry notices this trend and cashes in on it by supporting women through specialized gear and tailored marketing. Example: “Can we get leathers in a women’s fit, please?!”

Jon Milsteadio Founder, Kannibal Skateboards

We see the future of longboarding progressing. It is big in Brazil, and moving across the U.S. Over the past year, we have seen more individuals interested in the core side of longboarding. It would be cool to start some type of street circuit for the longboarding industry. In order to do that, we all must come together to support the sport of tech longboarding.

Jeff Gaites

Daniel

Steve

Photo: Dan Murphy

Photo: Bryan Davis

Photo: Peter Jones

I see more pump tracks, snake runs, and free public parks being a part of every community. I hope the Olympics will keep skaters on an even playing field. Skateboarding is not a sport, it’s a passion.

Judi Oyama

Pro Slalom Skater

Skateboarding is not a sport. It’s a passion.

Photo: Brad T. Miller