/ISSUE 2
Culture lines
The Revolution Issue
/THE OPENER
Not all revolutions are equal.
There are the big loud ones that are impossible to avoid, forcing change en masse. Others are more subtle – starting with one person and slowly building in power and presence until they change everything around us. These start without a massive uprise, driven by the knowledge that something needs to change or a problem needs to be solved. The invention of a new technology can also become the foundation for massive global shifts. These are the types of revolutions I’m most interested in, and this is what we explore in this issue of Culturelines — REVOLUTION. In every story, there is a foundational idea that maybe didn’t seem like much at the time, possibly even failing at first. But all proved to be globally influential, whether that change happened overnight, took 20 years, or is still just getting started. From a scrappy crew of New York kids whose culture and aesthetic became pervasive in every area of modern life, to common sense thinking from an uncommon person, or even a circuitry error that changed the world of music. These are ideas that break racial, social, and gender barriers. They are the movements that create progress and transformational change, even if they start quietly. The amazing part is that all of us have the same potential to spark a revolution, starting with a small idea, and through belief and perseverance, create a movement of our own. What is YOUR revolution? — Trent Bush, Editor in Chief 2
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Singapore Photo: Frankie Spontelli
/CONTENTS
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Freak Power
Split Decision
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Legend of the 808
Full Bleed
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32 Rebellious Progression
SnowEx
On the cover: Election Day, Aspen, Colorado - November 3, 1970 Image courtesy of Freak Power documentary
16 Transforming Tāmaki Makaura
/Editor in Chief, Trent Bush /Contributors, Amani King, Amelia Arvesen, Ben Hitch, Matt Bennett /Publisher, ARTILECT STUDIO /Design, Justin Curtis /Artwork, Evan Hecox /Agency, ECHOS Communications
@culturelines & @artilect.studio
Culture lines is an
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/PEOPLE
k a e r F r e w o P “It’s time in this country for somebody to run on some kind of realistic program rather than to get into this hypocritical gibberish that has characterized politics in this country for I don’t know how long and still does in most parts of it.” – Hunter S. Thompson, 1970
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Hunter S. Thompson on election day, 1970. Image Courtesy of Freak Power documentary
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/PEOPLE
Hollywood has portrayed Hunter S. Thompson as an erratic Gonzo, caught in a hurricane of guns, drugs - and always - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. But there’s another story to tell. And this one, which surfaces a whole different Thompson - comes to life through the eyes of Daniel Joseph Watkins’ documentary, Freak Power - The Ballot or the Bomb. The story begins in 1970, when Thompson - a writer and journalist - kicks off a campaign to run for Sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado. Pitkin has a population of under 20,000 and the city of Aspen is the seat of local government. With the popular history of Thompson’s tales now accessible for all, the mere idea of him running for sheriff may seem odd. But you have to look beyond Aspen and Pitkin County: the U.S. was in tough times in the 60’s and 70’s as revolution fueled by the desire for change, and the rise of “hippies” was reshaping the landscape of America. And really, it was the combination of local, national, and international happenings of the time that brought forth the movement known as Freak Power, led by none other than Hunter S. Thompson. The societal and cultural elements of the 60’s and 70’s were, in a
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sense, a form of rebirth for America, fed by the Vietnam War, racism, sexism, and police militancy. And for Thompson, part of the issue was a local rush of developers taking over Aspen Valley, in essence early environmental advocacy. In Aspen and many cities around the country, an old guard was established and resistant to change. But the hippies were moving in with entirely different perspectives on happiness, politics, the environment, and what makes life worth living. It boiled down to a societal split, groups that could not see eye-toeye. The similarities to our current landscape are uncanny. If you haven’t seen the film, go stream Freak Power now, because it is amazing. But know that if you’re looking for a Fear and Loathingstyle Gonzo show, Freak Power just ain’t it. The story and film open
Thompson giving his concession speech. Image courtesy of Freak Power documentary
doors to historical context that reach well beyond the history books, and presents an intelligence and contemporary relevance through the power of art and of local people to make change happen in their communities on up to the national and global levels - and the power to build a movement on ideals, perseverance and art. We had the opportunity to speak with DJ Watkins, the producer of Freak Power and curator of Aspen’s Gonzo Gallery. While he was up to his brows in errands - orchestrating the shipment of some Freak Power Art to NYC - he proved to be gracious, articulate, and an outright standup guy. This is the deep dive into the story behind Hunter S. Thompson and his historical political campaign, through the eyes of a modern revolutionary.
Illustration by Ralph Steadman courtesy of Freak Power documentary
Tell us how the project got started, and did you set off with a specific vision in mind? DJ: “We knew from writing the book Freak Power that there was a great story, and once we found the footage the story took on a life of its own. One of the exciting things about the project was that as we were making this film about democracy falling apart, voter intimidation, or any exciting political campaign, things started in real life around America. That really made us realize what was happening back in Thompson’s era was happening today. “Many will say history has a way of repeating itself, but I like to say history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes.” When George Floyd was killed, there was a resurgence of Black Lives Matter, police oppression, police brutality, and there was this whole new conversation. What is compassionate law enforcement and community policing? Those were really important ideas that Hunter was espousing 50 years ago. Another exciting thing about making the film was that it seemed the story became more relevant and timely.
And that had a lot do with why we released Freak Power when we did. Hunter’s story is about a small town political race, but the story of Freak Power has national relevance and implications. The film really speaks to where we are today.”
On the parallels of the Freak Power Movement and the current social and political environment - does that concern you, or give you hope? DJ: “Both. It’s uplifting and hopeful to know that we’ve been through shit-shows before. In 1970 there were 4,000 bombings in America. So it’s sad because we haven’t come so far as a country, the divisions are still there. But it also shows that we can get through it - that’s one of the uplifting parts of the story. And what Hunter was fighting for, which is really important to think about right now, was about the rise of interesting, young, inspiring political leaders. We need those people.”
The vision that many people have of Thompson are largely based on Fear and Loathing. Freak Power presents a starkly different person, a deeply
intellectual, charismatic, natural leader. Were you surprised by the footage? DJ: “We had some battles over the film. Some people wanted to see the crazy Hunter. But our archival elements just didn’t speak to that side of him. Sure, there were a couple exciting, weird, Gonzo things in our footage. But as a whole, it was serious, thoughtful, charismatic. I think Hunter deserves more credit for being one of the greatest journalists of the 20th century, creating his own form of journalism, and for his courage to stand up for what he believed in. Those are powerful things. You wouldn’t necessarily want to go up against the police structure, but Hunter went right at it. He was also one of the first to espouse environmentalism. He had an environmental task force to find people who were abusing the environment. He talked about pollution. He talked about development. He talked about protecting our ecosystem. And I wish other people had seized on that aspect of Hunter.
“Many will say history has a way of repeating itself, but I like to say history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes.” Film directors Ajax Philips (left) and DJ Watkins (right), with Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner. Courtesy of Freak Power Documentary 7
/PEOPLE And it’s humorous, but his plan to change Aspen’s name to Fat City was really about calling out development, which was a big issue in his campaign. Aspen was getting run over by developers at that time. The campaign wasn’t so much about Hunter himself, but in creating a roadmap for other people to make political change. These same issues are happening all over the place Park City, Venice Beach - you name it.”
Hunter’s writing and the art by Ralph Steadman and Tom Benton were powerful parts of the Freak Power movement. Do you think the written word and artwork are still as powerful in social movements today? DJ: “I think art is really important in creating movements and making politics exciting. In my book about Tom Benton, artist Paul Pascarella said, “Tom Benton’s art made it really easy for everyone to understand who’s on whose side.” You immediately knew who you were going to vote for. The 1972 George Mcgovern Presidential Campaign was a real watershed in political art. I do think that art is lacking today, and one of the cool things about the book and Benton’s art is how his work speaks to today. There is a renewed meaning in the posters, and two come to mind, “Celebrate Man’s Inhumanity to Man” and “Patriotism is the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel.” I think we should look back to Benton’s art to be inspired to make new art. Political art and artwork in general is critical to any social movement, and I think clever politicians should use it and that it’s wise to look at Hunter and Benton as a template on how to make a political campaign savvy, interesting and fun.”
What do you want people to take away from Freak Power; what do you want them to do?
DJ: “Hunter’s campaign shows that people can have a profound impact on their community by running for office, voting, and getting involved. And although Hunter didn’t win the race for sheriff, he registered 1000 Freaks to vote. Those same people elected progressive minded people in 1972; those people instituted the open space and trails program, they helped start affordable housing, helped preserve the environment, helped limit development. Many of the things we love about Aspen today go back to what Hunter and his friends took a stand for.”
How did you even get aligned with Hunter, and what led you to open the Gonzo Gallery, start the book, and how was the footage found for Freak Power?
I have to give credit to the Historical Society and all the local footage they provided. And to Tim’s TV, a British TV crew that had filmed a 25-minute documentary. And Hiser’s photos, Prager’s photos, Benton’s posters; my work on the Benton book gave us access to much of what we needed.
And as our time with DJ concluded, his simplistic take on the whole experience of the project is probably something even Hunter S. Thompson would be comfortable articulating. Watkins finished by saying, “The film itself was kind of an “aha” moment.”
DJ: “My introduction was through the artwork of Tom Benton, that was my first book - looking at political art from the 60s and 70s and how its message can be reinterpreted today. Benton’s artwork was my intro to Thompson. The footage was a twist of fate. One evening at the Woody Creek Tavern my buddy Bob Brautis, (former Aspen sheriff of 24 years), introduced me to his goddaughter who controlled the footage. Brautis basically said, “This is my friend DJ, he wrote the book, he knows the story, you’ve got to work with him.” So we found the initial can in a barn in Aspen and that led us to LA to look at another archive. These were all disparate elements - audio and video files, and nothing was synced. It was a year’s effort to try to sync things together before we found a scene with a sawed off shotgun that matched up with audio, which we were transcribing. And we were all like, “holy shit!” Finally we were able to piece the files together and come up with 13 minutes of continuous footage.
Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb is available to stream on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, and Vimeo. freakpower.com Political posters by activist Thomas W. Benton, gunshot art by journalist Hunter S. Thompson, artwork by the illustrator Ralph Steadman as well as work by leading contemporary artists and photographers are on display at the Fat City Gallery in downtown Aspen. fatcitygallery.com
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Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb poster designed by Ralph Steadman, courtesy of Freak Power documentary
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/POSSIBILITIES
Images Courtesy of Roland Corporation
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Legend of the 808 Who can see the revolution coming when the revolutionary is first born? When you cross paths with a legend in the making can you feel it? Words: Amani King
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/POSSIBILITIES In 1980 a child was born in Japan. The child came from humble beginnings and an unconventional upbringing, but was destined to change the world of music forever. A revolutionary that spoke with a singular voice. A legend was about to be written. Perhaps this child could only have been born in Japan - at that particular time in history - when Japanese electronic technology was ascendant. Certainly it could only have been born to the family once known as Ace Tone, and later, more famously, as Roland. This family gave the child a name that would become known around the world, TR808 Rhythm Composer, and the child was born to make beats. Like its older brother CR-78 CompuRhythm, it had a bit of American DNA from musician and engineer Don Lewis, but it was the genius of the family patriarch Ikutaro Kakehashi - deliberately making use of offspec transistors that gave sizzle, snap, and boom to the child’s voice. And under the leadership of Tadao Kikumoto it was the design vision of one Hiro Nakamura that gave the child unique circuitry to house a brain provided by Mr. Hisanori Matsuoka’s software which gave the child groundbreaking capabilities. TR-808, or just the 808 for short, was the first of its kind. Its voice was like drums but not drums — it sounded more like a futuristic idea of drums. Synthetic. Robotic. Hypnotic. The first fully programmable rhythm making robot at your service. Conceived of as a demo tool, a percussion sketchpad, a portable workshop for professional composers, little 808 stepped out into the world in 1980, looking sharp in its black and gray suit with orange and yellow accents and was… commercially rejected. A shortlived failure. Few saw its potential early on.
But the 808 was just getting started. Theories were being sketched out by early electronic musicians like Kraftwerk in Germany and Yellow Magic Orchestra (the first to partner up with the 808) in Japan, and a revolution was brewing on the other side of the Pacific. The 808 found its way into the hands of visionaries who were cutting their own paths and the word started to be heard on the streets. The 808 and Marvin Gaye gave R&B new feeling with ‘Sexual Healing’. But the real revolution sprang from ‘Planet Rock’. With one irresistible single Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force planted seeds that would grow into the entire culture of Hip Hop and major electronic music genres like Miami bass and Detroit techno. In the 808 revolution to come, Planet Rock was the manifesto.
drum machine - became a world-wide wellspring of creativity. If someone randomly says “drum machine” to you, the beats that pop into your head are almost guaranteed to be in the voice of the 808. It is the drum machine to rule all drum machines for its distinctive sound and its musical legacy. The revolution didn’t need to be televised; it was felt on the street. Booties got shook. Bodies got rocked. And right up to the present moment, the beat goes on and on and on. roland.com/us/promos/roland_tr-808
And you don’t stop! Once the seeds took root the 808 was an irrepressible collaborator. Producers like Rick Rubin and groups like the Beastie Boys got in pretty early as did Whitney Houston on ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and the sound became so definitive that countless artists had to have the beat and the booming bass of the 808. SOS Band, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Fatboy Slim, Diplo, Damon Albarn, 808 State (naturally), Talking Heads, New Order, Lil’ Wayne, Kanye, Aphex Twin, Future, Outkast, Usher, Jamie xx, hell, even drummer Phil Collins had an early love affair with the 808’s unique sound, and the list goes on and on. While the Japanese have invented countless wonderful things. Japan is often thought of as a refining culture more than an inventing one. The Japanese have a talent for taking good ideas and making them great. So it’s fascinating to see how one humble Japanese invention - the first fully programmable TR-808 Lead Engineer Tadao Kikumoto
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Illustration courtesy of Evan Hecox
/POSSIBILITIES
SNOWEX NASA Takes Snowpack Study to the Skies Words: Amelia Arvesen
For at least the last 100 years, people have collected manual observations on the ground to understand how much snow pack exists. While satellites help map snow cover and track changes, there are limitations. “We’re pretty good at measuring the area that the snowpack covers, but we’re not very good at measuring the amount of water stored in that snowpack,” Elder says. SnowEx, launched in 2017, is trying to close that gap in remote sensing knowledge. Snow-water equivalent, or SWE, informs flood and drought predictions as well as hydropower, reservoir, agriculture, and water resource decisions. It also informs outdoor recreation and ecological aspects, such as wildlife migration patterns and food access. But its measurement over a significant area requires more than one instrument. It’s inefficient and, in most cases, impossible to send hundreds of field workers into high altitudes and remote areas to keep collecting data. From January to March, a NASA aircraft flew over select locations in the West to measure snowpack while a team of field researchers like Dylan Craybeek dug dozens of holes in the snow below. “It takes close to an hour, and I’ll dig anywhere between four and eight pits on a field day,” Craybeek says. Spread across six sites in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Colorado this winter, these researchers measured snow depth, density, temperature, 14
grain size, and liquid water content, among other data points. The corroboration of the data collected from the air with the data collected on the ground is part of a years-long NASA-funded program called SnowEx. One of the reasons they’re studying the massive swath of snowpack is because it’s changing, partly due to climate change, and the decrease in snow has an impact that extends far beyond the ski resorts. Scientists predict that, eventually, water isn’t going to flow freely as it does now. “The one thing we can’t live without is water,” says Kelly Elder, one of the research hydrologists for the U.S. Forest Service. “People think oil is valuable, but that’s because people in power have all the water they want to drink now. Many people already live without adequate clean water.”
The one thing we can’t live without is water.
And capturing images from space has a wide margin of error. That’s why this program, using airborne lidar, radar, and imaging systems alongside data collected from the ground, is a step closer toward better understanding snow and the water stored within it. “We’ve made incremental progress over the years,” says Carrie Vuyovich, a SnowEx 2021 project scientist and lead snow scientist for NASA’s Terrestrial Hydrology Program. “If anything, it’s more critical now, as the climate is changing and having a larger effect on seasonal snow, to understand what impact that’s going to have on our water resources.” In the American West, snowmelt provides about 75 percent of our freshwater, but seasonal snow coverage in the northern hemisphere has been declining fast over the past few decades. If we can better measure snowpack in the headwaters of the Colorado River, for example, that will inform our understanding of how we allocate resources in the water rights areas of the river flowing from Colorado to California. Maybe if non-scientists knew just how precious our freshwater is and how sparse it could become, we might be even more inclined to
preserve it. We might learn to prioritize storing safe drinking water over watering our lawns or washing our cars. And we’ll look at the snowpack beneath our skis even more lovingly than we already do. There’s, of course, more research to be done after SnowEx. The program has at least one more winter of data collection ahead, Vuyovich says. Over the last four years, researchers have also observed snow in California and New Mexico. Yet the studied states only contain some of the six different climate categories in North America: alpine or arctic, Boreal forest, temperate forest, maritime, ephemeral, and prairie. Each category contains varying factors that impact the snow. Other phases of the program would observe snowpack in other states, like Alaska. Once SnowEx concludes, the next phase will work to launch a global satellite mission that tracks snow from space. “If we figure out how to measure snow from space, we can measure large areas at high frequency,” Elder says.
Images Courtesy of NASA
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/PLACES
Transforming Tāmaki Makaurau
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The People and the Land are One A new project in Auckland, New Zealand demonstrates how art, architecture and smart planning can revolutionize everyday infrastructure while reflecting the city’s Māori and Pacific identity.
/What it is Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s $4.4 billion City Rail Link is the largest infrastructure project Aotearoa New Zealand has ever undertaken. It is comprised of two 3.45km-long, twin underground rail tunnels which run up to 42m below the existing city with the potential to cater to 30 million users a year. Once completed, it will turn a oneway cul-de-sac rail system terminating at Britomart Station into a two way through system able to carry up to 54,000 people an hour at peak times.
/Beyond Infrastructure The City Rail LInk (CRL) is also New Zealand’s largest public art project. A powerful expression of indigenous cultural identity, CRL will create an authentic and globally recognisable image of the city of Auckland for the future. The architecture and integrated artwork weaves distinctive stories of place into the design of each station. Set within the natural world, these stories reflect the Te Ao Māori worldview that people and the land are one. The project won the 2019 World Architecture Festival WAFX prize for Cultural Identity.
/Opening 2024
/Discipline Architecture, Urban Design, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design
/Design Collaborators Jasmax, Grimshaw, DesignTRIBE, Alt Group 17
/PRODUCT
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/Who ARTILECT Systems
/What A/SYS - 1 Darkhorse Zoned Baselayer 185 GSM Nuyarn® Merino Technology 91% Superfine merino wool, 9% nylon For Women / Men / All Those Alive in the World
/Where Online and specialty retail across the globe, Fall 2021 www.artilect.studio
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/PEOPLE
DECISION
Provided by Brett Kobernik specifically for this story. The first image ever with all four of the original prototypes together. 20
Editor’s note: Snowboarding exists because of the unmatched experience of riding untracked powder with the minimal equipment needed to allow riders to really find a state of flow. That is the life-changing experience that drove early innovators like Dimitrije Milovich, Toms Sims, Jake Burton, and Regis Rolland to create their snowboard brands that were the roots of a global movement. Before the splitboard, snowboards were relegated to gravity for travel, and if you wanted to get fresh snow, the only options were bootpacking, snowshoes, or snow machines. The invention of the splitboard has completely revolutionized the backcountry experience, allowing riders to travel to their destination in a new way, opening a world of experiences they couldn’t access before. While the splitboard was an idea that was developed in multiple places at once, it was the the work of Brett “Kowboy” Kobernik and Voile owner, Mark “Wally” Wariakois that created their version of the board and binding, which was widely adopted to make splitboarding one of the fastest-growing segments of the backcountry market. For snowboarders who wanted to find their own path, this was THE revolution.
Tell us how this all got started. BK: “I got started in the backcountry around Loveland pass and Summit County, Colorado. One of my favorite tours started in Breckenridge and I snowshoed up over the Tenmile Range and wound up at Copper Mountain, where I was living and working at the time. I felt that there has got to be a better way than snowshoes. The idea was that, “this is so awesome, but how can I do this more, and make it easier?” And it started there. That would have been 1987, but I didn’t start working on the splitboard until 1990 or 1991. I was in Utah at that point, and me and a buddy had the thought that it’d be really cool if we could put these boards back together for the descent. We were splitting boards and making short fats, and using them instead of snowshoes, because they were much better. So how do we put these back together? I got injured and ended up with a lot of time on my hands. That’s when I was in the garage making the first prototypes.”
Do you still have some of the early prototypes?
BK: “Funny you ask because I just found them the other day – prototypes three and four, I think. One with a purple base – and a Sims Switchblade underneath it. I was just cleaning out the old house, where I used to live, and there they were – I gotta get those down to Voile. They’ve been sitting in the basement for years. Number two is screwed to the wall at the Voile shop, and number one was so Swiss cheesed by the time we were done monkeying with it that I think it ended up in the garbage.”
Are there any parts of the early splitboard story that haven’t been told yet? BK: “I’ve talked to a number of different people over the years, but it seems that there’s been more interest recently. A lot of people ask: “Was this the first attempt at this [making a splitboard]?” My honest answer is that I thought it was, but I don’t think we were the first ones to do this, to pull it off. I’ll tell you exactly what transpired - once I got hooked up with my buddy Wally (Voile), we started working on some prototypes and were getting pretty excited about it.
We had some injection molds that we’d built up and, and about the time we were kind of getting things going I see this snowboard from a company by the name of Nitro. And I had some friends who owned Milosport in Salt Lake City; they were big Nitro dealers and were sponsored riders and all that. And I was like, they saw my idea and ripped me off. Honestly that was my first thought when I saw the Nitro split. But they swore they didn’t, and the timeline holds up. When the board showed up in the U.S., there’s no way they could have tooled up that quick to produce that board. In the end they were ahead of our prototypes and production. So while we definitely played a huge role in this, we weren’t the first as far as I can tell.”
Those first boards had a plate binding, right? BK: “That’s right. And that’s why it failed, in my opinion, because you had to use a hard boot with it. The rear foot stance angle was set to something like 15 degrees, and then you could rotate the front foot a small amount. I think it was doomed to fail because many people don’t like hard boots.” 21
But you went down a different path, and it stuck. BK: “For sure. I will definitely take some credit for making this sport happen. I built a prototype system where you could mount soft boot bindings and choose your own stance. My buddy Wally who owns Voile, which was pretty much a telemark company at the time, making tele bindings. It was a big transition to splitboard bindings. When we started building boards, Wally wanted to put side cut on both sides of the ski. It was a good idea except that there was a gap in the middle of the board. And snowboarders couldn’t digest that, you know? But it worked fine. If you stuck someone on a board with a gap in it and they didn’t look down, they just rode the thing, most couldn’t tell you there’s a gap.But perception is a big deal. But that was the first production board, and it went on through the late 1990’s. As soon as we got rid of the side cut – got rid of the gap in the middle with the straight edge on the inside - interest started to take off. We should have introduced that version first, you know?”
Did it seem like it was going to be something big at the time? BK: “When I first met Wally and he let me use his machine shop to carve out pieces, I had around 20 sets of these things. And I didn’t really care if it worked or not, because I’m set - I have enough parts to last my lifetime. This is killer and whatever happens, happens. It really didn’t pick up until 2000 or so and that’s when it started to take off. We were producing the hardware inhouse at Voile. And then there was a small snowboard company in Salt Lake, Defacto, and they were producing boards. The market got flooded with all of these snowboard companies in the late 90’s, and Defacto didn’t make it. Wally ended up buying all of their presses. Voile has pressed the boards ever since.” 22
Do you still ride any of those designs? BK: “So much of the gear is still from the original prototype. We never were able to find a better, more minimalist, or quicker method of keeping the boards together than the two hooks at the tip and tail and the mounting blocks underneath the binding tracks that slide - that’s basically stayed the same since the beginning. Probably my last big contribution was when the original parts got mounted directly to the board using wood screws. While I was dinking around with some different ideas, and I was like, “why can’t we get away from these blocks?” It was a midnight hour type of deal. I got the idea of putting the disc inside independent pucks so we could bolt those down and they were adjustable to almost any stance angle, and the mount didn’t have to be permanent. That was a pretty big step forward.”
That was a big breakthrough. It wasn’t so much about making skis and connecting them back together, but it’s in the pucks and the way the bindings work to solidify everything back in. BK: “Yeah. Because you gotta be able to pound a resort on the thing that was how I always looked at it. I was working up at Snowbird at the time and I’d ride them in the resort to pound down and make sure they felt good.”
Is there a design that’s floating around in your head right now? What are you working on? BK: “I moved from Salt Lake down to central Utah a number of years ago to get out of the rat race. I’m avalanche forecasting down here with the Utah Avalanche Center and I got turned on to motorized snow bikes. I use snowmobiles to access the terrain, because we’ve got few places where you can drive up, unload and just walk on with skis or a splitboard. The real jams are the
places where you need some sort of motorized transportation. I started off with a standard snow bike built, a kit by Timbersled that I’ve used for a number of years. And I’ve always got to start tweaking on things, it’s never quite what I want. So I started tweaking to the point where I’m building these things from scratch, and using snowmobile engines instead of motorcycle engines. I wouldn’t be surprised if the snow bike industry doesn’t start producing a snowmobile engine-powered snowbike, rather than these kits. I was out riding the prototypes today. I didn’t even take the skis or anything, just went out to ride the bikes. They are incredible; it’s an 800 cc engine with a fullwidth 155 inch snowmobile track and a single ski. It’s insane. There’s something like 150 horsepower vs. 45 horsepower from a motorcycle engine. It’s not even close.”
Tweaking anything else right now or working on any other projects that you can share with us? BK: “I’m just building those snow bikes right now. And I help Wally out with little tweaks he does to the splitboards and his avalanche gear and the skis as well – I give those guys feedback, but I’m not so involved with the day to day. I do my forecast down here and I try to screw off and get into the mountains as much as I can.”
Brett “Kowboy” Kobernik has been described as having a PhD in Garage Science. He’s currently a forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center, a member of Voile’s V-Team of ambassadors, and has worked as a helicopter ski guide in Valdez, Alaska.
Justin Ibarra, Colorado backcounty | Photo Trent Bush
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Full Bleed We serendipitously interviewed Alex Corporan on National Skateshop Day. Corporan is a legend, an OG Manager of Supreme in NYC, former pro skater, and the creator of Full Bleed, a photographic journey through the early days of the NYC skate scene. Alex went deep on how skate led to Supreme.
Photos courtesy of Full Bleed 10 year anniversary book release this Fall
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Coco Santiago/Sean Sheffey | Photo: Bryce Kanights
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It’s probably hard to view yourself as a linchpin in the early NYC skate culture - which laid the foundation for Supreme and so many other projects and brands. At the time did it seem like you were part of something that was going to be huge? AC: “I had no idea where it was going to take me. In the mid 80’s it was going against the grain. I grew up in Washington Heights, and as a Dominican there was an expectation - I was supposed to be writing graffiti and have three kids by age 16. My best friend Freddy got a skateboard from Skates on Haight in San Francisco. We were the only two skateboarders in school. I took to skateboarding and fell in love with it right away. The next thing you know we’re going downtown, and then we’re meeting Rodney Smith and Bruno Musso from SHUT Skateboards. And then I met Gizmo, Justin Pierce, and Loki. The way it grew was so natural. We were the colors of Benetton - a bunch of colorful kids skating together. Cops and security guards didn’t know how to deal with us: “Wait, so this Chinese guy, this black guy, this Spanish guy and this white guy are all together, what are they doing?” We weren’t a gang. We were just a bunch of kids on skateboards. “Who’s this mixed bag of kids fucking up this building?” But the place that brought the world of New York together was the Brooklyn Banks. It was like finding the Pyramids. We figured it all out, skating this brick wave. Soon everyone from every part of the city was there. But the shops were the glue, and the history of the skateshop is a home, a clubhouse. There was Soho Skates, Ann was the owner, and we called her Soho Ann. And then Steve Schwartz opened up Skate N.Y.C. in ‘88 or ‘89. Before Supreme, we had all these places to hang. As a crew we had no plans beyond “maybe we’ll go to California.” And the next thing you know I got a ticket, I got sponsored, and I’m off to San Diego. And it’s “oh shit, I’m skating with the people in the skate video, with all the pros, and they know about me - how do they know about me?” It was odd, because everything was so brand new.
Alex Corporan | Photo: Mike O’ Mealy
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Peter Bici | Photo: Dimiytry Elyaskavich
It was a different time in the world when everyone was so psyched on each other. No cell phones, no Instagram. The way you identified with people was through what they were wearing - if someone had Vans or Airwalks or an Independent t-shirt, you knew they were a skateboarder, you knew they were core. “Oh, that guy has holes in his sneakers, he skates, I’m gonna talk to him.” The brands were our communication.”
How did that turn into Supreme? AC: “A bunch of things started to happen at the same time. I was a sponsored skateboarder, going back and forth to San Diego. I met Chappy at the beginning of ASR [Action Sports Retailer tradeshow], which was the other home and it was awesome. Around 1993 I was pretty much living in San Diego, and I ran into Chappy who was about to open a shop. James [Jebbia] had been part of Stussy, and then opened up Union NYC - Chappy and Pookie worked there. Chappy convinced James to open up a shop, because many of the other shops had closed down - it was a dead time in New York. So James opened a new shop - Supreme - with Giovanni Estevez, Chappy, and Pookie as the main guys. Once Supreme opened, it was the new clubhouse. At the same time Zoo York opened, in ‘93, so that was the other clubhouse. We’re all sponsored skateboarders, Rodney Smith, Ollie Oshen, Bruno Musso. Rodney started Zoo, and they had the place in the meatpacking district where we all hung out. But it was only for people who were sponsored by Zoo, and friends and family - that’s it. There was no walking into the meatpacking district - there were dead cows and pigs all over. Larry Clark and Harmony Korine were hanging out in Astor, and they liked us so we started doing the movie, Kids (directed by Clark and Korine). We weren’t actors, Justin wasn’t an actor, Rosario [Dawson] wasn’t an actor. I still have the script, and we always laughed about it - “we’re really gonna say this?” Supreme opened in 1994, and there was this giant boom in New York. Supreme was our new clubhouse because Giovanni was there, Pookie was there, and those guys were running the shop back in 1994 and ‘95. I started working there in ‘96 or ‘97. Once I became one of the main managers, I treated Supreme as a home for all of us - “This is where you need to be.””
ore preme st inal Su the orig in an rpor Alex Co
Mike Vallely | Photo: Miki Vukovich
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“A lot of people think they can copy the box logo and recreate Supreme. But there will never be something like that again. You can’t recreate the clubhouse, that period of time, and all the things that were happening. No amount of money can duplicate that.”
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SHUT Crew | Photo: Bryce Kanights
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“Skateboarders are like dogs in a car. A friend will ask, “what are you looking at?” And I’ll say, “You see that curb over there? It’s perfect.”
Bobby Puleo | Photo: Mike O’ Mealy
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Gritty Crew | Photo: Angela O’Neal
Why do you think that the culture around skate was so powerful and influential? “Once skate switched over to the street, we became a powerful force. Vert skating had died. So there’s San Francisco and New York and it’s all street skating now. It was about the people - the colors of Benetton running the streets. Messing up buildings and fucking with security guards. We had no racism. We ate the same pizza, drank the same juice. We just skated. And that was hard for people to figure out. The mesh of who we were and what we were doing didn’t fit any models, it was unheard of. The view was it’s gotta be black or white, and then we came along. Skateboarding was - and still is - one of the only truly democratic things. Skateboarding doesn’t care. Our crew came together around it, and because it was something that some people didn’t like and didn’t understand, that made it even deeper with us.”
When did you realize Supreme was going to be something big? AC: “The big turning point was when Japan caught on to the brand - it blew up. And this was pre-eBay, so the Japanese crew would fly over to buy stuff - 20 people on a plane with bags loaded with gear to take back and sell in Japan. If it weren’t for Japan, a lot of us wouldn’t be where we are. Big love to all the family in Japan. The Supreme culture, and a lot of the streetwear culture wouldn’t be what it is today without Japan. The next big hit was the Nike SB, it hit the street culture and Nike did it right. People knew there was a shoe in a colorway that they couldn’t get. Danny Supa. Reese Forbes. And that’s when Supreme started owning the whole idea of drops and limited editions. We were the only place you could get the shoe; a shop would have three pairs and we’d have 120. And we had to really police who gets what and which products go where, so we became the go-to. 32
But if you visited the shop in 1996 or ‘97, it was dead. There was a crew burning Nag Champa, which became our signature scent, but that was to cover up what was going on in the back. We kept the shop pristine. There wasn’t an unfolded shirt in there, it was cleaner than a Louis Vuitton shop. You couldn’t touch anything, we’re playing music as loud as hell, and running people out if it got too busy. It was a club thing - you want to get in, but you can’t. The real marketing was us. We’d all go out to the clubs with our box logo. And people would be like “who the hell is that?” We were the marketing troupe. And James didn’t really know how it was happening - he didn’t go out with us much. But James is smart and he chose the right crew to run the shop, Pookie, A-ron, Giovanni, and he knew that we were effectively a big walking marketing campaign for Supreme. But there were basically 20 years when Supreme wasn’t a thing. People didn’t care about it. And then there was a period of time where it was only about Japan. Now it’s massive. We built something huge, having tens of thousands of people out there who would talk about it, proudly wear it at the right time. And when the Internet came along, Supreme really scaled.”
Would you say that skateboarding was the kernel of collaborations? “Skateboarding was definitely the nucleus, and skate and art have always been linked. Boards are a perfect canvas. But music was another way: if it weren’t for skateboarding, De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest wouldn’t have been as big, because they grabbed a different audience. Same thing with Wu Tang. If it wasn’t for skateboarding, they wouldn’t have expanded as they did. Look at Mike Carroll’s part, Sal Barbier, Hieroglyphics, and all those guys, how would those guys have ever been known if it weren’t for Mike Carroll playing that in his video? The skateboarding world brought all of this to new audiences.”
How did the Full Bleed project get started, and what’s behind the name? AC: “I would get a lot of questions about where we skate, why we skate, why we’re not landing tricks all the time. I wanted to create a photographic book that would bring all of this together, a glimpse of all that goes on behind the scenes. The idea was to show people in an artistic way - not only New Yorkers - but shots of people doing their thing. I wanted people to see the beauty of New York, but of course the skating element and the people are the lead. So that’s how I curated Full Bleed. I started the project on my own but had connections with the photographers and everyone was excited about it. But like any project it’s hard to do on your own and I wanted to work with people who were really into it. So Ivory Serra and I were talking and he suggested Andre Razo, who’s a graphic artist and knows how to design books. So Ivory, Andre and I became the team that made Full Bleed happen. We started with 20 or so photographers but Full Bleed ended up featuring the work of 71 photographers. On the publishing side, Andre knew people at VICE Media; they took a look and the following week they called us to sign the contract. It went from me having an idea while sitting at a restaurant, to connecting with Andre and Ivory and then, boom! - we did it. We were friends with Mazdack Rossi at Milk Studios, and he did our first big show and it just took off. Later we had a room for a year at the Ace Hotel, Room 1022, with a collage of the photos, and we did book signings in Miami and LA - it was amazing. Full Bleed was going to be called Cement. But when you look at any skate magazine - Thrasher, Transworld, whatever, when it came to New York they never used full bleed photos. It was always a cropped shot on the side. We set out to do it right.”
First published 10 years ago, Full Bleed will be reissued in 2021 with nearly 100 pages of new material and previously unreleased photos. By design there are no page numbers, no photo captions, and on the cover is Bruno Musso, trying to get into CBGB. He didn’t have ID. 33
Rebellious P
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Veronica Paulson | Photo: Brett Wilhelm / Red Bull Media House
Progression
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The name Jackson Hole immediately brings to mind words like steep, wild west, rugged, and extreme, and there may be no other town and ski area that still captures the persona of an old western cowboy. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has a history of being a bit of a rebellious outsider, one that everyone wants to high five, explore, and attempt to tame. The JHMR opened back in 1965 as Après Vous Mountain, with the original tram carrying 52 skiers to the top of Rendezvous Mountain. Roughly 15 years later a group known by the name of the Jackson Hole Air Force was beginning to take shape. The Air Force was initially no more than a name to indicate a group of skiers who were good at what they did. As more adventure seekers began to descend on Jackson, the Air Force members with founding fathers Captain Benny Wilson and Howie Henderson - began heading outside ski-area boundaries more regularly in pursuit of fresh tracks, powder, and steeps. The sole purpose of the group was skiing and accessing new and wild terrain. The number of members began to grow, and after many ceremonial offerings of the JHAF patch at the bar or in the tram line, patrollers caught wind of the rebel group. As a tiff grew between the JHAF and patrol, the stigma of “rope ducking, patrol-provoking alpine outlaws” followed their tracks. As the JHAF needingly began to be more stealth in their missions, they accepted the motto “Swift, Silent, Deep – 1st Tracks OB.” The motto would
become synonymous with the JHAF and stories of the group were passed and whispered on chairlifts and in the iconic Jackson tram. And beyond JHMR’s founder, Paul McCollister, who saw enough in the terrain to take a chance, the actions of the Jackson Hole Air Force were falling right in line with the cowboy mentality of Jackson. As the Air Force opened the doors to JHMR’s backyard, the ski and snowboard world caught wind of the unmatched terrain and Jackson quickly became a “prove yourself” destination. Even within bounds it is some of the steepest terrain in the U.S. and once you pass through the gates into the backcountry, everything you thought you knew is right out the door. And with rugged terrain easily accessible, the inner cowboy again began to rise up with Jackson’s “we do things our way” mentality. Born, raised, and continuing to call Jackson home without so much as a blink of an eye, Travis Rice brought a true rider’s contest back to JHMR. Rice, who is arguably one of the best and certainly most influential snowboarders ever, had previously given the contest circuit a go and medalled at the X-Games and in countless big air events. Rice no doubt found his calling in the backcountry and in 2012 founded the Red Bull Supernatural in Nelson, British Columbia. And years later and after the release of Art of Flight, the Fourth Phase, and taking home first place two consecutive years at
Photo: Chris Wellhausen/Natural Selection Tour/Red Bull Content Pool
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the Freeride World Tour in Hakuba, Japan, Rice brought his friends home to Jackson for the Natural Selection Contest. Working hand in hand with riders from around the world and JHMR, Rice took the best of Jackson’s natural features and created an event that was for riders and judged by riders. JHMR opened its doors to Rice and creatives to contrive a contest unlike any other. Natural Selection was about the progression of the backcountry adventure and getting back to the soul of snowboarding on natural and out of bounds terrain, and most importantly, in Jackson’s backyard. Ultimately, the Natural Selection Tour’s mission is to inspire people to forge a deeper relationship with the outdoors. JHMR is the first stop of three, the others being Baldface Valhalla in B.C. and Tordillo in Alaska and each stop comes with a 7-day buffer built in to provide the absolute best conditions for the riders and ample powder refills. The Natural Selection Series, while offering a very chill and backcountry experience, is the mono e mono battle eventually crowning both a male and female victor, voted and scored by known riders of yesteryear. The series is something new, and challenging what the X-Games and the Dew Tour have established over the last decade. And it should go without saying that Rice has stumbled on something truly unique and that only JHMR would undoubtedly promote and back.
Photo: Revolver Creative Company/Boulder, CO
Austen Sweetin | Photo: Dean Blotto Gray/Natural Selection Tour/Red Bull Content Pool
And while Rice and the Natural Selection Series have gained traction with some big sponsors and multiple stops, JHMR was two steps ahead when the Kings and Queens of Corbet’s went full send. 2021 marked the fourth year of the event of skiers and snowboarders launching themselves off Rendezvous Mountain into the famous Corbet’s Couloir. Again, Jackson with the help of Red Bull, recognized an opportunity to use natural terrain that can only be found on JHMR, mixed with one of the “prove yourself” features to create an event focussed on progression with the understanding that the industry is heading back to the heart of skiing/snowboarding and hot-dogging off what’s naturally provided. The Kings and Queens contest, again, was centered around the progression of the sport, rebellious in concept, and excitedly different from other circulating contests. Paul McCollister saw something special when he looked up at the 10,450 ft face of Rendezvous
Mountain and after selling to the Kemmerer Family in 1992, the cowboy mentality and culture has stayed true to JHMR. Skiers, snowboarders, and adventurers will always flock to the area because of the immediate access to the outdoors only found in and around Jackson. And in addition to redefining what we’ve all come to expect from a ski/snowboard event, JHMR has continued to stand tough and stayed as close to an independent mountain as the industry and culture allows. Similar to what the JHAF was dealing with, JHMR continues to hold strong and prolong the sense of purity synonymous with JHMR, hopeful to avoid overcrowded slopes and potential for overzealous folks heading to the backcountry. While JHMR’s resilience to distance itself seems steadfast, the resort has formed unique and beneficial partnerships with Ikon and Mountain Collective passes. The passes offer a joint effort of resorts across the country and world, offering the chance to ski some of the most
sought after terrain. JHMR and the other resorts recognize the fight is all about strength in numbers and confidence in respective terrain to continue to draw the right crowds, that appreciate the culture and community that support the resorts. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is still very much considered to be part of the wild west. Sure, there are some posh landmarks within city limits, but the heart of Jackson Hole and JHMR remains true to that of the cowboys that rode in centuries ago. The spirit of Jackson continues to run free and the local and world renowned JHMR is right in tow. It’s not so much that Jackson is rebellious, the resort and community simply hold true to their heart and understand the importance of progression while supporting the adventurous and often extreme culture that gets in the tram line morning after morning.
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ARTILECT STUDIO 1045 PEARL STREET BOULDER CO USA WWW.ARTILECT.STUDIO @ARTILECT.STUDIO @CULTURELINES
