a brief glance skateboardmag 02 by a brief glance skateboardmag

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a brief glance

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fake donkey lab a brief glance

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Luca Crestani, bank to bank bs kickflip. Foto Davide Biondani.

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EDITORIAL / 02

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t belive in people who says itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all been done they have time to talk because their race is run. Vladik Scholz, wallie. Foto Eric Antoine.

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ISSUE / 02

CONTENTS

fragments

places the land of the sun coming back from hell

resumĂŠ

Cover: Mauro Caruso, bs smith grind. Foto Davide Biondani.

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/hasselblad foto

/Lisbon /Sicilia /Alby is skating again /the clichĂŠ - book

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EDITOR and CONCEPT Davide Biondani. (davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR Guido Bendotti. PHOTOGRAPHERS Eric Antoine, Leo Sharp, Eric Mirbach, Marcel Veldman, Davide Biondani. CONTRIBUTORS Francesco Paolo Chielli, Anton Jandet, Simone Bertozzi, Ailsa Hay, Fabiano Ferronato, Mauro Caruso. DESIGN Fake Donkey Lab.

www.abriefglance.com www.theskateboardersagenda.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. a brief glance

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www.bluedistribution.com

8 songs we listened whil yuppie flu / together

moloko /sing it back built to spill / kicked in the su

ladytron / destroy everything yo

ming and ping / bea propaganda / duel the cure / love song shelter / better way a brief glance

le working on this issue:

ou touch

autiful things

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Danny Wainwright, Fs Lipslide. Photo: Leo Sharp.

FRAGMENTS

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FRAGMENTS

Pat Lindenberger, Polejam. Photo: Eric Mirbach.

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FRAGMENTS

Ricardo Paterno, Switch Kickflip. Photo: Marcel Veldman.

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Ale Bonacci, Switch bs smith. Photo: Davide Biondani.

FRAGMENTS a brief glance

PLACES/02

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photo davide biondani

Lisbon. 6.00 pm.

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SICILIA THE LAND OF THE SUN Photography and words Davide Biondani

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The land of the sun, an amazing place full of grace and roughness where you breath the flavour of the trees and the smell of the dirt. This is the land of the sun this is the land of the contradictions with snow on the mountains and trees full of the sweetest oranges. Blu sky and green hills half of the year blu sky and burnt fields the rest of the time this is the land of the sun this is the land of nonsense. db

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SICILY IS A GOOD PLACE TO GO IF YOU WANT TO ESCAPE

THE

FROM SUN

RIGHT

EVEN BETTER RE AND

COLD

WINTER

BEFORE

AND

SPRING

SKATEBOARD

COMES,

AND

UNDER

GETS

IF YOU HAVE GOOD FRIENDS DOWN THE-

SOME GOOD GUYS THAT WANT TO COME WITH YOU.

IT ALL STARTED WITH THE EXCUSE TO GO VISIT MY FRIEND MAURO BEFORE HE WAS OFF FOR A 3 MONTHS TRIP TO THE

STATES. SAME DAY I TOLD HIM I WAS GOING, I GOT 4 CALLS FROM 4 DIFFERENT PEOPLE ASKING TO COME.| FOUND A

HOUSE, BOOKED THE FLIGHTS AND THE MISSION WAS ON.

The first time I went to Sicily was in 2004, that's when we probably set up the first real skateboard tour in the island, the article was featured on one of the first issues of Kingpin magazine; since then, every time the chance for a trip to Sicily pops out, I just pack up and go. We arrived during the Festival of Sant'Agata which is the most important religious festival of Catania. It commemorates the life of what is the city's patron saint, Agata of Sicily. For three days, thousands of people invades the city streets to celebrate, and during the week before every neighborhood celebrates the saint by carrying a really heavy statue trough the streets to demonstrate their devotion. Sicily has a special flavour: from the stunning beauty of landscapes to the

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huge cracks on the streets, from the unwritten rules that lay down the law to the best food you can have in the whole country , from the snow on the mount Etna to the fields with thousands of trees packed with the best oranges you can eat. Sicily is the land of the sun, Sicily is the land of contradictions. Skateing in short sleeves in february under a warm sun and looking at the mount Etna volcano full of snow was a special feeling that pushed the crew to skate all the spots we went. I got really impressed the day we skated Fontane Bianche's straight rail where we got 6 new amazing tricks in one hour. It's always good to shoot new stuff in a spot like this and it gets even more exciting when the scene is shredded by some of the skateboarders you respect more.

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Mauro Caruso, switch bs kickflip. Mauro picked us up at the airport and drove straight to this spot in the city of PaternĂ˛ where there is this bar where you can buy some of the best cannoli in Sicily. Every morning we stopped by for breackfast. Mauro welcomes us with a perfect switch bs kickflip under a sicilian blue sky.

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We moved between Catania and Siracusa the south-eastern part of the island: in this area we found some amazing towns to visit, such as Noto, Modica and Scicli, outstanding testimony to the genius of the late Baroque art and architecture. Walking trough those streets really seems to live in a movie set, and the huge, white desert sand beaches, makes you think that summertime down there should be something special.

marble ledge or smooth landing here, rough flat ground and always something wrong is what you basically get, but that's part of the game and that's how we like it. Seven days spent under the sun skating and shooting with your buddiesâ&#x20AC;Śwhat can you ask more? Fantastic!

Of course the spots are good, i'm not talking about the perfect spot, no razor

Danny Galli, feeble grind 180 out. Danny Galli, also known as rooster, is a machine; he skates every kind of spot and if you go shoot with him youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get back home with the goodies. The quarterpipe is in the city center of Catania and this feeble grind to fakie is the first of a 3 tricks line. a brief glance

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Dave Cattaneo, blunt to pivot. The session was over and we were about to leave when 2 nice girls stopped by the place to look what was goinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on. Dave land this early 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s miniramp combo first try. I have always said that If you want to have the tricks done you have to bring some girls to the spot.

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Luca Crestani, hurricane. Luca is the best, every spot we went he got some tricks and every time we go shooting he surprise me with something new. Thinking about the tricks to do here he came out with the idea of the hurricane. This is the second bs hurricane I shot in 17 years. a brief glance

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Danny Galli bs disaster bs revert. These quarters are very steep and you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have time to revert a bs disaster, but Danny knows how to deal with stuff like this and in few tries he got another trick in his pocket.

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Dave Cattaneo, tre flip. Dave Cattaneo got inspired by the sun and by the good food we ate at the desert beach behind the spot. He blasted some trix down the double set ending the session with a perfect tre flip landed powersliding to avoid the impact with the wall in front of him and rolling away with style. Dave has the touch, definitely.

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Dave Cattaneo, taildrop pop shove-it. Dave got stressed by this trick, he wanted it so bad but every time he popped there was always something wrong. It took more than 30 minutes to land it but it was definitely worth. a brief glance

Luca Crestani, hangover ollie. Senseless. a brief glance

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Luca Crestani, fs lip pop out. The first time I went to this spot in 2004 the only trick I shot was fs board pop out and this was the first trick ever made there. Marco Lambertucci did it. During the years many people came to this place and some really good tricks has been done. Fs lip pop out is one of the tricks I shot this time. Luca once again.

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Danny Galli, switch crooks. Danny was one of the member of the original mission of 2004, that time he didâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t skate the thing; six years later heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the first to do a switch trick on this spot. Perfection.

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Mauro Caruso, bs kickflip. a brief glance

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Dave Cattaneo, fs pop. a brief glance

Peppe Romeo, fs noseslide. Peppe is from Siracusa and has been skateing since 1990. He spend his days teaching in school in the morning and skating or searching for new spots to shred in the afternoon. This photo is dedicated to him and to his deep dedication to skateboarding. Without him skateboarding in Sicily wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be what it is today.

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Mauro Caruso, switch kickflip. The bs smith on the cover and this switch kickflip has been done in less than one hour, considering that you have to drive for 25 minutes to get from one spot to the other, Mauro landed two amazing tricks in 35 minutes. Few days before the trip he got on Etnies Europe and this trick is one of the reasons why I would say he deserve it.

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take your time and turn page, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

a present...

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...for you

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John Cardiel 1996

Munster Monster Mastership photography by Davide Biondani

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Alby is skating again

Coming

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words and photography Davide Biondani

back from hell In 2003 Alby was one of the best new skateboarders in Italy, one of those new kids who like to skate fast and ask you a thousand questions a day. He was the guy always down for tours or shooting missions and the gnarlier the spots were the more he would get hyped to skate them. I was stoked to have this funny kid skating in town and ripping around the country. One day coming back from a miniramp session on board of his scooter a car cut his way and crashing on it he flew over doing a front loop and breaking his leg, knee and ankle in 4 parts. One month at the hospital and 3 surgeries hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been enough to set his leg and the doctors were afraid because the blood was not flowing properly and the leg was swelling every dayâ&#x20AC;Śthey were about to cut it.

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What? When, one day, they said that at the hospital we couldn’t believe it. The doctors tried their best and after 2 more surgeries they finally saved Alby’s leg. Two month’s hospital recovery and 5 surgeries later Alby was finally at home. “We saved your leg, but you will always have problems walking. You will never be able to skateboard again, if you’ll broke you leg one more time we don’t know if we’ll be able to save it again” the doctors said. Alby spent the following year trying to get well and have a normal life. After one more surgery he left in 2007 to Australia, “I wanted something good for me after all these bad things that happened, so I left to Australia for almost one year”. Here he tried to push on his skateboard and Oz’s perfect concrete bowls helped him to try the magic feeling again. After Australia he came back home

where he started working. One day, sometime ago, I got a phone call from a common friend who was just came back from China, telling me that he and Alby were waiting for me to go skating a new concrete park in a city not far from where we live. 10 minutes later I was ready to go. An intense session went down that night and Alby skated the bowl like no one else. I asked him to try a bs smith in the deep end and he replied: “Are you crazy Dave? I have never done a bs smith on a pool like this!!!”. “Fuck you baby, do this bs smith” our friend yelled at him laughing. Three tries later he rolled away the most precious bs smith grind I have never witnessed. Now Alby is studying architecture at the University of Switzerland and skating every time he get back to the city. Welcome back buddy.

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the clichĂŠ book

words Guido Bendotti photography Davide Biondani

The Espresso tour: four days with the ClichĂŠ team. a brief glance events

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The best thing about Cliché skateboards is…. Well, actually there are so many good things about Cliché that I can’t just think about a single one. We could talk about this little company from Lyon, becoming a milestone in skateboarding world just ten years after it’s foundation, not to mention being the first european company treating riders like professional skateboarders and not like the last flow team rider. Or we can explain how and why they find some of the most talented skaters from some obscure corners of the old continent and promote them to the skate stardom of skateboarding, and how Cliché survived the ups and downs of skateboarding business without compromising their roots. Or again how cool is that a little group of talented skateboarders simply skating their own spots promote the European skateboarding worldwide, and how you skateboarders can take a look to this company and in some ways feel yourself represented. Resumé is a big book about a 10 years adventure called Cliché skateboards. An adventure full of videos, tours, good skateboarders, and ideas that are as simple as revolutionary. This book is a statement about how with passion, dreams, and a lot of work you can realize something great in skateboarding without moving from where you were born. Cliché is definitely here to stay, and I can’t really wait to see the Resumè book about the next 10 years, ‘cause they will be way more fantastic. a brief glance

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How a young skater from Lyon, pro for a little english company (Deathbox) in the early '90s, can turn into an icon for the European skateboarding (at first), and then an icon for skateboarding worldwide?

riding (and still ride) for Cliché. Were you thinking about an European brand and not only a French board company since the beginning? I was traveling a lot and i knew lots of distributors so Cliché was more than a french brand at the beginning.

I don't know if i'm an icon, but it's all about passion. The only goal I had was to have fun and do what i liked, the I've really enjoyed the time you wrote rest happened like that. "Leave Europe Alone" on you t-shirts and decks. It was a really strong mesYou were (and still are) a good skate- sage, because for decade American boarder. At the time of your early pro companies and pros doesn't even career the American companies didn't consider us, and then all in a moment have European riders. It was during every pro was here to skate European that time that the idea of an Europe- spots, and American mags and videos an company cross your mind, or was still didn't report European skaters in right after the "2 days waiting at LAX action in Europe. airport" story? What happened? Yes this "Leave Europe Alone" was I was riding for Us companies and to good. At the same time it came out be well considered you had to move to with the Skateboarder mag article; it States, even Deathbox had to move to was one of the first article about Euthe US. rope with only european riders…the It started when i had a skate shop in good old time. Lyon it was called "All access"; we were selling only USA stuff. All skateboarding money was going to USA, I had to do something and keep that money for us in Europe. So i decided to start the company. Your first team was really International. A lot of European riders were

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Clichè is still a strong european company, and his roots are in Europe, but you sell a lot in America, and you've won a TWS best team award. Was in that moment that you have realized that actually "you could have make it" here in Europe without moving to the States?

Which was the hardest part of the job? To deal with production and to make sure we have the best of the best.

In the book a chapter is dedicated to Arto Saari: he sent a sponsor me video tape in the spring of '98 but you didn't It's true. we make it without moving put him in the team..and right after to the US, Cliché is still in Lyon. It's he came out as one of the best newcogood because we bring something new mers in the skateboard worldwide scein the California world; I think we are ne. Didn't you put in the team becaulike Zoo York with something fresh se you knew he was too good and the to bring. risk that he would have left soon for a bigger company was too high? Who got the idea of the book and how long did it took for do it? No, actually i didn't put him cause his sponsor tape was not too good and We like to do different things, it's why cause Cliché was not sold in Finland. we like books, vinyl's, and more stuff. I was happy cause even if he was on It took us about 2 years to find all Cliché he would have stay one hour. photos and do the book, make it read C'est la vie… by riders and come back with some corrections on it. It was definitely an hard job. Did you took care of the layout and everything inside Cliché or did you delegated to someone outside? It's the same dude since 2000, Eric is working in-house, but we try to work with lots of people from the outside and do some collabo work.

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Sammy Winter, banana board ollie over the bar into the bank. a brief glance

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Sammy Winter, this tre flip off the fountain cost us 2 fat tickets from local police. a brief glance

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Ricardo Fonseca, kickflip.

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Have you ever had a rider that you would have put in the team but never happened? Danny Wainwright. He was supposed to come to one of our tour during the filming of the "Bon appetite" video, but he never came and he never made it on Cliché.

It happend because i needed to start paying riders and people who were working hard for Cliché, but the deal was clear: we keep doing what we wanted. Which do you think has been and are the keys of the success of Cliché? There are other companies that even if they sell good and have a strong position in the market don’t have the same appeal..

Do you think the fact that a part of the Es video Menikmati had been filmed in Lyon it contributed make the city in the worldwide skateboard map I don’t know. I think it’s all about pasand in some way it helped to make the sion and try not to look to much to company more known? others. Yes, and this video came out at the same time as Europa video, we were skating the same spots, after this we had more respect .

Cliché now is under the Dwindle umbrella. When you sign the contract weren’t you worried about losing your identity and roots?

Did you really flew to Japan to buy a refurbished Sony VX 1000 video camera to film a Cliché part for 411 in 2001? Is the VX 1000 still alive?

No, because the deal was good with the right people. I’m stocked we are working with Bod Boyle and Steve Douglas, some old pro skaters. They know about skateboarding.

I went to Japan for business and at the same time i bought the camera, but New life new motivations, what’s new we had to get a ntsc to work with 411. in the future of Cliché? The camera is dead now. Keep working hard and lots of new In 2001 Cliché has been financially projects. backed from a large European sporting good manufacturing company, how was the feeling when you got the Sammy Winter, offer from them? How did it happebs nosebluntslide. ned? a brief glance

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Charles Collet, fs 3 into the bank.

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Flo Mirtain, fs heelflip into the bank.

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Marley, heelflip boardslide. a brief glance

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Flo Mirtain, bs kicflip up.

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Sammy Winter, boardslide up. a brief glance

Flo Mirtain, switch heel flip.

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now...

call your frie and go out skateboarding a brief glance

ends

g a brief glance

magazine / events / come