issue / 01
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www.abriefglance.com fake donkey lab
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Photo Davide Biondani
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Ricky Comini, pops out to fakie a bs nosebluntslide between the two knobs. Photo Davide Biondani a brief glance
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EDITORIAL / 01
if you don’t prioritise what you do best you will always get poor results. a brief glance
Luca Crestani and Mauro Caruso, fs bluntslide up. Photo Davide Biondani
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ISSUE / 01
CONTENTS
fragments/
hasselblad
the power of simple corbin harris/ultimate
ready to
COVER: Fabio Montagner, second try bs lip. Photo Davide Biondani.
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foto things/ fabio montagner - intw
bw
guide to skateboarding - book
play/
antiz on the
road
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EDITOR and CONCEPT Davide Biondani. (davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR Guido Bendotti. PHOTOGRAPHERS Eric Antoine, Leo Sharp, Davide Biondani. CONTRIBUTORS Anton Jandet, Simone Bertozzi, Ailsa Hay, Fabiano Ferronato. DESIGN Fake Donkey Lab.
www.abriefglance.com www.theskateboardersagenda.com GET ALL THE INFOS at:
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abrief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by fake donkey skateboard asd. No part of this pubblication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. All right reserved. a brief glance
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get a drink, sit down and...
play your favourite song before to start.
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FRAGMENTS Dave Cattaneo Pop shove it. Photo Davide Biondani
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FRAGMENTS
Mike Anderson Crailtap. Photo Eric Antoine
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FRAGMENTS Andy Lopes Fs noseslide Photo Davide Biondani
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FRAGMENTS
Kris Vile Fs bluntslide Photo Leo Sharp
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PLACES/01
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photo davide biondani
downtown melbourne from the docs. 8.00 pm.
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facebook.com/emericaitaly bluedistribution.com
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Fabio Monta the power of simple things
words and photography Davide Biondani intro Guido Bendotti
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INTERVIEW / 01
agner a brief glance
I
t’s boring when you read interviews in skateboard mags and the intro is full of: “He’s a good guy, down to earth, stylish skateboarder, friendly, funny… bla bla
bla” . Boring.
But with Fabio these words are pretty common. If you ask to a bunch of skateboarders what they think about him the answer is pretty much the same: “Contest winner, solid, stylish, strange guy, street shredder, all terrain good skateboarder”. Born and raised in a little town out of the big skate cities, but with some skateparks to shred, Fabio has grown up skatein’ and enjoyin’ life without any other thing in mind. He simply skateboards.
H
e’s one of the few (very few) in Italy who actually can really make it in
skateboarding. He has the skills, and the professionalism, and the pas-
sion, to make skateboarding his “job”. Everybody has see this potential when he was younger (and he’s still young), and they started work with him to make this dream possible. He can, but I doubt that he’s gonna make it. Because he simply doesn’t care.
He skateboards everyday, shoot photos with the best photographers and film for video parts and clips, he works at his skateboarding to get better, he skateboards in every contest, from the big ones with big prize money, to the small ones with the locals only. And he skateboards every time with the same energy and the same thing in his mind: to be a good skateboarder.
H
e has good sponsors, and everybody simply loves him, ‘cause he’ s a skate
rat; he’s professional when it’s time to skateboard (and it’s always time to
skate for him), and he’s always happy with everybody. And he’s not gonna make
it… ‘cause he loves skateboarding so much that he doesn’t care about the biz side of it.
And I hate him for this because he can do what we always have dreamed about. And I love him because he loves skateboarding more then a lot of us. Everybody loves Fabio… ‘cause he earns it !
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The police station is right behind this spot and usually it’s impossible to skate it more
than 10 minutes. Thit day we had luck and the cops let us skate “five more minutes”. Just the time to land the trick. TRE FLIP.
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Ciao Fabio, what are you up to during these spring days? Skating and filming a little.
Are you skating at the park close to your house?
Yes, is a concrete park and is better than other parks here around, during week ends I go skate some bowls or to shoot photos on street.
What are you filming for?
We are filming for the new Strange Skateboards video, I already have four minutes of footy, now that my knee is getting better I have to film something serious ah ah ah. a brief glance
How is Strange doing?
With Strange everything is ok, we are working on some things; team, video, new products, there will be some changes in the
team‌ there is the need of people that can give back something
to the company, not just getting boards, people that can take care of themselves, with the head on their shoulders.
You are like a symbol, a point of reference for the company, do you take care of something in the organization?
I skateboard for them since 2004 and I’m still with them, we are friends. I have no specific tasks apart from skating.
Few days after they finished the flatground Fabio drove
me to a small village in the countryside to see this natural spot. Back in the days locals used to skate it putting some
playwood sheets on the grass. Thanks to the local community a new place to spend good time has seen the light. FS BIGSPIN HEELFLIP
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We tried to hit this spot for like one month last winter,
phone meeting early in the morning to check the weather
and back to sleep because it was raining, everyday. That day we went even if the weather sucked and in fact it was so cold that it was hard for me to handle my camera.
Luckily Fabio took home the trick in less then five tries. WALLIE TO BS TAILSLIDE.
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Same day of the wallie bs tailslide, same grey sky, same
cold wind, different spot. The hardest part of the game was popping off the trick. Fabio landedi it and few minutes
later it started to snow. We jumped in the car, and in two
hours I was back to the city just in time to drop the films to the lab.
SMITH GRIND UP.
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Skating steep hubbas under a big building on a cloudy
saturday morning is not the best thing, expecially if the
hubba doesn’t grinds and people start looking out the windows to check where all that noise is coming from. After a woman started screaming at us saying that her son was
sleeping Fabio said: ”Ok, I’ll do it next try”. And so he did. BACKWARD NOSEGRIND.
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They told me you you help a lot them when they need. They ask me advices about concaves or board’s shapes, about riders to put in the team, sometimes I’m in the warehouse to help with the packages. I’m multitasking.
The way I see skateboarding has not changed over the years, I
Ah ha ha. And what about your knee? My knee is almost ready, right after the surgery I was afraid because it was hurting me a lot, then talking with people that had the same experience I have understood that it was only a matter of time. I broke a ligament of my left knee.
you’ll fly to the States, the winners of the national skateboard
How does it happened?
I woke up at four in the morning, took a train for two hours, then a plane for two more hours, landed in Sicily, drove to
a spot and had the good idea to kickflip a giant set of stairs
and that’s the result. Catch a fly back the next day. End of the tour.
Were you afraid that this could have forced you to quit skateboarding?
A lot, especially when one day after the surgery I was trying to skateboard and noticed something like a pimple on my
knee… but it was too hard. When I find out It was one of the nails they fixed on my ligament that detached from it I was really afraid.
And in one year you won the Italian Skateboard Championship for the fourth time. Which was the best of the four?
Yes, last december in Milano. The best was probably the first one, it was something unexpected and gave me some money to keep on travel.
When you came back home you found all the people of
your town on the streets to celebrate your victory as they did with the winner of the last edition of the italian Big Brother TV show that live close to you?
have always skated for fun, and now I’m enjoying skateboarding more than ever: I skateboard everyday for the fun of it, and nowadays even more. I’d like to travel more and skateboard with different and good people this year. Next june
championship are invited to this pro contest in Boston. I’ll go to visit NYC, is a good opportunity. Do you still go fishing?
Sure! During wintertime i don’t go too much, too cold for me, but now it’s springtime and I go one or two times per
month. I fish trouts and carps in small lakes in the countryside. Trouts are easy, carps are harder to get. I like to fish, is relaxing.
Do you cook the fish or set them free?
Carps are not good, I set ‘em free. One day I got a ten kilos carp, the biggest I have ever fished. Trouts are good, I cook them.
What else are you into apart from skateboarding and carp fishing?
I like to ride my racer bike. I have also built a fixed bike with an old frame I have found at home, this summer we want to do a skateboard tour with our bikes.
I have seen you skateboard a lot of bowls lately…
Yes, I have always liked to watch people skating bowl, and
now that there are some not too far from where I live, I like to go at least one time at week. Is good to skateboard different things. Curbs and ledges are boring.
Ok thanks Fabio, do you want to add something?
Yes, i want to thank you for the photos and for this inter-
view, Davide and Nikof at Strange Skateboards, Rita at Blue Distribution, my girlfriend Robi and all my friends.
Ah ha ha… No people doesn’t care about skateboarding here. How does your way to see skateboarding changed over the
years? It seemed that you have never cared too much about to travel or to “do something” in the skateboard industry.
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Fabio rides for: Emerica, Rvca clothing and Strange Skateboards.
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FS TAILSLIDE BIGSPIN OUT. a brief glance
I asked Fabio if he was down for a last picture to finish
his interview but we had no idea on where to go and we
finally went to this gap I use to skateboard around 1998. “I can’t bs kickflip this thing I can only do bs kickflip on
flat or on a pyramid”. He said. Ten minutes later we were shaking hands and the interview was over. BACKSIDE KICKFLIP.
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Fabio rules!
FAKIE FS KICKFLIP.
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take a breath...
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...and go ahead a brief glance
corbin harris’ book photography and words Davide Biondani
“You definitely can’t sit around and wait for things to happen, such as getting sponsored; instead you have to be pro-active and make it happen for yourself ”.
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I met Corbin at the Malmo bowl comp in 2008. As winner of the Australian Bowlrider, he was invited to the Bowlrider’s final in Sweden where he landed on friday, skated for three days, got 11th place in the final and flew back the next monday. Forty four hours of flights in four days…not bad. He had to fly back the next day to present his TV show (about skateboarding) on Fuel TV. Corbin lives in Sydney and he definitely doesn’t sleep: art and fashion lover, author, designer, TV presenter, party boy and professional skateboarder. And when he found some spare time he had the idea to write a book: “Corbin Harris’ Ultimate Guide to Skateboarding”. The book talks about different aspects of skateboarding; from the basics such as choosing the right set up and learning how to ollie, to the feeling of skating big stuff, giving advice on how to build your own ramp, or suggesting the ten australian skateparks you must ride. There is also a chapter dedicated to Corbin’s mates, well known australian skateboarders such as Dustin Dollin, Lewis Marnell, Andrew Currie and Jake Duncombe, just to name some, where they show and explain how to learn their signature tricks.
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Blunt to fakie.
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What’s up Corbin? where are you at the moment? What’s up!!! I’m in Sydney, just moved into a new pad with a few friends right in the city... It’s so good being so close to everything.
why? My favorite would have to be the “mates” section. These are some of the guys who I have looked up to during my life and made me push myself or just are flat out fucking awesome dudes.
Busy as usual? Yeah pretty busy. Starting this year I am putting skating number one again after putting a lot of energy into the book and television last year. It went that I wasn’t skating last year, I just really wanted to put 100% into those area’s of my career. All my skating was put into shooting for skate mags and that’s about it. I’m working on two new show’s with Fuel TV Australia, starting to film for a new video with the likes of Ryan Wilson and a few other cats which I pretty pumped about and looking after my poor girlfriend who was bombing a hill on her new board and fell off snapped her leg real bad! She’s a tough little cookie… What girls do you know that go and bomb hills??
I really appreciated the “skatepark etiquette” chapter, it can help the new kids understand “how does it works” and also refresh some old dog’s mind… hahaha. Was this your idea? Ha ha ha… I have no idea. Looking back it all seems to be a lifetime ago writing the book... You would have to ask Noush or Gourlay. If I didn’t make it up I bloody loved it anyway.
Not many to be honest. I’ve got your book two weeks ago. Steve Gourlay sent it to me, does Steve helped a lot with this project? Steve was a huge help, along with Noush, his wife to be and” The skateboarder’s Journal” boys. Sean and Jack. I went to these guys cause I knew they could pull it off and it would be exactly how I wanted it. They ran the project for me and Harper/Collins Sports. Which is a huge publisher... We all worked quite close together for a few months to get this one on deadline.
A short chapter of the book is dedicated to the “fear factor”, and in skateboarding the fear factor plays an important role, how do you face your fears while skating? I find the more I skate the better I get with fear. The only time fear really come into it, is when I’m not prepared to skate whatever it is. Eg. Trying to skate a handrail when I haven’t even skated a skatepark rail... Ha ha ha ha true.
Yes, Sean and Jack know how to do their job! Definitely. The Skateboarder’s Journal is a great magazine. Where did the idea came from? I work with a guy called Robert Joske on a lot of my TV contract stuff and everything outside skateboarding. He did a few books previously with some australian sports people and celebrities and we threw around the idea. Once I fully knew I would have stay over every little tiny detail, that’s when we started! The book goes from the basics, like how to choose your set up, to competing as professional skateboarder, which is your favorite part and a brief glance
Which have been the best and the worst part of the job? The best part would have to be working with the people I did. Always getting the best job done but having a great time while doing it. Worst. Not having enough people do the p.r for it.
What is the spot you skated that gave you the best feeling? There is a mini ramp in Melbourne in a place called Coburg. Four foot and super wide... Where the frontside nosegrind was shot.
Do you have a favorite trick? I have seen you blasting some blunt to fakie on gnarly things… My fav trick of all time would be a backside tailslide. Do you like contests? The first time we met was at this bowl comp in Sweden where you came from Australia only to take part to the contest and the next day you flew back to Sydney, pretty crazy. Ha ha ha yeah that was pretty mental. But I had something to come back to... I think it was filming for my show on Fuel TV. Sometimes you just need to do that stuff. I like contest’s if I have been skating lots. That’s the only time I have fun at them is when I’m in the finals. I’m just competitive... You wrote that you feel lucky to be part of a new era of sponsored skateboarders with more responsabilities but also with more opportunities, which are the best opportunities skateboarding has given to you? Skateboarding is just becoming noticed by the public, new sponsors and everyday people. There is good and bad to it. But I think there is a lot more good skateboarding can get out of it, there are a lot of opportunities, it’s just how much you want to take or can handle.
a lot to it! They just try to break you down and see what you’r made of. Whenever I’m not busy I try to do something like that to just keep my mind on point… That’s what my mum always has pushed me to do and it’s a good thing. By the way it’s been a few years since I’ve done a course. I’ve been busy! Do you think that nowadays it is not enough to skateboard well to have a successful skateboarding career? I think it depends on the person. Skateboarding is all this to me. There is so much time spent off the board that allows you to branch out and do other things. I’ve just made all the other things to so with skateboarding and the things I love! Are you happy with the book? Stoked with the book. Everybody who worked on it put a lot time and effort and I thank you very much for that! I’d like to thank Milly for being there... And my mum and dad cause they never stop and all my great sponsors... Thank you, Corbin.
I know you present a TV show about skateboarding, how did it happen and how does it works? When I was 19 I called Fuel TV and said would like to present for them. They didn’t have anyone that covered skateboarding and I knew I could of learned how to become a better host over time... Kinda funny. I have two show’s I host. A 100% skateboarding show on five days per week called “Corbin Presents” and another weekly update show called “This Week in Action Sports”. It’s all really light hearted and fun so it’s no pressure with skating as well! Is it true that you took a course at National Institute of Dramatic Art to help you to work on TV hosting? How was it? Correct! Ha ha ha you have done a little research! To tell you the truth it was pretty heavy, there was a brief glance
Ready To Play an Antiz Skateboards trip around northern Italy also knows as: “il giro dei gufi� a brief glance
Photography and words Davide Biondani
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IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO LEAVE FOR A SKATEBOARD TOUR, IT’S EVEN BETTER IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO STAY AROUND WITH GOOD PEOPLE LIKE THE ANTIZ GUYS. SPENDING SIX DAYS WITH NO SPECIFIC PROGRAMS BUT TO SKATEBOARD SOME SPOTS, HAVE F UN, TAKE PHOTOS AND FILM THE UPCOMING NEW HOBO VIDEO. Most of the time the sky was filled with black and grey clouds that dropped the daily amount of rain, but not enough to stop the mission; to be honest we had two full days of sun, but ironically these were the days which we skated the least.
fectly: a funny, always smiling, clever person that can skateboard every kind of spot with an amazing style.
The second night we went to skateboard the Bastard bowl and he literally killed the spot blasting tricks in every corner and making eveA few days before the tour, Antiz ryone screaming the whole time. announced the addition of a special guest to the team. The mysterious man was Finland’s Samu Kar- That night was one of the best sesvonen. I had never met him before sion of the entire trip; with Juju, Miand the only thing I had seen of him chel and Gab in full effect. The plawas his cover on Kingpin magazine. ce itself is amazing: a two hundred square meter wooden bowl suspenThis was his first experience with ded at six meters over the product the Hobo team: “Samu is not on depot inside the headquarter of Bathe team yet, we would like to… stard, a clothing company in Milan. but at the moment we are just checking if he feels good with us and if Samu and Gabriel Engelke kept on we feel good with him” Julien Ba- skating until they turned the light off, chelier told us the first morning. to be true they turned the light off to stop them skating since it was super After a few hours together it was late and everyone wanted to go eat. clear that he could fit the crew pera brief glance
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Julien Bachelier, bs tailslide. Who
cares
about
“already
been
done”?
Good tricks executed with style are always well accepted. And this five frames slided bs t is definitely a good one. I suppose Gab’s fs feeble of the previous page
is a “never been done before” trick in this spot. Par condicio.
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That day Michel was the most motivated to skatebo-
ard the concrete natural quarterpipe; he landend some good fs wallrides in few tries and then opted for this beanplant to fakie that took home after some hard slams on the rough flatground.
Michel Mahringer, beanplant to fakie. a brief glance
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Every session at this spot is funny and usually you get back with some tricks in your pocket even if
you have to run in the garden to get enough speed to hit the steep transition and you have to pay
attention to the small and not grindable edge on top of the quarterpipe. Juju was enthusiastic to
skate the place even if he was complaining, rightly I would say, for the mud he got on his shoes and
over the grip of his board since it rained hard the previous night over the city.
Julien Bachelier, wallride melon.
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After spending almost one hour to dry the flat of this
concrete bowl Samu started to kill the smooth transitions on a beautiful sunday morning while the rest of the crew
were trying to survive after a full night of heavy partying with the infamous and dangerous Zuka Boys.
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Sanu Karvonen, fs pivot grind.
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Next days we hit some spots around the city, looking for something interesting to skateboard during the week, not always easy in Milano.
Saturday morning the crew moved from Milano to the lovely city of Verona, and in the evening to another city, Vicenza, where the Hobos met the Zucka Boys, a local crew famous Julien asked for “something different” for their parties. from the classic Milano Centrale perfect ledges, so we ended up to a The guys spent a really wild Saturday bank to wall not far from the Uninight there, followed the next day, by versity, a spot very hard to skateboard stories of love, hard drinking, people not only because the surface is rough lost in the countryside and sleeping but also because you have to push in the car. along the sidewalk and then make a Samu was the only one able to skatenarrow turn to approach the bank… board the next afternoon, and the definitely a fine mess. pivot grind on the credle is the photographic evidence. Here Juju, after some tries to understand how to reach the bank with the right speed, blasted out a perfect wallride nollie pop out, one of the best tricks of the tour. Steve Fostner put in a solid effort at this spot and even if he was hurt he came anyway, and that’s a good example of what the Antiz spirit is all about. He made everyone laugh asking to be part of the B team, the web team, so he doesn’t have to kill himself on his skateboard.
If the days pass quickly, everyone skateboards and has entertaining time it’s a positive sign you are with a good crew and this was definitely a good one. For the record, a few days after the tour Samu officially became the new Hobo rider. Congrats.
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Samu Karvonen, fs ollie over to ss manual.
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First day, first spot. Quick warm up session together
and first trick for Samu as new Hobo rider just before the rain started to fall.
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This wooden bowl is located inside the headquarter of
Bastard, a clothing brand from Milan. The place was a
cinema hall and they built the bowl in the upper part of
this open space, right on top of the offices. A great session
went down, Samu and Gab were unstoppable and everyone was happy to skateboard an amazing place like this or chill around the ramp.
They had tu turn the lights off to stop the scandinavian devils.
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Gabriel Engelke, bs smith grind.
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Julien loves to skateboard original and not so perfect
spots, one time in Lyon he took me to the older part of the city to skateboard some crazy stuff...This bank to
wall is everything but a perfect spot for many reasons not last the run up. Julien is a great skateboarder and this wallride nollie pop out is a gem. Thanks Julien.
Julien Bachelier, wallride nollie out. a brief glance
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Steve was hurt so he didn’t skate too much, but he was al-
ways ready to start the session or push the other guys and he
was jocking all the time asking to be part of the web team so he could skateboard only parks or easy spots. Ah ha ha. He ollied out from this fs wallride and we went to eat. “Skateboarding is...skateboarding”.
Steve Fostner, fs wallride ollie out.
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CROOKED GRIND. blabac photo.
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