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R I C E 2 0 1 0 A D S _ HLON
www.thecomune.com/blog/drop-city
N A T H A N
Drop City was introduced to attract like–minded creative people to the comune artist community and collaboarte on special projects through COMUNE’S clothing brand. With participating artists including Hunter Longe, Jason Lee Parry, Noah and Nathan Rice, Shelby Menzel, Jimmy Fontaine and Gareth Stehr over time Drop City will continue to evolve its’ community, creative platform and influence.
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C I T Y
P 1 - N O A H
D R O P
Collage by Noah & Nathan Rice
‘ M E L C H I Z E D E K ’
P H O T O _ 2 0 1 0 A D S _ NRIC
A Spring 2010 collection by COMUNE.
www.thecomune.com
Our goal is to provide clothing that reflects this lifestyle of carefree idealism and to support the people that choose to live it.
D R O P
P U R P O S E
COMUNE was formed from the idea that there will always be people out there who not only embrace the rawness and imperfections of every day life but use it to creatively push the boundaries of what’s possible in skateboarding, fashion, art, and music their own way, with complete disregard of the consequences.
C O P Y R I G H T Š 2 0 1 0 P 9 4 9 . 5 7 4 . 9 1 4 2
C I T Y
filter / black / gravisskateboarding.com
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Art: Eric Fortune
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF nick kalionzes nick@blisssmag.com
EDITOR
joey marshall joey@blisssmag.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR mark paul deren madsteez@madsteez.com
EDITOR AT LARGE liz rice liz@blisssmag.com
SKATE EDITOR chris ortiz chris@blisssmag.com
SNOW EDITOR jon francis jon@blisssmag.com
MUSIC EDITOR tim bergevin tim@blisssmag.com
ADVERTISING ads@blisssmag.com
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jason Kenworthy, Dominic Petruzzi, Daniel Russo, Toby Ogden, Tom Carey, Brian Beilmann, Jack Coleman, Andrew Mapstone, Adam Moran, Dave Nelson, Pat Eichstaedt, Julien Lecorps, Ryan Boyes, Zach Hooper, Tim Peare, Michael Lallande, Bob Plumb
CONTRIBUTORS
Matt Patterson, Willie Marshall, Daniel Russo, Liz Rice, Jason Arnold, Greg Escalante, Nathan Spoor, Tom Carey, Travis Millard, David Choe, Kai Garcia, Mickey Neilsen, Peter Townend, Hamilton Endo, Tawnya Schultz, Mike Murciano, Geoff Shively, Casey Holland, Steve Stratton, Robbie Sell, Andrew Miller, Pat Towersey, Raul Montoya BL!SSS Magazine 413 31st Street Newport Beach, CA 92663 www.blisssmag.com
MAY 2010
Disclaimer: Although all best efforts are made to avoid the same, we reserve the right to publish unintentional mistakes and/or factual errors which may occur on a monthly basis. No responsibility is assumed by the publishers for unsolicited materials/articles/letters/advertising and all submissions will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright and/or appropriate licensing purposes subject to Blisss’ right to edit and comment editorially. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine reflect the opinions of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editorial team. Blisss Magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising matter which may reflect negatively on the integrity of the magazine. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form [print or electronic] without prior written consent from the publisher.
Cover Art : Eric Fortune If your favorite shop isn’t receiving BL!SSS Magazine please contact info@blisssmag.com
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TILLY’S X MARK WILLINGHAM
IPHONE OS4 I made my monthly trip to the Apple store in Fashion Island to catch up on everything I need to know and hand over my monthly wages. I was actually there because my iPhone was having some major technical difficulties – it was restarting mid-conversation. I was forced to shell out 200 clams for a new phone and was hesitant on resigning a two-year contract with AT&T in fear that a newer, better phone would magically be placed on the market as soon as the ink dried. Upon returning to the headquarters, new phone in hand, I did a little Googling and found out that yes, a new iPhone is in the works and will most likely be released by the end of summer. So boys and girls, prepare yourself for another must-have gadget by iPhone and check out gizmodo. com for leaked photos and an amazing story of how one of Apple’s developers lost their phone in a bar.
HUNT & GATHER We don’t want to jinx ourselves quite yet, but it sure seems like this economy mumbo jumbo is finally turning around. For the past two years I’ve had more people ask me for jobs than the rest of my entire life. One less person looking is our boy Mark Willingham – as he is the new strategic marketing manager for Tilly’s. Taking advantage of this upswing, Tilly’s is on a tear with plans to open a grip of new stores by year-end. We’ve known Mark for several years now and know that he is the man for the job and is gonna take Tilly’s to the next level.
The world keeps eating them up so the publishers keep pushing them on us – the latest art book to hit our desks is titled Hunt & Gather: Discovering New Art. Another must have, this book showcases a contemporary view of international art featured in galleries and media across the globe. Surrealism, pop art, illustration, collage, graphic design, mixed media – this 170-page hardback has got them all. It contains works from over thirty artists and they were even kind enough to include a few pages on our Creative Director, Madsteez. It’s actually one of the better ones we’ve come across lately and we give it two thumbs up.
I LIKE YOU If you’re an avid reader of BL!SSS you may have caught the piece on the movie I Like You that our friends Jojo Whitmarsh, Jamie Heinrich, and Ryan Baker wrote, directed, and filmed. Following up and keeping you on top of things, the movie is premiering at the Lido Theatre on Thursday, May 13th at 7 pm. It’s not everyday that a couple of friends from around the block pull something like this off, so you know we’re gonna be on hand to show our support and recommend you check it out as well. Presale tickets are $10 and come with a free DVD – get ‘em now at ilikeyoumovie.com.
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DAKINE CYCLONE Just in time for summer, the everso-clever folks behind DaKine accessories have released their latest in dry bags. Anyone that has ever been on a boat trip will attest to how essential these bad boys are – just throw your goodies in, roll the top, snap the latch and lock the dryness in. There’s nothing worse than spending all your money on your dream surf getaway only to be plagued with ball-rot because you can’t keep your chonies dry. Don’t wait, grab a Cyclone today.
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$1,000,000 PAYDAY
SABER PRINT
Rob Dyrdek is at it again - he’s leading the way in street skating, this time by introducing his very own competitive skating league. With more than a $1,000,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs, he’s got top skaters like Paul Rodriguez, Chris Cole, Ryan Sheckler, Greg Lutzka, PJ Ladd, Sean Malto, Billy Marks, Mikey Taylor, and many more already committed to the 3-stop summer tour. The first stop of the series will be going down on August 28th at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, AZ and is sure to keep all us fans on the edge of our seats. You can bet the BL!SSS boys will be on hand covering the event.
ARNETTE X FREDDY P
We just learned that Arnette and Freddy Patacchia have once again aligned forces after checking out one of our favorite industry surf gossip/video sites, insurfnews.com. Freddy has been trucking along as one of best young surfers on the WCT for quite a few years now and is coming into his own after a couple of great results so far this year. When the young Hawaiian hasn’t been dueling it out with the best surfers in the world, he’s documenting all of the behind-the-scenes action for everyone to see on insurfnews.com. Keep checking it for more goods on Freddy P and Arnette.
THE SURFBOARD Well after holding down the position as Editor of Surfer Magazine for 10 years, the next logical step for Ben Marcus is to start pumping out the books. We are prime examples of the fact that there is no money to be made in the magazine business, which is why we get so stoked when we get free books in the mail. This particular one is Ben’s take on the history of surf craft as we know it – a detailed work of 256 pages, complete with 250 color and b&w images. It really is a must have for any surf enthusiast out there, and with Ben’s writing and Jeff Divine’s surf photos, this is not one to miss. Check it out at mvpbooks.com.
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Our September 2009 cover artist (Saber) has just released some limited edition screen prints available exclusively through his website saberone. com. Always keeping his shit unique, he’s put his special touch on each and every one of 68 available. A little over 2’x3’ each are all hand titled “Pepper’s World” and signed by Saber himself. Like everything he creates, these are sure to sell out fast so get to a computer now an add another piece to the collection.
VQS CHAMPS The V-Co boys are at it again with their annual VQS World Championships shindig that will be going down right here in our backyard at 54th Street in Newport Beach from May 13th-15th. This years event is titled, “2010 Totally Crustaceous Oaks Summer Camp Championships” where kids from around the world will battle it out for over $50,000 in cash and even more prizes at the summer camp on the beach. It’s pretty damn cool event where amateurs can win some serious cash and there’s fun and games for the whole family. It’s all completely free, so if you’ve never had a chance to check one of these Volcom events out make sure you mark your calendars for the second week in May and come check it out. If you’re not in the area, you can log onto volcom.com and see all the action in the water and on the beach from their live webcast.
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MINIWEEN ON THE LOOSE
SHAUN WHITE SUNNIES We all know that whatever Shaun White touches turns to gold, especially when it comes to Olympic medals. It seems like that has transferred over to sunglasses as well, since Oakley just launched the newest pair of Shaun’s Signature Series glasses. Shaun helped design these bad boys that feature Oakley’s High Definition Optics, combining patented optics and Plutonite lens material that provides 100% UV filtering and unsurpassed impact protection. Basically what all that means is that if they are good enough for the “Golden Tomato” then they are good enough for you. Check them out at Oakley.com. As if you can’t get enough ween in your life, we’ve been seeing quite a bit more of our boy Madsteez as he has completed the MiniWeen project for Irvine BMW peeps. He’s quite proud of the little car he got to steez up and wants the whole world to get a glimpse of his latest masterpiece. This work of art on wheels will be touring Southern California for next couple of months, so log on over to miniween.com and check the calendar for when it’ll be in your neck of the woods.
OFF THE MARKET
RRR EZINE
We’ve been getting quite a bit of New York correspondence since we’ve been shipping mags to NYC’s hottest surf/coffee shop, Saturdays. One email that really grabbed our attention was from Scott Massey who has been hard at work creating the RRRproject.com. They create a free downloadable ezine encouraging artists and photographers to do their part by creating amazing pieces out of trash or discarded goods. It’s a great concept and they have already put out issue number 2, so log onto their website and check it out.
ZAPP! GUM
If it seems like everyone is growing up and getting married lately it’s because they are! We just got word that one of our favorite industry pals, Mikey Guarino, is tying the knot this summer to his lovely Aussie import, Lena. We’re stoked for them even though it means there’s one less attractive single girl out there for us perverts to drool over. In all seriousness, it really does bring a tear to our eyes knowing that a lot of our good friends and colleagues are finding their matches and doing it right for themselves. Congrats kids!
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A couple weeks ago we got a few boxes of ZAPP! Gum with a little note from our boy Jacob, ex marketing chimpanzee over at Insight. The note read something like, “Yo, BL!SSS mag studs, stop waxing your chests and pop a piece of this gum in your mouth… Oh, and tell Steez to stop taking screen grabs of dicks on Chat Roulette!” I guess he turned all hippy on us and is pushing some new boutique gum called ZAPP! that’s actually good for you. It’s made with a natural sweetener called Xylitol that prevents cavities and also guarantees you’ll get laid. I did a little research on the ingredients in my standard gum choices and found out it’s got some sick shit in it called Aspartame. Apparently this stuff kills rats and makes your brain bleed. So pull it together you rats, and get laid… zappgum.com.
SKATECAKE
SKULLCANDY X OWEN WRIGHT One of the hottest surfers in the world right now without a doubt is the young Aussie upstart Owen Wright. Owen proved to us all that he deserves a spot on the WCT after a stellar year in ’09 where he took out Slater not once but twice as a wildcard. Those kind of moves do not go unnoticed, as industry giant Skullcandy has now signed him to their team. Two great forces coming together is never a bad thing, and with Owen taking a charge at the coveted Rookie of the Year award for 2010 you know that the Skullcandy boys will be right there in his ears, literally.
UNION EXPRESS PREMEIRE
Not to be confused with space cake, the Tony Hawk Foundation teamed up with Crumbs Bake Shop to create the Tony Hawk SkateCake. The delicious little morsel treat will be available throughout the entire year whereas Crumb will donate 1 dollar from every SkateCake sold to the Hawk Fountation – which in turn provides funds for skate parks in low-income areas throughout our nation. So stuff your face, even go online and order a dozen of these babies for the next party you attend and know that you’re doing this world a good deed. Thanks Crumbs and we’ll be expecting you to break ground on our very own skatepark real soon.
We got to check out Timmy Curran’s new flick The Union Express this past month when it premiered at our local Lido Theatre. Pre-show highlights included a set from Timmy and his band. Now we’ve seen the musical Curran on several occasions but I gotta say that he has come a long, long way and is actually quite entertaining – along the lines of Paul Simon-esque. The film itself is tale of Timmy taking a train down the California Coast, from Santa Cruz to San Diego, meeting up with friends and destroying whatever the ocean sends their way. It features the talents of Ben Bourgeois, Nate Tyler, Keith Malloy, Dane Reynolds, Nathaniel Curran, Damien Hobgood, Rob Machado, and Taylor Knox – to name a few. Another must-have for every surf hungry grom out there.
BABY DAYS
ACROSS THE POND With over six years of success down under, the boys at Filtrate Eyewear have made the hop and skip across the pond and have arrived on the US market. Born and bred from the harsh lands of Western Australia, these guys sure know what the hell they’re doing when it comes to making sunnies. Fresh off the plane, they are already making the right moves as team rider Dylan Goodale took top honors at the Vans Pier Classic a few weeks back. Check out everything they’re up to at filtrateeyewear. com.
Good things come in 2’s – Both Billabong’s Andrew Marriner and Volcom’s Billy Anderson had their second babies on the 20th of April. It’s pretty funny coincidence, considering these two dudes have known each other for years and ride together on the regular. We’re stoked to be the first publication to welcome both Forest Marriner and Jeffy Anderson to this world and we’re confident these two kids will be spending quite a bit of time with each other in the years to come. Congrats everyone!
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What do Bob Hurley and Justin Timberlake have in common? Mike Stilkey. He’s been featured on both Hurley and Timberlake’s websites (what?) and with the rising interest in the Kindle, many dusty and unloved books are being recycled into a new breed of mural art and sculpture. Stilkey sets sail for Bristol, England in May to create a site-specific book installation at the Bristol Museum. When he returns he’ll be creating a 40-foot by 16-foot 5-inch mural with 10,000 recycled books for the inaugural opening of Hurley’s new gallery at their headquarters in Costa Mesa on Saturday, June 5 from 6-10pm. By the way, they still need hard cover books! Contact annie_a@ hurley.com if you have some to donate to this project.
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Words: Liz Rice Finding Tara Tucker may not be the easiest task, but it sure is well worth the hunt. Tara’s work captured me on this search. I came across African Cape dogs, mixed media Forest Sheep sculptures and many more amazing graphite-onpaper drawings. Tara has been living in the East Bay (Oakland and Berkeley) for the past 22 years. She’s currently living in Berkeley with husband David Harris, dog Orson and their five-yearold son Otto. Born in Santa Barbara, Tara left her hometown to get her BFA and MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) in Oakland, CA. Both degrees were in sculpture, but Tara always pursued drawing on the side for fun. Tara explained to me that
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she wasn’t really trained to draw, but took it up during a lengthy illness in the second year of her undergrad studies. “I couldn’t do anything but lie in bed for four months and draw.”
for now, but if the termites stop holding hands the whole thing could fall down on my head. I spend hours each week drawing at my coveted circa 1980’s electric drafting table.”
When Tara was in her late twenties, her friend, artist Manuel Ocampo, told her that she should sculpt less and draw more. “I still do both, along with making traditional rag rugs out of old clothes, but drawing is my mainstay and true love.” Tara’s studio is located in her back yard. It’s a modified 1924 single car garage; when they bought the house 9 years ago, Tara had a friend trick it out with some windows and a pair of old french doors. “It works
When Tara is not in her studio, she is working at the Creative Growth Art Center (creativegrowth.org), where she has been the rug/tapestry instructor for about nine years. Prior to that, she was working as a restoration specialist repairing high-end antique rugs. “The CGAC rugs are much more fun to work on and the designs are all in-house and totally original.” Two galleries represent her work, the Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco, CA, which is her primary
gallery, and the Steven Zevitas Gallery in Boston, MA. The search to find Tara Tucker was something I really enjoyed. Not only is she an extremely talented artist, but also a generally intriguing and inspirational individual. I was also excited to find out she works at Creative Growth. Tara has some upcoming shows, so make sure to check them out: Solo show at the Rena Bransten Gallery in the late Fall of 2011 - Solo show at the Steven Zevitas Gallery in Boston, Spring 2011 - Solo show at Galerie Imparie, Paris France (This is Creative Growth’s other gallery) in the Fall of 2010.
2010
WeA ctiv is t A LE X PR A GE R S HO T B Y C HE RY L D U N N www. we s c. co m
DANO
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Annie Vought transforms old fashion letters into innovative pieces of art. In a world full of immediate communication, Annie’s art illustrates the beauty and the richness of expression in the classic handwritten letter. She describes her artistic inspiration below. Email, text messages, instant messaging and Twitter are all examples of fun and immediate means of “written” communication. Through the computer I am in touch with people I may never have seen before and I can respond in real time to a loved one. But with the ubiquity of this access and convenience, we are losing the tangible handwritten letter. Handwritten records are fragments of individual histories. In the penmanship, word choice, and spelling, the author is often revealed in spite of him/herself. A
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letter is physical confirmation of who we were at the moment it was written, or all we have left of a person or a time. I have a huge collection of mail, my own letters that I have kept throughout my life, as well as those of unknown others. I have hundreds of postcards collected from garage sales, flea markets and eBay. There are postcards to a girl who is dying in a hospital and loves horses, letters from a salesman writing home to his family as he drives around the country selling seeds. I have a packet of over twenty love letters from a soldier named Bernard to his “darling wife” during World War II, and a stack of letters to “Mom and Dad Holt” sent from Sergeant Bill in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Reading over all of these letters, including the ones written to me, is haunting. It is
like reviewing the leftovers of people, including myself. They remind me of who I am and who my family is. When Bernard longs for his wife using racial slurs and Sergeant Bill is complaining about the weather in Saigon, I am reminded that personal histories are also American history. Collectively, the letters remind me of mistakes and longing and love and humanness. To me the letters are both positive and negative memorials. I have been working with cut paper over the past four years. During the last three of those years my focus has been on written correspondence. In my work I recreate notes and letters that I have found, written, or received by enlarging the documents onto a new piece of paper and dissecting the intricate negative spaces with a knife. The handwriting and
the lines support the structure of the cut paper, keeping it very strong, despite its apparent fragility. The sculptural quality of the letter allows the viewer to examine the care it took to render each piece in relationship to what is actually being said. The cutting is a way of focusing on the text and structure of the letter—an elaborate investigation into the strange properties of writing. The writer’s penmanship and word choice lead to a contemplation of the beauty of language and the limits of the paper. With these pieces, my intent is to investigate the ghosts that we leave behind and to pay homage to those that haunt us. Annie Vought currently is living in Oakland California with her husband and a big dog. To check out more of her work go to annievought.com.
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Photo: Dominic Petruzzi : dominicpetruzzi.com // Model: Courtney Porter // Otto Models
We’ve featured a lot of beautiful young ladies in the pages of BL!SSS every month from all over the world, but this 19-year-old beauty came to us from right down the street in Huntington Beach. Which just proves that sometimes you don’t have to look too far to find what you’re looking for. We love that fact that we have a slew of young and willing participants for these couple of pages every month, and we hope you readers out there appreciate these young women as much as we do. Bikini: Fox // Make up: Jessica K. McDonough // Photo Retouch: Jacyln Morris
Isaiah Johnson: Switch 180
Cab: Invert 3
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Words: Jordan Hoffart :: Photos: Deville After three years of blood sweat and tears, Powell Skateboards finally was ready to release its new video FUN! It is the first video they put out in over 10 years! New team, new direction, and new energy sparked the opportunity for Powell to really step it up and knock it out of the park. The idea of FUN! came about while the team was on a trip out in AZ. We were discussing how nowadays more and more people are caught up with the “in” tricks and what’s “cool” and what’s not and carry that mentally across the board (no pun intended) to how they dress, what boards they ride etc. It’s pretty much to the point where it’s paralyzing kids from showing any creativity and/ or self-expression. Kids want to be able to express themselves freely but also want to fit in and “be cool”. Balancing the two polar opposites seems to be an extra stress that nobody ultimately needs in their lives. Cause honestly, if you like something and are down for it, who gives a FUCK about what anyone else thinks! So the discussion all came down to one question - Why did we all start skating in the first place? Hmm good question. My answer: Cause it was so much fucking fun and ultimately that’s what its all about. Forget about what board brand your rocking or what tricks your doing? It’s all about the act of skateboarding and the feeling it gives you.
With that being said, I do want to clarify that even though we all had a shit load of “FUN!” making this video, there were times that all of us felt like we were going to have a nervous breakdown. Lets face it, learning new, impressive tricks are not an easy thing to accomplish. Sometimes tricks that seemingly come easily can take way more man-hours than anticipated and become way more stressful than we would often like. But that’s all part of skating. If it were easy they would call it rollerblading. I can count a handful of
times where is took numerous trips to the same spot just to get one trick. Hours and hours of repeatedly bailing just to get a split second of success, but once it’s achieved, the feeling from the outcome is the best in the world. It’s as if, like anything, the harder you work for something the bigger the payoff. It may not be in money, power or fame, but like I said earlier that’s not why we picked up the board in the first place. It’s the feeling; there is nothing else like it in the world. It’s as if you just won the lottery and
Josh Hawkins: K-Flip
Derek Elmendorf: Back Smith
Jordan Hoffart and Dallas Rockvam looking at the SQ
Boo: B.S 50 50
Aldrin Garcia: Nollie F.S Board
nothing else could possibly matter at that point.
Derek Elmendorf and Jordan Hoffart having some fun
Derek Elmendorf
Lets talk about the team a little bit, I mean these guys are just fucking stand up gents - let me tell you. Hailing from all over the US, I’ve never met a group of guys that are so well behaved and so awesome to be around. I just want to give a major shout out to Deville Nunes for a job well done in the selection of these beasts! I’ve never seen anything like it. Each one is a unique entity capable of holding his own: Hailing from the desert sands of Phoenix Arizona is a stylish, quick footed, hammer dropper, Josh Hawkins. I mean this guy is incredible. Not only can he look at a spot and find a way to skate it completely different than anyone else, the dude makes it look like a walk in the park. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him fall asleep half way through trying a trick and wake up just in to effortlessly roll away. Hard working, talented and one of the easiest dudes to talk to, this guy is nothing short of a fucking slam-dunk. We have a few guys in SD representing for us to the fullest, Derek Elmendorf and Aldrin Garcia. I’m not sure how the TM stumbled upon these guys in the first place, but again let me just say how impressed I am with guys straight across the board; polite,
appreciative rippers, with good heads on their shoulders. Derek is a beast, plain and simple. I’ve never seen a guy so not scared of anything. He just goes for it without hesitation; which essentially is the mentality what you need in order to not only attempt the trick but also commit long enough to see is through to the end. Skateboarding is scary, especially when you know at some point through out the day, you are probably going to eat shit to some degree! Let me tell you, that’s pretty mentally exhausting to some extent. If there is one dude that seems to escape the clutches of death while skating huge shit time and time again it’s Aldrin Garcia. He’s Filipino with a Spanish last name and a brother with an afro. I’m not sure what the fuck is going on there but I do know the ethnic combination as spawned a super skater with elastic limbs and monster pop close to the heights of record breaking. No shit, I think he could beat Danny Wainwright’s record. This guy jumps down the biggest gaps I’ve seen and gets up like it was an ollie of a curb. Maybe being 100 pounds has something to do with it or maybe he’s an alien with super powers, either way he’s truly incredible to watch and any team would be lucky to have him. But we got ‘em, so don’t even think about it. Holding it down on the east coast (Virginia) is tranny killer Ben Hatchell. But let me just
Jordan Hoffart: 50 50 to 50 50
say he’s not your typical “all terrain” guy. He is the full package, the fucking real deal. I’m claiming he has done the biggest smith grind down a rail in history. This guy has some serious balls. And if killing tranny and rails isn’t enough, he wins contests in street and vert. Tampa Am just this last year he got 1st place vert and 2nd place street. Like holy shit dude, how many guys can you say that about? I can’t even think of one dude. Here’s the thing about Ben, some guys just got it; he doesn’t over think anything, believe me. And that’s what it takes to make it happen. I know from personal experience, a lot of us make a trick harder than it needs to be. We are in our own way. Maybe if we had a sit down with a guy like Ben we’d understand what we are going wrong and we would all benefit. This guy should hold a press conference for skaters in a slump. He definitely knows what the fuck he is doing! Moving Pacific bound to the midwest we have Dallas Rockvam coming straight outta Souix City, Iowa. You may know him from such films at
Elementality? Let me just say, not only is he a good friend of mine, but the dude has jumped hurdle after hurdle to make it happen for himself. He’s put in more man hours than most to see the limelight, and despite a major ankle surgery that would be a career ender for most, he’s come back to drop his best part yet. He’s literally takes it to the streets. Creative, raw and powerful skating! I’ve always been a fan of this guy. Coming all the way back to the west coast we have our IE representative, John White. Now for the record John has been killing it for years. Some of you may remember him from The Firm days where he had heads rubber neckin’ with his flawless style and excellent bag of tricks; a fucking true child prodigy. You may wonder why he hasn’t been living so low key these days, and let me tell you some people just don’t need to be the center of attention all the time. John loves skateboarding and he has a gift for skateboarding. In no way shape or form thinks he’s better than anyone else or deserves more than anyone
else. That’s a true skateboarder right there I must say. Last off we got myself Jordan Hoffart. I’d like to consider myself a late bloomer, I was a late going through puberty and I’d say its fitting for my skateboarding career. I’d admit there were times during my late teens that I didn’t think I had what it takes to be a true professional skateboarder. I mean, guys like Chris Cole, P-Rod and Danny Way -they don’t make it easy for anyone to “shine” sort of speak. However, when I did finally make the decision to move from my comfortable surroundings in Vancouver and relocate to the hectic highways of southern California, I new upon arrival that this was the best choice I’ve ever made. Now that I’m here it’s game on! I eat, breathe, shit and sleep skateboarding. It’s my favorite thing to do in the whole world! I wouldn’t change anything for anyone. Everyone has put in a lot of time and effort over the last three years trying to make this video stand out amongst the heaps of video that seemingly
come out weekly. I know we had a ton of FUN! during the filming process and I’m having even more FUN! seeing kids enjoy our creation. Ultimately I think we did our job! Hats off to all you guys! I’m proud of you. I want to leave you with this piece of knowledge that I have acquired over the years. It seems the opportunity to get to do what you love for a living is extremely rare, not so much because we are not capable of doing so, but more so because we are tricked into believing the probability of making it happen is too risky! But at the end of the day it’s all about choices. And if you really love to do something and have even the slightest chance of turning that into a career, I’d say go for it. Not only are you going to regret not doing it later, but you’re also going to spend the rest of your life wondering what if? And honestly I’d rather give it my best shot and fail then to have never tried at all. You only get one life; why not make it the one you always dreamed of. The only person in your way is yourself!
Dane Reynolds
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Words: Brandy Faber :: Photos: Ryan Miller Every time something is written about surf photographers, their “weirdness” is highlighted. I agree that most surf photographers are cut from a different cloth but they’re no different then any other artist or creative person I’ve come in contact with. To say that Ryan Miller is a creative weirdo would be an understatement. Just look at his self-portrait. It speaks volumes on the subject. Let’s just be glad that he parked his talent behind the lens and that his modeling days are well behind him. I’m not going to bore you with a bunch of photography talk about apertures, lighting, angles, f-stops or his favorite pro’s to work with. We’ll just let Miller’s images speak for themselves in that department. I wanted to find out more about Ryan Miller – the human – besides the fact that he loves to freak people out by wearing Speedo’s and dancing like an e-tabbed fueled raver. I never said he wasn’t weird, and he’ll be the first to tell you that at the bottom of his e-mails he always states, “let’s get weird!”
Jordy Smith
Gabe Kling
I’ve known Miller for a few years now since he started shooting our DVS and Matix riders. If I had to sum him up in one word, that word would be “hustler.” And I don’t mean that in the seedy sense of the word but as in the hardest of hard worker sense. If Miller is put to task he will gladly handle the entire process from start-to-finish. “He is good to travel with. He earned the nickname “trip dad” by booking hotels and cars months beforehand. He Google maps everything; buys the groceries; cooks the meals; and babysits everyone while on the road,” says Gabe Kling. Meanwhile, the photos of the day get e-mailed out so fast that some swear that his camera is equipped with a
wireless web connection to a cloud-computing server. Miller first picked up his camera while in High School in St. Augustine, Florida, where he was born and raised. Miller’s relationship with his classmate Gabe Kling, would pay dividends for years to come as Kling presently continues to ascend the professional surfing ranks. After high school, Miller studied photography at Daytona Beach Community College before finishing his Bachelor’s degree at City University of New York. While at CUNY Miller was awarded a $15,000 grant from Brandeis University to document globalization in Haiti. He spent the next year traveling throughout Haiti documenting the people there.
Jacmel, Haiti
Granger Larson
After college and multiple trips to Haiti, Miller and wife Cristen settled in New Jersey where they opened Yum Yums Ice Cream shop along with Cristen’s twin sister, Charlene, and her husband Seth Stafford, who is an ace photog for Tranworld. Twin sisters marrying photographers, and they all own an ice cream shop together – talk about weird! Scooping cream during the summer months on the Jersey shore proved to be lucrative enough, however, enabling the Millers to travel the world during the winter months when Yum Yums is closed. At first their travels took them to places like India, Thailand, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Europe but not necessarily for surf or photography. Then one summer Cristen fell in love with surfing and put the wifely foot down and said no more Jacmel, Haiti
Zander Morton
Cory Lopez
Mitch Coleborn
Nate Tyler
India, Thailand, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, or Sri Lanka. Cristen wanted to go to warm coastal destinations like Hawaii, Australia, and the Caribbean where they could surf during their winter’s hiatus from Yum Yums. Miller bought a water housing and started shooting surfing just for fun. Some photos got picked up here and there and his new hobby was slowly starting to pay the bills. His hobby soon afforded him enough to dive-in headfirst and buy all the necessary equipment. One day at Off the Wall with his new digital camera setup, Miller scored a shot of Bruce Irons and e-mailed it off to Volcom. “I got a response back from Mikey G while I was still wet and sandy from the beach,” Miller says. “They wanted the photo for a buyout and I was loving this new digital photography”. It has been full throttle surf photography for him since that day. As Kling ascended to the ASP’s elite World Tour, so did Miller’s photos, as the two traveled the circuit together, which put more talent in front of Miller’s lens. Being a hard working freelance photog has its benefits as his images regularly grace Surfer, Surfing, Transworld, ESM, Surfline, various international outlets and now BL!SSS. Covers have started coming Miller’s way lately as well. The first was a shot of Dane Reynolds on the February 2010 issue of Transworld. Back-to-back front pages of Jordy Smith and again Reynolds followed
TW but this time on the Australian hipster zine, Stab! When Jordy Smith was signed to DVS, Miller was given less then 24 hours to nail the intro ad of the young phenom. The problem was the surfed sucked! But in the pressure cooker of the situation, Miller nailed the shot even though crappy Log Cabins was all they had to work with. From that point on, Miller has accompanied Jordy on multiple trips and they are currently working on a big project for the near future. “He is one of the easiest guys to travel with, always living up to his word and the moment,” Smith says. “When you think everybody has missed the shot, Miller is the guy who nails it, he is right there in the zone. If that’s not enough, he will still come home after shooting all day and cook you dinner in his Speedo costume (laughing). Got to love Miller.” Smith adds. Miller isn’t all work and no play either. Being the lightweight that he is, it’s always fun to get a drink with him and watch him hit the dance floor. If you want to see what I’m talking about then enter “Getting strange at the club in Scotland” on YouTube. “He gets pretty weird on the dance floor!” quips Kling. “Amazing dance moves,” adds Smith, both said in jest but it plays right into Miller’s creed of “let’s get weird!” Bruce Irons
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Words & Photos: MADSTEEZ After a 6-year hiatus from showing in his hometown of LA, David Choe came back with vengeance and without actually saying it, a giant “FUCK YOU, I’m taking over!” We were invited to the press preview for a private viewing hours before the opening of Choe’s “Nothing to Declare” show at London based Lazarides Gallery in Beverly Hills. I had anticipated an all day affair in Los Angeles, so I made the perfect “man date” with our Editor in Chief, “Hey Nick” Kalionzes. I thought we’d start off at the gallery, get a little bite to eat on the west side, catch the Bansky film (maybe a popcorn trick or two), play grab-ass at the Laker game for bit, and then head back on over to Choe’s show opening for a night cap. My plan was instantly foiled the second my deer hoof claws opened the two “iron giant” wooden doors. Behind the holy gates unlocked a series of stacked “fragile” shipping crates painted by Choe, a life-sized one toothed, knee socked balloon character and a catacomb of random Mexican tiger, deer, flower and Hannah Montana blankets hung from the floor to what looked like a Wright brothers airplane inspired ceiling. Voyeurs were then forced to duck underneath the blankets and upon reaching the other side; Choe’s latest masterpiece was unveiled. A ceiling high, 25ft whale –squid-ish figure filled the center of the room while massive paintings were electrifying off the fire orange/red walls. With only two months to prepare and combining every technique, texture and medium imaginable, Choe pulled his cock out (and I’m sure literally) on his latest body of work. Using anything and everything from spray paint, oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, and urine, he painted on wood, cardboard, polyurethane and canvas. He absolutely destroyed everything with all bangers with no fillers. The highlight for me was the one-time Anthropology (retail store) dressing rooms converted into a water color gallery complete with tagged over mirrors including some amazing pieces like the one of the internet phoneme band Die Antwoord portrait, Pee Wee Herman and Michael Jackson high-fiving, a guy who’s head was cut off and was sucking his own dick and some transparent speckle colored bats that were truly next level. The preview was so jaw dropping and completely exhausting that Nick did not have the stamina for phase two of our “man date”. Instead, he opted for a lonely three-hour drive down the 405. I on the other hand, came back to the gallery for the opening and was equally as impressed. Apparently, so was everyone else because all of his six figure pieces and almost everything else was sold out before the nights end! This wasn’t your typical art show, it truly was an experience. David Choe’s Nothing to Declare show runs till May 23rd so be sure to check it out at the Lazerides Gallery, 320 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 : Noon to 8pm Daily.
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Photography: Luke Wooden & Brad Cohen lukewoodenphoto.com
Makeup : Ashleigh Louer
Location: Saints & Sinners Bar
ashleighlouer.com
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Hair: Yadira Natalia C
Models: Karen Miller (M Models) & Lacey White
bradcohen.org
Bikini – Fox fox-girl.com
Top – O’Neill oneill.com Denim – Volcom volcom.com
Top – Volcom volcom.com Denim – O’Neill oneill.com
Bikini Bottom – Volcom volcom.com Knee-Highs – Pull-In pull-in.com Sunglasses – Electric electricvisual.com
Top – Vans vans.com Bottom – Volcom volcom.com
Bikinis – Hurley hurley.com
Photo: Boyes
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Interview: Timmy Ronan I don’t exactly know how Scott Stevens is still functioning these days. His shitty diet of coke, candy, and fast food should have thrown him into cardiac arrest about five years ago when I first met him. Or the fact that he pretty much should have completely fucked knees and ankles because he only straps one foot in ninety percent of the time on his snowboard doing some of the most insane stuff I’ve ever seen. In all honesty, Scott is a machine. You go to a spot with him and he’ll lock down ten tricks in twenty minutes or take ten hours just to get one as perfect as you could do it. Probably the most dedicated person to snowboarding and filming parts that there is in the game right now. The amount of board control this fool has blows my mind and the only reason he does those crazy one footers is because he already did every trick in the book before kids were ever even thinking about trying them. He’s not only one the nicest, most humble characters I know, he’s also at the top of my list of favorite people to watch on a snowboard or skateboard.
Photo: Joel Fraser
Photo: Joel Fraser
So you were just in Alaska with pretty much the entire Think Thank Crew, how’d that go? It went great! Actually, it was some of the best days with the best crew. So I’d say it was ideal. Jesse and all the Think Thank guys are so charismatic. They’re just always laughing and making snowboarding interesting. We had a good mix of jumping and jibbing and I think everyone came up on some great shots. I’m really excited to see everyone’s parts for the new video.
him, but he’s the only person I know that rolls with a tool set into the backcountry. There are just little things like chucking hardway front threes onto street rails and stuff. It’s so insane that it just makes me laugh. He has got such a unique bag of tricks. Honestly, if you go to a spot wit him you’re not gonna think of the same move, it’s almost guaranteed. Oh, and he rolls with whiskey and tanning oil to kickers so if he doesn’t get a move he at least gets drunk and works on his tan. I don’t know… he’s hard to explain.
Any good Austin Granger stories from the trip? Ahhhh geez – Well, most of the Without leaking too much, who stories you just kinda have to know was killing it up there this trip
and who should we be looking out for in the new flick? Chris Larson, Sean Genovese and Chris Beresford – I’d have to go with those guys. Every time we’d go out those guys would get bangers. Be on the lookout for those parts. And Bogart! That guy is so talented on any given moment on his snowboard. Ben is a pleasure to watch, he’s always the guy stepping it up and making it easier for everyone else to throw down. He’s the hype man! So the new Think Thank video is called Left Brain Right Brain - what’s the deal with that? I hear it might be two videos in
one? Yup yup, it’s gonna be a double disk. Pretty wild, but Jesse has an idea… And he’s always on point so I’m sure he’ll make a good flick. Two disks just means tons of riding. I think the plan is to have the guys throwing hammers on one disk and the mini shred bros on the other. Everybody’s pulling their weight so both disks will be a good watch. You know when people strap in their living room to break in a board or just to feel it out or whatever, do you only strap in with one foot when you do that? Ha! No, fuck that. So what, I one-
Photo: Terry Ratzlaff
foot. I’m a kook and I could give two shits. If you had to guess an exact amount, how much of this year did you spend with only one foot strapped in? A quarter of the season. No less… Nah, probably half. Fuck, you got me. Have you ever tried a Christ air? No but that is a great idea. Christian Hosoi tribute shot. Who has got the illest extension with that shit? I don’t know? Hosoi or some 80’s
vert skater. Who has got the illest benihanna in skateboarding? Probably Jake Duncombe or Shane Cross. I saw a vid of him ripping those, RIP Shane. I know one-foot stuff maybe questionable to most… But, it’s fun and there are easily more tricks that can translate over from skateboarding. Plus, if you like no complys, fastplants, boneless’s, all that shit, it’s easy to wanna try it on a snowboard. Alright, no more one-foot questions. Why is the East Coast so rad? It’s home, you know. Well man,
there’s no direct reason why I feel it’s better, it’s just that there a lot of good people there.
Easy, our house with Bogart, Granger, Ross, yourself, Mike, Cavello, Beresford, Bode, Doman, Brett, Breau, B, all of Think Thank, Grendys, Ted Lavoie, Chris Carr, Gus Engle, Mike Lee, Kris Anderson, Matt Lareau, Knut, Ricky Tucker, Chris Brewster and Johnny Miller. Those are some that come to mind easy. I like riding anywhere. Especially if it’s with a couple of those guys.
Why don’t you drink coffee? I really don’t know. The same reason you probably don’t drink energy drinks. Because you don’t like the taste of energy drinks. I don’t really like the taste of coffee. Grenier makes drinking coffee lame. He makes it seem like you’re not cool unless you drink it. What a prick. Oh, and I don’t have Tell us about No Country for a motorcycle – I’m a fuckin’ nerd Bad Burke and when can we in Grendy’s book for sure. expect that to drop? Well, it’s all my skate homies from Who’s your favorite people to the East. It’s titled after my good shred with and where at? friend Jeff Burke. He’s a great
Photo: Joel Fraser
Photo: Joel Fraser
skater and just an awesome dude all around. It’s just a lifestyle, party, skate, snow… you know, your regular homie video. We still love skating so we’ve been stacking footy for a few years and if I ever get enough time I’ll sit down and pop some edits out. They want it to drop on 2012 so hopefully it’s one of the last vids to ever come out, but who knows. Got any plans for the summer? Hood, HCSC. Somehow I have a session at HCSC with Jesse Burtner, Zac Marben and Jed Anderson. It’s
Photo: Joel Fraser
gonna be awesome. And I wanna step my golf game up. I’m really feeling golf these days. Any one you wanna thank or shout out? My family and mom and dad of course, all my sponsors: Capita, Volcom, Smith, 32, Etnies, Theory Skateshop, Magical Gogo, Union, Skullcandy and Dakine. All my friends: Think Thank, Milton, Ross for filmin’, Joe Baldwin, Gus’ cat, and people that like one-footers.
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SS F.S 180 Heel Flip :: Photo: Trever Vaughan
Words: Steve Lopez :: Lifestyle Photo: Beau Roulette When I first met Jason back in the sixth grade, he lived on a street with the chunkiest ground you can get. I had a disposable camera and I remember being super pumped on taking a photo of him doing his first 360 flip off a curb in front of his house. He didn’t complain about how shitty the ground was, he just kept skating and learned almost every trick in the book off that curb. Today he still puts the same dedication into anything he does, whether it’s doing his thing on a skateboard or snatching all your chips in a game of poker. Jason always pushes me to do the best I can and keeps us jealous of his ninja like cleanliness, plus he used to have a radical bowl cut. Interview: Brandon Guilmette When and how did you start skateboarding? I started skating in 1999 after I saw Tony Hawk do the 900 at the X Games. I went out and bought a brand new Tony Hawk board and everything. I was pumped. Where do you skateboard on a daily basis? If it’s during the week I’ll usually be skating at Upland Skate Park but on the weekends I can be from San Diego to Frisco... What’s your favorite part about skateboarding? My favorite part about skating is just the fact that there are no boundaries or limits on what you can do. What do you look for in other skateboarders? When I see someone trying a trick
for hours and hours and not give up till they’re either to broke off, land it, or can’t move their legs shows me that person is truly down for skateboarding. Who are your all time favorite skaters? All time favorites would have to be everyone that had a part in the Foundation Video “Art Bars” Subtitles and Seagulls. You grew up in San Bernardino and Chaffey was one of the best skate spots in the early and mid 90’s - tell us how the Chaffey history has affected your skating? Just from watching old videos of people skating Chaffey and doing the most insane ledges, tricks, lines got me pretty pumped on skating ledges and today I feel that’s what I skate the best.
K-Flip Wall Ride :: Photo: Ryan Ramirez
SS Flip 12 :: Photo: Ryan Ramirez
Front Board :: Photo: Ryan Ramirez
What else do you do besides skateboarding? I play a bunch of poker. We have a game at my house every Monday night. Plus I just turned 21 so now I can hit up the casinos!
park that has a couple things to skate. When I was riding back to get speed for the trick I was trying, some dude jumped outta the bushes and got all up in my face. His hands were packed with lighters ready to fight. So What are your top 5 tricks? Nollie krooks, ss kickflip, bs tails, I grabbed my board ready to swing it at this fool and at the fs feeble, and bs flips. same time another guy ran up to What’s the future for Jason Dennis screaming at him to get his camera. It was just us two Vanzant? and it was a pretty bad situation. I wish I knew. Thankfully nothing happened and What are you working on right we got away with the camera now? intact. I’m not working on anything at the moment but I just got done If you could have a super filming for the video “Skate power what would be it and Movie” that’s coming out April why? 30th. I’ve been working on that To have bones of steel so I won’t for about two years now and I’m break any more. pretty happy with how my part came out. Anything you want people to Streets are crazy and always know? something funny or weird Get your game face on because happens, tell us a funny story I’m about to take your money at that happened while street the tables. skating. Just recently my friend that films, Any last words, thanks, or a Dennis, got a light for his camera. message for the kids? So we went to go test it out up Thanks to everyone who has the street from my house at some helped me get to where I’m at.
SS Heel Flip Gap :: Photo: Ryan Ramirez
Intro: David Freeman // Interview: Liz Rice I was and continue to be extremely moved by Eric’s paintings. His work radiates and engrosses the viewer in a range of emotions, many of which are difficult to put in words. To really appreciate the power of his subtlety, one really needs to see the originals. Eric’s soft but riveting lighting effects are produced with a technique called glazing – He paints a very light coat of acrylic, lets it dry, paints over it with another very thin layer, lets it dry, over and over and over again. This technique requires an incredible level of patience, focus and care. Each painting takes him about a month (working full time) to produce. They are true
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labors of love. It delighted me but didn’t surprise me when I learned that, just a few weeks ago, Eric soared over his many competitors to win the Gold Medal for best unpublished work from Spectrum, the prestigious annual compendium of the world’s best fantasy art. I hope those of you reading this interview from Eric will visit his website and enjoy the same aesthetically rich experience that he has provide me and so many others for so long. Tell us about living in Columbus, Ohio - Is this where you are originally from? Are there positives to
living apart from the major art hotspots (LA or NYC), and are there negatives? I’m originally from the small town of Coshocton, Ohio. I moved to Columbus to attend the Columbus College of Art & Design and I’ve been there ever since. I am actually going to start teaching at CCAD in March. I’m looking forward to see if I can make that work. Hopefully, I can manage to provide my students with some helpful lessons. A good thing about living in Columbus is the affordable cost of living. I don’t think most people become artists because they want to be rich.
It’s not as difficult to live within my means as an artist here in Columbus. Living in a bigger city would most likely require me to do other things besides gallery work to get by, and I’m not very prolific to start with. Also, being able to save money by living in Columbus allows me to travel here and there when necessary, so I don’t feel too far out of the loop or trapped at all. However, I do wish I could attend more shows and meet more artists. There are definitely benefits to being in the bigger cities. But it’s just not necessary to be a successful artist these days.
“I’M TRYING TO INVOKE AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE FROM MY VIEWERS. SOME ART ISN’T VERY ACCESSIBLE...I DEFINITELY WANT MY VIEWERS TO CONNECT WITH MY WORK.”
How would you explain your art to someone who has yet to see it?
watercolor paper. Although, I recently tried my hand at oils again after a decade long break. Fortunately, I think a lot of what I learned refining my acrylic technique crosses over into the other medium. I really liked the results and plan on pursuing that more for future shows.
I would describe my work as surreal and I would hope emotive. I’m trying to invoke an emotional response from my viewers. Some art isn’t very accessible, it’s almost as if the viewer isn’t meant to connect. I definitely want my Your technique appears time viewers to connect with my work. consuming can you explain your process? What mediums do you mainly I work in very thin layers of acrylic, work with? slowly building value and color. I mostly paint in acrylics on Before I begin a painting I devote
a lot of time refining my ideas and doing the proper research and referencing. I want to make sure the drawing is perfect before I start putting paint down. The work often starts out well, goes through a big ugly phase, then tightens up and comes together at the very end.
such as Voltron, Transformers etc. I didn’t get exposed to other contemporary artists until college. But that opened me up to a whole new world of art and really helped me to mature as an artist. What inspires you to create, major influences?
When and how did you first become interested in Art? How Just about anything really. Being long have you been creating observant - driving through an it? underpass, watching as a tree catches the last light of a setting I think, like most artists, I was sun. There are so many things interested as a young person. Back that inspire. Other artists are also in the day I took a lot of inspiration a big inspiration. from cartoons and comics
Are you a full time artist or do you also have a day job? How do you fill your days? Artist 24/7. I work all the time. Sometimes it’s hard to force yourself to take days off. You don’t usually realize how badly you need a break until after you’ve taken it. Although, I’m getting better about taking days off to help replenish my creative side.
come off too contrived. Yet I try to plan out the most important elements. It’s a balance of planning and spontaneity. Tell us about documenting your work in progress: the time-lapse video’s you make will you explain?
You were just recently in LA for your exhibit - will you tell us about the show and also your trip?
I had some paintings at Copro Nason Gallery. I ended up with fewer paintings than I had hoped for. That may be due to some experimenting with varnishing my I enjoy watching other artist’s work as well as trying my hand videos online. I also think they’re at oils again after a long respite. great educational tools. So I I had to bring my paints with me figured I’d put out a few videos and ended up spending most of How would you explain the showing a bit of my process for my time in California painting in characters you create and anyone interested. I get a lot of my brother’s garage up until the the worlds they live in? Does emails expressing gratitude so I day before the opening. I’ve been it coincide with your reality? think it’s definitely something I’ll trying to actually get ahead of my Your world somehow? continue to do. deadlines and it’s proving very difficult. But I’d rather have a few Some of them represent a mood or Where do you see yourself in solid works than several that have perhaps a life situation. Sometimes 10 years? been compromised. This is only it coincides with what I’m going the second show I’ve participated through. I tend to not notice the Hopefully I’ll still be around in that I’ve been able to attend. connection until later. I try to let painting. Some artists come and It was a great time. I was able the work develop as I paint it, go or have a hot flash. I want to to meet some other artists in the letting my changes transform it be creating for a long time to come scene. And of course it’s always a into whatever the final product and hopefully gain the respect of pleasure to view the original works turns out to be. I don’t want it to my peers. of art at the gallery.
How can we see more of your work? Do you have any upcoming projects? You can visit ericfortune.com. There’s also a link to my blog on the site. I post detailed shots of paintings, works in progress, and other art goodies on my blog that I don’t have on the site. I have some sketches for the next show that I’m excited to get started on. I’ll probably post up some of these on my blog soon. My next show is with Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle then later in the year at LeBasse Projects in Culver City. Overall the trip to California, while short, was good and quite inspirational. Do you have any shout outs, last words? I hope that the genre I’m working in continues to grow, improve, and gain more respect. For this I’m trying my very best.
BANKSY PRESENTS : EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
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Photos: Willy T & Justin Van Hoy I went to the first LA screening tonight. It’s crazy to see a movie about the art scene and it is actually entertaining, hysterical and tons of fun. Many of our artist friends and pals are in this and so am I for a split second! Amazing footage, brilliant editing, and Banksy is always on point. I give it 2 thumbs way up somewhere and feel that it should get an Academy Award for best documentary if I had my way. Really cute to see Amanda Fariey with pig tails. Wendy Asher is a riot in it and I love the nocturnal footage of Neck Face spraying a huge arm across a building, just fantastic! There is something very honest about this movie. Thierry Guetta aka Mister Brainwash is an interesting phenomenon. He is part conceptual artist part Frankstein being a protege of the two master artists - Banksy and Shepard. In his LA show, “Life is Beautiful,” he used every art trick and style in the book though he is not responsible for developing any of them. Does this matter? HA - it does! His being
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an artist is really theater and it works! On a conceptual level MBW creams everyone and wins. Loved and hated. Brilliant perhaps, passionate for sure, while keeping a sweet innocence and likeability he manages to be the ultimate mannerist and latecomer to the movement. Is he really a latecomer - after all he was filming everything for many years. While documenting the movement in a very DIY - grainy style, he became one of “Street Art’s” accidental biggest players. Maybe it is largely due to the public loving hype and missing out on being able to buy Banksy - to get their hands on a MBW has been very gratifying for them. And his prints look really great. In the end you just kind of wonder how the hell it all caught on and how fantastic that MBW documented it all and actually had film in the camera.
COMUNE DROP CITY
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Photos: Mike Quinones & Sean Rosenthal :: Words: Corey Smith // COMUNE Drop City Contributors // Frank Delgadillo & Alicia Willis // Artist Kealan Shilling & his work “Death Dress” // Suzanne Fod, Chris Ford & Vincent Carafano // Artist Ray Gordon & his work “The Lost Protestant” // Howard Marchbanks, Angel Garcia & John Orlow // Artist Clifford Lidell, Julie Shumaker & Brent Buckner // Artist Jimmy Fontaine & his work “Il Bambino Solitario” // Artist Gareth Stehr & his work “Behold The Black Light” // Matt Ball & his lady, Dustin Beatty & Lisa // Alex Knost, Ben Brough, Pat Lloyd Comune opened their doors on Saturday, April 24th to over 500 guests for the official launch of Drop City. “Experiments in Occultism and Parapsychology” was the title and theme of the show with artists: Corey Smith, Gareth Stehr, Jason Lee Parry, Jimmy Fontaine, Nathan and Noah Rice, Danielle DeFoe, Shelby Menzel, Kealan Shilling, Ray Gordon, Noel Sinclair Boyt, Liz Davis and Hunter Longe - all of whom exhibited their newest work coinciding with the dark and ominous theme. The artist’s work included video installations, sculpture, photography, and paintings. For the event, Comune constructed a massive maze gallery extending off their existing steel shipping container show space. As viewers wandered their way
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through the maze, they experienced an overwhelming visual impact. The visceral glow of several video installations reflected off everyone’s bodies and the energy pyramid centered in the entrance of the compound set the tone for the rest of the show. Gareth Stehr’s black light room was one highlight of the night, creating a psychedelic/mock black magic vibe that only he can explain. Dj’s blasted the finest stoner rock along with 60’s and 70’s obscure psych/garage favorites. PBR flowed like water and Gringo and the Bean fed the packed house. Check out the photos from the showing at thecomune.com.
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PHIL FROST : PALE WRITER @ KNOWN GALLERY
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Photos: Willy T & Katie McShady
New York artist Phil Frost has been on a roll lately and just had his second exhibition, Pale Writer, in LA this year. The opening reception went down on the 24th of April at the Known Gallery. I have had the pleasure of knowing Phil for a little while now and have been lucky enough to see a lot of his work from start to ďŹ nish and I gotta say, goddamn his new pieces are awesome. The colors he chose blend with his signature mask designs and a plethora of black and white ink pieces made for quite a showing. It wasn’t long before the gallery was packed full of people and everyone was enjoying all the different mediums that Phil put together. Pale Writer is open to the public until May 15th, so get off the couch and learn to enjoy something original.
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PUNK ART : A 40-YEAR RETROSPECT
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Words: Jani Lange :: Photos: Nick Meistrel // Flyer Wall // Fletcher Dragge, Jani Lange, Raymond Pettibon and Keith Morris // Byron from Pennywise and his wife Laurie // Out of Order and Marc Theodore of Theologian Records // Daniel and Rodge owners of Re:Style // Jessica Smalls and Dog Boy of Too Rude // The Hermosa Beach Museum // Justin Thirsk and Pat Ivie of 98 Mute // “Death of a Gremmie” classic Black Flag flyer // Ben Beverly, Jani Lange and Fletcher Dragge // Old school Pennywise flyer For the last six weeks the epicenter of the Punk Rock universe could be found at the Hermosa Museum in the first of its kind art show, entitled “Punk Art”, a 40 year retrospect of South Bay punk rock gig flyers, presented by AMI Productions and the Hermosa Historical Society. The South Bay is renowned for its legendary music scene, although little is known about the medium that promotes this music. Commonly referred to as “Flyers”, these 8x11 black and white, hand drawn and photo copied works of art have lured thousands of eager fans to the sold out shows, gigs and concerts of local bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Descendents and Pennywise world wide.
Theologian Records, AMI Productions, Hardline Entertainment, Felony Records, Common Thread and many more. In conjunction with the flyers, there was a photo exhibit featuring rare performances of local bands playing in hometown venues and around the world as well as Punk Rock memorabilia courtesy of local collectors. “Our goal of this project is to expose the unsung talent of local artists, tell the story of our music scene, and by doing so hopefully breaking down stereotypes. So next time some ones sees a kid with a Mohawk, with some tattoos riding a skateboard they won’t pass judgment so quickly, because that kid maybe the next Raymond Pettibon.”
The exhibit was held at the Hermosa Museum and featured flyer artwork from the personal archives of Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Pennywise, 98 Mute, Deviates,
To date Punk Art has been the most profitable, most visited and highest profile exhibition in the history of the Hermosa Beach Museum… Punk’s not dead!
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VESTAL VILLAGE
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Words: Derek Boucher // Vestal Village camp ground // The naughty vehicle // Wiener rash slip & slide // The Fitz & The Dome // What a free watch can get you // Poolside with Sanuk // Masa and Imoto from Japan // Red Bull’s Brandon Brown & buddy // Take your pick // Keep A Breast Foundation In celebration of their new eyewear line, Vestal invited 500 of their closest friends, athletes, musicians and retailers to “Vestal Village,” a secret 10-acre camping community constructed in the desert coinciding with this year’s Coachella Music Festival. This 72-hour Vestal engagement incorporated on-site camping with a tent city compound filled to the brim with unique living environments including an 8-foot geodesic dome, military barracks and a small scale Luxor Hotel. A rodeo arena was also converted to an RV parking lot. Vestal Village amenities included a Red Bull Trailer Nightclub & dance floor, 50-foot dueling slip-and-slides with launch ramps, swimming pool, Vestal ad garden, an outdoor saloon, pancake breakfast by Daddy Cakes, lunch from Wahoo’s, shower trailers, a fishing lake, Pabst Blue Ribbon horseshoe pit, festival transportation on the Red Bull Scenic Cruiser, Vestal Tour Bus, surprise DJ sets and countless other components providing as much controlled chaos as possible.
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In addition to the Vestal Eyewear Collection on display, Keep-A-Breast was on-site doing breast casts for their “Women of Rock & Soul Breast Cast Collection” which will be exhibited coast to coast in 2011 (Look for the Vestal + Keep A Breast Collaboration Watch coming later this year). The Sanuk crew flew an airplane overhead documenting Vestal Village from the sky while campers were waking up to their first drink of the day. Vestal Village guests featured a mess of snowboarders including Eddie Wall, Jack Mitrani, Shaun White, Mason Aguirre & Sketchy D. Other attendees included Chris Haslam, Rumer Willis, Andy Bell, Cindy Santini, the FUEL TV crew and many more. The Vestal Village was made possible by partners Red Bull, Wahoos, Keep-A-Breast, Fiji Water, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Sanuk, Daddy Cakes, Unite Eurotherapy & the Jumpers. Rumors are already being spread about 2011 so stay close to Vestal for all the updates and info.
NEW Interview: Tim Bergevin
The Specials are hands down one of the most influential bands of the last thirty years. Whether you know it or not, the bands style and sound have permeated popular culture since their debut album ‘Specials’ came out in 1979. After reforming last year for a series of shows in the UK, the band has decided to give the States another go and have booked a stop at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Founding guitarist/ vocalist Lynval Golding took the time to call in from his adopted home in Seattle and fill me in on why this band is exactly what their name suggests, special. After thirty-one years why are
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you back together now? It’s like celebrating a birthday, like a milestone - you know? We’re all still alive so that is a plus. No, but the reason is to come back and play some music for fans who have been waiting twenty something years for us to play again. Did you tour the states before? We did many years ago with the Go Go’s.
Dave Wakeling (of The English Beat) and I see the reaction from the audience and I can’t believe it because it’s been such a long time and I thought no one even knew who we were anymore. I think with the aid of the internet, people get to learn about you and good music never dies. We wrote some good songs that still stand up today and are still as fresh as they were when we recorded them thirty years ago.
Now that you have announced that you are doing shows again in the states what has the reaction been? It’s been absolutely amazing! Every now and again I go out with
All your songs had messages, like Ghost Town being about unemployment. With the state of the world today do these songs still really translate to what is going on now?
Obviously! The three last songs we wrote as The Specials were Ghost Town, Why and Friday Night. Why is about racism. We have made improvements and we have jumped ahead with having a black president, but when I look at what they call the Tea Party lot and see how they were disfiguring Barak Obama’s images we still have racism right on the ground. There are still racist views out there so we have to get up and sing those songs. Are you excited to play to some younger kids? I’m sure parents who loved your band back in the day will bring their kids out to see you and I know there
W PAGE are a lot of fifteen and sixteenyear-old kids who know about your band. On the last British tour we did right, we saw a lot of parents and kids. The kids weren’t born when we broke up or took our extended holiday break. It was never hip for parents and their kids to go to the same gig you know. Kids were like, “Mom and Dad this is not for you.” But we’ve bridged that gap. I think we’re one of the only bands to do that and bring all the ages together considering that our music has a political foundation to what we do. So now that you’ve toured in the UK and are about to tour
the States is there potentially going to be some new music coming out of the group? You know, you never can tell. We had stopped discussing things like that, but now that we are all grown up we started working together again and we have a few tunes around so… Hopefully we’ll get to the stage where we’ll find the right people to work with and record some new music. There is one guy I really, really admire as a producer and he is Mark Ronson who produced Amy Winehouse. I think he is brilliant. If we could get fresh people like that then you know. Mark Ronson has kind of stolen
The Specials look or maybe he’s paying homage to you. He does and I respect him for that. He’s done a great job with Amy and Lilly (Allen) as well and you look at those two British girls and they were not born when we broke up but we inspire them. Lilly’s dad, I’ve met him a few times and he is a wonderful man and we are the same age. His daughter is a big fan and it proves that parents have done a wonderful job bringing up their children to our music. Are you surprised that it’s lasted this long? You still see kids all the time who rock the look and have Specials pins on etc.
There is one American kid in our documentary; we have one coming out soon. He’s about eighteen or nineteen and he flew from America to England and his parents allowed him to come. It was wonderful to meet this kid and get him in our documentary because it’s about them and what we gave to them. It’s about how these people feel about the songs we wrote thirty years ago today. It’s fantastic we’ve done what we set out to do! The Specials are a multi racial band and we live in a multi racial world now and if there is one thing I truly believe in, it is the only true religion in this world and that true religion is love.
Words: Tim Bergevin
My hat is off to Goldenvoice/AEG for booking a great lineup this year! That is where the high five begins and ends for someone who may be jaded as the privilege of going to amazing shows in LA at small venues featuring the same artists that performed over this weekend falls at my feet regularly. Having said that, if I was a casual music fan and had the opportunity to check a massive box filled with cool musical acts that I could then brag to my friends about seeing because I pony’d up three hundred plus dollars to spend the weekend amongst a throng of d-bags - then grand slam for me. Or if I was twenty and on E and a variety of other drugs roaming around a plush grass field rubbing up on 75k of my new best friends then once again yea for me. But that isn’t the way it went down. Over crowded (allegedly they added 25k people to each day this year), congested roads and parking along with the above mentioned d-bags spilling beer on people as they tried to walk through a mass of people packed in way to tight equals lame. Actually the worst thing I saw that weekend was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife Maria Shriver (she’s a Kennedy by the way) standing on the stage next to Beyonce during Jay Z’s set. I wonder if she knows that he used to move crack? Photo: Brantley Gutierrez
Reviews: Tim Bergevin
The Futureheads The Chaos Dovecote Records
Phantogram Eyelid Movies Barsuk Recordings
These Sunderland boys have always been a favorite due impart to the fact that they wear their influences on their sleeves. Mixing sounds from 80’s bands like The Jam and even Madness, the jagged guitars and sing along choruses are mirror images of their heroes and should be familiar instantly. Like and old friend the latest songs on The Chaos echo songs from the bands eponymous first record more so than on any of their efforts since. Jump on the first track Struck Dumb and you’ll be on your way!
There is something dark and rudimentary in the electro pop that Phantogram plays. The song When I’m Small feels familiar and could be almost sweet but I guess when the lyrics “I’d rather die than be with you” are uttered you get the picture. This duo is this summer’s Passion Pit in terms of hype only. They out shine the aforementioned act with more complex tracks and are far less romantic longing - if you will. Their heavy distorted programming makes these kids borderline shoegazers and that is cool with me! Check this out for sure!
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Washed Out Life of Leisure EP Mexican Summer
Minus the Bear Omni Dangerbird Records
Not sure why this hasn’t been reviewed in the mag yet, but it’s better late than never! This solo producer drops a lush EP that will have you dreamily sleep-walking through your day. Deep beats and hazy keyboards with echoing distorted vocals make you feel coated like your tongue after a heavy night of doing what you do when listening to music like this. Check out the tracks New Theory and Feel It All Around. The high is free but the record will cost you.
These heroic math rockers with the hardcore pedigree seem to have gone from teaching calculus to pre-algebra on this record. Always a critical fav, Omni is theses guys’ most concerted effort not to confuse people. I’d hate to say this was an attempt at them applying some pop to their smart song attack, but it left me feeling a little confused. Don’t get me wrong - this band is legit, I just think I need some more time to wrap my head around the new math these guys are teaching.
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AGE: 11 HOMETOWN: SAN CLEMENTE, CA SPONSORS: BILLABONG, VON ZIPPER, OCEAN-MINDED, SEX WAX, MAYHEM, KILLER DANA FAVORITE SURFER: TAJ BURROW
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Photo: Jack McDaniel
Photo: Taylor Fitz-Gibbon
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Photo: Ortiz
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