BL!SSS Magazine | September 2008 | #13 by Blisss Mag

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NATHAN FLETCHER

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THE BALANCE OF OPPOSITES VOLUME 02 | CHAPTER 02 C A P TA I N A R C H Y The beginning of the trip was a complete yard sale. After pulling off the highway to avoid a wreck—boards flying all over—everybody jumped out to clean up the mess. Talk about too many cooks in the kitchen. Archy quickly took control of the situation and directed traffic. You can always count on the Captain to get the train rolling again.

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Mark Ryden : Tree of Life Drawing : 2006 : graphite on paper : 21 x 13.5

MELROSE

I know it’s tough to believe, but it’s true – this is indeed our one-year anniversary issue. It’s crazy how time flies when you’re busy sweating deadlines. We’re pretty damn proud of our little mag and what it’s become in the last twelve months. BL!SSS is blossoming into everything we wished for this time last year, and although there are a few things – like a couple of brands we still don’t have pages from – all in all we are pretty damn stoked to be where we’re at. We’ve actually been looking forward to this issue for quite some time now, mainly because we’ve known that Mark Ryden’s art was going to grace our September cover. And while we’ve been fortunate to feature some incredible artists in this past year, it’s safe to say that Ryden is by far the heaviest talent that we’ve worked with to date. His work is truly phenomenal, but I’m far from an art critic, so I’ll spare you my under-qualified attempt at describing what he does. Just check it yourself on pages 106 thru 115. As far as the rest of the issue goes, we have a whole lot of content crammed into our anniversary package for your viewing pleasure. We have three skate articles: X Games, Quiksilver’s All 80’s All Day and an interview with Dan Pensyl. In the surf department we have a profile on Julian Wilson and a hot batch of photos from our boy Kenworthy. With snow we have another VS for you with Andreas VS Darrell, and a sneak peak at the new Bluebird movie that’s set to come out soon. Finally, I can’t forget our monthly fashion shoot, and Mark Mulroney’s art that we snuck in at the last second to balance out an amazing anniversary issue. There are a lot of people out there that help get this magazine off to the printer on time but go unmentioned, and we would like to express our sincere thanks for their tireless efforts. We also really want to thank everyone that’s had our back this past year as we look forward to year two. Enjoy the issue. Nick Kalionzes

Mark Ryden’s Studio

Editor-in-Chief nick kalionzes nick@blisssmag.com

Editor joey marshall joey@blisssmag.com

Creative Director mark paul deren madsteez@madsteez.com

Music Editor tim bergevin tim@blisssmag.com

SNOW EDITOR jon francis jon@blisssmag.com

OFFICE MANAGER zach baker zach@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, Andrew Miller, Julien Lecorps, Ryan Boyes

contributors Matt Patterson, Willie Marshall, Josh Spencer, Aaron Astorga, Daniel Russo, Liz Rice, Jason Arnold, Greg Escalante, 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 BL!SSS Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2008

413 31st Street Newport Beach, CA 92663 www.blisssmag.com 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 : Mark Ryden

If your favorite shop isn’t receiving BL!SSS Magazine please contact zach@blisssmag.com

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1 in in PEETKEGLER ART DIRECTION & DESIGN

SURF HEAVEN

INCUPLASM The boys from Incubus seem to be going every which way. Lead singer Brandon Boyd has been taking the art world by storm lately and is debuting his solo art exhibit this month at Mr. Musichead Rock Art Gallery in Los Angeles. His new shit is actually pretty legit and worth taking a look at. And hell, if you’re a big Incubus fan, we know you’re gonna love it. The show is titled “Ectoplasm,” we’ll see you there.

ALEX KNOST HITS THE BIG SCREEN

Anyone looking to go on an exotic surf vacation but can’t afford the time and money to travel half way around the world should consider looking into Nicaragua. I just got back from a ten-day stint near the Popoyo area and man was it impressive. Reminding me a lot of Costa Rica a decade ago I’m sure it won’t be long till this place is regarded as Central America’s number one surf destination. With offshore winds blowing on average of 300 days per year and a magnet for South swells, expect to get wet at least 2-3 times per day. The best setup I saw by far was a place called Mark and Dave’s, located directly in front of Colorado’s (the best wave around). This is pretty much where I spent my entire trip, surﬁng Colorado’s and wishing I too were staying at the best place in town. To setup your trip and experience what I’m talking about log onto markanddaves.com

STRANGER THAN FICTION C’mon now, it’s a Taylor Steele flick, you know it’s gonna be good. Mix the best surfers in the world with the best waves, add a killer soundtrack and how could you possibly go wrong? By far one the most anticipated flicks of the summer I have already burned over a dozen copies in order to keep the fiends stealing the office promo. If you haven’t already, get to your local shop and get a copy for yourself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BL!SSS I know, it’s hard to believe isn’t it. It feels like just yesterday that we all put our heads together and said that we are ﬁnally gonna do this. A full year later and it’s still going. It not that we ever thought it wouldn’t be, it just seems like it happened so fast. Wow, our very ﬁrst birthday. Like any infant we have grown up quite a bit and added a few new faces to the team. Well, things are still moving at warp speed here in BL!SSS-ville so expect only bigger and better issues to come. Cheers.

GOING FOR BROKE Some people these days are just unstoppable. Nathaniel Curran is currently one of these people. And good for him, he took some big risks lately to travel the world and surf every QS event he possibly could and it sure looks like it is going to pay off. One of the nicest humans you’ll ever meet, he’s been showing the surf world that he is just as capable as his big brother Timmy. Expect to see him on the Dream Tour in ’09 and it might not be a bad idea to put him on your fantasy surf roster either, with Kelly of course. Big congrats Nathaniel, we couldn’t be more stoked for ya.

Right now, a mass of trash twice the size of Texas is floating in the Pacific Ocean. It has accumulated in an area known as the "North Pacific gyre" and it includes everything from tires to fishing nets, but the most common ingredient, by far, is plastic. Help reduce your mark on ocean pollution by limiting your plastic consumption. Drink beer out of cans. sector9.com

Sector

COLT FORTY FIZZLE

MURS EXCLUSIVE

RTS

Another multi-million dollar company looking for some free graphic art, Colt45 has got a “Ink the Colt45 Can” campaign going on right now. We were talking about this in the ofﬁce and how there are a ton of big name companies doing essentially the same thing. Submit your design, have the consumer decide by voting and voila… your design is their new ofﬁcial hot item. Instant success for them… nada for you. But it would be pretty sick to have a case your own Colt45, or maybe throw in a beer for life clause. Check it at talesofcolt45.com.

MAKING WAVES In this so called “down economy” quite a few of the newcomers to the game have been making some big waves lately. Brands like O&E, Atwater, and Allyance continue to gain momentum up and down the California coastline. This is great news for all the groms out there trying to get noticed. It’s growing brands like these that just picked up 17 year-old Reed Zachman, O&E’s latest team rider. It’s kids like Reed who are connected to shops like Becker (shown here) who will become the new bread and butter of the surf industry.

MORE TRICKS LESS POLITICS F54 has just released their very first ever skate flick ever, “More Tricks Less Politics.” It features the whole team and is free wherever you can find it. So jump on your bikes, head on down to your local shop and demand they get it. Solid skating from a solid company.

One of rap’s/hip-hop’s hottest rising stars, Murs, is doing an exclusive collaboration t-shirt with Hurley. The ﬁrst of many, hurley. com will collaborate with a different artist each and every month. For exclusive gear be sure to keep logging on to hurley.com. Also, do yourself a favor and check out “Murs for President,” the new album from Murs, it’s out now.

VOLCOM TOUR X MOTORHEAD It’s only the second year around for The Volcom Tour and they are already pulling major headliners like Motorhead, The Misﬁts and Airbourne to join the ranks of other Volcom metal bands, Valient Thorr, ASG and Year Long Disaster. Make sure you check out volcoment.com for the full tour schedule and if you’re going to be down at ASR we’ll see you in the pit at the House of Blues on September 3rd.

STYLE MASTER Santa Cruz Surfboards is debuting the Style Masters Series at ASR September and though PT has been touring the nation promoting recently released docu-drama “Bustin Down the Door,” he managed to find a little time to swing by our office to give us a glance at the PT StyleMaster single-fin diamond tail. Updated from his original templates and existing boards shaped back in the day by Chris Gallagher, the prototypes were tested in PT’s original hometown of Coolangatta at the “Superbank” and now come to you in the Powerlyte construction. If you want some old school flow and speed trim combined with Santa Cruz’s modern technology this Style Master is for you.

CANCELED FLIGHTS Nick just stormed back into the office from a hell trip to Magic, Pool, Project and whatever other tradeshows were going down in Vegas as we were all trying to wrap up this behemoth of an issue. His flights were delayed every which way so he got to spend quite a bit of time checking out the “California’s Orange Coast: 42 Miles of Tradition and Lore” exhibit on display in Orange County Airport. It supposedly features a visual history the role surfing has played in Orange County over the past 100 years. I know quite a few of us are headed to Florida in the next week so I’m sure quite a few more eyes will be peeping it soon.

CRAZY FOR COCO PUFFS

SONS OF SICKNESS A flick self-proclaiming, “A Surf Flick Generating Radness Globally” on the cover, I gotta admit I felt pretty rad after I watched it. I mean, I knew almost everyone surfing in it and could identify at least half of the spots they were surfing. Actually, I was trying to cook dinner at the time and ended up over cooking my pasta. That’s how rad it was. Seriously, if you wanna watch a flick that is gonna make you wanna surf, go ahead and get this one. It is the next generation.

33% GROWTH That’s right, the Vestal crew is still growing in huge numbers this past month… well, at least their skate team did. Now an ofﬁcial three-man crew with the addition of David Gonzalez to the team. They like keeping their skate program high and tight over there at Vestal but as a huge fan of AC/DC, Slayer and Deep Purple they just couldn’t resist. He joins the ranks among other pro skaters Chris Haslam and Sheldon Meleshinski.

We’ll be the first ones to admit that we don’t give enough credit to the girls, even though we do include the ladies in the wonderful Super Taste spread every month, it’s not quite the same. Anyway, one girl out there that sure landed on our radar lately is Hawaii’s Coco Ho. No stranger to surfing world, she comes from an all-star family with dad Mike and brother Mason both big names in the surfing world. If you didn’t know who Coco was before last month’s US Open at Huntington, you do now cause this young lady came all the way from the trials to take 2nd in the Pro final and smoke all the competition to win the Pro Junior. Look out for more of Coco Ho in the future; this girl is the real deal.

TIN FISH TACOS

BABY JANI BL!SSS advocate and Hermosa Beach legend Jani Lange has just added a new one to his family. With moms looks and dads outlook on life were sure she’ll be a force to reckon with. All smiles from Dr. Lange in their very ﬁrst father-daughter photo, congratulations are in order. If you’re like me then you’re getting tired of the same old wait outside in a line for two hours to get into the “killer” ASR party even though I’m wearing the VIP bracelet. Yeah, that shit is getting real old. To break up the monotony of the same old same old FMF, Ethika, Spy Optics and the Tin Fish have teamed up for a little lunch celebration. The Tin Fish Timeout is going down on Thursday, day 1 of ASR from 12-2pm and again at 6-8pm. So break away from the booth and have some ﬁsh tacos and free beers at Tin Fish, across the street from the convention center.

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE I’ve always been told it’s easiest to write about something you’re passionate about, so this little tidbit should be a snap. I found myself like 200 pages deep in this book, The Secret History of the American Empire on hour two of a five-hour flight to Oahu this past month. I was already a huge fan of John Perkins after reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man I stole from a surf camp in Nicaragua but this one takes it to the next level. If you are a fan a politics or would really like to understand how our great nation really operates I highly recommend going to Borders and picking up a copy.

NEW NOBIS I recently stumbled across this fairly new Canadian brand while sifting through the piles of shit that are sent to us in hopes of getting published and thought it worth a mention. Nobis, originally a headwear company (now turned accessories and limited apparel), is pumping out some pretty awesome shit lately. Whether you’re hitting the mountains, skating the parks, or just cruising the beaches they got something for every situation. Deﬁnitely worth a once over, you can see all their goods at nobis.ca.

She & Him

GOBBLE GOBBLE

DVS DELIGHTS By now you know that we are all freaks for limited edition sneaks down here at the BL!SSS offices but we weren’t quite sure who would end up with these when they arrived on our doorstep. Yeah, they are some sweet DVS girls sneaks but none of us really have a steady chick deserving of such fine specimens. Steez has been pushing through about two victims a week, Nick’s on the usual suspect and myself… well, let’s just say I’m on the dry spell of the century. They’re still sitting in our office untouched and the only other place you’ll be able to get them is at Zumiez, so unless you’re willing to end the dry spell head on over to your local mall.

Turkey time is still a ways away but that hasn’t stopped Laguna Beach’s gobblers and goblets from gearing up. Big news in the TRKY world is that the LB boys have once again gained full ownership of TRKY. Sli Dawg, Staffy, and the boys are back at it and are creating the best TRKY gear that money can buy. Obviously Laguna Surf & Stone (Sport) will have all the goods so be sure to swing by and check ‘em out.

THE SOUNDS OF SURFING TWEAK BIRD FLYS THE COUP

The latest in new bands coming from our pals over at Volcom Ent is the Los Angeles based duo, Tweak Bird. We almost had enough space in this monster of an issue to put together a piece on these two, but unfortunately you’re going to have to wait for the next issue of BL!SSS to see that, sorry guys. In the meantime, their debut album, “Reservations” will be out September 9th, so make sure you pick up a copy and give them a listen. Madsteez took one look at the freaky dudes and naked babies on the cover and has been loving these guys ever since.

It wasn’t but a couple years ago that I was out surﬁng and saw someone rocking out in the lineup with some waterproof casing and special earphones connected to an iPod mini. Things have come quite a ways since those days and now you got all types of companies making waterproof mp3 players. Recent to arrive at our ofﬁce was the SwiMP3 Surf by Finnis. This little thing is perfect for all aqua activities - load it up with music, strap it to your arm and hit the surf.

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Words: Pat Towersey

BJ is one of the busiest people I know. Even on his days off, he has a full itinerary. But although things often get quite hectic, he maintains his cool demeanor and positive attitude. BJ Penn is not the stereotypical “fighter.” He doesn’t have an ego or a hot head, never disrespects people and is always smiling. There aren’t many people who truly embody the Aloha spirit like BJ. Besides Barack Obama, BJ is the most recognized ambassador for the state of Hawaii and Aloha. And like Obama, BJ has his sights set on the political octagon, after his career he wants to become Governor. He has all the necessary elements to achieve his dream: a strong work ethic, determination, leadership and fame. Cruising around Hilo in BJ’s truck, it seems he already is the Mayor. Everyone waves and yells “BJ!” and whether he knows them or not he hangs his hand out the window, throws a shaka and says “Hello,” it’s awesome. Out at dinner, strangers constantly stop by the table to shake his hand and let them know they watched his last fight. Whether it is Hawaii, California, Las Vegas or Virginia, people recognize BJ and want pictures, autographs and even a chance for a rumble with the champ. After spending time with him you start to wonder if he ever gets mad, and how he flips the switch when it’s time to bloody up his opponent. At home, he always tries to fit in a surf session at his favorite local break Honolii. It is a beautiful little bay with a left on one end, peak in the middle and a right on the other side. Lots of the guys from BJ’s gym surf out there, most notably pro surfer Elijah Young and one of BJ’s coaches Rudy, who kills it. There seems to be a lot of pro surfers who also train Jiu Jitsu and MMA, guys like Makua Rothman, Dustin Barca, Joel Tudor, Bobby Martinez and Fred Pattachia. BJ is the current Lightweight champ of the UFC and is training to fight George St. Pierre on December 31st - if he wins he will also have the Middleweight belt. To watch him train and learn more go to bjpenn.com. Photo: Nolan Hall

Words: Matt Patterson

Although the music of Incubus has reached a level of success that typically calls for a main stream of criticism by musical taste-makers and influencers alike, it is hard to deny the entirely creative forces that forged their way together to achieve that very level of success. On August 23 Incubus’ guitarist and driving creative force Michael Einziger debuted his first original orchestral composition titled “END.>vacuum,” at UCLA’s Royce Hall. While orchestra isn’t exactly the musical bread and butter of the devoted BL!SSS readership, it’s worth mentioning that the piece consists of nine musical movements, totaling more than 40 minutes, and performed by a chamber orchestra led by Los Angeles conductor and Einziger’s longtime collaborator Suzie Katayama. Unlike the Warp Tour events you’ve probably attended, the night began with British physicist Dr. Brian Cox giving a 20-minute lecture about particle physics and the exciting scientific experiments being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). Not only was Dr. Cox the Scientific Consultant on the Danny Boyle film “Sunshine” he is probably the most knowledgeable in his field. The presentation he gave was nothing short of mind-boggling as the celebrity audience was absolutely speechless. If you ever doubted the existence of life on other planets or time travel this is something you need to hear. I’m sure it’ll on the Internet in no time so feel free to Google it. Einziger has been crafting “End.>vacuum” for more than a year, following surgery in March 2007 for carpel tunnel syndrome, a repetitivestrain injury to his left wrist undoubtedly due to a lifetime of playing guitar. The condition forced him to take a hiatus from the band and his instrument. It would be the longest he’d ever gone without playing, and enabled him to follow some other musical, as well as outside, interests. “Live musical performance is what I’m most familiar with,” says Einziger, who will play various different instruments throughout the piece. “So I think it was natural for me to gravitate in that direction.” For more on this incredible foray into the musical exploration check out: www. endvacuum.com. Photo: Brantley Gutierrez

KING CURRAN BIG UP ON YOUR WIN NATHANIEL, FROM YOUR FAMILY AT ALPINESTARS

alpinestars.com

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Words: Strato This past X Games just came and went in an action packed 5-day period of August. The skating was magniﬁcent, and that is what really matters. The format was a little different on the ramp this year. Each rider got 5 runs where their top 3 counted for a score. They used it in the Superpark event as well, and with that, the contest was really geared towards staying on versus being risky and making 1 run to put you over the top and into the 1st place position. I am not saying that people did not take risks, because at this level and with the 1st place prize money at stake ($50,000), nobody was holding back. PLG and Bucky edged out Shaun White for the top two spots. Their tech skills outlasted the big airs this time around. In the Am Vert, however, the big airs dominated. Highﬂying

Ryan Sheckler : Cab Flip

Paul Rodriguez F.S Flip China Bump

Pedro Barros from Brazil took home the top spot. The Superpark was pretty exciting to watch. Rune Glifberg was dominant, even after taking a slam in the vert event that obviously gave him a lot of pain to deal with. The course was geared more towards BMX rather than skating, but the crew made do and ripped regardless. In the end, Rune took home his ﬁrst X Games gold medal. It was a little hard to swallow that Omar was not on the podium though everybody was ripping. Trujillo deﬁnitely lit up the crowd with his wild unplanned lines. Up at Staples center the Street event, Elissa Steamer took the Gold in the womens with another solid performance. After that, the

Danny Way Indy N. Bone BackďŹ&#x201A;ip

Pierre-Luc Gagnon : Indy 540

Greg Lutzka : F.S 360 China gap

Bob Burnquist : Switch B.S 180

Bucky Lasek : Japan men put on a super intense show. The amount of tricks going down and the level of difficulty was insane. P-Rod, Sheckler, Chris Cole, and Lutzka were all on fire during the final. There were 3 zones that comprised the events and it was really aimed at showing how well rounded the skaters were. Everybody in the final killed it, but Sheckler stood out, pulling several bangers that he probably did not even expect to make. The cab kickflip over the bump-to-bump China gap and the cab back lipslide first try on the big rail really sealed it. And then, all the cameras were on Ryan for another well-deserved victory. After the street event was the Big Air. It is another scary event that is turning into some sort of Roman gladiator show. Nobody cares that Bob blew minds and won. Danny way slammed and somehow got up to take and make his final run. As Jake Brown proved the year before, all the masses care about is carnage.

RESULTS Men’s Street Finals 1. Ryan Sheckler 2. Paul Rodriguez 3. Greg Lutzka 4. Chris Cole 5. Rodolfo Ramos 6. Jereme Rogers

Men’s Big Air Finals 1. Bob Burnquist 2. Danny Way 3. Jake Brown 4. Andy Macdonald 5. Adam Taylor 6. Pierre-Luc Gagnon

Men’s Vert Finals Gold. Pierre-Luc Gagnon Silver. Bucky Lasek Bronze. Shaun White 4. Andy Macdonald 5. Sandro Dias 6. Bob Burnquist 7. Alex Perelson 8. Rob Lorﬁce 9. Danny Mayer 10. Rune Glifberg

Men’s Superpark Finals Gold. Rune Glifberg Silver. Andy McDonald Bronze. Tony Trujilo 4. Omar Hassan 5. Chad Bartie 6. Kyle Berard 7. Bruno Passos 8. Mike Peterson 9. Chris Cudlipp 10. Daniel cardone

Kieren wears Cuba-Trunks, Cuba-T & Ehonda-Walkshorts

For all things Rhythm, visit us at:

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Neal Purchase Jnr - Rique Smith - Kieren Perrow - Jai Lee Ryan Hipwood - Adam Bennetts - Harrison Roach

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Now this months’ tasty little morsel comes all the way from the corn-husking state of Oklahoma. Quite a little ways away from this California coast but we’ll welcome Hilary with open arms nonetheless. Her beauty, wits, and downright general kindness are a blessing to be around. Which is a good thing, because she got one look at the ocean and is now a permanent resident. She paid us a little visit right after her photo shoot because she really wanted to meet the masterminds behind the mag - You’re welcome here anytime. Photo: Dominic Petruzzi // dominicpetruzzi.com // Model: Hilary

Photo: Chris Carey

Interview: Jamie Tierney

Julian Wilson is at the forefront of progressive surfing. With a repertoire that holds a deep bag of tricks crossed with power and flair, Julian is making the transition to becoming an international star. At just 19 years old, this kid from Coolum, a small town on Australia’s Sunshine Coast has already laid the foundation for a pro career by winning multiple events, bagging tons of editorial and starring in some of the most prestigious surf productions in the industry. With previous starring roles in Quiksilver’s Young Guns series, YG2 & notably YG3, which earned him the “Best Male Performer” at the Surfer Poll Awards, and most recently a part in Taylor Steele’s latest release Stranger Than Fiction, have all been critically acclaimed. Top that with his California contest run where he nailed a victory at the Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure Jr. Pro at the HB Pier followed up by a 2nd place finish at the Honda Jr. Pro at the US Open, solidifying his overseas act and undoubtedly living up to any media hype that surrounds him. This global crossover has been a natural progression for Julian as his brand of surfing speaks for itself. Not many people can name a trick in any sport, especially in surfing where new maneuvers are hard to come by. Last year, Julian launched into a backside “rodeo flip” and extended into a “Superman” and the Sushi Roll is born! Are you kidding me? Not bad for a kid from a little town who grew up riding longboards. His older brothers Seb and Bart, who are world-class longboarders brought him up as a grommet following their lead. Little known fact, Julian is a state longboard

champion and as he progressed into the fledgling freak of nature talent, the Wilson’s decided to keep things family based. Bart assumes the manager roll taking care of the business side of things so Julian can focus on surfing. His mother Nola, well known for her creativity, hand paints intricate originals on most of his boards, keeping things looking good. So what are you doing in California? I am here for five weeks. I just did the Nike Pro Junior in Huntington, which turned out pretty good for me as I had a win. And then I’m hanging out and surfing and just cruising. My girlfriend lives over here so I’m just playing golf a bunch and surfing and shooting for a couple days. Pretty much just hanging out and enjoying the summer. How did the Nike pro junior contest go for you? You won obviously. Yeah, the Nike thing was fun. We got pretty fun waves in Huntington and the Aussie boys dominated. Three of us in the final, which was cool and yeah it turned out good. It was really fun. What surfers out here have impressed you that you know or you’ve seen? There are a bunch of the little grommets coming through. They have a lot of talent I think. I don’t really know, I can’t really name any of them. It was fun to hang out at the contest and watch all the kids rippin’ and watch that talent that you guys have got over here

Seq: Kenworthy

and there are a couple of them that surf pretty well. What about in Australia, like who are the guys that you compete with that we might not know but are good? In Australia on the junior series there’s Stuart Kennedy who’s winning the ratings, Jake Sharpe, Owen Wright, Madison Williams. There’s Nick Reilly too. Those are kind of the main guys at home. What else you got going on for the rest of this year? The rest of this year I’m pretty low key, just a couple more contests. I got a couple more fun little road trips, which I’m pretty excited about. And then just finishing the year in Hawaii. Are you happy? You still haven’t even seen your part in the Taylor Steele movie, but what was the filming like for that? Filming for Taylor’s movie was fun. It’s different, like I never shot for Taylor before and I felt like this added pressure to do my best. I seemed to be falling a lot because I was trying so hard, but I got used to it after the first trip or so. And yeah I’m excited to see how it turned out. I think I got some decent footage for it. Are you working on some new airs? The sushi roll last year really blew everyone’s mind. No, not really. I don’t know, things like that just happen spontaneously. I don’t even think it up, it just happens. I don’t know, something like that might happen again soon.

Photo: Daniel Russo

You didn’t think about that at all? No, it’s just like one day I was surfing and I went to do an air off the back and… Just like a kick out? Yeah, and it felt really comfortable so I tried it a few more times and I landed it and it was pretty cool. Do you watch skate or snowboard videos to kind of learn how to do the more technical airs? No, not really. I skateboard so that definitely helps I think. Snowboarding you can’t really relate because they’re strapped in but skateboarding is cool. You can learn some technical tricks or whatever. I don’t know, it’s just hard with surfing because there is never the same section twice so you kind of just do whatever the wave is going to let you do. Have you seen anything new lately in surfing? I probably will for sure after I see Taylor’s new movie but not at the moment, I haven’t seen anything. It’s crazy I guess because all the good stuff is in this movie so I’m excited to see it. Everyone wants to know about whether you’re doing the QS or not next year. What are your plans? Yeah, I won’t be doing the QS next year. I have plenty of time to do that. It’s not really where I want to be at right now, or next year.

Photo: Chris Carey

“I don’t think I’m at that stage in my surfing where I can be competing against Taj and Kelly for world titles.”

Photo: Kenworthy

Photo: Chris Carey

Photo: Kenworthy

Do you think that committing to the QS too soon can hurt a guy’s surfing because they can’t really develop their surfing when they’re on it? Yeah to a certain extent, you know like you see a lot of very talented people get lost in the QS. But if they had just cruised and kept doing the juniors and filming more and all that kind of stuff their profiles would be a lot bigger I think. That’s just what I am trying to do. I don’t want to rush onto the QS and just kind of disappear back into the crowd and even if I qualify for the QS this year or next year, I don’t really think I’m ready for the CT. So yeah I’m happy doing what I’m doing. But to each their own, people that want to be doing the QS right now it’s totally their choice. When you are on the CT you want to be going for a world title, not just be in the top 10 or top 20? Yeah, well that’s the whole reason being there. If I qualify for the CT I want to be ready to try and win world titles and stuff. I don’t want to be there to just make up numbers. And like I said if I qualify this year or next year, I don’t think I’m at

Photo: Chris Carey

that stage in my surfing where I can be competing against Taj and Kelly for world titles. It’s something that I just got to wait and let my surfing mature more and my confidence in my heat strategies and all that kind of stuff and I guess I’ll just know when I’m ready for it. Do you feel like you have to tone down your surfing for competition? Yeah, I know you kind of have to surf at 70% pretty much the whole time. Otherwise your percentage of finishing the waves and getting the scores is too low, right? Yeah. You just got to kind of do what Kelly does. He just knows how to surf each wave, each location, to what he thinks is going to win heats. Like he’ll only surf 60% on some waves and then he’ll surf at 90% on the others because it will let him but he knows when to back off and when to really go for it. And I guess he’s been around for so long that that’s why he’s got 9 world titles. Well, he is going to have 9 world titles. Are you stoked to see Dane too, I mean he took a few years to film and really developed his surfing? Yeah I know - look at him now, he’s every little kid’s favorite surfer. He’s my favorite surfer. It’s so exciting to watch his heats and stuff on the CT. I think that’s what the CT needs, guys like Jordy and Dane mixing it up

kind of pushing the envelope. You won video of the year last year for your amazing part in Young Guns 3, what would be your dream project? Video wise? My dream project? I think to just make my own movie and having a budget to do whatever I want, go wherever I want and take whichever surfers I want, and just make the sickest movie ever. I think that would be my dream project. Is that going to happen? Maybe. I think next year I want to try and work with someone for sure on some kind of big movie project. Take a couple years to do it? I’d like to smash it out in a year. It would be exciting to work on a movie I think. It could be in the works next year. Have you seen any movies lately that you really liked? I think Trilogy was pretty sick. There is a lot of really good surﬁng in that. That’s probably the latest one that I thought was sick. There hasn’t been anything lately? I’m going to say Stranger than Fiction even though I haven’t watched it yet.

MAGAZINE: BL!SSS

CONTACT:

Words: Kyle Clancy :: Photos: Jesse Brown I’m on acid right now. Actually that’s a lie. But I got your attention didn’t I? Most of the reading in board sport magazines is crap, no sense of humor, just reporting the facts. It’s my feeling you need to stick your neck out to keep things interesting, shake things up a little. That’s the reason you and I are interested in this sport and not baseball. Everybody knows you bend the rules you have fun. However for a while “fun” was considered a dirty word in snowboarding. If you said a video was fun, people thought it meant three-foot airs and buttering around on the ski slope. Thankfully things are starting to change. The Bluebird wax movie is proof of that change. The Bluebird team throws down big stuff while enjoying the hell out of it. This movie is designed to inspire all snowboarders, from all walks of life. This approach reminds me of the infamous Anti Hero skate videos. If this team is Anti Hero, then Willie Mcmillion is Julian Stranger. Willie is something of a snowboard martyr. Being ﬁred from a job as announcer at Quiksilver’s Natural Selection event for telling the crowd to “go fuck yourself” to playing his best shots in the ﬁlm backwards, Willie and crew are keeping snowboarding raw. Last summer when Willie told me he wanted to make a movie, I told him he was in for it. I was producer on a few videos myself (Who Cares, Constant Struggle). I told him it will drive you go

crazy. Sure enough, as I write this he is sitting in his dark basement stressing over distribution or likely telling off some sketchy sponsor for not coming through. Most film companies spend loads of their budget on camera dollies, 16mm film and helicopters. Not Bluebird - all digital, all the time. Some of the shots were even filmed by the riders. Willie even told me if I had a good trick on my cell phone camera he’d use it. Bluebird chose to spend most of their time filming in their home state, Wyoming. Most pros circle the globe looking for new spots. The Bluebird crew gets to sleep in their own beds. This helps to add to the accessibility of the film. You can get nasty were ever you live. Another thing of interest that makes this movie different then the other blockbusters, is the fact that the Bluebird team actually rides together. Most teams come together once a year if that. Hell, we even got the whole team together to go swimming this summer.

“What kind of low budget wax company can talk MFM into coming to Wyoming for a week to go swimming?”

“This is John Makens on a stolen board from Travis’ garage.”

“Carter - First tracks F.S 3, too bad Willie hated this video shot or else you would see it in the movie.”

“Don’t follow Clancy, he’s only lived here 2 years.”

OTHER BLUEBIRD MOVIE FACTS: -Willie’s ﬁrst movie, Water to Wine, featured Harrison Ford as the bus driver. -The sound track is made entirely by friends. -The movie features seasoned vets like Otterstrom, Wastell, Iguchi, Rice, Langlois, Clancy (that dude is sick), while making room for a few up and comers like Mark Carter Adam Dowell, Jeff Kramer and John Makens. -One of the magazine ads proclaims this movie to be “the funniest snowboard ﬁlm ever made.”

“A sign of a good pro is a good method. Clancy”

“This might be the only time you don’t hear Colin talking.”

“Potty mouth McMillon.”

“Kyle and Carter, man’s men.”

“Deﬁnitely eating jerky.”

“Jail, among other things has brought this kid to greatness, Adam Dowell.”

“Wild Guch chase.”

“Geez, you can make a living doing methods.”

“The movie is 90% swimming.”

“Dowell with a mute gangrich.”

“Guch doing what he does best, being lazy.”

“Makens maken us nervous.”

As I said before, you have to be willing to take a chance if you want to make a difference in this industry. Well Bluebird has taken that chance and they don’t give a shit if it pays off, because this isn’t about making money or we’d be robbing house’s. So go and buy this ﬁlm and then go snowboarding. Oh yeah and stop taking yourself so seriously.

“Big people cast big shadows, Colin Langlois being big.”

1.888.547.1789

C-BASS IN CONDUCT ™ OAKLEY.COM/CBASS

Words: Reese Forbes Last Saturday was a celebration of 80’s skateboarding at Quiksilver. Some of the era’s best, and well-known pro’s came out in support and participation of that day. Dave Duncan was on the mic, Eddie Ratteugi built (and won) the course. Legendary teamrider Christian Hosoi was there to skate and destroy... With flare to boot. Along with the others, the Quiksilver squad was Alex Olson, Omar Hassan, and Reese Forbes. Other pro’s included Steve Olson (Alex’s dad and 80’s pro) Sal Barbier, Dylan Rieder, John Lucero, Scott Oster, Lance Mountain and Natas Kaupas, just to name a few. Everyone got into the theme by wearing 80’s inspired outfits!! 80’s music was pumping and the vibe was out ... People were excited that someone finally paid tribute to this pivotal moment in skateboarding’s history. Weather was amazing, the course was off the charts and the BBQ was firing (thanks to Haydis) In the end, Eddie “the man” took home first with an inspiring run on his own course! He worked all week banging the work out and then reaped the benefits... Big thanks and shot out to Eddie. Alex Olson had an equally impressive run incorporating 80’s flavor whenever the moment arose. Reese Forbes slid in 3rd with a run that can only be described as improvisational with practice! Side note: long time best friend and Quiksilver skateboarding mascot Dickie Muczenski took that moment to judge against me. Thanks Dickie! Big thanks go out to Jamey Beeson and everyone else at Quik that came out to support a day that paid tribute to the amazing time in skateboarding when it was about fun and you’re friends, and the stoke of just being out there!!!

Eddie Reategui : Invert off 1/4 onto bank

Reese Forbes : Double Carve Grind

Omar Hassan : Judo Odd 1/4 Pipe into bank

Skreech : B.S Boneless on vert 1/4 pipe

Sal Barbier : Christ Judo

Christian Hosoi : F.S Smith

Adam Dyet : Melon

Eddie Reategui Repping Daggers

Sal Barbier : Sadplant

Sal Barbier

Pat Myers

Alex Olson : Stylish F.S Boneless

Josh Borden : F.S N. Bones

Eddie Reategui w/ Dave Duncan : 1st pro contest 1st place

RESULTS Groms 1st - Patrick Ryan 2nd - Zach Saraceno 3rd - Austin Ortiz 4th - Brendon Snow

Ams

1st - Jordan Hoffart 2nd - Josh Hawkins 3rd - Matt Meier 4th - Sean Mazza 5th - Austin Hawkins

Pro

1st - Eddie Reategui 2nd - Alex Olson 3rd - Reese Forbes 4th - Skreech 5th - Sal Barbier 6th - Josh Borden 7th - Christian Hosoi 8th - Omar Hassan 9th - Adam Dyet

Best costume Duane Peters

Dusty Payne

Tom Curren

Jordy Smith

Taj Burrow

Bruce Irons Words: Joe Anyone that knows anything about surf photography knows the name. Kenworthy is one of the most published surf photographers of current times. He has put in the hours, knows every single professional surfer you could name and has spent more time in places like Indo and Australia than you or I could possibly imagine. Everyone he has ever worked with has something nice to say about the guy and it is well deserved. He is well rounded, shoots both in the water and on the land, and has made the incredibly difficult transition from film to the digital era. Like anyone who is successful at what they do, he is a master at rolling with the punches and has lasted through the measures of time. Recently married and with children, Kenworthy’s once notorious strong-arming demeanor has changed quite a bit. I’m sure you’ve all heard a story or two about some surfer/publisher/poacher mouthing off at the wrong time and having been forcefully put to sleep. These stories are my very favorite and my curiosity got the better of me about one year ago. I’ve always inquired about said techniques and asked him to show me a thing or two on one such fine day. Man, I wish someone was videoing us that day so all of you out there in BL!SSSville could see my eyes tear up and watch me trying to talk the ten minutes afterwards. It was quite hilarious and I too am now one of those few folks who can claim that they have been choked out by Jason Kenworthy.

Andy Irons

Ricky Basnett

Dane Reynolds

Brian Toth

Jeremy Flores

Luke Stedman

Ola Eleogram

Joel Parkinson

Todd Morcom

Words: Will What can I say about Kenworthy that will add a little insight into one of the best surf photographers out there? He’s a damn good photographer and he doesn’t have any of that crazy photographer weirdness to him that most of them have. I met Jason a long time ago and he’s always been a straight forward, no bullshit, stand-up guy. He’s been shooting surf photos for years and before that was making some of the best surf movies around when he wasn’t out there shredding the lineup with all the guys that he shoots now. I wish I could tell you more about Jason, but truth is - as you get older we’ve both had to grow up. And while he is still out chasing surfers across the globe getting the perfect shots, I’m sitting at a desk 40 hours a week and our paths hardly cross anymore. But don’t get me wrong, Kenworthy has grown up as well, last year he married the girl of his dreams and they are raising a couple of beautiful kids. It was only a few years back that we were both lounging on a boat in the middle of the Mentawai’s surﬁng perfect waves and throwing back a few Bintangs a the end of the day. It just goes to show you that Kenworthy is still doing just that a few times a year while I sit behind a computer getting fatter by the day – someone made the better career choice. Good on ya Kenworthy!

Brett Simpson

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Interview: Nathan Spoor & Greg Escalante Mark Ryden, the very talented and soft-spoken genius behind the most popular of contemporary artworks takes a few moments to chat with us about life, painting and his nature of being. Join Greg Escalante and Nathan Spoor as they dive into Mark Ryden’s contemplative ephemerata… So tell us about your giant painting, The Creatrix, in the Juxtapoz show at the Laguna Art Museum. That painting (90 x 60 inches) took about a year to paint. But before actually bringing it to the canvas, I spent many years with the idea and with sketches. It’s the biggest and most complicated painting I’ve ever done, and (laughing) maybe the biggest one I’ll ever do! Did you work on that piece full-time or work on several paintings at once? I typically paint one piece at a time, which was the case with “The Creatrix”. I am very single focused. I wanted something new for the Wondertoonel show, and that painting was finished just in time to debut at the Pasadena Museum. That was actually the second venue of Wondertoonel, the first being at the Frye in Washington. What is The Creatrix about? That’s difficult to put into words… What the viewer thinks the work is about is more important than the reasons I may give. That may sound evasive, but to explain the painting takes the best part, the mystery, away from it. It’s for others to ponder and draw their own conclusions. With the amount of work that you’re capable of producing, why would you take an entire year to produce just one painting? Well, one reason it took so long to paint was that I had just finished the show of miniature paintings (Blood). So I went from making 5 x 7 inch paintings to this 8-foot tall painting. It was quite a jump in scale, but I approached it in the same fashion – using the same technique and application as I had for the smaller paintings. Even though this painting is so large, I painted a great deal of it under magnification. I worked on

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making this painting function on both a macrocosmic and microcosmic level. I wanted the painting to work well from a great distance, but also to be rewarding when viewing it from just inches away. On the Laguna Museum wall, you can really take in that attention to detail, and the frame is quite a striking piece in it’s own right. The design of the frame is an important part of the work of art as a whole. I make many drawings and have my frames carved in Thailand by these amazing artisans. I am very lucky to be able to work with them. So after the Wondertoonel museum shows, you had a big show at Michael Kohn’s gallery? Yes, The Tree Show. And apparently certain museum folks purchased most, if not all, of those paintings? Many of the buyers were MOCA trustees. Cliff and Mandy Einstein added one of my paintings to their amazing collection. You know that sculpture in the courtyard at MOCA, the big twisted metal airplane by Nancy Rubins? They have one of those in their backyard! So, after being embraced by the highbrow museum crowd, what’s next for you? My next show will be in Japan at Tomio Koyama Gallery in February of ’09. Tomio shows Nara and used to show Murakami before he started his own gallery. Following that I’ll have a show with Paul Kasmin in New York. Tell us about this children’s book, “Sweet Wishes”, how did that come together? Marion Peck and I collaborated on the project, which you can see now on YouTube. The short ﬁlm, which debuted at her solo exhibition at Billy Shire Fine Arts, played in a miniature theater in a side room at the gallery. We released the book just recently.

The Creatrix : 2005 : Oil on canvas : 90” x 60”

The Pumpkin President : 1998 : Oil on canvas : 40” x 60”

Yoshi : 2007 : Oil on canvas : 36 x 48

Corkey Ascending to the Heavens : 1994 : Oil on Canvas : 30” X 48”

The Meat Magi : 1997 : Oil on Canvas : 20” x 24”

So what are you working on right now, at this moment? At this very moment when you guys called I was working on paintings for the Japan show. I didn’t plan on producing big quantities for this show. It’s not a huge one like The Tree Show at Kohn’s. But as I’ve progressed with it, I realized I’ve done a lot more than I intended to do. I’m even working on a big piece for that. It’s not Creatrix big, but it’s definitely a big one. Ok, so now that we know where you’ve been recently and where you’re going, let’s get some basics on who you are and where you’re from, shall we? Well, I was born in Medford, OR. We lived there for only about a month and so I don’t remember much about it. Our family moved a lot. I lived the longest in South Lake Tahoe. I was there between first and fifth grade. Then there was Idaho and for a while Colorado. Then we moved to Southern California, where I attended High School and stayed on to attend Art Center in Pasadena. My dad was an auto body man. He did everything, from custom to regular bodywork. I grew up seeing a lot of that sort of custom car work, but I’ve never really been into cars. My older brother, Steven, worked with Dad for years, but hot rods and typical car culture just didn’t seem to rub off on me, nor on my oldest brother, KRK, who is also an artist. So when did you start making art or notice that you were more of an artist? I did art ever since I was a kid. It is all I ever did. I found out about Art Center in high school. I visited the campus and it seemed like an art paradise. I had a great time and learned a lot from the old timers

that were still teaching. Their programs run on a trimester system. So with taking a couple summers off to work I finished in 3 years. How important is college and art school? I think it is incredibly important. I can’t believe how much I learned in my few years at Art Center. Today there is the added need to learn the computer. Even if you don’t intend on doing “computer art”, you will probably use the computer quite a bit. I certainly do. What did you do once you got out? I fell into doing album covers. I didn’t try to, but it kind of worked out that way. It was the most creative of the commercial art that I did, and I had great success with that. I started doing album covers just as vinyl died out, so sadly I only got to see my art on 5” square cd’s rather than the 12” covers I grew up with. What was the first album you did art for? Warrant – Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich was my first. I have done covers for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Screaming Trees, Aerosmith, Jeff Beck, Ringo Starr and many others. And what would be the most famous album cover you’ve done? Michael Jackson – Dangerous So what’s your most well-known commission then? Kirk Hammet, the bass player for Metallica actually commissioned a portrait of himself and his wife. That wasn’t for an ablum cover; it was a rare commissioned “fine art” painting. I don’t like to do commissions of this type. It is kind of in the nether-land between

Snow White : 1997 : Oil on canvas : 48” x 72”

The Butcher Bunny : 2000 : Oil on Panel : 16” x 16”

Album Cover: Michael Jackson : Dangerous : Epic Records

commercial art and ﬁne art. But Kirk was a really great guy and has an amazing house with a great collection of a monster theme. Do you have any technique to share? Most of what I do is a very time consuming traditional oil technique with lots of glazing. Where do you begin when you approach a piece, or what is your inspiration? Well, I collect things. I have lots of art books, paper ephemera, etc. They are my source of inspiration. I look through things and they inspire ideas. I have boxes and boxes of scraps that I sift through before I begin the work. After being inspired I make many sketches and drawings. My ideas come faster than I could ever paint, so it’s difﬁcult to decide which ones to turn into paintings. I can only make one painting to every 100 ideas. What sort of artists do you enjoy looking at? Mostly the old masters like David and Ingres. I also like Bougereau and Bronzino, just to name a few.

Allegory of the Four Elements : 2006 : oil on canvas : 28” x 36” Have you ever been inﬂuenced by any cinema, movies? Oh yes, Eraserhead changed my life as an artist. It had a tremendous impact on me as a teenager. I would see it over and over at the midnight movies. Are there any authors or certain books that you enjoy? My favorite author is James Hillman, who Marion turned me onto. He wrote “The Souls Code.” He writes about looking at the world differently than I thought about before; sort of an alternative to modern psychotherapy. Music must play an important role in your life somehow? Do tell… It does, yes, but it depends on if it’s for painting or driving or parties. For painting, I like something peaceful and calming, like Debussy harp music, or Brian Eno. Ambient sounds are better for cultivating the paintings, or for studio listening. I also like old jazz or lounge music, especially Frank Sinatra, but not so much for painting. I’ve never really been into rock ‘n roll. Jasper, my son, is heavily into rock ‘n roll and punk now. The kids are both very creative and make great art, but I think they are more interested in other things. Jasper is more into music than art. He plays the bass and he just composed a pretty great song on garage band. Rosie loves acting and dancing.

The Four Elements Drawing : 2006 : graphite on paper :18 x 23

Mark, we know our time is up and want to thank you for sharing what makes you tick with the inquiring minds that faithfully read BL!SSS. We really look forward to seeing your next big show in Japan and then New York. We’d like to encourage readers to check out your website - markryden.com to glean more of your story and amazing art work plus the hot tip that the book Mark and Marion did is currently available there!

B.S Flip

raro

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Interview: Tombo Colabraro So Dan, what have you been up to lately? The weather is finally getting nice in NY so we’ve just been skating and playing horseshoes. It’s finally time to stick around the East Coast. But this winter was just me dodging the cold. Miami with bro’s, Cali with the TMA, then to Chile and Peru with 5boro. Oh, then Vegas for Sally Vitello’s birthday. But now it’s BBQ season in NY so I’m sticking around for a while. How was it in South America? Who did you stay with? Chile was sick. We stayed with our buddy Mark from Jersey. Him and his girl are living in Santiago and were nice enough to let eight derelicts stay with them. It was amazing down there. Everyday we would wake up and skate for like 9 hours and then head back to the pad and BBQ. Hell, I felt like I was 15 again. After a week there we took a bus to Valparaiso, this beautiful beach town with hills like SF. I wish we had more time there but we had to get back to pack up to go to Peru. And once we got there things changed. We still skated everyday but we enjoyed the nightlife and the ceviche. We stayed in Peru with our friends from last year Peter and Epic (it’s Eric but if you met this guy you’d realize why we gave him that nick name). Any crazy stories from the trip? Well the only thing that happened in Chile was when Willy Akers and I went to see Bob Dylan play. It was the first time he played down there in 20 years. Peru was kind of crazy; we went to this bar with a bunch of the locals. We were leaving one bar in this outdoor mall and taking the escalator to the bar upstairs and these guys stole Peter’s hat as they were going down the other escalator. They must have seen him with a bunch of gringos behind him thinking we weren’t all together. So he ran up to them to get his shit back and one sucker punched him from behind so this brawl broke out. It was in a mall so at one point this one kid got knocked down as the elevator doors opened and he fell into it. It seriously looked like a movie. Then the police showed up and that usually breaks shit up, not down there. It went on for like 15 more minutes with people

trying to break it up and then someone sneaking up and snufﬁng somebody. It was good to see the 5boro TM giving his where he could. Finally the other guys bounced. Our last night in town we were supposed to meet some friends over at that bar but we got mad calls saying that those guys were super posse’d up and waiting for us cause they new it was our last night. Airports are big enough of a hassle let alone going through customs with a black eye or a split lip, so our last night we just chilled. Oh well. It’s nice to go on trips and avoid the cold weather. What is it like dealing with the winters here in NYC? I really don’t remember. I hate the cold so much that I haven’t spent more than eight days in a row in NY in the winter in like ﬁve years. Tell us about your trifest living situation in NYC? That’s a tough one. Either the tent for a few months in Barnes’ apartment at Dobbin Block or the squat with no heat (and space heaters blew the fuses) so we’d have

F.S Tail Slide

F.S Board Slide to wear winter jackets 24 hours a day. Yeah, the squat right after the pipes froze we had to kick in the basement door and then we had rats the size of cats. Yeah… that would be it. Take us through the daily routine of Dan Pensyl when your home in NYC? Hell everyday is different. It depends on the day or the night before, you know. If my body feels good I’ll go skate all day into the night. If I’m sore a good lurk session on Bedford, drive around and look for new spots. Then both usually end up with the bro’s for a drink or two. So what’s up with Quoits? Quoits is the Pennsylvania Dutch version of horseshoes. It’s pretty much that and drinking Yuengling out of the glass boot if you ever

go to my parent’s house. What was it like growing up in Pennsylvania? It was probably the same as growing up anywhere in a middle class community. You know… get out of school go to work 3 days a week after school and on the other 2 go skate as much as possible. Then after graduating, work construction 45 hours a week and skating everyday after work and on the weekends taking the bus into NY. Where do you see yourself if you never picked up a skateboard? I know for a fact that I’d still be in PA working construction with my old man, trying to take over the business. And basing the rest of this answer on everyone else’s life back there, I’d be married to

someone I went to high school with and have two or three kids by now, and own a row home with no garage. So I see you like to write shit on your body for fun, when did you get your first tattoo? I was 18 and I got a really bad Boba Fett tattoo, and the way I see it once you get one bad tattoo you are already ruined so run with it. I have a tendency to be bored and just think of something and if my buddy’s are around I’ll go get it. I don’t have many premeditated tattoos. Let’s take sometime to talk about the greatest skateboard company known to man, 5boro. How long have you been riding for the 5? Well, I don’t really know what to say other than the 5 is the most original company out and it has earned a lot of respect over the last 11 years. Ben Wall and I were the first two riders and I’ve seen a lot of changes and growth. For all the little kiddies out there, how did you get on 5boro? A true case of being in the right place at the right time. I was skating at this park in NJ and this dude was calling me a pussy for repeatedly slamming hard as hell. Next thing I know I make the trick and this guy that was heckling me, told me he was starting a board company. Now it’s 11 years later and a million memories later. How does it feel to be on a team with an east coast legend like Justin Barnes? It’s kind of intimidating, I mean he does have the best non-flipping frontside flips, and he’s pretty quick witted on the megaphone. Best Justin Barnes Story? Maybe the first time we met. We were at this party in Rochester, New York. We show up and the girl who’s house it was knew about the crew that was heading over, so she hid everything in the house in her bedroom and locked the door so it wouldn’t get broken. When I was walking up to the door I

Blunt to Fakie

Ollie

Feeble Fakie

hear this dude scream my name and come crashing down the front stairs. It ended up being my buddy Turtle riding the coffee table down the stairs upside down. We go upstairs and everyone is breaking shit. I see Barnes trying to tip over the fridge. He grabs the back and his hand hits the coils, and he starts getting shocked and the thing started tipping back towards him. I see this and kick the damn thing over. He let me move into a tent a couple months later, he said, “It’s the least I can do for you saving my life.” I heard you are in an elite eating crew. Care to tell the readers about it? It’s pretty basic, FOB. Food over bitches. All we do is

eat skate and talk shit. Future plans for Daniel Pensyl? Keep the same shit up. We have been working on a new 5boro video, it’ll be out before X-Mas. Keep traveling and keeping motivated. Random bro shout outs? 5boro, Volcom, Nike, Spitﬁre, Thunder, Roughneck Hardware, NJ Skateshop, KCDC, Autumn, Tooks Skateshop, Axe Throwers, Ortiz, anyone who has ever given up some ﬂoor space to me, and most of all my family.

Andreas Wiig on Darrell Mathes Even though Darrell is one of the best snowboarders in the world, he’s a real mellow guy. Don’t take me wrong, he loves to get out there and snowboard or skateboard, but he just doesn’t ever stress about it. That’s why I think it’s always good times hanging out with Darrell. But the guy never says no if there’s a good party around or something else fun going on. Darrell has always had his own style, and his own way of doing things. Now I’ll investigate him a little bit so you can ﬁnd out what those things are

Photos: Tim Peare

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Darrell Mathes on Andreas Wiig

One thing I hate is trying to write an intro for a guy like Andreas. Don’t get me wrong, Andreas is a good friend and all, but everybody knows who he is. I could say he’s an amazing snowboarder, nice guy, oh... and did I mention he won every snowboard contest this year. But who doesn’t know that already. Let’s cut to the chase and give you some real facts that you might not already know. So I’m hoping after this interview when you see him you’ll be able to talk to him about other things besides snowboarding.

Andreas : Switch B.S 180

Darrell

Andreas Interviewing Darrell I know you are a big fan of the TV show “Entourage”. Which of the characters do you feel that you have the most in common with? Johnny Drama? LOL! Yeah, I don’t think I have much in common with any of those guys, especially Johnny Drama. But if I could be like one of them it would be Vincent Chase. I like his laid back style and not caring about every little detail. Wish I could be more like that. How did you become so good on rails? Probably watching snowboard and skateboard videos. When I was learning to snowboard, rails were kind of the new thing to do. That was cool because of my roots in being a skateboarder carried over to snowboarding. If you were killing it at jumps and then threw in a couple of rail shots it diversiﬁed your part. I never really liked the whole idea of limiting yourself to one aspect in snowboarding. I guess I just like to do it all. Why do you always sleep all day when we are traveling? Well, when it comes to summer I’m on a different time schedule then the normal person. I usually won’t get up until 11:30 or later because I stay up and party usually till 4:00 in the morning. And yes, I do like my sleep, but lately my mid day naps are disappearing. I think I’m getting older or something. I know you really like to hang out in your home city, Portland. What do you like the most about it? Well, my family and my close friends are there. I’ve always been really close to my parents and coming home is always nice

Darrell

to tell them about my trips. Also, it’s nice to come home and hang with other people that aren’t in the snowboard world. It’s refreshing to talk about other things in the world besides snowboarding. Plus, Portland is a really nice place compared to the other places I’ve been to. People from Portland are usually a different breed and maybe that’s why I ﬁt in so well. In what way do feel that skating helps you’re snowboarding? I’ve seen your skate moves. Impressive. Skateboarding for sure helps your snowboarding. The type of coordination and balance you need in skateboarding is the same as you need for snowboarding. Plus, you need balls for skateboarding. Knowing that you could slam any minute, especially skating a bowl or any other type of terrain. How was it growing up in the snowboard scene in the Northwest? If there is such a scene in the Northwest it was pretty mellow and I think it still is. Not many pros and very little contests happen. People just want to get their fresh powder for a couple of hours and then head back to town. I really like it because there’s no pressure and you can just snowboard and have a good time. Why do you sneeze like a chick? I have really fucked up allergies. It sucks because I’m allergic to cats and dogs and when summer comes all hell breaks loose. I probably sneeze at least 6 to 10 times a day. So when I do sneeze I usually make it funny which sounds like a chick. Its pretty funny and I usually make myself laugh too.

Andreas

What did you do this summer? I stayed in Portland for most of the summer to have surgery on my knee. It was nice though, just the fact that I could relax and get the rest of my body healthy again. I just realized the past three years I haven’t stayed in one spot for more than three weeks. So it’s like my body is an empty battery getting charged up again. However, while typing this interview I’m in Barcelona with the family for a little vacation and not really looking forward to going home. It’s really amazing here. You’ve had a couple of banger parts with Mack Dawg already? What is your plan for this upcoming season? Really? Thanks for the complement buddy. I think for next year I would like to ﬁlm with MDP again and do a few more contests. Hopefully next winter you could train my ass and I could start learning some 1080s and double corks so I can get gold medals and some energy sponsors. Do you ever feel that snowboarding becomes more of a job than a passion? I try not to think that way especially if I start bitching about something like a photo shoot. I’ll remind myself I could be working at McDonalds or going to a 9 to 5 desk job and making minimum wage. It’s sad that we bitch about a photo shoot when any other person would absolutely love to be there. But on the snowboarding side it doesn’t feel like a job at all. On Halloween a couple of years ago you were a kissing booth, last year you were a gynecologist, any success? What will be the move this year? I wouldn’t say success by any means, but I was able to pull off a half ass costume,

Darrell

usually last minute before Halloween. Every year I think I’ll have a cool costume but it never turns out that way. I want to be the character Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys this year, but I’ve already seen other people rocking it. How do you like rolling around in your new Audi S4? I love it except for the two speeding tickets that I got. Not even joking, the first day I bought it I was driving over to my parent’s house on I-5 and some guy wanted to rally. So I’m thinking to myself that I just bought this car and wanted to test it out. Sure enough second turn around this corner a bike cop was there with his laser gun shooting right at me. When the cop pulled me over, no joke, he starting laughing. He told me how I was his first car to get pulled over by radar and that I was going 99 MPH. I guess if you go over 100 they can put you in jail. Luckily the cop was nice knowing that I just bought the car and felt sorry for me. But besides that, it’s the best toy I own. What is the hardest part about filming a video-part? It’s hard to just pinpoint one thing that makes it hard. I know getting injured can be stressful, weather, and crews clashing. But what makes it really hard is the fact that you only have 6 to 7 months of filming. During that time you also have obligations to attend, meetings, photo shoots and contests. I would love to see in the future more team videos like the skateboarding videos where they have 2 years to film a video part. I know there’s reason why it doesn’t work, but if it did, man that would be sweet.

Darrell Interviewing Andreas How often do you go back to Oslo? I usually go back to Oslo around 4-5 times a year. During the season I barely spend any time there, but in the summer I get in a couple of weeks here and there. I’ve probably traveled back and forth between Norway and the States about 40 times over the last few years. What is it like living in Oslo? I heard it’s fucking expensive? Well, I only live in Oslo for like two months out of the year, but I really enjoy it. It is super rad having all my buddies around and staying close to my family. There’s always a lot of fun stuff going on, especially in the summer. Since it’s so dark and cold in the winter, everyone gets super happy when it’s summertime and the party scene is going off. And yeah, it’s super expensive. Gas is about 9 dollars a gallon; so don’t complain about it over here! A beer in the bar is 10 dollars and a drink is about 20 dollars. So if you travel to Norway, bring a good size stack of cash! Do you get bummed when I call you Turtle? I don’t get bummed. I totally deserve to be called the Turtle. Ever since I’ve been little I’ve been the one who’s lagging and keep everyone waiting. I

know it’s super annoying, but I’ve been trying to change with no luck so far. I guess you just have to live with it. I know you pretty well and notice you don’t talk much shit on anything. If there’s one thing you could hate on, what would it be? Actually the thing I hate the most on is people who are haters. I think it’s cool to have opinions about other people and others, but if you’re a hater you’re better off keeping the hate to yourself. Haters feel the need to push other people down because of their own self-confidence isn’t good at all. So you’re renting a place off Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. How does it feel to be surrounded by celebrities like yourself? It feels good to be surrounded by my own kind. Just kidding. Haha. I mostly feel like I’m surrounded by a lot of traffic and a lot of crazy people. It’s fun staying here, but I wish there were fewer traffic lights from the beach breaks. I heard you just got back from a sailing trip with some buds. What was that like? It was amazing. We rented a sailboat for two

Darrell

Andreas : B.S 7

Andreas weeks and sailed from town to town on some islands in Croatia. All the towns we went to were super old and had so much feel to them. There were even a couple of places with buildings and castles from the Roman Empire. After one week of sailing we ended up in this crazy party town called Hvar. I definitely go my party-dose for the summer after spending a week there! Now it’s time to recover... Our buddy Jon Francis wanted us to do this interview. Rate this interview 1 to 10 on how well its going. So far I would only give it a 3. It’s the night before deadline, it’s already midnight and I still have a bunch of questions to answer. I was going to stay away from contest questions, but what was it like to win every contest this year? Well, I didn’t win the Big Air at the X Games, but I won the three slopestyles I participated in this year. It felt good! Hands down!!! You drink more water than any other person I know. Tell the people how many bottles of water you bring to the backcountry. Haha. I usually bring four 1-liter bottles of water to the backcountry and they are usually empty by the end of the day. I just like to stay hydrated, you know. I guess I pee a lot too. So this winter we got yelled at for not having matches or survival gear. Did you end up getting anything? Yeah, we got a little lesson there. I ended up getting myself the full kit, so you don’t have to worry about me if I ever get lost out there. I got waterproof matches, a saw, fire gel, an emergency sleeping cover and even a first aid kit. So stay close to me when you’re in the backcountry, and you’ll be safe! I was a little disappointed when you went to Mt. Hood for High Cascade Snowboard Camp and I didn’t even receive a phone call from you. Is Portland to dirty for you? LOL!!!

Darrell

But I called you after being there for three days! I guess you don’t remember? Since you didn’t even make it up to my camp. And when I went down to P-town you were golﬁng and didn’t have time for an old buddy. You hurt my feelings. Just kidding, you’re still my friend. With the way the US economy is going to shit should we be scared for our own sport? I heard Burton had to make some cut backs and drop some riders from their team. I don’t think we have to be scared, but I’m sure we will notice that the snowboarding industry will be affected by the recession. I think it will get harder to get sponsored and companies will put less riders on their teams. While I’m typing this interview I’m seeing Paris for the ﬁrst time. I think you were telling me last year you went with your girlfriend. What should I go see besides the Eiffel Tower? I’ve only been there once, and the only thing I did was to change trains at the train station. So I haven’t brought my girlfriend there yet, but I’ve heard it’s a rad city. Would be cool to go there and hang out one day. You have to give me some local info before I make the trip. So, this issue of BL!SSS Magazine is coming out during the trade show in San Diego which I’m assuming you’re going to be there. If so, what parties are you going to attend? MDP is having a premier for “Double

Decade” and I’m sure there’s going to be a sick party after that. I for sure can’t miss out on the Grenade party. It’s always a blast! Other than that, we’ll find out what’s going on when we get there. I noticed you’ve been stoked on watching Prison Break. Is that your favorite show? I was stoked on the first season, but I haven’t been that stoked on it after that. Lost and Californication are my favorites. What was it like to throw a hand grenade and shoot a rifle in the army? It was scary for sure. Especially the days we all got lined up with machine guns and were shooting at targets. You never know if there is some kind of a maniac around you. In Norway you get forced to go to the army, so you have no choice. We were shooting a lot with machine guns I remember, but I only got to throw a hand grenade once. Before I threw the hand grenade, I was the guard so no one else would come close to where the hand grenades blew up. When the first grenade went off, I was half asleep (you have to wake up every day at 5:30 in the army) and was pretty shocked to be woken up by a grenade! You seem to have an obsession for flying remote control helicopters. What’s up with that? Yeah, I’m like a little kid when it comes to those small remote controlled planes and helicopters. I don’t know how many of those things I’ve lost in tree tops, but it’s quite a few...

Darrell

Andreas : F.S 7

Darrell

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Interview: MADSTEEZ

Drill Sergeant Mahoney, er Mark Mulroney is an artist who voted no on prop 44 against necrophilia. He has a soft spot for Emanuel Lewis and used to play dress up as Donnie Wahlberg every other Sunday for soccer games. All jokes aside, Mark is a damn good artist with amazing illustration skills. His unique approach by cropping and omitting parts of his creations was something that I really thought was interesting and different. When I hit him up to do a proﬁle, his hard drive had recently crashed and all he had was his physical sketchbooks. Something rarely seen by artists is their sketchbooks, so I thought it be a great way to showcase some of his best work that you’d might not normally see. To see some of his paintings and other work (although it hasn’t been updated in over a year) go to www.markmulroney.com.

What color underwear are you wearing? I wear a one piece hand woven poly blend that extends from my wrists to my ankles with two tiny holes wear my business happens....my preferred color is blue (for boys). Do you think Steve Guttenberg played a better cadet or sergeant as Mahoney in Police Academy? Guttenberg was allowed to explore his extensive range as an actor when her performed the role of sergeant. He managed to convey a sense of authority while maintaining his humanity. When you were growing up, which New Kid on the Block did you want to be? I was more interested in the awesome power of Gumby although I never understand his relationship with Goo. Would you rather give a hand-job to Webster or Gary Coleman? Webster, unless he said, “thank you Ma’am” after we were done. Gary Coleman was too sassy for my tastes. You seem to have a pretty funny and morbid sense of humor. How much of your humor is translated to your artwork? Most of it. Some of my favorite works of yours contain naughty nudity (of which we cannot show in BL!SSS). Do your own creations ever turn you on? I suppose while I am making them they can zing a bit but once they are done they are just lifeless, and necrophilia just ain’t my thing. It’s funny because my editor thought one of your paintings didn’t download correctly and that it was corrupt because the image had been cut off. But I assured him that you purposely crop out parts of images. What’s the explanation behind your technique? I just draw the parts I like. Your style of drawing/painting seems to be influenced by a bit of old school Disney animation. Is this a correct assumption? Sure thing... clean line work, dark undertones and sex everywhere. My favorite types of artists are ones that can wreck shit in their sketchbooks. And you do just that. You told me that you thought some of your best work was in your sketchbooks. So how do you transfer what is in your sketchbook to a final piece of art? It rarely happens. I spend a lot of time in my sketchbooks searching for something worthwhile and every now and then I find something. I always want to copy what I just did in my sketchbook onto canvas or some other “final” work but it doesn’t work because the spontaneity is gone. I have tried to approach my “final” work with the same approach I take in my sketchbook. I just start something and hopefully trust in my skills enough so that the “final” piece has something new to offer without being too stiff. You mentioned to me that you’re fairly new to a computer. How relevant do you feel being computer savvy is in the art world today? It is more important for the business/promotion side of things. If you can’t email a proper picture of your work to someone than you are going to have a tough time of it. As for the art side I do not find it that helpful. The computer allows for too many fussy indecisive compositions. You can do so much so quickly that you often just end up with a big mess... enough with the Photoshop collage with a zillion layers and the pixilated filter all over the place.

And your hard drive recently crashed. How devastating of a blow was that to you? It was annoying but kind of refreshing as well. I was forced to turn the page on a lot of work and start something new. Years ago I sold my entire record collection. I had spent years putting together this extensive collection of records that I had got through library sales, thrift stores, dumpster diving, small shops and so on. After a while it just got to the point where it was too much and although it was hard I got rid of all of it in a second. I don’t miss them at all. We all start out making “art” for ourselves but now that you are showing in galleries, has your art changed to meet the criteria of potential buyers? I think it did a few years back when I was just starting. I made a lot of work that I thought people wanted to see. After a while I wasn’t all that happy with my work and so I made some changes. I always have to ask myself, “What do I want to see”. It is my hope that if I make the work I want to see that others will want to see it as well. I am not sure if it is working but I like what I am making today more than yesterday. What to you makes a successful artist? Just enjoying what you are making. I try and look at the spirit in which something is made. Did the artist make this work to become rich and famous or get laid or did the artist make the work because they just had to make it. I want to see work that had no other choice than to be made. Do you have an end all goal for you and your art? No. I wish I did it would make things a lot easier. Feel free to shout out or add what ever you want. I would like to say thanks to you, Madsteez for showing interest in my work. I also appreciate all the support from Miss Liz Rice and Mr. Casey Holland over at RVCA and to my nephews who always manage to make better work than me.

Photo: Matt Doheny

P. 949-642-5464 F. 949-642-5463 821 W. 18th St. Costa Mesa, Ca 92627 (USA) Florianopolis-Santa Catarina (Brasil)

www.playboysurf.com

MICKEY AVALON @ THE GROVE

Photos: Taylor Herron : brokenoutline.com // Mickey // Front Row Naughties // Cobra Snake, Jarah & Beardo // Dirt Nasty // Cody Graham runnin it // Brophy // Beardo // Kevin // Uffffff // Shipmates // Burnt Naughties

By now there really shouldn’t be any need for an introduction. It’s safe to say if you’re reading this magazine you probably already know who Mickey Avalon is. If not, Google him. Better yet, YouTube him and be prepared to see some really fucked up shit. With his vulgar lyrics and thousands of teenage fans, when the opportunity arose we just couldn’t say no. We really don’t put are name on just anything, so when we do you can bet that we are backing it one hundred percent. Such was the case when Mickey Avalon teamed up with The Pricks to play at the Grove of Anaheim during the week of the US Open. Upon arrival it was hard to miss the 10-foot BL!SSS banners hanging from the ceiling in the lobby/bar area at the Grove. First up was The Pricks with their over-rowdy fans screaming and singing every verse of every song. Tons of familiar faces lined the crowd as I made my rounds doing the high ﬁves and handshakes between trips to the bar. There was a short intermission between acts, which allowed for some mingling and more drinks. It was around this time when I met the girl of my dreams, which was soon shattered when she then told me she worked at Captain Cream’s. You can’t win them all. Anyways, Mickey’s performance was nothing short of amazing, the guy really knows how to entertain the crowd. And I’m still trying to ﬁgure out what he does to get all the girls so revved up, but it always seems to happen - thank you for that. For those of you that missed it, well… your loss. If you ever get the chance in the future I would highly recommend it.

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FOX’s OPEN HOUSE

Photos: MANFACE & Cliff Endsley // Open House // Team Fox // Pete Fox & some foxy ladies // Che Stang groping his girly // John Fox & Joe Rich // Brandon Ragenovich & his girl // Fox Bunnies // JMJ & Brianna // Jim & Jen Anfuso // Mike Mason & Adam Jones

When I received the invite to come check out Fox’s newly relocated SoCal office for their open house soiree, I knew I was in for a treat. I have attended more than a few Fox events in the past and I know that they leave no strings untied. With that in mind and a healthy appetite for a little party, I was on my way. I showed up a tad bit on the early side for the exclusive media grand tour of their new home. Wow, that is all I can say about their new facility. Two stories, tons of offices, two full studios, two show rooms, a helipad, and a mini track to blow off some steam - it makes going to work fun. Around 8 pm the droves of people started pouring in. The front area was packed with employees, sponsored riders, industry folk, and those lucky enough to be in the know. Hors d’oeuvres and fresh adult beverages (thank you Red Bull) were served up while two DJs (one in the front, one in the back) kept the party alive. I think it’s safe to say that I spotted more than a few people in awe looking at what the Fox folk had created. The evening rolled on and the dance floor filled as I mingled the night away. I even got special departing treat courtesy of the Hot Dog On A Stick bus setup in the parking lot. Big thanks to the whole Fox family and looking forward to many fun nights there in the near future.

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HONDA US OPEN OF SURFING BY O’NEILL

Words: Matt Patterson :: Photos: Tom Cozad // Nathaniel Curran // Surf City // CMO // Boal // Brett Simpson’s personal cheerleaders // Gabe Kling // Julian Wilson // Cory Lopez // Gieselman // Paratroopers // Jesse : Life Rolls On If you have any sense of Southern California beach culture history then you certainly know that the US Open (formerly the OP Pro) is ground zero for surf contests. The general mayhem that ensues when you combine a surﬁng, skateboarding, BMX demo’s, fashion shows and concerts is unparalleled and with the estimated 400,000+ spectators including live participants and on-line viewers it’s the biggest show in action sports. For those nostalgic locals like your author, remembering the overturned cop car burning blissfully on the sand during the riot of ‘86 secures the knowledge that this event is the real thing and that the crew at O’Neill have done an amazing job keeping it alive and well. The event plays no small part in the WQS of the ASP tour with it’s 6-star, highest possible points rating either. But that little fact is over-shadowed by the immense

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amount business that the Open delivers to So Cal that week. “We love the U.S. Open and what it brings to our sport of surﬁng, and to our community of Huntington Beach,” said Aaron Pai, owner of Huntington Surf and Sport. This year the event came to it’s conclusion in front of a packed house and was won by California native Nathaniel Curran on July 27th. The win sparked a string of successful performances that included another recent win in Europe and Curran’s current location at the top of the WQS ratings. No small feat for a competitor who took out a student loan to ﬁnance his attempt to qualify for the WCT tour. For Nathaniel Curran, the nearly half a million spectators and gracious event sponsors, the US Open was once again a historical event, and although no cop cars were burned, it’s one that we will not soon forget.

Clint Peterson, Benny Fairfax, Tony Manfre & Daryl Angel in “A Superlative Day“. See the whole photo series in the palm / pocket sized WeSC winter catalogue 2008.

photo: Vincent Skoglund

www.wesc.com

O&E’S MUSTACH’S AND MARGARITA’S

Words: Matt Patterson // Matto, Susan, Michael, Jenny and Leslie all tried to avoid wearing moustaches while never leaving the front of the margarita line // Matto’s artwork // Joe Mac can throw a baseball from his ofﬁce at Hurley and hit the front door of the new O&E HQ, too bad he won’t throw these shades instead // Atwater crew Dean, Bean and Spides // Say it don’t spray it // The Japanese Motors // Brothers Joel and Matt Patterson. // Jim from PureGlass is running Costa Mesa’s new surfboard mecca - right on Placentia Ave! // Matto with Catherine and Mike Bretton // Cordell Miller and Desi - two O&E faithful and devoted // Hawaiian types like John Carper (JC Surfboads) and Orion Taylor (OT) made the scene

During the week of the US Open there are more parties and events in the “velcro valley - industry backyard” than you could possibly imagine. On July 25th, breakout brand Ocean and Earth open the doors to their new facility and had the who’s who of the industry drop in for a pre-party party. From 6:00 to 8:00 pm Alex Knost and the Japanese Motors played two sets, O&E’s Placentia Ave neighbors RVCA, Volcom and Hurley all dropped by, and half of the competitors from the US Open surf contest and Soul Bowl skate demo all wore fake moustaches and drank saucy margaritas in the aforementioned theme; Moustaches and Margaritas. Although O&E has been making some of the best hard goods (surf accessories) around the globe for 30 years, the brand has recently launched an apparel category here in the U.S. and has quickly fell into the group of hot new brands to watch along with fellow upstarts like Atwater and Allyance.

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RVCA: A NEW YORK MINUTE IN 48 HOURS

Words: Skye McRae :: Photos courtesy of RVCA // PM Tenore and Erin Wasson // RVCA women’s advocate Erin Wasson // Come out and play // Opening Ceremony appointment // Artist David Choe // Blunted book buy // The Corner // PM and Paper Mag’s David Hershkovits // Dinner at Kim Hastreiter’s // Barney’s Julie Gilhart and Terence Bogan // Erin and PM with Opening Ceremony’s Olivia Kim // MoMA anyone? // PM with MoMA’s ﬁnest // Model couple: Ryan Burns and Aline Nakashima // Behind the scenes at the WWD shoot // David Mushegain: the man, the myth, the legend // PM Tenore and Erin Wasson at Vogue // Deitch Gallery’s Os Gemeos show

A lot of things happen in 48 hours – just ask RVCA’s founder and Creative Director PM Tenore. Following a weeklong escapade in NYC, PM was kind enough to lend us photos of his encounters with some of the town’s beautiful young things. Hanging out with RVCA’s woman advocate, supermodel and entrepreneur Erin Wasson, PM visited the HQ of Vogue for an exclusive interview, did a shoot with fashion bible WWD, went to Barney’s for a sales presentation and met with the brands new sales agency, Opening Ceremony. He also had time to catch up with artist Dave Choe at his new home, photographer and all round networker, David Mushegain, close friend Kim Hastereiter, Editor and Founder of Paper magazine, and got to meet MoMA’s ﬁnest and check out Dietch Gallery’s latest show with Os Gemeos. Be sure to check out the September 4th launch of Erin Wasson x RVCA in NYC… for more information go to www.rvca.com

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INTRODUCING THE NEWEST IN HIGH PERFORMANCE BEADED TECHNOLOGY.

FROM THE MINDS OF 速

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F54 FREAKS OF THE PEAK

You know truly insp The crew company reminded Words: Fawn Lebovitz :: Photos: Toby Sharp, ﬁatsurf.com // Chase Wilson Grom Winner // Finalists // Doug Van Mierlo // Victor Done // Ford // Taylor Clark // Colin Moran // Josh Giddings // Dylan Melamed // Taylor Thorne // Nage Melamed

Man, I love to see companies that give back once in a while. This is the 3rd year for Factor54’s Summer Surf Series. This year’s “Freaks of Peak” contest stepped it up yet again to what is becoming a contest institution. I peeled off a extra shot of espresso and crept down to 54th street at 7:15 am only to find the event fully packed with kids, parents, and cars every where including the LA times and a news camera crew. F54 chief and former Newps destructor Todd Miller told me the Juniors division was full by 6:30. Miller said he insists on running a free event that offers cash prize awards as it is senseless to charge an entry fee for a youth based, local event. No empty tummies here with plenty of food and drinks. Prizes and swag from Oakely, Futures Fins, Waterman’s Sunscreen, Surfside, Becker, Main St. Surf Shop, Chronic Tacos and The Green Room. The Freaks event had thumping surf that quickly separated the smackers from the smack talkers. Contesting through the heats was everyone from local standouts Chase Wilson and Ford Archbold to Kauai family rippers Dylan and Nage Melamed. Victor Done got a super clean 3-4 second barrel making everyone on the beach go mental. Also cool to see HB’s Jye Townend help with officiating. The finals had Chase Wilson and Doug van Mierlo taking 1st and 2nd in the Juniors Division and NSSA standouts Taylor Clark and Colin Moran going 1 and 2 for the Groms section.

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Words: Tim Bergevin If you were born after 1980 than you should probably pay attention! On August 13th after 14 years of silence, OC’s arguably best and most influential pop punk outfit reformed with all four original members to rock a packed house at Fitzgerald’s Pub in Huntington Beach. Probably the last venue you expected this to take place but this band never did it the way it was supposed to. Formed in 1987 out of the ashes of MIA, Mark Arnold, Frank Daly, Bob Thomson and Danny Marcroft did their best to infuse their brand of energy and influence to the rest of the 90’s emerging acts like Blink 182 and Green Day. They guys put together the ‘Small Block’ EP and were quickly asked to go on tour with the Doughboys in Canada. Mark and Frank had met the band and the Descendents while playing with MIA as a support band on the FinALL tour. BDC pop punk was infused with something just a bit different than the rest of the bands in the scene. While they could write a catchy quick song, the obvious influences of metal and rock added an element that was missing from the rest of the bands. After touring on the EP, the band was picked up by Gregg Ginn’s Cruz Records and the band dropped Album/Tape/CD Type Thing in 1989. The bands reputation in LA and OC was cemented in energetic and tight live shows. The band had another edge that others did not - they could all play. Mark’s screeching guitar, no one used a whammy bar in punk like he did, Bob’s driving and busy bass lines rivaled only by Descendents/All bassist Karl Alvarez and Danny Marcroft’s solid metal backed drumming. Already a step ahead of the rest of the class, add in Frank Daly. Co-songwriter and singer, his vocals, lyrics and energy set the bar high and the band was on its way. Another record ‘Batch’, a world tour and then a lineup change. Bob left the band to pursue other musical interests and enter Darren Morris. The liner notes on the live ‘Toured’ album said that Darren was a fan of the band and “a cool guy from Costa Mesa” and he took to the job nicely. Soon after Danny left and was replaced by Keith Fallis formerly of Carnival Art. With that the band

Photo: Nick Adams

recorded what was to be their final full length ‘No Worse for the Wear’. The record was not so much a departure from past work as it was a reflection of the band growing up and the stress and changes that accompany it. Songs like ‘Friend of Mine’ showed that Frank and crew still had the ability to preach to the faithful but that they wanted to also take these kids to a new place. A place where Cheap Trick and Big Star were just as cool as the punk rock set. With that Keith left to be replaced by Jamie Riedling. A few 7” inches followed, showing the band could still deliver the punk with songs like ‘Trash the House’ from the ‘Nothing at All’ 7” inch, to the slowed down freak out that was ‘Song #40’ on the ‘By the Banks of the Mighty Santa Ana Vol. II’. It was dark after that with everyone going their separate ways, until in a flurry or emails and Myspace updates the fire was stoked again. Then there were rumors of a show and then confirmation of one on August 13th. . Many plans were hatched and many tickets were sold and when the band finally walked on stage at 10:15pm it was on. The crowd was a sea of friendly faces that have not been in the same room together since before the final BDC show. People flew in from other countries, different states, and actually had designated drivers. It was an event that had been anticipated for as long as there had been a void left by the band. Breaking into the first song you would have expected them to be tight and they did not disappoint. Playing like they hadn’t missed a day of practice in fourteen years the guys ripped through a set of all the classics. Looking around the room all you saw were smiles from ear to ear. The next day at Warped I walked up to Frank and told him my face hurt from smiling so much the night before, he replied, “Man that is like when you wake up from a great mushroom trip.” Thankfully the night before wasn’t a mushroom trip and music regained a great band.

Words: Tim Bergevin Lykke Li is a little agitated when she picks up the phone. Her friend’s car broke down and they are on the side of the road on some LA street and she is not happy about it. A day after her show at the Hotel Café she is running around town doing probably what most Pitchfork heralded artists do. I’m not sure what that is but I can tell by the tone in her voice this car situation is cutting into it.

produced a little track by American Idol love Kelly Clarkson called ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ amongst a host of other hits. I ask her why she has said she is trying to distance herself from other Swedish artists and she comes back deﬁantly with, “Not distance but I think it’s really boring when people try to put you in groups. Right now I am what I am. A female artist, and then I am a Swedish artist. That is just people labeling. Say something about my performance, my videos and my vision. Being Swedish or being female doesn’t say anything about my music or me as an artist.”

Lykke is all the buzz right now and what was propagated by the internet is backed up in a stellar debut album that was produced by Bjorn Yttling and Lasse Marten. Both these names may be familiar, She doesn’t like to be misquoted Bjorn being of Peter, Bjorn and either. She has spoken out that John fame and Lasse, well he just all journalists ask her the same

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questions, so I ask her if there is one question she wishes someone would say to her. Her response after a minute or so of reﬂection is, “Who would I wish to be?” My reply is doesn’t she want to be Madonna and quickly, with her voice rising higher in tone, “No! I don’t want to be like Madonna!” There seems to be a lot of press saying this very thing and again she isn’t too excited on me bringing this up, “I did when I was seven. I didn’t say that. People choose what they write and they think that it is interesting so they write that I want to be Madonna.” I guess initially I think her guard is up due to the situation with her car. But thinking more about

it and her music makes it a bit more understandable. Even the happier feeling songs on her record subscribe to a stark, quiet and haunting feel that she says is spot on observation, “I wrote the songs that way.” She initially will write a song or “spine” as she calls it on piano and then will take it to the studio with a vision, “I want this to be sensual, haunting, or hard.” She then will hand off to Bjorn and Lasse. It’s a formula that works and leaves me more and more intrigued with every listen. The last thing I ask her is if the car is okay and if they are stuck somewhere? She laughs and says, “Yeah, but it’s no problem.” She’s not so hard after all.

Words: Tim Bergevin

The Warped Tour Old School Stage :: Photo: Nick Adams

The Warped Tour hasn’t been punk in a long time. Granted there are a few new acts that bring the energy, credo and ethos associated with the genre but for the most part it’s lately been an exercise in Emo pop whatever. All cool because at least Kevin Lyman remembers what he built his tour on. While a few of the bands that played the Old School Stage were “semi” retired before the Warped Tour even launched fourteen years ago it still doesn’t change the fact that the heroes of the past deserve to get there time back in the spotlight. With that a stage was created to pay homage to these heroes. This year the likes of MIA, FEAR, The Germs (featuring all original members and Shane West who plays Darby Crash in the ﬁlm What

New Kids on the Block The Block Interscope Records

CSS Donkey Sub Pop

One question, why? Answer: Cash cow! Thirty something year old girls unite and give your money to the almighty Universal Music Group. Aside from selling out arena’s all summer this album is total shit! All slow jams and nothing close to the “Hangin’ Tough” anthem they spit at us in 1988. You have to hand it to Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine, he really tried on this record and in trying I’m saying spent a lot of cash! All of the tracks on this record are produced by heavyweights like Timbaland, Polow Da Don and even Joey’s boy Akon. I have a friend in the industry that says this record will go Platinum, what a bummer.

What else can you say about this band besides dance party and unitard’s? The follow up album to the hipster friendly ‘CSS’, Donkey adds the rock to this electro dance party and everyone is the better for it. Driving drum beats and more guitar heavy, this disc has a thicker sound but will still leave your toes hurting from the late night dance party that will undoubtedly happen if you buy this disc. Singer Lovefoxxx’s vocals are a little deeper and her accent has disappeared a bit which adds a new texture to the songs. How could it get sexier? Who knows but it just did.

We Do is Secret), DI, TSOL, Big Drill Car and others took over a corner stage to set the record straight. While most sixteen year olds had no idea what the hell was going on it was still refreshing to see a few stop, turn around, nod a head and realize that the shit they love has roots. Even better was the cast of band members from various acts on the tour who came out in numbers to cheer on, sing along and punch their friends in the arm all while jumping up and down to the songs that made them want to be in a band in the ﬁrst place. If you didn’t go to Warped this year because you think its lame, better think again next year and revisit your past and maybe ﬁnd something for the future.

The Game LAX Geffen Records

Dear and the Headlights Drunk Like Bible Times Equal Vision Records

This is the third and allegedly the last record from Compton’s own The Game. After breaking out in 2005 with the Dr. Dre produced ‘The Documentary’ his subsequent follow up ‘Doctor’s Advocate’ and this latest ‘LAX’ are sans Dre’s production help and Lord knows that was a bad call on Jayceon’s part. Where ‘The Documentary’ was a fresh take on the Compton Gangsta Rap sound this album is a rehash that sounds forced, corny and lacking the hot beats that have appeared on his previous albums. I saw a group of 909ers walking down the boardwalk shirtless, tattooed, board shorts with underwear underneath; socks pulled up to the calf with white shoes and ﬂat billed Monster Energy Drink hats. A young lady with a huge fake rack was riding in their direction when one of them jumped at her and grabbed her tits. That guy loves this record.

The Equal Vision label continues to diversify its roster and embrace bands that don’t fit the early hardcore mold that the label cemented its reputation on. Dear and the Headlights is another one of these acts whose country/alt rock vibe solidifies the labels commitment to diversity. Ian Metzger’s vocals are a more controlled version of the Cold War Kids’ Nate Willett but while you could maybe chalk them up as a more straightforward version of CWK, the songs in here have a more Southwest texture, which probably reflects the Arizona upbringing of the band. While they continue to tour in the Emo world it would be easy to see DATH opening up for any of the Southern influenced indie rock bands that are banging it out today.

NATHANIEL CURRAN PHOTO: JASON WOLCOTT

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