HUCK Magazine The Victoria Jealouse Issue (Digital Edition)

vol. 02 issue #007 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2007 made in the uk £2.95 VICTORIA JEALOUSE by JESS MOONEY

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS! The superior sex tell it like it is…

plus torah bright carissa moore css leanne pelosi

TREVOR ANDREW KEIR DILLON ROMAIN DE MARCHI JP SOLBERG HEIKKI SORSA

W W W.GRAVISFOOTWEAR.COM CALIFORNIA

www.roxy.com

Torah Bright TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion 2007 X-Games Superpipe Gold 2007 Global Open Tour Champion 2007

SALOMONWOMENWILL.COM

JEWEL ORIGINS

“EARLY LAST JANUARY ALPENTAL, WASHINGTON, HAD BEEN WITHOUT ELECTRICITY FOR NEARLY A WEEK OF CONSTANT SNOWFALL. THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WAS THE ONLY REGION WITH GOOD SNOW AT THE TIME - MOST MOUNTAINS IN THE AREA ALREADY HAD AT LEAST A 12-FOOT BASE. ELYSE SAUGSTAD AND HER BOYFRIEND CODY TOWNSEND CAME UP FROM TAHOE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE. WHEN ALPENTAL FINALLY RE-OPENED, THERE WAS NO PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. A FEW LUCKY SKIERS MADE THE DISCOVERY, AND THOSE WHO DID WILL NEVER FORGET IT.” - IAN COBLE

FRESH. COPYRIGHT© SALOMON SA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PHOTOGRAPHER: IAN COBLE. LOCATION: ALPENTAL, WA, USA.

PHOTO : BERGERI.

TREVOR ANDREW_MIKKEL BANG_DANNY DAVIS_JP SOLBERG_HEIKKI SORSA

FREE DVD OUT SEPTEMBER 2007

www.analogclothing.com

14 www.HUCKmagazine.com

Victoria Jealouse leads the mag with a revealing interview about her sixteen years riding the backcountry and opening fresh new ground for female snowboarding. And, by the sounds of it, she ain’t stopping anytime soon. Torah Bright, armed with both talent and looks, dismisses sex appeal as a career crutch and argues it all boils down to going big then and there and under pressure. Brazil’s Maya Gabeira reveals how her dad, who led the armed struggle against the country’s military rule, became an inspiration for her to ride big waves. And then there’s Carissa Moore, the fifteen-year-old surfing phenomenon from Hawaii who has recently competed in the boys-only King of the Groms event. What happened? She beat each and every surfing dude who stood in her way.

Superior sex, we told you so.

15

contents. huck #007 46 VICTORIA JEALOUSE big mountain queen.

54 FRANK BLACK the original pixie speaks out.

58 NEVER MIND THE SIESTA crème team storm mallorca.

64 INDIA SKATE rolling across the subcontinent.

66 LOCKDOWN PROJECTS snow film, made in england.

70 RUBBER OF CHOICE surviving the highland open.

78 CLOUD SURFING riding waves up in the sky.

80 JOACHIM TRIER skater, filmmaker, dreamer.

84 GEAR for a smart autumnal look. matt hind

86 GIRLS WHO ROCK they’re making it happen.

92 MARTHA COOPER on nyc’s creative decay.

▼

100 SNEAKERS kicks to die for.

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104 SUBURBAN DREAM love and life in the ’burbs.

MANOelA DALMEIDA

▼

22 torah bright 24 evelien bouilliart 26 maya gabeira 30 css 34 lesley mckenna 36 roxy jam 38 kelsey brookes 40 danny way 44 man-made reef

▼

JEREMY PIERCE

contents. huck #007

116 riding the wave 118 nz open 120 albums 122 films 124 dvds 126 games 128 books 130 wild at heart

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vol. 02 ssue 007 HUCK MAGAZINE

Oct/Nov 2007 www.huckmagazine.com

Editor

Vince Medeiros Global Editor

Art Direction and Design

Jamie Brisick Skate Editor

Jay Riggio

Associate Editor

Rob Longworth

Andrea Kurland

www.thechurchoflondon.com Snow Editor

Film Editor

Zoe Oksanen

Matt Bochenski

Editorial Assistant

Editorial Consultant

Ed Andrews

Michael Fordham

Translations Editor

Markus Grahlmann

Advertising Director

Advertising Manager

Publisher

European Director

Steph Pomphrey

Music Editor

Phil Hebblethwaite

Dean Faulkner

Claire Marshall

Danny Miller Text

Liesel Cole, Manoela Dalmeida, Steven Frรถhlich, Josh Jones, Duncan Madden, Christina Scannapiego, Cyrus Shahrad, Barry Slade, Luca Soulos, Luke van Unnen, Alex Wade, Giacomo Zanni Images

Emily Alston, Euan Baxter, Christy Chaloux, David Chvatal, Sam Christmas, Dave Collyer, Martha Cooper, Manoela Dalmeida, Matt Hind, Miles Holden, Richie Hopson, Jelle Keppens, Quang Le, Emiliano Mazzoni, Jason McDonald, Jess Mooney, Chris Moore, Spencer Murphy, Jeremy Pierce, Dominic Rawle, Barry Slade, Paul Willoughby

HUCK is published by HUCK LIMITED Studio 209 Curtain House 134-146 Curtain Road London, EC2A 3AR, United Kingdom Editorial Enquiries +44 (0) 207-729-3675 editorial@huckmagazine.com Advertising and Marketing Enquiries +44 (0) 207-729-3675 ads@huckmagazine.com ON THE COVER: VICTORIA JEALOUSE BY JESS MOONEY

20 www.HUCKmagazine.com

Distributed worldwide by COMAG UK distribution enquiries: andy.hounslow@comag.co.uk Worldwide distribution enquiries: paride.forte@comag.co.uk Importato da Johnsons International News Italia S.p.A. Distribuito da A&G MARCO Via Fortezza 27, Milano, Italia Printed by Mayhew McCrimmon www.mayhewprepress.co.uk The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publishers or editorial team.

PORTRAIT: LOZZAPHOTO.COM / ACTION: CREAGERPHOTO.COM / ZERMATT, SWITZERLAND

“SKULL OF FAME“ Hoody, “FACE“ Pipe Gloves, “HIGHFLYER“ 2 Star Jacket, “DIMITRI“ 2 Star Pants

PRO: Lisa Beck, Lukas Blaser, Rolf Feldmann, Lukas Goller, Björn Hartweger, Reto Kestenholz, Christoph Weber ROOKIE: Julian Fürsinger, Maurice Gilliand, Simon Gruber, Nico Kurz, Cedric Schumacher

22 www.HUCKmagazine.com

oh mY god, it’s torah bright text Zoe Oksanen photography Jess Mooney

Torah Bright is something of an anomaly in the world of snowboarding.

For starters, she’s from Australia, not exactly famous for dishing out world-class pros. Then there’s her looks: in the age of ubiquitous media, she’s a billboard girl made in heaven. And, topping up the exciting mélange, there’s the religion: Torah is a committed Mormon – and doesn’t leave the house without her scriptures.

And it is with bible in hand that Torah has gone on to hit the big time. An incomplete list of her recent accomplishments would include the following: six podium finishes in the seven World Cup events she has competed in since the 2003/04 season; first place in the X Games superpipe in 2007; fifth place in the 2006 Turin Olympics; first place in the 2007 Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open halfpipe; and Burton Global Open Champion at the US Open, which scored her an ample $100,000. As if that weren’t enough, Torah also graces various international media campaigns and is even a featured rider on X Box’s Amped 2 video game.

Not bad, huh? But it’s not riding alone that makes her as big

She came down from the mount to the people and amazed them with her RIding.

as she is today. As the photo on this page suggests, Torah’s highly marketable status is in part due to her rather agreeable genes.

Or, in layman’s terms, she’s hot. Smoking hot. So what does Torah (which, incidentally, means ‘bearer of great message’ in Hebrew) make of that?

“That’s just the way marketing works,” she says with a sigh. “It bothered me a lot at the beginning and got me ahead at first, for sure. But it does not make me any better of a snowboarder. I ride hard all the time to try and be a better rider, and at the end of the day, that is what counts.”

And how does she celebrate all her riding success? Surely there has to be some sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll going on, right? Wrong.

Torah’s religious beliefs mean that she won’t be the one finishing off the podium champagne.

“It is a conflict in lifestyle, but it doesn’t bother me because one of the greatest things we are taught is that we all have our free agency,” Torah says. “And just because I don’t participate in the partying and the rest of it, it does not mean you won’t see me out having a good time. I go out, hang out with my friends, dance the night away – and then get to drive everyone home!” www.roxy.com

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Break Yourself text Jay Riggio photography jelle keppens

Please allow me a quick digression before I get deep into the piece.

Less than a minute, ok?

It is absolutely mind-blowing to me how adored skateboarding has become by the masses. Today, to be young and to skate is to be ‘cool’ in the eyes of the rest of civilisation.

When I was growing up, though, I was considered lame for riding a skateboard. And that’s if anyone gave enough of a shit to even acknowledge my frail physical existence. My friends and I could do no right as we skated past the assembled crowds of jocks and uninspired persons who felt no shame in blasting insults in our speeding direction.

Soon enough, I became interested in the irony of their slurred insults. “Skater-fag!” and “pussy!” were favourites amongst these fools at large, implying that we, as skaters, were not ‘tough’. But, the truth is, as skaters, we were tough as fuck. We were tough then and we are fucking tough now.

One such tough specimen is sixteen-year-old Evelien Bouilliart.

I first took notice of her when a friend sent me a YouTube link. It was a video part documenting her raw burliness. I had never seen a girl street skater go as big as her. Large-ass rails, giant hubba-style ledges, double sets, gaps and smooth lines to boot. Who was this girl and where did she come from? I hastily responded to my buddy’s

Slamming, slamming, slamming and landing. Her name’s Evelien and she’s gnarlier than you think.

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e-mail with a simple, “Damn!”

Straight out of Aalter, Belgium, Evelien is one female skater that isn’t afraid to break herself when the opportunity presents. On numerous occasions I’ve seen footage of the girl destroy her body, only to get back up and give it another go. She is just gnarly as all hell. When I ask Evelien why she throws herself down shit, she laughs and simply says, “I just love throwing myself down stuff, I guess. It’s a great feeling.” Ha. Evelien began skating when she was ten. “They were building a skate park in my hometown. I saw guys with skateboards and I wanted one as well,” she says. “I’ve never stopped since.”

Whether she’s skating with guys or girls, Evelien doesn’t care much about the much-discussed gender factor: “When some guys see a girl with a skateboard they are like, ‘What the fuck is she doing here,’ or like, ‘Do you actually use your skateboard?’ But when they see you can actually do something, they are like, ‘Wow.’ But that’s just the assholes – most of them are really cool about it and just respect what I do.”

Still living in Belgium, Evelien is quickly making her presence known in the skate world. Whether you’re quick to diss or praise that which is in front of you, let it be known that skateboarders are fearless – and a little lady by the name of Evelien is definitely no exception. www.elementskateboards.com www.etniesgirl.com

LET YOUR LITTLE SKATER OUT.

skate.elec tronic arts.co.u k

“Who cares about the first-ever, intuitive right analogue stick and the realistic feel it gives? Your thumb. Because your thumb kills it.“ Danny Way . Nosebone . San Vanelona

Out now

Out 12th October 2007

Text SKATE to 83338 to play it on your mobile

© 2007 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, the EA logo and “SKATE & the Arrow design” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved.

“PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All sponsored products and company names, brand names, logos and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

text Manoela Dalmeida photography dave colLyer

Given her background, you’d expect Maya Gabeira to be a politician. A revolutionary, perhaps. Or even an academic.

But that’s hardly the case. The daughter of Fernando Gabeira, a famous political dissident and founder of the Brazilian Green Party, Maya has avoided the country’s turbulent politics to negotiate another equally treacherous environment: the ocean. And it’s not your average beachbreak we’re talking about here. Maya, you’ll be intrigued to learn, is all about big waves. How big? Really fucking big.

“I get this incredible adrenaline rush every time I see a rising swell,” says Maya. “There’s no way I’m gonna stay on the beach if the waves are pumping – it makes me really excited and I just gotta get out there.”

It’s this kind of attitude that led Maya to win the Women’s Best Overall Performance in the 2007 Billabong Global Big Wave Awards, bagging 5,000 bucks and a truckload of kudos in the process. For those in the know, this is hardly a surprise, as the twenty-year-old Rio de Janeiro local has gained notoriety for riding some of the world’s hairiest waves. Her recent roster includes all the heavy-hitters: Mavericks, Waimea, Todos Santos, as well as the horrendously sketchy and shark-infested Dungeons, in South Africa.

Where does she find the courage? “Surfing big waves is reflective of your attitude towards life. I think it’s something you learn at home. My dad has

Big-wave surfer on a mission to change the world.

26 www.HUCKmagazine.com

a really strong character, is incredibly bright and I’ve learned a lot from him.”

If you’re familiar with the decades of Western-backed dictatorship in Latin America, you’ll know that Maya’s old man is indeed a bit of a legend.

As a strong opponent of the military regime, Gabeira senior joined the armed resistance in the late sixties. The highlight of his antics was the successful kidnapping of the American ambassador to Brazil, who was eventually freed in exchange for the release of political prisoners held by the government.

Says Maya: “My dad and I are very similar. All the energy he’s put into improving the country I have as well – only I’ve been channelling it into my surfing.”

Waveriding, it appears, is Maya’s version of changing the world. At least the world of female surfing: “As far as I know, there is no girl out there making a living out of riding big waves. Maybe I’ll be the first one.”

Sponsored by Billabong, Red Bull and Oakley, this may very well be the case. In fact, Red Bull has even made a jet ski available so she can have a stab at tow-in surfing this coming season. Which begs the question: where is the limit? How far can women go in the masculinist world of big-wave, bigballed, testosterone-in-the-water surfing? Maya has an answer: “If I keep on training and gaining confidence, I want to tow into some giant waves at Jaws later on this year. At least that’s what I hope.”

And so do we. www.billabong.com www.redbull.com www.oakley.com

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30 www.HUCKmagazine.com

interview VINCE MEDEIROS

Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS), Portuguese for ‘tired of being sexy’, are certainly not tired of being famous. The Brazilian outfit (Lovefoxxx, Ana Rezende, Adriano Cintra, Luiza Sá, Iracema Trevisan and Carolina Parra) stormed Europe this past summer playing everywhere from hippie megafest Glastonbury to the surfing shores of Biarritz. HUCK caught up with CSS guitarist Ana Rezende to find out what all the fuss is about.

Brazil’s crazy electrorockers take over Europe.

You played Glastonbury this year before thousands and thousands of people. When you were growing up did you ever think: ‘You know what, one day I’m gonna be famous and play Glastonbury’?

Not really, because we’re from Brazil, so it’s not like we grew up hearing about it and knowing that our parents went to it when they were young.

But when you actually get there and see the size of it you just go, ‘Oh my fucking god, this is the craziest thing ever, how did I get here? I must be doing something right to have all these people sinking in mud and standing under the heavy rain to watch me!’ It’s an amazing experience.

What’s with the name? Are you guys really tired of being sexy?

It’s just the most retarded thing we could think of. It doesn’t mean anything.

Beyoncé said that once – and it’s so amazingly stupid that someone as beautiful as she is would say that. It’s like Donald Trump saying, ‘I’m tired of being rich’.

What kind of music do you listen to?

The great thing about us is that we’re not very afraid of liking the new single

by Shakira. We absolutely love Sonic Youth, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pixies, Breeders, Christina Aguilera, Donna Summer, Destiny’s Child, Cat Power, Missy Elliot and everything in between.

Are you a ‘girl band’? Is it fair to say you guys are the antithesis of girl-band ‘girl power’?

I really like the idea that a girl band might encourage little girls to have a band too. I wanted to have a band because I loved L7, Blondie, Hole, Breeders, etc. But I hate the idea that a girl band is something

special because girls aren’t supposed to be in a band. It’s old-fashioned to think that way. But to answer your question, I guess that it depends on what you think ‘girl power’ is… so… I really don’t know how to answer your question.

Stupid question, never mind. Here’s another one: what are you guys? Punk? Electro? What?

Apparently we are New Rave now! Actually, this is so stupid! It seems that people can only understand something when they pigeonhole them. I like much more the idea of being in a punk band than in an electro band. We are much more influenced by The Ramones than by anything electro.

What do you think of the image Brazil has overseas?

All I can say is that people are very wrong when they think that salsa is a popular kind of music in Brazil.

Brazilian musical icon Chico Buarque has said that ‘São Paulo is detestable, a disaster, the city that didn’t work’. You guys are from there. Do you agree with him?

He’s totally right. São Paulo is New York City gone wrong. We don’t have proper public transportation and are overpopulated. São Paulo is very ugly but it’s the only city that has a functional underground life in Brazil.

Why do you think Europeans ‘get’ what you do and many people in Brazil still don’t?

I don’t know. Besides our fans and some journalists who get hate mail for saying good things about us, we never felt that we had much support in Brazil. But we haven’t played there in a while so I’m excited to go back and see what people think of us now.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

We’re gonna go on tour with Gwen Stefani in Europe, which is gonna be fun, and then we’re doing some shows in the UK in December.

Any last words?

We love Maya Rudolph [the comedian], and we want to be her friends. www.myspace.com/canseidesersexy

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text ALEX WADE photography EUAN BAXTER

Looking back on an amazing career – one that has seen her occupy the number-one spot in the world half-pipe rankings and amass enough medals to fill a treasure chest – pro snowboarder Lesley McKenna doesn’t pull her punches.

“Guys would often talk about female riders on the basis of their pretty face or hot ass and very rarely on the merit of their skills,” says the thirty-three-year-old Scot from Inverness. “Ten years ago there weren’t many female pro snowboarders in the world and it was a tough industry to be in. You had to fight your way into boys’ photo shoots or beg to be taken along.”

But times are changing. “Girls like Torah Bright have gained a lot of respect from the men’s side of the industry,” she says. “Her trick combinations in the pipe are so difficult that many of the top-level male riders can’t perform them at all. Torah, Jenny Jones, Victoria Jealouse, Cheryl Maas and Kjersti Buaas are doing never-seen-before tricks – and that’s encouraging females everywhere.”

Lesley began life as a skier. She left school with various university offers but decided to take a year out to go skiing. “I’m still taking that year out,” she jokes, but no one could accuse Lesley of making the wrong call. She was a Great Britain Ladies Ski Giant Slalom Champion in 1994, has over twenty GB snowboard titles and is one of the only snowboard athletes, if not the only one, to have had top-fifteen World Cup results in all disciplines. She has also competed in the last two Winter Olympics.

Lesley McKenna celebrates women’s rise to power.

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As befits an intelligent woman – one currently studying a writing course – Lesley has thought much about the reasons for sexism in snowboarding: “It started off as a counter-culture sport with roots in surfing and skateboarding. They’re both traditionally male dominated, being high on adrenaline and testosterone and therefore congenial to young males.

Their counter-culture musical roots influenced their growth. The punk scene of the seventies heavily influenced skateboarding, while surfing in the sixties generally makes you think of the Beach Boys and beat culture.

But neither punk nor beat culture were particularly supportive environments for females.”

Today’s world is, fortunately, more enlightened, with the ongoing erosion of macho stereotypes. “Respect is being generated by the female visionaries in the industry, and by the growing number of female snowboarders,” she muses. “Girls and women are getting out there and doing things in their own way. Female brands like Roxy are driving the industry forward. Being a pro in this scene today is far more rewarding than it was in the past.”

In between snowboarding, writing and working with friend Josie Clyde – the pair co-own film production company Chunkyknit Productions – Lesley goes surfing. “I love surfing in Scotland,” she says. “It is always so peaceful and very, very beautiful.” But whether in the mountains or the ocean, Lesley is unequivocal about sexism on the slopes: “I’m not sure if the nonobjectification of the female in popular culture is attainable, but I hope never to hear the statement, ‘Never mind how she’s riding, she’s got great tits!’ from a male industry worker anytime again. Ever.” www.roxy.com www.nidecker.com

text MICHAEL FORDHAM illustration Emily Alston

It’s Biarritz in flaming July and there’s a freakish summer swell. The blistering heat is tempered by the suave ambience of the place. From up the coast in Hossegor all the way down to La Grande Plage, the children of European surfing’s boom generation are testing themselves in the big, shifty beach breaks. You can’t move on the roads and in the car parks every wagon is strapped to the max with surfboards: fibreglassed clutters for every shape, size and age. King of the beach this year: the paddleboard.

Out in the water, etiquette is out the window. The lineups are a chaos of drop-ins and naïve but heart-shatteringly annoying snakes. And boogers.

And longboards. And shortboards. And those fucking massive stand-up paddleboards. It really is every surfer for themselves.

But around the headland, it’s a very different vibe. Rumour has it that this financial year Roxy is set to outstrip its daddy brand Quiksilver in turnover for the first time. Thus women’s surfing, in a time of surf saturation and at the endgame of surfer boy cliché, is where it’s at. And here on the Côte des Basques, the girls are ruling. They’re ruling in pink bikinis. They’re ruling the contest site with a flurry of florid creativity. But, most importantly, they’re also ruling things in the water.

Welcome to the Roxy Jam Biarritz, the festival of a millennial surf explosion wrought in pink. My schtick: I’m here to report. I’m here to get up close and personal with these pro surfer girls to find out just what it is, aside from the marketability of their bikini lines, that makes them draw so much dollar into the surf industry.

I opt to paddle out just inside of the peak where the heats are being contested, because elsewhere is a melting pot of surf craft presided over by monster-sized paddleboards. Chuckles on the stand-up paddles over. I need to, apparently, get out of the way. Feigning Anglo-Saxon ignorance, I paddle through a set wave that has Californian shaper, musician and surfer Ashley Lloyd tucked in tight to the curl, styling on the nose with five toes over. Funny thing, the dynamics of the sport. At the same time that feminine surfing is reaching new levels of performance and dollar, the true macho men of the surf are adopting fourteen-footers and paddles, just like the Kahunas of Polynesian yore. There’s something in that somewhere.

The press site is awash with media. Kassia Meador is cruising the front with a camera crew and a TV presenter riffing on about welcoming folk to

A MALE SURFER’S MUSINGS ON THE ROXY JAM.

36 www.HUCKmagazine.com

the French coast and it raining heavy waves and baguettes. Whichever way the girly surf burger is being sold, Kassia is rocking. Is she one of the best-looking pros in the world? Yes. Is she possessed of a balletic grace on a longboard that even Joel Tudor in his campest moments could only aspire to? Affirmative. So, Kassia we love. And so does the rest of the surf consuming public.

At the back of the contest site are two exhibitions. One includes various two-dimensional takes on surfing and women and women in the surf and the other a series of sculpted busts (real busts) made in papier-mâché moulds. All the works are up for auction with the aim of raising money for the ‘Keep A Breast’ charity, which develops awareness and money for research into the treatment of breast cancer. A lot of the work is really interesting, some of it beautiful. But you can’t help but feel, what’s the link, man, what’s the relevance? I suppose it’s obvious. I don’t have breasts, not the good kind, anyway. The truth is, I feel strangely disenfranchised.

Cut to last night. Port Vieux, the little cove around the headland from the contest site, has been taken over by the Roxy Stage. CSS are doing their thing. All the leaping, the shaking, the robotic tweaks, the left-field, ethnically ambiguous sexuality of the lead singer Lovefoxxx is infecting the crowd. Foxxxy is wearing this luminous, yellow submarine print cat suit and trainers, and she’s sticking her arse out and jumping around and flailing her hair. There’s a soul-deep irony and a don’t-give-a-fuck attitude about her and you can’t help but be excited about it, whether or not you dig the electropoppy, old-school disco-ness of the music. Perfect casting.

There is a watertight synergy between the money-making extravaganza that is women’s pro surfing, the music that rocks the beach and the crowd who lap it all up. Later that night, in a blur of beer and disco lights, Foxxxy gives it large. “I thought I’d come here and see a bunch of real surfer types,” she tells me, “but the kids here are great. We’re just like them!”

I sit way outside now, having taken macho man’s advice. It was difficult not to. Looking towards the beach, I see Ashley drop in on another beauty. I can imagine her quick cross steps on the drop, before she flicks gracefully back to the tail and pulls a great, arcing bottom turn and then more cat-like cross steps up to the tip. She kicks out a hundred yards to the south of where I sit, and puts her palms to the air in a timeless expression of stoke.

I paddle back towards the crowd on the other side of the peak. Maybe those paddleboards are not such a bad idea, after all. www.roxyjam.com

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Paint

or surf? text JOSH JONES photography QUANG LE

Artist and surfer Kelsey Brookes woke up one day and decided to pack in his job as a microbiologist so he could do what he calls “the two best wastes of my time”. That was four years ago.

Since then, waste of time number one, the art, has been exhibited around the world – most recently in Switzerland – and lapped up by brands such as Insight and RVCA. Completely untrained, Kelsey taught himself how to draw during a surf trip in Australia half a decade ago. “Whenever I wasn’t in the water, I’d just get whatever was in my pocket and doodle on it,” he says. “Now my work is being described by people in the art world as a ‘bastardisation of Indian folk art.’”

But things weren’t easy at first. Unemployed and with just enough money to survive for a few months, he simply painted and surfed every day. Then it happened: one of his pieces was seen in street-art ’zine Pavement Licker, and he was picked up by London-based online art gallery Pictures On Walls. He soon found himself on a plane to England with a bunch of canvases under his arm to sell at their Christmas exhibition, Santa’s Ghetto, where Banksy’s agent, Steve Lazarides, signed him to be part of his troop of artists.

Now life for Kelsey is pretty much perfect: he gets out of bed and goes to the beach, or he does some painting and then goes to the beach.

If only he could exhibit in Hawaii or South Africa, he’d be an even happier man. But what if he had to choose between painting or surfing for the rest of his life? “This is the worst scenario I’ve ever heard of. If I was only allowed to do one or the other? Maaaan what the fuck?” comes the incredulous reply. After a long pause he decides: “I’d have to take painting, I guess, and just skateboard. But I don’t really want to think about that.”

Tough question. Smart answer.

Artist Kelsey Brookes is a man with a problem.

www.kelseybrookes.com

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interview Steven Fröhlich photography Spencer Murphy

At the age of thirty-three, Danny Way has broken many bones – but he’s probably broken just as many records. His list of feats includes some of the craziest stunts you’ll have ever seen. He made the highest, furthest and longest air on a skateboard. He jumped the Great Wall of China. He bomb-dropped out of a helicopter and off the giant Fender Stratocaster at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas. Pure madness? HUCK caught up with Danny to find out.

An interview with Danny Way.

What makes you want to push the limits of skateboarding the way you have over the years?

As long as I skateboard I do what I have to do to keep it interesting, to keep it fun and to keep it challenging. When it has been a lifetime commitment, as it has been for me, then you have to do it that way otherwise it really becomes a job. So I always ask myself what I can do to make it fun.

And ‘fun’ means going big?

All those big things are a sideshow to what I really do. The mega-ramp, for example, created a whole new platter of possibilities.

It’s just one ramp design and there are many more that I want to design and build. I’m in the process of working that out, but ultimately jumping off guitars and doing the big things with my board isn’t what I typically do when riding my skateboard. I skate street a lot, I ride pools and I hit the vert a lot. I skate the mega-ramp as well, but it’s definitely not the only thing I do.

The mega-ramp concept and all the other crazy things you did, are they all your ideas or does someone else create them and then come to you as the only guy who can actually pull them off?

No, the ideas and concepts of everything I do come from me.

Is a special training regimen needed for those big stunts?

Yeah, sure, there’s no doubt that if you get yourself out there and expose yourself to that level of potential danger, you have to be prepared. Skateboarding your whole life means you have to develop a different mindset and understanding of how to take care of yourself. I do whatever I possibly can to be physically fit and to handle whatever abuse comes my way.

What kind of training does it require besides skateboarding?

I do all kinds of stuff. I’ve built a gym in the Plan B house so me and the team can work out the whole time. But I don’t want to bore everybody with what I do. I don’t preach about it, I just keep it to myself, but I can say that I’m on a pretty heavy training regimen. It’s a pretty serious one which helps me try to stay in the best shape possible. I won’t get into details, though. ▼

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Why not? Is it a secret?

It’s not a secret but the way I train is so not skateboarding. It’s not what skateboarders care about. Most of the exercises I do are designed to build strength through challenge of balance. I use balls or balance boards, things you typically wouldn’t be standing or balancing on when you’re weight lifting. Everything is designed to train my nerve system for a fast response time. That makes me react faster when I’m in a situation of danger. With weight training I focus on my core, which is my trunk, my fucking abs, my lower back and my legs. In short: I do work out a lot, I work out like a motherfucker!

Do you also have a trainer?

Yes, his name is Paul Chek. He’s a good friend of mine and he’s my mentor. Chek uses a holistic approach for optimising my physical health but also my spiritual health. Metaphorically we’re trying to capture everything in one pill that I can swallow.

But if you take good care of your body and mind, why did you jump the Great Wall of China with a broken ankle?

My body is so important to me that I feel so much guilt sometimes when I actually destroy myself to a point where I have lifelong damage. But at the same time skateboarding is also my legacy. This is what I do. This is what gave me my place on the planet.

My destiny is to do what I do no matter what I walk away with in the end. As I said, my purpose on earth is riding a skateboard, so I take whatever the outcome is physically for granted. This is what I feel I should be doing and that’s why I’m always optimistic even though I sometimes take a few slams and get pretty beaten up. Often I just keep going and going until I self-destruct… but at the same time that’s kind of my personality. It’s who I am and I build my career on that. It’s my self-motivation.

What’s your main source of inspiration?

Waking up and challenging myself is an inspiration every day. Skateboarding is so miniscule compared to what’s important in life.

I love it, but at the end of the day life is so much bigger and there’s just so much more to it than just riding a skateboard.

Do you pray before pulling those massive tricks?

No, I don’t really pray but I do check in with myself before I do shit and I make sure that I’m not doing something for the wrong reasons. I’m not praying to God but I do try to calm myself down. It’s like a form of meditation for getting inner peace.

Does music help you as well?

I don’t really listen to specific music before I do my jumps. But music can be like drugs. There’s so much different music that creates such a different feeling in your body. It depends on what you’re looking for at what time. I spent a lot of time listening to bands like Slayer, Metallica and Iron Maiden. I love that shit to death and I love to skate to it. But now I listen to more mellow stuff.

As I already have so much energy I need mellow tunes to balance that out. Listening to Slayer would mean I would go ballistic.

Do you carry any amulets with you on big jumps?

No, not that often, but my father died a couple of years ago. When I jumped the Great Wall of China I had my father’s ashes in a jar in my pocket. I needed all the power that I could get. The Chinese Wall jump was one of the hardest things I’ve done.

Apparently Olympic sprint athletes don’t have sex for weeks before they have a competition. What about you?

That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. I’m trying to get laid as much as I can before I go out for a record. Of course, only with my wife. [Laughs] But I don’t stop having sex for a month before I fucking do something… are you kidding me? [Laughs] The video game SKATE from EA is about to be released. What has been your role in producing it?

EA hired me as a creative consultant right from the beginning. My role was to create an authentic feel to the game so I had a lot of input. Video games will always be video games, but I think SKATE bridges a big part of the gap between reality and games.

When you look at the tricks, the style, the whole approach, it’s just phenomenal. I can’t believe how the game turned out.

The mega-ramp is also in the game. How realistic is that feature?

Very realistic! Most people that have played that part said they now get a slight feeling for what I go through when I skate that thing. When I played the game for the first time, it felt like some sort of virtual reality. I literally got goosebumps!

After the Chinese Wall jump and the Vegas Bomb Drop people want to know what’s next…

Good question… my bosses at DC are asking the same thing. I gave them my list of ideas and asked them to make it happen.

What’s top of the list?

It’s so confidential that I can’t speak about it. It’s my secret weapon www.dcshoes.com

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text DUncan MaDDen

it’s been a long and choppy ride, but work is finally about to begin on europe’s first artificial surf reef. The question now is whether this mass of sandbags, nestled just off the coast of Boscombe seaside resort in Bournemouth, england, will be enough to transform the slop to surf and the surrounding area to booming beach town – or Bos Vegas, as the locals have already dubbed it.

Conceived by local surfer and former english veterans champ david Weight back in 1993, the reef has come to fruition thanks to the efforts of world-renowned oceanographer dr kerry Black, designer of the Narrowneck reef on Australia’s Gold Coast.

“Bournemouth has a small-wave climate,” says Black, “so this reef needs a special design. We are focused on getting the half to one-metre waves to break… it’s not going to be pipeline but it will be a consistent seventy-metre ride when the swell is there.”

Weight eventually won the backing of Bournemouth Council in 1999, and was finally granted planning permission six years down the line in 2005.

SleepY SeASide reSOrT SCOreS eUrOpe’S FirST ArTiFiCiAl reeF.

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But for once the surfer’s stereotyped lackadaisical attitude wasn’t to blame for the delays. instead, an endless trawl of meetings with local businesses, environmental groups and government agencies slowed the process at times to a complete stop. last-minute issues with local fishermen finally laid to rest, work is set to begin on the installation of the forty environmentally inert geotextile sandbags this September. Costing an estimated £1.1 million, and expected to draw 10,000 surfers a year, the reef is hoped to create an image value of around £10 million per annum. it’s not all pristine barrels and offshore winds though, with local surfers concerned, as Weight puts it, “that these reefs are advertised to such an extent that demand will exceed the increased capacity”.

Up until now localism has never been a major issue, and we can only hope this influx to the area doesn’t incite it. But generally speaking, the locals are stoked. As dr Black says: “There’s a buzz for the whole community to feel alive and vibrant – it’s clearly broader than just surfers, it’s a lifestyle.” Amen to that. www.bournemouth-surfing.co.uk

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For sixteen years she has stormed the backcountry to open fresh new ground for female snowboarding.

Now that she’s carved out her spot in the big mountain, Canada’s Victoria Jealouse is set on a whole new path: an urgent mission to save the world. But, as Andrea Kurland finds out, do not expect her to be on time. text Andrea Kurland photography Jess Mooney

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he’s over an hour late for our meeting and, to be honest, it’s not looking good.

I should have known something was wrong the day before when, above the hum of scribbling on paper, she muttered down the phone: “Three-thirty, Blenz coffee house. Got it. But… you may have to call to remind me.”

I didn’t. Clearly I should’ve, because as I sit here, watching my phone and frantically clocking every face that walks through the door, it’s becoming more than obvious that Victoria Jealouse, big-mountain queen and female snowboarding hero, is about to stand me up.

I’m pretty bummed. After all, Victoria is that rare thing: a legend that actually deserves the title. For sixteen years, the Canadian maverick has led a one-woman crusade into the backcountry, conquering every big line from the wilds of Whistler to Alaska’s steep spines. She is arguably the single most consistent force in women’s snowboarding, without a doubt the only to truly progress its big-mountain strand. She’s not just a female icon, but a pioneer respected around the world and across the gender divide.

As I daydream my cold latte away, the phone finally rings. It’s Victoria. A few apologetic words are thrown about and a new arrangement is made. “Tomorrow morning, it’s an amazing spot,” she says, before singing, “Don’t worry, I’ll be there.” I put the phone down, scrawl in my diary, drain my coffee and leave.

It’s

7am in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The sun is still hiding behind the mountains, and I’m supposed to be meeting Jess, the photographer, in fifteen minutes. We’re going to drive out to Pemberton and make this rendezvous with Victoria happen. As I hustle across town, Whistler Village is quiet and desolate, the calm before the storm as awkward ski-booted commuters have yet to arrive in their flocks. Even the sleeping gondolas seem to lie in wait, silent reminders of man’s insatiable need to colonise nature.

My mind turns to Victoria, and I wonder at her ability to carve out a life in the backcountry. Only a handful of pros earn their keep beyond the contest scene – and even fewer females make that first descent. I can sense the appeal – the solitude, the rush, the lack of man-made paraphernalia. What I cannot grasp, nor barely comprehend, is how it feels to stand at the apex of the world. Haines, Alaska – land of vertigo – makes no sense in my head.

Just then Jess arrives. I snap from my daze and hop in her car. The drive over to Pemberton, Whistler’s sleepy neighbour, takes thirty minutes. We arrive on time, but Victoria is nowhere to be seen. Could she have forgotten… again?

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“Hey

guys, sorry I’m late, I started doing something and before I knew it…” Victoria’s voice ambles over from her muddy Smart car. Her tiny frame is the first thing to strike me; the second is the darkness of her eyes. She’s bubbly and open and calm and sweet. And when she looks at you, it’s with curious intent. She’s as interested in me as I am in her: that wonderful nature that puts you instantly at ease.

We’re standing at a secret lookout in the shadow of Mount Currie. From here Victoria can take in the serenity of her home, Pemberton Valley, which lies nestled in a ring of snow-capped mountains. Her and Jess decide to tackle a pile of boulders, convinced the peak will make for a great shot. Victoria attacks each rock with effortless grace; I stumble around like an awkward fawn and hit her with the obvious question: how did she find success in the backcountry, where contest results count for shit? She takes me down what seems to have been a natural path – but never replicated since.

“I had a small window of opportunity to make snowboarding my job as I only had a small amount of money to compete,” she begins. “I got in as a wildcard as I was usually the only Canadian girl – like the Jamaican bobsled team. Because I was new to snowboarding, I’d get excited, go too hard and just crash. I started containing myself and pulling off results, I was in debt, and that’s when I got picked up by Burton.”

Once sponsored, Victoria gained a freedom that has since become something of a rarity, moving into filming and away from the podiums – a shift many female pros have difficulty negotiating to this day. Her gravitation towards big-mountain lines hinted at an addiction to virgin territory that would come to define her career. Riders like Bryan Iguchi were filming and not disappearing – but a female success story simply didn’t exist. Girls had to prove their worth, and the backcountry was a dubious place to start.

“I wasn’t sure if it would ever be truly recognised,” says Victoria. “But if big mountain had a place, just a small piece of the pie, I was going to be completely happy and fulfilled to make a living doing my favourite kind of snowboarding and filming in the most beautiful places.” Her videoed exploits with the likes of Teton Gravity Research and Standard Films have been blowing minds ever since – and show no signs of abating anytime soon.

The media’s fickle support has clearly never stood in her way – but it’s also never strayed far from her mind. “There was a time when, not only were girls almost completely ignored but big-mountain riding was totally uncool,” laughs Victoria, with self-deprecating charm. “So I was in two really bad categories. I squeezed through some tough years where riders were dropping like flies all around me. And it’s really sad because a lot of them would still have their spot today. Luckily, Burton kept me at a time when the industry wasn’t sure how many girls they should support.”

I ask if she ever felt pressure to pander to demand and hit the park – what with her sex being unalterable and all. “I liked competing,” she says. “But I sometimes felt that it didn’t tell much about you as a rider. With a film part you work so hard – it’s so hard to get one, especially with backcountry. Lots of big, long, early days, wet clothes, sweating then freezing – it’s a lot of work. And when it happens, even if you get a small part, it’s not nearly as good as you wanted or wasn’t what you planned. But it’s still forever and it showcases what you think is fun. And if I can make a job of that – that’s the dream, right?”

With that focus, Victoria made her dream a reality – even when it meant being the only girl holding her own in Alaska or Tulsequah. “It’s difficult being a girl following some dudes up there, tagging along. That part’s hard,” she says. “But I am surprised that more girls didn’t do it because the rewards, to me, are so great.”

Difficulties aside, support for women is definitely on the rise. Victoria agrees but reckons bottom lines have driven the interest from both industry and the media: “When the snowboarding companies stopped growing, they were like, ‘Which segment is growing fastest? Oh, women and kids.’ So even if they didn’t believe in those markets before, they’re willing to put the dollars into it now. Now girls are riding together, it’s more competitive and they’re going off, right? Maybe women wouldn’t be so behind the men all this time if they’d had all this support back then.” ▼

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Victoria is refreshingly uninhibited – about everything bar her age, a statistic she keeps somewhat under wraps.

I find this bizarre – simply because if I had helped mould the very heart of snowboarding’s history, and was still pushing the frontiers of progression, I’d be shouting those double digits from a rooftop. Question is, do the jibbing park bunnies appreciate what she does?

“Snowboarding went through a stage where there was none of that going on. It was all about who’s coming up fresh, who’s the new kid pushing the limits. The older pros are starting to get more respect. Because to be a good big-mountain rider, you have to be doing it a while. You could be a ripping talented rider and go to Alaska and just go crazy. But most people know you’re just rolling the dice. Experience counts for a lot, and the older I get the more I appreciate that.”

With

our stomachs the only check on time, we decide to grab lunch before heading back to Victoria’s house. Bumbling along in her eco-friendly Smart car, the conversation naturally turns green. By the time we reach the café, order and eat, it’s turned to the impending peak oil crisis – a plausible theory that oil will run out in our lifetime. Pushing her salmon burger aside, Victoria gesticulates an air-borne diagram that precisely depicts the point at which demand will outstrip supply.

“it was always quite shocking to fly in over big cities. i’d look down and go, ‘WOW! WHERE DOES ALL THE SHIT GO? and where does all the water come from in this desert?’”

She is genuinely freaked out, but she is also genuinely ebullient, even at her most serious. “Sorry for talking about the coming economic collapse!” she laughs. “I’ve just been reading a lot recently.”

I ask where this awareness stems from. “I grew up in the country,” she says, “so it was always quite shocking to fly in over big cities. I’d look down and go, ‘Wow! Where does all the shit go? And where does all the water come from in this desert?’ I always wondered why people don’t talk about it – why everyone isn’t super concerned and freaking out. It’s always been puzzling for me. The older I get the more I understand – it’s not a fun subject and nobody really feels they can make a difference. It feels discouraging, like a useless battle, when some things are going on to counteract you by millions of miles. But there’s been this huge turnaround in awareness. Whether people have watched some independent films or are reading more, everyone is picking up on the vibrations in the ether. The vibration that there’s big change going on right now.”

When Victoria’s tiny car pulls into her driveway after lunch, it’s greeted by a monster SUV with a gas-guzzling sled strapped to the back – essential armour for backcountry exploits. Victoria is the first to acknowledge the paradox: “Snowboarding is a healthy thing for humans, but travelling to snowboard can have its toll. It’s a very touchy subject – kind of like animals in zoos; it’s so bad, but at the same time they’re champions for their species.

Snowboarding’s the same. When I get dizzy in my life and have a bunch of things to do, I know snowboarding’s really good.”

At this point she’s on a roll: “We’ve been living in the gravy years – not everyone, obviously, but especially in the West. And very soon we’ll almost be forced to make concessions, big lifestyle changes. I’m guilty, everyone is, but hopefully we’ll all have the initiative to do it ourselves, out of care, regard and respect. You look at the political climate around the world, there’s so much separateness – and promotion of separation amongst people. I think that’s the biggest problem in all our societies, is the notion and the belief in separateness. When you have a people separate from another people, nation separate from another nation, it makes you feel different or alone and that’s where all the problems come from. In reality we’re not separate at all – we’re all energy, and we’re all here together.” ▼

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Inside

Victoria’s cosy home I ask the question that’s been bugging me all day. How does it actually feel up there, atop some of the world’s tallest mountains, as you’re about to drop in?

“A lot goes into choosing a line, the days and weeks before. We don’t just get in a helicopter the day after a storm, slide up to what looks good and drop in. I think some people think that we’re just rolling the dice. It’s more like days of progression, digging pits and testing slopes slowly. So by the time you’re actually about to drop in, a lot of the emotional curve that you go through is kind of over. When you’re standing at the top of your line, looking down, you already understand its full potential.”

It gets better: “I guess one thing I can say is that sometimes the helicopter can’t quite get you to the beginning of the line. You may have to hike up some really dangerous ridgeline. You’re huffing and puffing, you know someone else is being filmed right now, you can hear people on the radio, you’re letting them know how you’re doing. You get to your spot, you look over the edge, you figure out how you’re going to drop in, and as you’re putting your board on you hear: ‘Okay, we’re coming to shoot you now, you ready?’ And you know the helicopter is flying around, like, very expensively in circles. The whole group is waiting for you, two people are dangling outside the heli, and it’s super freezing…

“when you have a people separate from another people, nation separate from another nation, IT MAKES YOU FEEL DIFFERENT OR ALONE and that’s where all the problems come from.”

“That moment, just before you’re about to drop in, can be quite hectic, when the clouds are coming in or the heli’s already in the air and logistically it would help everyone if you just hustled and dropped in fairly quickly – although no one expects you to do anything stupid. You may be like, ‘Look, I don’t feel good right now. I can’t see my line. I want you to put the heli back down on the ground, everyone just chill I need five or ten minutes to catch my breath.’”

She goes on: “To me it’s almost surreal. But it’s my goal, my dream – all year I wait for those lines. When I’m about to drop in, I always make this little peace with myself, like, ‘Well, I’m dropping in, I’m doing it. So you might as well calm down and enjoy it.’ And then, as you’re riding, you’re thinking really fast. It’s very much instinct – you can’t tell yourself how to ride, you just have to time your sluff, make it to a certain spot left or right, look over your shoulder and make sure nothing’s coming.”

The next obvious question on my vicarious ride is the one of danger. Victoria tells me she’s had some close calls but never been buried: “I’ve been caught in an avvy and one of the things I did straight away was go for another run on a slope that was not likely to slide – just because I was really shaky and wanted to go home. I had to get back in the saddle just so I didn’t leave Alaska with my tail between my legs.”

Just then, Jess interjects to remind me it’s getting late and we have to get going. We reluctantly turn down another cup of tea and make our way back to the car, back to Whistler, back to the ski-booted buzz.

I hadn’t looked at my watch all day.

On

the drive back, something new swims through my mind. I used to pride myself on punctual time keeping. I also used to feel suffocated in the days and weeks and months before any one of the many fictitious yet apparently critical events I’d diarised in red ink came sprinting towards me.

.

Victoria leaves that shit to a higher force. “I have a pretty unique relationship with time,” she said before we left.

“To me it doesn’t really exist…’cause we’re always living in the now, right?”

I like her style

Check out Victoria in Lines, a film about big-mountain snowboarding, at www.linesthefilm.com. www.burton.com www.tetongravity.com

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Charles Thompson IV says that “there is no tour or record – it’s all one big giant tour, and it’s all one big giant record”. But the longer he goes on, the easier it is to identify patterns in his life as a musician. There’s 1986 to 1993 when, as Black Francis, he fronted the greatest American rock band of the time, the Pixies. Then there’s the ten-year period when, as Frank Black, he released nine solo albums, songs from which were recently collected together on a compilation, 93-03.

There’s the Pixies reunion years of 2003 to early 2007, with big festival gigs all over the world. And now, two decades after he first hit the scene, a new era begins with his new album, Bluefinger. For that, he’s not only left behind the gently rolling Nashville sound of his last two albums, he’s unexpectedly resurrected Black Francis.

HUCK: How come your new album is a concept album?

BLACK FRANCIS: I don’t really know, but this young guy I asked to produce the record [Mark Lemhouse] came around and we were having a couple of glasses of wine and chatting. I said, ‘What are you working on, Mark?’ and he said he’s working on a concept album about this serial killer from Texas. A light bulb didn’t go off – it went in one ear and out the other – but I’ve been wondering whether, psychologically, that triggered something. Suddenly, it all became this Herman Brood thing and it was really exciting for me.

As their MASSIVEly successful reunion comes to a crashing end, Pixies frontman Frank Black returns as Black Francis to release his new solo album, Bluefinger.

interview Phil Hebblethwaite photography Sam Christmas

Does your affection for Herman Brood [the iconic Dutch musician] go back a long way?

No. He was on my list, of course, and one night I’m like, ‘What shall I look up on YouTube?’ No rhyme or reason, but that night it was Herman Brood. I saw a performance of his, fell in love with it, and decided I wanted to cover this particular song [‘You Can’t Break a Heart and Have It’]. And I was looking at this scrap of an interview he did on a train in ‘76, and then I found out about how much they loved him in Holland, in the same way that New Yorkers loved Frank Sinatra. For about a week, everything I read about Herman Brood, and all the clips I saw of him, and all the songs I heard, were connected. Every time I stumbled onto a new little piece of information, it was like, ‘But of course!’ He made sense to me. Every little bit.

Were you picking up parallels between your own life and character and Herman Brood’s?

I don’t know. I’ve thought about it – he’s the same age as my father, same kind of generation, died about the same age, he’s an underdog character and maybe I think of myself as an underdog kind of character... Certainly I feel like I have a lot of empathy for whatever ▼

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reason, and it’s not just the charisma and the music and the art. There’s this almost humorous suicide at the end and there’s the tragedy of the monkey on his back. I usually don’t like to sing about these things because I find them too grim, but there’s something about him.

His life had all this dramatic, small-time drama because he was a junkie. He was the piano player in a popular band in Holland called Cuby and the Blizzards, and they kicked him out because he was on smack or speed or whatever he was doing. I would kick someone out of my band if they were a junkie, but the writer in me had empathy: I started to feel his own frustration with life and the business and everything else.

Did Herman Brood resurrect Black Francis, or had you already gone back to your Pixies stage name?

I had decided to do that about a month before.

In fact, I did it a month before but I’d been thinking about it for longer. I’d got this new manager... the old manager was the Pixies manager and I’d been with the guy for almost twenty years. It was kind of like a divorce – we didn’t end very well at all. That was disturbing, and I think probably because I was out with the old band doing these reunion shows and I couldn’t get them into a studio, and I was aware of certain criticisms coming from fans, or writers, or even my former band... I felt like, and maybe I’ve read into it too much, that I could be the most successful guy on the planet right now and they still wouldn’t want to make a record. I don’t know. With that band, as with any group of people who have known each other for a long time, there’s a lot of baggage.

So, for whatever the reason – probably because I broke up the band way back when and just said, ‘Fuck you, see you later’ – they’re still mad at me. They’re like, ‘Hey, this reunion thing, let’s keep doing it, let’s keep doing it,’ and I say, ‘Okay, let’s make a record,’ and they don’t want to do it.

There was one new Pixies song, Kim Deal’s ‘Bam Thwok’, and you recorded a Warren Zevon track for a tribute album...

I was excited at the time. It was like, ‘Okay, we’re back!’ and we kind of sounded the same and it felt the same, and certainly a lot of interpersonal relationships slipped back into their familiar patterns. So I guess I was hopeful and, I have to admit, we were selling out places and making ten times more money than we did the first time around... it felt good to be successful, not just to be making money.

I thought we could continue, but the only way we could continue to do these tours was to have some new material. We couldn’t just keep going out there and doing ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven’ every night.

You did write some songs that you gave to

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the band in demo form. What happened to them?

They weren’t interested. The reunion tours were getting shorter and shorter because we’d played more and more places. About a year ago we were gonna do two or three weeks in eastern Europe and Spain and I was like, ‘You know, this is bullshit – we’re gonna go out there for two or three weeks and we could be going out and working for two or three months if we just go into the studio and make a mini album or something.’ I kept trying to convince them: ‘Okay, so you don’t want to spoil the legacy of the band...’ ...that’s the main argument?

That’s the main argument and it’s a valid argument, but I don’t give a shit. We should go and do waltzes or something. It’s our band, so who cares? We’re not nation building here, we’re just making records.

So there are no plans for any more reunion shows?

No. Was there a point when you felt like taking Bluefinger to the other Pixies?

No, but I was taking it to them psychologically.

I was hoping it was gonna sound cool: ‘Oh yeah, so you think I can’t write rock music? You think I’m just an old fat guy stuck in Nashville?

Fuck you!’

But were you thinking of them when you were writing the songs? It’s not so hard to imagine Bluefinger as a Pixies record.

Well sure, but just in a friendly vengeful kind of way, sort of like, ‘Ha ha ha, this could have been you but you said no, so you blew it.’

You know, maybe the record will just be another obscure one in my collection of many obscure records...

Do you think it will be?

I have no idea.

Because it is a bit different, this one.

Yes. You know, I just have more energy now than I’ve had in a long time. I’m still a fat guy, but I was a fatter guy about a year ago: I started fasting on a regular basis, so I dropped a bunch of weight. When you go from being one size to another, you feel like, ‘Aaaah yaaaah!!!’ Your energy level totally changes.

Now, I don’t want to take a nap in the middle of the day – it’s just different.

Did you play many festivals this summer?

I played my last one ever in July – I don’t give a shit about them anymore. I mean, we’re all paid very well at these festivals, even if you’re low on the bill. You wonder where all the money’s coming from. I’m standing in a field in Switzerland the other

day and I’m watching these parachutists come out of the sky, very dramatically over the audience, and there’s smoke coming out of their boots, and I’m like, ‘Wow, what’s going on? Air show or something?’ Parachutes open up and... Nokia! [Cracks up] Fuckin’ A, man! All these festivals, they’re all Nokia, Heineken, Marlboro... all this corporate bullshit. And I’ve never been offended by the whole corporate thing – it’s like, ‘Fuck it, if you can’t beat them, join them.’ But I’m playing these festivals and I always forget this. When I first started playing them years ago, they just seemed cooler; it seemed the audience wasn’t quite so dumb. I’ve got nothing against pop music and I’ve got nothing against people who want to be showmen, but it really bothers me that there’s an expectation from the audience now: they don’t have any tolerance for something that isn’t that. Even some of my own fans have the same attitude: ‘I went to a show last night and I have to say I was very disappointed because he didn’t even talk to the audience.’

Jesus fucking Christ! I didn’t even talk to the audience? Where the fuck have you been!?

Have you ever listened to a fuckin’ Lou Reed album? Have you ever been to a real rock show? Have you ever seen Mark E. Smith?

Come on! You want me to talk? Is that all you care about? Having this interpersonal, ‘Heeeey!’ Fuck you!

It seems you’ve always done things on your own terms and often at the irritation of your fans. Many of your solo albums have come in for quite a kicking. Has that upset you?

I don’t expect everyone to like all my records – I don’t even love all my records – you just make them, and they just come out the way they come out. I figured out a few years ago that I’m a snake in the Chinese zodiac and a snake feels his way – he just reacts to what’s right in front of him. In terms of making music, that’s exactly how I am and exactly as I’ve always been since the beginning. And I will continue to make records, because that’s what I do and that’s what I know.

So no grand expectations for Bluefinger?

There are always the high hopes, but my high hopes are always tainted with the experience of reality. And now, of course, there’s this whole thing of, ‘The record business is down!

Live gigs are up, but records are down!’ Great, so now I can sell even fewer records and still struggle in the clubs. For me the business is there, but it’s very selective. I don’t know what I’m gonna do next, but I know I can’t just keep going out on the road the whole time. I mean, I’ll still tour, but I’ve got to do something different too – write a theatre production or something

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Bluefinger is out now on Cooking Vinyl.

Join the audiorevolution!

Distributed in Europe by Fiftyseven North AB

Never mind the , a t s e i s we’re here to . e t a k s en text Luke van Un Chvatal photography David

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This is one

Tomas Vintr, killing time against the wall..

of those moments when time kind of stops and you realise that what’s going down is just a little too bizarre.

A discarded windsurf sail has just caught the eye of veteran Crème skater Rodney Clarke. Typically creative, Rodney promptly seizes the chance to try something new. He hoists up the sail, pops it on top of his skateboard and tries to cruise along the foreshore with the wind.

But just when he’s starting to speed up, a sudden gust of wind catches him off guard and he spins around, the sail smacking him square in the face. He lets go and the sail tumbles into the sand. Unfazed, he picks it back up and starts all over again. See, I told you – bizarre. ▼

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Welcome to Mallorca, Spain.

The largest of the four islands that make up the Balearic archipelago, the famous tourist trap bears the brunt of the region’s summer invasions.

The city of Palma de Mallorca, on the island’s southern coastline, is heavily developed for the hordes of visitors that descend upon it each year. And you know what that means – urban development equals skateable shapes. And that, ultimately, is what we’re here for.

The Crème crew is small but from good stock. Ross ‘The Boss’ McGouran, the master of chill time, is leading the gang. If there’s a mission to a spot that turns out pretty shit, Ross will get something stylishly bagged just to make the effort worthwhile – and promptly go back to chilling in the shade. Then there’s Prague’s Tomas Vintr. Prise the man from his laptop and he will smash any spot, throwing in a touch of drama just to keep everyone’s full attention.

Czech filmer and photographer David Chvatal is here to capture the magic.

And finally, amusing us with his sailing antics, we’ve got Rodney Clarke.

Rodney’s been around the block a few times and likely spent more time on a board than the rest of us combined. A playful skater, he can make any random spot look like the funnest ledge in the world.

In the shadow of Palma’s stunning waterfront medieval castle, the Bastió de Sant Pere, lies the city’s skate hot spot, Sa Faxina Plaza, which is terraced downhill for a balanced dose of stone ledges and stairs. Once there, we make the first essential move and meet the locals. The strategy is simple: get the lowdown on the best spots to piece together a solid plan. ▼

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Ross McGouran, hitting the lip..

Frontside siesta flip. Tomas takes advantage of a town asleep..

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Luke van Unen, writer of this piece and skater of flair, threads one up and over the arc.

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As expected, there are some conflicting opinions from the skaters – somehow ‘locals only’ knowledge and ‘tourist spots’ never line up. Directions are seriously unclear and notes barely legible. Following our initial ‘windskating’ episode, several hours go by as we search in vain for the ‘epic’ spot we’ve heard whispers of and seen in faded photos. You know the one – that amazing ledge your mate found and just had to tell you about. But in the end, we find nothing. Was this trip destined to be a total bust?

Almost

Ross McGouran, backside flip under a mediterranean SKY.

anywhere you go in Spain, the feeling you’re stepping back in time is unavoidable. It must be something to do with siesta, that ingenious break in the middle of the working day. Palma de Mallorca, like so many Iberian cities, feels like a small country town where people peek out from behind their curtains as strangers pass by, where the locals find what we’re doing far more interesting than what’s on their televisions. But when you have Rodney around, this is most often the case.

Take his latest party trick. During breakfast on the last morning, Rodney claims to be able to make a piece of fruit catch fire in the microwave. As the last waiter leaves the room, grapes are promptly picked up, buttons are pushed and the show is on. The microwave buzzes and all kinds of crazy shit kicks off. We piss ourselves.

Stupid? Sure. Fun? Hell yeah.

But I digress. The real question is: did we find those epic spots?

Yes… and no. Tomas stumbled upon a fantasy spot on day two – a little square that was a perfect assortment of tiled transitions. And with siesta offering the perfect opportunity for un-policed fun, Ross had just enough time to rush a tight little corner before security guards appeared.

They weren’t smiling. But we most definitely were

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www.cremeskateboards.com

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Tamil Nadu Skate text Giacomo Zanni photography Emiliano Mazzoni

THE SUBCONTINENT ON FOUR SMALL WHEELS. We wanted to go beyond the concept of Lonely Planet backpacking with this trip. Pretentious as it sounds, we planned to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Marco Polo by beating a brand-new path to the Indian subcontinent. Once there, we’d hunt for waves scarcely surfed and concrete barely scratched.

India, man, what a place to skate – the south of the country is full of spots with virtually no one there to ride them. But what made this expedition all the more special were not the spots we found or the tricks we landed. In the end, it was all about the people who crossed our paths along the way.

Wherever we went, we got a warm welcome from everyone, rich or poor, ‘touchable’ or ‘untouchable’. We spent most of our time riding motorbikes and mopeds, challenging our karma through the typically chaotic traffic, dodging cows, dogs, buses, tuk-tuks and rickshaws. Every time we found a ridable spot, be it water or concrete, curious neighbourhood faces would suddenly crop up and surround us, all smiles and friendly encouragement. Before long, initial interest turned to total oblivion as we slowly merged into the landscape.

When the skate spot was an open sewer in a small town located in the wide Tamil Nadu flatlands, one of the locals was a simple and silent guy who was there begging for food. A shock to the less travelled, beggars are a common sight outside malls, restaurants and corporate buildings, offering a constant reminder of a country of contrasts, inequality and still grappling with serious social problems.

The fellow in the photo spent a couple of hours staring at us while we skated the day away. He did not say a word. Instead, he just stood there for hours and hours, sometimes watching our tricks, but more often than not completely oblivious to what we were doing. He had, I suppose, far more important things on his mind

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Namaskàr India, a book documenting the trip, is out now and available in all Carhartt stores and best Globe retailers across Europe. www.slamjam.com www.globe.tv www.carhartt-streetwear.com www.zooyork.com

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Lockdown

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to Earth LOCKDOWN PROJECTS HAVE BECOME AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE UK SNOWBOARDING SCENE BY PRODUCING A STEADY STREAM OF FILMS THAT CELEBRATE THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE SPORT. ED ANDREWS CAUGHT UP WITH TIM WARWOOD AND ADAM GENDLE, THE MEN BEHIND LOCKDOWN, TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LENS.

Interview ED ANDREWS

HUCK: How did last season treat you?

TIM WARWOOD: It was my eleventh season of snowboarding and I’ve never worked so hard. Our cameraman, Troy, had a kid last year so it was just me and Gend doing all the filming. Our snowboarding had to take a back seat.

ADAM GENDLE: Also, there wasn’t really much snow so there was a lot of pressure to get shots for the films.

How did Lockdown Projects get started?

AG: I made a film one year called Carry on Up the Chairlift with some friends in our last season in Whistler.

Jeremy from The Snowboard Asylum [UK store] saw it and asked me to make one for them. That one was called Updog, and things just continued from there.

TW: Our movies have always been given away free as a promotional tool for the store. It’s good because it means we can pump loads out there and loads of people will get to see it. While some films are quite crew orientated, we have anyone in our films. If it’s good footage, it goes in the film. ▼

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AG: We don’t go out there to specifically make a fun film. We make films that would entertain us, and if people like them, then that’s cool.

TW: There’s Mack Dawg and Standard Films who have massive budgets, all the best cameras and the best riders in the world. It’s their job to really push snowboarding and create these visually stunning films. We love watching them, but that isn’t really what we do. We make accessible films that kids at home can watch and say, ‘I can do that.’

AG: At the end of the day, a snowboard film should make you want to go snowboarding, and we think people can relate a lot more to our films.

Your films seem to be for a core British audience. In the long run, do you see yourselves staying with this or pursuing global appeal by filming with international pros?

TW: Personally, it’s something I’d like to do but then it’s something I’ll never do. I enjoy working with the people I work with and I really like the films we make. If you do it on a bigger scale, you just increase the number of people who will say it’s crap and I can’t be bothered with that.

AG: And every now and then we get some great recognition. David Benedek [from Robot Food] saw Show Offs and said it was one of the best films he’d seen all year. He makes the best films around, so it’s a huge honour to hear that.

Would you describe yourselves as pro snowboarders who make films or filmmakers who are also pro riders?

AG: That’s a tough one. It depends on who you’re talking to. To the vast majority of people, we are definitely still pro snowboarders – who are really good! [Laughs] But if you talk to the snowboarders we know, then we are very much filmmakers.

TW: This seems like a very bigheaded thing to say but I was filming with some people in Breckenridge and was giving them loads of crap like, ‘Come on, do the trick.’ One of them turned around and said, ‘Well, you aren’t doing it. You’re just hiding behind the camera.’ Then I went and rode and shut them right up – it’s good to be a pro rider!

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What is the most enjoyable part of filmmaking?

AG: The premiere! [Laughs] TW: It’s weird because this year I was really looking forward to getting back and editing.

You forget what you’ve filmed then it all starts to mean something and it comes together. You start getting inspiration and that’s what’s exciting.

AG: I was done with riding because I was sick of carrying my camera bag on my back every day as it was so heavy. But then I watched some footage and just wanted to go back out snowboarding.

Your films place a heavy emphasis on fun.

Do you think other films can take themselves too seriously?

What with such high carbon emissions from long-haul flights, snow mobiles and constant driving, are pro snowboarders destroying their own lifestyle?

TW: We suffered this year, definitely. And yeah, snowboarders do travel a lot. My carbon footprint is probably bigger than the UK. But really, you don’t really know. It’s not going to be in our lifetime anyway, it’s our kids… so we might as well just keep travelling. Just kidding…

[Laughs] AG: It was so hot, though. It’s got to be global warming – either that or El Niño.

Who do you most admire apart from Terje [Haakonsen], who’s just about everyone’s hero?

TW: David Benedek, as he hasn’t gone all Hollywood. He understands what snowboarding is about. And Chad Otterstrom – he’s just amazing.

AG: When Travis Rice did The Community Project, he had a huge budget but it was rubbish. It just goes to show that not everyone can make a good film. That’s so bigheaded; we are going to sound like such dicks!

TW: But we are dicks! [Laughs]

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Lockdown Projects’ new film, Terminal Ferocity, is out now. www.lockdownprojects.com

ALL GIRL SNOWBOARD SLOPESTYLE

30.000 Prize Purse

Fri-14.12.07 Qualifier • Sat-15.12.07 Mainsession Finals

photography Richie Hopson

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thurso, scotland, the north sea. at fifty-nine degrees of latitude, the o’neill highland open is the single coldest surf competition on the planet. with water temperatures as low as four (!) degrees celsius, this is seal and polar bear territory – humans, especially those of tropical extraction, were never designed to operate in this kind of environment. and yet they do it, day in day out for a full week of arctic barrels on the northern edge of the planet. how on earth do they survive? by wearing wetsuits, hi-tech capsules of warmth in a refrigerator ocean. this series of portraits celebrates these brave surfers and their rubber of choice.

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Name jordy smith From durban, south africa Average Water Temperature At Home 21 degrees celsius North Sea Rubber Of Choice billabong solution ct 543

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Name makua rothman From north shore, oahu, hawaii Average Water Temperature At Home 24 degrees celsius North Sea Rubber Of Choice body glove vapor coldwater

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Name john john florence From north shore, oahu, hawaii Average Water Temperature At Home 24 degrees celsius North Sea Rubber Of Choice o’neill psycho ii 5/3

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Name jihad khodr From matinhos, brazil Average Water Temperature At Home 22 degrees celsius North Sea Rubber Of Choice quiksilver ignite 5/4 hooded hyperstretch-hft l /s steamer

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Name blake thornton From maroubra, australia Average Water Temperature At Home 18 degrees celsius North Sea Rubber Of Choice triple-x 3mm & 5mm titanium (4 way multi-directional) mega-stretch steamer

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CLOUD SURFING text and photography Barry Slade

Riding waves way up in the sky.

Think you’ve seen everything when it comes to big waves? Think again. What you’re looking at on this page are waves made up of moving air. And, believe it or not, you can actually surf them.

“You come over the face of the cloud and streak down it, dipping a wing into the cloud all the way to the bottom, and then arching up into a full loop,” says Rick Bowie, who happens to surf clouds. “You can just soar on and on for an hour or more, doing acrobatics, anything you want.”

Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria is the only place in the world where this phenomenon – known locally as Morning Glory – occurs with any predictability. Up here, gliders – not surfboards! – use the energy from the giant suck of air rising up the front of the wave to reach speeds of up to 160mph.

But it’s not all fun and games. The uplift at the front of the cloud is matched by an equally powerful downdraft at the back, making wipeouts in the sky a real danger.

To blunder into it is perhaps terminal for a motorised craft – and certainly so for a glider. The whole thing is analogous to going ‘over the falls’ out in the ocean. Bowie describes it further: “When you wipe out on an average ocean wave you get wet. If you do the same cloud surfing at 4,000 feet, you may not survive.”

Another difference is that cloud surfers, unlike their wave counterparts, must always pack a parachute. Bowie reckons he’d be happy to live without ever having to deploy one. “This is isolated country, full of crocodiles,” he says, “and if you have to ditch, no one’s going to come and get you in a hurry.”

Though mysteries remain as to the origins of Morning Glory clouds, most agree that they result from the collision of powerful sea breezes from the Coral Sea and the Gulf waters over the hot landmass of Cape York. This sets up giant shock waves that travel through the night towards the southern Gulf shores. If there is sufficient humidity for clouds to form, the waves become visible, and by dawn they loom massively out of the sunrise.

The humid air cools as it is forced up the front of the wave and condenses into cloud. On the descending edge the cloud evaporates, so that these enormous waves – which may be up to a thousand kilometres long – rotate slowly and majestically backwards as they travel forward at tsunami speeds.

Cloud surfing was pioneered in 1989 when Russell White, a legend amongst Glory riders, along with his partner Rob Thompson, made the first flight. They’d heard of the cloud from a sailing vessel skipper while holidaying in Queensland, and decided there and then to check it out for themselves. Their pioneering flight that year was met with disbelief amongst the gliding fraternity. So the next year they came back with pictures taken from their cockpit to prove it.

White is continually drawn back to replay his amazing experiences of soaring over the cloud. He compares its spectacle to that of the Himalayas: “Could you describe the Himalayas to someone who hasn’t seen them and do them justice? It’s the same with the Morning Glory. You have to be there – you have to be up on it to fully get it.”

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Skater, r, filmmake dreamer ver: and belieTrier Joachim ure. is the fut

chenski

Bo text Matt

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further lifestyle even ady outsider re al e boards in,” gl an it had to smug e “W d. wouldn’t know un ro our own underg e had to build looking at the bers Trier, “w ramps out em m et re cr dude ere making se w le op well-dressed pe , by the police. boards were arrested d, sitting in the e woods, we th out the perio in cumentary ab do A is il, y.” library of this az Em cr o It was r’s little br t l, shot by Trie posh hotel, bu Board Contro r. a be is r em ie ov Tr in N Joachim national out in Norway e 9 with the first ’8 th in o, d er rh ge pe an su l ch teenal fif It ly on ill ma.

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his clockwise from top right vestal trilby fly53 jacket so be it T-shirt arbor kelly slater longboard 84 www.HUCKmagazine.com

carhartt trousers puma hoodie storm chain carhartt Belt vestal watch

hers clockwise from top right lost unisex trilby fly53 jacket nikita t-shirt element psychadelic skateboard

obey shorts rip curl jacket obey necklace dickies belt nixon watch 85

RETURN OF THE RIOT

nothing says superior sex quite like a heavy dose of otherworldly talent.

What follows is the finest selection of, quite simply, women who rock.

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Christy Chaloux

N leanne pElosi P

Leanne Pelosi sure knows how to fit a lot into a short space of time. Forced to abandon her dream of becoming an Olympic soccer player due to a car accident injury, the gutsy Canadian wasted no time in re-channeling her energies, and since 2004 has ploughed her way through the competition to become one of the most successful female snowboarders on the scene. Her skills have earned her such accolades as Transworld Snowboarding’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ (2004), ‘Rider of the Year’ and ‘Readers’ Choice’ award (2005), and Snowboarder magazine’s ‘Female Rider of the Year’ (2006). Add to this her full video part with Misschief Films’ As If, and a long list of podium wins, and Pelosi becomes a force to be reckoned with. But it doesn’t stop there. As well as running MGT, a snowboard camp in Western Canada, Leanne has also recently launched Runway Films, an all-girl snowboard production company. With Pelosi heading the project, female snowboarding can only get stronger. “There are girls who are quitting contests and just filming,” she explains. “Runway is yet another outlet for them to be able to continue with their snowboard careers.” Zoe Oksanen Runway Film’s first installment, La La Land, is out now. www.etniesgirl.com

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Sam Christmas

emmy P N the great

Emmy The Great, Emma Lee Moss, has gone it alone. For ages it seemed like this most talented singersongwriter would be stolen by a music industry desperate to transform her into a new Lily Allen or Kate Nash. But, increasingly obsessed with what she calls ‘credible’ American folk, as well as the pop rock she grew up listening to, she stood her ground, recorded her new EP at home and released it herself. It’s called My Bad and it’s very good – sparse, subtle, clever and something of a fuck-you to those who wanted her to become someone she isn’t. Emma grew up in Hong Kong and moved to England when she was twelve.

Original aspirations were simple: “When I first started making music all I wanted to do was get off with a guy in a band, play Glastonbury, and play the Camden Crawl.” Now twenty-three, and with all those boxes ticked, she’s focusing on recording her debut album this December. “I’m really into the idea of recording at Christmas,” she says, “but it feels like I’ve got an exam: I’ve got a lot of writing to do and I know it has to be good. Obviously, I really, really don’t want to record an album that’s shit.” Phil Hebblethwaite My Bad is out now on Emmy’s Close Harbour records.

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Dominic Rawle

Dashenka P N PROCHAZKA

This quirky Australian-based, Swiss-bred, Czech-blooded artist and musician is currently traipsing the globe saving the world as Bunny Girl – the comic-book superhero she inspired pro surfer Ozzie Wright to paint.

Beyond her role as madcap muse, the Volcom-sponsored artist and surfer is busy making her own art, namely sculptures, whose thematic trademark combines intricate spider webs with Jorge Posada-inspired skulls.

She describes her work as “simple but strong, naive but deep, folksy but futuristic,” adding that her “art is not confined to one area but the main focus is in drawing, screen printing, sculpture, comics and music”.

Exhibiting in Tokyo, Sydney, LA and Europe, her sculptures were snapped up for the Australian MTV Music Awards, followed by a commission to decorate the rooms of twenty-one musicians such as the Pixies, Beck and The Pet Shop Boys for the Australian V-Festival. Also a passionate musician, Dashenka first took to the stage five years ago when she toured as lead singer of the Goons of Doom, Ozzie Wright’s band. Now on her own path writing, singing and playing guitar, she has just finished recording her first solo EP called I am back please don’t hate me. It was written in Sri Lanka, recorded and mixed in Switzerland, mastered in Australia and made in the Czech Republic – a true embodiment of the woman herself. Liesel Cole www.myspace.com/dashenkabunny

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Jason McDonald

Shenan P N Fraguadas

Back in 2003, within the confines of her then very shitty Brooklyn apartment, native New Yorker Shenan Fraguadas whipped up a couple pieces of clothing for a friend on a whim. This casual task resulted in Shenan, the brand that has been destroying fashion boundaries ever since its impromptu inception.

“I try to work on each collection in a stream-of-consciousness manner, to let whatever vibes are floating around settle in after a while,” says Fraguadas about her creative process. Shenan’s sweet and utterly cute demeanor shines through in each of her designs. Her clothes never scream for attention, yet every piece is undeniably striking. Produced in limited batches, the Shenan line currently consists of a full women’s collection, men’s jeans and various made-to-order one-off pieces. Available at select retailers around NY and LA and promoted almost exclusively via word-of-mouth, Fraguadas’ designs have also graced the fame-riddled backs of Devendra Banhart, Bebel Gilberto and Nick Zinner. Jay Riggio www.shenan.us

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Chris Moore

N Carissa Moore P

Fifteen-year-old Carissa Moore is on her way to taking over the world. The surfing world, at least. While every sport has their handful of young overachievers, very few of these wunderkinds cross gender boundaries as easily as Carissa. This year she won the Quiksilver King of the Groms regional qualifier at her homebreak, Kewalos Basin, on the South Shore of Oahu, and the year before she competed in the boys’ division of the Rip Curl Grom Search at the same spot and, you guessed it, beat some of Hawaii’s best young male surfers.

So was there any bitterness from the boys (having been beaten by a girl and all)? “I don’t think about what other people think of me,” she says. “I sometimes hope they’re a little impressed but I really try not to think about it.” When she’s not in the water, Carissa lives a normal teenage life, which means school is part of her daily routine. But unlike so many of the up-and-coming athletes of today, Carissa has every intention of graduating with her class. “After I finish school it’d be cool to be on tour, surfing and travelling the world,” she says, “but if that doesn’t work out, I love taking pictures and photography.” Our guess, though, is that Carissa will be spending most of her time on the other side of the lens. Christina Scannapiego www.carissamoore.com

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inspired by edward and his sketchbook, martha began to document graffiti extensively. this chance encounter soon took her deep into nyc’s emerging hip-hop scene.

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cr eative decay Martha Cooper’s PHOTOGRAPHS of New York graffiti in the seventies and eighties helped catapult hiphop around the globe. Here she shows HUCK the kids that first took her underground.

Interview Andrea Kurland photography Martha Cooper

Never judge a book by its cover. Meaningful words when you’re sat opposite a major force behind hip-hop’s global takeover – and it’s a woman in her sixties.

American photojournalist Martha Cooper began shooting graffiti on her way to work at the New York Post in the 1970s. Breaking into train yards and disused lots with the writers, her photographs captured the social decay that spawned today’s culture of bling. What started out as a fascination with an underground world of creativity became a document of hip-hop’s rise to world domination.

Now, for the first time, Martha sheds light on the roots of that journey through Street Play, the personal photography that led her into the New York graffiti scene. HUCK caught up with the lady herself to talk about the Lower East Side kids who let her into their world. ▼

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“this is ’78-’79, just pre-hip-hop – there are no brands, no adidas, no pumas or nikes. now all of this has been completely built up again and the lower east side is a fancy place to live.”

HUCK: You’re massively respected for documenting graffiti through the seventies and eighties. How do these photographs of kids playing in New York fit within hip-hop’s story?

Martha Cooper: I don’t like being known as a hip-hop photographer. That’s the work most people know me for. But this is the work that led me to hip-hop. I like to think of myself in broader terms, and this is a way of showing people that. It might give them some insight into the context of hip-hop too. The underlying idea I was looking at was kids being creative, making something from nothing – especially when their parents weren’t watching – and I think that idea can be related to b-boying and graffiti. The whole hip-hop culture, well, the early hip-hop culture, was about making something from nothing and being creative.

Why did you start photographing these kids?

It was while I was working at the New York Post. I had made a trip to Haiti and had been impressed seeing kids making little cars and trucks from tin cans – cutting them up and

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putting them together. And when I came to New York I thought, ‘I really wonder if kids do anything like that in the city?’ My original focus was on child-made toys but I didn’t find too many. I found a few – a kid with a wooden plane, some go karts they were riding in the street – so I decided to broaden the idea, see what they do with other stuff, like making forts and stuff like that.

At the time, did you think: ‘This is gonna be of major historical importance some day’? Or were you just taking some personal snaps?

It was a personal documentation. I was out there with my camera every day, driving through this neighbourhood on my way down to the newspaper. I always hoped it would be a book and I made some small efforts to make it into a book back then. But no one was interested so I abandoned the project. These pictures weren’t thought of as anything special at the time, but you can see all the buildings being torn down back then. The photos were in the Lower East Side, not the Bronx, like people think. This is ’78-’79, just pre-hip-hop – there are no brands,

no adidas, no Pumas or Nikes. Now all of this has been completely built up again and the Lower East Side is a fancy place to live.

How did this lead to you documenting graffiti?

The last photo in the book led me to graffiti.

The boy in the photo, Edward, said: ‘Why don’t you photograph graffiti?’ He knew Dondi, this major graffiti artist, and was the connecting point that led me into the scene. Edward was central to the Street Play work too, as he kept pigeons on the roof, and that’s a very classic New York City thing – keeping pigeons and trying to capture other kids’ pigeons. It’s sort of a game. Dondi then got me into graffiti, and graffiti got me into the rest of hip-hop.

As the first female photographer at the New York Post, what did your colleagues make of your extra-curricular activities – namely breaking into yards with vandals?

People in New York used to hate graffiti. I used to try and tell people what I was doing and I would get such horrible arguments from academics about how horrible it was, and ▼

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what vandalism this was. And I don’t have a good defence for defacing public property, you know, I’ve had to try and come up with explanations, and it isn’t as if I just love this stuff over every surface you can find. My only defence is: ‘Well, what about advertising?’ At least this is done by hand. Now in New York every surface is covered in advertising – I mean, covering buses in ads, isn’t that an idea they got from graffiti on cars? You even get entire buildings covered in blown-up pictures, covering windows and everything – and I do wonder, did kids covering trains and windows in graffiti give advertising people ideas? Or are the advertising people now those kids grownup? I would be kind of sad if advertising was the downside of graffiti – because at least tags are done by hand.

Back then, did you think graffiti would have such a huge global impact?

I had no idea. I thought, ‘This is amazing, and it could only happen in New York.’ Partly because of the state of the city at the time. There were vacant lots all over the place – and that was

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just the Lower East Side, the Bronx was even worse. Un-policed, unfenced – it was a freefor-all and the kids could get into the train yards. New York was an outlaw city that lent itself to this kind of activity.

Are you surprised by how the art establishment has embraced street art?

Well, yes and no. I mean, the art establishment has to keep pace with the times and street art has become, if not the predominant world art form, certainly up there. And I think that galleries need to make money, so they have to bring it into the gallery and try to sell it in order to stay alive. So it doesn’t surprise me. I like street art a lot. For me, to be able to walk out anywhere and see all this stuff on the walls is a treat. I was just in Milan and being able to identify artists that you see elsewhere and then wonder: ‘Gee, did they really come here? Or is someone else putting their stickers up for them?’ That’s amazing.

Does that mean street art has lost its countercultural edge?

“I don’t like to be bumping elbows with legions of other photographers.

I like to be out there on my own discovering things. that’s my quest.”

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it went from being an underground secret to overground and mainstream. I don’t go around photographing big, fabulous graffiti walls today – the writers all photograph their own walls, because it’s so out there. For me it’s lost its excitement.

That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it. But I don’t like to be bumping elbows with legions of other photographers. I like to be out there on my own discovering things. That’s sort of my quest.

So, are you aware of a burgeoning new underground scene that we should all know about?

Are you? Is there one? I keep wondering, surely there must be something – but would I be able to jump in there? Surely something to do with technology has to emerge. If something came along I wouldn’t go and follow it. I’m passing the baton to whoever wants it

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Street Play by Martha Cooper, published by From Here To Fame, is available now. www.eastpak.com

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First reader to sign up wins tWO dapper GIFTS FROM VESTAL: A HAT AND A WATCH. Why? Because we’re nice, that’s why.

UK: Five issues for £15 EUROPE: Five issues for 30 Euros REST OF THE WORLD: Five issues for $60 Please send all cheques to: Huck Magazine Subs Department Studio 209 134-146 Curtain Road London EC2A 3AR, uk You can also subscribe online @ www.huckmagazine.com. www.VESTALWATCH.COM *sheep SKULL NOT INCLUDED

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Reell Denim Collection girls winter 2007 available at selected stores. Denim shown in picture - Lara

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illustration PAUL WILLOUGHBY

clockwise from top right kustom edison sykum imperial mar levi’s recycled series vans anti hero element mid caspian globe vice swyd

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clockwise from top right dc volcano se dekline sixer bwana spoons etnies girl The baller supra side skytop nIke 6.0 mavrk osiris C.A.n.v.a.s. j. grow

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PHOTOGRAPHY matt hind STYLING david nolan

Vest / unconditional

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V-neck jumper / pudel T-shirt / worn by Jeans / cheap monday Boots / dr martens

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Knitted jumper / kenzo

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VEst / american apparel Rupert wears: V-neck jumper / fred perry Polo shirt / ben sherman Jeans / lee Taupe wears: Vintage cardigan / beyond retro Jeans / cheap monday

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Vintage denim jackeT / beyond retro V-neck jumper / original penguin

hair richard scorer @ harringtons using l’oreal make up mel arter @ clm models rupert @ premier and taupe @ select

Stockists american apparel www.americanapparel.net beyond retro +44 (0) 207 434 1406 ben sherman www.bensherman.com cheap monday available at urban outfitters dr martens www.drmartens.com fred perry www.fredperry.com kenzo www.kenzo.com lee www.lee.com original penguin available at urban outfitters pudel available at beyond the valley worn by www.wornby.co.uk

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BURTON NZ OPEN: SNOW CONTEST WITH A TWIST DEVENDRA BANHART: KEEPING IT REAL PLUS AN ASSORTMENT OF...

DEAD-COOL VIDS, FLICKS, BOOKS AND BEYOND

BURTON NZ OPEN 2007. PHOTO: MILES HOLDEN.

RIDING THE WAVE: HAS SURFING SOLD OUT?

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RIDING TH NEW FILM EXPLORES SURFING’S INEXORABLE MARCH TOWARDS THE MAINSTREAM. What? Surfing is, like, not an exclusive underground cult for those perpetually bathed in cool? You gotta be kidding, right? No, I’m not.

And neither is filmmaker Christopher Cutri, whose taboo-shattering Wave,, taps into the current zeitgeist to documentary, Riding the Wave ask some tough questions about the status of surfing in the age of ubiquitous capital, globalised media and corporate-funded cool.

HUCK: How did the idea for the film come about?

CHRISTOPHER CUTRI: It stemmed from a conversation with a friend of mine who was a surfer from Orange County. We talked about how surfing used to be a subculture and now all of a sudden it’s just become part of the mainstream.

Buying skate shoes, for example, will cost you eighty dollars – the price of entry into the lifestyle is not for the poor. You’re not buying your trunks at the thrift store anymore. It’s something I’ve always thought about a lot, this idea of popular culture and consumption.

How did being a professor [Cutri teaches media at Brigham Young University in Utah] affect your decision to make the film?

I’ve always noticed how much the students and other kids gravitate towards material goods to find a sense of worth. For me that’s always been a little troubling. I was hoping to tap into that a little bit so that maybe when they see the film it causes them to think about it a little. Another interesting thing is the fact that the film is self-reflective in that it’s a critique of me, it’s a critique of my youth, ’cause I feel like I am the embodiment of that whole California, surf to be cool, surf to get girls, surf to be popular kind of thing. As I surfed I definitely feel like I experienced that transcendent and real cool thing about surfing, but I think that my original motives are a little bit flawed.

Why do you think no one has made a film about this until now?

Everyone whispers about the idea of surfing being co-opted and absorbed into the mainstream. It’s a definite conversation within the circles of surfing culture.

That said, when I watch surf films, they will talk about surfing in a historical sense, about how it used to be underground and then it became popular, but right from there they just take off and go back to the surfing. Which is fine, there’s no problem with that. With Riding the Wave,, though, I wanted to make a film that talked strictly about the commercialisation of surfing and the issues surrounding it.

Was it difficult to get people, especially big industry players such as Paul Naude [Billabong] and Bob McKnight [Quiksilver], to talk about it?

Not really. I found that some people were really anxious to talk about it. You could tell there was almost like this pent-up feeling about all these issues and they were like, ‘Oh, man, here’s my chance to get them out.’ I knew I was

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gonna get a lot of good stuff critiquing the industry and really analysing where surfing is going. I wasn’t sure if I would get the chance to interview any of the business guys and the CEOs. I was very fortunate to get them, and it helped to balance out the piece by giving them an opportunity to defend themselves.

What’s your take on crowding as a consequence of the popularisation of surfing?

Before I made the film I was a bit more like, ‘You either live on the coast and you’re a surfer or don’t try to pose like one.’ It’s difficult not to be a bit like that when you’re dealing with a limited resource like the ocean. But at the same time, I’m not for the elitism that sometimes comes with surfing, like, ‘I’m a surfer so it’s mine and I own this thing.’ I feel like there needs to be some kind of equality where everyone gets a chance. It’s a bummer that things get crowded, but to put your fist down and go, ‘No, not you, this is ours!’ it just doesn’t seem right to me. It’s a weird paradox and I’m not exactly sure how I feel about it. But if some guy from Iowa wants to surf, or tries to surf or wears some surf clothing, then… I’d be more concerned if he’s really feeling a sense of identity and value because of that… but if he really wants to try it, go for it, we’re just gonna have to share it.

Do you think surfing’s ever been truly countercultural in a more radical, political way?

I’m a product of the eighties so I’ve never experienced the real counterculture of surfing. When I started surfing and even today it’s still this kind of popular, really cool thing to do. That said, I still feel like there is this ethos, especially with the older generation, of being a little bit more simplistic, caring of the environment, of not being caught up in materialism. If that’s counterculture, then I really think there’s a little bit of that with the older generation. But in terms of complete rebellion against the establishment, I haven’t really seen much of that in surf culture.

Any conclusions from making the film?

I learned that the issue is much more complex than I expected. I think it’s really easy to stand up and bash the industry and say, ‘Surfing’s gone awry.’ But that’s making it way too simple. And when you add the whole level of capitalism and how we work in that system and need to survive within it, things get even more messed up. But even though it’s super complex, I don’t think we should shy away from talking about it. VINCE MEDEIROS Riding the Wave features exclusive interviews with Bob McKnight, Paul Naude, Steve Pezman, Bob Hurley, Jamie Brisick, Dave Parmenter as well as other industry players, writers and academics.

For more info, check out www.ridingthewave.byu.edu.

HE WAVE

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JUST FREAKIN’ CHILL THE BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN TAKES THINGS DOWN A NOTCH.

Pro snowboarders are a competitive bunch, right? I mean, there’s no fucking about when there’s serious prize money up for grabs.

Luckily, one event in the snowboarding calendar is still all about good times.

Now in its fifth year, the Burton New Zealand Open offers some of the world’s top riders the chance to kick off their season in truly relaxed style. This August, the picturesque town of Lake Wanaka and its party-hard neighbour, Queenstown, played host to 230 competitors: three World Superpipe champs, seven X Games winners, one World Cup leader, an Olympic gold medallist, a Ticket To Ride leader and a bunch of talented new faces. If name-dropping were my style, I’d probably mention that Kelly Clark, Mason Aguirre, Keir Dillon, Torah Bright and Kevin Pearce were all in the mix.

Despite a prize pool of $50,000, the real reason these pros journey to the edge of the globe is Snow Park NZ – a Mecca for freestylers and the setting for the NZ Open. The place is a solid white haven of features just crying out to be battered. There’s the pristine Frank Wells superpipe, booters of all sizes, a twenty-eightfoot quarter pipe, rails of every flavour – even a rockdrop. But the pièce de résistance is the newly pimped-out base – a massive sundrenched deck, set of macking apartments, restaurant, bar and spa pools, all perfectly set up with a view over the entire park.

“It’s way more mellow here,” says British pro Posy Dixon on the

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chair up before dropping into her qualifiers run. America’s Rob Kingwell echoes this vibe as he gets off to slash powder down the outside of the pipe before his run: “It’s the first big event on the calendar for the season and everyone gets to have some chilled-out fun and just hang out and ride with their bros. All you could ask for is around you and you can just concentrate on riding hard if you’re feeling it.”

Speaking of riding hard, here are the results: Mason Aguirre owns the slope style, as does the UK’s Jenny Jones. In the pipe, local Mitch Brown leads through the semis, slips to third through the finals then storms 5.25 points ahead of America’s Scotty Lago to take the win. The girls ride equally hard with Australia’s Torah Bright claiming a narrow 0.75 win in the pipe over the insane amplitude of Kelly Clark.

Mad athleticism aside, the NZ Open is all about keeping it real.

Where else could you find yourself riding a chair with the likes of Torah Bright, charging the park alongside the legendary Peter Line and just sharing the slopes, on your own time, with some of the world’s best pros?

That, my friend, is the Kiwi way. LUCA SOULOS www.burton.com www.sub20.com

BEN KILNER (GBR), NZ OPEN 2007. PHOTO: JEREMY PIERCE.

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S M U B AL THE FIERY FURNACES

Widow City/Thrill Jockey

Chicago’s brother-sister outfit The Fiery Furnaces may have arrived on a wave of excitement and hype with their 2003 debut, Gallowsbird’s Bark, Bark, but since then they’ve seemed hell-bent on constantly challenging the many fans that album won them by releasing music that laughs in the face of normality and approachability. Many admirers moved on, impressed that they refused to pander to expectation but annoyed that they wouldn’t write more pop songs, which they’re clearly superb at doing.

Indeed, they always tended to leave singles off the albums, choosing instead to release them quietly on a low-key and brilliant EP called, almost disdainfully, EP. New album Widow City sees this most imaginative band find a perfect middle ground. It’s a difficult, mosaic-style record with four distinct parts but they’ve been sure to leave listeners many routes into their strange musical universe. “Don’t try to digest it in one go,” is their advice, and that’s clever. Here’s an album to cherish by nibbling at in separate and enjoyable sessions. PHIL HEBBLETHWAITE

AKRON/FAMILY

Love is Simple/Young God Starts with a short ditty alarmingly reminiscent of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’, then disappears down many wonderful and beautiful musical paths. Brooklyn’s Akron/Family are a four-piece in the greatest sense: a band who hear each other perfectly and contribute equally, especially vocally. Experimental but majestic and, wow, these hippies can truly play. PH

DEVENDRA BANHART

Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon/XL For album five, Dev has expanded the size of his band and dramatically upped his range to include soul, jazz and pop.

It’s mostly good, although you’re forced to wait till the second half for the real pearls. At seventy-one minutes, it could have been shorter and you wonder too whether his do-it-at-home production is becoming an enemy. Too much of this suffers under an echoey and flat sheen. PH

VASHTI BUNYAN

Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind/FatCat On the bumph that comes with this record, Ms Bunyan says that these cute songs – which were recorded before she became a folky – were not the result of her manager hoodwinking her into becoming a pop starlet. Not true, but no matter – they’re perfectly delightful, if twee. You hear her talent but sense also that she didn’t find her voice till she later took off on a wagon up to Scotland. PH

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BLACK LIPS

Good Bad, Not Evil/Vice Formidable live band and on the strength of this, pretty tasty in the studio too. Before anyone knew anything about these four boys from Atlanta, it was just assumed they were staple garage rock. Here’s proof they’re more: this kicks with sixties psych, teen pop, city blues, and country punk. Quality tunes to get loaded to. PH

THE DONNAS

Bitchin’/Cooking For a while there it seemed like The Donnas were going to be perpetually unemployed. Their return is welcome but patchy – the opener’s a gem, but there’s some real middle-of-the-road material too. In other words, they’re not always “bitchin’”. But hang on: here you have tough girls in tight jeans playing cock rock with sass and humour. How many fucking boxes does that tick!? PH

FABIENNE DELSOL

Between You and Me/Damaged Goods French lady in London Fabienne Delsol’s debut album was an absolute peach – a record that was so authentically sixties-sounding you could hardly believe it was recorded in 2004. Her follow-up – a mix of original material and covers sung in English and her native tongue – is even better. Perfectly beautiful pop music, but why oh why is it so short? PH

THE GOOD LIFE

Help Wanted Nights/Saddle Creek Tim from Cursive’s other band never seemed like they would eclipse the many other great acts on Saddle Creek, but here you witness them throwing a genuine contender into the ring.

It’s got much to do with Stephanie Drootin’s presence and the superbly considered songwriting. The title here says it all: this is sparse, after-dusk music full of broken promises, longing and atmosphere. PH

MADLIB

The Beat Konducta: Vol. 3-4: In India/Stones Throw Production ace Madlib’s Beat Konducta series is about him indulging in his passion for discovering new sounds, re-working them and then slinging out his clever little edits, sans MCs. A kind of exercise in self-indulgence, but he’s managed before to capture real ambience and he does again here. MIA fans: your gal ain’t the only one digging for a lil’ of that Asian shizzle. PH

REPUBLIC OF LOOSE Aaagh!/Loaded Dice

Republic of Loose are an oddity: a bunch of rough-looking piss heads from Ireland who love smooth R&B. Their debut ought to have made no sense, but worked in some weird ‘Dublin meets LA G-funk’ kind of way. On Aaagh!, they’ve called it wrong: polishing themselves up too much and even slipping into soft rock territory. They were better when they didn’t know how to control their natural soul. PH

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MOVIES

COCAINE COWBOYS *** Director: Billy Corben

Forget Scarface, Cocaine Cowboys is the insane true story of the mid-eighties drug rush that brought guns, goods, bullets, bitches and a shitload of money to Miami, transforming the entire city from a dilapidated backwater into a millionaires’ playground and gangsters’ paradise. Interviewing key figures from cops to smugglers to underworld hitmen, director Billy Corben meticulously tells a tale of staggering violence and criminality. Sure, there’s an element of man’s mag excitement in the montages of fast cars, smart nightclubs and bulletriddled bodies, but this cheesy style perfectly suits a story of decadent, mind-boggling excess. MATT BOCHENSKI

WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY *** Director: Goran Dukic

Attention: here’s more evidence of American teens’ apparently terminal ennui. Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon are Zea and Mikal, two kids who commit suicide… and then fall in love. They inhabit an afterlife of faceless diners and fellow suicides in a vision of hell-as-the-Americanheartland that has the washed-out texture of battered jeans. It’s an intriguing idea, as they set off on a journey to find something meaningful, but what should have been a poignant and sweetly romantic offbeat comedy is so self-consciously ‘indie’ as to become just a tad dreary. MB

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON *****

Director: David Sington

It’s easy to forget that space is awesome. The longer we go without actually discovering a race of intergalactic Barbarellas, the more humdrum that empty sky seems. And yet, space used to be sexy, astronauts were rock stars, and the Apollo moon missions were a decade-long orgasm. David Sington’s quasi-mystical, brilliantly profound and ridiculously moving documentary revisits those golden years from President Kennedy’s call to arms in 1961 to the end of the era a decade later. Interviewing ten of the twelve surviving astronauts – including Buzz Aldrin, the first man, we learn, to take a whiz on the moon – Sington paints a compelling picture of the astonishing feat of sending a man to an alien world with amazing, never-before-seen footage. You’ll need a team of engineers to remove the lump from your throat. MB

RESCUE DAWN ** Director: Werner Herzog Everything about this film is curious. It’s a fictional remake of a Herzog documentary, Little Dieter Needs To Fly, about German-born US airman Dieter Dengler, who was shot down over Vietnam but escaped and made his way through the jungle to safety. We get the added bonus of a hollow-eyed Christian Bale performance, but apart from that, this is a meaningless retread of an old story that rehashes elements of Herzog’s familiar man-versus-nature nihilism, and is saddled with a shocking final freeze frame that’s only a red headband away from making Rambo blush. MB

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“Grippingly intense and thoroughly rewarding” - HUCK

OUT NOW FOR Wii

TM

© 2006-2007 Rockstar Games, Inc. Rockstar Games, the Rockstar Games R* logo, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis and the Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software. Wii AND THE Wii LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS OF NINTENDO. All other marks and trademarks are properties of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.

DVDS

BLACK GOLD ***** Directors: Marc Francis, Nick Francis

This is an urgent and compelling documentary about the plight of Ethiopian coffee farmers that’s guaranteed to leave you frothing with indignation. Get this: lousy capitalist scum bags manipulate trade regulations to keep the price of coffee beans down, practically starving a generation of farmers while ripping off lazy consumers in rich countries. This sucks and it’s up to us to do something about it. Buy fairtrade, boycott coffee shop chains and lobby the government to redress their murderous trade tariffs. Seriously – it might save someone’s life. MATT BOCHENSKI

SPIDER-MAN 3 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3 SHREK THE THIRD TRANSFORMERS

Directors: Sam Raimi, Gore Verbinski, Chris Miller, Michael Bay If the four horsemen of the apocalypse took cinematic form, they’d look a little something like this, the most egregiously expensive, wildly bloated and unfathomably successful movies of all time. They’re released separately on DVD, but will sit side-by-side on shelves like some sort of unholy criminal line-up. If a tenth of the combined budgets of these films was spent on promoting world peace, George Bush and Kim Jong-il would already be married. MB

THE GOOD GERMAN **** Director: Steven Soderbergh

Written off in cinemas as an exercise in movie masturbation by Soderbergh and star George Clooney, The Good German deserves a second life on DVD. Shot in black-and-white, this twisty turny thriller set in the rubble of post-war Berlin and featuring a frantic search for an ex-Nazi nuclear scientist is heavily indebted to The Third Man and Casablanca, but it’s a worthy film in its own right with yet another great performance from Cate Blanchett as a prostitute with a dark past. MB

MANUFACTURING DISSENT ****

Director: Debbie Melnyk

“People know the truth,” says Michael Moore. “You can’t fool the people.” Hypocrite! Debbie Melnyk’s excellent exposé paints a grim picture of Saint Mike, scourge of Bush and saviour of the liberal left. It’s no secret that he has a flexible relationship with the documentary form, but Melnyk – a lefty Canadian herself – paints a damaging portrait of a self-obsessed megalomaniac, a rage-o-holic and a dangerously untrustworthy promoter of polemical discourse.

Using many of Moore’s own tricks, she makes some heavyweight allegations aimed to knock him from his high horse. Best of all, it picks apart the regular defence of Moore’s fans – that whatever his defects, we need a guy like him in times like these. Hmm, do we? MB

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If the dolphins are so smart, they should start a small business and save themselves.

GAMES

HALO 3 ***** Xbox 360

The eagerly anticipated return of the worst-named superhero ever, Master Chief, is finally here. Newly beefed-up for the 360, Halo 3 is the answer to every figurine-owning nerd’s moist dreams.

As the final game in the trilogy, the battle between mankind and the evil covenant comes to planet Earth. Adrenaline-fuelled gunfights take place in graphically jaw-dropping rainforests, stark deserts and the odd military base. With new weapons, vehicles and gadgets at your disposal, including instantly erectable shield domes, quad bikes and the ability to rip sentry weapons from their foundations, the programmers seem to have granted geeks their every request. The game play stays faithful to previous incarnations but with improved enemy AI that forces you to fight every inch of the way.

As well as the single-player mode, online multiplayer via Xbox Live gives you unlimited opportunities to duel to the death against players from around the world. You can even record your international battles and create your own little war film, just for posterity. An incredible tour de force but severely bad for your health and social life – if you have one, that is. ED ANDREWS

ROCKSTAR GAMES PRESENTS TABLE TENNIS **** Wii

Despite sounding a lot like a rather dull sim of the unglamorous world of professional ping pong, everything changes the moment you seize the Wiimote. With truly inspired subtleties in graphics, sound and game play, Table Tennis becomes grippingly intense and thoroughly rewarding as you rack up hypnotic rallies, place awesome slow-mo power shots and yell in elation at the winning of every point. A video game that’s both athletic and fun? What more do you need? ED A

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: PHANTOM HOURGLASS **** DS

Still not tiring after twenty years in the game, everyone’s favourite elf, Link, is back to rescue another Princess. Despite the same plodding ‘epic’ storyline, it still has enough creative game play along with a killer soundtrack to keep you hooked. The Phantom Hourglass features some nice-looking cel-shaded graphics and a refreshingly inventive use of the DS’s stylus to guide our hero, solve puzzles and battle even more filthy ogres. With the addition of an addictive twoplayer battle mode, Zelda’s still got game! ED A

JACKASS: THE GAME ***

PS2, PSP

Jackass gives you, the director, the task of resurrecting the show’s stunts, pranks and general dickheadness using everything from shopping trolleys to paintball guns. With ragdoll physics giving you full control of the cast, you can inflict as many broken limbs and ruptured spleens as possible, keeping you entertained for an intoxicated night in. ED A

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WWW.CRAFTYCLOTHING.CO.UK

S K O O B JEFFREYS BAY

Marcus Sanders and Kimball Taylor, Surfline

Kitchen Windows, Magnatubes, Boneyards, Supertubes, Impossibles, Salad Bowls, Tubes, The Point and Albatross. Phew!

That’s the sequence, from start to finish, of waves that grace the unbelievable Geographic Miracle that is Jeffreys Bay, in South Africa. When it all comes together, the kilometre-long ride from Boneyards to The Point is said to make surfers cry with joy.

Seriously. Canonised by many a magazine feature and surf film, JBay now gets literary treatment at the expert hands of Marcus Sanders and Kimball Taylor. With more than 100 photographs from the best photo men in the field, this coffee table gem is made unique by its single-spot focus, exclusive interviews and colourful commentary from the likes of Jamie Brisick and Sam George.

Limited edition copies, with leather-bound case, DVD and numbered stamp, are available upon request. Buy it, read it, slap it on the table and marvel at this sexy beast of a book. VINCE MEDEIROS

RANT

Chuck Palahniuk, Jonathan Cape The author of Fight Club pens another frank and entertaining novel which tackles themes of perception, reality and mortality head on. Rant takes the form of a variety of characters’ recollections about the life of Rant Casey, the book’s posthumous protagonist. Rant – a larger-than-life hillbilly with a disregard for social convention and the suspected source of a rampant rabies outbreak – becomes the hero of the Party Crashing scene, an urban car-crashing club for disenfranchised workers. With sharp dialogue and some very interesting twists, this book will certainly get you thinking. Worth a read. ED ANDREWS

DISPOSABLE: A HISTORY OF SKATEBOARD ART Sean Cliver, Gingko Press

Who needs another book dedicated to skateboard art? You, that’s who – when it holds the very fabric of your cultural history. Rising above the schlock, this massive retrospective is both well designed and a bloody good read. With everyone from Ed Templeton to Thomas Campbell sharing personal memories behind every deck ever made (every quality deck, that is), Disposable is skateboarding’s equivalent of a story-telling granddad. Epic stuff. ANDREA KURLAND

JIMI HENDRIX: AN ILLUSTRATED EXPERIENCE Janie L. Hendrix & John McDermott, Simon & Schuster There’s little doubt that Hendrix’s sudden death − by choking on his own vomit − secured him the status of demigod for nostalgic rockers everywhere. This book makes no effort to dissuade that cult-like following, offering a highly stylised chronicle of his life.

Dressing itself up as a personal scrapbook, the book is littered with imitation postcards, letters and drawings throughout. Although it does tend to sensationalise every aspect of his life, and as a result becomes rather trite, there is always the CD of rarities to please your inner-Hendrix fanatic. Bonus! ED A

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The Surfing Year Book Presented by Surfersvillage.

Hard cover coffee table book in the classic style of sports annuals for Golf, Tennis, F1, etc.

Phil Jarratt (Mr Sunset, Mountain & the Wave etc) chief editor.

Release date - late February 2008 Price $50.00 usd / €40.00 euros Distribution worldwide.

Contents include but are not limited to :

• Contests & results, region by region, from smallest to biggest • The SV Almanac: week by week, all the surfing news • Analysis and opinion by surfing’s leading opinion makers • Photo essays from the best surf photographers around the world • Profiles of all the leading surfers of 2007 • Inside the industry: who’s movin’, who’s shakin’ • Ocean environmental issues, weather and swell reports • Official ASP year review • Official ISA year review • The only global directory of surfing products and services • And lots more

More info at www.SurfingYearBook.com

WILD AT HEART A SHORT STORY BY

CYRUS SHAHRAD ver the years I’ve witnessed my male friends engaging in more than their fair share of bad craziness: drunken Jim Doubleday jumping from a third floor window into a bush the size of a sofa; the Falmouth Arts crew fixing wheels to old cupboards and riding them down steep Cornish streets; Andy and the gang rolling each other in man-sized brewers’ barrels down mammoth Kentish hills. I’ve seen boys snorting instant coffee, eating live moths and firing camera flashes at point-blank range into their retinas. But when I think about the maddest, most fearless friend of all, the person that springs to mind is a diminutive brunette called Tam. Tam is very pretty, very polite and a convincing embodiment of the young urban professional – turning up at the climbing wall in smart work clothes or the pub in her gym gear; playing hostess at everything from dinner parties to charity fundraisers – but in truth the whole thing is a thin disguise for one of the wildest hearts in human history. I’ve seen a bikiniclad Tam scampering up near vertical rock faces before tombstoning off cliffs so towering and terrifying that her male friends had to look away.

Last winter, she missed a powder chute in Chamonix and ended up stranded on top of an enormous cliff band, the nose of her board dangling perilously over the abyss. My friend Barry and I radioed up to her via walkie-talkies and guided her along the ridge, powder constantly breaking off in slabs beneath her feet and threatening to spill her over the edge, and all she kept saying as she traversed was: “How high are the cliffs now? Can I jump them yet? How about now?” In the end, we let her drop the band when it had shrunk to around twice her height, after which she zoomed down towards us and collapsed in a giggling pile at our feet. “That was so fun!” she screamed. Both Barry and I required stiff brandies to stop our hands from shaking.

But my favourite Tam story so far involves an incident this summer on a two-week trip to South America with her brother Jonas. As she related it to me – standing outside a nondescript London pub, suited and booted and

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looking the picture of the calculated career girl were it not for the pint of cider in each hand – the pair of them had been surfing a mighty swell in the waters off Santa Catalina when a freak storm rolled in from nowhere and veiled the sea in rain so heavy that the waves became almost invisible. The locals bolted for the beach, but Tam and her brother stayed out back, where they sat bobbing on their boards and watching rapid bursts of lightning illuminate the horizon line of the Pacific.

Suddenly, through the deep mists, reared an enormous wave, causing both Tam and Jonas to duck dive with barely time for a deep breath. Then, it happened. A few feet under the surface, both of them clinging for dear life to their boards, the entire ocean turned blinding white and rumbled with an explosion so close and so loud that it was still echoing off distant cliffs when the pair of them broke the surface seconds later, ears ringing and hearts pounding as they paddled furiously for the shore.

The locals were waiting for them, unable to believe that either sibling had survived the bolt. “It can’t have been more than thirty yards away from you,” said one. Even Tam admits that she was physically shaking with fear – although she’d have been more shocked if she’d known then what she found out later that evening: namely, that her sister had given birth to a baby girl at almost the exact moment that lightning was splitting the sky and dispersing across the surface of the sea above their heads.

So that’s my friend Tam: wilful, elemental, a force of nature with the face of an angel and a kinky smile. In recent years I’ve heard no end of industry insiders debating the relative handicaps of women in the action sports arena; whether it’s their bones being too brittle, their emotions too volatile or their breasts too liable to throw backside spins off axis. All complete cobblers – although it hardly seems to matter when you’re dealing with a spirit like Tam’s, which revels in the sort of misadventures that would reduce most grown men to tears.

I can’t wait to see how crazy her thunder-struck niece turns out to be.