Rivers Cuomo - Cory Lopez Werner Herzog - Slavoj Žižek Chad Muska - Rwanda Bikes
£3.95 | issue 26 May/June 2011 Rivers Cuomo by Ariel Zambelich
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C H A D M U S K A B Y G R E G FUNN E L L
THE SMALL STORIES
T he B i g S tories
14 W ee z er L a n e 18 B arrier K u lt 20 T u n e - Y ar d s 22 Q u eremos 24 A d ria n B u c ha n 26 E sra ’ a A l S ha f ei 28 H yro Da H ero J oy c e R o c ha d e O li v eira 30
32 R i v ers C u omo 42 S lav oj Ž ižek 48 A l p i n e T weets 50 Cha d M u ska 54 Fi n e skate art 58 C O R Y L O P E Z 64 Nyjah H u sto n 68 R wa n d a B ikes 74 Cr u iser d e c ks 76 R amallah S p ee d
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E NDN O T E S 84 W er n er H er z o g 86 K n ow H o p e 88 L ooki n g S i d eways 90 Gi u lia n o Ce d ro n i 92 M u sta f ah A b d u la z i z 94 T he B oat 98 S o u r c es
NEW YORK 7TH TO 28TH OF APRIL 2011
BERLIN 17TH OF JUNE TO 7TH OF JULY 2011 presents
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RIVERS CUOMO BY ARIEL ZAMBELICH
Publisher Vince Medeiros
Creative Director Rob Longworth
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Editor Andrea Kurland
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Design INTERN STUART GOUGH
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Online Editor Ed Andrews
Words Jenny Charlesworth, BRYAN DERBALLA, Kevin Duffell, Gavin Edwards, Tetsuhiko Endo, Polly Fields, Werner Herzog, Know Hope, Karl Koch, MadeUp Collective, Ana Angélica Soares, Erin Spens, Sam Sweetman, Antonia Windsor, Steve Yates
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Global Editor Jamie Brisick Latin America Editor Giuliano Cedroni European Correspondent Melanie Schönthier Snow Correspondent Zoe Oksanen Translations Markus Grahlmann EDITORIAL INTERNS GILES BIDDER, DANIELLE RICHARDSON
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Images Mustafah Abdulaziz, Cole Barash, Jasmin Brutus, Jonathan Cherry, Bryan Derballa, Dylan Doubt, Greg Funnell, Ricardo Gomes, Christopher Gray, TOM GREENHILL, Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton, ALEX HILL, Karl Koch, Milomir Kovacevic, Guy Martin, Agatha A. Nitecka, GUY PITCHON, Mark Rubenstein, LIZ SEABROOK, Sahara Shrestha, We Buy Your Kids, JOE WILSON, Ariel Zambelich
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Stevie WilliamS, Skater, Founder dGk
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Presented by Karl Koch If Rivers Cuomo is the face of Weezer, Karl Koch is their back-bone. Here, the webmaster, historian, archivist, roadie, buddy and unofficial fifth member of the band takes us on a trip down memory lane.
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01. WEEZER'S First review: Weezer’s very first review was not
14. Club Dump flyer: Back in the early days, Weezer played really
a good start. “Another band that was trying far too hard to prove
classy venues like Club Dump, which was a dump but a lot of fun, too.
something or other was Weezer. This band was probably the most
Later Johnny Depp bought it and millions were spent to make it safe for
blatant Nirvana-wannabe I’ve seen yet.” Nice!
trendsetters to do ecstasy in, as The Viper Room.
02. Pat Finn: This is our friend Pat Finn, who’s kinda responsible for
15. weezer – THROUGH Spike'S EYES: Spike took some of the
many of the guys meeting each other back in the day, wearing the first-
coolest photos of the band ever, at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys.
ever Weezer shirt. We made twenty of those shirts. So if you ever see
These look more like those sessions felt than our colour videotapes
one on eBay, you should probably bid.
from the same time.
03. Brian's audition tape: Here’s Brian Bell’s audition tape, which
16. NO.1 FANS: Here we are in Pasadena with Mykel and Carli, our dearly
he fed-exed to New York from LA so Rivers could listen and confirm
departed fan club leaders (front row). They organised a fan gathering
Brian could sing – Brian joined the band during the making of ‘The Blue
at the house of these cool sisters (Jackie and Kristy, flanking me, Rivers
Album’.
and Brian), and all the fans there had no idea we were going to crash their party.
04. Brian. STOKED. on A bed: This is the first picture of Brian as a member of Weezer, in New York. Look how happy that guy is!
17. BOTTOM OF THE POLLS: Here’s the shot heard round the Weezer world – second worst album in the Rolling Stone critics poll. At least
05. Rivers moving shit: Rivers moving Weezer T-shirts and equip-
Bush’s album was ranked even worse.
ment, mid-tour 1994. He doesn’t do that now, because he’s too busy running around in the audience during the show. Also we never know
18. Set list MASH-UPS: I was usually in charge of getting the set lists
where the equipment is until we arrive at the venue now.
on stage each night, and after hundreds of shows, things got weirder and weirder, as I tried to make the guys laugh during their set. The titles got
06a. 'THE BLUE ALBUM' TAKE ONE: We tried to come up with a cover
so strange after a while they would literally be looking down at the list
for ‘The Blue Album’. This was never gonna make it – a toilet was just
between songs and then to each other, wondering if anyone could figure
not the Weezer look...
out which song was next.
06b. 'THE BLUE ALBUM' TAKE TWO: But surprisingly, gang signs didn’t
19. No Doubt: Rivers looking, well, hungry as we relax at Zion National
work either...
Park with No Doubt on a day off in the summer tour, 1997. Gwen is mugging with Sophie Mueller, who directed the ‘Say It Ain't So’ video,
06c. 'THE BLUE ALBUM' TAKE THREE: Now we’re getting somewhere.
and was about to direct for No Doubt. Later we went on an inner-tube river ride with No Doubt. Sadly no pictures!
07. Weezer doodles: We had to come up with a logo too – none of these made it.
20. make-a-wish blake: During the recording of Pinkerton, Weezer granted a Make-A-Wish wish to a cool little kid named Blake who had a
08. Rivers CUOMO – THE ART DIRECTOR: This was Rivers’ idea of
very bad disease and didn’t have a lot of time left. Here’s Rivers and Brian
what ‘The Blue Album’ should look like. Which is pretty much how it
teaching him how to play ‘Undone’ and ‘Buddy Holly’. They all jammed
turned out.
together later, it was awesome. We were sad to see Blake go, as we knew we’d probably not see him again. But he was stoked.
09. The Feelies VS. Beach Boys: When it came out everyone said we were ripping off The Feelies – but we were like, ‘Who are The
21. RIVERS CUOMO – THE ARTIST: Here’s a rare example of Rivers’
Feelies?’ What we were really ripping off was Rivers’ budget-line Beach
artwork. This was one of the first few Weezer shows (and flyers) from
Boys cassette. (We were glad to learn about The Feelies, by the way –
spring 1992. Rivers drew the little stick figure family in front of the flag,
good band.)
and I remember him saying it looked so sad to him. A key to the true Weezer.
10. The van ad: To tour, we had to get a van – enter The Enforcer, later known as Betsy due to catastrophic breakdowns. We paid five grand for
22. Karl – The Curator: Karl, The Curator, 1997. Photo by Parry Gripp
Betsy from a guy in Fontana who looked exactly like Muammar Gaddafi.
of Nerf Herder.
11. Live montage: On tour with Live, late 1994 – a nice trick of the
23. thai NERVES: Here’s Rivers looking quite nervous in Thailand, as
camera makes it look like Ed Kowalczyk is kissing Matt’s head. Everybody
everywhere we went there were many army dudes with big guns standing
liked Ed, but we are glad he didn’t try to kiss us.
around. Like the one in the background.
12. Weezer amp: Here’s Rivers’ Marshall 30th Anniversary Amp.
24. Dinosaur FUN: By contrast, here’s Rivers in a much more relaxed
Bought after borrowing the same model from The Cranberries on Dave
state, in Utah, riding a dinosaur.
Letterman in ’95. The day I figured out the ‘r’ in ‘Marshall’ became a cursive ‘z’ when upside down was a great day.
25. Karl's sketch of rivers: Here’s a drawing I did of Rivers in February 1995 while we were on our first tour in Europe. He looks a bit
13. Spike Jonze and HIS hat: At Sound City Studios in Van Nuys,
forlorn there, but it was sort of a forlorn tour.
making Pinkerton. Spike Jonze came to photograph the band wearing a safari hat, because Spike is always on a safari, in search of cool things.
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Archive images courtesy of Karl Koch.
SPRING SUMMER COLLECTION 2011
franklinandmarshall.com
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NO FACES, NO NAMES Something dark is stirring up skateboarding. And it’s coming to a barrier near you. Text Jenny Charlesworth & Photography Dylan Doubt
Rumours of a masked man skating Jersey barriers in British Columbia,
the skateboarding world, the avant-garde, conceptual aesthetic certainly
Canada, didn’t take long to circulate. The storied figure – calling himself
is. Almost Skateboards pro Chris Haslam thinks DMODW is breathing
Deer Man of Dark Woods (DMODW) – emerged from his lair in the depths
new life into the sport. “The only thing Deerman seems to care about is
of the West Coast rainforest, people said, to bomb through Vancouver’s
being the purest form of skateboarder he can be,” says Chris. “I would
back alleys in search of the perfect skate spot.
never have thought that someone skating the same shit all the time would
But what the hell was everyone talking about? And who is this balaclava-wearing bandit? Well, DMODW is the faceless face of the
make skateboarding somewhat refreshing to watch. His skating speaks for itself.”
Barrier Kult (BA.KU), a hardcore contingent of skateboarders who adhere
As BA.KU’s prominence continues to grow internationally – in part due
to a cryptic doctrine that, at its heart, rejects the star culture of today’s
to collaborations with Emerica, Heroin Skateboards, Momentum, Bones
skateboard community and shifts the focus back to the sport itself.
Wheels and Canada’s legendary Skull Skates as well as the development
“The Barrier Kult act as martyrs, sickened with the Black Death to
of their own official clothing line – the rogue crew is no longer in the
wipe out the skateboarder as personality,” says the ever-elusive DMODW,
shadows. Of course there’s a certain irony to their heightened profile,
who was a prominent West Coast skater before adopting the mysterious
given their devotion to anonymity, but any attention the BA.KU receive
alter ego. “The masks keep a pure militancy in stride as the cult members
fuels their mission to bring honour back to skateboarding’s sacred roots.
develop their mania for dark arts and concrete altar rituals like the
“Total pride,” confirms DMODW, “that is all I really ever wanted out of
ascension of the tailblock.”
skateboarding.”
This puzzling lexicon – where “militant tight transition knife” means
Cloaking yourself and reciting obscure ramblings is an elaborate way
skateboard, “altar” stands for barrier and “plague” is the Barrier Kult
to make a point, but it’s working in its own strange way. Some people
movement – adds to the league’s mystique. Despite this, or perhaps in
may fixate on the hidden identities, but most respect the veil of secrecy
spite of it, BA.KU chapters now operate in England, Hungary, Australia,
surrounding the BA.KU. After all, skating barriers is treacherous, and
Finland and Japan. The original faction has also expanded its ranks to
these self-effacing dudes sacrifice personal glory to help put the skate-
twelve, with mysterious characters like Beast of Gevaudan, Black Glove of
celebrity circus back in perspective.
Internal Combustion and Statue of the Black Crow all signing up. While grinding Jersey barriers is not exactly a new phenomenon in
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thebarrierkult.blogspot.com
CREATIVE BRIEF
ATTENTION FILMMAKERS
SLAVOJ Žižek NEEDS YOU! Global capitalism is fast approaching its end times, says “the Elvis of cultural theory” Slavoj Žižek in his new book, Living in the End Times. But from the ashes of the coming crisis, is there an opportunity for a new beginning? To celebrate the launch of Living in the End Times in paperback, Verso Books and The Church of London are inviting filmmakers to submit short films inspired by Žižek’s theory. The film − up to ONE minute in total − can take any format: animation, drama, documentary, stop-motion or other. And the
winner will be picked by Žižek himself! The winning entry will screen before an open lecture by Žižek in London this year, and the winner will also receive a selection of Verso’s back catalogue, curated by the subversive publishers themselves.
For more on Žižek’s theory read the interview on page 42. Entries can be uploaded to a video-hosting website, like YouTube or Vimeo, with a link sent to zizekfilm@thechurchoflondon.com by June 30. Disclosure: Although filmmakers will retain ownership over their submissions, Verso Books and The Church Of London will have full permission to feature content across all their platforms. Slavoj Žižek is International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities. His latest book, Living in the End Times , is published by Verso – out now in hardback and in paperback from June. versobooks.com
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Swirled in Swahili Tune-Yards has no time for beat looters. What you borrow from Africa, you need to give back. Text Steve Yates & Photography sahara shrestha
The Garbus family’s Connecticut household was split. The parents, a
(she was briefly a puppeteer), and took external classes in Swahili,
Jewish New Yorker who played the fiddle and a Kentucky-born classical
forearmed with the knowledge that Kenya was, however briefly, her
pianist, were obsessed with Appalachian folk music and played it
destiny. “When I got there, on a study-abroad programme, I found
professionally. Their daughter Merrill, however, was casting her eyes
myself in a community I hadn’t expected to be in. I always pictured
and ears across the oceans to Africa. “My uncle and aunt, who are both
myself jumping on these savannahs with coloured paint on my face – a
medical practitioners, spent a year [in Kenya],” she recalls. “I had this
complete fantasy of what Africa was gonna be. I was in Mombasa, which
very idealised notion of what Africa was. I was trapped in Connecticut
is Muslim. They trade with the Middle East and have done for thousands
in this very limited and unrealistic world and they had found this new
of years, so it’s more like that than the centre of Kenya. I studied music
freedom in a completely new part of the world. There was something
there, Tarabu, and got to work with a very well-known harmonium player
about that that was so appealing to me from the get-go.”
and got to play the fiddle, as well.”
As Tune-Yards, Merrill Garbus is making music that builds on
Now thirty-two and living in Oakland, Garbus’ star is in the ascendant.
her childhood crush. Her second album, Whokill, is a masterstroke:
Her Bird-Brains debut – recorded into a voice recorder at a cost of a
harnessing African influences to her own adventurous use of cheap
few hundred dollars – met with muted applause, but this time around
modern technology, specifically the loop pedal, she’s made a record
the album was properly, if still moderately, budgeted, and the sound
that is both accessible and way more innovative than anything emerging
clearer, more powerful. It’s her live show that remains the principal draw,
from more conventional indie dabblers in African highlife. She’s also
securing major festival slots and winning over influential fans, such
prepared to meet questions of cultural appropriation head on. “I’m into
as Sean Lennon and his mother Yoko Ono, to whom she’s sometimes
borrowing,” she says, between mouthfuls of mackerel risotto in the
compared. She featured in Yoko’s all-star gig in LA last year, appearing
Tufnell Park pub where we meet. “It’s a part of music, but whatever I do,
onstage alongside Rza (another fan) and Lady Gaga (“who I didn’t think
I want to keep it in this social context. You can’t just take African music,
was an actual human being before”) for the massed encore of ‘Give
put it in pop music and just say, [smug voice] ‘Yeah! The world is just
Peace A Chance’.
music, man.’ I hate that. Where did you get that music? Who recorded
There is a sense of political commitment running through her work.
it? Did they get money from it? What’s the relationship? I guess I find it
The new album addresses issues such as police murder (‘Doorstep’),
more complicated than many musicians portray it as.”
gangs (‘Gangsta’) and the response to the Haiti earthquake (‘Bizness’).
So is she at war with Vampire Weekend, who have successfully
But the overarching message is somewhat toned-down. Before its
parlayed that attitude into the upper reaches of indie stardom? After a
release, Merrill shortened the album’s title from Womenwhokill, not
long pause, she says, “You know what I do to not be in some kind of war
from cold feet, but rather an unwillingness to be too narrowly defined
with them? I don’t listen to their whole album. Sorry Vampire Weekend,
this early in her career. She says, “I changed my mind, based on the
but I haven’t. Yes, I do find it problematic. Musically, I find the [African-
reaction of some trusted cohorts. We could’ve got away with calling it
European trio] Very Best a lot more interesting. I think we are flawed
Womenwhokill, but you and I would’ve talked a lot more about women
beings, flawed as people existing in the world, polluting, exploiting
than I feel the need to. That was the argument. If you want to talk about,
other cultures, wearing clothing made in other countries where people
‘This is about women being empowered and we can kill too,’ for the rest
make pitiful amounts of money making it. We’re in this relationship the
of your life, then fine, call it that. When I really thought about it, I felt
whole time so I can’t crucify anyone else for being a certain way, but I
there was way more to this, about violence, about killing; there’s plenty
can be musically interested in something over something else.”
of that in there without it being a women’s issue.”
Garbus’ relationship with Kenya runs deep. She moved there after graduating from university, where she studied theatre and performance
Whokill is out now on 4AD, tune-yards.com.
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We want it! The folks of Rio are shouting out loud and bringing more bands to their marvellous shores. Text Sam Sweetman & Illustration WE BUY YOUR KIDS
The people of Rio de Janeiro don’t call their home Cidade Maravilhosa
and found it wasn’t half as bad as they thought. In fact, they pitched in the
(The Marvellous City) for nothing. But in 2010, this marvellous urban
money themselves, booked the band, and made a deal with local venue
sprawl – famous for its thumping favelas and bumping blocos – was at its
Circo Voador.
lowest indie ebb. International bands of, say, The National’s calibre seldom
“Queremos works as a funding and delegation tool,” says Bori. “The
ventured to the city’s shores, leaving fans feeling decidedly unloved. But
amount required to cover the costs of bringing a band to Rio is raised
as so often is the case, out of the doldrums came a revolution – a radical
through social network mobilisation. A number of refundable tickets are
people-powered movement called Queremos.
sold on the website to whoever is interested in contributing.”
Queremos – literally meaning, ‘We want it!’ in Portuguese – is the
The guys behind Queremos may sound like shrewd businessmen, but
brainchild of a group of Cariocas (locals) from the worlds of journalism,
they aren’t out to make a profit. Once basic costs are covered, initial ticket
film, advertising and photography. Fed-up with Rio’s decaying concert
buyers – or “shareholders” – are eligible for anything from a partial to full
scene, the go-getting sextet – Bruno Natal, Tiago Lins, Felipe Continentino,
refund depending on box-office sales (in the case of sold-out shows for
Pedro Seiler, Pedro Garcia and Lucas Bori – came up with an idea that
Miike Snow and Belle and Sebastian, shareholders got to see the band for
would challenge the dynamic between musicians and their fans.
free). Fans get to have their say; bands get to play to a ravenous crowd.
Put simply, it goes something like this: fans buy refundable tickets
It’s a win-win scenario.
to see their favourite band perform, before any shows have even been
By demanding, ‘We want it!’ the group have managed to book Miike
confirmed. Once enough tickets are sold, the band gets booked. It’s a
Snow, Belle and Sebastian, Two Door Cinema Club, Vampire Weekend,
simple case of supply and demand; if the people want it bad enough, the
The National, Miami Horror, LCD Soundsystem (on their last-ever tour) and
band will come and deliver the goods.
Mayer Hawthorne, who calls the project, “one of the coolest things I've
So what kicked things off? “Queremos was born from necessity,” explains Lucas Bori. “In the last few years, all sorts of international bands
been a part of in my career,” and even followed up his performance with the simple tweet: ‘Best. Show. Ever.’
were coming to play in Brazil, but not Rio. The alleged reason was always
“I predict it will catch on in other countries and really revolutionise
the same: the audience’s lack of interest. Tired of waiting and certain that
the music-touring game,” he adds. “Everyone wins. Power to the people!”
there was a keen audience, we decided to act, rather than just complain.” And act they did. After hearing that Swedish band Miike Snow were looking forward to visiting Rio but had yet to be offered a show, the
As we go to press, Jamie Lidell has been confirmed to play in May and the “mobilisation” to raise funds for many more bands is well underway. This is happening.
locals, sick of missing gig after gig thanks to idiotic promoters, decided enough was enough. They looked into the cost of bringing the gig to Rio
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queremos.com.br
SMART ACE Think ASP surfers have nothing to say? Adrian Buchan is about to prove you wrong. Text Tetsuhiko Endo & Photography Cole Barash
When a friend suggested I interview Adrian Buchan, I dismissed the idea.
Saxons, the disparity is pretty amazing,” he says. “I think indigenous/white
“He’s too boring,” were, I think, my exact words. I went on to say that he
relations are moving forward, but because the Aboriginal population in
was surfing’s version of a nine-to-fiver, grinding out heat wins instead of
Australia is so small, it’s a lot easier here for the media and politicians to
doing media-worthy things like inventing new moves or riding waves the
sweep things to the side.”
size of highrise apartment blocks. Even his sobriquet of “the smartest man
And it’s not just prejudice at home that boils his blood. He bristles
on the ASP World Tour,” I concluded, was “like calling him the best guitar
when I mention the stereotype of Brazilian surfers as overly aggressive
player at a one-armed man convention.”
small-wave specialists. “That opinion definitely exists among surfers and it
But I kept running into rumours about the guy that suggested he was
does kind of piss me off,” he says. “It’s an ignorant and easy view to take.
more than just another happy-go-lucky Aussie beach boy. Eventually, my
In the next [few] years the powers that be in terms of the nations that
curiosity got the better of me.
have dominated surfing are going to be put on notice from some of those
The man they call Ace is from the small town of Avoca, on the Central
emerging countries, like Brazil.”
Coast of Australia. He has the easy smile of a kid raised in the super-
This contemplative sensibility seeps into the words Adrian pens, both
suburbs of the Lucky Country. But good teeth and likeability don’t win
for surf magazines and the personal blog he plans to launch this year. But
surf contests – details do. “I can get stressed out if I know I’m not doing all
he’s just as philosophical about his competitive career – a livelihood that,
those little things that will prepare me to compete,” he says. “I get irritable.”
to a layman, can seem to hang on whether or not the right wave comes
It’s hard to imagine him irritable, but beneath his simpatico demeanor
your way. “I believe you make your own luck,” he says. “There was always
is a meticulous mind that delights in confounding those who subscribe to
a decision that you made, or something you didn’t pay attention to in your
surfer-dude stereotypes. Buchan is fascinating in his unexpectedness. On
preparation, that could have put you in a better position or given you that
one hand, he enjoys nothing more than watching the cricket with a cooler
extra bit of luck.”
of beer and some “mates”. On the other, he wrote a children’s book
This isn’t bland optimism or deluded self-belief, it’s gambling logic
called Macka’s Barrel into the Dreamtime which addresses themes of a
and like anyone who gambles for a living and still has a shirt on his back,
disappearing environment and white/Aboriginal relations in Australia.
Buchan is neither boring nor dumb. If you prefer that stereotype, as I did,
“If you compare [Aborigines’] health statistics with those of Anglo-
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he’ll very quickly prove you wrong; he’s already dealing his next hand.
Filters out the glare of sun, snow and 24k gold medals.
Shaun White Signature Series Holbrook ™ with 24k Iridium lens
Š2011 Oakley, Inc. 01727 795791 oakley.co.uk
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Battle of the Few Digital activist Esra’a Al Shafei is helping Middle East minorities reclaim their voice. Interview Andrea Kurland & Illustration christopher gray
Esra’a Al Shafei has spent every day for the past five years hooked-up
that you’re changing it for the better? So I think if you change people’s
to the blogosphere. But unlike the narcissistic masses, for whom bowel
minds, you change the structure bottom-up.
movements and breakfast are considered news, the twenty-four-year-old Bahraini activist is driven by a force greater than her self. In 2006, she set
Do you think prejudice is becoming less entrenched? This is what I’m
up MideastYouth.com so that the dissident voices emerging across her
hoping for. The sad thing is that you don’t see enough people talking
region could find solace and support. Offshoot websites soon followed
about these things. A lot of people out there just join the masses; they
– addressing everything from Kurdish and migrant worker rights to the
are not really fans of going against the wave. You see where the wave is
imprisonment of young Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer – but even these
heading and you just swim with it, because that’s what’s easy. A lot of
disparate passion projects couldn’t shake Esra’a from her mission to help
people don’t know what Kurdish communities are facing even in their
oppressed minorities, everywhere, find a way to be heard. Then came
neighbouring countries. To me, that’s terrible because the mainstream is
CrowdVoice.org – a user-powered service that tracks voices of protest
not focusing on it. That’s why we rely on creative media to spread these
around the world. The mission may be far from complete, but the woman
messages.
driving it is still sat behind a screen, day after day, paddling tirelessly against the tide.
What can the international community do to lift the veil on minority rights abuses? The best thing international communities can do is amplify
The world seems to have just woken up to voices of protest across the
the voices that are being expressed throughout the region and not just
Middle East, but did you see the civil unrest coming years ago? I knew
look at what the majority wants. They can do that by not romanticising
there was going to be change, but the change that we’ve witnessed, and
things. Even when you pitch a story to international media, they say, ‘Well,
its speed, was unprecedented. A couple of years ago, there were people
the Kurds – no one’s really talking about them right now,’ even though
on the streets demanding their rights every month. Bloggers were being
Kurdish people are being executed and imprisoned on a daily basis in Syria
arrested at insane rates. The water was always boiling; it was just a matter
and Oman.
of time before that stage would explode. What do you make of media outlets that dub the uprisings a ‘Twitter The international media has been focused on mass civil unrest, but
Revolution’? I think the internet is a tool; it isn’t necessarily something
there doesn’t seem to be much of a spotlight on minority rights. Do you
that drives these changes to take place. Twitter and Facebook were very
feel people understand the prejudice that exists? If you just talk about
important tools in getting the message across. […] But it’s very easy to
‘human’ rights, the majority are going to be the most outspoken ones,
write a headline that says, ‘Young, tech-savvy people against oppressors!’
the majority are going to get their demands met – Arabs and Muslims,
because that’s what people like to read. They don’t realise that there are a
primarily. Then you get the Kurdish people or the Bahá’ís who aren’t just
lot of people creating racist Twitter feeds and Facebook groups, spreading
discriminated by the government, so even regime changes aren’t going
nothing but hate and propaganda against minorities. Why do they focus on
to do much for their cause. They’re still going to have a tremendous
Facebook and Twitter as the reasons why these revolutions happen, when
amount of oppression from society itself, especially in areas that are very
on a daily basis people are being attacked and their causes ignored? In the
religious, where tolerating another faith is out of the question. You can’t
last year, our website has been hacked seven times by anti-Kurdish groups
have human rights if you don’t have minority rights.
leaving racist comments. We lost traffic because our site was down. They’re preventing our message from being heard, preventing us from telling these
Do you think you’re fighting a different battle to the one presented
stories, preventing Kurdish people from expressing their own demands.
by the world’s press? Definitely. The international media tends to
And that’s not very much to ask for – recognition of [your] own existence.
romanticise the situation: ‘Look! It’s young, tech-savvy people against oppressors!’ For me, it’s not that at all. Discrimination is in the actions I
What inspires you – what keeps you going? To be honest, it’s the hate
witness from my neighbours – people that have nothing to do with the
mail. Every time we’re criticised, I realise how important the struggle we’re
government but are, in a way, oppressors. My friend in Egypt is calling
fighting is.
for a thought revolution; if we can measure our success by the amount of perceptions we are able to change, that’s much more worthy than
mideastyouth.com
changing a government. Plus, who knows if you replace the government
crowdvoice.org
27
Find Your Sound Somewhere between rap and punk rock, Hyro Da Hero is forging his own path. Text Shelley Jones & Photography Angus Macpherson
“Rap music was my first love,” says twenty-three-year-old Hyro Fenton as
message is this high-school over-achiever eager to express? “For
we cross a car park in Shoreditch, east London. “I discovered punk rock
everybody to be positive,” says Hyro, grinning. “And to wake up. Stop
[later] when I started looking into black history. I discovered Bad Brains
being controlled! TV, reality shows and all that, they’re put out to dumb
and Fishbone. […] But I noticed it’s all the same attitude. We all share that
us down. The more we feed into it, the dumber we get. And the powers-
hate against authority. It’s the same vibe.”
that-be can control us. So we have to break out of the mould, stop being
The Houston-born rapper, who spits under the epithet Hyro Da Hero,
zombies.”
has been transatlantic for a couple of weeks, touring with Welsh hardcore
With guidance from Chino Moreno (Deftones) and Ross Robinson
rockers The Blackout, on whose single ‘Higher and Higher’ he recently
(music producer who discovered Slipknot, Korn, Glassjaw and Limp
featured. He’s all country grammar with a Texas twang and speaks in
Bizkit), Hyro and his all-star band – including former members of At
sound bites, the likes of which colour his new album, Birth, School, Work,
The Drive-In and Blood Brothers – are ready for audiences of all kinds,
Death – a comment on the oppressive cycle of modern life.
whether they’re playing to metal-lovers at Download Festival this summer
“Hip hop gravitated more into electric beat-making,” continues Hyro,
or supporting Wu-Tang Clan at their Edinburgh date in June.
“but I just love live music. ‘Cause as hard as I scream, the band can
For Hyro, voices are tools, and he’s using his to carve a new niche.
match that same intensity. And that’s what I love about rock. I love being
“Music is the greatest thing ever. It influences moods, it can change your
introduced to new music all the time.”
life,” he says, passionately. “I don’t want people to go to a show and be
Described as ‘Nas fronting Rage Against The Machine’, Hyro is
inspired for one moment and then go home and go back to the same shit.
pushing a new hybrid of hip hop/punk rock/rap that is uniting both sides
[…] We’re stuck in this repetitive process. We don’t even know what we’re
of music’s countercultural coin. “[Hip hop] is kinda scared to gravitate
searching for. People want fame, then they get it and don’t even like it.
towards new things, and it’s scared of guitars, too,” says Hyro, who looks
Everybody’s somebody else because we watch TV and try to be other
to the late 2pac for inspiration. “But I’m bringing it another way, because
people. All we are is a product of our environment. But you gotta break
the person I am, I’m from the street, I talk country. […] Hip hop can grab a
off and do your own thing. You can’t look up to a person forever; you have
hold of this. And rock can relate, too.”
to become your own leader.”
Truth is, Hyro doesn’t give a shit about prescribed notions of ‘cool’, preferring to let the emotion in his music dictate the sound. But what
28 HUCK
hyrodahero.com
18 EXTRA HOURS TO GO TO THE BEACH
TO GET THERE
WWW. PROTEST.EU
29
Bra(zilian) Girl Rio local Joyce Rocha de Oliveira is heading for something bigger than big. Text Ana Angélica Soares & Photography Ricardo Gomes
“What do you think is easier Joyce – looking after a kid or surfing a big wave?”
Breaks. She says she first got the taste for big waves watching her dad
“For sure, surfing a big wave,” she responds without hesitation. The
surf: “My dad never wanted to catch small waves, if I wanted to get in the
question may seem a strange one, but it makes complete sense when
water with him, it had to be big!” She admits that, at the time, she always
you know a little about this teenager’s life – a girl who, at just fifteen, is
felt scared, but it didn’t last long. “I was always very proud,” she says. “I
holding her own among the surfers of Arpoador, Rio de Janeiro.
still got in the water even if I was scared, just to show I could do it.” In
Joyce Rocha de Oliveira is the daughter of Rogerio, a surf teacher
Joyce’s words, she was “hungry for waves”.
in Arpoador, where fellow Carioca (local) Maya Gabeira learned to surf.
To be a ‘Bra Girl’ is to be a daredevil, more courageous than most of the
But Joyce isn’t from the beachfront. Like her father she was born and
boys she knows. “Sometimes we get together and organise a bit of a ‘surf
raised in the favela of Cantagalo, the hillside community that looks down
off’, but when it comes to it, no one turns up,” says Joyce, laughing. But
on the expensive apartment blocks of Ipanema and Copacabana in the
the subject of boys begins and ends there. In front of her dad, Rogerio, she
South Zone of Rio. In the favela, a lot of fifteen-year-old girls already have
asks, “Can we skip this part?” And naturally, the answer is yes. So we talk
children or are pregnant. “Right now three of my friends are expecting,”
about Maya Gabeira, who gave Joyce the board she’s riding today. “Man,
says Joyce. The challenge for Joyce is to not become a mother too early,
this woman is pure courage. She’s my inspiration,” she says, eyes lighting
to study and get good grades, go to university one day, and still find time
up. Maya, who learned to surf with Joyce’s dad in 2003, is today a famous
to go out at the weekends. Maybe this is why she doesn’t feel scared
big-wave rider and four-times consecutive winner of the Billabong Global
when faced with a huge wave. “That nervous feeling in my stomach has
Big Wave Award. This year she will be going for her fifth.
passed,” she says, but admits she also says a little prayer. “I always cross myself,” she adds. Joyce is the leader of a select group, the ‘Bra Girls’ of Cantagalo, in
And as Maya prepares to return to her source – for the Billabong Pro Rio 2011, which takes place in Barra da Tijuca and Arpoador in May – her successor’s future looks just as big.
which she surfs along with two friends, Natalia and Camila. Since she was a child, she always wanted to be a big-wave surfer, a desire she revealed
Rio Breaks, a documentary film about the surfing kids of Arpoador, is in
at the age of eleven when she was featured in the documentary Rio
cinemas now and available on DVD at riobreaks.com.
30 HUCK
© 2011 adidas AG. adidas, the Trefoil, and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group. Silhouette Int. Schmied AG, adidas Global Licensee. © 2011 adidas AG. Le nom adidas, le logo trèfle et la marque aux 3 Bandes sont des marques deposées par le Groupe adidas.
santiago
Cool, classic and elegant, these are not for those seeking anonymity behind shades.
adidas.com/originalseyewear
The Tw e e t Life of Rivers Cuomo
34 HUCK
A s f r o n t m a n o f W e e z e r, R i v e r s C u o m o h a s penned enough power pop anthems to put a poet laureate to shame. But behind the lyrical sorcery is just a regular dad in specs – a guy who would sooner take a vow of silence than yabber on about himself. U n l e s s h e ’ s o n Tw i t t e r, t h a t i s , i n w h i c h c a s e the weirdness flows freely from his head. Interview Gavin Edwards Photography Ariel Zambelich
wkward and difficult.” That’s Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of Weezer, telling me about a pair of flippers he recently wore with a wetsuit. Asked if that meant the flippers were autobiographical, he laughs heartily and says, “I guess so.” I’ve known Rivers for seventeen years. We met in 1994, when I was an editor at Details (an American men’s magazine) and Weezer were enjoying the first flash of success with ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’, an anthem that laid out the band’s template: loud guitars, catchy melodies, and lyrics that seemed inscrutable (“If you want to destroy my sweater / Pull this thread as I walk away”) but on closer inspection, were emotional and revealing. I edited two articles he wrote for the magazine about life on the road. (Sample excerpt: “‘How many emotional outbursts are we allowed?’ asks Pat, our drummer, on the shuttle to another terminal. I give him my estimation: one major irrational outburst per 250,000 records sold. Although this means we haven’t even earned our first outburst yet, Pat says he’s going to go ahead and freak out now.”) I learned that Rivers was sly and quick-witted, but also shy and awkward. Raised on an ashram, he sometimes seemed unfamiliar with the conventions of human interaction. Onstage in those early days, he usually let bassist Matt Sharp do any necessary bantering with the crowd. Since then, Weezer have released eight more albums and sold ten million records worldwide. I’ve stayed in touch with Rivers by interviewing him periodically (albeit with long breaks, such as the five years he put Weezer on hiatus so he could attend Harvard). Whenever we see each other now, neither of us can believe that we’re still in our respective lines of work – journalism and rock, respectively – let alone talking to each other, again. I haven’t been around for some of his blackest days – like 1998-1999, which he largely spent alone in an apartment with the windows covered, compulsively writing songs – but over the years, I’ve gradually seen him become more comfortable in his own skin.
35
At 9am on a Monday morning, I meet Rivers at a recording studio on the
Where did all my weird thoughts go before I had twitter? 8 April 2010
west side of Los Angeles, California. “Where are Weezer recording today?” he asks the receptionist, who doesn’t recognise him – understandably, since in
“Every day, a really weird thought comes to my mind and I put it out there
his specs and chinos, he looks more like an engineer than the lead singer of a
– and now I have this long list of weird thoughts. I must have been thinking
band. Before we start our interview, he sends a few emails and complains that
them all along, but there was never any reason to write them down. I
he is constantly putting together sentences with words in the wrong order.
actually go back through my tweets to look for lyric ideas. A fair amount of
While Rivers once oscillated between celibacy and the aggressive pursuit
songs in the last couple years started on Twitter.
of groupies, he is now married (to Kyoko Ito, a Japanese native who he met
“‘Smart Girls’ on Hurley was originally called ‘Where Did All These
at one of his shows in Boston) and has a young daughter; at age forty, his
Hot Girls Come From’. That was a tweet. I didn’t give any context for it,
life is happier and more balanced. But he still has lots of unusual thoughts
but I was talking about girls tweeting at me – where were they when I was
and obsessions bouncing around his skull, as revealed by his Twitter account.
single? And a line in ‘Runaway’: “Is it us making love in the Milky Way?”
Since July 2009, he’s posted over 1,200 tweets, from “Caught my wife looking
– that comes from a tweet where I asked if the Milky Way made anyone
at nudie pictures of dogs and horses online” to “The reason for my massive,
else sad.”
continued success? I have no ego.” In an indicator of the collapse of the music industry, Cuomo has 542,063
Has anyone you’ve ever had sex with died? 8 January 2010
Twitter followers on the day of our interview – a number about five times greater than the sales of Weezer’s 2010 album, Hurley. Although many
“One of my girlfriends had just died from cancer. This is a girl I was going
of his tweets are deliberately cryptic, Cuomo is happy to explain them at
out with around 1995; she had a daughter just a year older than mine.
lengths greater than 140 characters. (I've preserved the original spelling and
Death is so strange. It’s just a mystery. I composed another tweet around
punctuation of his tweets.) “I’ve been wondering when someone was going to
that time and never posted it because it was too bitter. I have a whole list
use my tweets for an interview,” he says, settling onto a couch. But he has one
of tweets that I held back for various reasons. One of the lists is too dark,
warning before we start: “I don’t know what the point of Twitter is.”
too negative, too jaded, too cynical, that sort of thing.”
Rivers goes to his weekly soccer practice before heading to the studio.
36 HUCK
Veggie burger technology has come a long way. 6 November 2009
“When it comes to soccer, I’m pure fan. It’s been valuable – learning what it’s like to be a fan again helps me as a performer. I’m thinking of a World
“That’s true. And life in general for vegetarians has gotten a lot better
Cup game in 2002: the US upset the mighty Portugal 3-2. It was a really
since I was a kid. Growing up vegetarian in upstate Connecticut, it was
surprising and wonderful win for the team. Me and my friends, we were
definitely inconvenient with the options limited. So I’m happy for my
freaking out in the stands, just coming out of our skin. Before the players
daughter’s sake.”
walked off the field, Frankie Hejduk, who was the right back, took off his shirt and came over to us and went, “Aarrrrrr!” [Screams, grimaces,
Playing soccer at Robbie Williams’s house! 7 May 2010
pumps fists in air] It meant so much to me like, ‘Yes! That’s how I feel! He feels it too!’ Ever since then, I’ve done that with the Weezer crowd
“Around the age of thirty-two, I had pretty much hung up my boots and
whenever I walk offstage.”
resigned myself to getting fat and dying. But when I was about thirtyeight, I got invited to play in a celebrity soccer match. And I saw that my
My soccer trainer had to cancel today so if anyone wants
favourite player, Landon Donovan, was going to be in it too. As out of
to kick the ball around please meet me at Clover Park at
shape as I was, I had to do it. So I got back into it and from there I started
9:45am. 5 April 2011
playing in a weekly Sunday match and exercising a lot again and it’s been wonderful for me. It’s mostly British guys that I play with, and Robbie’s
“This really interesting guy showed up, named Jesse. Turned out he’s
associated with them. And sometimes during the week we go up to his
a professional poker player. So he was telling me all about that and
house to play. It’s not a full pitch; it’s about five on five. I played soccer
we kicked around for a while and then he asked me what my trainer usually
with him yesterday – he’s an amazing player.”
did and said he would play that role for me. So I got a good workout.”
So excited for World Cup! What’s the best pro-US place to watch on the west side? Who’s got a bitchin’ TV? 7 June 2010
Most of the times I’ve been successful it’s because I’ve been completely misunderstood. 14 April 2010
“Every day, a really weird thought comes to my mind and I put it out there – and now I have this long list of w e i r d t h o u g h t s .” 37
“There’s one music-industry apocalypse after another and it doesn’t feel like it affects us. We’re loathsome vermin crawling around u n d e r n e a t h a l l t h e r u b b l e . W e ’ l l b e h e r e f o r e v e r.”
“From the very beginning, I thought we were a serious, emotional,
If I say I have a “scientific” approach to songwriting, people
powerful band in the tradition of Nirvana. And the first meeting with
get bummed. If I say I have an “experimental” approach
the record company after turning in the album, they said, ‘Well, you
to songwriting people get excited. Yet, in my mind, the two
do understand that people are going to think you’re funny, right?
words mean exactly the same thing. 24 October 2009
They’re going to think this is a silly, jokey type of band – because that’s what you are.’ And I was deeply insulted and shocked.
“I love working in an experimental way where you’re trying things
“But then that was what the reaction was. No one took us to be
out and you’re not attached to the result, but just trying to see what
the next Nirvana. If I had set out to do a fun band, I don’t think it
happens, hopefully making some kind of gradual progress. That
would be what it was. When I try to be really serious, other people
mode of working is distasteful to some rock fans. You realise that
think it’s funny and somehow that works. On Pinkerton, I tried to
there’s some stuff you just can’t talk about with your audience
make sure nobody would think it was funny. And it didn’t seem to
because they have their own ideas about what an artist is. So I’ve
resonate – as immediately, anyway, or on as big a scale.
had to learn to choose my words carefully.
“The Memories Tour last year was a real revelation to me.
“I don’t pretend to understand our audience at all. We’re talking
Playing the Pinkerton songs on the second night and seeing every
about hundreds of thousands of people; it’s so hard to generalise.
person out of five thousand people singing every single word – it
Our top ten songs on iTunes are totally different than what you’d
was so gratifying and vindicating. The only time I imagined that
see the top ten songs voted on our website. If we’re playing a state
kind of response was before Pinkerton came out and then I got a
fair in Ohio, that’s going to be different from doing an in-store for
cold dose of reality when it came out. At that point I couldn’t have
super-hardcore fans, and that’s going to be different from playing
imagined that this would happen. But it’s incredible: such a feeling
the Reading Festival in the UK, where ‘The Blue Album’ wasn’t that
of family with these fans, and chills all over my body.”
successful. I just try to adapt to each situation and create the most pandemonium.”
Rivers blinks, genuinely moved by the memories. We talk
Sang “west side story” at this morning’s lesson...now
about his third solo album, due this year: like the first two, it’s a
munching microwave pizza, sipping green tea, writing
collection of his demos, this time centered on 1995’s Pinkerton
hooks…..a good day in the hood. 2 April 2009
(and the abandoned rock opera that preceded it, Songs from the Black Hole). He tells me that Alone III: The Pinkerton Years
“[Smiles] Boy, that does sound good. I love my voice lessons so
will be accompanied by a book called The Pinkerton Diaries,
much. From eighth grade on, I was all about the music department
which will include various original documents by Rivers,
in school. I was there several hours every day: barbershop quartet,
including the two articles he wrote for Details. He’s delayed its
madrigal singers, jazz band, chorus, voice lessons, music theory,
release because the band’s former manager, Pat Magnarella,
and then I was in the regional choir and all-state choir. I have so
found some original documents that Rivers wants to include,
many memories from high school, just sitting by my teacher at the
including a letter Rivers wrote to a federal court in 1996 when
piano as we’re singing mostly Broadway stuff or classical art songs.
the Pinkerton detective agency sued to stop the album’s release;
“So I’ve been working with this voice coach. We try to work on
Rivers explained that the name came from the opera Madame
technique, but very quickly it just turns into singing Oklahoma!
Butterfly. I tell him that I’d be happy to check my files to see if I
and West Side Story. I just put up a video of me singing ‘There’s No
have any documents from him that he may want to include. “If
Business Like Show Business’ on my YouTube channel. I’ve always
it’s not too much trouble,” he says skeptically. “I just don’t think
delighted in challenging our audience with styles from elsewhere.”
that I would have faxed you directly.”
Weezer is the cockroach of the music world. 12 October 2009
We hear drums and guitars leaking through the wall: in the studio next door, the other members of Weezer are working on a one-off new-wave cover that may appear in a major
“There’s one music-industry apocalypse after another and it
animated film later this year. This session doesn’t mark the
doesn’t feel like it affects us. We’re loathsome vermin crawling
beginning of an album: Rivers has completed lots of demos, but
around underneath all the rubble. We’ll be here forever.”
is unlikely to turn them into an album this year. “We’re confused and unsure, as happens to artists,” Rivers says. “We put out a lot
How can I make myself more attractive to young, Hispanic
of material recently – it may just be time for us to incubate.” Rivers
females? 16 November 2009
flashes a smile and leans back on the couch.
“Weezer was trying to figure out how to branch out into different formats and reach different audiences, so I went to Kiss-FM, which
And now for 45 days of Vipassana meditation.
is the top-40 station in LA. Even in 2005, when ‘Beverly Hills’ was
27 January 2010
doing really well, it never got added to that station, so I went and talked to those people. They’re really cool, and fans of all kinds of
“You wake up in the morning and start meditating. You basically
music. And they explained to me, ‘Look, the people who listen to
meditate until the evening and then you go to sleep. There’s no
top-40 radio here are young, Hispanic females.’ I noticed a part
talking, there’s no reading or writing. They start out with ten-day
of my mind was thinking, ‘Is there anything we can do to change
courses, but I went to twenty or thirty, and now forty-five days once
that?’ And I was just amused – whenever I catch myself thinking
a year. That’s as much as my family can tolerate and that’s as much
something that’s absurd, I tweet it.”
as I’m capable of doing at this point.
39
“You’re totally pampered when you’re there. They cook and
So glad 2 have been in Japan in these first weeks after
clean for you. When I say ‘they’ I mean the people who have
the earthquake. Much love 2 the Japanese people + 2 my
volunteered to serve for that course. And sometimes I’ve done
Japanese friends fans + family. 28 March 2011
that – that’s very rewarding, to watch people go into the deepest, darkest parts of their mind and really struggle. And then they
“The earthquake didn’t affect my family on a physical level in any
come out with big smiles on their faces.”
way. We got there a day or two after it happened, and we were 650 miles from the reactor in Fukushima. I could sense that my wife
Nighttimes reading Sherlock Holmes or knitting by my wife
was shaken up, but it was very hard to get a read on everybody
in bed couldn’t be cozier. 22 October 2009
because they’re all Japanese and they’re so stoic. And because I don’t understand Japanese very well I didn’t know what they
“I got into Sherlock Holmes because my wife’s really into murder
were talking about all the time, especially when they’re talking
mysteries, so I wanted for us to have something in common. I
about nuclear reactors. I don’t know that vocabulary. But I could
really am a homebody. I like having a wife and a kid and coming
tell that they were stressed and sad. I was glad I could be there for
home every day for dinner and doing home-ec tasks. Before my
my wife and her parents.
spring meditation course of 2010, I was knitting and doing clay
“I was surprised to see how much the Japanese fans were
sculptures and whittling – and since that course, I haven’t touched
reaching out to me and how they were asking for help and
any of that stuff. When I came out of that course, my capacity for
encouragement in very emotional, almost desperate terms. I
work was greatly increased and I found that I no longer had any
also have a Japanese Twitter account – my first motivation was just
free time because I was working.
to practise my Japanese, but I got to know the fans there better that
“I didn’t have any special talent at whittling or knitting, but I did really enjoy the process. Now with clay, I do have an unusual
way. I would offer just a few words of encouragement – it didn’t feel like I was doing anything, but it seems like it meant a lot to them.”
knack for making heads. Because I have an almost-four-year-old daughter who’s always working with Play-Doh, I’m always making
Bicycles must have blown people’s minds when they were
human heads. They’re creepy, like a dried human head that would
first invented. 25 March 2011
be in a tribe of cannibals.” “I was appreciating the technology of the bicycle: I can get from
I would never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever
place to place so fast with these crazy wheels and chains and
ever ever ever ever ever cheat on my wife. Not in a million
pedals. People just must have freaked out when they first got on
billion years. 8 October 2009
them. I can’t drive in Japan, and neither can my wife. We ride bicycles everywhere. There’s no hot-rod culture there, though. In
“I had been posting or tweeting things that were kind of flirtatious
America, if teenage boys were all riding bicycles, they’d want to
or seemed to express sexual attraction for people online. It would
have the coolest or the fastest one. Everyone in Japan, whether
be a very unusual man that doesn’t have those fleeting, random
you’re a little girl or a teenage boy or an old lady, they all ride
sensations of attraction, even when he’s married. Most guys don’t
the same three-speed bicycle with the basket on the front and a
express it in a public forum like that, but as an artist I wanted to
little bell and a little headlight. And they all bicycle around, so
experiment with it. But then I realised I had better make it clear
civilised. So I’m riding around on one of these bicycles and still I
that I’m just saying these things for fun.”
have the instinct of an American boy, which is to try to jump the curb or go really fast, just generally be a jerk.”
I felt terrible leaving my daughter in the park with her aunt, wearing my track suit and sunglasses, talking on
I will survive because I only show a facsimile of a mimeo
my blackberry, walking away she screamed and pleaded
of a xerox of a composite sketch of myself. 13 October 2009
“Daddy! Daddy!”. I was sure that all the other fathers were thinking “What an awful parent he is.” But I had
“Uh, I’m not sure what that means.”
an Australian phoner to do. 8 October 2009 “I’ve gotten good at avoiding those kinds of situations but there
Rivers laughs, maybe because it’s funny not to understand
are times when I think I am doing the best thing at the moment
your own thoughts, or maybe because a comment about
but it looks bad. I’m finding out that most parents do understand
maintaining one’s privacy shouldn’t be explicated, and his body
because they’ve all been there themselves.”
unstiffens. We’ve been talking for well over our allotted hour, and we can hear the rest of Weezer labour on their new-wave cover.
I thought I was creative until I had to make up a story for my
I apologise to Rivers for keeping him from the studio, and he
3 year old every night. 30 June 2010
shrugs. “Sounds like they’re doing fine without me,” he says, and slips out the door.
“‘Make up a story, make up a story!’ – I run out of ideas. Now I ask
Later that day, I look through my files and find a handwritten
her for prompts and collaboration – that helps a lot. She’s really
fax Rivers sent me back in 1994, from a budget hotel in Portland,
into these Jack and Annie books, so I usually work with those
Oregon, answering a final round of my editorial queries. It begins,
characters now. Recently, she has a sadistic bent and she’s taking
“The shit you requested” and ends, “Feel free to fax or call me to
over the story a bit more: ‘No, Jack is sick and his parents aren’t
see if we can drag this thing out any more. Love, Rivers.” And
coming to help him.’ And I say, ‘Yeah, but then Grandma comes
there’s a final flourish: a smiley face
and she saves him.’ She’ll say, ‘No.’ She doesn’t want it to have a happy ending.”
40 HUCK
Ivo Schneiter Photos: Dominic Zimmermann
Visit us t @ Brigh 9 July 7 — 2011 5 room 15
www.zimtstern.com
42 HUCK
Ž i ž e k Riffing About the End T i m e s Rock star philosopher and critical theorist Slavoj Žižek t a k e s o n h y p o c r i s y, c h e a p Hollywood Marxism and the final crisis of capitalism. Interview Vince Medeiros Photography Mustafah Abdulaziz
43
Or take ecology. Let’s think about the recent catastrophe in Japan. I don’t think that long-term you can deal with threats of such catastrophes through market [solutions]. I think a much larger scope – international cooperation, whatever – will be needed. Biogenetics is the same thing: somebody has to regulate it – it absolutely cannot be the market. Not to mention intellectual property. […] I don’t think that socalled intellectual property really fits the institution of private property in the long term. The logic is totally different. [Take] a glass of water: if I drink it, you will not drink it and vice-versa. That’s private property. [But] intellectual property says that the more it circulates, the richer it grows, as if it were almost in its nature communist. […] So my point is a very simple one: all these elements concern communism, but not communism in the sense of a solution. Communism is for me the name of a problem, the problem of commons – the commons of nature, the commons of knowledge which we should share, the commons of the e’s run for president in his native Slovenia, has a soft spot for
common space from which no one should be excluded. […] We
Jacques Lacan, and has been hailed as the ‘Elvis of cultural
are approaching a certain point where things will not be able
theory’. With grand gestures, penetrating ideas and an art-
to go on as they’ve done till now.
iculate, super cool Balkan voice, Slavoj Žižek has a larger-thanlife presence.
Let me counter your pessimism a bit. How about Wikileaks
In his new book, Living in the End Times, Žižek prophesises
– does it not signal the early stages of a radical shift in the
the final crisis of capitalism, criticises the hypocrisy of West-
public’s access to information? I am basically for Wikileaks.
ern racial “tolerance” and points to a challenging future with
But I think it’s a field of battle. Some people – maybe even
no easy solutions. We spoke for almost an hour and a half
[Julian] Assange himself – tried to re-inscribe it into this
about all manner of issues, from Wikileaks and ideology to
old liberal myth of free flow of information, investigative
the benefits of skateboarding and his dream of remaking Star
journalism, etc. But I think it’s something more. This idea of
Wars with Darth Vader as an enlightenment ruler fighting
just throwing the documents out disrupts the very way power
"reactionary feudals like the Jedis”.
is functioning today. There is a more radical dimension. Now,
What follows are some of the highlights.
I am not saying there will be great consequences. But I think that, yes, it is an important field of study.
Can you break down the thesis of Living in the End Times for us? The book is very simple. We are approaching a whole series
What’s important about it? What is important is not to
of critical points, and the question is: can the global liberal
reduce it to this ideology of free flow of information – the right
democratic system – the capitalist system – deal with them
to know. It’s not a new case of all this Hollywood stuff, movies
or not? There are a series of problems: social problems, new
like All the President’s Men, The Pelican Brief. […] My God, The
areas of apartheid, ecological problems, and then the problem
Pelican Brief, what does it mean? A top company connected
of what to do with biogenetics, intellectual property and so
with the president, part of the same plot and corruption –
on. In the long term, I think they are a threat in the sense
what can be more critical? Ideology comes when you suggest
that the existing system cannot deal with them. If we don’t do
what a great country the United States is when two ordinary
something we are approaching some kind of catastrophe.
journalists can overthrow the entire system. I don’t like this
I’m not saying it’s a kind of immediate catastrophe – I
moralisation that comes with these movies. You know, we are
mean, I didn’t like the movie 2012. But, for example, take
full of anti-capitalism today, maybe even too much […] but
new forms of apartheid: worldwide, there is a clear tendency
they always [focus] on personal corruption, greed. […] We
[for] some kind of limitation of democracy. Look at these
should move from this simple moralistic anti-capitalism to
new emerging Eastern powers – Singapore, China and so on.
more fundamental questions such as why people are pushed
They combine a capitalism that is even more productive and
to act like that. I am not a naïve humanist. I agree with Bertolt
dynamic than our Western capitalism with a social system that
Brecht: people are evil – you cannot change people. But you
is definitely not democratic – it’s authoritarian, more or less,
can maybe change the system so that people are not pushed
and it seems to function perfectly. I think this is a long-term
into doing evil things. It’s a very modest view.
tendency. Till now, the marriage of capitalism and democracy
44 HUCK
was maybe the best argument for capitalism: sooner or later,
What about the student protests in London, what’s their
after years of dictatorship like in Chile, Spain, South Korea,
meaning? It’s not just privatisation of higher education, what
when things started moving, capitalism generated the demand
worries me [is this trend] that says, if you want to study this
for democracy. I claim this era is out. Capitalism will be less
abstract, useless knowledge it should be your private stuff.
and less able to provide and guarantee the human rights and
What society needs is useful knowledge; experts to meet
freedoms that we have known until now.
social needs. […] So that, for example, when you have a crisis,
precisely like the demonstrations in London, you can call
thing – deconstructing from within; the charm of fascism,
psychologists who tell you how people in demonstrations
overidentifying with it and making it ridiculous. […]
behave… you know, useful knowledge.
But listen, I am generally a kind of retarded guy. For
We need a more radical thinking. We need thinking which
example, when Harry Potter exploded, with my best inten-
problematises problems themselves. Thinking is not to say,
tions I tried to read the novels. But I couldn't. Sorry, I found
‘We have a problem, help us fix it.’ Thinking is to see how we
them boring.
perceive the problem. Often the way we perceive a problem already in a way mystifies the problem. One example: when
What about the films? Were you able to watch them? A little
you mix ecology with this New Age bullshit – you know, ‘We’re
bit better for me. But of course, like my small son, I have the
raping Mother Earth, Mother Earth is taking revenge,’ blah,
usual identification with the bad guy. Voldemort is my hero,
blah, blah – all that New Age bullshit means catastrophe to
of course. My dream is [for him to] take over and introduce a
ecology if we approach it in this New Age way.
kind of people’s democracy dictatorship, like a soft Stalinism.
And here I like movies. […] I simply use movies as the most
Incidentally – this is my old dream, of course I will never
subtle registration of where we stand ideologically. Take this
get the money – [but I would love to] remake Star Wars,
year’s Oscars: the two big winners, The King’s Speech and
with the emperor and Darth Vader as kind of progressive,
Black Swan. It’s very interesting how they fit sexual difference
enlightenment, absolutist rulers fighting reactionary feudals
and the problem of subjectivity today. What’s the problem of
like the Jedis in a slightly totalitarian, leftist way, to change
The King’s Speech? The king here is a subject who stutters,
the perspective, you know?
it’s clear why – because he finds it hard to identify
While we’re still talking
with
about
his
symbolic
title.
Like, ‘My God, am I really a king? Can I be a king?’ Which is I think quite a healthy attitude, you know? It’s a sad story for me. The king is much wiser in the beginning; his stuttering means he knows that to be a king you need to believe in your kingness, which is
madness,
you
know?
So he’s rendered slowly stupid enough to believe that he can be a king. The other one is even worse. A really simplistic analysis, of course, but Black Swan, I think, is a deeply react-
" Yo u c a n n o t change people. But you can maybe change the system so that people are not pushed into doing e v i l t h i n g s ."
ionary film. The under-
film,
Slavoj,
Apocalypse Now is being re-released – what’s its relevance today? The reason I like the film is that it confirms my theory of so-called
inherent
tran-
sgression. What is Kurtz, Marlon Brando? He is the excess of the system itself – what the military system pushes you to do. He just went
too
much
to
the
end. It’s as if the military establishment has to fight its own excesses. A
bit
like
Afghanistan
and Iraq. Yes, absolutely! Those prisons where they
lying premise is that a
were tortured, Abu Ghraib
man, played by Vincent Cassell, the director of the ballet,
– this is what always fascinates me: the obscene underside
can combine the ruthless total dedication to his profession
of institutions. For example, the Catholic Church, oops, you
with normal private life, but a woman has to choose. If you
have all these priests committing paedophilia. It is clear by
identify too much with your mission of being a perfect artist,
the sheer numbers that there must be something in the logic
you are punished with death. This is a radically anti-feminist
of the institutions pushing them to do it. And I think it’s
idea; that a woman and her radical dedication to her art
the same in all these military excesses of the United States.
can’t go together. It’s a beautiful film, nicely shot, blah, blah
This is all linked to this old culture in military communities,
– but maybe they could have got slightly better music than
these hidden rituals of initiations where you are symbolically
that Tchaikovsky bullshit. I’m here this conservative Eur-
humiliated. And this is also my personal experience when I
opean high modernist. Tchaikovsky is out for me, no? It’s
served in the army. [...] I went to serve the army in the naïve
popular music.
hope that I would find a body of order and discipline. But it’s not that – you have superficial discipline, but just beneath the
On the topic of music, Slavoj, what do you like? I love classical
surface are all the obscene rituals, dirty jokes. It’s really a field
music; I’m a mega Wagnerian – Wagner, Shönberg, Mozart,
of hidden obscenities.
Schubert, Schumann. I listen for hours every day. I work to loud music. […] Of the latest music, I like bands like the
You often refer to Jacques Lacan’s theory of the Real – the
German one, Rammstein. I disagree with those who think they
idea that there is a natural state traumatically lost to us by
are some kind of proto-fascist band. They do this wonderful
our development of language. How do you apply that to
45
your analysis of the world? What is crucial for me is not to
vitality and act like a vampire to suck vitality from a lower-class
fetishise the Real into a kind of monstrous reality. It’s the
guy. Once they replenish their energy, he can fuck off.
inherent obstacle which, at the same time, sustains the system. This is why I greatly appreciate movies. I appreciate very much
So Titanic is a vampire film?! Yeah! Absolutely! Cameron
Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. I think it is totally vulgar and wrong
appears to be progressive, but the mythical coordinates of his
to read it in the traditional leftist way, as a portrait of middle-
universe are reactionary.
class despair and a critique of suburban alienation. The form You mentioned Kipling earlier, and in my reading of your book, I thought it was really interesting how you broke down the word ‘tolerance’ – how it’s used in Western Europe to
"The notion of tolerance effectively functions, in highly developed countries, almost as i t s o p p o s i t e ."
suggest some kind of pinnacle of human civilisation. Can you explain? What makes me suspicious is this automatic translation of racism and sexism into a problem of tolerance. It buys perfectly into today’s depoliticisation of politics. You remember when Mel Gibson had an anti-Semitic outburst in front of a policeman when he was drunk? It was reported in the media that the deal he made with the Jewish community was that he would regularly visit a psychiatrist to cure him of this anti-Semitic tendency. This is horrible for me; how instead of a problem of economy, legal system, rights and racism, it becomes a psychological problem, like, ‘Why don’t I tolerate the Other? What deep traumas do I have in myself?’ Look at Martin Luther King – he never used tolerance. He never said, ‘We blacks, we want more tolerance.’ Tolerance is how racism and sexism are perceived in our post-political universe. Also, the notion of tolerance suggests that I should merely put up with my neighbour instead of embracing the radical Other… Yeah! That’s another point. The notion of tolerance effectively functions, in highly developed countries, almost as its opposite. Tolerance means don’t harass me. Don’t harass me means don’t come too close to me. Tolerance means precisely: I don’t tolerate your proximity. One final question: what do you make of skateboarding and surfing, which are perhaps closer to a purely aesthetic expression than to your traditional mainstream sport. Do they
of the film itself – this matrix of eight or nine stories, parallel
mean anything to you? Skateboarding, I think this is a great
lines, contingent encounters – is about stumbling on something
thing. […] I remember those kung fu films – did you notice the
that could be a catastrophe but also something happy. The
heroes were always working class? Rich people can have guards
very ontology of the film – this vision of reality – is much more
and arms, so they can afford to be lazy and consume; poor
optimistic than the standard story. I think it’s wrong to read it
people have only their bodies and self-discipline. This is what I
as Hollywood Marxism.
am for. I agree with my German friend Peter Sloterdijk: he came
This is why I am so opposed to James Cameron. […] It’s
up with the idea that this is one of the hopes, these perfectionist
almost embarrassing to see Avatar or Titanic, you know, all
disciplines, [like] a skateboarding guy who makes a mission out
the rich are bad, sympathy with the lower class, the natives on
of [his] self-discipline. This is absolutely a positive thing.
the planet and so on, no? But at an implicit level, you get a very reactionary need sustaining this. In both movies that need is best
Thanks so much, Slavoj. You have the Orwellian freedom to do
articulated by the ultimate imperialist writer, Rudyard Kipling.
whatever you want with what I said. You are the boss. Rewrite
Avatar is The Man Who Would Be King – the miserable crippled
it, make me say the opposite, I love it. As a journalist, don’t you
guy who is nonetheless good enough to save the natives and
hate guys who you interview, these fanatics who then write to
marry their princess and so on. This is the ultimate White Man’s
you and say, ‘You changed one word there and you didn’t get it
dream. And Titanic is Captains Courageous. It’s really the story
and ruined everything,’ and so on, no?
of a spoiled upper-class girl who has a moment of crisis and then uses Leonardo DiCaprio to restore her ego. Literally, he paints
Slavoj Žižek is International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for
her portrait, then he can fuck off – he can leave. When Leonardo
the Humanities. His book, Living in the End Times, is published
DiCaprio is freezing in water, she notices that he’s dead, and
by Verso and out now in hardback and in paperback from June.
starts to shout, ‘I will never let you go,’ but while she is shouting
versobooks.com
this, she is pushing him away. It’s not even a love story. Again, Captains Courageous: upper classes lose their life, passion,
46 HUCK
For the full transcript of this interview, visit huckmagazine.com.
47
ALPINE NOTES IN THE AGE OF TWITTER Text Vince Medeiros
As traditional storytelling collapses under the weight of Twitter-esque, bite-sized information, how does a magazine cover the O’Neill Evolution – one of the world’s biggest snowboarding events? Here’s an experiment.
RANDOM THOUGHT ONE
The halfpipe is like this perfect oblong
crater
carved
into
the
In light of Wikileaks, Twitter and the like,
hard-packed snow. All manner
editorialisation is dying a slow but well-
of
deserved death. Direct journalism, you see, is a
leaves
powerful thing: it leaps over ideological filters
commentator
and editors’ choices, and throws us headfirst
perplexed. Note to self: need a
into the hard wall of language where we sniff
tricks coach bad!
contortion
off
most,
the
including Dave
coping witty
Mailman,
the Real – dark, daunting, awesome – before
Camera on steel cables whizzes up and
bouncing back into everyday fiction.
Teenawgiteh boys rs!!! sticke
THE O’NEILL AIR-FILLED BATON SITS ERECT, a phallus of branded might and event badassness,
announcing
yet
another
assault of snowboarding picaresque up in the hills of Davos, Switzerland. The
night
previous,
two
distinctly
unwhite young men were barred from
UNDER THE FEEBLE, SICKLY JANUARY SUN,
entering the throbbing discotheque du
the alpine creek that separates town from
the ear-ringed, 100-kilo-plus bouncer.
hill splashes gently, pebbles underneath,
Could this alpine enclave for the rich
and then snakes right, left, straight and
harbour folk partial to bigotry of the
left again as a big Swatch upside-down
skin? Hard to tell. The club, it must be
smile looks on from over the bridge
said, seemed fully packed.
jour. “Racists!” bellowed one of them at
where the event is set to begin.
down diagonally across the halfpipe. Evolution is as much for the crowds on hand as it is a media spectacle, via broadband and airwaves, beamed across the world.
COKE, IN ITS INTERPLANETARY UBIQUITY, PROVIDES SNOWBOARD RACKS.
Jamie Anderson fills the massive screen at the bottom of the hill. It’s lunchtime and she leads the slopestyle final.
The Jackobshorn gondola slides silently up into mountain heaven. It snowed last night. Powder awaits.
RANDOM THOUGHT TWO The masters of the universe – CEOs,
politicians and assorted transnational puppeteers – have yet to arrive in Davos for the World Economic Forum, taking place in this frozen placid hideaway in
A RED TRAIN CLICKETY CLACKETIES BY, BOUND FOR THE VALLEY BELOW.
48 HUCK
less than a month’s time. Come to think of it, it’s all quite fitting: the top of a
One run later and Sarka Pancochova now leads.
mountain, away from the serfs, makes perfect sense. For now, though, it’s O’Neill, Swatch, HUCK, as well as the mostly teenage contortionists running the show.
BITTE NUR PET-GETRÄNKEFLASCHEN…
30 minutes ago
Heineken in sub-zero temps under frenetic lights – nice!
Seb Toots in second.
HELICOPTER CAM HOVERS OVERHEAD TO DOCUMENT.
1 hour ago
Heineken part two. 1 hour ago
Awaiting men’s slopestyle final. Feeling a tad cold. 1 hour ago
29 minutes ago
iPod goes megatron – crowd goes wild. 22 minutes ago
Only gets him a sixth place finish though – no podium. 21 minutes ago
camaraderie for the cameras or true
Fifteen mins to finals.
Drinking, surfing the web.
buddyism of the slopes? The latter, I
1 hour ago
14 minutes ago
Pizza arrives just as final gets underway. Shit.
Eric Willet nails it and moves into second place.
1 hour ago
9 minutes ago
Awesome lights. They astonish as if you were a kid. Augment the radness of the acrobatics on hand. Throw in a few drinks and it’s magic.
Seppe’s final run… BS 1260… nails it.
At the end, they hi-five and hug. Faux
suspect. So cool.
JAMIE ANDERSON. Beautiful smile on the big screen. Perfect
ID
S BOUNC E
ON GIANT
YE
AH!!!
K
run. Overtakes Sarka to take first place.
58 minutes ago
Robot camera’s still flying. 57 minutes ago
Seppe Smits from Belgium ruling.
7 minutes ago
Moves into third. 4 minutes ago
O’Neill rider Seb Toots goes awesome!!! 3 minutes ago
And moves into… 2 minutes ago
First place!!!!
BO
.
UNCER
57 minutes ago
1 minute ago
Kids bounce, riders ride, Mailman speaks.
result, throws up all kinds of questions.
Cab 1250 landed flawlessly – Mark McMorris from Canada killing it.
Has
36 minutes ago
RANDOM THOUGHT THREE
The
focus
on
branded
experience,
marketing pillar of consumption as end the
fetishised
commodity
won
after all? Yes, by the looks of things. But how boring would it all be without the
metaphysical
properties
of
the
branded jacket, logo-ed shoe or stickered snowboard?
94.77 points! Yeah, McMorris jumps into first place. 34 minutes ago
Techno beats fade away in the background as I leave the hill and disappear back into town
01 K E L L Y C L A R K 02 C I L K A S A D A R 03 K J E R S T I B U A A S
Bring on the metadata!
Final runs now.
01 S E B T O U T A N T 02 M A R K M C M O R R I S 03 E R I C W I L L E T
2 hours ago
29 minutes ago
01 C H R I S T I A N H A L L E R 02 I O U R I P O D L A D T C H I K O V 03 J A N S C H E R R E R
2 hours ago
01 J A M I E A N D E R S O N 02 S A R K A P A N C O C H O V A 03 E N N I R U K A J Ä R V I
nighttime sky, is all about the spectacle.
Some pizza left – might have another slice. HALFPIPE MEN
The men’s final, under the way-below-zero
A crescent moon looks on from up above.
HALFPIPE WOMEN
Lights!
The final countdown
SLOPESTYLE MEN
Evolution duly logo-ed under its wing.
SLOPESTYLE WOMEN
similar bird of prey, with the words O’Neill
A CODA: OH YEAH, SOME RESULTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
This year’s ice sculpture: an eagle, or
49
The Hustler Chad Muska may have dipped his toes in Hollywood hot tubs, but the freewheelin’ hustler holds on to his modest roots with a love for skateboarding that is unshakeable. Fresh from a well-received a r t s h o w, w i t h a n e w S u p r a S k y t o p sneaker in the pipeline, the trendsetting skate star takes time out to discuss the origins of a style.
Te x t Shelley Jones Photography Greg Funnell
50 HUCK
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52 HUCK
Chad Muska is popping open a Coca Cola. “I’m not drinking at the moment,”
From developing sneaks with C1rca in the early noughties, to designing
he says, although nobody asks. “I want to be in control of everything in my
decks for Element mid-decade through to his prolific relationship with
life and I don’t want anything in my life to be in control of me.”
Supra and Kr3w these days, the multi-faceted tastemaker has signed his
The polymorphous skateboarder is in London to launch a One Dis-
name in the corner of every type of canvas. But is there any continuity in
tribution pop-up shop in the basement of Slam City Skates, the late eighties’
his multipartite approach? “Yeah, it’s all the exact same thing!” he chirps,
home of Rough Trade Records. He cuts an alien figure against the corporate
enthusiastically. “Whether I’m doing a trick on a skateboard, drawing a
tower blocks and grey intersections that make up Soho’s backstreets.
picture, editing a video, producing a beat, designing a shoe or making a
There’s something California coded deep and it manifests in the long dirty-
T-shirt graphic, it’s the same energy and same feeling I get in my head.
blond locks poking out of his backwards cap. But California is not where
One inspires the other. It’s all the same shit to me. […] The common
Chad’s story started, thirty-three years ago.
thread is just creativity and manifesting ideas and not talking about what
“I’ve grown up all over the place,” he says, thinking back. “I was born in Ohio, grew up in New Jersey, Philadelphia… my parents were crazy, that’s
you’re going to do, but just doing it. Talk less, do more. I’m inspired by people who have that same work ethic, that same mentality.”
probably the best way to put it. I was in twelve different schools by the time I
Settled in New York now with his girlfriend – Louis Vuitton model and
was in sixth grade.” Constantly breaking up and getting back together again,
Chanel ambassador Vanessa Traina – and experimenting with art in a big
Chad’s parents ragtagged across the states, finally settling, separately, in
loft studio downtown, Chad seems content. It’s a far cry from a few years
Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, when Chad was eleven or twelve. “I
ago, when his California-industry love story went up in flames. After years
first started skateboarding in Phoenix, at this big empty pool at the back of a
at the front of the pro skate world, Chad retreated into the seductive LA
vacant house,” says Chad. “I was riding BMX but every once in a while I’d try
Hills, only re-surfacing, sporadically, in the tabloid media because of a fleeting romance with Paris Hilton.
to grab someone’s board and ride, then basically [crash and] eat shit in the pool.
“I had some things going on with
[…] After my bike was stolen, this guy
C1rca and started to feel a bitterness
gave me his old board and it just clicked. From then on it was straight forward, no looking back.” At some
fourteen,
after
graffiti-related
getting trouble
into with
the authorities, Chad ran away to California. He explains: “It was either stay [in Phoenix], work a shitty job and do community service, or catch a ride with these girls to San Diego, and that sounded like a better plan at the time.” Happily, the freewheelin’ dude found somewhere to call home. “In the ninetysomethings, California was a dream come true. It was heaven,” he says. “I was broke, I was homeless, I had nothing and I was just happy. I loved it. Nothing mattered because the beach was there and this energy of skateboarding was just kind of starting up again.”
“ Ta l k l e s s , do more. I’m inspired by people who have that same work ethic, that s a m e m e n t a l i t y.”
with
the
industry,”
admits
Chad,
looking back. “But I never stopped skating during that time; I just kind of took off and did my own thing for a while. I was a little wrapped up in the Hollywood scene and partying and stuff like that and I needed to separate myself from the industry for a while in order to appreciate it again. But skateboarding is me, you know, it’s in me forever. The longer I was away from it, the stronger I felt it pulling me back – just wanting to be a part of it again so much. No matter what else I was doing in the world, it didn’t feel right [without skateboarding] and I needed to be back in the skate industry somehow and contribute. I feel like I have a lot to contribute still and hopefully for many years to come, whether it’s on or off my
San Diego stoked Chad’s hustle. Ed
skateboard. I just love this industry and
Templeton soon hooked him and go-
want to be a part of it for as long as it accepts these ideas I have.”
big charger Jamie Thomas up with Toy Machine and their vibrations shook up skateboarding for the next decade.
Truth is the skateboarding industry welcomed him back with open
When Shorty’s went big in the late nineties, Chad was the poster boy and
arms. In a world where “you can go to any skatepark, anywhere, and find
many attribute Shorty’s distinctly urban, hip hop style to the profound Muska
a twelve or thirteen-year-old kid who’s better than any pro”, heritage
influence. Style is something Chad sets, but he insists it’s not a conscious
becomes increasingly important, and those with solid skateboarding roots
thing. “I never feel pressure, I just feel a need,” he says, laughing and swatting
become even more relevant – touchstones for a new cultural language.
the comment away like a fly. “I just like to manifest ideas and see them
Chad sinks the last few bubbles of pop and tosses the can in the
happen. […] If you try something absolutely crazy ten times, and one of those
bin. He’s “a horrible drunk” apparently – “an exaggerated, over-the-top
times hits, it’s worth more than a thousand mediocre ideas, because it’s going
version” – and with plans to branch out into the fashion industry at some
to stand out, it’s going to be a movement and something new. […] The coolest
point, a bright art career ahead and “another video part, maybe the last”
thing about skateboarding is individuality and I don’t ever want to see that
to skate, he’s going to have to pull together a united front.
lost in the industry.”
But the place he’ll always feel most centred is square in the middle
And style, according to Chad, is not determined by the ice around your
of his skateboard. “Skating is the one thing that’s different from the rest,
neck. He explains: “I’ve always been into style, my whole life. When I was dead
it’s almost like the backbone of everything,” he says. “I think I’ll skate
broke, I used to go into thrift stores and get weird, extra-large, size-forty pants
forever. I’ll probably wheel my wheelchair to the skatepark and yell at kids
and cut them up or do stuff to them, whatever, anything. I used to get shoes,
or something. […] Without skateboarding I would probably be dead, in
and paint them, and put fat laces in them, it was just taking whatever I had
jail, or working some fucked-up job. If I had stayed in the situation I was
and putting some flare to it, that’s always been fun for me to do. And I guess I
dealt, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today, and I owe it all to skateboarding,
still love to do it.”
for sure.”
53
a
f i n e r
l
i
n
For thes e galler s k at e b o y-worth arding a y fine a nd art a rtists, re one a nd the s ame thin g. Interviews S helley Jones Photography Liz & Max Ha arala H
rt
and
always
skateboarding been
They’ve
been
hand-in-hand,
best
have
friends.
hanging ever
out, since
surfers took to sidewalks over fifty years ago. In fact, if art is the re-appropriation of raw materials to create something new, skateboarding is art in its purest form. It’ll come as no surprise, then, that the following artists all take inspiration from the lowly board. What may surprise you, however, is that their work sits in grand, highbrow galleries next to the
amilton
Adrian Rubi-Dentzel Paris-based Adrian Rubi-Dentzel was born into a family of carousel builders that settled and expanded their craft in California. Now the thirtyyear-old craftsman creates bespoke, hand-made pieces of furniture and art like the Glass Slipper – a clear, illuminated skateboard created in collaboration with Solitary Arts – which challenge traditional modes of production.
impressionists of old and conceptualists of late. So forget what you think you know
great, grand uncle brought the first carousel to the United
‘lowbrow’ counterparts. These fine artists,
States [from Germany] in the mid-nineteenth century. But
who just happen to be skateboarders, are
[surfing and skateboarding] are just part of me. I got my first
bucking
doodle
skateboard when I was six. It was a Tommy Guerrero deck
fundamental
and I started surfing around the same age. The Glass Slipper
relationship between bodies and space
project came from a friendship with Yong-Ki Chang and
– creating original works of sculpture,
Geoff McFetridge at Solitary Arts.
trend
‘skate
the to
art’
and
its
two-dimensional
explore
the
film and conceptual art as seen through a skateboarder’s unique eye.
54 HUCK
“I come from a long line of carousel builders. My great,
so-called
about
“I love that craftsmanship is so non-digital. I love the handson process because it’s so real; it’s unarguable. If you have a
As we move into an increasingly digital
block of wood and you have to get it to a certain shape, there’s
world, these agitators are asking questions
nothing you can do apart from carve it or sand it. There’s
about the ‘here and now’ and pulling us
something about that process that is very satisfying. Decorative
into a tangible space where manipulating
design can be interesting and really great, but I like to play with
the laws of physics, not paint or pixels,
the function of things and sort of twist them in a way that adds
creates the perfect line.
a new or different function to something familiar.”
e
Adrian Rubi-Dentzel 55
Raphaёl Zarka
Raphaёl Zarka Thirty-three-year-old Raphaёl Zarka is a Paris-based photographer and filmmaker. For his latest video project, Species of Spaces in Skateboarding (2008) , Zarka took inspiration from skateboarding’s filmic archives, meshing together clips from famous skate videos to create a fastpaced montage that uses negative space to explore relationships of proximity.
time and space, and how a form has been used and interpreted in many ways through history. I deal mainly with sculptural objects, but also photographs, films and writing. I prefer to discover things rather than invent them. I don’t believe in skate art, that’s a limitative concept; it is a form of ghettoisation to me. “There is a quote by Robert Filliou [a Fluxus artist] that says, ‘Art is what makes life more interesting than art.’ I really can relate to that… I think everything is virtually re-appropriable. Naming is a form of appropriation. There is a sculpture in downtown San Francisco called
To b y Paterson Despite formally training as a painter, Glasgow-based Toby Paterson, now thirty-seven, has created many threedimensional projects, including a matrixlike pavilion in Potters Fields Park and a block-colour sculpture outside BBC Glasgow, which reference his obsession with minimalist architecture.
‘Transcendence’ – it’s a big thing made out of polished black marble. As it sits in the financial area, San Franciscans call it ‘Heart of the
“Skateboarding completely changed the way I look
“I don’t think in ‘themes’, but some issues [in my
Banker’. That is clearly re-appropriating the
at the world. It put me in positions and locations
art] deal with the migration of forms through
object, to me.”
I would never have ended up in. There’s a way of
56 HUCK
To b y P a t e r s o n
looking at things – at an angle, or thinking about them laterally – which fed directly into my interest in architecture. I spent a lot of time skating around buildings – usually vilified or rejected – and so I learnt about architectural theory and history by bumping into walls and falling down stairs. “Being out and about and looking at everything inspires me. [In Glasgow] there are these contemporary ‘bombsites’ where old buildings from the sixties have been pulled down and then, because of the economic crisis, are never rebuilt. These holes in the city are, for me, a perfect analogy of what the world is like. There’s a beauty in ruins.
Andrew Ranville Andrew Ranville started experimenting with sculpture after feeling frustrated with the one-dimensional limitations of analogue photography. He now creates site-specific installations like treehouses, ramps and platforms, usually out of reclaimed timber, that encourage viewers to mentally project themselves onto, into and around the impossible.
“I think, for me, the mutability of ideas
Andrew Ranville
this whole ‘hands-off ’ gallery etiquette, but I’m interested in frustrating the viewer to the point where they want to slide or climb on the exhibit. I’m also interested in who has the [guts] to [do it]. “One of my pieces directly references a skateboard ramp, but it’s impossible to skate. It’s more to help people think about the possibilities of motion and potential rather than the actual prescribed action of a skateboard on a ramp. “I usually recycle a sculpture into the next sculpture – the work I make is more transient that way; it exists in a certain place, at a certain time, temporarily. I’m also really interested in form versus function. Why can’t a large art installation be functional and still considered art? I’m kind of
and ideals is interesting, like, ‘We’ve solved it!’
tackling the core ideas of how your body moves
And then fifty years down the line, it’s not the
“I enjoy presenting people with a sculpture or
through space and relates to a giant curved
solution anymore.”
installation that questions interaction. There’s
surface, or a forest or a mountain.”
57
CORY LOPEZ BY BRYAN DERBALLA To c e l e b r a t e t h e b e a u t y o f a l l t h i n g s q u o t i d i a n , w e s e n t B r o o k l y n - b a s e d p h o t o g r a p h e r B r y a n D e r b a l l a to New Zealand for the first stop of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic and tasked him with a single-minded mission: to shadow Cory Lopez everywhere he goes. This is surfing at its most intimate and best.
Name Cory Lopez
What gets your heart pumping? Big waves and
Age Thirty-four
the play-offs when my teams are in them.
Home Indian Rocks Beach, Florida
What is the one thing that you will never do?
What would you do with your life if the oceans
Bungee jump. Again.
What is happiness to you? Waves and family.
dried up? Look for water – then probably die
with everyone else.
What is your greatest fear? Going blind.
What’s the greatest lesson you’ve ever learned,
and from who? To treat everyone how you want to
Would you rather be too warm or too cold? Too
If you could right one wrong in the world, what
be treated. Not sure who taught me that – I think
warm. I hate the cold. I’m from Florida.
would it be? All the fighting in this world over
that’s just common knowledge.
‘religion’.
What do you want that you can’t have? For
What are your worst and best traits? My wife
Scottie to beam me wherever I want to go.
What is the meaning of life? Family and surfing.
says my best traits are that I’m good with
electronics and that I’m very current. My worst,
How would you describe yourself to a blind
Who or what were you in a previous life? Maybe
well, she says that I’m impatient, but I think
person? Tan with a big nose.
an eagle.
that’s only if I’m hungry or the waves are good.
What gets you up in the morning? When the
When is it okay to lie? Only to protect some-
What has been your greatest regret? Letting Paul
waves are good, the waves. Every other day,
one else.
Canning catch a wave to beat me in the final
it’s my kids.
seconds at Bells, thus losing the world title.
What is the worst thing someone could accuse you
Who or what inspires you? Surfing, I’d say.
of ? Taking the last cookie.
How do you keep your ego in check? My brother
Guys like Dane Reynolds, Kelly Slater, Occy.
and my friends have always kept me in check.
In life, my family inspires me to do better
What is the one thing about you most people don’t
and work harder.
know? That I’m a jock.
What qualities do you most like in people?
Kindness and sharing.
When were you last surprised? At a surprise
What do you miss the most when on the road?
birthday party for me and they got me so good,
Home cooking, family and the view out my
What qualities do you most despise in people?
it was sick.
backyard.
Bullies and greed.
When did you last let yourself go? Superbowl
What do you think about before you fall asleep?
What does the future look like? Good – if we all
this year was a blast.
Waves. Boats. Contests. Kids. Money.
get through 2012.
How much is enough? When I’m full.
If you could only keep three possessions, what would
What gets your blood boiling? Not much. I’m
they be? My truck, my house and my surfboard.
pretty mellow. I did chase down a car full of
If the world ended tomorrow, what would you
tourists, one time, that threw trash out of their
do today? I would go to the beach with my
Why do you surf ? Because it’s absolutely the best
car on my local beach.
entire family.
thing in the world.
58 HUCK
What does success look like to you? A new boat.
i.
ii.
iii.
59
iv.
vi.
60 HUCK
v.
vii.
viii.
ix.
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APPENDIX T h i r t y - o n e h o u r s d o o r - t o - d o o r. I c l o c k e d i t . T h a t ’ s h o w l o n g i t t o o k m e t o g e t f r o m m y a p a r t m e n t in Brooklyn, NY, to the motor lodge in Gisborne, NZ. It was my second trip to New Zealand and it may possibly be my favourite country on the planet. I haven’t been everywhere, but I’ve seen pictures and nowhere appears as pleasant and idyllic as Aotearoa. HUCK could have asked me to shoot sewage treatment plants in rural New Zealand. I wouldn’t have cared so long as I was where I was. F o r t u n a t e l y, m y a s s i g n m e n t w a s t o c a p t u r e v e t e r a n s u r f e r C o r y L o p e z ’ s e x p e r i e n c e a t t h e O ' N e i l l Cold Water Classic. It was a little tricky at first. I wanted to photograph everything, in and out o f t h e w a t e r. B u t I ’ m n o t a s u r f e r a n d C o r y w a s n ’ t s u r e w h a t t o m a k e o f m e a n d m y c o n s t a n t s h u t t e r c l i c k s . T h i n g s t u r n e d a r o u n d w h e n E r i c G e i s e l m a n a n d I s t a r t e d t o p l a y a g a m e o f S K AT E i n t h e parking lot. I don’t always bring my board on shoots, but I’m glad I did this time. All the surfers in their hotel rooms started to gather around. In mid-flip, I realised Cory was shooting me with his iPhone. He found me as interesting as I found him, if only for a moment. I wasn’t out to prove myself. I just wanted to put down the camera for a minute and relax. It’s those moments when I stop being a photographer and start being a human that make the biggest difference.
i. After watching Cory’s home team, The Orlando Magic, lose to
vi. After an afternoon of jumping off and sliding down
The Knicks followed by Carlito’s Way on The Movie Channel, the
waterfalls, Cory reviewed the footage on his iPhone. With two
restlessness at the motor lodge started setting in. Cory and Eric
GoPro cameras, multiple DSLRs and iPhones, no moment
Geiselman fought to be the first to shoot a rubber band into the
went undocumented, especially in a place as beautiful as New
light fixture, as seen on the wall above Cory's head. In a room full
Zealand. Every day was a media blitz.
of laptops, iPads, iPhones, a flatscreen, a skateboard and fifteen surfboards, it's nice to know that something as simple as a rubber band can still provide so much diversion.
vii. A local told me that the area around Rere Falls was the site of a battle during the New Zealand Land Wars, between the indigenous Maori people and English settlers in the late-1800s.
ii. O’Neill hired an old boat called The Takitimu so that
It’s believed that at one point the battle was so violent that the
photographer Marc Prefontaine could shoot the team in a new
falls ran red with blood. Whether or not that’s true, it’s a pretty
line of wetsuits. Cory patiently did his job while beautiful sets kept
incredible thought. Cory took in the glory of the falls – cold,
breaking off shore in Poverty Bay. As soon as Marc said he got
clear and crisp – his wetsuit providing the only red.
what he needed, Cory grabbed his board and jumped ship. viii. Cory shared room No. 7 at the Ocean Beach Motor Lodge iii. Cory seen zipping up before his heat. The waves in the back-
with Nat Young and Eric Geiselman. It didn’t matter that
ground were getting progressively mushier. Cory didn’t make the
Cory is fifteen years older than Nat and eleven years older
cut and the conditions got so bad the officials moved the contest
than Eric. They’re all after the same thing – good waves and
after his heat. Like a true professional, he took it all in his stride.
a good time. Surfing’s good like that; the great equaliser. The
iv. Waking up nearly 10,000 miles away from home. Getting ready
guys were at their laptops. Nat busied himself with Facebook
only time an age difference was even present was when the for a contest that will stream live to the entire world. Anxious?
chat while Eric worked on hip hop beats with Garage Band.
Yes. These contests have so many variables: the conditions of the
Cory took to the other room talking to his wife and two
waves; whether or not you picked the right board; who else is in
adorable daughters on Skype.
your heat. At some point you need to just let it all go and surf. ix. Leaving time. Cory dead-lifted the ten boards he travels with. v. Cory stood at the edge of the water shouting to Nat Young and
He spends eight months a year in exotic destinations, chasing
Eric Geiselman as they shredded in Wainui Beach, Gisborne.
the next wave. With his family at home, the weight of travelling
Due to New Zealand’s proximity to the International Date Line,
begins to weigh heavy. But paddling out on a good day, it’s
Gisborne is technically the first city to see the sun rise each day.
easier to remember why he is wherever he is. Bryan Derballa
It’s a beautiful piece of coastline and not a bad place to spend six days in the water.
62 HUCK
oneill.com/cwc
A R T I S T
K E L S E Y
B R O O K E S
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A N P
Coming of Age
Prodigal skateboarder Nyjah Huston is proving he can stand on his own. Te x t K e v i n D u f f e l l Photography Mark Rubenstein
64 HUCK
Nyjah Huston is your average sixteen-year-old skate
could legally operate a moving vehicle, but Hollywood, with its
rat. Rocking an oversized skate-logo tee over slim-fitted jeans –
overproduced and endlessly calculated drama, parallels anything
tied to his waist by way of a white shoelace – he sports adolescent
but skateboarding. Yet, with a tale that rivals any birthed in
trademarks in spades. Polishing off the look is a disheveled mess
Hollywood, Nyjah Huston may very well be skateboarding’s first
of dreadlocks that spill from the confines of his backwards-facing
documentary-worthy child star.
White Sox cap. Then there’s the iPhone – a seemingly permanent
While most kids around him were still playing in the mud
fixture fused to his hand – which, like anyone his age, he checks
and eating worms, Nyjah was toying around with a Tony Hawk
every thirty seconds or so.
Birdhouse board, bought for him by his dad, at the age of five. By
At first glance, you wouldn’t guess the kid’s got enough cash in
five-and-three-quarters, he was already hooked.
the bank to buy a house with because, let’s face it, when’s the last
But Nyjah’s skills didn’t truly blossom until a couple years
time you met a teenager with that kind of loot? Sure, the Olsen
later, when his dad – an avid skater from yesteryear – opened a
twins, Macaulay Culkin and the like amassed millions before they
private indoor skatepark of his own in the quaint, rural Northern
65
Californian town of Woodland. Nyjah would clock hour after hour
But things didn’t go as swimmingly as the two had planned.
inside those four walls, surrounded only by the ramps and rails of
Evidently, running a business is no joke, especially at an age when
Frontline Skatepark. Like a kid in a candy shop, he’d often spend
those around you are gearing up to enter high school. Father and
entire nights perfecting his lines.
son managed to sell a number of boards, but, as Nyjah explains,
“When I was eight, there was a skatepark there run by some other
“Really, the hardest part was just getting it out to shops. That’s hard
people. My dad and eldest brother fully rebuilt and took over the
to do on your own. You need a distribution, you need marketing,
whole park. That’s where I learned everything,” recalls Nyjah, eyes
you need good business people backing you. It’s not easy.”
beaming as he recounts his formative years from the comforts of a
Outside his business operations, and within the skate industry
floral print sofa in Orange County, California. “Every single day, for
at large, it seemed as though Nyjah was simultaneously running
like four or five hours, I’d just go at it. When I was eight or nine, I had
into a brick wall, unwittingly morphing into a dark horse that
a routine every day. I’d do the same exact thing and the same exact
nobody wanted to touch. Other sponsors, like éS, began to drop
lines. That was all I cared about, just getting better at skating.”
him, and he was ostensibly slated for obscurity. “I think there was
The prodigy’s dedication quickly paid off, and within months
a little bit of a bad feeling with companies wanting to deal with my
he was already garnering the attention of pros all over. “I first got in
dad in the past few years, kind of what happened with Element.
contact with Element when I was seven,” recalls Nyjah. “[ex-Element
That had something to do with it, and it had something to do with
pro] Reese Forbes hooked it up. I was skating the Vans Milpitas
éS, too,” explains Nyjah as he recollects those couple of tumultuous
Skatepark [near San Jose, California] and he noticed my potential.
years which, to him, seemed to last forever, as if frozen in time.
It all grew from there.”
Then reality kicked in: “I feel like I was kind of held back
And grow it did. By the time he turned ten, Nyjah had already
with marketing and getting coverage the past few years, and
bagged his first legitimate full-length video part in Element’s
just doing everything in my potential.” He continues, “I kind
Elementality. At age eleven, he was travelling the world and
of felt like having my own company was a good idea – great for
entering the X Games, becoming the youngest skateboarder ever
my future – but it just wasn’t the right time, being so young. I
to do so. He held his own, too; placing second against the likes of
was trying to explain to [my dad] that I really wanted to focus
skating’s most established and talented names, Nyjah proved to
on skating, and not really be thinking about the business side of
be a veritable rising star. His second-place standing at the 2009
skateboarding yet.”
“When you turn fifteen or sixteen, you start to venture off on your own a n d l e a r n h o w t o b e y o u r o w n p e r s o n .” X Games the very next year proved it wasn’t just an auspicious instance of beginner’s luck, either. And with the accolades and contest trophies came fortune and
witnessed him skate. And in 2010, almost immediately after he
fame – all before the judges could legitimately label him a teenager.
won the very first stop of Street League with an utterly fucked-
Not that Nyjah cared about much else besides pushing around on his
up performance – snagging his first gold medal at a pro contest
board, though: “I was so young, like twelve, all I thought about was
– Element scooped him back up at the age of sixteen, issuing him
skating. I wasn’t worried about the money part of it at all.” He chalk-
a pro board in the process.
ed up interviews in every major publication, collected big sponsors
Sixteen’s a pivotal age, though. No longer an impressionable
like éS Footwear, and made a string of appearances in the Tony
boy in need of parental guidance, Nyjah’s growing into his own;
Hawk video game franchise. Needless to say, the world loved him.
he’s ready to call the shots as he sees them. “When you turn fifteen
But the one thing that began to stand between the kid and
or sixteen, you start to venture off on your own and learn how to
massive mainstream success was the person who introduced him to
be your own person. I definitely thank my dad for looking out for
skateboarding in the first place: his dad – a man Nyjah describes as
me and my future with the company, and guiding me along the
protective, albeit not necessarily strict, and who always looked out for
way. He brought me into this world. He taught me everything.
his son’s inevitably lucrative future. You know, a regular father figure.
But sorry dad, I’ve gotta do what’s best for me sometimes,” Nyjah
At the age of fourteen and under the guidance of his dad, Nyjah
declares with a budding confidence. “Getting back on Element
left the only support network he’d ever known without having yet
66 HUCK
While Nyjah was certainly down, he was far from out. His undeniable talent on the board left an indelible mark on all that
was definitely the best career decision.”
earned a pro board. In 2008, the teenager cut ties with long-time
Now, having abandoned the executive duties associated with
board sponsor Element and put everything on the line, including the
operating his own board company, Nyjah – a kid whose blood
substantial contest earnings he’d amassed, to start I&I Skateboards,
boils at the mere thought of skateboarding – can focus on his true
largely fronting the bill himself.
passion. “I know Element wants to do the most they can for me,
“Me and Element parted ways, not on any bad terms, it was
and all I have to do is focus on skateboarding, which is all I should
just a little bit of a communication problem between them and my
do, and want to do,” explains the teenager with an unrivalled air
dad. And then after that, it was hard to picture me on any other
of humility in his voice. Nyjah Huston’s your average sixteen-year-
board company. So, my dad had an idea to start our own company,”
old skate rat. The only difference is he’s already been through a
says Nyjah.
lifetime of ups and downs before he’s even learned to drive
GSM EUROPE: +33 5 58 700 700
IN RWANDA ON WHEELS In the land of a thousand hills, the bike is empowering all who ride. Te x t A n t o n i a W i n d s o r Photography Greg Funnell
In a country where just two in every thousand
charcoal or coffee and, of course, people perched
largest event in Rwandan history. It has become a
own a motorised vehicle, the bicycle is a coveted
on seats over the back wheel. Look closer and,
showpiece for African cycling. It is one of the top
object for the denizens of Rwanda. If people
every now and then, you’ll also ee a man in lycra
events in cycling in Africa right now.”
haven’t got enough money to buy one, they’ll
zooming by on a state-of-the-art racer. These
Trained on the tough Rwandan terrain, the
pay to take a ride on someone else’s or set about
select professionals make up Team Rwanda, the
Team Rwanda cyclists are performing well in
constructing their own out of bits of old wood
country’s first national cycling team. As well as
races across the continent, and this year Adrien
and found wheels.
training for the Olympics, the team also take part
Niyonshuti became the first Rwandan mountain
in Rwanda’s own annual tour each November,
biker to qualify for the Olympics. Having lost
Known as the land of a thousand hills,
Theogen Rukundo
Rwanda isn’t kind to the cyclist. But take a ride organised by American five-time Tour de France seven brothers in the 1994 genocide that killed Twelve-year-old Theogen Rukundo made this bike himself just one month ago and he is very proud of it. across Rwanda’s verdant, fertile land and you’ll racer Jonathan ‘Jock’ Boyer. 800,000 people, his performance is proving to “My friends always want to have a go,” he says. Until very recently wooden bicycles were the mainstay of see bicycles being used to transport mountainous “For two years it has been an international the world that Rwanda is pushing ahead towards the Rwandan rural community, helping them to transport heavy loads to market. But the lack of brakes sacks of potatoes, mounds of cassava leaves so race, sanctioned by the UCI, the governing body a brighter future and the bicycle – whether it’s made them dangerous, particularly down-hill, and the government made them illegal for road use a large they mask the rider completely, gallons for cycling,” says Boyer. “Each year it has had carting coffee or letting a kid freewheel down a couple of years ago. Now, you will mainly see children like Theogen making them to play on, though they of water in yellow plastic containers, stacks of over three million spectators, and it is now the dusty hill – is emerging as a symbol of hope. are still used for transport among the tea fields, rice paddies and coffee plantations.
68 HUCK
T h e o g e n R u k u ndo Twelve-year-old Theogen Rukundo made this bike himself just one month ago and he is very proud of it. “My friends always want to have a go,� he says. Until very recently wooden bicycles were the mainstay of the Rwandan rural community and were used to transport heavy loads to market. But the lack of brakes made them dangerous, particularly downhill, and the government made them illegal for road use a couple of years ago. Now, you will mainly see children like Theogen creating wooden bikes to play on, though they are still used for transport among the tea fields, rice paddies and coffee plantations.
69
J o h n B o s c o T u ri m u m ahoro John Bosco Turimumahoro, thirty, has had this coffee bike for six months. He saved up 120,000 francs (about £130) to buy it, because it can carry loads faster than a regular bike, increasing his productivity and income. “Everyone is jealous,” says John. “If everyone could afford one, then I’m sure we would all have them.” The bikes are designed by Ritchey Design in collaboration with Project Rwanda – a volunteer-driven organisation that oversees the training of Team Rwanda – and were originally intended to help coffee growers carry loads of cherries to the washing station quicker, thereby increasing the quality and price of their coffee. But word has spread, and now Rwandans from all livelihoods covet these bikes for the transport of goods.
70 HUCK
G a s o r e H atege k a Gasore Hategeka was orphaned during the genocide when he was just seven years old. Without having had a day in school and unable to even write his name, he was eking out an existence working at markets, earning just enough to buy potatoes, until finally he saved up enough money to buy a bike. Every time he saw a Team Rwanda cyclist go past he would chase them and time himself to see how long he could keep up. Two years ago, Jock Boyer tested him. He did so well, Jock gave him a racing bike that same day, and invited him to train for the team. Now he travels all over the world and was Team Rwanda’s first rider to win an international race when he claimed top spot on the Tour of Cameroon last year.
71
J o h n Minawi John Minawi was fourteen when he began riding taxis. Now nineteen years old, he has owned his own bicycle for three years. Before that, he was working on a bike that belonged to someone else, and made less money due to rent. On a good day he can earn up to 3,000 francs (£3.20) giving people rides, but on a bad day it can be as little as 500 francs (60p). He is very proud of his pimped-out wheels and thinks the touches he’s added drive more business. “I think the more stuff I have on the bike makes it feel heavier on the road, which I prefer,” says John. “It also increases the price of the bicycle when I want to sell it on to someone else.” On the front of John’s bike, there is a sign that reads ubuzima – meaning life/health in Kinyarwanda
72 HUCK
P I C K ‘ N’ SK AT E I T ’ S S P R IN G IN T H E C IT Y ! SO G R AB YOU R C R U I SI N G W E A P O N O F C H O I C E . 74 HUCK
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Landshark Rasta Where’s the leash?
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In Ramallah I Can Breathe In the close confines of Palestinian life, a nascent street-racing scene is hurtling up and taking root. For one of the women sat behind the wheel, freedom is what happens when you refuse to slow down.
Te x t P o l l y F i e l d s Photography Guy Martin
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Mona takes a long drag on her cigarette.
pushing back their hair, waiting for their turn as
She’s the first to arrive tonight, and nervously
the men lead the way.
taps the steering wheel of her silver Opal Astra,
One by one each racer is timed as they speed
watching, waiting. The low, menacing rumble of
around a pre-set course – pulling handbrake turns,
cars reaches us long before we see them. They’re
performing doughnut spins and weaving in and
on their way.
out of orange cones. The emphasis is on agility and
We’re at a dusty piece of tarmac the size of a football pitch on the outskirts of Ramallah.
control, but, hitting speeds of up to 50 mph, part of the rush is about going fast, too.
Although everyone here still dreams of Jer-
It’s not only mentally tough, but also physically
usalem as the capital of any future Palestinian
demanding. Buckled into Mona’s passenger seat,
state, the city, for now at least, has become acc-
our heads are repeatedly thrown against the
epted as the West Bank’s commercial, political
window as we spin in seemingly endless circles.
and cultural centre.
Although she wears gloves when she drives, her
And the city that surrounds us today is a far cry
hands are covered in blisters.
from the images of Israeli-Palestinian conflict that
“I love people watching me, I like proving what
have plagued television screens for the past two
I can do,” Mona shouts over her shoulder, clearly
a feeling of freedom. “There was little to do here
decades. On the streets where Israeli troops and
feeding off the speed, or the reverence of the
during those years,” Khaled says. It worked, and
Palestinian snipers were once a frequent sight –
gathered crowd – or, perhaps, a little bit of both.
even now, the fact that street racing is banned
where bullets fell and people cowered in doorways – there are now new glass offices, restaurants, gyms and double-fronted villas springing up.
in Israel makes its prominence here seem all the
Together,
more symbolic – it shows a resistance. As one racer these men and women are
But you don’t have to go far beyond urban
something of a team – Team Ramallah, to be pre-
boundaries to witness the physical restrictions
cise – and once a month during the summer season
that still encircle this occupied land.
they compete with other amateur street racers
The vacant strip of tarmac where we stand with Mona marks the end of the West Bank. The plot
says: “Having fun like this is one way to show we are still alive.”
from towns across the West Bank: Jenin, Nablus,
Back at the ramshackle race-track, the week-
Bethlehem and Jericho.
ly practice session is coming to a close. As the
is bordered on one side by a barbed-wire fence,
They operate under the guidance of the
a spiky boundary that separates the Palestinian
Palestinian Motorsport Federation, who organise
apartment blocks, the racers slowly edge away.
Territory from Israel. An Israeli watchtower looms
and fund monthly racing tournaments that can
But for Mona and a few of the men left behind,
nearby where, occasionally, a green-clad soldier
involve as many as fifty competitors at a time.
the night has only just begun. It’s Thursday and,
becomes visible, peering curiously at the scene
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas,
beyond the minarets echoing the final call to pray-
unfolding just metres away.
has also shown his support for the sport. He
er, the underbelly of Ramallah is coming to life.
Suddenly, a troop of cars appears on the horizon. They screech to a halt and as the dust
even allowed one race to be held on his private helipad in Bethlehem.
sun dips behind outer-Ramallah’s whitewashed
We follow the group to SnowBar – an open-air club that sits nestled in one of Ramallah’s many
gathers up and then settles, eighteen hard-faced,
Finding places where the drivers are permitted
hills. A sound-clash of Arabic and US hip hop
muscular Palestinian men, each behind the steer-
to race has proved a major challenge for Khaled
booms from the speakers, and the queue at the bar
ing wheel of a modified BMW, Mercedes or Volks-
Qaddoura, the man who heads the Motorsport
is four deep.
wagen, peer out of a line-up of dirty front windows.
Federation. “Everyone knows we have many
Mona has cast off her racing attire and, sporting
Engines revving, they take no notice of the Israeli
problems here in Palestine – and we have to get
a denim jumpsuit, is sipping a double vodka
military vehicles patrolling on the other side of
permission to race anywhere,” he explains. “We’re
and lemonade. Her eyes are heavily lined with
the fence and instead concentrate on the obstacle
hoping to get a piece of land near Jericho where
matching blue makeup. Having lived in Ramallah
course that lies ahead.
we can build a track, we are just waiting for the
all her life, Mona is well known among this crowd.
Mona
plans to get approved.” But with land ownership
She flits between tables, and although she thinks
Ennab and a handful of other young women are
still very much at the forefront of the Israeli-
of herself as one of the guys, there is something
joining their male counterparts to take part in an
Palestinian dispute, he’s doubtful it will happen
flirty and fun in the way she engages people. It
ad hoc street-racing event.
any time soon.
seems infectious – people gravitate towards her
This
evening,
twenty-four-year-old
Mona is fidgeting; she’s excited, and leaves her
Khaled founded the Federation in 2005,
– and she feeds off the attention that comes with
car to leap around the men’s vehicles. She hangs
shortly after the end of the Second Intifada – the
being a recognised face. “I love this city,” she says
through their windows, shaking hands, talking
Palestinian uprising that saw escalated violence
over another round of drinks. “I wouldn’t want to
and laughing. This is the moment of the week she
and a subsequent tightening of restrictions
live anywhere else, I have everything here.”
lives for, that they all live for. It’s as much a social
imposed by Israel. He began to promote street
In reality, Mona’s Palestinian ID leaves her little
occasion as anything else – a rare escape from
racing almost straight away, knowing it would
choice. To cross into Israel is an administrative
a confined reality. It offers a release. The other
draw the attention of young people and hoping
headache, neighbouring Jordan is not much
women racers perch on their bonnets, sunglasses
it could become a way for them to start regaining
easier, and she can count the number of times she has attempted it on one hand. At the age of nineteen, Mona became the first female street racer in the West Bank after being spotted speeding through the city’s narrow roads by the Motorsport Federation’s Khaled Qaddoura.
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But it wasn’t easy to persuade the other guys she was serious. “The men, they would laugh at me, they said I couldn’t do it and that I should be at home like all the other girls,” she recalls. And during races, even when she was doing well and taking the right lines on the obstacle
The following day, we meet Mona and her
“My mum, you know she puts the Koran in my
boyfriend, Mahmoud in downtown Ramallah.
car,” Mona says, pulling out the book that’s been
He’s a bodybuilder, and his sleeveless shirt
shoved in the side pocket of the door. “She thinks
exaggerates his bulky physique. Other street racers
it will keep me safe. But I’m not really religious.”
we met the night before join us, and we head off in
Mona’s mother, Nami, is a tall, round woman
a convoy of BMWs towards the Dead Sea – a spot
who looks nothing like her petite daughter. After
the crew head to every Friday afternoon – about an
the death of Mona’s father, she raised Mona
hour’s drive away.
and her younger sister on her own. Although
Barely a few miles outside Ramallah, Mona
some families are reluctant to let their daughters
and the men roll down their windows as we pass
compete in such a male-dominated sport, she says
through the first Israeli checkpoint. “We’re not
she loves to watch Mona driving and has never
allowed to have tinted glass,” Mona explains.
missed a race. “My daughter, she is crazy. Every
course, the men would distract her by shouting
Like most major Palestinian cities, Ramallah
that she was on the “wrong road” – an instant
is under complete Palestinian civil and security
disqualification in the sport. But it didn’t put her
authority. Hidden inside Ramallah’s cocoon, it’s
The family has gathered to celebrate a
off. “I am the fastest woman in Palestine,” she
possible to momentarily forget that Israel still
wedding. As Mona’s mother, cousins and aunts –
says, explaining how she’d simply lock the doors,
retains full control over sixty per cent of the West
each wearing a brightly coloured headscarf – start
turn up her Arabic house music and immerse
Bank, including the majority of the roads.
dancing together in front of the newly wedded
herself in the need for speed.
day I tell her she is crazy. But what she does is very brave,” she says.
Today the soldiers let them pass through
couple, a few stares are directed towards Mona,
At 1am the party starts to wind down. People
without stopping. Soon, we’re racing across the
who’s wearing tight skinny jeans and a white,
pile into their cars and head towards the centre
open desert at 100 mph, slowing down when we
short-sleeved top. There are more than a hundred
of Ramallah, to another bar that will take over
see Israeli police. The car’s thermometer gauge
women in the room, and she is the only one not
until 4am. But before we leave, Mona pulls us
edges upwards, and by the time we’ve reached our
wearing traditional clothes.
aside towards a dimly lit outdoor swimming
destination, it’s risen by nearly twenty degrees.
pool, designed to draw in the daytime crowds.
Mona says they often talk about her – about
Since our group consists of several men and
what she does or wears – and for the first time since
She heads down the steps, takes off her denim
only two women, Mona thinks it is unlikely we will
we’ve been here, she looks awkward. “I’m the lucky
jumpsuit to reveal shorts and a strappy top, and
be allowed to enter one of the Israeli-owned beach
one,” she says. “My mum tells me to ignore them.
dives into the pool. Her shrieks and splashes
clubs, which are dotted along this stretch of the
If I didn’t have a mum that let me be free, I’d die.”
fill the night air. A cool breeze has picked up,
Dead Sea. Even after watching several groups of
Yet as another family wedding approaches
whipping through the valley – and ten minutes
Israelis heading into one resort without any hassle,
later that week, we arrive at Mona’s small apart-
later she is back out the water.
it doesn’t seem to bother them. One of the guys, a
ment to find her in full traditional attire. She looks
“In life, you just have to have fun,” she says,
lanky twenty-three-year-old called Malek, says it’s
uncomfortable and cannot do up the belt that acc-
grabbing her clothes and leaving us trailing as
just another barrier and shrugs it off dismissively:
ompanies her floor-length red dress. “It’s stupid,”
she rushes off to catch up with the boys.
“We’re Palestinians, we’ll always find a way.”
she says. “How will I even drive my car in this?”
Ramallah’s
And they do. We drive on down the coast –
As our time in Ramallah draws to a close, we
lined with yet more barbed wire – and come to a
meet Mona at SnowBar for a final drink. I have not
street racers and night-
place where a jagged hole has been cut. “You see,
seen her with her boyfriend for several days and
time revellers aren’t just a symbol of an emerging
there are always special gates for Palestinians,”
ask where he is.
subculture of Palestinian youth – they represent
Malek points out.
She tells me she is avoiding him.
an increasingly affluent class who have money,
Crawling through the opening in the fence, the
I ask if she has thought about marriage. “My
disposable money, and after years of conflict
group makes its way across the squalid ground,
family say it’s nearly time, but we have some prob-
they are now more than ready to spend it. The
which is covered with bits of metal. It lacks the
lems,” she says, biting her lip. “He is very jealous
racers all have jobs or financial back-up from
amenities and holiday charm of the beach clubs
and very traditional.”
wealthy family – powerful cars, slick tyres and
just around the corner, but other Palestinian
She says she fears that if she marries him, he
constant vehicle maintenance come at a sub-
families start to arrive. Not wanting to sit on the
will stop her from going out and – worst of all – stop
stantial cost.
muddy ground, we leave after spending less than
her racing.
But Ramallah’s booming economy and im-
an hour by the Dead Sea.
proved security isn’t a story that is shared across
I ask Mona if it was worth the trip. “We don’t
the whole of the West Bank. In fact there’s been
have a lot of choice, there aren’t many places we
an underlying resentment from those outside
can go,” she laughs, but moves on quickly and
Ramallah who complain the territory’s financial
doesn’t dwell. “It’s just the way it is.”
growth has been far from evenly spread and has centred almost entirely on this one city.
“I am worried he will want a wife who is at home with the children, and right now, I don’t want that,” she says. “So what will you do?” I ask. “For now, I will just wait. For now, I can breathe.”
Despite all the talk of Ramallah’s thriving
The nighttime exploits and adrenaline-fuel-led
Our thoughts go out to photographer Guy Martin,
success, many are quick to point out the fragile
missions are not the only side of Mona’s life. She
a long-time friend and contributor to HUCK, who
and limited scope of the prosperity, and the
is also a young Muslim woman who is expected to
was injured in the attack that claimed the lives
potentially turbulent times ahead.
conform to traditions and fulfill strong obligations
of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris
to her family.
Hondros in Misrata, Libya.
Mona and her friends talk little about what the future may bring. They live firmly in the moment, perhaps only too aware of how quickly things could change.
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