The Future Issue: Miranda July Dion Agius - Elissa Steamer Lance Mountain - Duane Peters
ÂŁ3.95 | issue 27 July/August 2011 Miranda July by Daryl Peveto
Duane peters BY LOU MORA
THE SMALL STORIES
T he B i g S tories
14 small thi n g s 16 g e n eratio n d o 18 fucked up 20 s p li n ters 22 d av ie p hili p 24 punk pops! 26 w illiam s p e n c er three tra p p e d ti g ers 28 30 g il s c ott - hero n
32 mira n d a j u ly 42 a g ei n g : a n essa y 44 s k ate v ets 54 rose - ti n te d s p e c s 56 li f ers 60 mi c ah lester 66 ra y k u r z w eil 68 lib y a 74 d io n a g i u s 76 rehab , re - ho p e
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E NDN O T E S 84 rhia n n o n g ilmore 86 emma he d d it c h 88 harrell f let c her 90 bella f oster 92 k haela mari c i c h 94 mi k e mills 96 starlee k i n e 98 so u r c es
s t u a r t c a m p b e l l B Y G R E G FUNN E L L
Publisher Vince Medeiros
Creative Director Rob Longworth
Managing Director Danny Miller
Editor Andrea Kurland
Designer Angus MacPherson
Commercial Director Dean Faulkner
Associate Editor Shelley Jones
Words Ruth Carruthers, Dan Crane, Colin Delaney, Tetsuhiko Endo, Harrell Fletcher, Michael Fordham, Bella Foster, Greg Funnell, Rhiannon Gilmore, Ross Haenfler, Emma Hedditch, Miranda July, Starlee Kine, Khaela Maricich, Mike Mills, Tasnim Qutait, Cyrus Shahrad
Advertising Sales Executive Becks Scurlock
Images CHAS BOWIE, STANLEY CHOW, JackIe Dewe Mathews, MIRIAM DOUGLAS, Emily Dyan Ibarra, MALIKA FAVRE, Wade Fletcher, Harrell Fletcher, Bella Foster, Greg Funnell, ANDREW GROVES, Oliver Hibert, Richie Hopson, Miranda July, David Markey, Guy Martin, Mike Mills, Lou Mora, Matt Pesce, Daryl Peveto, Mark Rubenstein, FRODE SKAREN, Ash Tailor, Ariel Zambelich
Junior Digital Designer Evan Lelliott
Published by The Church of London 8-9 Rivington Place London, EC2A 3BA +44 (0) 207-729-3675
Online Editor Ed Andrews Global Editor Jamie Brisick Latin America Editor Giuliano Cedroni European Correspondent Melanie SchĂśnthier Snow Correspondent Zoe Oksanen Translations Markus Grahlmann EDITORIAL INTERN Bettina krohn
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Editorial Director Matt Bochenski
info@thechurchoflondon.com Distributed worldwide by COMAG. Printed by Buxton Press.
Digital Director Alex Capes
Special Projects Steph Pomphrey Marketing & Distribution Manager Anna Hopson
The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publishers or editorial team. This publication is made with paper from sustainable sources. Huck is published six times a year.
Account Manager Liz Haycroft Publishing Assistant Hannah El-Boghdady
Š TCOLondon 2011
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If you enjoyed this peek into the world of Miranda July, read the full cover story on page 32, followed by a special edition of Endnotes on page 83, featuring “some good people� handpicked by Miranda herself.
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Stoked Mentoring.
Nick Hornby at MoS. 16 HUCK
MIRIAM DOUGLAS
Heaps Decent.
Generation Do Something positive is spreading through society, thanks to projects that believe in the power of youth.
Stoked Mentoring stoked.org
Artists like MIA, A-Trak, Lady Sovereign, Devlin and Darko from Spank Rock saw the potential and were keen to jump on board. “Music helps [young people] express themselves,” says twenty-six-year-old Levins.
“We’re helping to give kids the tools and resources they need to succeed
“They can outright yell a statement or they can spend some time to sum
in life. We aren’t out to make any pro athletes; we’re about getting people
up how they feel by writing a rap. The angriest kid can write the sappiest
to be great people in their communities who just happen to skateboard,
lyric, trying hard to sound out everything he’s feeling.”
snowboard or surf,” says Steve Larosiliere, the founder of Stoked Mentoring,
These days Heaps Decent gets funding help from dance event
a US non-profit organisation that helps underprivileged kids gain new life
organisers Fuzzy, who have donated over $100,000 to the organisation
experiences through boardsports.
through volunteer time as well as free rent and resources. The money
The idea behind Stoked first came to Steve in 2005, when the former
will help train more facilitators, develop more one-to-one workshops and
marketing executive was on a snowboarding trip to Whistler. At the time,
possibly lead to another performance at the Sydney Opera House. It’s all
he was working for Mentoring USA, but the mountains of British Columbia
in an effort to encourage the transformative power of music or, as Levins
inspired him in a new direction. Empowering young people with the
puts it, “Spread the Heaps Decent good vibes everywhere.” Colin Delaney
confidence to take on life, thought Steve, could be partnered with teaching them how to shred. But even the greatest ideas in the world need backing before they can spring to life. Enter ESPN presenter and action sports celebrity Sal Masekela,
The Ministry of Stories ministryofstories.org
who Steve saw as representing “the energy” of Stoked, and who would be vital in raising awareness and funds to get things off the ground.
If you go down to Hoxton Street in London, some day soon, you’re sure of
Explains Sal: “We both grew up in New York and we both just had the
a big surprise. Nestled between the pubs, launderettes, market stalls and
same feeling of taking kids [from disadvantaged backgrounds] and having
caffs that line this vibrant high street is the magical shop-front of Hoxton
them be influenced by something completely out of their boxes, forcing
Street Monster Supplies. Inside you’ll find jars of ‘Thickest Human Snot’
them to look at themselves in a new way.”
and ‘Organ Marmalade’, as well as tins of ‘Escalating Panic’ and ‘Mortal
Thanks to a pragmatic commitment to their vision, and help from
Terror’.
corporate sponsors like Nike and Skullcandy, Stoked provides guidance,
But knock on the secret door and beyond it you will find a bright
creative workshops and positive role models for kids in both New York and
room full of books, desks, paper and pencils. This is the Ministry of Stories
Los Angeles. And most importantly, says Sal, they’re “slowly making some
(MoS), one of many creative writing centres around the world inspired
real change in this world.” Ed Andrews
by 826 Valencia – the San Francisco writing lab, cleverly disguised as a Pirate Supply Store, that was set up by literary indie star Dave Eggers to
Heaps Decent heapsdecent.com
empower young people through storytelling. MoS co-founder Lucy Macnab joined forces with Ben Payne in 2009, with patronage from novelist Nick Hornby, to start the project. “We believe that writing really matters,” she says, “and that being able to
When Philly-based super DJ/producer Diplo heard Australian-Aboriginal
express yourself is a fundamental part of life – whether that’s in stories,
hip hop in 2007 for the first time – courtesy of a mixtape handed to him
poetry, songs, blogs, texts or emails. I think it’s important for young
by Sydney DJ Andrew Levins – the Mad Decent head honcho was hooked.
people to have confidence in their own voice and it’s important for the
Soon Levins, along with friend Nina Agzarian (who moonlights as
world to read and hear what they have to say.”
popular DJ Nina Las Vegas), was taking Diplo to Maningrida, an Indigenous
Following in the footsteps of other 826 chapters – with shop-front
community in the Northern Territory, and then on to the Riverina Juvenile
themes that range from robots and time travel to Bigfoot and superheroes
Justice Centre in Wagga Wagga. Here, the creative trio held music
– MoS now has a 1000-strong workforce. “Volunteers are the lifeblood of
workshops with inmates, aged twelve to nineteen, and Heaps Decent was
the organisation,” says Lucy, passionately. “Ultimately, we would like to
born – to help underprivileged young people “use their brains creatively and
inspire a nation of storytellers, and see centres like ours all around the
connect [with others] by making music,” says Levins.
country. […] But for now, we’re excited to work with local young people,
Diplo – who has collaborated with artists like MIA, Snoop Dogg, Kid Cudi
to inspire, support and publish their work.”
and Die Antwoord and now drops dancehall-electro beats as one half of
And MoS is one labour of love that is going from strength to strength.
Major Lazer – explains further: “The idea is that artists touring Australia do
“Inspiration comes daily from the ideas of the young people who come
workshops and develop Indigenous music with [marginalised] Aboriginal
here to make stories and express their ideas,” says Lucy, proudly. “It also
kids and troubled kids. […] So if you’re a DJ and you’ve got a day off [touring],
comes from the energy, creativity and commitment of our volunteers,
you can go to the beach in the morning and do a workshop in the afternoon.”
who come from all walks of life.” Shelley Jones
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Holy Smoke and Mirrors In Fucked Up’s world of hardcore lore, nothing is ever quite as it seems. Text Shelley Jones & Photography WADE FLETCHER
“We’re kind of like an asteroid,” says guitarist Mike Haliechuk, the brains
collaborations – with artists as diverse as Kurt Vile and Nelly Furtado – flow
behind Toronto’s most celebrated punk export Fucked Up. Sitting in a
freely. But why the conveyer-belt approach to putting out music? “It’s like
stairwell at the Village Underground in Shoreditch, he looks up from his
the law of inertia,” says Mike, who cites the doo-wop singles culture as an
phone and adds: “All the hipster kids think we’re a hardcore band and
inspiration. “Once you start doing something, it’s hard to stop.”
all the hardcore kids think we’re a hipster band.” It’s a brief sojourn, and almost instantly his head is down again, eyes glued to his touchscreen.
Since they formed (a manufactured attempt to create the most dysfunctional “fucked up lineup” ever, they insist) the band have created
Fucked Up are in London for Stag and Dagger festival, and their
an environment of misinformation. The provocateurs hide behind self-
third full release David Comes to Life – a concept album about a factory
mythologies, one of which, perhaps, manifests as their larger-than-life
worker whose lover dies in mysterious circumstances – is due out in June.
frontman. “We’re like the guys who work in the office,” says Mike, “and
Sitting with Mike on this shadowy stoop, as roadies pop open Gator cases
Damien is the mask.” Always half-naked, usually bleeding, the iconic
in the foreground, are guitarist Josh Zucker and bassist Sandy Miranda
screamer has taken venue orienteering into a new realm. “You have a lot of
(notoriously raucous frontman Damien Abraham is fulfilling press duties
stuff to hide behind when you’re in a band,” says Josh. “Music is one thing,
elsewhere, along with drummer Ben Cook and guitarist Jonah Falco). In a
instruments are another. There are lots of different layers that separate
curiously apocryphal video they brought out recently to promote the new
you from people.” Sandy pipes up: “When we’re playing and people are
record, the band suggest they’ve finally “learned how to become a band
freaking out, I’ll just look at them and think, ‘Why?’ I feel like they’re looking
after ten years”. But nothing in camp Fucked Up is quite as it seems.
at a mirror and I’m on the other side.”
“I think it’s a concept album in disguise,” says Mike, although the band
Fucked Up like to tell tales that stimulate conversation. “This album is a
composed it in acts and scenes, leaving the music press touting it as a
story, as opposed to songs that are just monologues about feelings,” says
‘rock opera’. “It’s just an album about love and relationships, and we’ve
Sandy. And although their lyrics often draw on biblical imagery, they aren’t
never really done that, so we kind of said it was a concept album to have
linked with any member’s beliefs. Josh explains: “Biblical metaphors are
something to hide behind. It’s our way of dealing with making an album
good, because they’re really just ancient stories that everyone knows.” At
about our feelings.”
this, Mike looks up again: “Yeah, that’s what the record is; a very simple tale
Serious, or not, the record is definitely a departure for the six-piece.
of redemption. But it’s kind of the ultimate story.”
Since the release of the critically acclaimed The Chemistry of Common Life, they’ve spent the last three years letting mixes, compilations and
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David Comes to Life is out now on Matador Records.
nEwERAcAP.coM/fLAgbEARERs
© 2011 NEW ERA CAP CO., INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PHARRELL, MusiciAn & PRoducER
SPLINTERS New genre-busting surf documentary explores Papua New Guinea’s patriarchal plains. Text ED ANDREWS & Photography Matt Pesce
“I love surfing but I definitely didn’t want to make a surf film that is
then getting the camera out when something significant was happening.”
just about performance,” says first-time filmmaker Adam Pesce whose
Splinters documents Vanimo in the run up to Papua New Guinea’s
documentary, Splinters, unfolds in the isolated village of Vanimo, Papua
very first national surf competition, a contest that locals hope will either
New Guinea. “I wanted to tell a story that could be more universal, mixing
improve their own wealth and status or provide jobs through tourism.
in a surf competition with anthropological elements.”
But beyond the anticipation lies tension – a village divided as two rival
Sitting in the northwest corner of the country, Vanimo is blessed with
surf clubs compete not just for glory but the potential economic spoils
tropical beaches, rainforests and world-class surf breaks, but due to its
of victory. Among the villagers hoping for success is brash, long-time
remote location and lack of economic opportunities, it remains relatively
hero Angelus and näive but talented upstart Ezekiel, both of whom have
untouched by the outside world. It’s a traditionally patriarchal society, a
their sights set on the prize – a trip to Australia and the chance to make
place where women are very much second-class citizens and a strong
a living out of their sport. But most striking are Susan and Lesley, two
social hierarchy is enforced through domestic violence and intimidation.
local women who have challenged the natural order of their society by
But since an Australian pilot left a surfboard in the village in the 1980s,
simply paddling out. For them, winning the competition will vindicate
surfing’s popularity has exploded – aided by a long-standing tradition of
their struggle and, they hope, improve their status among the men of the
bellyboarding. Bit by bit, Western culture has started to infiltrate village
village. “Surfing for the women was especially powerful and important.
life, thanks to glossy surf mags, visiting surfers and the surf industry’s
It’s actually bringing in these egalitarian values,” says Pesce.
promises of fame and riches.
“I wanted to explore the flipside of surfing. Whether the expectations
Despite no formal training in filmmaking, Pesce decided he needed to
[the villagers have] will work out for them,” he adds. “I was very conflicted
capture this tale. After a few recce trips to the village, this one-man film
while I was out there. I saw some kids bellyboarding without a care in the
crew went all in, gathering up camera and surfboards and settling in the
world, engrossed in this beautiful pastime. But there were also older guys
village for months at a time, learning the local language and recording
who were jaded by the whole thing. I think the jury is still out as to how
daily life as it unfolded. “I had a vow that I wasn’t going to come back until
this surfing experiment will unfold.”
I had a movie,” says Pesce. “My goal was to have an intimate approach, immersing myself in life as much as possible, building relationships and
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splintersmovie.com
SPRING SUMMER COLLECTION 2011
franklinandmarshall.com
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A Stronger Shade of Green Forget sustainability, says former pro skateboarder Davie Philip. Only resilience will save us now. Text RUTH CARRUTHERS & ILLUSTRATION ANDREW GROVES
“I’ve spent almost fourteen years promoting the concept of sustain-
comps, Davie hit a wall – “Contests became something I despised as I got
ability and it’s a word that doesn’t resonate with people,” says pro
older” – and started tuning into things “beyond skateboarding”, including
skateboarder-turned-environmentalist Davie Philip. “It’s a word that’s
Tai Chi and Taoist philosophy, which focuses on the relationship between
been co-opted by big business and big government. But in a context of
humanity and nature. Despite being at the peak of his skating career, he
economic downturns, extreme weather patterns and nuclear meltdown,
sold up, shipped out and dropped off the radar. “I forgot about skating for
how do we cope with the even bigger challenges we’re about to face?”
a long time, maybe a decade,” he explains.
It may seem like an unusual mission for a guy who grew up living in
His journey took him to India for almost two years – a trip that “changed
the moment, hopping from one skate contest to the next. But as manager
everything” – before landing him in Ireland where he’s been living ever
of the Community Resilience Programme at Cultivate – a sustainability
since. After spending six months surfing, feeling “at a loss as to what to do
cooperative that he co-founded in 2000 – and curator of the Global
in the world”, Davie opted for academia. The turning point came when he
Green area at this year’s Electric Picnic festival, Davie has taken it upon
learned about sustainability during an anthropology degree. With that, his
himself to change our future by ushering in a new way of ‘thinking green’.
skate roots came into their own: “The experience of being a skater really
Sustainability is out, says the former Foundation pro, and resilience is in.
helped me do the work I do now; the ability to observe what’s going on, to
So what’s the difference? “Sustainability is about doing things differently
go with the flow – to brave chaos a little.”
to avert massive ecological and social changes, whereas resilience is
According to Davie, the environmental, economic and political crises
about facing the challenges we are experiencing head on,” explains Davie.
we face today are only set to get worse. But if you think that makes him a
“Building up that resilience is how we will actually cope with change. Plus,
pessimist, you’d be wrong. “We should never let a good crisis go to waste,”
resilience is a word that resonates with people. They know that if they’re
he says with enthusiasm. “This is a real opportunity to adapt our way of life
healthy, they’ll bounce back from getting sick, because that’s how resilient
to one that fits the carrying capacity of our planet and works for everyone
they are. Now what if we look at that from a community point of view?
not just a few.”
What makes a community strong? What makes a community fit? What makes a community able to deal with these shocks?”
This summer will see the release of Animating Resilience, a short film Davie created to share his message. “It uses this metaphor of a wave-rider
It’s little wonder that community is at the forefront of Davie’s mind.
all the way through,” he explains. “All the challenges we face today are seen
Eleven years ago he helped set up Ireland’s first and only ecovillage,
as waves, and what we’re trying to say is, ‘How do we surf these waves?’”
Cloughjordan, where he lives with an ever-expanding community. Boasting
So what’s the answer? For Davie, it all starts with understanding that
houses, solar energy, a working farm and its own green enterprise centre,
everything’s connected: “We’re all dependent on each other and we
Cloughjordan is one of the only developments in Ireland that has prospered
depend very much on a healthy environment. Our opportunity here is to try
during the economic downturn. “It’s fantastic living here,” says Davie,
and see how things are connected. How things join up. We’re not separate
“being able to walk your talk and live what you’re passionate about, which
and any action we make, any decision we take, has an impact. […] I’d love to
is so similar to what it was like skateboarding. It’s the secret to life, I think;
see more board riders becoming change-makers and more change-makers
being able to make a living doing what you love.”
becoming board riders. Wherever you are, get ready for the storm.”
So how exactly does a guy go from being a live-in-the-moment skate rat to guardian of the natural world? In 1990, after years competing in bowl
Stay Strong!
Surf the waves of change with Davie Philip’s simple guide to cultivating resilience. Be observant and creative Take a bigger-picture view of things and see the opportunities thrown up by these extraordinary times. Be observant of limits, both ecological and your own. Connect with others and incorporate creativity, purpose, dialogue, new ideas and personal learning into everything you do. Play. Stay healthy Good health will ensure we remain balanced in challenging times. Get fit, stay fit, relax, eat well and stretch regularly. Flow.
cultivate.ie
Get off fossil fuels Do everything to reduce your fossil energy use. Insulate and future-proof your home, be aware of how much energy you use and switch to renewables as quickly as you can. Grow your own Food is going to be a big issue. Learn to grow it yourself, strengthen your relationships with producers and eat organic and locally produced food where possible. Innovate, simplify and build a community Do more with less, get out of debt, reduce the amount of stuff you own, build a community, self-organise and get active.
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Punk Pops! Seminal documentary captures Nirvana’s last days of innocence. Text Shelley Jones Photography David Markey
A single grain of rice can tip the scale, goes the saying; it’s just a matter of time and place. In 1991, as the West Coast’s underground punk scene reached critical mass in the shadows of the mainstream, three dudes from Washington shuffled on the seesaw with an album called Nevermind that would change pop forever. “You’ve got to understand, you could never have imagined it happening,” says documentary filmmaker David Markey, who was there, a few months before the paradigm shift, to capture the last days of innocence in seminal doc 1991: The Year that Punk Broke, due for DVD release later this year. ”You couldn’t have imagined that this little band opening for Sonic Youth would go on to knock Michael Jackson off the top of the charts. Success prior to that would have been selling 60,000 copies of your album. [By January 1992] Nirvana were selling 300,000 copies of Nevermind a week.” Nirvana may have been the face of this embryonic scene, but scores of other bands made up its body, evolving from the punk and hardcore scenes that had been germinating since the mid-seventies. “It was just their moment, the stars were aligned,” says Markey. “All these SST [Records, founded by Greg Ginn] bands – The Meat Puppets, Black Flag, Sonic Youth – influenced Nirvana, but they did not go into the pop lexicon like their baby brother band. […] Nirvana succeeded at bringing it to the world. I guess it makes sense in retrospect. Underneath all that brash thrashing, there were these really finely tuned pop songs.” It was an unprecedented breakthrough that would end in tragedy, but Markey’s footage is a breath of fresh air in a story saturated by tears and teenage shrines. “It was just a really cool time,” says Markey, who found himself on the Nirvana/Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr. tour thanks to a fanzineexchanging friendship with Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, maybe [pop] music’s gonna be good again, maybe you’ll turn the radio on and hear music you like.’” And the energy of that tour spilled out into wider culture, too. MTV co-opted Markey’s grainy Super 8-style in the nineties and it became the aesthetic of a generation (even Tarantino cites the forty-seven-year-old as an inspiration). “It was such a brief blip,” says Markey of the 1991 boom. “The great thing about the movie is it captures the feel before everything exploded. Nirvana was just a band. It wasn’t like, ‘Kurt Cobain: tortured artist!’ They were just three guys playing off each other, so excited and happy to be there. The band’s [doleful] image afterwards wasn’t what I saw or photographed on tour. I mean he’s smiling throughout the whole thing. But of course, things really spiralled out of control, and a few short years after, it was all over. It was really sad to see it go that way, to see someone die like that. But the film will always be there. People can look at it and say, ‘Well, that’s the way it was.’” wegotpowerfilms.com
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The Skate Ninja William Spencer is shaking up skateboarding with a dash of parkour. Text Bettina Krohn & Photography Emily Dyan Ibarra
“I’m not the fearless guy,” says skateboarder, freerunner and stuntman
video part] and were upset because they thought I broke some unwritten
extraordinaire William Spencer. “When I was a kid I was so timid – I was
skateboard rules. Rules they decided existed, and then followed because
timid [when it came to] skateboarding and everything else. It just didn’t
they wanted to be respected by their peers, or because they were afraid
make sense. Things changed when I realised I didn’t want to be scared
of being [branded] uncool.”
anymore… I wanted to master what I was doing. I wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted on a skateboard.”
But things changed for the fondly nicknamed ‘skate ninja’ when Michael Burnett, legendary skate photographer and editor at Thrasher
He may have been timid as a twelve-year-old kid in Denver, but fast
magazine, put the wildcard in the mag – a measure of respect for any
forward to today and the high-flying LA dude now spends his time
legit cruiser. Support from the industry soon followed and he was recently
frontflipping down ten-step staircases onto his skateboard, or popping
invited to The Berrics, an unofficial initiation into LA skateboarding’s inner
over lorry gaps fifteen-feet-high. His unique style was captured for
circle. “So [I went] from freak status to people being intrigued,” he says,
posterity in the 2006 Hollarado! video – which has now clocked over
bemused.
one and a half million hits on YouTube – but the response from the core community and industry at large was initially sceptical.
Despite an amazing new skate part – A Weekend with William Spencer produced in collaboration with his sponsor, Belgian streetwear brand
“In my mind, skateboarding is not old enough to be classic, not old
Death, Shred! – William is branching out and has just finished filming the
enough to be concrete in our minds and to be unchangeable,” says
latest Spiderman movie as a stunt double. But how do you throw yourself
William. “Skating used to be rebellious, it used to be pure freedom, it
out of a building, land on two skateboards and still live to tell the tale?
used to be wild. I like to pretend that’s how it still is, or how it can be.”
William insists he’s not playing Russian roulette. “Your body gets used to
William has no beef with the skateboard world, but he doesn’t entirely
it so it is not just a shot in the dark,” he says. “I think that the scariest part
understand their purist attitude towards tricks, either. “I don’t feel like I
is not committing to it. That’s what gets you hurt. So if you try it [flat out]
make things different just to be different,” he says. “I feel like the world
every time, it’ll usually be cool.”
is a place where anything is possible, but when everyone wants to be someone else, then you get a lot of the same. People looked at [my
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deathshred.com
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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Man among machines Electro-rock trio Three Trapped Tigers are creating a future out of the past. Text Andrea Kurland & Photography ASH TAILOR
“I sneer at people with iPhones,” laughs Tom Rogerson, though it’s
sixties that’s been realised, but you don’t stop to think that it's actually one
clearly no joke. “But my girlfriend’s got one and I use it all the time; GPS
of the poorest boroughs in the UK, where working class people are being
is extremely useful. That’s the whole point about progress. It throws up
displaced by guys who evade tax and receive huge bonuses. It’s progress
a lot of things that are good and a lot that are bad and I personally, in
that completely sucks on a human level, but it’s also progress in that some
a very British way, prefer to complain about the bad instead of valuing
of those financial innovations are at the cutting-edge of human activity.”
the good.”
Tom may enjoy being surrounded by “the weirdness of progress”, but
For want of a better word, Tom looks a little trapped. It’s a sunny day
you get the feeling it’s because he looks at it in awe. “I have no laptop
in London and he could order anything he wants: soda, smoothie, over-
skills at all,” he says. “I wrote music on manuscript paper all the way up to
complicated coffee. But he opts for water – no lemon, no ice. He carries
the second EP. I’m an analogue fusty dusty, fairly reactionary person who
a bag designed for a laptop, though I’d put money on it that there’s a
is smart enough to know there’s no point clinging on to those methods
Moleskine notebook inside. And unlike the on-trend couple sipping frappés
because the world is moving on. I wanted to make electronic music but I
to our right, his attire is timeless, neither ‘retro’ nor in vogue. Tom, you see,
didn’t know how. I’d spent years getting good at the piano and I couldn’t
is caught between two worlds: he’s a classically trained pianist who wrote
be bothered to spend the same time getting good at software. So how do
two operas by the time he was sixteen; but he’s also the lynchpin in Three
you get round that? That’s where we are today.”
Trapped Tigers, a genre-shattering electro-rock outfit who sound like they just fell from outer space.
Two nights ago, TTT played to a capacity crowd at Cargo for the London finale of their headline tour. Conceptually, the Tigers are caged
It gets weirder. Despite the synthetic hallmarks of their “hero” Aphex
by their own rules – “we’ll never use a backing track” – yet on stage,
Twin, the three Tigers – pianist Tom, guitarist Matt Calvert and drummer
weirdly, those shackles set them free. Arms flail and sweat drips as they
Adam Betts, who came together organically on the “experimental music
battle manically against their own whips – all in the hope that others will
scene” – are all Luddites at heart. Everything you hear is created live on
connect. “You watch your limbs go in all directions,” says Tom. “You feel
stage: no computers – just three guys “competing with their instruments
a greater connection, I think – maybe just through hundreds of years of
and each other to create noise”.
established practice – with someone playing a piano or guitar than you do
Tom explains: “The idea was to do Aphex Twin live. But the whole point
with a computer. Partly because a computer is limitless in its possibility so
of electronica is to make a computer do what a human can’t. So you start
you’re never quite sure what the person is actually doing. He might just
with the ridiculous proposition that we can’t possibly replicate this, but we
be pressing play.”
can try to get as close as we can. And in the misinterpretation of it – in the
In placing “humanity among the machines”, is TTT a comment on
mistakes that we’ll make because humans aren’t computers – it will throw
where society is heading? “In a way, yes,” says Tom, draining his glass.
up something hopefully more exciting.”
“There is a common dialectic between the awe of technology, the clear
This strange musical purgatory – where everything that sounds like the
progress it’s providing and the fear that one has about it. You can see it in
future is actually trapped in the past – was devised by the whole band, but
Wallace and Gromit, in Radiohead – it’s in the arts, everywhere, going back
its genesis traces back to Tom. A Cambridge graduate and self-proclaimed
to Brave New World, Blake, Wordsworth, the Romantics worried about the
“politics geek” (he went to the States to volunteer for the Democratic
Industrial Revolution, Milton and Paradise Lost. But at the same time, it’s a
Party during the last two elections), Tom and modernity have niggled
dereliction of duty to ignore electronics. Who’s to say that the piano will
each other for some time. “I live this mythical, ridiculous existence,” he
even be around in five hundred years? There’s a tragedy there; I love this
explains, “half in London, half in the countryside where I practise the
instrument, I’ve invested in it dearly, yet it won’t last forever. I’m trying to
piano incessantly and my mobile phone doesn’t work. I come back here
reconcile myself to the future while clinging to my past. In our own ways,
to Greenwich and it’s kind of caught halfway between the past and the
we all are.”
future. It used to be the cradle of the Empire and now it’s turning into this postmodern hell. [The financial area] looks like some Utopian vision of the
Route One or Die is out now on Blood and Biscuits.
29
Rebel Prophecy A memory-soaked tribute to Gil Scott-Heron – soothsayer, poet, godfather of rap. Text MICHAEL FORDHAM & ILLUSTRATION Stanley Chow
Gil Scott-Heron, who died in New York City aged sixty-two on May 27,
Spirit. That word again. Gil was always tapped in tight to the unseen
made it his life’s mission to interpret and document the black American
world – name checking, as he did, black music’s icons while highlighting
experience as manifest in the blues. But his work along the way transcended
injustice from Johannesburg to Harlem’s Lenox Avenue. His life these
categories of race, time and place and proved that beautiful popular music
last couple of decades – flavoured by arrest, incarceration, illness and
could both resonate and commentate. Call him the black Bob Dylan. Call
re-arrest for possession of drugs – became an absurd parody of the
him the godfather of rap. Call him the prophet of cultural activism.
world he documented. But that doesn’t lessen the impact of the work.
His
poetry-set-to-music
ranged
from
inspirational
anthems
to
heartbreaking ballads – each shot through with a devastating lyricism that
On the contrary, it deepens its contours. It etches its influence into hardedged relief.
would inspire hip hop’s meteoric emergence, and yet remain fundamentally
The work itself, after all, transcended ghetto clichés. There is the blue-
removed from the industry that would package it. ‘The Revolution Will Not
collar empathy of ‘Pieces of a Man’; the heart-rending humility of ‘Your
Be Televised’ – a b-side that ironically came to define him, and would later
Daddy Loves You’; the hard-edged analysis of ‘Work for Peace’ and the
set the tone for an album of the same name – was at once a cutting critique
charged, confessional groove of ‘Home is Where the Hatred Is’. And for all
of the political posturing of the era and the vacuity of prime-time America.
his truly lasting influence and the tangential, almost begrudging respect
It’s the autumn of 1992 and standing outside the town hall in Kings
the R&B and hip hop world paid to him – not least manifest in the millions of
Cross, London, Gil Scott-Heron walks around the corner to meet me. This
posthumous postings – he never cashed in. Gil and Will.i.am collaborating
is my first job as a hack and Gil had been top of my tick list of heroes. He’s
on a street dance showpiece for a Pixar soundtrack? Not in this life, baby.
an hour late and he’s clutching a copy of his 1974 album Winter in America.
A couple of years later, Gil is in London again, this time at The Forum.
A few months earlier the streets of LA had erupted after the Rodney King
Biggie Smalls is riding high in the charts – his gazillion-selling concept
trial – CNN beaming the action live. I ask him, naturally, if he still stands by
album Ready to Die created with the very palette that Gil’s pioneering
his best known lyric. “The revolution won’t be televised,” he says, “and that
work inspired. Gil’s tour manager leads me backstage and into a dressing
shit in LA wasn’t revolution – that was destruction. Revolution is all about
room thick with acrid blue smoke. Let’s face it. Gil loved to get high. “My
working toward a cogent programme. Real revolution is a revolution within
revolutionary young brother Mike!” he says through the haze, and gives me
– a revolution of the spirit.”
the soul shake, ghetto style.
30 HUCK
all originals
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The
32 HUCK
Need
33
Miranda July leaves pieces of herself everywhere she goes. Through films, books, online projects and one-woman live shows, she’s found a way to quell the urge to reach out and connect. Her new film, The Future, seems propelled by that same need – the outpouring of a riot grrrl with a message for the world. Text Dan Crane Photography Daryl Peveto
34 HUCK
hen I pull my car up to her office on a quiet
The Future, her richly inventive and devastating new film,
block in the Echo Park neighbourhood of Los
centres on a couple who, realising their lives will be forever
Angeles, Miranda July is standing on her porch
altered by their decision to adopt an injured cat, decide to quit
wrapping up a phone call. The sun is shining,
their day jobs and carpe diem for their final month of youth and
birds are chirping. She smiles, she waves and time slows. It’s hard
independence. On paper, the premise could easily elicit eye-rolls
to resist the notion that I’m suddenly in a scene from one of her
– but thanks to her deft writing and interweaving of elements
films – all that’s missing is the haunting, quirky musical score.
from her performance art, July makes it work brilliantly.
We sit down in the small house she’s converted into an
I first met July back in 2005 when she was in the midst of
office, the walls adorned with photographs and artwork.
post-production on Me and You. I happened to be working as
Wearing a mismatched ensemble of cobalt leggings, black
an assistant to the movie’s music composer, Mike Andrews,
miniskirt, red and white floral top and a heavy-knit cardigan,
and he and July had just become romantically involved. We
July perches at the end of the sofa, feet tucked underneath her.
talk a bit about that period and I reveal that at that time, I
It’s been six years now since July showed up at the
found her a little shy and elusive, but that today (and in other
Sundance Film Festival with Me and You and Everyone We
recent press I’ve watched and read) she seems confident, warm
Know. The oddball ensemble film – best remembered by some
and generous.
for a scene where an adorable seven-year-old proposes passing
“I’m really gratified to hear that,” she says. “I kept thinking
poop back and forth forever, butt-to-butt, with a stranger in a
during making this movie, ‘Oh no, I’ve lost it – I was really
chat room – raked in numerous awards on the festival circuit,
confident back then!’” she laughs. “It’s one of the many tricks
including a Caméra d’Or for Best Feature at Cannes. Her
you play on yourself. I often put myself in a fairly desperate-
follow-up wasn’t a film, but a collection of short stories called
feeling situation just to propel boldness.”
No One Belongs Here More Than You, which won the Frank
This notion of desperation as personal provocateur is a
O’Connor International Short Story award and was published
theme that weaves itself into much of July’s work, and is, as I
in twenty countries.
discover, deeply rooted in her personal history.
35
the past When she was five, Miranda July (known by her real last name
responses. Then she’d play the tape back and answer her own
of Grossinger back then) relocated with her family to Berkeley,
questions. “It just seemed so magical that you could record
CA, from Vermont. She remembers little about Vermont,
yourself and play it back and… there you were!” she says.
but this new world in Berkeley, she quickly realised, was not
She spent her high school years doing performance art
quite normal. “When you grow up in Berkeley, you have a lot
pieces at legendary Berkeley punk rock club 924 Gilman Street
of thoughts about what the rest of the world will be like,” she
(where Green Day got their start) and then dropped out of
says about the famously left-leaning, activist-centric Northern
college after a year and moved to Portland.
California city. “And you live in one of the weird places, and
Though they generally supported her artistic endeavours,
the people seem weird. There’s a lot of invention about what
it wasn’t exactly what her parents – hard-working, Ivy League-
a normal place might be like.” (In The Future July’s character
educated writers – had intended for her. “I seemed pretty
subtly demonstrates this difference by straightening her hair
delinquent to them, you know. Or just scary,” she laughs.
when she relocates to the suburbs. “You can’t even be as weird
“Luckily it all worked out or I would still be having difficult
as having curly hair there,” she notes.) Coincidentally – or not
phone calls with them.”
– her husband, graphic designer, filmmaker and music video director Mike Mills, also grew up in Berkeley.
36 HUCK
In Portland, she became a “real sincere thief ” – stealing food, mostly, or just whatever else she needed to get by in order
There’s a strange cadence to July’s voice that makes many
to make the leap from working to becoming a full-time artist. “I
of her sentences sound like questions, and her eyes are always
was talking to Carrie Brownstein [of the band Sleater-Kinney,
intensely fixed on me as we talk. Basically, she’s pretty much
and the TV show Portlandia] and I was comforted because I
exactly like she is in her films.
think of her as classy in a certain way, and we were comparing
As a young girl, July was already planting the seeds of her
scams we all used to do and I was like, ‘I’m so glad you used
later work. Using her dad’s tape deck, she would record one
to do that too,’ and she said, ‘Oh, that was just normal at that
half of a conversation and leave gaps in the recording for
time.’ I don’t think we were all just fucked in the head. I just
“I realise now that I’m in one of those times again, where you don’t know what you’re going to make so you’re just listening for what r e s o n a t e s .”
think that at that time in Portland, in that sort of riot grrrlesque era, it was somehow a political or righteous thing to do, but then getting hooked on that [became] a way of living. I stopped cold turkey when I started going out with [K Records founder] Calvin Johnson. He’s the most upstanding citizen. He’s like the mayor of Olympia [Washington].” As well as moving into a house “full of punky girls”, she also joined a band – another perennially hip thing to do in Portland. Just after she booked their first tour, her girlfriend (in the band) dumped her for her best friend (also in the band). She decided it was time for revenge. “I was like, ‘Guess what? I’m coming too! I booked this tour, but I’m not in The Need anymore. I’m Miranda July and every city you’re in, I’m going to be there too. We won’t look at each other but I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up this slot that I booked.’ So I had to call each place and tell them there’s been a change and there’s now two acts.” It was the first time she used the name ‘Miranda July’. “I think for a number of years I was still running on that energy that I had to prove myself,” she says. “It wasn’t until long afterwards that I realised, ‘I guess I’m doing my work for other reasons now because I couldn’t possibly still be doing that!’”
37
“I wish you could come out of the movie theatre after seeing my movie and feel like it was about you, o r y o u a r e n o w t h i n k i n g o f y o u r s e l f i n a n e w w a y.”
the future Years later, the traumatic conclusion of another relationship
them,” she says of her online work. “It’s creating a place for other
provided the inspiration for her new film, The Future. “I
people that can really be about them. […] I wish you could come
was really blindsided, I didn’t see it coming,” she says of the
out of the movie theatre after seeing my movie and feel like it was
breakup, which happened while she was editing Me and You.
about you, or you are now thinking of yourself in a new way. But
“It felt very violent to me. […] Here I was editing this very
because that’s just very ephemeral and hit or miss, and there are
hopeful candy-coloured movie but I was feeling all these
many other joys with fiction that have nothing to do with that
unbearable qualities of getting through time. Those [feelings]
too, I think there’s something really satisfying about actually
were the seeds of [The Future].”
[creating something] where I get to see the person. They have
She began by working on a live performance piece, which she staged in New York at The Kitchen and in a few other cities.
a name! And there they are! And look, they’re doing it! They’re connected to me but only through this little thing.”
Like the spoken-word acts that came before it – many of which
Another project she was working on before production
saw members of the audience adopting lead roles – it offered
began on The Future involved July interviewing strangers who
her an outlet to produce something slightly more “under the
had placed ads in the PennySaver, a classifieds newspaper.
radar”. She adds: “I needed to be free, and not worry about
That project turned out to have a strong, unintended impact
making something people like. I realise now that I’m in one of
on the film. While conducting her interviews, she saw a
those times again, where you don’t know what you’re going to
classified ad from a man named Joe selling – bizarrely enough
make so you’re just listening for what resonates.” It was this
– the fronts of Christmas cards, and couldn’t resist. “I met this
organic process that ultimately helped her develop the film’s
old man and there were so many weird resonances with him
most striking set-pieces: a talking cat named Paw Paw, a shirt
and with the movie, some of them quite literal,” she explains.
that crawls, and a boyfriend that stops time with his hands and
“Like, him and his wife met at Lake Paw Paw sixty-two years
talks to the moon (which responds, naturally).
ago, and I have this cat named Paw Paw already in the movie
One of the film’s most striking themes is artistic paralysis
– and I had basically written all of it when I met him. He made
and how our creative work defines us. It’s also about how we
these cards for his wife that were really dirty in a way that
set impossible goals for ourselves – boxes to tick as prescribed
made me kind of question time, and relationships over time.
by society. “The elaborate plan that you’ve made for yourself
I mean these cards were full of dripping twats, you know, and
and the standards you’ve set,” is how July puts it. Shortly
he’s eighty-two, and he’s really about to die. He makes nine of
after realising that her freedom will soon come to an end once
them a year for her! I can show them to you!”
she and her boyfriend adopt the cat (a metaphor for having a
July ended up including Joe, and his cards, and his house
child, perhaps), July’s character, Sophie, sets a goal to produce
in the movie. “And then he died – as he knew he would,”
“thirty dances in thirty days” and post videos of them on
she says. “We were really pushing it the whole time, almost
YouTube. She immediately fails on day one.
uncomfortably so. I mean, it’s exhausting making a movie.
“That’s very ‘me’ to have a very complicated setup of what I
I feel like I’m about to die – but he really did. There was a
have to achieve, and then no one cares if I do it or not,” explains
point where he had two weeks to live and I was like, ‘That’s
July. “She’s the essence of a thing that I feel. […] Like, what if I
it, he can’t be in the movie, it’s just totally irresponsible,’
couldn’t find a way to get un-paralysed, what would I do then?
and so while shooting I was trying to recast him – which was
What if instead of doing something expansive and hopeful,
impossible because it was based on him – but in the end we just
what if I did something really self-destructive?”
did it. Him and his involvement in the movie had a big impact.
Towards the end of the film, when her character’s security blanket (a large yellow shirt) hunts her down after she
All the themes about mortality and time were really different after he became a part of it.”
abandons her life and escapes to the suburbs, she gets inside
After both Joe and his wife died, Miranda found herself at
the shirt and finally completes the dance. When her new
the couple’s house gathering their mementoes. “It gets really
partner Marshall (played by the rather creepy-looking David
weird. I won’t go into it all, but it went from cold-calling this
Warshofsky) catches her at her most vulnerable – as herself –
guy’s ad in the PennySaver to that,” she says, pointing to bride
the distance between the two of them is striking.
and groom figurines encased in a glass jar sitting on her desk.
July’s characters yearn for connection. In Me and You and
“That’s from the top of their wedding cake.” She pauses and
Everyone We Know, we witness several odd pairings trying to
shakes her head in disbelief as if to say, I know, right? “One of
communicate: teenage girls indulge an older guy’s paedophiliac
their daughters called me and said, ‘We took what we wanted,
fantasies; a young boy flirts online with a lonely museum
but the rest is being thrown out today.’ I was in the middle of
director. Even her internet art projects like Learning to Love You
a photo shoot and I was like, ‘Gotta go!’ I rushed over to their
More – a website that gives its visitors artistic assignments like
house and I swear to god, everything was exactly as it was,” she
‘Make an encouraging banner’, ‘Perform the phone call someone
says, seemingly still in awe. “It was all about to be dumpstered,
else wished they could have’, or ‘Feel the news’ – are about July
and I couldn’t get a house, a lifetime’s worth of stuff, but I went
connecting with strangers in a meaningful way. “The important
and grabbed everything I thought was amazing or knew was
thing about those projects is that I shouldn’t be at the centre of
special to them.”
39
A non-fiction book about the PennySaver project will be
a joy when that happens, but that’s not my MO for the rest of
released concurrently with the DVD of The Future, partly, it
my life, to maintain conversations with people that don’t even
seems, as a kind of tribute to Joe – and perhaps every stranger
necessarily like anything I’m interested in. It almost feels like
that’s become intertwined in her work – and partly as an ode to
an accident. I mean, I just had a cute kid in the movie, but now
the timelessness of print. “I remember saying to Joe’s wife, ‘We’ll
these people who would actually hate me if they really knew
see you at the premiere,’” she says in a sing-song voice, noting
me. Not hate, but… it’s comedy. People just like to laugh at
the irony. “I don’t know what I was thinking – I should’ve just
poop jokes! Nothing against them, but I don’t feel like I have to
brought her a DVD… but in another way I was like, ‘Is this going
keep them lured in for the rest of my life, you know?”
to kill her? Seeing her husband in a movie?’ You know? I knew
There’s an awkward pause, as if maybe she’s said the
he hadn’t seen a movie since 1969 so she probably hadn’t either.
wrong thing. It’s a strange contradiction, after all – the artist in
That’s why I had to do the book.”
constant search for connection with strangers suddenly finds
This constant need to do something – whether it be a book,
that the audience may be laughing for the wrong reasons.
art show, performance piece or film – is no doubt at the root of
With nary a single poop joke in The Future, July was unsure
July’s prolific output. And yet, despite a long list of projects that
what the response to the film would be when it screened at this
resonate, she describes how she lost faith in her abilities during
year’s Sundance Film Festival. “It’s not a comedy,” she notes.
the making of this film. “Not so much the writing, but myself as
“So, at the time I turned to my husband and I was like, ‘That
a director I really doubted,” she says. “I was going to the dark
went terribly.’ And then I went and did my Q and A with 1,200
place that my character does and I would have moments where I
people fully believing, ‘Oh well, there goes the last five years
would be on set about to act and I’d think, ‘Can I just slip out the
of my life, but maybe I’ll win them back with this Q and A,’”
back door and just keep walking? And maybe just start a new life
she laughs.
somewhere?’ and then I’d think, ‘Wait, that’s exactly what I’m doing in this scene!’”
“Then afterwards,” she continues, “there was a little party and a couple of different women – not women I knew well – but
As a point of illustration, July recalls being sent an article
women my age or a little older came up to me and were really
a few years ago about the police finding actress Margot Kidder
intense with me, really intense, like, ‘I see you and I see that you
(Lois Lane in the original Superman) dishevelled and paranoid
see us.’” At this point, July’s enormous blue eyes well up, as if she
and living in the bushes in a Los Angeles suburb. “There was a
is reliving the power of that moment. “I remember thinking after
quote from her that said, ‘I left the credit cards and the kids and
those two women had come up to me, ‘It was a success.’ In my
I just left. I was in a very dark place.’ I don’t think I’d heard that
darkest hours that’s all I want. I just want to communicate this
phrase ever before,” she says, with a haunted tone. “If you’re
feeling and just have it be like something’s acknowledged.”
hearing it for the first time it seemed… she was talking about something almost mystical, you know? I wanted to tell that story.
For more insight into the world of Miranda July, see this issue’s
That resonates with me.”
edition of Endnotes on page 83, specially curated by Miranda
Audience reaction to both Me and You and The Future
herself, featuring collaborators and friends that inspire her work.
has come as something of a surprise to July. “There was
40 HUCK
something very infectious about the first movie. It was so
The Future will be in US theatres from July 29, and in the UK
much broader than I intended or anticipated,” she says. “It’s
from November 4.
s w i t ch o l l i e
B A R N E Y
A U S T I N
P A G E
S T E P H E N S
C A I R O
F O S T E R
D A V I D
R E Y E S
E D
T E M P L E T O N
J O S H
H A R M O N Y
J U L I A N
D A V I D S O N
K E E G A N K E V I N L E O
L O N G
R O M E R O
N E S T O R
T H E
S A U D E R
“ S P A N K Y �
J U D K I N S
B A L A N C E
O F
O P P O S I T E S
R V C A . C O M F A C E B O O K . C O M / R V C A E U R O P E
All In The Mind Youth is no longer just for kids. Thank f**k for that. Text Ross Haenfler Illustration Oliver Hibert
42 HUCK
I’m gonna stay young until I die! You grew up fast, now you’ll die soon. I’ll never f **king be like you. You finish college, grab a wife, You’re dead before you’re thirty-five. - 7 Seconds, ‘Young ’Til I Die’, 1984
he thought recently struck me that two heroes from
Yet there are several paths to ageing gracefully within a youth-
my youth – Henry Rollins, author, spoken-word artist,
oriented culture. A determined and lucky few forge careers atop
singer of Black Flag, and Ian MacKaye, legendary
their subcultural roots, becoming professional artists, musicians
DIY musician and frontman for hardcore pioneers
or extreme athletes. Some build a small business around their
Minor Threat – were rapidly approaching fifty years
passion such as a record label or clothing line. Others adapt youth
old. These guys symbolised, for me, the spirit of youth rebellion
culture values to new contexts, finding ways to balance ‘adult’
that arose from the punk scene. To my young mind, they were the
obligations with scene life. In any case, avoiding stagnation is
antithesis of adulthood: creative, idealistic, pissed off and engaged
crucial – the drunk forty-year-old street punk hitting on a punk
– living life on their terms rather than selling out for a pay cheque
girl half his age is unlikely to win much scene cred, regardless of
or sucking up for a promotion. So what does it mean when several
his well-worn leather ‘anarchy’ jacket or the bands he saw twenty
generations of subcultural idols are well into middle age? What’s
years ago ‘before they got big’. Even youth cultures encourage
happened to those early underground pioneers, the hippies, punks,
age-appropriate behaviour.
goths, skaters, ravers, hip hoppers, graffiti writers and riot grrrls that set the tone for generations of youth cultural rebellion?
Fed up with its fashions and status politics, many ‘older’ kids transcend ‘the scene’ while internalising certain subcultural
Popular perception contends that ‘youth’ scenes are temporary
values and practices. The scene is an important part of life,
playgrounds in which kids wear spectacular costumes and engage
not life itself. Playing dress-up takes second stage to living the
in extreme activities until they ‘grow up’, turn in their boots and
life professed in youth culture but rarely achieved; a life lived
braces for corporate suits and ties or trade their skateboards and
as much as possible according to one’s own code, free of peer
spray paint for minivans and life insurance policies. Everyone,
pressure and the prison of others’ expectations. Having given up
such thinking goes, ‘sells out’ their countercultural values and
many of the trappings of youth, such oldsters may often remain
buys into conformist consumer culture, abandoning their ideals
invisible, feeling little need to prove their affiliation or earn scene
in favour of the safe, sanitary ‘real’ world. Youth cultures are,
points via their style.
then, relatively trivial – nice spaces to explore identities and have some fun, but no place for serious adults.
Other veterans take pride in standing out, brandishing stretched ears and tattoo sleeves in defiance of their conventional
And indeed many kids do grow up and out of their youthful
surroundings. For them, style remains an act of resistance,
pursuits. After all, surfing all day or clubbing all night often
symbolic of deeply held anti-conformist values. Perhaps the
conflicts with the standard markers of adulthood: a full-time job,
urgency of going to every show or skating every day has waned
family, home ownership, stability. Others become disenchanted
– perhaps not. But the desire to be more than suburban zombies
with the contradictions within their scene, and find youth
and robots remains. And aware that their longevity makes
identities limiting rather than liberating. Yet the conventional
them role models for ‘the kids’, some feel a responsibility to
wisdom about growing up is proving less than wise, as more and
uphold their legacy, proudly championing the virtues of their
more unconventional adults refuse to ‘act their age’.
ongoing commitment and serving as informal mentors and
Of course many ‘adults’ continue participating in what we
scene historians.
typically consider youth cultures. Tony Alva still skates, Banksy
Youth is no longer the sole province of the young. Age is less
continues to make street art, and Siouxsie Sioux still plays music.
about years than about perceptions, actions, interests; a socially
And aside from these and other icons, countless veterans of youth
created category based less on birthdays than identity, lifestyle
cultures aged thirty-and-above maintain some connection to their
and associations. And in many ways youth is expanding, as many
youthful experiences, interweaving their long-held passions with
young people put off establishing families and careers. What’s
new roles and responsibilities.
more, so-called youth culture isn’t totally incompatible with
But it’s not always easy. The ageing scene kid is in an awkward
‘adult’ experiences. The dividing line has become increasingly
position: leave and be branded a ‘sell out’ or stick with it and risk
blurred. Older scenesters may be less visible than their younger
ridicule from both other adults and younger scene peers. After
counterparts, but they often remain relevant. They are hip hop
all, who wants to be the balding heavy metal guy in the faded
poets, punk rock parents, riot grrrl writers, and heavy metal
Judas Priest shirt headbanging the remains of his wispy long
teachers, neither stuck in the past nor afraid of the future
hair at the edge of the mosh pit? Likewise, no one aspires to the role of old, jaded scenester continually recounting the ‘glory
Ross Haenfler is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University
days’ like a washed-up athlete whose star has long faded. Youth
of Mississippi. He is author of Straight Edge: Clean Living Youth,
are not always kind to their elders, even those with whom they
Hardcore Punk, and Social Change and Goths, Gamers, and Grrrls:
have much in common.
Deviance and Youth Subcultures.
43
44 HUCK
Everyone grows old, right? Maybe. Maybe not. If these four lifers are anything to go b y, s k a t e b o a r d i n g m a y w e l l b e t h e f o u n t a i n of youth. But when the clock starts ticking in this youth-centric world, how easy is it to keep the pro dream alive?
Duane Peters:
E t erna l P u n k “Skateboarders were really outspoken, fairly dirty, broken families, broken homes.” Duane Peters doesn’t talk in straight lines. His thoughts play hopscotch around his head, darting from one memory to the next. “First you’re rolling. Then you’re sidewalk surfing. Breaking into a backyard pool. Helicopters, cops – the whole drill is a rush. And you want more and more and next thing you know you’ve got vertical, pipes, bowls, all this underground stuff, so you travel in packs. Then bands started migrating towards skateboarding, like Devo, Ramones, Eater, and you just discover more and more...” This little slideshow, as frenetic as it may seem, would make for a pretty accurate biopic of skate punk. Push fast-forward and you’ll see two life stories playing out as one: little Duane Peters, the spiky-haired kid from the wrong side of the OC, throwing a punk-shaped spanner into sidewalk surfing’s clean-cut works; and skateboarding itself, which by the mid-seventies was just two decades into its infancy. Together they’ve grown up side-byside, each adding to the other’s story like an old married couple perched on a stoop. But if this life-long habit – the perpetual need for “more and more” – sounds like an addiction, that’s because it probably is. Duane’s first hit started innocently enough: pissed-off kid gets kicked out of home and throws his energy into an old, wooden plank. Aged sixteen, he nails the first-ever loop – a gravitydefying, 360-degree run on a tunnel-like ramp. Soon he discovers punk, punk discovers him, and while the Dogtown boys carve a filmic narrative destined for the big screen, he takes inspiration from the Badlands crew and catapults skateboarding down a radical path, where hair is short, jeans are tight and punk rock is a religious faith. That was then. This is now. But the story has stayed pretty much the same: ”I’ve just been living life like this for quite a while. I live in my own time zone – I see the world the way I want to see it because it is my right as an individual. And I learned that pretty much all from punk rock and skateboarding.”
Te x t A n d r e a K u r l a n d Photography Lou Mora
45
It’s 9am, California time, and in a voice that could graze your
other team as if they were doing something. I grab my board and
inner ear, Duane is belting down the phone from his home in
put it together: I jump in my car, I go to the pool and I skate. I’m
Laguna Beach. Despite the odd slur and tangential thought, he
not sitting there on the sideline watching. That’s the difference.
insists he’s “wide awake, been up for hours”. You get the feeling
This will never be a sport to me; it’s a lifestyle. It’s the same with
that, for this fifty-year-old at least, sleeplessness is less a sign of
punk rock. We’re all monkeys. I’ve been a monkey all my life.
age, more the fallout of an overactive mind. And body.
There is a sense of needing to be on stage that helps me validate
Between daily skate sessions, drop-ins with sponsors to
myself, and realistically I get sick of it at times. But then I go,
discuss this or that punk-infused product (a Duane Peters Fender
‘Well, fuck man, what the fuck else would I be doing?’ And I get
guitar, anyone?) and three bands to front, the ‘Master of Disaster’
back in the car.”
has managed to tame chaos into his own erratic non-routine.
Duane is committed to his love affair with skate, but he
Only, there’s nothing nine-to-five about DP. “I have a six-year-
doesn’t begrudge those who’ve moved on: “When someone quits
old kid who is out of his mind, interested in everything and can’t
skating or quits punk, it’s their prerogative. For me to have some
focus on one thing. I totally get it,” says Duane, talking out one
opinion of it would be a contradiction of my own beliefs about
corner of his mouth, no doubt because a cigarette is dangling out
my own individuality. Why would I wish for individualism for me
the other. While most guys his age are thinking about pensions,
but not for another individual? That’s retarded.” And as much
Duane’s about to head out on tour, playing teen haunts night after
as he “wouldn’t change his lifestyle for the world”, he sees self-
night, with U.S. Bombs. All just a couple months after placing
satisfaction as the end of the line (“If you’re content, you may
sixth at the Pro-Tec Pool Party Masters comp, two spots behind
as well take a bow”) and nostalgia as a game for fools. “Talk to
Tony Hawk who, he laughs, “is like seven years younger”.
someone that’s not skating that much and they’ll be like, ‘Back
“Most guys my age are done,” adds
in ’76, skateboarding was at its best,’”
Duane, “but I said when I was eighteen
says Duane, sounding old for the first
that I could mark my own time. It’s like a lot of shit that kid said was green, but a lot of shit that he said was right, ’cause the kid could think outside the box.” His thoughts may jump around like fleas, but every word hits a nail on the head. This life of skate doesn’t just happen – you need to hustle your way to longevity. “You’ve got to have perseverance,” says Duane, who’s kept bread on the table by keeping it real – infusing the stench of authenticity into
his
namesake
clothing
line
(DISASTR77) and punk label (Disaster Records) – even when the ad men were hovering like flies. “These days you’ve
“If you’re really in love with something, you do it whether they pay you o r n o t .”
where everything is at – and I hope I never turn into that guy.” This ability to live in the here and now has no doubt been a saving grace in a life not unmarked by tragedy. In 2007, Duane’s eldest son, Chess, was killed in a car accident. He was just twenty years old. “You don’t get to feel the pain I feel if you don’t have kids, but you don’t get the benefits of having them and watching them grow,” says Duane, expounding the wisdom that only comes with time. But
often
with
wisdom
comes
regret, and like tattoos – or rings on a tree trunk – Duane gathers his as he
got clothing companies, energy drinks…
grows. “I’ve got tons, millions in fact,”
But when you take a job just because
46 HUCK
time. “I’m not that guy – I’m digging
they offer you dough, it takes sometimes years of going, ‘Wow, how
he says, “but I don’t live in them, I move on. Nothing happens by
come I’m not happy?’ My rule recently has been: ‘If it ain’t cool,
mistake. Everything is the way it is meant to be, and if you don’t
I ain’t doing it.’ I have a manager now, and she knows the rules.”
understand it now, you will later. Life’s a movie, but you can’t just
Management, rules, business, contracts – sounds suspiciously
watch it go by – live in it, roll with it. It can’t just be some boring
like adult life. But for Duane, the end always justifies the means.
movie, you got to get in there and mix it up. And wow, man,
And unlike droids with boxes to tick, that doesn’t mean trudging
sometimes it’s a really bad movie, but like a gnarly rollercoaster
through shit towards dollar signs – it means simply surviving in
ride, you gotta pick the movie back up and get some good stuff
order to skate. “If I wasn’t skating, I would hopefully be dead,”
going on. You gotta get that victim shit off.”
says Duane, who’s spoken openly about his troubles with heroin
And if the Master of Disaster could press rewind in this
in the past. “I remember thinking, ‘I have to get off this shit; I gotta
funny old film called life, would he whisper any wisdom in his
go skate.’ Football can’t save you like skateboarding. Once those
own teenaged ear? “There’s really no advice I could give myself,
guys’ careers are over, there’s no reason to do it besides the money.
because I know I wouldn’t have listened,” says Duane, clearly at
If you’re really in love with something, you do it whether they pay
peace with who he was, who he is and the fact those people are
you or not.”
still one and the same. “All you can do is really roll on. There are
Skateboarder by day? Punk rocker by night? Could this
certain things I believe helped me – the laws of the universe – and
noxious concoction hold the key to eternal youth? “Well, I’ll
they get you there when they get you there. You just need to go
tell you what isn’t the fountain of youth: football,” spits Duane,
through shit to get to the ice cream, you know. How much shit you
returning to his analogy. “All these guys that play football, if they
need to swim through, who knows. But you know there’s ice cream
don’t turn into a coach, they end up at the bar rooting for some
down the road.”
47
48 HUCK
Elissa Steamer:
Bo undary B rea ker Elissa Steamer has life locked down. “If I went out and got hit
happen. It’s when I don’t that I have to start plotting how I’m
by the 38 Limited bus that goes past my house every day, I’m
going to make this thing last.”
pretty sure I’d die happy,” she says from her sunny home in
Elissa’s commitment to skateboarding, far from ebbing
San Francisco. “I had three badass waves this morning and
over the years, has simply become more entrenched. As well as
I skateboard all the time, so I feel pretty pleased with what
putting together fun little videos, like Things To Do in Denver
I’ve done.”
When You're Old with fellow Floridians Tim Mott and Allen
It’s a simple answer to a simple question, but weirdly not a
Russell, she hasn’t missed an X Games since 2003 – a fact that
common one. Ask a random pool of thirty-five-year-old women
may take the uninitiated by surprise. “I was skating the other
what makes them happy, and chances are the badassness of
day and this little kid at the skate park was like, ‘How old are
a wave or gnarliness of a skate session won’t be indicators
you?’ and I just ignored him. Then I was skating around and he
of whether or not they’re fulfilled. In fact, stats suggest that,
came up to me on his racer-scooter and goes, ‘You look old! But
in America at least, money and happiness are still strangely
you’re good!’” says Elissa, mimicking a condescending sing-
intertwined. (According to the OECD’s Your Better Life Index, the
song tone. “I was like, ‘Thanks kid.’”
US is the second-best place to live if ‘income’ makes your world go round – but for ‘life satisfaction’, it drops to seventeenth.)
Other than this blip and the odd physical twinge – “I feel my knees more than before” – Elissa sees skateboarding as a
Elissa, thankfully, is in the enlightened minority. “Maybe
great levelling force: a place where age is “all in the mind”. To
it’s because I come from a poor family, but I’m just stoked to
this end, she recently launched Gnarhunters.com – where she
have anything,” she says. “I pretty much live the same life that
posts pictures of skateboarders she meets day to day, whether
I’ve lived since I was a child. I keep it minimal. I don’t buy
they’re young, old or hovering in between – as a kind of
fancy cars. I’m a homeowner, but I don’t have a multimillion-
testament to skateboarding’s cross-generational appeal. “It’s
dollar mansion in the Hollywood Hills or nothing. It’s just a
like we’re all on the same page,” says Elissa of the groms and
pretty little house in Florida that I rent out.”
granddads she’s met through skateboarding. “It’s not like, ‘I’m
As a kid growing up in Fort Myers, Florida, Elissa had her
older than you so I know something you don’t.’ It’s more like,
priorities straight from the start. “I was a total skate rat, that’s
‘Here’s a nice little kid who’s really good at skateboarding,’ and
all I thought about,” she says. “I wanted to turn pro, but I didn’t
then we talk to him like a human and see what he has to offer.
believe it could happen.” Spurred on by her “fucking badass
We share the same love and that makes us the same. Maybe it’s
friends”, Elissa became a familiar face on the “seriously heavy”
the fountain of youth or something?”
street skateboarding scene – a face that couldn’t help but stand
Elissa, like every skater who sees through age, may well
out from the crowd. “There weren’t really any other girls
be defying the sands of time, but hanging out with a younger
skating where I grew up,” explains Elissa, who shot into the
crew is not without its temptations. “Skateboarding is more
spotlight when she appeared on Toy Machine’s Welcome to Hell
attractive to a young crowd, and when you’re young, you
in 1996, bagging the first female part in a legit skate video. “It’s
party!” explains Elissa. “I had to push that to one side. It’s
not like I’m special... well, I guess I am special in that I came
not skateboarding’s fault – it’s up to the individual, but I was
along at the right time and all I did was skateboard.”
behaving like a grown-up little baby.”
What Elissa humbly sees as serendipity has in fact
These days Elissa rocks the clean-cut life, prioritising
developed into a prolonged career. But as the years pass and
waves and skate time above all else. But in a world where
her horizons broaden, how easy is it to retain that one-track
“skateboarding is still seen as a crime”, is she rebelling against
mind? “I have a lot of other hobbies so I don’t like to focus
what an adult ‘should’ and ‘should not’ do? “Skateboarding still
all my energy into skating,” says Elissa, who rides for Zero
has a stigma attached to it, even though we know it’s the coolest
Skateboards but starts every day by checking the surf report.
thing in the world,” she says. “But you can’t really wonder what
“But I like to devise a lot of plans; I’ve been devising plans
society has planned for people my age. If I’m doing what I love
for sixteen years. Like, right now I have a goal to shoot eight
to do and it’s working for me – and I have a good view of the
photos by July 31. That didn’t used to be a tall order, but I’ve
world – I don’t think it matters. So am I defying society? Yeah, I
only shot one so far. If I skateboard all the time, good things
guess so. If what society says still matters or is real.”
Te x t A n d r e a K u r l a n d Photography Ariel Zambelich
49
Jeff Grosso:
Middle- A ge d Du de When your board sponsor calls your new pro model deck
It’s also important to remember that Grosso is the pro
the Midlife Crisis edition, you can’t have many Peter Pan-
that never was. By the late 1980s, he had appeared in such
esque illusions as to your position in the world. This is
classic films as Future Primitive and Streets on Fire and
what happened when ageing pro Jeff Grosso joined rugged
received hook-ups from the likes of Powell, Vans and Santa
and irreverent skate company Anti Hero in early 2011, after
Cruz for his fluid and powerful vert riding. But, by his own
asking founder Julien Stranger to give him a shot. It’s lucky
admission, he “wasn’t very good at being a pro skater”. Heavy
then that Jeff Grosso doesn’t seem to give a fuck. He’s simply
indulgence in drink and drugs meant that his career was over
way past buying into the hype and taking his status as a pro
by the early 1990s. Grosso may not be alone – drink and drugs
skater seriously.
have afflicted the careers of many a pro skater – but he takes
“I just ride skateboards, that’s what I do,” says Grosso in
it in his stride with a humility that’s hard not to respect. “I
a grizzly tone when asked about the mythical status of ‘being
did what I did, I am what I am. I tried to live an appropriate
pro’. “The fact that people are stoked on it and want to give
life. I’m not a role model and I don’t have any answers,” says
me opportunities to make a little extra dough – I’m fucking
Grosso. “I’m just a dude who is trying to make his way and
stoked, yeah!”
stay alive one day at a time. And hopefully make my life count
Originally hailing from Glendale, Los Angeles County, the
for something.”
forty-three-year-old has taken his “so-called career” into a new
Despite his modesty, Grosso’s name is emblazoned on the
phase. As well as the aforementioned endorsement from Anti
Vans website under the ‘Legend’ banner, alongside the much-
Hero, he was recently given his own pro model shoe by Vans
celebrated figures of Tony Alva, Steve Caballero, Christian
alongside a makeshift web series called Jeff Grosso’s Loveletters
Hosoi and Cara-Beth Burnside. Does he feel worthy of such
to Skateboarding – an exercise in nostalgia that sees Grosso
a tag? “The world likes to put things in boxes,” he says, “so
reliving his skateboarding youth alongside fellow middle-aged
they make this geriatric division so they can all be like, ‘Look,
shredders. “People want to say it’s a comeback or a revival
here are our old guys.’ It’s just a way for the corporate entity to
or any of these little tag words, but I’ve always been here – I
figure out a way to sell itself – to utilise what they have at their
haven’t gone anywhere,” he says. “It’s just that, all of a sudden,
disposal. Hopefully the goal is to give a little history lesson
now there is an audience.”
out of it, pay a little respect to the people that came before
But clinging desperately to his youth he is not. In fact, Grosso seems to be settling into his later years nicely. He
and therefore win some street cred in the process. That’s kind of marketing 101.”
remarks that this newfound interest from the industry has
He could be mistaken for jaded and cynical, but alongside
helped him renovate his Huntington Beach home and made
this straightforward assessment of the industry’s marketing
his wife happy in the process. And perhaps it’s because
techniques sits a down-for-life skater who’s just happy to ride
he’s been working as a production manager for a skin care
out the sponsorship while it lasts, and then skate on regardless.
company – making sure “the right goo gets in the right bottle
“I’m stoked, you know, whatever you guys want to call me. You
with the right label” – but skateboarding doesn’t seem to be
want to put me in the asshole category, I’m fine with it!” he
quite the meal ticket it’s perceived to be. For him, it seems, pro
adds with a laugh. “But whatever, I’m just some fat old dude. I
skating is more like a hobby that he happens to get paid for.
like to ride pools and I’ll do it as long as I can.”
Te x t E d A n d r e w s Photography Mark Rubenstein
50 HUCK
51
52 HUCK
Lance Mountain:
Lege nd “Is there a generation gap? No. There are like four generation
Playing the game is something Lance is fully accustomed
gaps,” laughs Lance Mountain when asked how a forty-seven-
to, having spent more than thirty years “making other people
year-old skate icon feels when shipped off on tour with kids
fall in love with skateboarding” through touring, signing
barely out of their teens. “I can’t even ride with these kids.
autographs, doing interviews and somehow staying relevant
There is no point, really. I’ve thought of going riding with
in an industry with a history of Young Turks challenging the
them, but these guys are just too consistent.”
established order. Creative outlets are often a sure-fire way
Despite recognising that he doesn’t match up to the
for an ageing pro to still get column inches, and Lance is no
current technical standards of other younger pros, Lance has
exception. Most recently, he’s collaborated with artist Geoff
cemented a place for himself in skateboarding’s archives. And
McFetridge to design and build a Nike SB skate park at the
if anyone is worthy of such a long-running career in the skate
Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and lent his own
industry, it’s Mr Mountain. You see, proving the Darwinian
artwork to a series of Doughboy decks for Flip. The ‘legend’ tag
theory that adaptability is the best means to survival, Lance
may come with some professional pressures, such as these, but
has adopted many roles: a Variflex demo rat; a Powell-Peralta
it also brings luxuries. “It’s actually no pressure nowadays. It
Bones Brigadier; a photographer for the likes of Transworld;
means that younger kids know who you are without you having
one-time businessman and owner of his own skate company,
to prove yourself to them on their level,” explains Lance, with a
The Firm; a celebrated artist; and a general behind-the-scenes
trademark giggle. “The kids are thinking, ‘I know I’m way better
odd-job man. Graft, it seems, is what it takes to still have a
than you. I could beat you in a game of SKATE any day. But you
lucrative shoe sponsor (Nike SB) and your own pro model
are supposedly somebody?’”
deck (on Flip Skateboards) when you’re rapidly approaching
But beyond this, being a pro is still about spending a decent
fifty. “To me, it’s all about ‘right place, right time.’ But, sure,
amount of time on your skateboard, and perhaps even filming
you’ve got to take advantage of it. There are tons of guys who
a video part or two – like his impressive pool-based section in
just don’t want to do the work,” he says. “When I got married, I
Flip’s 2009 film Extremely Sorry. The curse of ageing can put
was earning $200 a month on Powell and had a full-time union
the breaks on such a physically demanding career, though.
job so I could be a pro skateboarder. When I got a family, all I
Lance, however, has got a handle on it. “I broke my arm four
wanted to do was provide for them. That’s the reason to do any
years ago and when it got better, I started exercising more,
of it. I think I might not have been so around in skateboarding
swimming and stretching and stuff. I realised I should have
if I didn’t have a family.”
always done that. You’re just stronger. You wake up in the
Providing for a family is something that compels many
morning and you want to go skating,” he says. “If I don’t skate
people the world over to carry on with the daily grind. When
for three or four days, I feel stiff. I feel pretty happy and you
you’ve worked in a particular industry for so long, it may
just skate smarter, you cruise more.”
not be possible to make a living any other way. But, as a pro
Lance seems to have made the transition into middle
skateboarder, when you start to hit middle age, are you still
age with a certain amount of grace, while maintaining the
doing it out of love or are you simply trapped by the only
propensity to ‘goof around’ that so characterised his video parts
thing you’ve ever known? “You only feel trapped when you are
in younger days. It seems that playing on a wooden toy has kept
stuck doing things that aren’t your favourite things to do, but
this middle-aged man young at heart. “It keeps you immature
you know that they are necessary to keep getting paid,” says
for sure. I’m not sure that young and immature are exactly the
Lance. “The ultimate goal is to break out of that and be in total
same thing, but I giggle at life and skateboarding does that,” says
control; do exactly what you want to do. You can’t ever do that
Lance, his giggle once again peppering his words. “Physically it
completely though, you still have to play the game.”
doesn’t keep you young at all. It hurts – it hurts a lot.”
Te x t E d A n d r e w s Photography Richie Hopson
53
Sunny Side Up: Brought to you by Dragon
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54 HUCK
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55
L I F E r s
56 HUCK
I s s u r fi n g t h e k e y t o li b e r a t i o n , o r s i m p l y a p r i s o n s e n t e n c e i n d i s g u i s e ? M a t t W a l k e r l o o k s b a c k o n h i s lifel o n g a d d i c t i o n t o i m a g i n e a f u t u r e t h a t c o u l d h a v e b ee n . Te x t M a t t W a l k e r Illustration Malika Favre
have won the Derby, or run his business into the
parking lot and you’ll feel the pains of a
ground? Might I have blazed a literary streak like
hypothetical chain gang. A rag-tag collection
the late Hunter S., or rocked my way into rehab?
of different characters – bartenders, business
Mostly, I ask myself: ‘Would I have ever gone
owners, doctors and ne’er-do-wells – shackled
surfing again?’ And more often than not, the
to the ocean and each other. All different, yet
answer is: ‘Nope.’
ultimately similar in that nobody’s quite sure
I’m not being negative. I’m being realistic. Every kid I grew up with swore he’d rip forever.
how they got here. And no one’s going anywhere anytime soon.
Few can even stand up anymore. Some elected to
“On one hand, lifers have a miserable
polish their college apps with more respectable
existence because it’s this endless routine with
sports like tennis or track. Others, frustrated
no larger social purpose that just goes on until
by the ocean’s fickle ways, switched to the more
you die,” says American University’s Dr. Robert
regular fix of a half-pipe or speedboat. There
Johnson, who’s devoted his career to studying
were knocked-up girls. Broken legs. High-paying
inmates with life sentences. “On the other hand,
careers. Somehow, I avoided them all. But that
there’s this sense of pride. This is a difficult and
doesn’t mean I’m unique. Far from it.
dangerous world – and they have mastered it.”
“We’ve got two guys where I live who surf the
Prisoners convicted for life avoid the yard at
same wave every day and have for probably thirty
peak hours; surfers of conviction find uncrowded
years,” says Chris Malloy. “Sometimes I think,
line-ups. Long-term prisoners rarely hassle the
‘Haven’t they done this enough?’ But I’ve figured
guards; hardcore surfers know which locals not
out it’s not about getting their number 50,000
to fuck with. Both see new arrivals as threats to
entucky horse farms. That’s what I dream of
frontside, pocket ride and cutback. It’s the ritual.
their way of life. Both find solace in their fellow
between sets. Chasing fillies. Writing ‘The
At some point in your life, you don’t ask, ‘Why?’
‘old heads’. Both must frame their lives around
Great American Novel’ (yeah, right). A whole
It’s just what you do.”
limited opportunities. And whether it’s “always
alternative future that nearly played out – before
We call them ‘lifers’. For every new body in
have an extra set of booties” or “don’t drop
my rich college buddy failed to graduate and
the water, we need one more way to differentiate
the soap”, both stockpile details to establish a
lost his shot at running the family horse farm,
ourselves.
routine – all within the confines of a cage.
consigning us both to a life more ordinary. For
commitment – a borderline psychological flaw
“Lifers discover that prison is as good or as
me, that meant a surfboard, a beach house and
– has become street cred in a pastime that’s
bad as life is going to be for them and then try
not much else: an existence I more or less still
losing its fringe status. It’s a term with many
to figure out how to make a life for themselves,”
maintain, eighteen years later. Sometimes when
connotations – the military, gangs, convicted
says Johnson. “The difference is prisoners can’t
the waves are slow – and the pay cheques slower
prisoners – but it’s also the most fitting.
evolve into anything else. I’d hope that’s not the
still – the big questions start firing: would we
And
professing
a
never-ending
Do a little time at your local beachside
same for surfers.” You’d be surprised.
57
accumulation of goods. After all, at a time when
“The trick is to keep exploring surfing, stretching those bars of confinement to the furthest limits.”
government pensions can evaporate and goldplated careers can rust overnight, that fickle ocean looks surprisingly reliable. “We used to say that Duke Kahanamoku and Rell Sunn were the richest people we knew,” notes Gerry. “They didn’t have any money, but they lived for the surf. That was all they needed. So I don’t find anything wrong with a guy who’s fifty years old waiting tables at night so he can surf all day. I think that’s pretty goddamned commendable, really. But then maybe I’ve got blinkers on.”
The key? Keeping those blinkers on. Looking back, it’s not my surfing life that
February 29, 2004, Dale Webster
Furthermore, just as lifelong inmates learn
occasionally makes me feel like Walter Mitty
made the Guinness World Records for surfing a full
that rash behaviour is the fastest way to get
in a wetsuit – it’s my imaginary, alternative
lunar cycle. In order to secure his streak, he only
“locked down”, surfing lifers come to realise
future. That pile of ‘what ifs’ which, stacked just
took night jobs and never travelled more than
that self-control will guarantee more water time.
perfectly inside my mind’s eye, casts an enviable
two-hundred miles from the beach. This went on
That’s why the most respected greybeards aren’t
shadow over my ho-hum, daily existence. Truth
for 10,407 consecutive days. On March 1 – twenty-
the guys pounding liquor under the pier every
is, that alternate universe could just as easily
eight years and six months after he started –
single day; they’re the ones making short-term
have been an even bigger shit-pile of mishaps
Webster was free to do whatever he wanted. To
sacrifices that guarantee they’ll paddle out the
and misfortune. Or just a dull grind of traffic
go on a trip. Lace up the old rollerblades. Sleep
next day – and the day after that.
jams and screaming bosses. On the other hand, I
in. Instead he went down to his home break and
“I don’t think a lifer is someone who
can look at my current reality – a happy family, a
paddled out. Today, he’s pushing for a new record
destroyed their family and is going down to the
short bike ride to the beach, a warm, welcoming
of forty years straight.
beach because it’s the one place that will accept
wave-riding community when I get there – and
him,” says Malloy. “It’s a functioning, somewhat
say with conviction that the life I have is the one
so
healthy guy who – whether he’s a waiter or owns
I’ve always wanted. One that promises more
transcendental, I don’t even remember putting
his own business – has figured out a way to keep
surprises each time I suit up.
on my wetsuit. The next thing I know I’ve beaten
surfing well.”
“Sometimes it’s like the movie Groundhog Day,”
Webster
says.
“Other
times
it’s
the odds: I’m paddling out another day.”
“Over time, lifers get a kind of Zen capacity to
That’s what Dr. Johnson means by “evolving”.
live in the moment,” says Johnson. “So maybe the
While he’s surely the extreme case, Webster
You might call it “switching things up”. Whatever
lesson for surfers is if you focus on this life – as
exemplifies traits that all lifers share: nostalgia
the phrase, the trick is to keep exploring surfing,
opposed to other versions of the good life – you
for
missed
stretching those bars of confinement to the
can find daily satisfactions.”
opportunities; the defensive belief that framing
furthest limits. For Gary Linden, shaping big-
And maybe the best thing about surfing is
your entire existence around scoring the most
wave guns developed into charging larger surf.
its inherent Zen-like qualities. Every time we
surf possible is a worthwhile achievement, one
For legends like Tom Carroll and Luke Egan, it’s
paddle out, we continue to submit to something
the ‘real world’ will never understand. In other
morphing the kook’s pursuit of Stand Up Paddle
greater. Something we can’t control. Something
words, we’re not just chasing waves – we’re
surfing into an entirely new challenge. Then
that rewards us for obeying its natural rhythms
seeking notoriety and respect.
there’s Gerry Lopez, who opted to snowboard Mt.
with a series of logical, if/then statements: if I
Hood for two decades – and ultimately learned to
wake up early, then the wind and crowd will be
love Oregon’s cold-water haunts.
lighter; if I sleep in, then the tide will be lower; if
the
old
days;
bitterness
over
“It’s hard to understand sometimes,” says Dr. Richard Keefe, a sports psychologist at Duke University. “But if people feel like losers, they will find ways to create being a winner.”
My brother and I got our first surfboards on the very same day. He was and
“That’s the best thing about surfing,” says
I work today, then I can travel next year and surf
Lopez. “It’s so multifaceted, you don’t ever reach
a better wave. Over time it creates a quite orderly
a point where you go, ‘Been there, done that.’ It’s
picture of the cosmos that’s surprisingly reliable.
so deep that even Kelly Slater is challenged. Even
Comforting. And ultimately, liberating. At least
at his level, he’s still trying to better his surfing.
once you accept there’s no escape.
And that’s kind of cool.”
In the words of Dale Webster: “To me, it’s
remains a stronger athlete, and has always been
While Slater may be the only surfer to
in God’s hands. When the time comes that the
infinitely ballsier. So why did he quit at fifteen
literally improve with age, the rest of us can
infinite intelligence doesn’t want me to surf
while I’m cruising toward forty?
still seek out new ways to feel fulfilled. Learning
anymore then it will end. But as long as the car
“I guess I was too competitive,” he says. “I
weather patterns, timing swells, understanding
starts, the wetsuits zip up and the waves come in,
watched you and the other guys and realised I’d
equipment; the more you ferment in saltwater,
I can’t see myself stopping.”
never be that good. So I did other stuff.”
the stronger these skills become. Add them up
My brother lies. I was never any good.
and it’s easy to see how the grandpa with earplugs
Ironically, that’s been my saving grace. A former
keeps poaching sets from the impatient young
hellman may get bored when he can no longer go
buck. More importantly, it’s easy to understand
big. I’m giddy just getting slapped in the head by
why he’s put so much energy into stockpiling
a cramped, waist-high tube.
waves while his contemporaries obsess over the
58 HUCK
MicahLester by Greg Funnell
I n the sec ond h it of ou r y e a r -long c r e a t ive b r i e f , p h o to g r a p h e r G r eg F u n n el l h ea d s to th e O ’ N e i l l C o l d Water C la s s ic in T h u rs o Ea s t , S c ot la nd. H i s mi s s i o n ? To ca p tu r e s u r f e r M i ca h L es te r ’ s e v e r y mo v e .
Name Micah Lester Age Thirty Home Burleigh Heads, Australia (now Cornwall, England)
When were you last surprised? Three days ago; I chipped a tooth.
What is happiness to you? Surfing perfect waves with just a few of my closest friends.
How much is enough? When you have enough to share.
What’s the greatest lesson you’ve ever learned, and from who? That if you don’t learn from your mistakes, you will have to go through them all over again. I learned that myself, the hard way.
When did you last let yourself go? After I lost in the O’Neill Cold Water Classic.
If the world ended tomorrow, what would you do today? I would throw the biggest party I could.
What has been your greatest regret? Not following my instincts at every opportunity.
What does success look like to you? I was thinking about this the other day. I saw an old lady working as a waitress and her face was permanently shaped into a frown. You couldn’t not notice that she must have lived a really unhappy life. I figure success is, at the end of your days, being able to look back and be proud of it. You can tell the older people who are proud; their faces show the marks from smiling too much.
How do you keep your ego in check? I coach a bunch of kids; they put me in my place all the time.
What is the one thing that you will never do? Qualify for the women’s volleyball team.
What qualities do you most like in people? Honesty and self-belief. What qualities do you most despise in people? Negativity and arrogance.
What is your greatest fear? Breaking my back.
What does the future look like? The eighties. It seems to come back into fashion every six months.
What is the meaning of life? I don’t think it’s complicated. I think you’re meant to enjoy it for everything it has to offer, appreciate it and keep it going by popping out a couple of kids.
What are your worst and best traits? I don’t give up. That one has worked out to be both good and bad.
If you could right one wrong in the world, what would it be? I would make it so airlines can’t sting you with excess for having surfboards.
What gets your blood boiling? When people litter, it really shits me. Who or what were you in a previous life? A gypsy. What gets your heart pumping? Big barrels. What would you do with your life if the oceans dried up? I guess I would snowboard. Would you rather be too warm or too cold, and why? Too warm. Where I grew up it’s semi-tropical so I can handle heat. What do you want that you can’t have? I want it all, I just haven’t figured out how to get all of it yet.
When is it okay to lie? When you tell kids about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. What is the worst thing someone could accuse you of ? Not being true to myself. What is the one thing about you most people don’t know? I live in the ocean, but I absolutely hate seafood. What do you miss the most when on the road? My family.
How would you describe yourself to a blind person? I’d just let them have a feel around and find out for themselves. What gets you up in the morning? It’s normally either my alarm clock, the sun shining through my window or one of my mates banging on the door to go surfing. Who or what inspires you? Andy Irons was a pretty big inspiration for me.
60 HUCK
What do you think about before you fall asleep? Some pretty weird stuff, honestly I don’t think I can tell you about it. If you could only keep three possessions, what would they be? My camera, my laptop and my board. Why do you surf? Because I enjoy it; surfing is the reason I have such a great life.
i.
ii.
iii.
Adrian Rubi-Dentzel 61
iv.
v.
62 HUCK
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
63
Appendix The c oa s t line of nort h S c ot la nd is u nfor g i v i n g . F r o m th e cr o o k e d tr ees a n d tel eg r a p h p o l es to th e fortress-like nu c le a r powe r pla nt of Dou nr e a y, e v e r y th i n g s o l i d l i es b a tter e d a n d b r u i s ed , th a n k s to th e harsh so uth we s t e r ly w inds t h a t s we e p in fr o m F a i r I s l e. A l l a l o n g th e co a s t, me a n w h i l e , th e v i ci o u s r o ck y headlands fa ll s h a r ply int o t h e s e a . W h e r e th e cl i f f s d o r el en t, th ey g i v e w a y to o p en b ea ch e s th a t a r e bleak and winds w e pt . Bu t t h e re is a be a u t y i n th e h a r s h n es s ; a n e n e r g y th a t’ s h a r d to d e s cr i b e . A s th e elem e nt s c om e t oge t h e r, t h e y for m a w e s o me s w el l s f o r th o s e w h o d a r e to r i s k th e co l d . And plent y s e e m pre pa r e d t o do s o. T h e w o r l d ’ s s u r f i n g el i te h a s d es ce n d e d u p o n T h u r s o E a s t f o r th e sec ond le g of t h e O ’Ne ill C old Wa t e r C la s s i c, a n d th e s p o i l s th ey ’ r e f i g h ti n g f o r a r e p r etty u n i q u e . A full-sized Hi gh la nd s wor d wit h a n a c c om pa ny i n g l a n d d e e d w i l l b e h a n d e d to w h o ev er ta k e s f i r s t p l a ce . T h e day I arriv e, a ll t a lk is foc u s e d on one m a n: M i ca h L es te r, th e A u s tr a l i a n - b o r n C o r n w a l l - d w el l er w h o s co r ed a perfect te n in h is firs t h e a t . A r m e d wit h a ca me r a , I d e ci d e d to tr a ck d o w n th i s A n ti p o d ea n tr a n s p l a n t a nd c a pt u r e h i s b a ttl e f o r th e s w o r d .
i. Micah makes his way past a farmer's field and down a gulley onto a
vi. Micah suits up ahead of a competition heat – the temperature
break known as Bagpipes, or Baggers for short. It isn’t surfed much
of the water warrants a winter skin but he’s prepared to sacrifice
by the locals; the waves break dangerously close to the rock ledges
warmth for a slightly thinner, more manoeuvrable wetsuit like
and at least one pro surfer took a ding to the head that day.
the 4/3. A silent resolve descends as he gets himself into the right state of mind for competing.
ii. Micah watches the break having emerged from a session in the frigid waters. Back in his native Australia, preparation consists of
vii. The surfers attend a signing ceremony set up for a local
slinging on some board shorts and paddling out. Having lived in
crowd, which consists mostly of a gaggle of giggling girls.
the UK for eight years, he’s a bit more used to the ritual that goes
Though Micah claimed the event’s first ten-point ride, it’s fellow
into cold-water surfing – even so, Thurso pushes his limits.
Aussie Brent Dorrington who takes first place. Micah, however, remains jovial throughout: he chats happily to one punter about
iii. Micah paddles out in an area known locally as Shit Pipe, due
oceanography, then turns to discuss the virtues of his camera
to an old sewage pipe that used to run into the bay. He was closely
kit with a keen teenage photographer. There’s no pretence, no
followed by two curious local residents – seals who intermittently
arrogance – just an eagerness to share the joy he finds in surfing.
popped their heads up, intrigued by the stranger paddling around on their turf.
viii. A break at Baggers. While I shoot this, local surfer Patrick Murphy – a Californian brought up in Hawaii who is almost twice
iv. Micah, watching the heats before his own, takes shelter in
the age of most competing pros – recounts with a grin how he and
the relative warmth of the van he drove up in with his roommate
other locals, inspired by the pro surfers in town, had been taking
Stuart Campbell. At this level of surfing so much preparation goes
to the water more than they usually would at this time of year.
into the competitions: strict diets and exercise regimes have a part to play, as do the complex strategies and tactics implemented by
ix. Micah tries to get the blood circulating again having just come
the surfers in each heat.
out the water. The back of his van is piled up with a quiver of nine boards, each tuned differently for varying conditions. In his
v. Downtime in a town like Thurso isn’t that glamorous – if the
final heat, he chooses the wrong board: it keeps digging into the
boys aren’t surfing or looking for surf, they soon get bored. Sat
wave, costing him his confidence and a few key opportunities.
in the hotel room they share, an episode of Britain’s Got Talent
When he emerges, he looks devastated and vows never to trust
seems to momentarily hold their attention, reminding them of
that board again
another world that exists far from here, one with a very different set of values and rewards.
64 HUCK
oneill.com/cwc
Greg Funnell
WWW.TEVA.CO.UK TEVA UK ON FACEBOOK
The Singularity
On Risk “I’m not oblivious to the dangers [of man merging with machine]. I’m optimistic that we’ll make it through without destroying civilisation – which
When Ray Kurzweil looks into the future, h i s e y e s f i x at e o n t h e rise of the machines.
doesn’t go without saying, because even as we speak there are still 10,000 or 20,000 thermonuclear weapons that could wipe out all of humanity on a hair-trigger. But overall I’m optimistic that we won’t destroy ourselves completely. I’m less optimistic that we will completely avoid painful
Interview Cyrus Shahrad Illustration Frode Skaren
incidents along the way: a future populated with warring groups of humans enhanced with Artificial Intelligence is obviously a worrying possibility,
No one really knows what the future will look like,
On Humanity
but Ray Kurzweil thinks he’s got it sussed. In 1998,
which is all the more reason to put the necessary safeguards in place as soon as possible.”
the inventor-turned-futurist published The Age of
“People say we’ll lose our humanity, but that is
Spiritual Machines, in which he laid out a vision
the essence of humanity in my view: the ability
that, should it come to pass, would propel humanity
to transcend limitations. We didn’t stay on the
into an artificial age. By 2029, he wrote, man would
ground, we didn’t stay on the planet, and we didn’t
be able to prolong his lifespan indefinitely through
stay within the limitations of our biology. We’ve
advances in biogenetics and nanotechnology, and
already quadrupled human life expectancy, and
would ultimately become all but indistinguishable
that’s going to really go into high gear.”
from the robots he had created. The point at which man transcends mortality and merges with machine, says Kurzweil, will come to be known as ‘the singularity’: a sort of Rapture for technophiles; a terrifying prospect for the religious right; and a point of ridicule for cynics in between. So is this
On Digital Activism
simply sci-fi crazy talk, or the rational prophecy of a preternatural mind? HUCK caught up with Kurzweil – whose own life has been immortalised
“In [my 1990 book] The Age of Intelligent Machines,
in the recent documentary Transcendent Man – to
I predicted that the Soviet Union would be
get a better picture of the scenes inside his head.
swept away by the then-emerging decentralised communication network. People didn’t believe that a superpower could be overcome by a few teletype machines. The battle was won by a clandestine
On Immortality
network of hackers that kept everyone in the know. The old paradigm of the authorities grabbing a
On 2029
“There is beauty to be had in transcending death.
central TV or radio station and plunging everyone
Although we don’t yet have the scientific means,
into the dark just didn’t work anymore. And now,
we already have the imaginative capacity to
with the rise of social networking and young
contemplate a life without death. Religion talks
people being able to compare their own standards
about that; whether those visions are realistic or
of living with others, everybody wants the same
not, the visions exist. The reality of death is really
thing. It’s a powerful democratising force, and it’s
quite tragic, despite our attempts to celebrate it.
bringing the nations of the world closer together
And we don’t need the limitations of death in order
all the time.”
to appreciate life. What’s really beautiful about life is our ability to have relationships, to accumulate
“The essence of what I’m predicting is that the
knowledge, to appreciate art. Those things are
distinction that we make between virtual reality
destroyed by the process of ageing and death.”
and everyday reality in terms of realism is going to disappear. Similarly the distinction between biological
human
intelligence
and
artificial
intelligence is going to disappear. […] Same with virtual reality and virtual bodies: soon we’ll be able to have different bodies for different situations, we’ll have millions of virtual environments that we can explore, and they won’t have the cartoon-like quality of [online role-playing game] Second Life – they’ll be highly realistic. We’ll still be limited by our imaginations, but they’ll be expanding also.”
66 HUCK
On Art
years, and has been for twenty years. It’s only
as expensive as it was two years ago. […] The
eight doublings away from being able to deal
computer you just called me on is a billion times
“The tools of creativity are available to everyone,
with one hundred per cent of the world’s energy
more powerful per unit currency than the one I
and I see this very vividly when I look back on
needs... if only we could convert it. And our
used when I was a student, and it will be a billion
my musician father, who had to struggle just
ability to do that is increasing as we approach
times more powerful again after another twenty-
to hear his compositions. […] There would be
the point where we can apply nanotechnology
five years. And that’s true of every aspect of this
late-night discussions with people who were
to solar panels. […] There’s going to be a new
technology. We see already how sophisticated
going to fund the performance, the headache of
agricultural revolution using vertical farming:
countries are becoming that people thought
securing orchestra members. […] Today a kid in
growing
artificial
were in the third world and not really in touch:
a dorm room can do that with his or her personal
intelligence, recycling the nutrients within the
users in Africa and rural China now have access
computer. And you can get your music or your
building so there’s no ecological damage. And
to more information than the US president did
art out to a world audience, and if it’s destined
we’ll start using three-dimensional printers to
fifteen years ago. And look at how informed
to catch on then it will. [...] That’s true of all art
mass produce the building blocks for houses
people in the Middle East are now.”
forms, and that’s a real democratisation.”
that you can snap together Lego-style to deal
food
in
buildings
using
with housing issues in developing countries.”
On War “We’ve certainly had plenty of painful incidents
On The Anti-Technology Relinquishment Movement
On The Information Age “People say that when we know everything
in the twentieth century: 180 million people died in that century’s wars. But I think you can make a
“I think relinquishment is a bad idea for three
there won’t be anything left to know, but in
strong case that even that’s getting better. [...] Sixty
reasons. Firstly, it would deprive us of profound
fact the more we know, the more we know we
million people died in World War II alone. We get
benefits. I think we have a moral imperative to
don’t know. The circle of ignorance also grows
upset now, and rightly so, with wars that produce
try to cure cancer, for example, and overcome the
exponentially. There wasn’t a whole lot that cave
thousands of casualties. People actually believe
suffering that still exists in the world. Secondly,
men or women thought they didn’t know.”
that things are getting worse, that the world’s going
it would require a totalitarian government to
to hell in a hand basket, but that’s because we now
implement a ban on technology. And thirdly, it
have better visibility of the world’s problems.
would force these technologies underground,
When there’s a battle in Fallujah or Tripoli it’s
where they would actually be more dangerous.”
there on our palmtops; we’re right there in a way we weren’t decades ago. And that’s a good thing, because it forces us to deal with the problems.”
On Sceptics “I look at myself years ago, and I didn’t readily
On Technology’s Exponential Growth
accept these ideas in five minutes either. I constantly encounter people who haven’t heard ideas along these lines, and they have commonly
“When I came to MIT it had one computer:
held contempt for the notion that our species
you needed influence to get inside the building
is unique in its ability to transcend biological
and you had to be an engineer to use it. Now
limitations. People have been rationalising their
computers
the
philosophies about things like death and ageing
poorest nations of the world, and the law of
for millennia, and these ideas are not easily
“This is another of these myopic views: that we’re
accelerating returns means they get cheaper as
dispensed with.”
running out of energy, food and water. That’s
they become more ubiquitous. Today you can
nonsense: solar energy is doubling every two
buy an iPhone that’s twice as powerful and half
O n Th e E n v i r o n m e n t
are
everywhere,
including
transcendentman.com
67
Libya: Beyond the Rubble 68 HUCK
In an earnest union of images and words, Libyan w r i t e r Ta s n i m Q u t a i t p a i n t s a vision of a future the y o u t h a r e f i g h t i n g f o r, while photographer Guy Martin – still recovering from an attack in Misrata that left photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros dead – captures the obstacles of chaos they need to overcome first. Te x t Ta s n i m Q u t a i t Photography Guy Martin
ou named us the generation of anger. We’ve answered, now see our anger.” So went the cries that broke forty years of
fear
in
Libya,
turning
Gaddafi’s
propaganda against him. Inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, once silenced voices, both young and old, took to the streets in February – from Benghazi in the east to Zintan in the west – and demanded a better future. But what started out as peaceful protest has since spiralled into civil war. While it would be a mistake to call this a youth-led revolt, in Libya – as in almost every Arab country – more than half the population is under thirty. Their aspirations, however, are stifled not only by high levels of unemployment, the rising cost of living, lack of affordable housing and an absence of opportunities, but also by the straitjacket of authoritarian rule. Having heard tales from their parents of previous
69
failed attempts at revolt, all of which were brutally suppressed by
the iron fist of a brutal and corrupt regime have finally found
the regime, the feeling among the young was one of widespread
the freedom to express their aspirations. In a country where free
disillusionment, and a sense of resignation that the future meant
press was non-existent, multiplicity is already emerging in over
more of the same.
fifty new local newspapers and scores of new radio stations, both
All these factors have fuelled demands for “a constitution,
local and national, such as Libya FM and Tribute FM, which
freedom, social justice”, which became a rallying cry for those
describes itself as “Libya’s first free, independent and urban
gathered in front of the Benghazi courthouse during the early days
English radio station”. Along with the graffiti and painted murals
of the uprising. According to surveys conducted before the unrest,
appearing around the city, the political rap scene in Benghazi is
the priority for young people across the region is simply greater
another indication of how much has changed in ‘Libya al Hurra’
political participation – the ability to have a say in their own
(Free Libya): rap songs capturing anger and frustration, recorded
country. This is especially true of Libya, where the personality
since the start of the revolt, are now being sold downtown. Young
cult of Muammar Gaddafi allowed no space for anyone but the
people who took part in the uprising from the very beginning are
‘Brother Leader’; news channels were under orders to avoid
now finding creative outlets to support the revolution and help
referring to officials or even football players by name, ensuring
shape the future of their country.
that Gaddafi was virtually the only public figure in the country.
In Benghazi’s ‘Freedom Square’ – amid the flags, homemade
As a result of the erratic regime’s funding of civil wars and
banners and photos of the dead and missing – the courthouse
terrorism abroad, Gaddafi had only fair-weather friends, many
is home to media centres and committees, some grappling with
of whom soon abandoned him. With nothing to lose, he moved
economic, legal and political challenges such as drafting the
to crush dissent with his brigades and turned what began as a
constitution, while other youth committees respond to more
peaceful, inclusive, spontaneous grassroots movement into an all-
immediate community needs: directing traffic, collecting garbage,
out war that has claimed the lives of untold thousands.
guarding public buildings, volunteering in bakeries, hospitals,
“ V i s i o n s f o r t h e f u t u r e m a y d i f f e r, b u t young Libyans share the aspiration to live in a country where they will have the f r e e d o m t o d e t e r m i n e t h e i r o w n d e s t i n y. ”
While fighting is still underway, the young Libyans who used social-networking sites to organise and amplify their protests
refugee camps, cooking free meals and distributing aid – as well as digging graves for the dead returning from the front lines.
now use them to share day-to-day updates of the situation on the
What characterises the Libyan revolution is symptomatic of the
ground; to find out the latest on the siege of the Nafusa mountains
wave of uprisings sweeping the region: a broad base unified around
and the developments on the western front as the opposition
the basic themes of freedom, justice and equality. No one can predict
moves closer to the capital, Tripoli. For many, it is difficult to look
the future, but after forty years of utopian state ideology, young
ahead to the future as the fighting continues – their focus is on the
Libyans dream of “a state of institutions” rather than idealising a
present: mourning loved ones who have lost their lives; worrying
single personality or party as the solution. Already, young men and
for relatives in cities still under the regime’s control; and dealing
women are focused on building up an independent civil society that
with military, economic and political challenges.
can hold the interim and later elected government accountable.
Yet across the country, there is a new patriotism and spirit
Visions for the future may differ, but young Libyans share the
of emancipation, tempered by an awareness of the difficulties
aspiration to live in a country where they will have the freedom to
ahead. After so many decades of the same regime, in a country
determine their own destiny, and where they will be able to choose
where the constitution has been dissolved and political parties
(and just as importantly, change) their leaders, just as they share
and civil organisations simply don’t exist, managing the
the conviction that there is no going back. No matter how long or
transition process will be challenging, as efforts to structure a
difficult the path to freedom may be, change must occur, and it must
civil society and a government which respects human rights
bring with it a better future
and the rule of law will have to begin almost from a blank slate. This opens up a world of speculation and anxiety, but also one of
Tasnim Qutait is a Libyan post-graduate student at Uppsala
excitement and opportunity.
University's Department of English in Sweden, and a contributor at
In the liberated east, a young generation who grew up under
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Muslimah Media Watch.
Top: Rebel fighters take a break after a heavy gun battle that ended with Gaddafi's forces being pushed back, April 19, 2011. Bottom: Mourners gather for the funeral of a fallen rebel fighter in Misrata, April 13, 2011.
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Top: Sudanese refugees were held at the port as authorities denied them access to Qatar-sponsored boats reserved solely for Arab third-country nationals, April 18, 2011. Bottom: Heavy street fighting between in Misrata. Hours later, photographer Guy Martin was injured in an RPG attack, April 20, 2011.
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Top: Family's flee their homes in Ajdabiya after weeks of fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi. Bottom: A doctor tends to a rebel, who was shot in the spine, in the Al-Hekma hospital, April 18, 2011.
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t h e
n o m a d
D i o n A g i u s c h a s e s f r e e d o m f o r a l i v i n g . B u t i n t h e u n p r e d i c ta b l e w o r l d o f f r e e s u r f i n g , t h e c o n t r a c t e d w a n d e r e r i s s e l d o m f r e e. Te x t Te t s u h i k o E n d o a n d P h o t o g r a p h y L o u M o r a
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something clip-worthy before the sun disappears
He isn’t particularly fazed by the insecurity
behind a gathering storm. The last week has been
of his job, and has no illusions about his place in
bereft of good surf, leaving him plenty of time
the industry. In his own words he is a surfer who
to wonder exactly what his job is all about: “It’s
“teeters on the edge of being in and out of vogue”.
strange because I’ve been home for three weeks
“Whereas someone like Mick or Parko or
now. As soon as I leave I can’t wait to come back.
Slater,” he continues, “they’re so good, there’s
But as soon as I’m here for a week or two, I can’t
no denying them. In my eyes, Dane [Reynolds,
wait to get moving again.”
though he no longer needs a surname] sits above
People who love the road seem connected
everyone because he has that talent but he also has
somehow. Essentially, they’re greedy: they can’t
a bunch of other interesting shit that he likes. He
settle, not in, nor for, and their commitment to non-
has opinions on things and he is well educated.
commitment comes to define them, sometimes
Magazines need him; he has the power in those
destroys them. Hemingway and Thompson blew
situations. Whereas I feel like my surfing is not
their own brains out. Chatwin contracted AIDS
to that level and I feel like the media has latched
somewhere between Patagonia and London. We
onto this thing where it’s like, ‘Oh, you like things
already know about ol’ Jacky. Even the original
other than [competitive] surfing, that’s cool.’”
romantic vagabond, Quixote, died broken and
He says this without any chagrin. His artistic
disillusioned with Sancho weeping at his side,
take on surf culture – which manifests as shaky
begging him for one more adventure.
Super 8 videos and homemade digi-zines like
“Your relationships with people suffer,” Agius
Proxy Noise – is a marketeer's dream. It’s all just
concedes. “I’ve had a couple of close relationships
a calculation, like a stock trader reading the
with girls in the last few years that I’ve had to break
market. The Agius men are entrepreneurs. His
off and they are like, ‘What the fuck is wrong with
father was a food wholesaler and restaurateur
you?’ But I honestly have to be like this because I
before going bankrupt in 2009. Since then, Agius
can’t sit down in one place for too long.”
has been helping to support his parents one web
He doesn’t have to either. His lifestyle and
clip at a time.
his brand, one and the same, revolve around the
“One second you are cool, then the next big
selling power of the neo-vagabond image. And
thing comes along and all of a sudden you’re
although he’s unabashedly dedicated to it,
out, because you are not as good as Dane and
he’s the first to admit that it isn’t exactly his
they don’t need you. That’s scary. You’re at their
image: “You can’t decide what you’re going to
disposal and you have to keep them happy while
do when you’re eighteen and just getting out of
they are also trying to keep you happy for as long
ou don’t find Dion Agius: you intersect him. From
school. Unless you are some sort of genius with a
as you are in… It all goes around in a big circle.”
the time we first meet in a bar in New York, it takes
comprehensive marketing plan, it’s going to take
a year and three different continents before we
someone in a company to help you out.”
As many surfers before him have found, it’s hard to move forward when you are stuck in a tight
For Agius, that someone was Steve Douglas
circle. Without competition wins to validate you,
of Globe who plucked the young star out of the
how do you keep appeasing the ravenous fifteen-
“the
amateur competitive ranks and told him that
year-olds who determine your market value?
one noble function of our time”. Sounds nice,
he didn’t want a heat winner – he wanted a free
Agius snorts ruefully and I get the feeling he
but the words look thin when held up to the
surfer. You get the feeling that it was a relief for
has put a bit of thought into this as he tries to fill
dirty streetlights of a truck stop outside some
Agius – a gifted surfer, but one who lacks the single-
his surfless days: “I don’t know how long it will
abandoned town.
mindedness that defines most great competitors.
last. I just re-signed with Globe a couple of months
collide again on the east coast of Australia. And even then, it takes an eight-hour road trip. Kerouac
called
rootless
travelling
On the road, in search of Agius, also on the
“I pretty much attribute everything that I’ve
ago. It’s a four-year deal with an optional four
road. In the last five years, he hasn’t spent more
been able to do to Steve Douglas,” he volunteers.
years after that. That’s great. But the longevity
than a month in any one place. Professionally, his
But it gets bizarre, this lifestyle marketing,
in free surfing is a tough thing. You’ve got to keep
hustle has paid dividends: everyone knows who
this marketing lifestyle. “Honest to God: ninety-
finding ways to reinvent the wheel. And how do
he is, but no one knows much about him. He’s
eight per cent of every single thing I’ve done in
you do that? How do you stay at the top of your
that aerial guy, that hipster surfer, the artist, the
the last five years has been work related,” Agius
game and keep doing things that are interesting?
businessman. Doesn’t he come from Tasmania? Is
says, “and I hate saying that because it’s just
We don’t have a timeless skill-set like a journalist,
it true he drives a Porsche and bootlegs alcohol?
surfing, you know. I would never say to people
for instance. We don’t have a set schedule of
that I just went to Indonesia to work because it
events where we can say, oh, I got third in that
sounds stupid.”
event. You have to keep staying relevant.”
He does come from Tasmania, but the family moved to the Gold Coast when he was a kid. He came up surfing heats at the Snapper Boardriders
The sky darkens along with Agius’ hopes of
It starts to rain buckets and Hall disappears to
Club, a few years after guys like Mick Fanning
getting a few clips. Globe is in the dream-selling
the car. We sit in silence until a wave comes and
and Joel Parkinson. He has a place in Byron Bay
business and he is their man on the ground. But if
Agius snatches it, surfing like there is no yesterday
now, the closest thing to a home. “The most I ever
the waves he rides don’t make it through the camera
and all his tomorrows depend on it
get in one place is a month, max,” he says, as we
lenses, his relevancy clock begins to tick. The
float between sets at a windy beach break south of
down-days are the worst – the endless surf checks,
the famous bay. His filmer and best friend Beren
Facebooking, emailing, wondering what the hell
Left: Dion Agius builds a temporary home – a tent
Hall sits poised on the beach, hoping Agius will do
he can do to “at least make people think I’m busy”.
housed inside a warehouse – during a trip to LA.
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Another Way of Life A p r i s o n e r s t a n d s o n o n e s i d e o f t h e l a w, a n d t h e f r e e m a n s ta n d s o n t h e o t h e r . B u t w h at r e a l ly s e pa r at e s these two people, and how do we bridge the divide? The f o l l o w i n g f o u r i n d e p e n d e n t o r g a n i s at i o n s a r e w o r k i n g w i t h prisoners and ex-offenders to turn their lives around. Are people born ‘evil’ or do some of the system’s children s i m p ly fa l l t h r o u g h t h e c r a c k s ?
“The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1821-1881
Te x t S h e l l e y J o n e s & P h o t o g r a p h y J a c k i e D e w e M a t h e w s
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ehind a scattering of modern outbuildings and extended wings, the red-brick towers of HMP Bristol, a Victorian prison founded in 1883, rise up to the sky. At the centre, it’s a surprisingly traditional building, windows crosshatched with bars and high walls lined with barbed wire. But beyond the old-fashioned exterior there is a progressive space for change – a workshop, about the size of a community hall, where prisoners participate in a number of rehabilitative projects. When we arrive at the beginning of June, a group of prisoners in the far corner of the workshop are assembling remembrance poppies – an envied duty as these prisoners hold the forces in high regard – and in the central section, among cranks, tires and oily rags, another group are working for BikeBack – a bicycle recycling project set up by Bristolbased charity Life Cycle UK. The workshop leader, Dave Rudland, looks over the trainee mechanics as they strip down frames, clean parts and reassemble the bikes that will be sold at a market in the city at the end of the month. “I love doing this,” says John*, thirty weeks into a two-year sentence. “It gets so boring, being inside.” Of the six hundred-plus prisoners held at HMP Bristol, many are on remand and will likely be moved on within a matter of weeks – a systemwide phenomenon referred to as ‘churn’, which sees prisoners transported at random between various prisons to deal with overcrowding and local, pre-trial incarceration. It makes it difficult for prisoners to form relationships with rehabilitators and lift themselves out of the repetitive cycle of crime. In fact, the stats say over fifty per cent of these prisoners will reoffend within a year of release. But for prisoners like John, who has spent four hours a day, five days a week at BikeBack for the majority of his thirty weeks inside, it’s exactly
Adrian Rubi-Dentzel 77
these projects that offer a way out. “Prison gives you time to reflect,” he says. “Once I’m on road [free], I’m never coming back in here.” Another prisoners, who was homeless and addicted to heroin at the time of his imprisonment, says he will use his newfound skills as a mechanic to approach bike shops and try to get a job. On the horror of prison he says: “At least you’re safe in here, and you have somewhere to stay.”
risons are too soft, sceptics often exclaim. But Jacqui, sixty-two, a volunteer at HMP Wandsworth disagrees. “Prison is not a holiday camp,” she says angrily. “It’s a holiday camp from hell. I mean, Wandsworth prison was designed with one-man cells, and each cell now has two men. It is not a pleasant place. But the prisoners are very good as a whole, they’re very accepting. People say, ‘Oh, but they have televisions,’ but they have to work for those televisions, and they’re tiny. I personally would go insane if I shared a cell with someone who had the telly on loud when I was locked up seventeen hours a day. [...] A lot of inmates are mentally unstable.” In fact, according to a recent Green Paper commissioned by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke called Breaking the Cycle, over seventy per cent of sentenced prisoners in the UK suffer from two or more mental health disorders, with ten per cent of those suffering with psychotic illnesses. Jacqui has volunteered at Fine Cell Work – a charity that teaches needlework to prisoners – for eight years and she has been amazed at the enthusiasm from prisoners, considering the effeminate nature of the craft. “In actual fact the men get a lot of credence from the other men because they get paid well [a third of the sale],” she says. “And they’re just so desperate for something to do. There’s an awful lot of sitting around doing nothing in prison, and wasted time
78 HUCK
“There seems to be this dark side to humanity that thinks if you treat someone badly, they’ll g e t b e t t e r. ”
isn’t good for anyone. [...] Many prisoners get depressed and spend
musical revolution stateside with Jail Guitar Doors, an organisation
a staggering amount of time asleep, because it passes the time. [...] I
founded in the UK by protest musician Billy Bragg. Named after
mean they’ve had very, very mixed-up lives some of them. I used to
the Clash song (which Joe Strummer wrote with Wayne in mind),
run after-school clubs and we sometimes felt we could see the kids
the initiative aims to empower inmates through music. Wayne
who would end up in Wandsworth, aged seven, because it’s a vicious
explains: “We encourage prisoners to use guitars as tools to express
circle. They’re not getting support from home, perhaps. Some of
themselves. [...] There seems to be this dark side to humanity that
them can’t get a job because they’ve got no skills. So you feel, well, if
thinks if you treat someone badly, they’ll get better. But the only
I’d started life like that, I could have ended up here, too.”
way people ever change for the better is through a change of heart.
And it’s not just the guys in charge who believe in the
Education isn’t enough; if you educate a serious criminal, you have
transformative power of ‘having something to do’. Feedback from
an educated serious criminal. It takes a change of heart, and that
prisoners suggests self-development activities, like needlework,
requires being part of a community and being responsible towards
really do seep through and have a positive impact. Design co-
and for other people. [...] We think the process of writing a song is
ordinator at Fine Cell Work Elena Hall explains: “We’ve got letters
a way that incarcerated people can express themselves in new and
from prisoners saying they’ve stopped self-harming because they’ve
non-confrontational ways. It’s a way to process complex feelings
finally found something that they’re good at, they’ve got pride in,
and emotions and then communicate them to other people.”
and that calms them down. [...] It’s not going to be everyone but
It was music that got Wayne through his time in prison after he
I think the majority of people that we work with have a positive
was arrested and convicted for dealing drugs in 1975. He met Red
transformation through FCW. One prisoner, who was in isolation at
Rodney, an American jazz trumpeter formerly of Charlie Parker’s
Wandsworth because his involvement in gang culture made him a
quintet, and formed a prison band to play in the Sunday chapel. He
risk to other prisoners, now visits schools to educate children about
served only two years, yet thanks to punitive measures introduced
staying away from crime. [...] Jacqui worked with the prisoner for six
over the next forty years, a similar crime, according to Wayne, could
or seven years and he said it was feeling part of a family that helped
warrant a twenty-year sentence today. He explains: “People are
him turn his life around.”
afraid because they see terrible reports on the local television news
Of course, some people who have committed heinous crimes
of horrendous acts of violence, and everyone thinks that’s waiting
may never re-enter society, but the majority of prisoners will and
around the corner for them. When in fact, people are no more violent
their worldview will be considerably shaped by their time inside.
today than they have ever been. Your chances of being a victim of a
In the US – where a prison population of 2.5 million (twenty-
violent crime are very low, but there’s money in promoting this idea
five per cent of the global prison population and one in every
and there’s political power in it and when politicians discovered
hundred Americans) swamps the UK’s figure of 85,000 – the issue
they could win votes by being ‘tough on crime’, it became a real force
is particularly poignant. Former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer
in American culture, and I think in world culture. So they built all
– whose seminal ‘Kick Out the Jams’ became the sound of the
these prisons, they passed all these laws and they sentenced people
disenfranchised working class in the seventies – is spearheading a
to decades and decades of imprisonment. But now it’s all blown
79
“ P r i s o n e r s m ay h av e b r o k e n a l a w, but they're regular people like you and I. Only a very small percentage are violent criminals that should be separated from the rest of us.” up in their faces because the country is broke; no one can afford
Dean won an art competition through a rehabilitative project
to maintain these prisons and in fact the people they’ve locked up
at HMP Wandsworth and left prison in 2004 determined not to
aren’t getting better, they’re getting worse. And it’s because they
reoffend. He formed Art Saves Lives in 2009 to help others do
locked them up for so long in such terrible conditions.”
the same and although it gets by on a shoestring, Dean’s endless
Part of rehabilitating prisoners back into society involves
enthusiasm and passion is pushing it forward onto exciting new
making prisons more transparent and breaking down stereotypes
pastures. “Our new theatre opens in July,” he says, “and I want it
of ex-prisoners as dangerous, hopeless cases. Although they can
to feature completely new writing. I’ve had a few people who’ve
be sensationalist, Wayne thinks Louis Theroux’s documentaries
been turned down by big theatres come to me, but this is not the
– which go inside some of America’s toughest penitentiaries,
rejects' theatre. I want new, fresh, raw writing that people are
including Miami’s high-security ‘super jail’ – are a good start.
taking chances with. I just want to see drive.”
“The documentaries tell you the truth about life in prison in
And despite waning interest from the fickle world of critics,
America today,” says Wayne. “Some parts really glorify fear and
Dean has continued to do well with his own work – his new play
violence, but generally, I think it’s good that people can see what’s
Secrets from the Long Grass runs at the Brockley Jack Studio
going on. [...] We need to start having this conversation and it’s
Theatre until July – beyond the 'ex-offender' mantle. “I learned
not a cool conversation, but I think musicians and artists are
very early on that I was going to be invited to the door, but I was
uniquely positioned to make it a cool conversation. If we can
not going to be invited in,” he says. “Criminals are talented people.
start this conversation now, then when legislation is ready to get
They’re creative, because they have to be. Sometimes when you’re
passed, everyone will know what we’re talking about and we’ll be
in an art class and you’re next to someone who can’t read or write
able to make a political change. [...] Prisoners may have broken a
– which is why, perhaps, they’ve always been involved in crime –
law, but they’re regular people like you and I. Only a very small
and you see them pick up a pen for the first time, fucking hell, it’s
percentage of them are violent criminals that should be separated
amazing. Because you don’t know what’s going to happen. And
from the rest of us. A society is not judged on its rich and powerful,
then they say, ‘I used to like drawing when I was seven,’ and you
it’s judged on the least powerful. How do we treat them?”
can see them reconnect with something inside that has been lost
Of course, the true test of rehabilitation is when a person
for a long time. That’s fucking powerful.”
leaves the prison gates. Dean Stalham, a playwright, artist and founder of Art Saves Lives in London, offers support through creativity for marginalised people in society. “Art Saves Lives
ack at HMP Bristol, the inmates are cleaning their
has an open-door policy,” he says, sitting in a lecture room at
tools and tidying the workshop before they have
Goldsmiths University, where he is helping young offenders make
to go back into lock-up. The more experienced
a documentary. “Anyone can come to us and get their scripts read
among them help the less experienced and they
and acted out with proper feedback. I work with theatres to use
all show a lot of respect for Dave, although there
their spaces for free, so my artists get to perform on a West End
have been difficult prisoners, he acknowledges,
stage and that’s what really lifts their confidence and self-esteem
“like any classroom”.
to move on and do other things. [...] The art world is split into the
James*, halfway through his eighteen-month sentence, says
inner circle and the outer circle, and there are more people on the
he is really grateful for the work he does with BikeBack. “Prison
outside looking in than there are on the inside looking out. That
makes you reassess the important things,” he says, pulling up his
barrier has got to come down, because so many people have got
overalls, “and for me, that’s my family. I made some mistakes,
talent. You can find people with talent everywhere, irrelevant of
which I regret, but when I get out I know that I’m not ever coming
where they’ve been taught or trained. There are these television
back here. No way. There’s more to life than this.”
programmes that go on estates to find ‘the next big thing’ but it’s not helpful because they drop them as soon as the credits roll.”
* Prisoners names have been changed out of respect.
Dean spent fifteen years in and out of prison for a variety of
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crimes that culminated in a six-million pound art heist – including
lifecycleuk.org.uk
the theft of four Warhols, thirteen Chagalls and thirty-three Dalis.
finecellwork.co.uk
“It was a cycle I was involved in from the age of sixteen,” he says,
jailguitardoors.org
“and writing, for me, has broken that cycle. It’s really positive.”
artsaveslives.co.uk
photos: nelly
He drinks beer because it tastes good. Concrete turns him on. His other girlfriend is his skateboard. His surf after cleans the wounds.
Saturday 20 August 2011
Old Spitalfields Market, East London. UK Free Entry & Live Webcast
Event starts 12 Noon www.vans.eu/dtsd
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86 HUCK
Ambassadors Pandora Decoster, Margaux Arramon-Tucoo, Candice O’Donnell Julie Cox, and Jen Smith, photographed by Kassia Meador
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90 HUCK
Ivo Schneiter Photos: Dominic Zimmermann
Visit us t @ Brigh 9 July 7 — 2011 5 room 15
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