Jan. 2011 vol. 2, no. 1 #7
Op-Ed: Ownership • Matt Jones Lewis Bowden • Danny Gantchev South Florida Scene Report Be-Mag Retrospective Single Servings
ON THE COVER Danny Gantchev Fishbrain on the 19 flat 19 Indianapolis, IN
Photo: Vincent Morretino
Vincent Morretino Dave Andrew Walt Austin Jon Fromm Vincent Morretino Andrew Tough
Absent on photo day
Dave Andrew
Aberdeen, Scotland
www.flickr.com/photos/davidandrew
Vincent Morretino
Samsofy
www.flickr.com/photos/samsofy
Corey Oringderff
www.flickr.com/photos/coreyoreo
Indianapolis, IN
www.balancerollingmag.com
Trace Taylor Birmingham, AL
www.tracetaylor.com
Mike Bennett
www.campwoodward.com
George Holmquist
www.flickr.com/photos/georgeholmquist
Jan. 2011 - Vol. 2, no. 1, issue #7 Š 2011 by Balance rolling magazine. All photos and interviews are the property of the respective writers and photographers that created them. They were not purchased by Balance rolling magazine, they were donated out of kindness. Please respect the property of those involved with this magazine. Contributions keep this publication alive. Opinions expressed in bylined articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Balance magazine. Love, hate and suggestions should be sent to info@balancerollingmag.com
Editorial
Deadlines & dirty diapers by Vincent Morretino I’d like to take a moment right at the start and whole-heartedly thank all of this issue’s contributors for their astounding display of patience with me getting this issue published. Some had gotten their content to me back in October of 2010, and have been twiddling their thumbs while I ran around like a freshly beheaded chicken. Believe it or not, the free publication you are reading is one of many projects that I work on throughout the year, but is the only one that does not provide compensation. I freelance on the side of my normal design job and when paying jobs pop up, I have to decide which should take precedent: what I want to do and what I have to do to pay the bills. With a new addition to our family, choices have to be made and I have to support us. My wife and I welcomed our first child, Adam, into the world back in September of 2010. Let’s just say that sacrifice is a word that we have come to know quite intimately over the last four months. Sleeping in (or through the whole night), the ability to travel at the drop of a hat with little to no luggage and being able to skate when I want are all things of the past. But the reward is so much better than anyone could have prepared me for. Things get hectic quick when you’re new to parenthood. Study as you will with the plethora of baby books available, but books can’t answer questions on-the-fly. Mike Powell over at K2 was kind enough to let us borrow The Baby Whisperer, and although it helped us structure our days in a way that allows our soon-to-be 4 month old son to sleep for eleven hours at night, it often left us with even more questions about “normal” development and if he was up to par with the majority of children his age. Except for a brief, scary moment when he had a bad case of Jaundice at birth, and discovering that he is allergic to protein found in cow’s milk, our son is thriving and shooting up like a sprout. He’s becoming aware of his own hands and seeing that he can control them to grasp and move things, he recognizes faces, maintains eye contact and his toothless smile can melt the most frozen of hearts. This issue is dedicated to Adam. I love you and I will always be there for you, son.
Photo by Corey Oringderff
Op-Ed
Ownership by Jacob Barnes In 1993, Senate began their rise to power with funding from Bravo Corporation, while claiming to be the skater-owned revolution that would save rollerblading, just like Steve Rocco had saved skateboarding. The problem was that skaters didn’t own Senate. The brand was created by Bravo for the purpose of making money for Bravo, not for Senate, and certainly not for rollerblading. The term skater-owned is still used to great effect in the marketing of many brands in our industry, when the reality is much as it was for Senate. The real purpose of skater-ownership is to keep the wealth and direction of the company in the hands of skaters. This article is to give you, the consumer, the means to discover what’s true and who really owns what. A company is a group of people who are working together with the common goal of gaining profits. The word usually conjures up images of industrial machinery, warehouses with big logos emblazoned on the sides and boardrooms full of suits. Such images cover many different roles within the supply chain, which are often managed by many different smaller companies.
trademark), endorsement contracts, or something required by the manufacturer for production (screens/patterns, molds, etc.). • A retailer is the company you personally buy the skates from. They may own the shopfront (physical or on-line), but rarely own the product itself. This puts them in a similar position as the brand owner: at the mercy of the distributor. Despite any gray areas in this structure, there are 5 distinct items of ownership: 1. Capital 2. Means of Production 3. Intellectual Property 4. Trademarks/Endorsements 5. Shopfront If any one of these owners is not a skater, their share of your money is gone from rollerblading. It may be used to strengthen their business, but this will always be to their benefit, not ours. Pennies on the dollar are doled out to paid professionals, and the rockstar dream is kept alive to sell to you…but rollerblading always suffers.
• A manufacturer is the company who actually makes the product. They own what is known as the means of production. Without them, there are no skates. But they’re usually too busy with the mechanics of industry to spend time or money on making you want what they’re producing. These days, most skate manufacturing is done in Asia.
If the owners are skaters, your money can be used to promote skating and find its way into the hands of other skaters who will do likewise. This money is invested rather than spent, it recycles and compounds instead of disappearing like it never existed. So it’s in the best interests of all rollerbladers, and rollerblading as a whole, for us to be aware of this.
• A distributor is the company who receives the product from the manufacturer, and sends it out to the retailer for sale. They usually own the capital, and it takes a lot of money to be a successful distributor so they’re more powerful and valuable in the supply chain than the other companies.
Next time you hear the term skater-owned thrown around, ask the company, “What exactly do you own?” and work out where they stand in the hierarchy. FOLLOW THE MONEY. Know whose hands it ends up in, and what good they truly do with it.
• A brand owner is the company presented to the consumers as the name and face behind the product. Other than perhaps artwork, the brand owner doesn’t really own anything. Exceptions could be intellectual property (a patent or a
Matt Jones! Who? Matt Jones! Who? Matt Jones! Who? Matt Jones is that Florida boy who prefers lemons. A calm, collected and randomly outgoing dude with steeze on and off the fruitboots. At first glance you might think he is an emo fag, but the guy loves Gucci Mane. Even got the ill wallet and belt to match. One time at a party he wanted to show me how he could pee in two streams because of his Prince Albert. I ask, “Why a dick piercing?” He compared it to a car, “Man, I just wanted to soup up my dick.” Mr. Jones is young with the mind of a 30 year old on turbo grind. Finding time to rip between school and work is exhausting sometimes, but Matt rides , hard. He s solid in everything. Ill with the camera and the burrr, always cool and confident. Will Matt Jones be the next big thing? Bitch, he might be.
-Walt Austin
or l y a T race T y b Photos
Soul grind
Fishbrain
Acid Acid down down the the rail rail to to high high voltage voltage tru-mizou tru-mizou
Saftety Saftety gap gap
Laying Laying down down on on the the job job
Front Front Farv Farv
Unity Unity
l ewis b o wden Introduction by Andrew Tough Interview and photos by Dave Andrew
Steve Bruning - Disaster Truespin Mistrial
When I met Lewis Bowden, he was only 13 but he shone out from the rest of his group as being someone who could go somewhere. As our friendship grew, I realized there was more to him than just rolling. He is a cheeky sod at times, and always has been, but he is one of the few skaters I would class as one of my closest friends. Watching his skating evolve over the years, his style and trick vocabulary progressed. Scottish skating is seen as hardcore, and Lewis watched this and aspired to be like this throughout his life. In 2006 he moved to Edinburgh to pursue a college course in Audio/Video Technology. This was a giant step for him as he was not only moving for college, but at the time, Edinburgh was the hub of Scottish skating. This helped him move on in his skating as the Scottish Legend Chris Doughty, known for pushing people, was there to do just that. Things started happening for him then, and people stood up to watch. Last year he moved back to Aberdeen, which is good news for me, as it meant we could skate together on a weekly basis again. Being so far north, you would think that he would disappear from the industry, however this has not stopped him in going forward as he is constantly traveling the UK to enter competitions and get his name known. Lewis is a roller that will push his limits every day, but will push others to levels they didn’t realize they had in them. I wish him good luck in his future, and I hope this profile shows the power behind his skating. -Andrew Tough What’s your full name, how old are you, where are you from and how long have you been skating? My full name is Lewis John Bowden and I’m 22 years old. I’m from Aberdeen in Scotland, the home of the Aberdeen Angus burger and I’ve been skating for as long as I can remember, but it became my life when I was about 13 or 14. What’s your current skate setup? I have blacked out Nimh Shaman’s with GC frames and Jug liners. How often do you try to get out and blade? I try to get out as much as possible every week even if it’s just going down to the local skate park to skate with some of the younger guys, showing them what Scottish rollerblading is all about. What types of music do you listen to? I listen to all types of music, but usually when I’m skating I listen to a lot of hardcore, metalcore and rap
core stuff. That’s the type of music that makes me want to do big stuff and it gets me hyped up to go big. Is your family supportive of your skating? If so, what sort of things have they done to support you, especially when you were younger? My family is supportive of my skating to an extent. They want me to be happy and do the things I enjoy, but they want me to have a future for when I’m too old and broken and I can’t skate the same. When I was younger my parents always made sure I had the things I needed to skate and that I had the best things they could get me, which is something I’m still very grateful for. Who got you in to skating? And what made it so appealing to you? My friends got me in to skating, but in particular Ross Martin was a massive influence showing me what skating was really about. What made it so appealing to me was all the old school Scottish rollerbladers like
Cross grab wall ride to 180 out
Kindgrind
Rob Gunn, Chris Doughty, Gav Nelson, Alan Dick and Dave Thomas. They all had a certain charisma about them and they were all different in their own ways. The one thing they all had in common, though, was that they were all hardcore; from Alan doing cab back flips down stairs ten years ago, to Doughty doing the craziest kink rails and Dave being the first person in the UK to land a 1080 corkscrew.
What’s your local scene like at the moment? The local scene is sick at the moment, there are a lot of guys skating really hard and pushing themselves to progress more and more every time they skate. There are also a lot of younger guys here, and all around Scotland I’ve noticed at the moment, which is sick because they’re the future of our sport and are ridiculously good.
Who were your biggest influences while you were growing up skating? My biggest influences were all the big gun skaters from the U.S. that went down with a bang, like Pat Lennen and Ben Weis. But a bit closer to home, the heroes I really looked up to were Chris Doughty, Alan Dick, Dave Thomas, Rob Gunn and all the guys I grew up skating with like Ross Martin, Niki Clark and Brian Crawford.
What are your views on the rollerblading scene in Scotland as a whole at the moment? I think we have a growing scene at the moment with some of the biggest characters and best skaters in the UK, if not the world for the younger generation to be looking up to in Scotland. I think the massive lack of sponsors and recognition that the Scottish rollerblading scene has only pulls us all closer together and makes are scene stronger than any other place I’ve visited and experienced first-hand. I think any person who has ever come to Scotland and skated at an event will know that the Scottish rollerblading scene stands out in its own way from any other rollerblading scene in the world. There’s so much energy and feeling when you’re at an event with everyone pushing each other to get a trick down or to get the balls to just push themselves. It’s also one of the most rugged and hardcore skate scenes in my opinion.
Who are your current influences? My current influences are the whole of the Scottish rollerblading scene. The scene is so tight with so many good, underrated and underappreciated rollerbladers. In such a small country, it means we’re all close and know each other, trying to skate with each other on a weekly basis. Chris Doughty is still a massive influence to me and to this day he has taught me so much about rollerblading and helped me progress on a massive level. He showed me how to have confidence and faith in my own abilities as a rollerblader and that the more I push myself and the people around me we can only better the Scottish rollerblading scene and help it grow. Besides the adrenaline rush, how does skating affect your life? I get the chance to push myself, progress, let off steam as well as accomplish things I can be proud of and help others to have the experiences I’ve had through rollerblading. What does skating really mean to you? Everything. It’s shaped who I am as a person, from the music I listen to, to my outlook on everyday things in life, to how I handle situations. It’s been the greatest release and outlet for me and I really don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t committed myself to rollerblading in the way I have. I owe everything I’ve ever accomplished to rollerblading.
What do you think could be done to make it better? I think the introduction of a few key people becoming sponsored would help our scene so much as kids would have people from their cities to look up to like I had when I was growing up skating when Scotland had a lot of sponsored riders. I think if there was more companies helping Scottish rollerblading people would only skate harder and push themselves even more than they already do which in turn would make our scene bigger. How much attention does Scotland get, as in, do are there any foreigners posting on the messageboards looking for people to skate with when they come through on holiday? We get some on the Scottish Rolling forum, but apart from that most of the people that come to Scotland to skate already know people here to skate with and will just get in contact before they come. What’s being done to get Scotland into the minds of skaters? Scottish Rolling is the biggest outlet of the scene in
Royale Royale to to Mute Mute 180 180 out out
Safety Safety 180 180
Top Acid to Tru-savannah
Scotland right now, promoting the scene to young Scottish rollerbladers and educating them about our scene and its history. It’s also helping to get some of the guys who have quit over the years to get back involved with skating as well as getting our scene out to the rest of the world. Who is promoting the different scenes around the country? In the southeast of Scotland it’s Scott “The Riddler” Riddles who’s promoting the most out of the whole scene. Then there’s James Keyte handling the photography down that way. Over on the west coast we have Andy Mills, Keir Lindsay and Mike Amato handling the filming and photography around their area. Then up in the north and northeast there’s myself and Matty Pearce covering the filming side of things and then David Andrew covers the photography in our area. Throughout Scotland however, like anywhere else there are kids filming their own edits and taking photos. In your opinion, who would you say people should be looking out for when it comes to Scottish rollerblading and who are the current up and comers? People need to look out for James Keyte, Scott Riddles, Graeme Forbes, 12 year old Dominic Bruce (who’s already lacing 540 AO Souls like they’re nothing) and Rosie O’Donohue. They’re all so sick. What has rollerblading taught you that can be applied to other aspects of your life? To take everything with a pinch of salt and that people will take advantage of you and your abilities to better themselves whilst forgetting about what you’ve done for them. What sort of things do you get up to when you’re not out skating? I work full time in a body piercing, tattoo and clothing store. But when I’m not working I like to spend time with my beautiful girlfriend Alana (Spawn of Satan). I also enjoy filming and editing, playing PS3 and watching films. If you could live anywhere in the world right now where would it be? I’d be living in LA because it’s such a sick place to stay, amazing weather, amazing tattoo studios and it’s got sick skate spots.
What keeps skating interesting for you? I think what keeps skating interesting for me is the fact you can do anything you want, but it’s also only as interesting as you make it. You can go out and hurl yourself at big tricks as much as you want, but it’ll come to a point where that gets a bit boring. Then you can go out and bust that super tech switch-up or go to that little transition you know and fun just doing little stalls and spins. Sometimes it’s even fun to just go bomb hills with your friends and grind curbs on the way down or huck things. Friends are also an important part of keeping skating interesting because they’re the ones you can have fun with and have a laugh. Anyone you’d like to thank or give a shout out to? Yeah there’s a load of people I’d like to give a shout out to. To start off with I need to give a big thanks to Mr. Dave Andrew for making this profile possible, taking all the photos, driving to spots and doing this whole interview. Next I’d like to give my parents a big thank you, because without them I wouldn’t even be rolling. My girlfriend, Alana, for supporting me and sticking by me, also for putting up with me going away a lot to skate and not being around as much as she’d like. I want to give a shout out to all the Scottish rollerbladers and all the guys doing stuff to promote Scottish rollerblading, as well as James Keyte and Chris Doughty running the Scottish Rolling site which has had a big impact on Scotland and made our scene a lot closer together. I’d like to say thanks to a few guys, that without them, I probably wouldn’t be rolling or even alive: Niki Clark for saving my ass on countless occasions and being one of my best friends, Ross Martin for getting me in to skating and being one of my best friends for a long time and a thanks to Chris Doughty again for being absolutely impossible to get a hold of, pushing me to progress and teaching me that in rollerblading, only you can hold yourself back. I’d also like to thank Balance rolling magazine for giving me and Dave this opportunity to showcase a little bit of Scottish rollerblading and what it has to offer.
Interview and photos by Vincent Morretino
Danny is a Bulgarian transplant living in Findlay, Ohio. I met him in 2008 when he showed up at the Brass Knuckle Beatdown rollerblading competition in central Indiana with a couple of Detroit-area rollerbladers, K2 Alex and Ivan Dalou. Although Danny skated with confidence and power, it wasn’t until the following year’s competition that he made it to the finals and took 2nd place, qualifying him to skate at the AIL Championships at Woodward West in Tehachapi, California. When asked about his experience, he said, “I had such a great time skating at the AIL Championships in 2009. I didn’t do too well, but I had a blast. There were so many people from outside of the U.S. and I got to know many of them. It was also my first time visiting California.” Danny came to stay with my wife and I in Indianapolis, IN for a weekend in July of 2010 so we could get photos for this section. We woke up early and hit the streets, not knowing what each day would bring. It’s best to get to some of Indianapolis’ lesser known street spots before the sun gets too high in the sky or else you face the denizens of the hoods of the Circle City. Getting robbed for expensive camera equipment is not unheard of around these parts, especially if you don’t keep your wits about you. Name, age, current location, por favor? And if I may be so bold, what the hell is Findlay known for? My name is Danny Gantchev and I am 22 years old. At the moment I’m am living with two friends in a house here in Findlay. The only thing I can think of is that Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is from Findlay. I’m big on knowing about other people’s family situations, it gives some insight into the interviewee’s upbringing. So, what’s your family situation like right now? I have family in Bulgaria. They all live there, and my mom and I are the only ones here in the U.S. I just visited last summer, from May through the end of June. But now that I have to pay for my own tickets, it might be another year or two before I get to go back. What was the best part of your trip to Bulgaria? There were two equally important aspects to me. The first was that I was going to start a long term photo project of my family and post-communist Bulgaria. An instructor/friend/darkroom watch person from Owens Community College named David Cantor helped me get the idea to start up the project. David is a photojournalist that worked for the New York Times and Toledo Blade newspapers. The second aspect was
about myself getting in touch with my relatives. I really got to know my family a lot better and I had so much fun with them. They gave me plenty of whiskey to drink and I had a great time. The best part about being around them were the photo opportunities. What school are you going to, and what are you studying? I actually just dropped out of college. I was attending Owens Community College for commercial photography/photojournalism. There are several techniques and formulas within photography I am trying to learn at the moment. After quitting school, I have been reading everyday, studying and writing about photography and shooting as much as I can. What do you want to do with your life, ultimately? Well, since I dropped out of college I have made it my goal to work on my photography every single day. I have come to the conclusion, thanks to a friend, that the biggest problem is figuring out there is no problem. I used to want to do so many different things. Now, I’ve realized that I don’t have to do anything unless I want to do it. This is primarily stemming from school, professors and instructors, and parents telling me how to live. After breaking away from all that bullshit, I have decided to dedicate my life to photography and
Backside Backslide to gap the grass
rollerblading. It’s not a matter of what I want to do with my life, because I am doing what I want now. I do have some secondary goals, like eventually moving to New York and playing a bigger role in the rollerblade community and industry. Now that you have less time constraints, how often do you skate? I know I’ll be jealous when you answer. The rate at which I skate depends on the time of year. At the moment though, it is only about once or twice a week. There is snow everywhere right now, and I can only get to an indoor skate park once a week. As soon as the snow melts, I’ll be out there skating street again, though. During spring, summer and fall I skate anywhere from 3-6 days per week. Yeah, I’m pretty jealous of your availability to skate that much. So, what do you want from skating? When I was younger, I really wanted to be a professional skater. Eventually, I became not so hung up on the idea. I still wouldn’t mind it, but it’s not my main goal. I love getting new and different perspectives from skating. The biggest thing about skating is that it’s fun. If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t do it. That applies to everything in my life. What draws you to skating? The over-abundance of flashy colors? The sweet moves we can do? I’m not going to lie, I am sort of an adrenaline junkie. It doesn’t rule my life though. Let me tell you though, when I get to skate a nice indoor skate park, I absolutely love to skate fast and hit dangerous obstacles. The adrenaline thing also applies to where I’d like to go with photography, as photojournalism can be a life ending career if you’re caught in someone else’s cross hairs. Also, I love the community of rollerblading. I love the fact that I can go to all these sessions, be welcomed, and have a shit ton of fun skating with good friends that I don’t have the opportunity to see everyday. Don’t mind this because it is going to sound cliché as all hell, but skating is an art form to me. I see skating just like dancing. There are certain rules to doing all the tricks properly, just like a choreographed dance. You work on the tricks with the basic formula and then when you have progressed to a higher skill level, you start to bend, change or break the rules of how it is done. That is the artistic side of it. That is where your own style comes into play. Backside Backslide to grass gap
Well, that’s a profound explanation that will resonate with a lot of people reading this interview. Shifting gears, what are your thoughts about large skate events like Bitter Cold Showdown and Winterclash? I love big events so much! So many people crammed in one park, its great. Bitter Cold Showdown is my favorite. I have been going every year since 2006 and I will go again this year, too. There is so much energy at big skate contests that you feel like you are part of this pulsating wave of positive energy. And then when someone lands an unthinkably difficult trick, everybody goes crazy and it feels like the roof is going to explode! Plus, big events help bring the industry together. These large scale, highly anticipated contests bring skaters from all over the world to compete and celebrate this lifestyle we all love so much. I would really love to go to some of the big European contests in the future like Winterclash, the Chaz Sands Invitational and the F.I.S.E. competition series. There are so many talented and friendly skaters in Europe. How do you feel about living and skating in an almost rural area of the Midwest, as opposed to a more densely populated city? Living in the Midwest kind of sucks, but at the same time it’s not too bad. It could be worse. I hear Wyoming and Montana have a pretty sparse population based on their size. I’m lucky that I live within driving range of Detroit, MI., Columbus, OH., Cleveland, OH., and Indianapolis, IN. Not quite, but almost equidistant. The northwest Ohio scene has pretty much died out, though. We have just a handful of skaters that still skate consistently. There is myself, Andy Boren, Mike Currier and a few other kids. I do want to change that in the future. There was a whole slew of great rollerbladers at one point that lived in Toledo. Ohio in general is pretty awesome right now, even though every area other than the northwest quadrant of Ohio has a larger scene. Like I said, it could be worse. We have so many damn little towns, and each has it’s own hidden spots that haven’t been skated before. I plan on taking advantage of this as soon as I get a new video camera. Any thank you’s you’d like to mention as we wrap things up here? I’d like to thank Craig Parsons, Andy Boren and Benjamin Kiser for pushing me to skate hard.
Topsoul Topsoul
Tru Top Soyale
Stale grab over the hip
Backside Farv
Fishbrain Fishbrain to to 180 180 out out
To most people, south Florida is a place known for its vacation destinations and vast amounts of elderly people. But to many rollerbladers here, it is known as one thing. Home.
South Florida is known to most as the home of legendary professional rollerblader Franky Morales. While that is true, there are many different parts of south Florida with a variety of talented skaters. To break it down:
I’ve traveled far and wide for skating, but I have never experienced a scene like ours. When you come to south Florida, you notice that everyone knows each other. Our unity is probably the strongest part of our scene because as far as spots, weather and skate parks, we have a mixed bag. There’s an abundant amount of handicap rails and curve ledges, but also intense humidity and heat. I’m talking sweating profusely before you even get your skates on.
1. Miami or south bladers 2. Ft. Lauderdale/Pines or west bladers 3. Boca/West Palm or north Bladers
Even with these obstacles in our way, we still find a way to have great time skating, getting clips and photos.
In the south we have north Miami, downtown, South Beach and west Miami, which is probably where most of our better spots are located. Here, you will find the skating talents of Raven Guerra, Sebastian Seufferheld, Jonathan Seufferheld and many others. Downtown Miami is considered to be the skating mecca in south Florida, being home to the infamous American Airlines Arena. Never have I witnessed so many rails in one spot. These rails can be seen in films such as
Jonas Brothers
Sebas Sebas Seufferheld Seufferheld -- Safety Safety grab grab to to roll roll to to 180 180 Stale Stale grab grab
Photo: Cody Smith
M1: Twenty to Life, Thrill, Black Market, and Barely Dead. Since 2008, downtown spots have declined heavily due to the massive amount of construction, and spots are being destroyed or capped. However, skating around downtown looking for spots is still a fun thing to do, and you can find a lot of us shredding the streets on a Friday or Saturday night. Out west is home to Brian Piccolo Skate park. This place gave rise to a lot of south Florida stars such as Chris McCugh, Chris Padilla, Cody Porche, Chris Morraco and Derek Pricinski. Not all of them still skate today, but this park gave them the stepping stone that got them much deserved recognition for being some of the best skaters of their time. Today, you can find local shredders such as Ben Cohen, Jimmy Cisz and Chris Marquez, along with ONE contributing photographer, Dustin Spengler.
Alec Zavell. On weekdays, you can catch everyone hitting up the local skate park, 505, which has become pretty popular these past few months. South Florida is an underexposed and often overlooked scene. Not many people know we exist, but hopefully this scene report will give you a little insight to what goes down. So thank you for reading, and thanks to all the south Florida bladers, past, present and future.
Lastly, this area is home to George Holmquist. George is a talented photographer and designer who has put in a lot of work for his company, The Dead Pixel Studio. He has taken many awesome blading photos, including all of the photos in this scene report. George is also a fantastic skater and awesome guy to hang with. Finally, to the north we go. Once home to the infamous Alex Broskow, the north has become the hub of south Florida blading. Here you will find Be-Mag messageboard heartthrob Rob Squire shredding it up. Rob skates as much as he can, always on the lookout for creative obstacles that he calls ‘Robstacles.’ Also, the north is where I live. I had a two year absence from the scene while getting my education in Orlando, but recently I’ve relocated back to south Florida. The north is also home to skaters Matt Genna, Brian Eegan, Omar Rodriguez, Tyler Hogan, Jeff Hart and
Max Davidson - Freestyle Fishbrain
Rob Squire - Backside Farv
Jon Fromm - Fastplant to Fishbrain
Sebas Seufferheld - Alley-oop Makio
Gaston Pentinroli - Soul grind
Article and artwork by Vincent Morretino
Be-Mag started out as an e-mail newsletter in 1996, called By E-mail Magazine. Before that, they were in collaboration with skate video producers and other rollerblading magazines. In 1999, they switched to a magazine-like format website with updates being released several times a year. Eventually, they switched to an update article driven format. In 2000, they introduced a preview issue of Be-Mag that some consider to be #0*. In 2001, not only did they release issue #1 but the website re-launched as the version that held it’s ground for almost 9 whole years until the most recent re-launch in 2010. In September of 2010, print issue #36 was released. On the next two pages, you can find all of the covers from issue #1 thru issue #36. *Issue #0 is incredibly rare, and could not be located for this article. Be-Mag is constantly adding features and tweaking the website to make it perfect. They have been progressing and building a huge following like no other media company in the history of our sport. Be-Mag is closing in on its 15th anniversary soon. That’s a lifetime in skating. As a sport, we have seen several media companies come and go, but only Be-Mag has stuck around the longest and proved that it can survive unstable global economies and a turbulent industry. It’s true. Daily Bread, Inline, BOX, Rejects, Radius Media, Crazy Roller; all dead and gone, may they rest in peace. Be-Mag has always been a collective effort, and over the years hundreds of people have shaped Be-Mag into what it is today by sharing a common vision. Currently, there are more than 50 people worldwide who are working with Be-Mag in one way or another, whether it’s copy writing, website and messageboard moderation/administration, page layouts, design work, proofreading, photography, videography, video editing and advertising sales. Be-Mag could not continue without their help. These people work regular jobs, skate and then sit down to do something for the greater community. Due to Be-Mag’s incredible longevity, many people that had stopped skating back in the day check the site a lot more often than you would think. Log onto the messageboard, and there are several topics that start out, “Hello, just got back into skating after being on the sidelines for the last X amount of years.” Be-Mag was the first rollerblading media company to reach 10,000 Facebook fans, and numbers are still
growing rapidly. There are currently about 13,700 fans; roughly 4 times the amount of Roll’s magazine and more than 16 times the amount of ONE, the only other print competitors of Be-Mag. Not satisfied with a dominant web and print presence, Be-Mag started producing skate videos to become a more well-rounded media company. Here’s a list of past and future productions: 1. Visual Symphony - 2002 2. Cities Relinquished - 2005 3. Under Wraps - 2006 4. Featuring the World - 2007 5. Sideshow Rodeo - 2010 6. Traitement - 2011 Be-Mag releases 2-3 clothing lines per year, all manufactured in the European Union, shirking the tradition of using cheap labor and materials found in Asian clothing production and manufacturing. Sure, it’s a bit pricey, but the quality is top shelf. They don’t skimp where other companies do time and time again. Now, onto the infamous Be-Mag messageboard, home to about 26,800 registered users. There are much fewer active users that post regularly, around 300-500. There’s plenty to read in the General Gossip, Filming, Editing & Designing, Events & Sessions, Reviews & Hardware, Video Archive and Trade & Sell forums. If you’re feeling squirrelly, the Hall of Fame has some interesting threads of particularly sordid tales of shenanigans, but you need to be a registered user to access that forum. The messageboard plays a vital role to the on-line community that relies on it for finding couches to sleep on during hastily planned tours, coordinating skate contests, helping each other win on-line contests for video and photo submissions, or just shooting the shit in the middle of the night when sleep is out of reach and skaters are awake on the other side of the planet. If you’d like to take a look back in time to see what the Be-Mag website and messageboard looked like, a handy website like Internet Archive: Wayback Machine can be found at the following address: www.archive.org/web/web.php Just type in www.be-mag.com and pick an available date to see what was going on that day. You can go all the way back to November 1998, but most of the links and images are broken until May 2000.
Single Servings
Alex Braunagel - 180 Stale Japan Indianapolis, IN by Corey Oringderff
Brian Murphy - Alley-oop Fishbrain from the bank Camp Woodward, PA by Mike Bennett
Victor Legrand - Sweatstance Somewhere in France by Samsofy
Dan Dan Leifeld Leifeld -- 270 270 Mute Mute hip hip transfer transfer Florence, Florence, KY KY by by Vincent Vincent Morretino Morretino
Dustin Dustin Watson Watson -- Soul Soul grind grind over over the the pit pit of of death death Camp Camp Woodward, Woodward, PA PA by by Mike Mike Bennett Bennett
ROLLING MAGAZINE
Alex Braunagel, featured in issue 5 photo by Corey Oringderff
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