2 | Step Dad | Fall 2015
Cover: Danny Supa [p] Sam McKenna
Contents: Nick Rudzinski [P] Liam Annis
Editor / Graphic Design Mike Gustafson
Assistant Editor / Senior Photographer
Christopher W. Martin [CMART]
Videography:
Jimmy fucking Collins Joe Radano
Editorial
Whitney Anne Parrish Michael Cirelli Taylor Garrett
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Photographers: Rob Collins Ricky Aponte Liam Annis Sam McKenna Anthony Costa
Tim Snyder Shawn Rogers Nick Fried Fred Zang Michael Cirelli
AJ Catholdi Kyle Kowal Christian Morgan Trevor Denman Sean Michon
Send photo’s, funny stories or general inquiries to: stepdadmag@gmail.com
www.stepdadmag.com www.facebook.com/stepdadmag | Insta: @stepdadmag StepDadMag publishes quarterly and is distributed to skate shops throughout the U.S.
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RIDE THE LIGHTNING whitney anne parrish
“You are the youngest person we’ve given ECT to since about 1986.” I’m not entirely sure if that phrase was actually spoken, or if it arose in some post-shock thought ambiguity. I’m fairly sure I didn’t make it up. I was 22 at the time, and I was born in 1987. I remember thinking, “Well, at least I’ve achieved SOMETHING by now.” Yes, electro-convulsive therapy, electro-shock therapy, shock therapy, et alia, is still used. This isn’t “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” shit, so don’t get too aroused. That being said, it isn’t exactly something mental illness practitioners generally fuck around with, so maybe I WAS lucky. Although I was of age to decide my medical fate, and I didn’t hand that fate over to my parents, they did cosign on it based on the simple fact that it is administered to pregnant women in lieu of medication…occasionally. No, there aren’t a lot of women with child experiencing Grand Mal seizures on a three-day-a-week basis. Let’s hope not at least. The old fuckers (which was every one of the other fortunate participants, mostly male) always came out looking good as new. They went in catatonic, though, so I can’t really hold it against them. I came out nauseated, cold, mostly lifeless. I came out still young and still damaged goods. I didn’t have any reservations the first go of it. “I am now applying conductant to your forehead. I am now placing electrodes to the right and left sides of your forehead. This bite guard will keep you from breaking your teeth. You have very nice teeth. This blood pressure cuff will allow us to watch your big toe twitch so we can document how long you seize (actually pretty cool). Don’t worry, you’ll be asleep and your body won’t move because of the muscle relaxants.” I watched him turn the legitimately archaic machine to which the electrodes were connected up by about 20 volts. A promising testament to whatever legitimacy I needed to reconcile being there. The last time, I wept like a five-year-old whose dog had just been hit by a bus and propelled right into my shaky arms. The nurse held me and told me I was brave. I’m crying right now. The only thing I got out of ECT was a post traumatic response to anesthesia, gaps in my short and longterm memory, and a shockingly large amount of mental illness street cred. I didn’t want to remember the pedantic rhetoric from my ultra-conservative high school English teacher anyway. At least it wasn’t all for nothing. Addendum: I just boiled water for over an hour. I’m not sure how long it took for it to evaporate. At least I hadn’t put the eggs in. It’s the little things.
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Chris Sanoval Back Tail [p] Shawn Rogers
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Doug Moore Boneless [p] Rob Collins
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Nick Petkauskos words & photo’s: Michael Cirelli
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Michael Cirelli: Where are you from? Nick Petkauskos: I am from Shrewsbury, MA. MC: What gets you hyped to go out and skate? NP: It doesn’t take much for me to get hyped up to go skate! I think about skateboarding all day while I’m at work, so as soon as I get out, I’m usually good to go. Also, anytime I watch any skate video, or even hear certain songs I get pretty fired up. But going and skating with any of my friends is the best way to get me hyped! MC: What kind of spots do you like to skate? NP: I like to at least make an attempt to skate as many different types of spots as I can. Being able to skate anything and everything is something that has always stuck out to me. When I see people doing that I always think it’s impressive as hell! If I had to pick one thing to skate though, maybe I’d go with a good mini ramp...or even just some good hills to bomb! MC: Have you ever had to punch a security guard in the face? NP: Thankfully, no, I have not, haha. I doubt I would punch anyone in the face! If you’re reading this and wanted to kick my ass, I’m sure you probably could...haha! MC: Do you prefer old ladies yelling at you when your trying to skate a spot or drinking warm beer? NP: Well since I don’t drink I would prefer them to yell at me then! Then that way, it would never actually happen! Except for the times when it does
Frontside Wallride [p] Michael Cirelli
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actually happen, which is unfortunately usually when I’m trying to skate a spot. Damn it!
down the full pipe and keep our fingers crossed it led out somewhere, hopefully not into the middle of a lake.
MC: Whats your favorite skate video/ web clip you have seen lately?
Jack Morris was so short that he would be walking and his head would completely submerge under water at times, and all you would see was the two skateboards he was holding up over his head while he walked under water, haha! So funny. After a while we finally see somewhere we could maybe get out, of course it’s a steep hill covered with pricker bushes. We eventually end up in some random person’s back yard and after asking for directions we skated a few miles back to my car along Route 20, completely soaked and filthy in shit water, still carrying all of our stuff. I got to my car, flew home as fast as I could, took a quick shower and then went and skated with Lil Wayne til 4 in the morning that night...ha! He was on tour and came to skate Subliminal, the local indoor park, with his posse after his Boston show.
NP: That’s a tough one! There’s so many videos that I’m obsessed with (including many local ones as well) but I’m going to have go ahead and just say anything Grant Taylor, just to keep it simple. Trust me, that list could go on forever otherwise! MC: tell me a crazy or funny skate related story? NP: One time we went to skate this huge fullpipe that we had heard about in Auburn, MA. But to get to it, you had to use some rope 5050 [p] Michael Cirelli and scale down this maybe 50 foot wall that was almost shaped like a huge roll in, and then you would have access to the full pipe. We made the poor decision to go as the sun was setting, and even just getting to that wall is kind of gnarly, a lot of balancing and climbing up stuff. We get down there and there’s about ten or so giant snapping turtles everywhere that we had to step around. So we start skating the full pipe and sure enough our friend Max ends up hurting his hand, and we find ourselves not being able to climb the rope to get back out. We didn’t have any other choice but to walk all the way
MC: Any shout outs? NP: Step Dad Magazine, Cirelli, my family and friends, & Concrete Wave Skateshop. Huge thanks goes to Jay and the Subliminal Skatepark Family and my girlfriend Mariel. Thanks everyone!
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Tim Savage Interview by Michael Cirelli
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Nick Govatsos 5050 Up [p] Rob Collins
Michael Cirelli: I wanted to sit down and catch up with Boston Film Maker Tim Savage and talk about his upcoming video Gem dropping this Winter. Who is going to be in the video and how did the whole project come to be? Tim Savage: The official line up is Jordan Rodrigues, Nick Govatsos, Nick Rudzinski, Serge Murphy, Jimmy Lake, Eric Martinac, Pedro DeOliveira, Steven Catizone, Frankie Nash and possibly some others that you might not expect…
full-length video. Finding motivated skaters who are down for the cause, finding new and untouched spots, and spending a great amount of time in a car driving to spots all over the east coast have been just some of challenges that I’ve faced. Plus, making a full-length in 2015 when most parts just go online and then are forgotten about shortly after.
MC: How did you come up with the name for the video? TS: Pedro actually came up with the name. We started really thinking hard about what we wanted to call the video and we would always brainstorm names while on trips. One day Pedro just mentioned “Gem” and it stuck. It makes a lot of sense because we’ve done a lot of traveling and searching for the right spots to do the right tricks. I’ve always used the word gem to describe spots also. Every towns got that one spot that’s dope and is remotely hidden. That’s a gem. MC: What are some of the challenges of working on longer full length videos? TS: There are definitely a lot of challenges that face any person trying to make a
Eric Martinac Switch Heel [p] Liam Annis
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MC: Where have you been filming most of this video? And have the guys been going hard for the video? TS: All the dudes in the video have been giving there 100% to this and I couldn’t be more stoked on how motivated everyone is towards “Gem”. From countless missions across New England to having to go back to spots multiple times, all these dudes have sacrificed a lot to really get good clips and make it all worth it. We’ve been traveling everywhere; expect to see a lot of the east coast, Boston, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, NYC, Philly, but even some Cali in the mix as well. MC: With the world being obsessed with HD, talk about why you like filming with the VX? Do you like the look of it better? TS :For me personally, I just love using the vx1000. It’s a super fun camera to film with and if done right can make skateboarding look so rad. I love HD also and I definitely think down the road I’ll make the step up to HD, but as of right now and this project, I’m 100% vx1000. Jimmy Lake Heelflip [p] Sean Michon
Pedro DeOliveira Nollie Hardflip [p] Liam Annis
MC: What kind of films/filmers inspire you? TS: I love local videos of homies and spots that I know. All those big industry videos are rad as well but theirs something special about a local video with all your boys in it. There are a lot of filmers out there that inspire me and motivate me as well. I think that if someone’s putting in the work, filming all the time, fixing spots, etc. then its super rad because we need more motivated people who are down to just make the scene better and stronger overall. MC: Any advice for filmers coming up? TS: Just go for it. It doesn’t matter what your setup is, whether it’s super expensive or just an iPhone. Have fun with it and just do whatever you want to do. It’s all in the eye of the beholder and there are no rules to this stuff. MC: When are you trying to finish up the video? TS: Expect a premier around late fall/early winter. Giving it one last strong summer and fall push to finish it off and then that’s it. Couldn’t be more stoked to show everyone what we’ve all been working very hard for the past couple years.
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Nick Rudzinski Back Smith [p] Liam Annis
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Serges Murphy Frontside Flip [p] Sean Michon
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Jordan Rodrigues Back 180 Overcrook [p] Rob Collins
MC: Any shout outs? TS: Shout out to all the dudes doing it and living it. Being a skateboarder can be difficult and really conflicting with a normal life. If you live and breathe that shit and put your heart into it 100% then props to you! Thank you Step Dad for this opportunity!
Steven Catizone No-Comply 180 [p] Liam Annis
Frankie Nash Switch No-Comply Pole Jam [p] Trevor Denman
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Jonny Carl
Front Lip [p] Christian Morgan
Charles Lamb
5050 [p] CMART
20 | Step Dad | Fall 2015 Justin Koziol Wallie 5050 [p] Aj Catholdi
Hunter Rennie Front Nose [p] Kyle Kowal
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Scott Palmer Front Five-O [p] Fred Zang
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the taylor garrett
buick
She was a 91, beige Buick Lesabre. The color of sand on an overcast day. The shocks were fucked, every bump caused the thing to teeter back and forth for about forty-five seconds. I was out of money and in a screaming match with my Mother. Dope-sick and enraged, I grabbed my two half-empty prescriptions, Klonopins and Adderrall. I got behind the wheel and popped three
genius: why don’t I just sell him my car? I didn’t even have a way to make the thirty miles back home and I traded my car for $500 worth of dope and $200 in cash. I gave some free shit to Kevin’s friends for transportation around Billerica, not home. I had shot $60 and taken some Klonopins so I was blacked out in the back of their mini van. Next thing I know we’re in Lynn with some strange kid in
“Then I had a stroke of pure genius: why don’t I just sell him my car? I didn’t even have a way to make the thirty miles back home and I traded my car for $500 worth of dope and $200 in cash.” of each and went out to meet my guy. I had no money, maybe fifteen dollars in gas, and my pills. Nothing else. I wasn’t prepared for a weekend of aimlessly walking around the greater Billerica area. I met up with Kevin (he’s now in jail and dying of cancer) and explained my situation. Then I had a stroke of pure
the car whom I didn’t know. He sold me another bag of dope and made off with my Klonopins because I was too fucked up to chase him. Two days later my dad found me unconscious in front of a Walgreens. He immediately brought me to the hospital.
*Author’s Note: Drugs are not cool. Or “badass.” They ruin lives. My reason for writing this is solely because I experienced it. This is NOT a glorification of drug use, in fact it’s the exact opposite. Do yourself a favor and don’t do what I did.
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Mark Eyestone Fakie Five-O Pole Jam [p] Tim Snyder Shawn Butler Kickflip [p] Nick Fried
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Juan Donando 5050 [p] Sam McKenna
Dan Skoldberg
Kickflip [p] Anthony Costa
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Frankie Nash Switch Front Board [p] Liam Annis
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Bryan Paternoster Ollie [p] Anthony Costa
Connor Kammerer
Back 180 [p] Mike Heikkila
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Brian Reid
Back Smith [p] Rob Collins
Josh Dziadek 5050 [p] Ricky Aponte