Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 3
Alex Ullmann 180 Nosegrind [p] Jon Wolf
Cover: Ralph Murphy [P] John Gallagher
Beer Drinker/Hellraiser/ Publisher: Mike Gustafson
Editorial
Mike Gustafson Nate Keegan Ricky Aponte Bruce King Taylor Garrett CMART Michael Cirelli
Staff Photographers:
CMART cmartphoto@gmail.com Sam McKenna Jimmy Collins Jon Wolf
Contributing Photographers: John Gallagher Chris DeGrace Wes Cunningham Zekiah Lucas Ricky Aponte Larry Lamar Liam Annis Brendan Jaccarino Michael Cirelli Daniel Mandell Nick Cattie Matthew Roy Luke McKaye
Videography: Jimmy Collins Joe Radano
StepDadMag publishes quarterly and is distributed to skate shops throughout the U.S.
Send photo’s, funny stories or general inquiries to: stepdadmag@gmail.com
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4 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Ralph is a relic. A holdover from a time when skateboarders were judged, often rightfully so, as outcasts, incorrigibles, misfits and hooligans. He represents a time period that is now likely far since passed. The time period when skateboarding as a whole was more than filming the best trick at the hottest new spot or clawing for sponsor money from any willing party. He represents the adventure that being a skateboarder brings - the pit parties, the bar fights, the hell rides to new cities in search of new spots and good times. Ralph represents everything that drew me to skateboarding in the first place - and now, in 2014, skateboarding needs people like Ralph more than ever. Ralph Murphy, STEP DAD of the Year 2013!!! - Mike G.
Ralph Murphy Switch Barley Grind [p] Chris DeGrace
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 5
I’ve skipped an issue but I’m back. I couldn’t figure out what to write about for this. There’s so much going through my mind at all times. It’s hard to pick one thing to write about. I’m sick of telling wild stories. Anyone in my lines of work has a million. I dont feel like ranting, whether good or bad, about anything. Currently, it’s cold as frozen hell out here and I’ve been working so damn much, I literally barely have the time to skate. A couple weeks ago I got out with some old friends at Subliminal Skatepark to cruise. It’s run by Jay Moelk. I’ve known jay for more then a decade. We met at 8ball skate park, where a lot of my friends and I grew up skating together. (Ughhh...8ball). Jay’s always been super good to me. Whether it was picking me up at my Grandparents to skate, hooking me
up with food, videos, product, etc. I thought this would be a great opportunity to give him and his business some light. It’s an awesome park with everything you can imagine. Old school hip hop playing, granite ledge, bowl - the whole kit. Jay’s a family man, too. With his lady, Kanya and his two awesome kids, Lucas and Lotus. They all run the daily operations there. He works multiple jobs and still keeps the place open. All while raising a family and anyone that’s not an idiot knows how hard it is to keep a skatepark open. Let alone raise a family! He’s going to ride ‘til the wheels fall off. I have a lot of respect for that. I’m never too shy to be grateful and thankful. Thanks for everything guys! And to whoever is or isn’t reading this, hope everyone is well and I wish everyone a safe and happy new year! - Love Nate
(Editor’s note: for more on Subliminal Skatepark, visit www.subliminalskateboardpark.com)
6 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Ricky Aponte: Where are you from? Julien Lewis: Newtown, CT RA: How old are you? JL: 16...17, in three months? RA: What’s your favorite fast food restaurant? JL: Taco bell or Wendy’s RA: Have you ever shit your pants before? JL: Yes, I have! RA: How? JL: One day, when I was about 8 years old, I was playing hide and seek in my house with my friend. I always chose this spot behind my TV and that day, I had to take a huge shit. I was like “Shit, I gotta shit!”. Anyways, I didn’t wanna lose so I hid there for like 10 minutes. Finally, I was just like, “Alright, I give up. I have to shit.”. So, I try to get out of the corner but it was too hard and when I finally came out, the kid found me and we made eye contact and shit instantly just poured out. RA: What did your friend say? JL: I don’t remember. I was 8. All I remember was shit just coming out of my pants. RA: Have you ever kissed a guy? JL: Uhhhh, does my Dad count?
RA: What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you? JL: Ohh, Okay, I have a good one. When I was like 5 or 8, I still used a stroller ‘cause I was lazy as fuck and we were at the zoo and we were on top of a hill. I was like “I wanna go down this hill on my stroller.” So I yelled at my mom to let go of me and she actually did...and I just fucking went down the hill..on a stroller, hahaha. RA: Did anyone say anything?! JL: Yeah, these 2 dudes stopped the stroller and ya...they were helpful. RA: When’s the last time you threw up? JL: I don’t remember the last time but I remember the worst time. RA: Okay, what’s the worst throw up you’ve had? JL: I was eating 3 and a half bananas on my couch, I don’t know why...10 minutes later I threw up red on my lap. RA: That’s it? JL: I threw up red - that’s the fucking weird part. RA: What’s your favorite movie? JL: Uhm, the girl next door. RA: So you really have no Idea who Will Smith is?
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 7
5050 [p] Ricky Aponte
“So, I try to get out of the corner but it was too hard and when I finally came out, the kid found me and we made eye contact and shit instantly just poured out.” JL: He’s that guy in...guys with black suits?
JL: The 12 rail down in Stamford.
RA: What other sports have you done besides skateboarding? JL: I’ve tried soccer and baseball. When I played soccer, I just stood there and did nothing. I stopped playing baseball after I got hit in the face with the ball. Fuck that shit. It really hurt. I don’t know what I was thinking.
RA: Why? JL: Its super steep and going down it is not fun at all, but when you land your trick its fun.
RA: What’s your favorite food? JL: Popcorn RA: Why? JL: Because its air. It doesn’t get you fat RA: Do you ever plan on getting a tattoo? JL: Not any time soon! RA: What spot has given you the most frustration?
RA: What was your first video part? JL: My first serious one was with Trance Kessler, we used a song by Matt and Kim and it was at Newtown Skate Park. My ender was a bullshit trick. RA: What was it? JL: A Nollie big heel up a euro gap but my feet were like not on my board but somehow I landed it. 90 degree landing and toes hanging off and all. RA: Thoughts on HD? JL: Fuck HD, VX all day.
8 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Danny Fuenzalida Wallride [p] Matthew Roy
James Nickerson Front Lip [p] Liam Annis
Mike Gustafson Backside Flip [p] Wes Cunningham
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 9
10 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Brian Delaney Front Tail [p] Kevin Madden
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 11
Eric Abo
5050 [p] Ricky Aponte
Fletcher Renegar Back OverCrook [p] Luke McKaye
Ben Cironi
Backside Flip [p] Sam McKenna
12 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Michael Cirelli: Where you from and who do you ride for? Kevin Hammond: I’m from Merrimack, NH and I skate for Creep Show, Lair Mobb and Red Alert Skateshop. MC: It seems like I have know you for a long time...How many years have we been shooting photos and videos together? KH: We’ve been shooting together since roughly 2009 I believe MC: Tell me how you got robbed in Arizona? KH: A friend of mine from back east was flying into Phoenix to visit and his plane was landing at midnight. When I go out to get in my roommates car, I walked right past it because someone was in it and I just assumed it wasn’t his. When I made it to the end of the lot and didn’t see his car, I turned around and saw that I walked past it and there was some guy in the drivers seat clenching a backpack staring at me. So I run over, opened the door, grab him by the shirt and yelled, “Don’t move motherfucker. I just want all my shit on the hood of the car and you can leave.” He nodded in agreement. Then I put him by the hood
and he seemed to comply. I reached into the drivers door where I knew I had my big hunting knife under some papers, when I realized it wasn’t there! I here him say, “Now you don’t move motherfucker.” I looked up just to see my knife blade inches from my face. Instantly I kick the drivers door into him and move away. He ran off and that’s how I got robbed with my own fucking knife! MC: What’s your all time worst and best skate moment? KH: One of the worst times has got to be the time we were in NY skating the courthouse hubbas, between eating shit and getting told to leave by some random asshole. The best time for me skating was the couple weeks I spent in Portland, OR going to so many amazing parks MC: What kind of skating gets you really hyped? KH: That Dane Burman part in, “Cold War” is a pretty good example of skating that psychs me up. I’ve always liked watching guys that can kill anything in front of them like Cardiel, Grant Taylor, Raven Tershy, etc.
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 13
“I looked up just to see my knife blade inches from my face. Instantly I kick the drivers door into him and move away. He ran off and that’s how I got robbed with my own fucking knife!” MC: Tell me about the time we tried skating the black Hubbas in NYC? KH: I had always wanted to skate the courthouse, there was someone trying a trick over the hubba and I was just trying lipslide but I lock up on the kink and eat shit. I gave it a couple more tries in-between this other kids attempts and then some guy out of a group of people watching yells out to us, talking shit implying that we should leave because we were effecting the one other kid skating and at that point we were in a place I don’t know at all. Outnumbered and with your expensive ass cameras, it was easier to just take off than it was to possibly deal with problems. MC: What other psycho’s have you met skating? KH: A couple friends and I used to skate off the back of an old big flat bed truck in the town we grew up in a lot and we never had any trouble ‘til some fat ass douche bag from a neigh-
boring business came out, really pissed off and started screaming at us for no reason. We told him to fuck off and tried getting a couple more tries in ‘til he started walking towards us on his cell phone calling the cops. We started to leave at this point but he started chasing us down some steep ass hill and he eats shit down it. Which was hilarious but what wasn’t funny was when the cops caught up to us and almost arrested us for smashing the windshield of the truck we were skating because that cock sucker lied and said he saw us do it. MC: Any people you want to thank? KH: Big thank you to John at Creep Show, Red Alert Skateshop, Munday (Yeah G!) at Lair Mobb, Earl, Fiske, and the rest of the guys at Eastern Boarder, my mother for being the raddest skate mom ever, the rest of my family and friends and lastly you for all the help over the years!
14 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
INVENTING THE HARDFLIP with DAN
Words: Mike Gustafson Photo: Jimmy Collins
GALLAGHER
This is the first of a few conversations with Dan about his contributions and experience in skateboarding. From inventing the Nollie 360 Flip and Hardflip, to skating with Rodney Mullen and being flowed by, World Industries during the “Love Child” era, we hope to cover it all. Mike Gustafson: What’s up with the hardflip?
MG: So how did the name, “Hardflip” come about?
Dan Gallagher: I was obsessed with like, you know 360 Shuvit off the nose? You can just flick it backside, so it’s like behind you? I was obsessed with trying to do that. My original idea was to do a Nollie 360 Hardlip. I just kept trying that over and over becuase I figured if you could do it that way (Nollie 360 Flip) - you could do it the other way. So I just tried that and I settled for the 180. And I did that at Bay Banks in Lexington. That was how that started. I learned it in reverse. I learned the Nollie Hardlfip and then Switch Hardflip and then Hardflip and then Fakie Hardflip. But it didn’t matter. I was already trying them Switch Hardflip Pivot, Switch Hardflip Bigspin - I was trying to do all those variations. Freestyle variations. Variations I learned from that type of skating. So I was basically trying to a 360 Nollie Hardlip. I see it today. This is the fucked up thing - I see people doing 180 Varial, right? It’s supposed to be a fucking 360 Varial. It drives me up a fucking wall. And, I know some people do it so perfectly and it’s just so sick. You know the ghetto flip and the illusion flip, all the variaitions of it. But really, it’s supposed to be 360 Varial. It drives me fucking crazy.
DG: People used to ask me what the trick was and the only way I could explain it was “It’s a 180 Varial Kickflip...but frontside...the hard way” and eventually I just called it the the Hardflip because I got sick of explaining it. Also, it was a bitch to do consistently. I still have people come up to me and say that they can’t do it...or they have trouble doing it consistently. Same problem I had.
MG: So what you had in mind was essentially, way fucking harder? DG: Yeah. And, I almost did it. I was really fucking close, man. I was so close. It’s disgusting how hard I tried to do that. Like I spent...I couldn’t even tell you how long and I’m sure there’s some kid out there just doing 360 Hardflips. It’s not something that’s way out of reach but I think at the time, I just didn’t have that skill level to get there. I just didn’t make it last long enough to get there. I tried them again 3 or 4 years ago in Lowell. I would go to the park every morning and I never forgot. It still bothers me. I would go and just keep trying it over and over. I had the nastiest Nollie 360 Varials...but to this day it still bothers me that I couldn’t get it.
“I was so out of touch that by the time I met Rodney (Mullen) I was already doing those tricks.” MG: I’m just gonna pop in the Daewon, “Epicly Later’d” episode real quick. When Patrick O’Dell asked him “Did you do the Hardflip first?” He was pretty open that he probably wasn’t, but he was the first to film it. But in what you were just speaking on, on how the trick came to be, When he had filmed it, you had actually already done Nollie Hardflip, Switch Hardflip and THEN Hardflip. DG: Yeah. One funny thing is that I was in touch with Chris Hall at the time. We used to talk on the phone and shit. Just talk about tricks. And he calls me up one day and he’s like, “Dude, Pep (Martinez) did a Nollie 180 Varial Flip” and I was like, “Oh, I learned Nollie 360 Kickflips”. He was like, “You learned Nollie 360 Varial??”. And, so I had no idea. I was working so hard and skating alone for so long that I had no idea. I was so out of touch that by the time I met Rodney (Mullen) I was already doing those tricks. You know what I mean? Like, when I first met him he was trying Nollie 360 flips. We met and he was just showing me trick ideas and I showed him I could do it and that’s how we became friends.
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 15
Jason Thurtle Backside Ollie [p] Daniel Mandell
Dominic Fackler Back Lip [p] Jon Wolf
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 17
18 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
CMART: What’s up dude? John The Man Reeves: Not much, it’s X-mas morning 2013 and I just polished off a box of Honey Nut Trader Joe O’s. I already got my present yesterday sent from Buckeye, Arizona: a box of cheese, summer sausages, chocolates, nuts and popcorn! Thanks Mom and Pops. Might go see a movie later, we are thinking about seeing, “American Hustle”. CMART: For the people who don’t know, why are you J “the man” R ? JTMR: Well, there definitely is a story behind the nick name and it stems from my first sponsor, Primo Desiderio, he gave me Vision boards and Vision Streetwear, and we did demos at Southern California elementary schools. He also did a thing called Team Primo that also featured two top Vision factory riders that you may have heard of... (They are only two of the biggest names in skateboarding! Matt Hensley & Danny Way). Anyhow, he made flyers for the demos we used to do that said featuring John “The Man” Reeves, hahaha! Which is pretty weird considering I was only like 13 years old... I guess Primo called me “the man” first because he is kind of a small short dude and second because I was a bit bigger than him and skated bigger too, like a man. Ha! Then when Mike Ternasky put me on H-street and they made my part for the Hokus Pokus video, Tony Magnusson introduced me as “The Man,” John Reeves. At first I always felt weird about it, like people really thought that I take the nick name really seriously, but anyone who knows me knows that I don’t. Now I just see the nick name as a thing to set me apart from the seemingly endless sea of talented skateboarders. CMART: Where are you from? JTMR: San Diego. 1904 to the world! The Mecca, Manila Mesa, The BLVD. Of MM. Mira Mesa.
CMART: What is your overall impression of step dads? JTMR: Step Dad’s rule! They do all of the things that real dads don’t want to. CMART: Who’s your favorite skater? Or person you skate with... JTMR: I’d have to say Mark Gonzales to this question and I have been fortunate enough to skate with him a couple of times. He just always has a good time! When I started it was Gonz, Natas Kaupas, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, Julian Stranger, Christian Hosoi, Steve Caballero and guys like Eric Dressen, Jesse Martinez and other Venice Beach dudes pushing street skating to a level that I wanted to be at. All of those guys influenced the skating in videos like Hokus Pokus and the Life Video “A Soldier’s Story.” As for now I just like to skate with anybody who genuinely loves it and wants to skateboard. CMART: What do you like to do outside of skateboarding? JTMR: I sing, play guitar, write lyrics and poems. I also draw, paint, and even cook. But I also watch a lot of TV and movies, I could cut back on that, but it is inspiring and educational because you can learn so much from other peoples stories. I have a book of poetry out now called “Open Through the Mindflow...” published in San Diego by a small independent publisher called Shookup Publishing, and I’m working on my second book it is going to be called “Save Manhattan for Another Day.” I want to get more serious about my singer-songwriter stuff. CMART: How would you describe your art? JTMR: My art is all pieces of me. I guess a lot of it is sort of veiled self portraits inspired by words and life experiences. Writings, lyrics, singing and poetry too... I view it all as art.
Winter Fall 2012 2013 | Step Dad | 19 21
“I guess Primo called me “the man” first because he is kind of a small short dude and second because I was a bit bigger than him and skated bigger too, like a man.” CMART: Describe your favorite piece of art you have made. JTMR: I dunno that’s a hard one, I am never really good at picking favorites... But I can tell you that my favorite punctuation mark is the ellipsis and that I’m working on a project called ARSSIA right now. A.R.S.S.I.A is an acronym that I made up that means, “Artists Ride Skateboards Skateboarding Is Art.” So that is my favorite right now.
series’ with Oscar from Bodega Skateboards. We’ve done two series’ of skateboard decks where he picks a movie then I draw after I watch the movie and he hand silkscreens my drawings on the decks and I pick the color ways. The first one we did was the “Dead Man” series which is a Jim Jarmusch / Johnny Depp film. The second one we did is the “Naked Lunch” series which is William S. Burroughs / David Cronenburg film. Those boards are out now.
CMART: Your book is rad, could you tell me a little about it? JTMR: Thanks! “Open Through The Mindflow...” is a collection of poetry, lyrics, drawings, paintings, and short stories that I created over the last decade. It is a labor of love and self expression, it’s just stuff that I felt about life and living. It is words and art that I made while living in San Diego, Portland, and in Brooklyn and NYC. It is mostly spontaneous stuff that I doodled or wrote down on an envelope or on a post it note that I turned into real writings, drawings, or paintings. It also includes some of the lyrics that I wrote in High School while singing in bands.
CMART: Have you had many shows? JTMR: No I’ve only had a few. I was in two different group shows when I lived in Portland, Or. and I most recently had a show at NBKC the North Brooklyn Collective in Bushwick. I’m down to do more shows and I want to do some really big paintings someday.
CMART: Is everyone an artist? JTMR: I believe that every human can be creative, I just think that most humans need to tap into their creativity if they haven’t done so yet. CMART: If you didn’t do art what would you do? JTMR: I’d be an explorer and go on international expeditions to rare remote places, Ha yeah! I might do that anyway. CMART: Are you into collaborations? Have you done any? JTMR: Yeah sure I’m down to collaborate, but the only collaborations I’ve really done are the two board
CMART: Where can people see it? JTMR: If someone wanted to see some of my work right now they’d have to go online. They could see some stuff on jtmr.tumblr.com or on instagram @ johnthemanreeves #jtmart and @arsssia . I also like to do these little videos I like to call poemovies and you can see some of those on YouTube.com/solocreator CMART: Do you believe in Santa? JTMR: Never did never will. But I do believe that people can play the role of Santa just by being generous and giving to others and it wouldn’t even have to be on X-mas, HaHA! CMART: If you could put a piece of your art permanently forever, where would it be? JTMR: Space! Deep down into the core of the middle of the Earth? On top of Mt. Everest? Kilimanjaro? Under the sea with the little mermaid? I dunno. All I know is that I would like to be able to share my stuff with everybody!
20 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
another story about drugs.
words by Taylor Garrett
“He was a former body builder turned crack head, so between the residual effects of steroids and cocaine he was an extremely volatile person.” I met Phil in my first round of rehab. He was a former body builder turned crack head, so between the residual effects of steroids and cocaine he was an extremely volatile person. Often exploding into violent fits. I had never fully experienced this side of him until one night we decided to shoot some crack together. I had been dying for something to put in my arm, having shot coke countless times I figured it wasn’t too far a stretch to inject crack. I called Phil, he was excited to get high for free (his fee) so he was at my door in minutes sporting a black eye that I would find out later was the result of a hooker defending herself. We met some nice gentlemen who sold us the crack and went to his house to bang it. Upon walking in, I knew something was up. Furniture, plates and clothes were strewn about the house, telling of a recent domestic dispute. “My girl is staying at her mom’s tonight, we got in a fight.” “Oh really,” I replied, trying to suggest that I didn’t notice how fucked up the entire house was. “Top of the stairs to the right,” Phil said. “We can do this in there.” I entered the room to find it was a toddler’s bedroom, a crib with toys neatly arranged in the center, two filthy couch cushions on the floor. “I don’t know man,
this is the only room where I can get high in this house.” We did our dope with red wine vinegar, the sour taste in our throats accompanying ringing ears and a shortness of breath. Phil did about four shots in twenty minutes, began shaking and was unresponsive.
“A crack high lasts three minutes at best so I decided to step out for a smoke and let him ride it out solo.” A crack high lasts three minutes at best so I decided to step out for a smoke and let him ride it out solo. I told him five times or so that I was going out and to not be alarmed when I came back in. Finally he mustered an “okay.” A few minutes later I came back inside and went up the stairs. In the nursery I found Phil shirtless and clutching a butcher knife, screaming nonsense. Instead of trying to calm him down I grabbed my shit and left, opting to walk home six miles rather than risk my life for another minute with this psychopath.
@5BORONYC
22 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Eric Belhumeur Crooks [p] Brendan Jaccarino
Brandon Cole Five-OH! [p] Larry Lamar
Jordan Pride 180 Nosegrind [p] Dave Labbe
POEMS from the Inside Words: Bruce King
Here’s to the Step Dad Here’s to the step off the stoop and smoke-like mist rising off of the concrete. Here’s to the hood dawned in defiance and anonymity. Here’s to the push and the crack of the ply. Here’s to the coalescence of the single bodies into the swarm. To the bombing of hills and the bombing of thought. Here’s to the plight of the forgotten. To those who’ve slipped through the cracks in pavement. Here’s to the ‘Outcast that Outlasts’. Here’s to the bruised and bloodied. Here’s to the one’s who’d rather walk alone than betray their conscience Here’s to the downtrodden as we were never the meek. They can have their inherited earth, give us the greater end in mind. Through it all we find our niche for we connect. We’ll hear one another and elevate through empathy. When it all fades to black we all go alone, but the ink settled and the mark was made. Cheers
24 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Nikita Weltman Noseblunt [p] Jon Wolf
Winter 2013 | Step Dad | 25
Chris Peterson Front Lip [p] Wes Cunningham
Josh Silva
Feeble [p] Zekiah Lucas
26 | Step Dad | Winter 2013
Jake Sanchez Ollie [p] Nick Cattie
Aidan Chenard Smash an Grab [p] Liam Annis