Re-stocked

Foulweather #1 has been restocked at Portland's best book store, Reading Frenzy. Microcosm still have some also. Get them now as I'm down to my last few issues. All going to plan issue #2 will be available at the same outlets or directly through me.

Just in, Dave Fitzpatrick aka Fitz of Rage, has promised a few words for #2. He has got a tight deadline but this ex-journo turned trucker is still a master wordsmith and I'm sure will offend a few readers with whatever he comes up with.

Issue #2 Update

Here I am at city hall displaying some of my crap as well as other people's at City Hall during City Commissioner Sam Adams' Skate Art show... This guy really wants to be mayor, if he's willing to let hundreds of filthy skateboarders in for the night. I wonder if I still would have been welcome if he or any of his assistants had actually read my stuff... Apparently they are planning some form of zine night in November. I'll see if I can sneak back in. Thanks to Josh for the photo.

Issue #2 of Foulweather is almost complete. Just waiting for some art and I have to finish up one story. A bit more editing, layout and then off to the printers at the end of September, I hope... At the moment I am planning on a colour cover... We'll see if its worth going into debt for... but at the rate I'm putting out zines, I may as well make them worthwhile... There will be a lot more art and photography in this issue, something I think was lacking in FW #1.

Currently this content list looks like this:

Diamond Mining With Dora, a demented socio-political history of the beach as a symbol of liberation. From Victorian Britain to Dora's Malibu to Japan's Seagaia with various diversions a long the way.
Foulweather On The Beach, an ugly memoir as told from various filthy beaches around the world.
Beach 90th by Justin Hocking, an autobiographical account of learning to surf in New York and Oregon while battling personal demons, seeking enlightenment and trying to make sense of the turn of the century.
They Turned Their Backs To The Sea by Ricardo Salcedo , an account of culture clash in Jamaica and disillusionment with the peace corps. Body surfing, voodoo and dope smoking, a plenty.
Directions To The Beach from Johnny Rad. Forget Leonardo Di Caprio, Johnny can take you to paradise but there's always a price.

Illustrations, Art and Photography by Frank 'Patch' Cubillos, Rick Albano, Jason Powers, Dennis Dread and Jeff Petersen.

Oh yeah, this issue will have a special secret surprise pull-out poster that will be worth the cover price alone!

Skateboarding Is Dead. Long Live Skateboarding

Above photos from the book 'Dirt Ollies.'

Just as I started to consider throwing my skateboard into the river, in response to all the X-lames madness, Dew Tours, parents coaching their children to be future pros and stories of British police taking skate classes in order to 'cultivate a cooler image' with the youth (wow, that would really ruin my session), I came across Dirt Ollies, a coffee table book that documents a skateboard trip to Mongolia.

In 2004, a group of eighteen skateboarders and photographers went to Mongolia after coming across an obscure photo of a dilapidated Mongolian skatepark. The idea was to find the park, help fix it up, hand out some boards to the local kids and support whatever scene was there while breathing in the smells, sounds and sights of a country most skateboarders would never even have on their radar as a potential destination. There is also an accompanying film, titled, Mongolian Tyres, that explains why they set out on such a mission and to what end . The result is beautifully unique documentation of a lesser-considered country and culture as seen through the warped perspective of several arty skateboarders.

It is good to see that despite the watering down and co-option and commodification of skateboarding, there is still an element integrity and creativity left. To me, this is what skateboarding is all about, a unique way to observe and interact with the world. In saying that, the film is far from perfect. It did have some corporate funding and there are some unfortunate narrow-minded statements made here and there. But it is honest, unlike the watered down bollocks we are fed on The Life of Ryan, or whatever else MTV/ESPN wants you to believe skateboarding is.

On a side note, I think there will be a continued trend of skateboarders seeking more and more remote destinations. At first pros would flock to cities that were bust free, then to 'undiscovered cities' to get photos and footage skateboarding on unique architecture with interesting back drops. Of course, average skateboarders are following suit and seeking out far flung destinations much like surfers have been doing since the 1970s. The results will inevitably be far more 'extreme,' and more importantly, interesting than who pulled what on the X-Games mega-ramp (Jesus, I cringe just typing those words), even if it is just a dirt ollie in outer Mongolia.

Seek it.

Journalistic Principle

The Mental Environment Movement

Click to read.

Not Another Oregon Surf Blog: Lost At Sea

Mermaid and angel at the Aberystwyth war monument, at the remains of Aberystwyh Castle, where I used to do my daily surf check.

I was going to write about a pretty fucking good surf session I had on Friday. I was going to try and get all poetic about how a couple friends and I stumbled upon a perfect wave on the off chance and surfed a perfect right-hander for hours with no one in sight. I was going to talk about chomped seals and isolated pockets of oil glass. Bowly peaks and racing walls that were shredable all the way to the shore pound. I was going to paint a picture of turquoise faces, dropping in and setting up for a hundred yard rip-ride. And then sharing a couple of sunset tinnies on the steep pebble beach as the pelicans swooped over head. But it all sounded a bit trite. Let's just say surfing continues to ruin and save my life.

Sæglópur, á lífi 
Kominn heim 

Sæglópur, á lífi 
Kominn heim 

þaõ kemur kafari 
Komin heim 

þaõ kemur kafari 
Komin heim
A lost seafarer, alive 
 has returned home 

A lost seafarer, alive 
 has returned home 

A diver comes, 
has returned home 

A diver comes ,
 has returned home
. Sæglópur/ Lost At Sea -Sigur Ros

Breaking My Own Rules

John cardiel photo from Slap Magazine

Now I am a family man with a job, mortgage, car payments etc. getting ever closer to that middle class, middle age bliss we are all supposed to aspire to, I find myself breaking some of my once golden rules in order to get my kicks in.

Rule #1 used to be no skateboarding before noon. I woke up this morning with my usual stiff back and muscle pain, sat down on the toilet and waited for all my joints and muscles to settle and then decided on going skateboarding before work. Skateboarding at 9am would have been unthinkable to me a few years ago and its outright dangerous when your back is a wrecked as mine is. However, a few weeks of acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments have given me a bit more confidence to hop in the bowl in the early AM. And with #2 of Portland's soon to be 19 skateparks only a 10 minute drive, I had no excuse.

It really is all too easy. I didn't have to scope out any spots, run from security guards, drive two hours to the closest decent bowl. So convenient, it was like going for a game of squash before work. La di da... Back home by noon, twenty minute bike ride to work and here I am. You have to love Portland in the summer.

Whenever I worry about my back, I think of John Cardiel (pictured above) one of the most explosive skateboarders ever, who can barely walk after a car accident. The man was told he'd never walk again but was doing nose wheelies a year or so after his accident.

Rule #2 used to be, no beer before noon but that's a whole other story...

You Are Not What You Own

photo by Glen E Friedman

Guy Picciotto from Fugazi, once wailed "You Should Pay Rent In My mind." I love that lyric, epsecially in this age of hyper-intrusive advertising, thousands of television channels, internet addiction and spam bombardment. However, Fugazi should be paying rent in my mind and not the other way around, as that damn band has squatted my brain for long enough.

The third of September 2007 is going to be the twenty year anniversary of Fugazi's first gig and photographer Glen E Friedman is going to put out a collection of photos, titled Keep Your Eyes Open to commemorate it. I'm going to buy it. I'm going to hum the song Merchandise as I walk to Powell's books to pick up a copy. Maybe I'll buy it online. I'll plug in my WankFargo debit card in and have UPS deliver me an over-packaged copy to my doorstep. Maybe, I'll order from Amazon. It is OK because its Fugazi, right? As long as you are consuming the right things, it will be fine. The right records, the right books, the right ideas... then it must be OK to obssess over merchandise.

In all sincerity, I'm looking foward to this book. I love the band and the photog even though I've read and heard some interviews with Friedman that suggest he doesn't have much faith in today's kids. While I disagree with GEF about the lack of cutting edge youth culture these days, I do think he captured the scenes he was involved with amazingly.

Despite the publication of this book, I thought it was pretty cool of Fugazi to just dissappear, not to announce an official and dramatic 'break up,' just to be on permenant hiatus. They influenced a generation to do shit themselves without compromising their values. Of course, they have been hero-worshipped for this, which goes against their efforts at being anti-rock stars but shit... we need some heros about now. So yeah, I'll be consuming some more Fugazi...

If you don't know much about this band, check out Jem Cohen's film Instrument. Here's a clip.

Back To Oregon

And so back to Oregon to get surf fit for the autumn swells and to wrap up foulweather #2.

Don't forget, if you are in Portland tonight. Come by and say hello at City Hall where I will be displaying various skateboard related zines and publications at the Historical Perspective of Stumptown Skate. Free zine for anyone who mentions this blog...