STEEP
USE PLASTIC OR DON'T
The act of skateboarding now can be as
simple as a pleasant downhill cruise or as
SLOPES intricate as any well-executed curb plant
with Garry Scott Davis
DEDICATION:
To John Smythe,
for giving me the attitude.
YOU'VE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE
Somewhere within the homogenized,
formalized region of the commercialized,
standardized sport of present-day skate-
boarding, there exists the very fine line
between the adjectives of "new and
exciting" and "dull and stale." As vertical
skate contests first came into being six
years ago, everything was indeed new and
exciting while, contrastingly, most of the
competition activities occurring today
become increasingly more predictable and
dull. A lot of people are laying down the
same old trips while others continue to
progress (Tony Hawk is a fine example). I
myself continue to enter contests for no
apparent reason. Skating was never
meant to be judged (i.e., you don't grind for
anyone else). Contests prove nothing.
They are for enjoyment only and should
not be taken seriously, especially since the
judging systems tend to be highly in-
adequate. Everyone is usually biased and
the conditions (i.e., the presence of ped
cameras, ped spectators, et cetera...) are
usually lame. So, the next time a big
contest comes around, enter it. Or better
yet, don't.
NINE QUESTIONS
Is the world as it now exists really worth
living in? Are people as they now exist
really worth dealing with? Are cliches really
worth speaking? Is it really worth it to look,
act, do, and talk the same? Are regulations
really made to be broken? What would
happen if you didn't conform to peer
standards? Would you be ejected from the
social circle? Are social circles worth being
in anyway? So what are we talking about
here, anyhow? Skating or sociology?
Heck, I don't know. Go outside. Class
dismissed.
Get on it and go, says GSD.
variations. When you look at it, a skate is
either going to be cruised or ripped,
depending what sort of rider steps on a
board. But none of that even matters, to tell
you the truth. Cruising is for cruisers and
ripping is for rippers. Your skate style can
be as smooth or as coarse as you want.
Skating differs from all other sports and
arts in many ways; the most prominent
way being its grind aspect. The frontside
grind is still the gnarliest move in skate-
boarding. Lapping out over the edge bare
axled, whether it be poolside, curbside, or
bricks-side, no other sport can claim that
famous "bark" of a harsh metal-to-cement
frontside axle grind, a very common
ingredient in the skaters daily diet.
NO MOMS
The herds of skateparks have nearly
vanished, and the ramps are rotting away
with age, are you prepared? The only way
up is out there. The roads and gutters are
where it's at. Don't let your parents fool
you. Bed-time is really skate-time. Face
reality or go home to mommy. The hours of
the dark, when the sun is down and
shadows trick and rule, are surely the
prime time for the downhill shot. Out on the
highway at 2 a.m., there are no screaming,
smiling crowds, no proud parents, or no
scheming betties. No money is involved in
the street. No egos either. No magazines,
no rags, no companies, no first place, no
trophies, no applause, no winners, no
losers, no pats on the back, no friends, no
prizes, no love, no nothing. The only goal
is momentum. The only reason is rush.
The only byproducts are dirt and sweat.
But real kids never even cared about that
anyway. The world is now officially paved.
So what are you waiting for? Halloween?
ASK ME IF I CARE
If you're going to ride the hills, you really
don't even need all that much. Just one
board, two trucks, and four wheels will do.
Forget all the plastic garbage. And you
don't need any names either, peel those
stickers off that board, and remember that
it doesn't meier what kind of equipment
you have, it doesn't matter what your hair
looks like, and it doesn't matter how good
you are because the last are the first and
the worst are the best. Push off.
SKATEBOARDING INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1. Put this magazine down.
STEP 2. Grab your board.
STEP 3. Walk out the door.
STEP 4. Put the tape player back in the
house. No music.
STEP 5. Come back outside.
STEP 6. Be up on top of the hill by
midnight, no earlier.
STEP 7. Throw the skateboard down on
the ground.
STEP 8. Ride the skateboard down the hill.
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