TALKING
Carabeth
Burnside is the
first profes
sional vertical
female skate
boarder since
1980 and the
only girl who
has ever com
peted with the
big boys. Way
to go, Cara! As
an amateur
Carabeth was
featured in the
May 1981
Thrasher, win-
ning her divi-
Skate City
Whittier
Pro-Am.
NOW AND LATER
There was a magazine that any skater over 25 (there are still a few of us
left) will remember gazing at during most off-board hours. That mag was
Skateboarder, published by Surfer Publications, and it shaped skateboard-
ing in the seventies. By the time the first issue of Thrasher came out in
January 1981 Skateboarder had changed its name to Action Now and
broadened their editorial focus to include BMX, Stadium Moto-X and the
infamous "girl jumping a horse over a log at the beach" photo from which
they never fully recovered. We still get letters accusing Action Now of leav
ing skateboarding out to die. But in many respects, Action Now was ahead
of its time, a magazine that showcased the many diverse aspects and
activities of youth culture. The trouble (besides covering bicycles) was that
it tried to sweep skateboarding under the rug. They wished it would disap-
pear. They wanted the bucks to cover pro surf tours, volleyball matches
and beach lifestyle-stuff skaters were trying to get away from..
Fortunately, skateboarding went underground, hibernated for a while and
came back with a vengance. The first dirty issues of Thrasher are a chroni-
cle of those lean, mean, hard skating years. We covered the music, the atti-
tude, the art and the style from issue number one. Thrasher knows that
skateboarding is the fuel for our fire. If skaters go surfing, we'll cover that. If
they snowboard, we're there. The main thing is, it's skaters doing it.
Even though they showed us what not to do, this issue is dedicated to
Skateboarder and Action Now, from the "focus" style photo spread, and the
interview with the 'Nuge, to the sandboarders in Somethin' Else. All that, as
well as our regular punk rock features, aggro attitudes and deviant depart-
ments, make for one hot summer slash-fest.
THRASHER
PUBLISHER
Edward H. Riggins
EDITOR
Kevin J. Thatcher
ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER
Maria Martinez
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Richard Noll
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Bryce Kanights
ART DIRECTOR
Ken McGuire
PHOTO EDITOR
M.Fo
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Kurt Carlson
ART ASSOCIATE
John Dettman
MUSIC EDITOR
Brian Brannon
LARGE ARTIST
Kevin Ancell
DARKROOM TECH
Mark Madeo
DARKROOM ASSISTANT
Lance Dawes
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Rick Blackhart, Chef Boy-Am-I-Hungry.
Don Fisher, Lowboy, Jake Phelps, Don Redondo,
Billy Runaway, C.R. Stocyk
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Mike Gitter, Mike LaVella, Harry Moss,
Rick Rotsent, John Stain, Kintin Voris
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Mike Anderson, Block, Kristin Callahan, Joel Cherry,
Bryce Kanights, Mark Maden, Scott Needham
Chris Ortiz, Ken Salerno, Scott Star,
Keith Stephenson, Bill Thomas
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Liss Weidman
ADVERTISING ASSISTANT
Dana Perkins
PRODUCT SALES MANAGER
Rick Rosett
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Clifford Caims
RECEPTIONIST
Jonah Schmidt
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Brinette Battaglia Muir, Karen Smith, Yvonne Smith
SHIPPING MANAGER
Jake Phelps
SHIPPING
Tony Perez, Ana Quezada
ENGINEER
Mario Damas
Novstand Dibaien-USA Kable News Co., Inc
Canada Diacor Foreign: Worldwide Made Service, Inc.
MUSIC THAT STICKS
IN YOUR THROAT
"THE REALITY OF MY SURROUNDINGS," THE NEW ALBUM
FEATURING SUNLESS SATURDAY, EVERYDAY SUNSHINE, AND MORE.
A MOTORBOOTYTHROWDOWNROCK'N
SOULPUNKFUNKEXTRAVAGANZA.
YOU CANNOT DENY IT.
FISHBONE ON COLUMBIA.
4 TAR MAGAZINE
Get Loose,
Kevin J. Thatcher
THRASHER Magarise is 100% recyclab