fax, Xerox and mini-cams.
like wildfire fire via phone.
the flippity kicks, spread
moves, the tricky tricks and
ans. But news of modern
tions via mags and histori-
between towns and genera-
and folklore is passed
now. park-to-park. Legend
spot, ramp to ramp, and
who travel from spot-to-
are connected by nomads
skate nucleus. These scenes
across the land harbors a
every small community
into the nineties, it seems
skateboarding entrenches
how and with whom. As
what, where, when, why.
period of history, who did
thought and feeling in a
Zeitgeist: The trend of
SEQUENCES BY M.FO
A Thrasher Symposium
SKATEBOARDING
MOVES THAT MADE
NMOG
UNDER
OVER
48 T Muu
KODAK SAFETY FILM
GARLAGE TODAY IS THE
DREAMSCAPE OF YESTERDA
DANNY WAY TAILGRASS A
VARIAL-TO-NOSESLIDE FAKIE
TASKILIN
This high-tech communication
system reaches the far corners of
the skating world faster than any
skate mag or video can be readied
for market. Skateboarding's evolu-
tion is clipping along at ten times
the speed it did ten years ago,
As part of a series of evaluations,
Thrasher has put together another
survey of top skaters, this time to
evaluate the moves that have
greatly influenced modern skate-
boarding. This is an open forum
designed to gain insight into where
we're going and where we've been.
Those who don't care can shut up
and look at the pictures.
What was the first trick you
ever learned?
We figured there would be some
great answers to this question and
we were right. Everything from
laying on the stomach to 540's
were mentioned. Some skaters
just don't consider tic-tacs a trick
Some don't consider a move a
trick until you catch air or grind. A
lot of proud pros claim they
dropped in and blasted a backside
air as their first trick ever. Carves
and wheelies were popular with i
the more down-to-earth wheel
nuts while the rational thinkers
talked about learning how to fall.
Those who emphasized the word
"first" in their exposition of this
question turned the hands of time
back to the day their feet were
introduced to a board. Steve
Caballero says, "The first trick I
ever learned was balancing on a
skateboard while rolling down the
street in front of my house." Like-
wise, Erik Jueden, Danny Way.
Shawn Nunez, Steve Saiz and
Lance Mountain consider the first
maneuver they ever pulled the act
of pushing down the street. Bryce
Kanights doesn't consider pushing
his first trick; he lived on a hill. "It
was probably rolling down a hill
and keeping my balance while
dragging my rear shoe in order to
stop," he says.
Thinking back to the days when
he first stepped on a deck, Tommy
Guerrero recalls "there weren't
many tricks back then." He lists
tic-tacs as his first trick, as does
Jay Adams, Kevin Harris, Jake
Phelps and Stacy Peralta. Bad-
landers Scott Dunlap and Brett
Thompson, photo ace Steve
Keenan and pool man Mark
Partain say their first tricks were
grinders, even if they were only on
curbs. "First trick? Well, I don't
remember her name." says Jeff
The Hurter Grosso, "I think it
was Candy Apples."
Some rollers skipped the basics
and went straight to the gnarly
stuff. Danny Mayer's first move
was the frontside layback grind-to-
tail. John Lucero pulled an edger
lap over. Todd Congelliere claims
he immediately pulled varial 540's.
Ben Schroeder was doing fakie
thrusters. Salman Agah picked up
rock and rolls on a mini-ramp.
Mike Vallely threw a footplant off
a car and Jeffrey Hedges just
practiced dropping off stuff. Micke
Alba initially learned how "to pick
up a 12-ounce can and place
towards mouth."
Alphonso Rawls asked "Is this a
crank call?" on hearing the first
question. After being reassured it
was not, he related that his first
maneuver was dropping-in. Tony
Magnusson's earliest moves were
endovers and other basics, while
Ray Underhill and Craig Stecyk
remember losing their virginity to
nose wheelies. Craig, however,
recalls riding steel wheels.
Carving through the sweet deep
end of a pool was the first for
many skaters, including Chris
Robison, Brian Brannon, Puppet-
head. Tim Galvin and Steve Dou-
glas. Others, like Christian Hosol
and Mike Youssefpour, worked on
frontside grinds. Salba says his
premiere move was tail taps à la
Lee Gahimer. John Fabriquer.
Darryl Delgado, Omar Hassan, Eric
Nash and Mouse all say backside
kickturns played key roles in their
skate development. Omar had the
pleasure of learning them in
Upland's nine-foot bowl. On the
other hand, Neal Hendrix had to
build his own quarter-pipe on
which he commenced serious back-
side edgers. Steve Salisian says. "I
learned frontside airs in a pool.
grabbing at the bottom and
landing on the bottom. I had my
skateboard for two days, then I
went to the pool with no idea of
what to do. Frontside just felt
right, so I did it."
What is the latest trick you've
learned?
Tough question, assuming real
skaters abide by the old adage.
you learn something new every
day. Even old farts can learn to
slappie curbs after all those years
of riding pools. Everybody knows
you can't skate today if you can't
ollie higher than your own knee.
Remember: "What is hip today will
soon become passé."-Tower Of
Power, "What Is Hip?"
In no particular order, here's a
list of skate czars and their latest
tricks. JOHN FABRIQUER: Backside
Smith grinds-to-fakie and
a few fancy footworks on
the street. JEFFREY HEDGES
Lipslide-to-backside Smith-
to-fakie. Sean NUNEZ
McTwist. DANNY MAYER: Les
twist revert (540) back-
wards. DANNY War: Front-
foot impossible, Frontside
air. STEVE SAZ: Frontside
invert. OMAR HASSAN
Caballerial. TONY MAGNUS-
SON: Backside Buster
grind (overturned back-
side grind). Ray UNDER-
HILL: Fakie hang-up one-
footed in. MARK PARTAIN
Pivot fakie on vert
Nose blunt slide on
curbs. STEVE CABALLERO
Backside 540 aerials.
JOHN LUCERO: Backside
olle tail grab. Too0
CONCELLIERE: half-Cab
shove-it blunt. MKE
YOUSSEFFOUR:
Frontside kickturns.
CHRISTIAN HOSO: Ollie
impossibles in street.
Benihanas on vert
STEVE SALISIAN: Fin-
gerflip Indy-to-fakie
super high so it's
gnarly on vert. 180
ollies over high
stuff like fire
hydrants in street.
DARRYL DELGADO
Crail taps on cer-
tain mini-ramps.
or a proper back-
side tail slide on a
mini, JAY ADAMS:
Rock and roll-to-
fakie. To
GUERRERO: Ollie
Impossibles. KEVIN HARRIS: Kickflip-
to-one-footed manual. BRYCE
KANIGHTS: Frontside lipslides on
vert, ALPHONSO RAW: Body varial
McTwist from mute to backside.
JAKE PHELPS: Opposite foot 5-0-to-
ALONG WITH
THE EVOLUTION
OF THE AERIAL
AND THE INVERY
CAME THE LAY-
BACK AERIAL
DAN MCKAY
BOOSTS ONE
(LEFT) IN THE
UPPER KEYHOLE
AT THE LONG-
GONE MARINA
DEL REY THE
SLAPPY HAS
TURNED CURS
INTO COPING ALL
OVER THE WORLD.
GEORGE NAGA
DRIVES HOME A
CASUAL FRONTSIDE
EYE-CONTACT SLAP
(BELOW) ON A
TALL CURS. HO
HOS AND YO-YOS
COME AND GO BUT
SOME MOVES LIVE
ON. LAYBACK
GRIND (BOTTOM
LEFT) BY TONY
FARM DOG
FARMER AT
GLEN'S RAMP