Archives

Skateboarding In Toronto
|TransWorld Skateboarding
">Toronto - Canada's Hollywood and New York bricked into one, an empire built and founded upon blood and polished stone. Its glossy marble veins weave so precisely through its heart three-million deep, as if a guide into one of this planet's illest playgrounds for mobile renegades. The black-wax clots run random at its foundation like varicose veins, echoing its legends, its masters, and its history of trickology carved in stone. The chisel, a skateboard.Being a diverse depot of all nations, Toronto bears all traits of a metropolis, from the posh... Read more...
Toy Machine Tour
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Hometown Hero Versus Toy MachineThe story of the Toy Machine Wave Of Mutilation Tour 1999.by Ed Templeton Just like a glam-rock band hitting the road on a U.S. tour, we started, but in place of guitars and drum kits were box after box of skateboards, wheels, and T-shirts. In place of assless leather chaps and hairspray were duffel bags filled with skate clothes. In place of the luxury tour bus with everything you could need was our fifteen-seater Dodge van that sucked dog ass. Toy Machine was taking it on... Read more...
Volume
|TransWorld Skateboarding
VolumeI used to think Y2K was overrated. But lately, weird, I mean weird, things have been happening. Never mind the natural disasters–earthquakes, hurricanes, floods–crazier stuff is going down in your neighbor's yard. This is not a freak flash, but keep your eyes open for the next handrail knob created to stop you. And meanwhile, people will keep splicing film and cursing the brew.There's something Y2K going on in Volume this issue. Define it, write us about it, and whoever is exactly right, will get a new deck and a pair... Read more...
Weird Story - Eddys House
|TransWorld Skateboarding
">I was probably about ten or eleven years old at the time. I was at my childhood friends' house, Luke and Tim in Leucadia, California. Living next door to them was a redheaded, freckle-faced kid named Eddy. He had so many orange freckles, in fact, it was like he almost didn't have any because his entire face had become this orangish freckle color. His parents were disgusting. Even back then I knew there was something seriously wrong with his family. We're talking about a chain-smoking mother who just sat on... Read more...
Mike Vallely On The Road
|TransWorld Skateboarding
The RoadIn my world it's not about videos or contests and never has been. I've flirted with both mediums as much as I've had to in order to sustain a professional career. But my true love, my reason for continuing to exist in this sport as a professional, is the road–touring, demonstrations, kicking it live.From town to town, from state to state, from country to country, the opportunity to skate with and for the locals, to spread the gospel of skateboarding firsthand all over the world, is my driving inspiration,... Read more...
Matt Mumford Good Stuff
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Several years ago, Grant Brittain started shooting photos with this Australian guy named Matt Mumford. They met when Grant was on a trip to Oz, and later, when Matt came to the States, they'd hook up all the time. At the time, I didn't pay Matt much attention, until I saw the sequence of him frontside bluntsliding this ledge off stairs at a school called Rincon. After that, I gave Matt the respect he deserved. In those days, Matt was riding for Invisible Skateboards and living at Dave Bergthold's house... Read more...
Mandatory Information
|TransWorld Skateboarding
On Saturday, October 16, Swatch released its newest watch line at its retail outlet in Santa Monica, California, where Tony Hawk , Andy Macdonald , and snowboarder Shaun Palmer signed autographs for the better part of three hours. After the signing, Tony attended a Swatch V.I.P. party in Hollywood, where a plethora of famous people hobnobbed into the night. The world's most famous hobnobber (isn't that what they called it in the Senate inquiries?) Monica Lewinsky was there stalking Tony's friend. Tony met President Clinton 's ex-special lady, and they... Read more...
Hook-Ups Tour 1999
|TransWorld Skateboarding
The Thirteen-Point Plan to Destroy America The Cast Jeremy Klein Jeremy was even worse than on past tours. This shit guy was out of control. Heath KirchartOnce again, Heath could have any girl in America. Instead, he played it mellow - except when it came to lighting fireworks in the van. Willy SantosAfter three tours, Willy is finally having fun. It's good to see that he's loosening up. Dan "The Rock" RogersThe Rock spent less time trying roll up on girls than on past tours. Looks like this notorious ladies'... Read more...
Last Words - Geoff Rowley
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Last video you rented:Some Clint Eastwood film–I've been going through them all.Last time you went to the cinema:Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me.Last CD you bought:Jawbreaker, Unfun.Last vinyl you bought:An Egg Hunt seven-inch.Last time you left L.A.:Two weeks ago to come to Europe for the comps.Last song you listened to:Jets To Brazil, track ten, I think.Last meal you ate:Seitan in orange sauce with rice and vegetables.Last trick you landed:Ollie up a curb.Last board you set up:Flip Rowley Industrial 8.Last time you were inspired:Speaking to an ex-girlfriend from a hotel... Read more...
Gasbag
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Our Carefully Constructed LivesTravel is an interesting thing. Not only is it expensive and often very frustrating, it's also the only time most of us willingly risk the chance of getting food poisoning, contracting amebic dysentery, or becoming a victim of a terrorist act or air-traffic disaster. Travel is so loathsome that when a mean woman in a terrible uniform interrupts the Christian Coalition-edited version of Doc Hollywood we're being forced to watch in order to hand us a packet containing nine salted peanuts and a coke so small it... Read more...
Jim Gagne Good Stuff
|TransWorld Skateboarding
The pride of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Jim Gagne has been on the outside looking in for a long time. His name has resounded throughout the Northeast as an outlaw hero for almost a decade, but the pretty-boy sunbathers of the West Coast, those who run the show, have all but ignored his talent, heart, and persistence. True, through the years they've thrown him a few bones, a sponsorship here, a photo or video clip there, but he's always tossed their skeptical adoration right back in their faces. This dog wants respect.On... Read more...
Personal Profile - Danny Gonzales
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Favorite MoviesAmerican BeautyThe DoorsThe Breakfast ClubWarriorsSid And NancyFuturistic Thingslonger-lasting boardsmore girls skatingmore one-footed trickslonger-lasting shoesearthquake in San FranciscoFavorite SkateboardersTom PennyEric KostonBrian AndersonElissa SteamerOggy SouzaThings I hateolivesbeing hurtcountry musiccleaning the bathroombeing sickInfluential PeopleBob BurnquistGreg ChapmanRodrigo TeixeiraFabiola DaSilvaChad MuskaFavorite Tricksone-wheeled nose wheelieskickflip melon grab360 flip footplantsbody varial tricksollies out of hipsAll-Time Favorite Skate VideosBlind Video DaysPlan B Questionable VideoFeedbackWelcome To HellTim & Henry's Promo Read more...
Andrew Pommier Brainfloss
|TransWorld Skateboarding
I generally make it a practice to restrict any feelings of pride to things in which I played a role. I try not to feel proud, for example, that I'm a Canadian, I try not to feel proud of my ancestors, and I try not to feel proud that the Blue Jays won the World Series in two consecutive years. I'm not ashamed of these things, but I didn't have anything to do with any of them. I was born in Canada, I didn't have much say on that one;... Read more...
Weird Story - Lance Mountain
|TransWorld Skateboarding
In July of 1989, Tony Hawk, Mike Manzoori, Ray Underhill, Eric Sorrensen, Adrian Demain, and I were on tour in Europe with the Bones Brigade, doing demos around England and Wales. We were skating this little red mini ramp out in the middle of this field somewhere in the London area, and I was selling some 45 singles of this band I was in called Republic. Some guy comes up to me and goes, "Hey, this kid wants you to go to his house."I'm like, "Oh yeah? Hot!"I was thinking... Read more...
Volume
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Buffalo Daughter WXBD Grand RoyalThis Japanese group likes to get retarded with the funk. As an extension of last year's brilliant New Rock disc, Buffalo Daughter has enlisted a hardcore cast of remixers to cut up their best songs and slap on some thick-ass beats. Both Kut Masta Kurt and Cornelius have a go at the psychedelic "Great Five Lakes" with dramatically different results, while Panda turns "Super Blooper" into a disco 2000 jam and Jopolo kicks "Sky High + Down Sea" straight in the shin.–Aidin VaziriDestination 2000Love As LaughterSup... Read more...
Stephane Larance - Good Stuff
|TransWorld Skateboarding
They say it's not whether you win or lose but how you play the game, and nobody gets down with the tenacity of Stephane Larance. It doesn't matter where you might find him; over stairs, on ledges, or up some random transitions, Stephane will execute all with style and precision guaranteed. Inspect any film or photos of him, and without a doubt everything is in its proper place, even his shirt will seem wrinkled to perfection. If you've ever wondered what Michael Jordan has been doing in his retirement from... Read more...
Route 66
|TransWorld Skateboarding
So how do you start writing about something so entrenched in American history and folklore as Route 66? This is more than just a road after all. Dubbed the "Mother Road," Route 66 runs from Chicago all the way to the Santa Monica pier in Los Angeles. Built on portions of the original Pony Express route, it served as the only link from east to west. Many famous stories both factual and fictional have found beginnings, or endings, or both, on 66.The usefulness of 66 as a major thoroughfare has... Read more...
Paris
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Billions of people live in Paris; they're called Parisians. These Parisians are a funny lot of people - to get to know one properly would take an eternity. It's said that Parisians don't like the rest of the people who live in France, and with that in mind, what chance would an out-of-town skateboarder have of receiving a welcome greeting? To tell the truth, very little. Parisians go out of their way to make you feel shitty. Taxi drivers rip you off for every penny they can, waitresses look at... Read more...
The Osiris Weight - Loss Tour
|TransWorld Skateboarding
"Lose fifteen pounds or your money back!" Of the estimated 32-million skateboarders in America today, only 400 or so are pro, and of that lot, only a handful are household names, and even fewer reach the single-sobriquet status of recent TWS poll winners such as Smolik, Hawk, Muska, Burnquist, Koston, and Reynolds. But these insufferable odds didn't dissuade people like Bob Burnquist or Chad Muska and a slew of others too numerous to mention from taking a chance on themselves, and in doing so, abandoning everything they had - their... Read more...
Javier Sarmiento - Good Stuff
|TransWorld Skateboarding
">I'm not to sure what makes certain skaters so consistent. I wonder if maybe when they were young, videos fooled them into thinking that everything happens in the first couple tries. Could it be all the heated games of Skate, or is it something they ate the night before? Some might say it's the shoes, but whatever it is, I still haven't figured it out.That's what came to mind after skating with a kid from Victoria, Spain named Javier Sarmiento. I got a call from my friend Preston, who told... Read more...
Setup ¿ Gershon Mosley
|TransWorld Skateboarding
My board is 7 5/8 inches wide and 31 1/2 inches long. I like skinnier boards 'cause they're functional for the way I like to skate. My board flips really good, and I can skate it on a mini ramp or whatever. I have size-nine feet, so it works perfect. I like the nose and tail a little steeper. I set up a new board probably every three days, because I either break them or they don't feel right. It depends on how much I'm skating, too.I'm riding wheels made... Read more...
Gasbag
|TransWorld Skateboarding
And nowhere does it fly faster or under less control than in the wild, wild world of skateboarding, home of the two-week career, where if you oversleep one morning, you miss out on an epoch of the sport's history … like retractable-leg pants.Or street luge.Strange clothing trends and buttboarding aside, '99 was a busy year. Tony Hawk pulled the 900 during the X-Games and ESPN took the liberty of airing it 2,192 times over the course of a month. Foreigners like Arto Saari, Rick McCrank, and Bob Burnquist began to... Read more...
The Grand Victorian Tour
|TransWorld Skateboarding
Where thousands discover wheeled delights and willful debauchery across Europe.The following words were written on the road through Europe in the summer of 1999. Whilst reading, you may stumble (as I did) across contests organized by skaters, skaters organized by contests, riots, demos, sessions, slams, triumphs, and sleep. You may find that some events have been exaggerated, whilst others have been toned-down. But fear not, this is part of the reading experience and somewhat akin to the use of different lenses in the fine photography on these pages. The pure... Read more...
My First Hero - Blaize Blouin
|TransWorld Skateboarding
When you first start skateboarding, there is always some skater that you see who sticks in your mind more than any other skater. After only skating for a few months, I found myself at a backyard vert contest in Georgia. There were a lot of the South's top skaters there. One stuck out beyond the rest - he did tricks with more speed, power, and grace. At that time I didn't know who that rider was, but I wanted to skate like him. Growing up and traveling in the Southeast... Read more...