Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
hanging out in the wind...
bud stratford, master of hyperbole, has just published an article on what i've been doing over here...
Click this
or
copy paste:
http://everythingskateboardingmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/11/small-company-spotlight-fickle.html
please enjoy...
I feel good about the general gist of the article.
It isn't always entirely accurate...
the press isn't 600 tons.
and now there are only 3 molds in use.
and i can only make, presently, max about 15 to 20 boards a day
and one more thing:
Fickle Boards isn't going to press wood for anything but Fickle Boards. At least there's no plan to do that now.
Some day there may be a wood shop/factory running in our Findlay St. location, but so many things have to go right for that to happen that I've made it a matter of patience and faith.
But the present goal is for you to have ONE BRAND that you KNOW will provide you with the best quality maple skateboard you've ever ridden. Long-pressed, Long-cured, Lovingly made.
Period.
Oh, and I'm NOT ordained in the Christian Church. I'm part of a renegade non-conformist Jesus People church here in the inner city... The difference is not that big, though. We'll all get thrown to the lions soon enough.
Please enjoy the article.
and please destroy fickleboards today.
Click this
or
copy paste:
http://everythingskateboardingmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/11/small-company-spotlight-fickle.html
please enjoy...
I feel good about the general gist of the article.
It isn't always entirely accurate...
the press isn't 600 tons.
and now there are only 3 molds in use.
and i can only make, presently, max about 15 to 20 boards a day
and one more thing:
Fickle Boards isn't going to press wood for anything but Fickle Boards. At least there's no plan to do that now.
Some day there may be a wood shop/factory running in our Findlay St. location, but so many things have to go right for that to happen that I've made it a matter of patience and faith.
But the present goal is for you to have ONE BRAND that you KNOW will provide you with the best quality maple skateboard you've ever ridden. Long-pressed, Long-cured, Lovingly made.
Period.
Oh, and I'm NOT ordained in the Christian Church. I'm part of a renegade non-conformist Jesus People church here in the inner city... The difference is not that big, though. We'll all get thrown to the lions soon enough.
Please enjoy the article.
and please destroy fickleboards today.
wrapping my head around it... Religion, Sport, Art, Play
...skateboarding is an activity, besides being a community and an industry...
and my best effort at describing the way we handle this activity puts down a few categories:
Religion, Sport, Art, Play.
it is technical
it is soulful
some would say spiritual
i wouldn't necessarily disagree.
how does it rank?
for many it is number one.
it is the fulcrom of their lives' lifting lever
the friday hope of hung-over mondays
to some it is just a fun thing
made less fun by those who take it so seriously.
some speak of skateboarding
in identifiably religious terms
"thank you skateboarding"
"skateboarding is everything to me"
"skateboarding will always be there for me"
...because skateboarding (the activity) was a salvific alternative
when the chips were down...
...because skateboarding (the community) was an agent of
rescue for them, and a shelter from the storm...
...because skateboarding (the industry) has provided them with purpose, focus, and daily bread.
yes, the spiritual/religious view of skateboarding is here to stay.
Others approach it as sport:
Dew Tour
X games
Olypmpics
Mega Ramps
Maloof
Street League (yawn)
and on and on... How many are there?
Slalom
downhill (with stopwatches and radar guns)
...and on and on...
And to many it is Art:
A Kinetic side-show performance art display.
To many more it is Play:
just the sensation of speed
the Great Cheat: Standing still at 35 mph.
with a shift of the hips and a flex of the knees and feet, you're flying!
Religion, Sport, Art, or Play, skateboarding is one of the most important social phenomena of contemporary American Culture. We are all affected by it, and it'll serve us well to be aware of it.
More random thoughts from a moderately tortured mind.
and my best effort at describing the way we handle this activity puts down a few categories:
Religion, Sport, Art, Play.
it is technical
it is soulful
some would say spiritual
i wouldn't necessarily disagree.
how does it rank?
for many it is number one.
it is the fulcrom of their lives' lifting lever
the friday hope of hung-over mondays
to some it is just a fun thing
made less fun by those who take it so seriously.
some speak of skateboarding
in identifiably religious terms
"thank you skateboarding"
"skateboarding is everything to me"
"skateboarding will always be there for me"
...because skateboarding (the activity) was a salvific alternative
when the chips were down...
...because skateboarding (the community) was an agent of
rescue for them, and a shelter from the storm...
...because skateboarding (the industry) has provided them with purpose, focus, and daily bread.
yes, the spiritual/religious view of skateboarding is here to stay.
Others approach it as sport:
Dew Tour
X games
Olypmpics
Mega Ramps
Maloof
Street League (yawn)
and on and on... How many are there?
Slalom
downhill (with stopwatches and radar guns)
...and on and on...
And to many it is Art:
A Kinetic side-show performance art display.
To many more it is Play:
just the sensation of speed
the Great Cheat: Standing still at 35 mph.
with a shift of the hips and a flex of the knees and feet, you're flying!
Religion, Sport, Art, or Play, skateboarding is one of the most important social phenomena of contemporary American Culture. We are all affected by it, and it'll serve us well to be aware of it.
More random thoughts from a moderately tortured mind.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
wrapping my head around it a bit more... Industry...
...i see another "Skateboarding": an Industry.
By industry, I mean a community of people whose interests bring them together around the goal of making a living off the expenditure of moneys on skateboarding equipment and skateboard-interest-cultural accoutrements.
that is, folks who (for better or worse) are trying to make a buck off people's willingness to suffer (passion) for skateboarding.
that is, folks who fleece the sheep.
yep, skater dude. You're a sheep!
Some pro skates some plank and you "gotta have it".
You usually do as you're told, or as you're shown
in some media
...like a magazine
or a video
or a website...
and there is a whole community of people brought together wanting a bit of that wool (and sometimes a bit of mutton).
They're your shepherds. they exert influence and leadership in the decisions YOU make on how you dress and what gear you ride, and where and how you spend what you have (and don't have) on your skateboarding "needs".
do you mind that?
Suck it up, because that's life on this rock. People follow leaders. Period. find me a community without leadership... people who are not sheep, who don't have shepherds...
its in our nature. you do live with it, whether I tell you to live with it or not.
Now, there are the few iconoclasts out there who move to the woods and build their houses and bowls and lives independent from the masses, who are neither sheep nor shepherd. they are rare and admirable; respectable and... difficult to enjoy.
their talents are theirs, for themselves and only a chosen few from time to time... and we admire that, too... because we're sheep.
I am a sheep! To a great extent my choices have been formed by corporate propaganda... and I don't mind it, really. I'll lay all that down when I die, so it's only temporary. I'll just roll with it and try not to let it freak me out. I'd advise you to have a similar or better mentality.
but when it comes to the skateboarding Industry... well... these people (I am one) are... well... PEOPLE!
People with tempers and fears and histories and baggage...
...stress and strain and frustrations aplenty in this economy... and being hard on them for being hard on us isn't going to help too much.
yeah, it pains me to see shops vibing kids, and instilling an inferiority complex, bullying and badgering us to conform to their INVENTORY selections...
But that is shrinking more and more as there are more and more skaters who can now go to the mall shop where they may or may not know a thing about skateboarding gear, but they're plenty happy you showed up!
Why does it pain me when I walk into your skateshop and smell weed? Or the "pro" behind the counter is stinking up the whole community? Or when you spent a bunch of time calling old dudes "barneys" for the last 10 years? Or you're belligerent? Or you think you gotta pick on kids? Or you're a naysayer? Or you have such a competitive, belittleing mentality that the air around you is heavy and you're surrounded with yes-men?
(and if you read this and think I'm talking about you, please understand that in the last 7 years of working in the skateboarding industry I've been in easily 100 shops and these descriptors fit an anecdotal HALF or more to one degree or another)
Why does it bum me out deeply to find negativity in the skate shop? To find territorialism and inferiority-driven dominance... pro-drugs, overdrinking, anti-social negativity?
Because we are a community, as an industry, and if we work together and focus together on the amazing experience we SHARE on our boards, we'll deepen community, widen the industry, make plenty of money and move on to the memory-making that we need for when we're old, if we survive...
No kidding.
I have no illusion that a grand, sweeping change in mentality will strike the industry. i think that bottom-line-driven, corporate greed will continue to be the main driver of the actions of companies (both small and large).
But... I'm refocusing MYSELF on bringing folks TOGETHER to skate, relate and share the joy, building an industry that reflects the community's joy of skating.
Irony number one is that this is/has been already happening all over the place, as MONEY RUNS OUT and folks are having to re-evaluate why they are in this...
Irony number two is that a lot of "big corporations" actually Nail this! Like Vans. and a Lot of skateboard companies that even have boards made in china.
Irony number three is that folks who fit the description of negativity in this article also have "another side" to them that is already about this stuff, and always has been...
So this writing is 2D, flat, flawed and ill-fit for any medium other than arrogant self-publishing. I accept that. I only hope that this becomes part of a larger coming together. Let's skate together and dream about what the industry community could look like in ten years, working together...
By industry, I mean a community of people whose interests bring them together around the goal of making a living off the expenditure of moneys on skateboarding equipment and skateboard-interest-cultural accoutrements.
that is, folks who (for better or worse) are trying to make a buck off people's willingness to suffer (passion) for skateboarding.
that is, folks who fleece the sheep.
yep, skater dude. You're a sheep!
Some pro skates some plank and you "gotta have it".
You usually do as you're told, or as you're shown
in some media
...like a magazine
or a video
or a website...
and there is a whole community of people brought together wanting a bit of that wool (and sometimes a bit of mutton).
They're your shepherds. they exert influence and leadership in the decisions YOU make on how you dress and what gear you ride, and where and how you spend what you have (and don't have) on your skateboarding "needs".
do you mind that?
Suck it up, because that's life on this rock. People follow leaders. Period. find me a community without leadership... people who are not sheep, who don't have shepherds...
its in our nature. you do live with it, whether I tell you to live with it or not.
Now, there are the few iconoclasts out there who move to the woods and build their houses and bowls and lives independent from the masses, who are neither sheep nor shepherd. they are rare and admirable; respectable and... difficult to enjoy.
their talents are theirs, for themselves and only a chosen few from time to time... and we admire that, too... because we're sheep.
I am a sheep! To a great extent my choices have been formed by corporate propaganda... and I don't mind it, really. I'll lay all that down when I die, so it's only temporary. I'll just roll with it and try not to let it freak me out. I'd advise you to have a similar or better mentality.
but when it comes to the skateboarding Industry... well... these people (I am one) are... well... PEOPLE!
People with tempers and fears and histories and baggage...
...stress and strain and frustrations aplenty in this economy... and being hard on them for being hard on us isn't going to help too much.
yeah, it pains me to see shops vibing kids, and instilling an inferiority complex, bullying and badgering us to conform to their INVENTORY selections...
But that is shrinking more and more as there are more and more skaters who can now go to the mall shop where they may or may not know a thing about skateboarding gear, but they're plenty happy you showed up!
Why does it pain me when I walk into your skateshop and smell weed? Or the "pro" behind the counter is stinking up the whole community? Or when you spent a bunch of time calling old dudes "barneys" for the last 10 years? Or you're belligerent? Or you think you gotta pick on kids? Or you're a naysayer? Or you have such a competitive, belittleing mentality that the air around you is heavy and you're surrounded with yes-men?
(and if you read this and think I'm talking about you, please understand that in the last 7 years of working in the skateboarding industry I've been in easily 100 shops and these descriptors fit an anecdotal HALF or more to one degree or another)
Why does it bum me out deeply to find negativity in the skate shop? To find territorialism and inferiority-driven dominance... pro-drugs, overdrinking, anti-social negativity?
Because we are a community, as an industry, and if we work together and focus together on the amazing experience we SHARE on our boards, we'll deepen community, widen the industry, make plenty of money and move on to the memory-making that we need for when we're old, if we survive...
No kidding.
I have no illusion that a grand, sweeping change in mentality will strike the industry. i think that bottom-line-driven, corporate greed will continue to be the main driver of the actions of companies (both small and large).
But... I'm refocusing MYSELF on bringing folks TOGETHER to skate, relate and share the joy, building an industry that reflects the community's joy of skating.
Irony number one is that this is/has been already happening all over the place, as MONEY RUNS OUT and folks are having to re-evaluate why they are in this...
Irony number two is that a lot of "big corporations" actually Nail this! Like Vans. and a Lot of skateboard companies that even have boards made in china.
Irony number three is that folks who fit the description of negativity in this article also have "another side" to them that is already about this stuff, and always has been...
So this writing is 2D, flat, flawed and ill-fit for any medium other than arrogant self-publishing. I accept that. I only hope that this becomes part of a larger coming together. Let's skate together and dream about what the industry community could look like in ten years, working together...
wrapping my head around it a bit more... Community...
...i realize that skateboarding, as a community of like-interested individuals, with it's history of punk rock rebellion and outlaw surfer mentality...
...is just a bunch of people trying to be happy.
...is caught in the same miserable conundrum as the rest of "society", "humanity" or what have you.
...is catch-22ing itself out of relevance to many...
what I mean is that skateboarding as an activity is always good, whenever and wherever, period. It is hands-down one of the very best things a person can do with their body, no matter what "style" or form it takes:
freestyle
slalom
downhill
cruising
street tech
tech gnar
bowls
pools
pipes
vert
mega
...and on and on...
Youngsters
Old dudes
flip tricks
bertelman slides
to the coffee shop
to a gold medal
skateboarding is a self-standing "good" in the world, capable of transporting us back to childhood, nourishing our nerology, strengthening our muscles, and betterfying our day. mahalo!
And "Skateboarding", as often treated in (industry-sponsored) media, is a community brought together by the willingness to suffer in the pursuit of the experience of skateboarding...
People are literally not making money, but going skateboarding instead. Making real sacrifices to stay current in the experience of skateboarding. This is a great community, at it's core. That is a great ideal, on the scale of thing...
Oh, and let's not forget how ridiculously privileged we are to even have the option to do this. Around the world, the gnarliest skate-bum lives like a king compared to most people.
So that is some of what I thought while pooping the dog.
...is just a bunch of people trying to be happy.
...is caught in the same miserable conundrum as the rest of "society", "humanity" or what have you.
...is catch-22ing itself out of relevance to many...
what I mean is that skateboarding as an activity is always good, whenever and wherever, period. It is hands-down one of the very best things a person can do with their body, no matter what "style" or form it takes:
freestyle
slalom
downhill
cruising
street tech
tech gnar
bowls
pools
pipes
vert
mega
...and on and on...
Youngsters
Old dudes
flip tricks
bertelman slides
to the coffee shop
to a gold medal
skateboarding is a self-standing "good" in the world, capable of transporting us back to childhood, nourishing our nerology, strengthening our muscles, and betterfying our day. mahalo!
And "Skateboarding", as often treated in (industry-sponsored) media, is a community brought together by the willingness to suffer in the pursuit of the experience of skateboarding...
People are literally not making money, but going skateboarding instead. Making real sacrifices to stay current in the experience of skateboarding. This is a great community, at it's core. That is a great ideal, on the scale of thing...
Oh, and let's not forget how ridiculously privileged we are to even have the option to do this. Around the world, the gnarliest skate-bum lives like a king compared to most people.
So that is some of what I thought while pooping the dog.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
signs of the present era in skateboarding
I recently ran across the classic question, "Wasn't skateboarding better when they hated us?"
...so far, the only people that hate me... are other skateboarders!
benjo is blogging on this today, too.
What i'm talking about here is the FACT that in the last decade of my skating life, I have literally ONLY been vibed on by OTHER SKATEBOARDERS!
My city wants me on committees. Banks want my business. Neighbors want me to help get the kids pushing. And on and on and on! Heck, even the Cub Scouts are stoked to have me in the neighborhood, with my workshop and backyard bowl project...
My next door neighbor is STOKED to have a skateboard bowl going in just across the fence! Oh how times have changed!!!
But again, over the past decade, I have been vibed and marginalized as "some barney" and "not a skater" and on and on behind my back and to my face... at SKATE SHOPS!
I mean, one time, a skate shop owner threatened to kick my ass in the parking lot. I was patently not misbehaving. This individual had kids and everything.
Another time, I was promised that I'd never have any business in an ENTIRE STATE, because the owner of a chain of shops was under the impression that I was "a barney" who sold decks at skateparks for $20.
Man, I'm over these guys and this jock mentality, running the skateboarding community into the ground over and over as they promote elitist mentalities and alcoholic lifestyles! I mean, literally "pro drugs". crazy.
I am devoting my efforts to the formation of the skateboarding community outside of these institutions. Period. time for backyard ramps, underground scenes, and non-industry community formation within skateboarding.
My brand will most likely remain underground and handmade for the duration. I'm doomed to be forgotten, but I'm going to have a Blast!
...so far, the only people that hate me... are other skateboarders!
benjo is blogging on this today, too.
What i'm talking about here is the FACT that in the last decade of my skating life, I have literally ONLY been vibed on by OTHER SKATEBOARDERS!
My city wants me on committees. Banks want my business. Neighbors want me to help get the kids pushing. And on and on and on! Heck, even the Cub Scouts are stoked to have me in the neighborhood, with my workshop and backyard bowl project...
My next door neighbor is STOKED to have a skateboard bowl going in just across the fence! Oh how times have changed!!!
But again, over the past decade, I have been vibed and marginalized as "some barney" and "not a skater" and on and on behind my back and to my face... at SKATE SHOPS!
I mean, one time, a skate shop owner threatened to kick my ass in the parking lot. I was patently not misbehaving. This individual had kids and everything.
Another time, I was promised that I'd never have any business in an ENTIRE STATE, because the owner of a chain of shops was under the impression that I was "a barney" who sold decks at skateparks for $20.
Man, I'm over these guys and this jock mentality, running the skateboarding community into the ground over and over as they promote elitist mentalities and alcoholic lifestyles! I mean, literally "pro drugs". crazy.
I am devoting my efforts to the formation of the skateboarding community outside of these institutions. Period. time for backyard ramps, underground scenes, and non-industry community formation within skateboarding.
My brand will most likely remain underground and handmade for the duration. I'm doomed to be forgotten, but I'm going to have a Blast!
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