alright, i've been wanting to post this one for a minute now but anyone remotely acquainted with Transworld in the late 80s/early 90s knows that their interviews used to go on FOREVER. This one from 1989, a particular favorite of mine (and the sole reason I bought my first Public Enemy album), is 17 pages long. And while the first section of pages from these things were always chock-full of incredible photos (in this case, mostly Swank and Brittain) and other assorted awesome shit, the "continued" second section was always the worst. A snoozer single text column that went on forever in the back of the mag alongside Knee Gasket ads (and shops ads peddling "shut up and skate" and/or "no posers" stickers) that was straight puttin' heads to bed.
So I had a dilemma of either just using the photos and gutting the piece or trying to flip it in a new way. Not only does the interviewer (GSD) get to the bottom of that pesky name/Satan controversy of Mr Kaupas's, he goes the extra mile by leaving no stone unturned with such hard-hitting questions as "have you ever been fat?" and "do you eat junk food?" To leave future generations hanging in limbo, wondering if Natas does actually enjoy Snickers bars is indeed downright criminal, so i combined the "continued" columns and added in a few extra photos of SMA-era Natas to cushion the blow of all that literacy. This explanation is my attempt to prevent confused questions accusing me of any slight-of-hand shenanigans (although the comments on some of the larger posts have been mysteriously disappearing... shenanigans indeed).
There's a few other Transworld Pro Spotlights from this era that I'd like to post and plan on using this approach again (minus the tedious explanation) as it seems far more aesthetically-pleasing than the alternative of just a bunch of awkward text scans. Stupid words.
The Transworld cover is taken from a completely different issue than the interview, presented here to only confuse you more I guess. Sorry.
Video clips:
Benecia R.I.P.
Its been a weird day.
Its been a weird day.
7 comments:
The bunching up of the columns is actually quite impressive. i never was much for tedious page jumping just to get to the end of an interview.
SOOOOOOOOOOO Good! Thanks for doing this blog. The golden age of skateboarding was so sick.
Nice post. I remember that interview. Funny that he mentions the tight trucks thing. When I first got a skateboard, I just rode it around, adjusted the trucks to what felt comfortable. Then when I got my first real skateboard (grade 8), a friend of mine was saying tight trucks is the way to go for serious skaters. So I tightened my trucks and it felt like total crap, couldn't turn, no fun. Ended up loosening them and it was way better. I remember breaking the kingpin of my Tracker Ultralight and I had to buy a new baseplate cuz the damn kingpin wasn't removable. For the past 15 years, I just ride indy's and don't tighten them at all. Factory tightened seems right to me.
I don't like that Natas cover. Something about not seeing the landing area or the take off area makes it look odd to me.
thanks so much! every detail of this blog is excellent! i got to go skate!
I forgot one thing, i was like in 8th grade I think when 101 just started and I sent a letter and stamped envelope for stickers, I told natas how much I liked his board and the graphics. He sent a little b/w zine that was like the first 101 product guide with a race car type theme. He wrote a little note on it saying he was glad I liked the board. That kinda stuff for a little kid in the midwest was the best, what a great guy!
aw man, its so funny you brought this up... i did the same thing when i first started skating
('88), i mailed all my favorite pros, care of their sponsor, with just a straight-up fan letter (just cause i was 11 and so stoked on skating) and to this day, I can't believe the responses I got back.
Gonz, Blender, Lance... even Gator... so many dudes. Being so stoked already and then having my heroes just being so damn nice, it was pretty apparent that skateboarding was where i needed to be.
My little brother has been wanting me to make a post with some of these cause I still got all of it, but didn't know how it would go over...
Never got Natas though... damn. That booklet is probably one of those old catalogs world has up on their site.
You gotta post those letters from the pros.
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