Get ready because the days are getting longer, the temperature rising and the snow melting away. A few good rains to wash the salt/sand/cinders/gravel off the road for those in the mid-atlantic and north and it’s go time! GET STOKED!

Click here to vote: http://www.refresheverything.com/cometskateboards

Anthony – So how long have you been skating and what got you into it?

Brian – I have been skating since about 1982, but I have had a skateboard for as long as I can remember.   The skateboard itself was always interesting to me, but I remember specifically the day that it was tattooed on my heart for good.  I lived on a pretty gnarly hill, and I was about 6-7 years old screwing around in my driveway when a group of punks showed up with these new fat street decks.  Keep in mind it’s the early 80’s.  When I say punks, I mean punks.  These were not cleverly dressed emo rockers in their sisters jeans, these where the real deal.  They were in a crew called “Snake”.  Back then you had crews.  Their logo took over our town, and for a bunch of punks, they really had a knack for marketing.  Everyone knew of them, or at least that is the way I perceived it.  Anyway, they start bombing the hill – something I would never attempt to do – doing full blown slides, colemans, toesides, and stand-ups at top “I don’t give a shit” speed.
Amazing.
I never had any idea any of this was possible.  They had ollies down, early grabs… this was all new to me.  I was totally fascinated with the whole thing.  These guys didn’t answer to anyone. They had complete freedom, and owned their shit for sure.  I started inching my way closer to the action, sort of hiding in the shadows with my plastic yellow banana board, and one dude calls me out and says “what the fuck are you looking at bighead?”  And for some reason, that was it.  I wanted to be that guy, not because he was a dick, but because he owned his shit.  He knew who he was, and could care less what anyone else thought about it.
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A – How did Earthwing happen especially in regards to your board construction and lay ups? You guys use a lot of composites, but unlike any other company, to make really affordable product with the characteristics that go along with those materials.

B – I have been modifying, tinkering, and shaping decks forever on some level, but the first Earthwing branded deck was in 1998.  In the 90’s I had 2 jobs while in college, and after.  I started out working at a shop in Manhattan, then I worked for a wheel manufacturer that made inline wheels.  This is where I learned about the action sports business.  I also learned about everything there was to know about making a wheel.  The “slide a” compound started there with that company.  It didn’t just fall out of the sky.  My boss was a one man show who had a big history in skateboarding.  The company folded.  Not because of anything we did wrong, it was a rollerblade company, the whole industry folded.  For the record, I don’t think I ever put on a pair of rollerblades in my life.  Nothing wrong with it, I just had zero interest.  After that, I worked for another big shop in Manhattan as the snowboard buyer.  This is where I learned everything there was to know about constructions, and manufacturing processes.  Mike Olson was, and is a god to me.  He is the owner, genius, and nutcase that owns Lib Tech.  The innovations he has done changed the game several times over.  With my knowlege of snowboarding, and love for skateboarding, I just felt like skateboarding was leaving itself very limited just doing seven ply constructions.  As a skateboarder living in NYC, you learn real quick how to skate fast.  And I wanted to find a way to make it easier to skate fast, and push efficiently using what I learned from snowboarding.  So I set out use what I know to make the lightest sprinting deck.

A – You guys also make the most widely used and regarded wheels for trick sliding, how did you get into that kind of riding and basicly cornerning the market? You guys hardly even have hills to skate in NYC yet your team includes some of the most innovative sliders.

B – Refer back to question one.  Personally, that has been the foundation of my skateboarding since day one.  Even in the big pants, 39mm wheels era of 1992, I was still bombing hills, and doing stand-ups pretending I was snowboarding.  As for the team, we just skate for fun.  Believe me, Earthwing can’t afford to give them everything they deserve, so it really is just for fun.  Maybe someday soon, I will be able to kick back more.  We don’t have a lot of hills, but we have access to cars, and watchtower is a steep hill that can serve as a good TF here in Brooklyn.

A – Most of us on this website know Pat Schep well through our travels and have noted the prototype he’s been riding for freeriding, any word on what that board is about and when we might expect to see it in shops?

B – Supermodel.  In March, and it will be excellent.  It will have routered rails built in for early grabs, and deep wells for big wheels without sacrificing the valuable real estate near the trucks.  Of course, it has new school, and old school mounting holes for INDY’S!!  Gotta at least try some 215’s on this thing.  The price will be a shocker.  It’s not a rocker, it does not have w concave, or gas pedals or anything else. It has a deep tub elliptical concave like a Mystery Model.  It works.

A – What else do you have up your sleeves for the future and what are the goals of Earthwing?

B – I am launching a new website soon for EW, working on more smaller street, cruiser wheels.  New EW bearings. I am going to try to delete the word “core”, and “campus cruiser” from our vocabulary.  New constructions, new shapes.

A – Where do you see the direction of skateboarding going? The street skate industry and huge companies are all really complaining about shop decks and blanks, trying to argue that it’s destroying skateboarding, yet the essence of skating has nothing to do with sales figures. What’s your take on all that nonsense?

B – Simple.  Blanks will always be there, and have always been there.  If you are a company only making 7ply decks, relying on marketing to sell them, then I see why you would complain.   Just make a better skateboard, and give the skater a reason to shell out for it.  Earthwing wants to make better stuff you can’t go buy anywhere from other companies.  That’s how it started, and when I can’t do that anymore, that’s how it will end.   I have never seen a “blank” Earthwing.

A – What do you think of the scene on the east coast? Things have really picked up in the last year with more people making events happen than I can ever remember. Where do you want to see the scene going and how is Earthwing going to help that happen?

B – Exactly the way it’s happening.  There are skaters who love it enough to go out and kickstart their scene.  Start races, build crews, and just live it fully.  I wish I could give more to these small outlaw events.  Earthwing is broke, anything it makes goes back in to build it, so I can do what I know is possible.  You have not seen anything yet.  I give what I can, but it’s not much right now.

A – Who’s your favorite skater?

B – Mark Gonzales.

A – What’s your favorite terrain to skate?

B – Sprinting through traffic in Manhattan.

A – Can you think of anything else you want to ad?

B – A twin tip pintail to the line-up for high speed switch dancing.

Brian was awesome and got back to me super fast on this and I want to give a big thanks to him. To check out more about Earthwing and see their line up click the logo above or go to www.earthwingskateboards.com.

Anthony – Dean, you’re a really respected member of the beast coast community, you’ve hosted two races and attended a crap load of others as well as Anton’s slide jams and now you’re making slide pucks. How did you get into all this?

Dean – After a many year layoff from skateboarding (due to personal stuff we won’t get into) I decided it was time to get the wheels under my feet again. Ray (of Rayzor Tattoos fame) was selling equipment so I got a board (shortboard) and started playing again. Joe got me out to shoot some small hills and I loved it. All of the credit for the longboard and downhill focus has to go to Ray. He did his research and got up to date on the new equipment and such and it just blew up for us after that. We started surfing the fish, finding races, finding hills, doing lots of riding, and meeting all of you guys and I fell in love with skateboarding again.

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A – Can you tell me about how you’ve seen skating grow since you started in the 80s and how the scene then compares to now?

D – I think the main difference from then and now would be the quality of the equipment. Obviously the trick progression and the genres have fluctuated but it’s all skateboarding. The other major change would be the way skateboarding has moved from the backyards of the 80’s to the major networks of today. The internet has helped people to connect on a level we didn’t have in the 80’s. Back in the day we used to wait for the letter in the mail, the phone call, the magazine event announcements etc. Now we just log on and get all the information we need at a keystroke. Skateboarding in its raw form will always be skateboarding and skaters will always be skaters. At the end of the day it’s still about the fun.

A – Where do you see our current scene going and skateboarding in general?

D – It’s on the up and up. The longboard scene is growing exponentially. The number of events, the people involved, and the new companies is all growing. We’re in warp speed right now. Skateboarding in general will get more mainstream and hopefully more excepted by common society. I find it hard to believe that there are parts of the country where skaters are still treated like lepers but that will ease in time.

A – What’s your favorite skate memory?

D – There are so many. I’m as fond of those days in the 70’s, riding the plastic boards, as I am the first race I was a part of at Sultans of Speed. I always love to tell the story about my first trip to Cherry Hill Skatepark. I was 15 years old. I walked in (the park was in a warehouse) and up the steps next to the Egg Bowl just in time to see Mike Jesilowski (R.I.P.) bust into a 20 coping block rock-n-roll slide. I stood there in awe. I had never seen skating of that level in person and I was just blown away. Other things that stand out are a session at Del Mar with Ray when we got to share the world famous Keyhole Pool alone with Tony Hawk and Lester Kasai. Just the 4 of us sessioning at night, under the lights, in the mist, it was cool. All of that aside, the fondest memories are just sharing good times with good friends enjoying a passion we all have in common.

A – Who’s your all time favorite skater?

D – Most will expect to hear names like Tony Hawk, or K-Rimes or something like that. Not me man, I have to say all of my friends. Wayne, Ray, Joe, Dan “Booger” Brown, Keith Lenharr, Doug Mayer, and Buster Halterman, I love those guys and would rather see them kill it than anyone. In the longboard scene you guys are all my favorites. How can you not be inspired watching Jeremy annihilate everything in his path, seeing the grace of yourself (Anthony) pounding through a turn, and Pat destroying wheels on Idle road doing 100 foot slides? I’m so stoked at how cool the riders are in the longboard scene. It far surpasses what is going on with shortboarders. I can’t begin to explain how much respect I have for you guys.

A – Tell me about Phat Deanz. Why’d you start making pucks and what are you goals?

D – I just did some research regarding materials and made some pucks in my garage. Everyone I gave them too liked them and told me to start selling them. I figured what the hell, and went for it. My goals aren’t very lofty. I don’t expect to take over the world, or even get rich. I want to offer a quality product and quality service. I’m just having some fun and meeting new friends, and if that’s all I ever get out of it then it’s worth every bit of time and effort I put into it.

A – What are you doing to keep yourself together while the roads are slushy and covered in sand, salt and whatever other crap they throw down?

D – I just keep my eyes open and ride when I can. I don’t let the weather get to me. I just roll with it. I’ll focus a little more on the business and probably spend more time in the garage messing with those damn finger pucks!! If anyone wants to come to Harrisburg and ride let me know. My door is always open.

A – On a scale of 1 – 10 how stoked are you for 2010?

D – I don’t want to say 10 because what happens if the hype for next year is even bigger? My head will explode!!! I’m really stoked to have some more fun this year, sponsor some events, and meet some more people. I’m liking the idea of organizing and possibly seeing the scene get a little more legit.

A – Do you plan on going to any events away from our local ones?

D – This year I would have to say no. I’d like to get to Mary Hill but I don’t see it happening. I haven’t counted anything out but the main place on my radar is North Carolina. I didn’t have the time to get there for the race last year so that’s one I’m interested in. If Munnsville happens I’ll get to that, but I’m really just looking forward to the Beast Coast scene for this year and I’ll see where it leads me.

A – Anything else you want to add or say?

D – I’d like to thank Beast Coast for this opportunity. I appreciate the exposure and the chance to share some insight into Phat Dean the person. I’d like to thank my friends, Jamie, Ray, Joe, Sean, Wayne, Dylan et al for hooking up and riding with me. I’d also like to thank all of the east coast riders for accepting us geriatric skaters into you’re scene. You guys have no idea how much you’ve stoked me. I relish the opportunity to share my passion with a new generation of skaters. I could go on forever. I’m truly grateful to find myself in this place at this stage of my life.

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First everyone met at Anton’s to get organized and head out. It was a mob of people in the street skating and catching up as my car pulled up. After taking care of registration and logistics we caravanned to the hill to get warmed up and melt some urethane. The format was simple: it was a jam style where everyone could go whenever and however many times they wanted and in the end the whole group would vote on who they thought ripped the hardest.

The skating went on for a couple hours with no problems. There were a few nasty bails such as Steve Kong smashing his face with his board making his nose bleed and J Raw highsiding, smacked his head and got a road rash tramp stamp. Someone even hit their head so hard that it cracked the foam in their helmet. No one got seriously hurt but the weather and the level everyone was pushing for took it’s victims. We also only had one neighbor complain while all the others were stoked and intrigued by what they were witnessing. As everyone knows though, it only takes one rotten apple to ruin it for everyone and as the sun was setting two cop cars rolled up the hill. Before the law men could even get a word out we were packing the cars and explaining that we were leaving.

We regrouped back at Anton’s house to vote and give out prizes. The results were:
HARDWHEEL DIVISION

1. Steve Kong/Nick Harris (tie)
2. Andriy D
3. Brian Dencklau

SOFTWHEEL DIVISION

1. Keith “Rabbleweiner” Rebhorn
2. Jeremy “JRAW” Ross
3. Andriy D/Brian Bishop (tie)

Thanks to everyone who showed up and helped to give everyone a good time and show. Here’s what Anton had to say: “I just wanna give a shout out to all the sponsors (Original, Orangatang, Seismic, Sundae Skates, Soda Factory, Phat Deanz, East Coast Core Skates, BC Longboards) that helped bring this event together and big thanks to all those that showed up and stoked everyone out.”

Links to more pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/botofusup/sets/72157623005387191/

http://www.ciottiindustries.com/gallery/?Qwd=./Longboard/2010-1-2%20Slide%20Jam/1-100&Qif=SlideJam1.jpg&Qiv=thumbs&Qis=L

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=46674&id=1476366975#/album.php?aid=46674&id=1476366975

East Coast Core Skates, is a New Jersey based online longboard retailer with a distinctive flavor and style that can only be described as, well, East Coast!

“I purchased my first longboard in 1999, and I’ve watched the sport evolve immensely in the past 10 years,” says owner and skater Mark “stringtheory” Campisano.

“The scene here on the East Coast is really moving in an amazing direction right now, and I felt there was a genuine need for a true skater owned and operated shop that can zero in on some of the amazing brands the East coast has to offer, such as Earthwing, Comet, and new comers like Phat DeanZ .”

When asked what separates ECC from other shops out there, Mark was quick to point out his skateboarding pedigree, which spans over 25 years, and his passion for helping people.

“If you’re a member of the various longboard communities found online, you probably already know I spend a good amount of time helping people who are new to the sport make intelligent decisions based on what aspect of skateboarding they are most interested in. I feel my experience is especially valuable when it comes to selecting quality products that will meet or exceed my customer’s expectations.”

When asked what the future holds, Mark said he’d just be happy to make it through the Holiday rush intact. But also, “keep your eyes opened, I’m working on some collaborative ideas with other East Coast based companies such as Surf-Rodz, especially in the area of events. We’ve been kicking around some amazing ideas and I’m really hoping to make a positive contribution to the scene out here and ultimately help the sport grow!

East coast Core Skates can be found at eastcoastcoreskates.com. Discount code: “beastcoast” is good for a 6.66% discount on all orders over $10.

West New York, New Jersey – 12/01/2009 – Skate Rags Online/www.skateragsonline.com, an online company that sells original designs and iconic skateboarding T-shirts has gone live.

“Aesthetically smooth and fast is the true nature of longboarding,” says owner Adam J. Dabonka about his motivation and desire for starting this new project.

A solid name and figure in the longboard scene for years now, Dabonka’s new project – Skate Rags Online – blends his eye for fashion and desire to skate every single day.

“I’ve always had a keen sense at spotting emerging trends in fashion. I’ve been longboarding for years now, and I think there is a gap in the market for stylish T-shirt designs that have longboard themes,” Dabonka says. “Most shirts out there now are just basically company logos, one-color screen-printed shirts that don’t offer much in terms of style and quality. That’s where I come in and the ground on which Skate Rags Online will stand.”

The first design is a collaborative effort with a talented artist named Alex Melendrez. It took two months to finalize the design after a number of tweaks. “Alex and I have full-time jobs and I have been busy with attending races, events and other life responsibilities,” Dabonka says. “There are many people I owe thanks to for getting this off the ground.”"It took a while, but in the end it was worth the wait and extra effort to get the design to where it is today.”

Right now there is one design up for sale, The Longboard Buddha, but by early next year skaters and fashionistas alike can expect to see at least two more designs available at www.skateragsonline.com.

Why call the company Skate Rags? “Simple. Anyone who has ever touched a skateboard knows that you learn by falling. After skating all day, your favorite shirt gets tattered and after a few weeks, what was once your favorite shirt is now just a rag!  Life is not a spectator sport, you have to get out there and live…even if that means getting a little dirty!  Skate Rags was my gut feeling and I’m sticking with it.”

The first design, The Longboard Buddha, is competitively priced at $18.00 and is available in sizes small through XXL.

Skate Rags Online is now open for business and taking orders! Get in on the ground floor at www.skateragsonline.com.