Claus Grabke.

"I, myself, however skate for fun and only for fun. Any other reason to skate will cause frustration."

Welcome to 2012.

Claus is from Gutersloh, Germany. He was pro for Santa Cruz and had a series of board graphics with clocks. He rode for Titus and Powell Peralta, too. Claus had a band called Eight Dayz. From the various interviews I've read with him, Claus is an all around creative person - skateboarder, musician, artist and photographer.

I've noticed in working my way through the Best Of Skate Fate how outside of everything skateboarding was. It's not like this isn't something I didn't know, but I'm thinking about how different it is compared to skateboarding today. To vaguely and generally sum things up, skateboarding was the complete antithesis of the idea of mainstream. I've also noticed that a lot of the pros didn't drink or do drugs. Not to say that everybody was straight edge back in the 1980s, but it's a bit of a contrast to today. I'm not sure if either situation is necessarily better or worse and is a reflection of the general social climate more than anything. Finally, interviews used to be more in depth with pros handling grown up questions with intelligent answers. Not that aren't a lot of good interviews in these modern times, but I'm just saying. It can be a lot more interesting than hearing about how fast a sixteen year old can drive his car.

Things have been happening in skateboarding. I might have a few comments on them soon.

Note: The Grabke quote is from Gary Scott Davis' The Best Of Skate Fate 1981-1991 book.

Transworld - May 1990 Volume 8 Number 5