Alexis Sablone #5.

Mambo Italiano.

Alexis ollies out of a 50-50. She was on the US Olympic team and designed a Krux truck graphic for Nora Vasconcellos in 2021.

Note: Alexis is riding the same board she was riding in a Converse ad from August of 2020.

Thrasher - January 2021 Volume 42 Number 1

Tom Knox.

Cluster.

He's not the Tom Knox from Visalia, he's the Tom Knox from London. Tom rode for Blueprint and then switched to Isle when that company fell apart. His other sponsors include New Balance and Indy. He filmed an entire part at St. Paul's Cathedral in London that is chock full of lines and creative tricks down the steps at the church. Tom gets bonus points for skating to Cluster. Back in 2001, he got in the way of Henry Sanchez at Pier 7 as a little kid on vacation from England.

Thrasher - December 2021 Volume 42 Number 12

Marbie Miller.

There it's at.

Marbie is from Iowa and made the trek out to Los Angeles for the sake of skateboarding. Her sponsors include There Skateboards, Krux, CCS, and Nike. She does a lot of nose and tail slides with shove-its out along with unique manual tricks. Marbie isn't afraid to throw down a finger flip or two.

The photo is by Matt Price.

Thrasher - December 2021 Volume 42 Number 12

Carlisle Aikens #2.

Carlisle does a big switch bunnyhop with a flip over a car. Mr. Aikens was elevated to pro status after the latest Chocolate video, Bunnyhop, which came out at the end of 2021. Bunnyhop was a return to form for Chocolate and made the long time fans happy.

Thrasher - January 2021 Volume 42 Number 1

John Shanahan.

Pangea.

John is from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He is pro for DGK, DC Shoes, Venture, Homebase, and Bronze 56K. John started skating in 2003 and his favorite skaters include Josh Kalis, Stevie Williams, and Rob Welsh. He is into thrifting, sewing, and photography. John runs a clothing company called Pangea Jeans that is inspired by 1990s baggy and technical skateboard fashion.

Thrasher - January 2020 Volume 41 Number 1

Jack O'Grady #2.

My city of Sydney.

Jack jumped from big handrail to big handrail on a 50-50 for the cover of the April 2021 issue of Thrasher. Australia was really dropping hammers for 2021, with Chima Ferguson pounding out a couple of epic video parts, too. I like the mood Pass~Port creates in their videos, which have an emphasis on local culture.

Looking forward, I've got two weeks left of the 2021 year in review. Like I said, I scanned in way too much when I was picking stuff. After that, I have a two week feature on Big Time Distribution that was a request and turned out pretty cool. I started putting together the 15 year retrospective for Fully Flared. It's actually coming together really easily. I fear I may hit a snag while trying to find something for Nick Jensen, JB Gillet or JJ Rousseau. I'll see how it goes. I want to get that out of the way before anybody else does anything on FF.

Bryce Golder took the photo.

Thrasher - April 2021 Volume 42 Number 4

Breana Geering #2.

Breezy turned pro for Girl and got a Thrasher cover in 2021. Much like her boss Rick Howard, she likes candy. A couple post skateboarding career options she is considering include being a bartender or holding the stop/slow sign for road construction. Her hobbies are bike riding, playing pool, and sewing.

Sound Zone: These were my unofficial top ten releases for 2021. I know it is kind of late, but whatever. It's way better than year end lists in November. I listened to nearly everything Not Not Fun released on heavy rotation. I was super into the Pylon and My Bloody Valentine reissues, although this list is only new releases. I intended to throw in more music stuff, except I was never fully motived and sort of didn't have the time. It goes band/album/label for those with any questions.

1. Acid Twilight - s/t - Not Not Fun

2. Body/Dilloway/Head - s/t - Three Lobed

3. Brett Naucke, Natalie Chami, Whitney Johnson - Mirror Ensemble - American Dreams

4. New Mexican Stargazers - Highway Dreamscape - Not Not Fun

5. Scraps - New World - Moontown

6. Secret Boyfriend - Entropic Report 2017-2018 - Hot Releases

7. Threshing Floor - s/t - El Studio 444//Reboot

8. White Suns - The Lower Way - Decoherence

9. Wilted Woman - Keychain - Unifactor

10. X.Y.R. - Wave Temples - Constellation Tatsu

For the info: Thrasher - October 2021 Volume 42 Number 10

Thrasher - June 2021 Volume 42 Number 6

Tom Karangelov.

Special K.

Tom Karangelov was born in Serbia and grew up in Santa Ana, California. He has ridden for Zero, 3D, and Skate Mental before settling in at the WKND. Tom likes exploring for obscure spots. He's a big fan of the cinema and often tries to find places to skateboard at based on movie sets. Some of his favorite bands include Talking Heads, OMD, Neil Young, and Notorious B.I.G. For skaters, he likes Ed Templeton, Omar Salazar, Marisa Dal Santo, Alexis Sablone, and Antwuan Dixon. Tom enjoys doing pole jam variations for the sake of annoying Bobby Puleo.

Thrasher - November 2021 Volume 42 Number 11

Brad Cromer #2.

Mr. Consistent.

Brad was the first skater featured in a video project on Jenkem called Ground Glass. Videographer James Thompson filmed Brad skating on 16mm film, which is expensive and difficult to work with. The growing underground legend about Brad is that he completely rips and lands everything very quickly. Mark Suciu also filmed a Ground Glass segment.

I did research over the weekend before a foot of snow showed up on Monday. 15˚ F is too cold for skateboarding. Your trucks freeze up in about twenty minutes. Although I suppose if you ride tight trucks to begin with, you might not notice. I figured I had to at least try to skate on Saturday since it was sunny and completely dry. Sunday was better with temperatures in the upper 20s or low 30s. Although I didn't skate great for me. I hate when you expect to have an OK day and then nothing clicks. I even skipped beer while watching the Bills crush the Patriots and went to bed early on Saturday night so to be well rested.

Thrasher - March 2021 Volume 42 Number 3

Collin Provost #8.

End of the line.

Collin left his long time board sponsor of Toy Machine for Creature in 2021. This was his last ad for the Monster Squad. Ed said the split amicable and Collin gave him ample notice ahead of time that he was leaving, which is cool to hear.

Here's Collin's first ad for Creature:

The photos are by Ben Karpinski and Chris "Rhino" Rooney.

Toy Machine: Thrasher - October 2020 Volume 41 Number 10

Creature: Thrasher - September 2021 Volume 42 Number 9

Na-Kel Smith.

Na-Kel is from Los Angeles, California. He started skating in the fifth or sixth grade. His first board was a City Stars with burgundy Orions for trucks. Na-Kel rides for FA, Adidas, Supreme, Thunder, and Spitfire. He cites the original Steve Olson as an underground legend. I liked the kickflip backside 50-50 he did on a NYC handrail to end the 420 E. 9th Street video from November of 2021.

I like most of the skaters on the combo of FA, Hockey, and Supreme, but I don't keep up with all the entertainment content they produce. I really liked the Triple Backflip part Ben Kadow released in July. The experimental sound design by Doug Hock was cool. We also learned in Ben's Thrasher interview that he watches Yankee games on YES. That is somehow neat to me, even though I'm not a fan of the Yankees. I will watch their games from time to time, depending on what else is on.

For the info: Thrasher September 2014 Volume 35 Number 9

Thrasher - October 2017 Volume 38 Number 10

Paul Grund #3.

Famous French tower.

I've ridden a bunch of Paul's boards over the last few years so he's become one of my favorite skaters.

The skateboard photo is by Alex Pires and the art photo is by Paul Grund.

Thrasher - November 2021 Volume 42 Number 11

Cyrus Bennett #2.

Going for a limo ride.

At the end of 2021, Cyrus, Max Palmer, and Hugo Boserup, who all used to ride for Alex Olson's 917, drove off and started Limosine Skateboards. They released a fun video called Paymaster. The team also includes Nelly Morville, Aaron Loreth, Genesis Evans, Santino Gagliarducci, and Karim Callender. It's a little odd to me that the graphics are similar to the 917 artwork, but whatever. Max Palmer rips. I need to find something to scan of him for the future.

I want to set up a new board. However, it is sort of pointless to do so right now with the off and on winter weather. The nose and tail are worn out and there is a lot of mud on the griptape. My bearings are probably at the end of the line, too. It is kind of nice not caring about if you get more dirt on your board or if your bearings get a little wet. Annoying, but nice.

Happy trails, NY Skateboarding.

Thrasher - July 2021 Volume 42 Number 7

Corey Glick #4.

Tilebreaker.

Corey had a productive 2021 with the last part in Foundation's Star & Moon video. Along with his girlfriend, he also helped create a lot of the artwork and animations in the project. Corey filmed a Chicago centric segment for Vans and Uprise Skateshop where he skated to Polvo. I'm a fan of his skating and like that he rides for the F Troop.

Thrasher - July 2021 Volume 42 Number 7

Tyshawn Jones #2.

Bounding in the stance of the switch.

I don't think Tyshawn's opposite footed ollie over a picnic table the long way got all the appreciation it deserves. Paulo Diaz and Salman Agah would be proud.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Thrasher - November 2021 Volume 42 Number 11

Nick Matthews.

I swear the ollies keep on getting bigger and bigger.

Nick is from the Chicago area. He rides for Quasi, Huf, Venture, and Spitfire. His brother Blake is a filmer. In 2019, he put out a part called Pavement where he skated to some vintage Slanted & Enchanted era Pavement. Nick recently was featured in a new video for a collaboration between Chicago's Uprise Skateshop and Venture.

I was stoked Venture had a few different stickers on the market this last year.

Thrasher - January 2022 Volume 43 Number 1

Zane Timpson.

The malls are the soon to be ghost towns.

Zane was from Leucadia, California. He was a 2019 graduate of San Francisco State with a BA in Cinema and a minor in History. Heroin Skateboards released a video part called SufferLove to go with his turning pro this past summer. There is a corresponding book of the same name that collects a selection of Zane's writings, poetry, and artwork. Sadly, he passed away from a heart condition in November. He liked doing boneless and no-comply tricks.

I once again dodged some winter weather to skateboard in the driveway after work yesterday. Buffalo got a lot of snow, but it missed us until early this morning. I skated much better than the previous day so it was a nice rebound session.

The new "Leap Year" video by Cole Navin that showcases mostly Portland skateboarding is pretty neat.

The photos are by Tyler Wilcox and Jon Spitzer.

Thrasher - September 2021 Volume 42 Number 9

Tanner Van Vark.

No ollies needed.

Tanner is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He's also lived in Iowa and visits the Pacific Northwest often. Real gave him the pro nod in February of 2021. He does a lot of wallie and wallride tricks. Tanner is into weird ally oops and reverts out of tricks because he's not big on doing flip tricks. He really likes coffee, too.

I dodged some weather and got to skateboard in the driveway after work yesterday. It started off good and then I got stuck on a trick I knew wasn't going to happen because it was getting dark. I wish I'd made better use of the time. I should have stuck with a bunch of ollies off the launch ramp. I did a couple that felt good before deciding to skate a ledge next for variety and because there were some strong wind gusts.

Thrasher - May 2021 Volume 42 Number 5

John Gardner.

Handstand on a handrail.

John is from Summit, New Jersey. He was called up to the pro ranks in 2021 for Creature. He also happens to be the team manager for DC Shoes. John rides for Independent, OJ, Bronson Bearings, Skeleton Key, and NJ Skateshop. He's into playing music and making handcrafted flutes. John has a unique blend of tricks that stem from mid 1990s Philadelphia street skating combined with the crusty bowl gnar that one would expect from a Creature rider.

I've actually gotten in some skateboarding this week. Our weather is shifting from permanent spring to spotty doses of winter. Things dried up on Monday so I got in a quick and cold ledge session in the driveway. Tuesday was warmer so I did the driveway thing again with a couple of my ledges and launch ramp. It was a nice little start to the year after the rain and snow that kicked 2022 off.

The photo is by JT Rhoades.

Thrasher - July 2021 Volume 42 Number 7

Yuto Horigome.

Yuto is from Koto City, Japan. He rode for Blind up until Shane O'Neill offered him a spot on his April Skateboards in 2019. They had to buy out his contract from Blind so he could make the team switch. Yuto won gold in street skateboarding at the Olympics this past summer in Tokyo. From a recent Thrasher interview, we learned that he likes sushi and his dad skateboards. Yuto said his dad could do nollie kickflips and they used to watch classic 1990s videos together.

He's doing a sugarcane grind in the photo.

Thrasher - October 2021 Volume 42 Number 10

Mark Suciu #3.

The Temple Owl.

Mark dropped a slew of high quality video parts to end 2021 and that was enough to earn him Thrasher's Skater of the Year award. Even though he does very intricate technical street tricks, he does them with a casual ease that is somehow oddly relatable. I'm not big on raw footage dumps, but I'd be interested in seeing the work Mark puts in. He also tried out for the Zero team and crushed a bunch of handrails, too.

I got on a roll and scanned a ton of 2021 stuff. It was probably more than I needed, but that's OK. I sometimes have a hard time with ideas so if I find something I'm stoked on, I roll with it. I tend to pick my favorites so holler if there is somebody you'd want to see that I left out. I'll get around to them. I also found a few random ideas for weeks in the future. I'm most likely going to do a feature on the 15 year anniversary of Fully Flared. The worst part is going to be watching that full video again.

Thrasher - January 2020 Volume 41 Number 1