Roman Gonzalez.

Classical architecture.

Roman is from Paris and lives in Marsille. He's been on Polar a long time and turned pro in 2021. I don't know too much about him. I keep buying his boards because they are always in the size I like. This is a good use of the two shot sequence, which can sometimes look very awkward.

I set up a new board last night. You can probably figure out from the post what it is. I've been trying to skate the park a little more since the lights are on and the sun sets earlier. I want to get to some of the other local parks, but never have the time or the weather ends up being weird. Skateboarding hasn't really been a lot of fun lately. I keep trying, but nothing ever clicks. It's getting frustrating. Have a good weekend.

Thrasher - March 2021 Volume 42 Number 3

Daniel Bergström.

Computer Age.

Daniel Bergström, formerly Håkansson, had the last part in Strongest of the Strange. This was Pontus Alv's first video from 2005 that laid the framework for what Polar would be. Daniel is from Malmö, Sweden and likes to skate odd, crusty spots. I only know a minimal amount of information about him. I feel content with one video part from twenty years ago where he absolutely crushed every spot to the sounds of Sonic Youth covering Neil Young.

The photo is by Nils Svensson. I had to crop it a little since it awkwardly ran across two pages.

Free - March/April 2022 Issue 41

Dave Mayhew #4.

Enjoy hats.

It's a bit of that classic Marc Johnson humor. In an era when everything was either hesh and serious or fresh and serious, a little silliness went a long way to stand out from what everybody else was doing. That's the spirit Marc brought to skateboarding and part of why he was so important.

Transworld - May 2001 Volume 19 Number 5

Spitfire Fun Facts.

Nitpicking.

The flame head logo actually first appeared in the May 1992 issue of Thrasher. It was in most of the ads after that. I'm not sure how they got December 1993 beyond somebody not doing enough research. I'm more than a little surprised Billy Pepper was mentioned in the Mag.

The bit about Frank Gerwer sending riders he wasn't stoked on the wrong size wheels is pure comedy gold.

Thrasher - December 2025 Volume 46 Number 12

Bam Margera & Matt Hensley.

The lonesome crowded west.

I was wondering why Bam's new Zero ad was lacking the impact of Daniel Sturt's iconic picture of Matt Hensley. I didn't recall the big trees being there. It turns out the world's largest cowboy hat and boots were moved to a new location in 2003 so it is impossible to take the same photograph again. In all honesty, Bam's photo is very good, especially when you see it in print, but it doesn't have the sense of space that elevates the picture of Matt to a classic image of the American open road.

The photos are by Green Gage and Daniel H. Sturt.

Bam: Thrasher - September 2026 Volume 47 Number 9

Matt: Transworld - February 1992 Volume 10 Number 2

Jake Johnson #9.

Keep on complying.

Jake steps to a no-comply over a famous Barcelona barrier. I thought this was a sick photo when it came out over a decade ago and it has held up enough in the information overload age to stay in my memory. I unintentionally wound up with back to back no-comply covers.

Has anybody ever hit for the cycle on covers by being on all the mags? That would be Thrasher, Transworld, Slap, Big Brother, Skateboarder, and The Skateboard Mag. You'd get some bonus points if you made it on the front of Poweredge, Warp, Heckler, or Stance, too. I think maybe one to three pros have done the Big Six plus Poweredge.

I completely forgot to include Transworld in the week. Oops.

Have a good weekend!

The photo is by Dan Zaslavsky.

Thrasher - October 2015 Volume 36 Number 10

Rune Glifberg #8.

Incineration.

Rune does a no-comply on the mini ramp at Empire of One Skate Shop in Flint, Michigan. This is good use of a bold black and white photo with only a smidge of red added to create emphasis. On a newsstand of color covers, the issue would jump out by being distinct in its own way. It's a little odd seeing Rune wearing those Vans with the double wide stripe. Maybe he didn't have a shoe sponsor in 1998? He started riding for Axion in 1999. I picked this cover because it was a skater doing an unexpected trick on different terrain than we are used to seeing them on.

Lance Dawes was the photographer.

Slap - October 1998 Volume 7 Number 10

Steve & Alex Olson.

The Freight Train & The Greyhound.

Steve teams up with his son Alex to do some doubles at the Supreme bowl in Los Angeles. You don't see doubles covers very often, which is probably a good thing and maybe the only time skateboarding actually does something in moderation. That's why this image occurred to me when I was picking out mags to scan. This is also unique in that Steve was on the cover of Skateboarder back in 1979 and Alex made the front in 2005. I'm not really sure what they were going for with those nicknames. Their interview was a whole bunch of hilarious bickering back and forth about stuff.

Note: I filled in the white box for the address label since it was an easy fix.

The photograph is by Giovanni Reda.

Skateboarder - November 2007 Volume 17 Number 3

Daewon Song #10.

Epic Pole Jam.

This was one of the final tricks in Daewon's part from Skate More, the DVS video from 2005. I remember being amazed by the skinny rock to fakie when the magazine came out. It's a relatively basic move done on a completely unstable obstacle, which makes it relatable yet seem utterly impossible. I imagine I saw the video after the mag came out due to the turnaround time on ordering Skate More. I don't think it lessened the impact of the trick, unlike when a shoe company drops the footage for a cover in a 14 second standalone commercial for an issue that technically shouldn't be out for another two months. There's no sense of wonder any more. Enough grousing about how everything is awful these days, let's get back to Daewon. He refined his schoolyard techniques and took his talents to assorted ditches, banks, loading docks, flatbed trailers, and whatever other out of the way spots he could find. To be exact, he hit up the well known spots of the day, too. In the end, the result was some very creative skateboarding and one of the most important video parts of the last 25 years.

Anthony Acosta took the photo.

The Skateboard Mag - August 2005 Issue 17

Bam Margera #8.

The OG Man Ramp.

It feels like Bam has come full circle back to what allowed him to do the movies and television shows in the first place: the skateboarding. I don't mind it. He seems to be having fun and is in a good place.

In looking at old issues of Big Brother, they sure put a lot of poop jokes on the cover. It actually made me pass on a couple of issues when I was figuring out what to scan.

I decided enough time has elapsed since I picked out some favorite covers that I could revisit the topic. I'm not sure if I necessarily picked out any favorites and went with random ones that were compelling for whatever reason. I tried to get a sampling of all the mags, too.

The photo is by Rick Kosick.

Big Brother - July 2001 Number 74

John Cardiel #22.

Where eagles dare.

Cards gets a 50-50 on a ledge with the help of his friends. I figured I had to wrap up a week of Anti-Hero with a classic.

I don't have much going on lately. I took the week off from skateboarding to hang out with some friends who were in town for the summer. I've been trying to be outside more, but it sort of doesn't feel like summer. I can't believe how fast the time goes now. Have a good weekend.

Slap - May 1999 Volume 8 Number 5

Tony Trujillo #8.

Police files.

Tony's interview in the March 2026 issue of Thrasher is a good read. He talks about some health problems he has had, getting sober for the benefit of his kids, the pluses and minuses of being around Jake Phelps, working as a stage hand, and playing in a band. It's cool to take in some of his stories about touring for skateboarding and music. It's also cool to see how he's grown as a person after nearly 30 years in the spotlight.

Slap - October 1998 Volume 7 Number 10

Bob Burnquist #12.

Maximum weirdness.

Bob glides through a unique one footed noseslide at Hubba Hideout. He was kicking his foot off for backside Smith grinds on vert so this was probably somewhere in his zone of odd things he felt comfortable doing on a skateboard. While researching this week, I discovered that Bob has never been featured on the Chrome Ball Incident.

Slap - February 1999 Volume 8 Number 2

Bob Burnquist & Tony Trujillo.

Circa 1999.

Bob flexes his street skills and Tony kickflips at the old days of a Vans park. That black & white photo always sketched me out. It looks scary.

Slap - July 1999 Volume 8 Number 7

Tony Trujillo & Eric J.

Nothing compelled me to get up.

Julien cut and pasted some literature and photos for this one featuring Tony and the late Eric J. I figured I might as well follow up Stereo and Real with the third board line out of Deluxe. I think I've scanned nearly everything from Anti-Hhero for the 1990s so this is about the last of it. I like the older ads that were more handmade over the use of Photoshop in the modern ads. The effect is theoretically the same, but the analog results are far superior.

Slap - December 1999 Volume 8 Number 12