Ben Gore #7.

Ode to Kalis.

Dave Chami took this photo of Ben Gore at Fort Miley as a homage to the November 1995 issue of Transworld with Josh Kalis on the cover. The issue had interviews with Eric Koston and Guy Mariano plus a feature on the photography of Ari Marcopoulos. That collection of words and photographs is regarded as a high watermark in the legacy of Transworld. Of note is that Ben is wearing State shoes. I had two pairs of them and the shoes were awful. They were so uncomfortable that they didn't even cut it as chillers so I can't imagine skateboarding in them. That aside, Ben rips and is pro for Magenta.

Transworld - February 2017 Volume 35 Number 2

Rick Howard #20.

Green backside ollie.

I believe the story was that Rick wanted to skate vert so he built a ramp at the Girl headquarters. I know this was there for a while, but I don't recall the ramp getting the same amount of coverage other spots got. I imagine it was torn down when the Girl offices moved to a new location. The ramp would be mentioned in passing by assorted Crailtap staffers, creating an aura of mystery to the halfpipe since most of the team skated street. It produced this cool looking cover where Rick is wearing Converse.

There wasn't a photo credit for this one.

Slap - March 1996 Volume 5 Number 3

Ben Krahn #4.

Freedom summer.

If memory serves me correctly, the story behind this is the Big Brother crew took a trip to Philadelphia around about Independence Day. Ben is skating some private bowl/mini ramp creation with his dog Pee Wee. I probably should've skimmed through the issue as a refresher, but skipped it. I knew I had to include a Big Brother cover in the feature and this one looked about the best as an example of what their mag was all about. I almost went with the Cario Foster cover where they announced Larry Flynt as the new owner, but that's a whole other story. Ben rips and has ridden for a few companies over the years, including Lib-Tech, Emerica, and Blood Wizard.

The photo is by Rick Kosick.

Big Brother - September 2000 Number 64

Anthony Van Engelen #11.

Some of the covers I picked out are ones I see repeatedly when flipping through the stacks while tracking down stuff to scan. Repetition works. I like Anthony's board in the photo - a couple of stickers, lot of a solid color, and scratched out graphics. It looks cool. I'm not so sure how good the cover design is with the magazine's name in small text to the side and all the white. Running the photo as a full bleed and having a white S or maybe a red S with a white outline would be more dramatic and attention grabbing. The cover is from a few months after AVE and Jason Dill started the FA board company. I think he's still riding an Alien Workshop deck so it is probably an older picture. Eric Koston had a Nike ad from 2011 where he was frontside grinding the wall at the same spot.

Anthony Acosta was the photographer.

The Skateboard Mag - November 2013 Issue 116

Leo Romero #17.

"There was this man living out of his car in the parking lot of this famous rail. He went on and on about all the people he's seen skating it. When we got this trick he got excited. He couldn't believe that someone had gone up the rail when everyone else he had seen jumps down it. On the way home, we thought of the next group to go skate there and what this guy would tell them and how they would probably think he was crazy or something. Leo Romero breaking new ground. 50-50 up a rail." - John Bradford

Although Leo wasn't the first to go up a handrail, he did generate a lot of buzz when he went the wrong way up an eight stair. The trick was his ender in Emerica's Stay Gold. I picked this one because of how gnarly the grind was. It's an image that has staying power. I'm guessing Mark Gonzales or Natas Kaupas were the early pioneers of skating rails backwards. It also might have been Matt Hensley or somebody else on H-Street who used the boredom of being at skate camp as motivation to try going up an obstacle. Jeremy Wray, Paul Sharpe, Ed Templeton, and probably somebody on Shut have all dabbled in the field, too. A few years later Leo's fellow Tum Yeto employee Cole Wilson would 50-50 up a double kink for the cover of Transworld.

John Bradford was the photographer.

Skateboarder - May 2009 Volume 18 Number 9

Hugo Boserup.

"Hugo Boserup skates vert."

Imagine those words being said in the voice of the kid who introduces Mike Frazier in Stereo's Tincan Folklore video. This was a random find while putting together the covers feature. It's a totally sick photo. I'm not so sure about the layout Transworld was using at the end of their print run. It's serviceable enough graphic design work, but it lacks flavor. I guess they were counting on the photo to sell you on the mag, which it does.

I don't know too much about Hugo. He rides for Limosine and was part of Alex Olson's 917 team. I was stoked to see that he skates vert in Thrasher's video on the McTwist from a few months ago.

The picture is by Jonathan Mehring.

Transworld - January/February 2019 Issue 396

Daniel Powell.

The Only One I Know.

I've been thinking about magazine covers lately. I usually avoid scanning them for here for a couple of minor reasons, but thought I'd switch it up. The discussion over Jerry Hsu's recent Thrasher cover and the assorted interviews with pros at the Look Back Library have left me wondering what ones I liked. I tried to think of some different ones from over the years that have stuck with me for whatever reason. There was a mellow and haphazard selection process to pick out the ten I went with.

I believe Daniel is from the Atlanta area and rode for Underworld Element. It's a great photo of a low impact trick shot to make it look cool. The text frames the picture well and creates some bold points of emphasis. Even though it is from 1992, Daniel is wearing regular shorts, a Charlatans UK shirt, and chopped Vans. The fashion is much of the time, but also a little more timeless than the huge baggy shorts and oversized t-shirts of the era. The bands featured in interviews offer a bit of everything, with some classic hip hop, industrial, shoegaze, and arena rock. You get a couple of edgy Thrasher style blurbs to tease what is in the issue, too.

The photo is by Chris Ortiz.

Thrasher - October 1992 Volume 12 Number 10