CULTURE
Mike Carroll Talks About the Beastie Boys’ Influence on Skate Culture
After a string of successful singles, the Beastie Boys made a meaningful connection while working on a promo video for “Time For Livin’.” Even though the under two-minute hardcore punk track wasn’t a proper single, it was edited and featured “out of focus” live footage shot by a young skate photographer, videographer, and writer “put on by Yauch,” named Spike Jonze, who they had previously met in 1991 while he worked at the short lived magazine Dirt. Jonze fused the black-and-white and color performance footage with raw skate footage taken from Plan B’s “Questionable” video. Heralded as a superteam, Questionable was the most innovative skate video released at the time and featured three Beasties tracks during pro Mike Carroll’s part.
“I got an advanced copy of the album from Lance Dawes at Slap Magazine,” Carroll told Highsnobiety when we discussed the video. “When it came time for the video we used the music from that advanced copy – I didn’t think anything of it, because the album wasn’t even out yet. So yeah, we didn’t get the rights and the album didn’t even come out for two weeks after Questionable. It’s pretty fucked up. [laughs] We were recently on a Lakai trip in Japan and Tony Hawk actually asked us if we got permission to use those Beasties tracks. Years ago he was snowboarding with MCA and Tony asked him if Plan B had gotten permission. MCA told him we didn’t but said it didn’t matter because he thought the video was ‘sick,’ well… he used some other words, but getting that sign off was all that mattered.”
“I’ve always tried to figure out how it all started [the retro craze],” Carroll says. “It was going on before Check Your Head but that album – the cover, the videos, especially ‘So What’cha Want,’ that whole style is where it started for me, really set it off. Stop dressing like a goofy boy and get back to normal. When I first started skating I had Puma Clydes, then I saw Cab [Steve Caballero] wearing them, then a few years later this was happening. I got a pair again at a place in SF called Famous Footwear, but when we traveled to England on a Plan B tour I must have bought 10 pairs of shoes because we couldn’t get those old shoes in the US. There was a store in SF called Kaplan’s that would sometimes have Campuses or Shelltoes, but I don’t think I ever even got any there. Later on Nick Tershay [Diamond Supply Co.] met Paul Shier [Pro skater and current team manager for adidas Skateboarding] and he’d start sending shoes to him, and for me too.”
Head over to Highsnobiety to read the entire piece.
Image Via Jacob Rosenberg
CULTURE
Super Skate Posse Gives Back to Kids in LA
Super Skate Posse teamed up with Punk Rock & Paintbrushes and gave away Powell Peralta skateboards, Converse Cons shoes, and ProTec helmets to 25 children from Alexandria House, a transitional home for women and children in Los Angeles, California.
Skateboarding legend Christian Hosoi graced the event and taught the kids to skate.
Founded in 2020, Super Skate Posse is a nonprofit that aims to remove the cost barrier to skateboarding for children in underserved communities nationwide.
The organization tours nationwide and partners with local communities to give away skateboards and gear to kids at events hosted by pro skaters.
The partner in this event, Punk Rock & Paintbrushes is an art management company and art show production brand.
CULTURE
Eric Koston and Steve Berra Take Back Control of The Berrics
The Berrics founders Eric Koston and Steve Berra are now 100% back in control of their company.
Established in 2007, The Berrics was a portmanteau of the founders’ names — Berra and Eric.
Back in 2018, Hypebeast acquired the majority stake in The Berrics. Hypebeast is a Hongkong listed company founded by Kevin Ma in 2005. It started out as a sneaker blog and became an online magazine covering fashion, culture, and other topics and also ventured into retail among other businesses.
But after five years, it appears that the partnership didn’t go that well. In their statement, Berra and Koston said they had little control over their company.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s been almost 5 years since we’ve effectively had any influence over what we created, how it was run, what we made and what it stood for. Five years forced to the sidelines, largely silent, being told what we can and cannot do… or else suffer the consequences. Suffice to say, it was painful watching and experiencing some of the things that transpired.
The two also mentioned that The Berrics website, social, content, and e-commerce will all undergo changes. They also thanked everyone who supported the company through the years.
CULTURE
First Annual Abloh Skateboarding Invitational Held in Miami
The first Abloh Skateboarding Invitational was held in Miami’s Lot 11 Skate Park last December 4 in honor of Virgil Abloh.
Abloh was a skater turned architect and fashion designer. He was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection and also collaborated with Nike.
The event was organized by Architecture, Abloh’s Nike-housed creative studio. It featured cash for trick contest, food trucks, live DJ, and a professional skateboarder demonstration from the dozens of professional skateboarders in attendance.
Zion Wright, Ishod Wair, Dashawn Jordan, and Sal Barbier were among the attendees of the said invitational.
Abloh died in November 2021 after his battle with cancer.
Before his death, he was involved in the building of Ghana’s first ever skatepark which opened in December last year. Abloh is of Ghanian descent.
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