Half way through the 7th grade, a new kid arrived at my school in a town of about 1300 people. For what ever reason I can’t recall, I took it upon myself to sit near and strike up a conversation with him. One of the first things I remember him saying that fateful day was “Does anyone here Rollerblade?” and with that question began my friendship with Dustin Werbeski. A friendship I could honestly say I am lucky to have and one that people would envy. Through the 12 or so years I have known Dustin, we, as well as a tight crew of friends have created countless memories together in and out of rollerblading. 95% of them ending in laughs. In that time I have had the opportunity to watch Dustin grow and evolve not only as a person, but as a blader. Although our life paths have veered in slightly different directions as music was always more so my calling and I really couldn’t keep up with the “Game Genie” style of skating, I was always glad to see Dustin stay passionate about the sport and put his entire body, heart and soul into the constant pursuit to reach a higher level over the years. Watching him expand his trick vocabulary from a Makio on a bench to shit I can’t even explain with a Cork in the midst of it has been a treat. Magical, really. Dustin Werbeski is essentially a magician and like any good magician does, he will always pull the rabbit out of the hat. I’m glad he is finally getting the recognition I feel he deserves and I hope the world will sit back and enjoy the show.
– Joel Hansen
As a skater who is strongly involved in the Canadian rollerblading scene, I believe that Dustin is one of the main reasons why Canadin rollerblading is so unique and different. Dustin is the true definition of endless possibilities and imagine blading. Dustin’s creative vision and physical abilities define the potential of rollerblading and if I had a chance to show the outside world what rollerblading is all about, I would show Dustin.
– Leon Basin // owner of Shop-Task
Dustin Werbeski is one of those rare people that everyone should be so lucky to meet in their lifetime. He is the kind of unique and interesting person that leaves people wondering “who is that guy?” Growing up in Regina, “Alf” is one of the reasons I had such a great time. He contributed to making a dull, boring city into a magical place full of great stories and moments. I am really thankful that I was able to spend so many amazing years blading, travelling and making memories with such a great guy. As much as he says I was like an older brother, influencing him and bringing him up, he has had just as much of a positive influence on me. So, keep your eye out for this guy and take a few notes – we need more Dustin Werbeskis in the world.
– Richie Eisler
Interview by Oliver Nermerich
Images and edit by Dustin Werbeski
Can you present yourself? Name, age, where your from, etc.?
I am Dustin Allan Werbeski, just turned 24, from Regina Canada, I’m a fine art photographer and amateur rollerblader. I think the rest of the interview will let you know all you need to know for now.
What was the last thing you just did before we started this interview?
Well I just walked out of Ohanlon’s from singing my first ever karaoke. Ohan’s is the only place to be in Regina. If you ask anyone who has ever come here for anything affiliated with us bladers, you’d find out it is actually the only place in this whole city without wankers or haters. Which is mostly likely why I find myself there drinking a pint of Guinness more often then not. It’s a fine little establishment, and I have yet to find anything else like it.
What’s your general living situation at the moment?
I guess the last question perfectly took us into this one. As I left the pub, I walked out to the back alley, to my home parked out back. I have just recently moved back to my hometown of Regina, where instead of searching for an apartment or living back at my families place, I decided to set up my dream home on the road. I currently live out of a big blue van. I have always been one to live out of a backpack or carry a side bag with me at all times, for I’ve always found it hard to leave home with just the things in my pockets. I have always needed more at my fingertips, wether it be cameras, books, my journal, mp3 players, or any of the random things I’ve found collecting their way into my bag. It is not as though I am a materialistic man, far from, I am just obsessed with collecting, everything from physical to mental, from things to images to thoughts. To get back on topic, I live out of a van, and have everything I need. My camera collection, well part of it, I don’t have that much room, a portable darkroom to hand develop all my own film, my computer aka office/digital darkroom, my clothes, my blades, my bed, a roof over my head, and a little bit of food. It’s my little mobile creative space. It’s actually quite homey for not yet investing a single dollar into it, as my funds are just not capable of such thing quite yet. This is all because I have just returned from Vancouver with zero dollars, I ran out there last fall to continue my summer of living life as a hippie and in the moment, allowing me to really studying myself and its place in society. Now that I am back, I have began to collect the possessions and connections needed to succeed in todays world. Things like an ID, cellphone, and soon to be job. I have gained more than I could ever describe from the last year I lived, but since being back in the real world, I have been living and given opportunities never before possible. I have always enjoyed my living situations, wether or not most people would, I’ve always found the best in them. As usual I am really digging the way I see it today and direction it’s going.
It seems like you’ve got your hands full right now with skating, filming, and work/college. What’s your normal day like, and how do you balance so many things all at once?
I don’t think there is a normal day of my week, they are always different and its rare that I even care what day of the week it is. To try and spit a routine, I would say its along the lines of… Wake up to the sun beating in and heating my van, walk down to the bagel shop for the classic bagel & cream cheese & coffee breakfast, then return to my office to spend hours on my computer working away at the dozen projects I always have on the go. If the weather is nice, I’ll stop by the park for a quick cruise or try to track down a friend to blade and get productive with. Productive in the sense of shooting photos or filming, Im falling out of the blade to just blade scene. I don’t have the time to do that. It’s now looked at as exercise or work for me, and Im let down if I don’t get the workout or documentation I had hoped for. I think this is all because of my past Vancouver life, where their scene was blade to blade skateparks every time. Not knocking, but really, I need to get out of Canada and find that perfect scene for me. It doesn’t help that I don’t really know what Im looking for these days. Maybe a handful of friends always down to look at the streets creatively and produce as equally creative/productively, to much to ask for? HA! As I sit here and think about it, my balance of life tasks may be a tad poor, but I do feel this whole change in lifestyle is correcting that and just maybe the key is a more focused routine. Hmm just maybe. I thank you for sparking such realization.
You just finished your latest flick “Imagine Blade Shun”. It seems like you took a different approach to promote the video by creating promo profiles of your protagonists and by creating a video blog. Will the video be completely different from the average video release? What can the prospected buyer expect from your film?
Well actually it is not quite finished. I am still deep in the editing process with completion just around the corner. The whole project began back in Vancouver as a way to bring together and showcase what we saw as Canada’s most interesting/talented skaters aka the Shop-Task pro team. I spent all winter collecting and organizing all 830 gigs of footage, while seeing and translating the vision I got from sorting through this tedious task. In a simplified version of what I saw and have been expressing ever since is this… The completely different views and perspectives each of us has fine tuned and followed to “get us where we are today”, or in other words, to produce the footage you will see tomorrow. Everyone of us rollerbladers is different, so why should our definition of tricks or even rollerblading for that sake, be the same? If you are an open minded/creative person, you’ll hopefully have recognized and agreed with our/your own means of self expression. We all choose rollerblading, should we all do the same soul grinds, if we were painters would we all paint the same portraits? In this statement and the trailers or promo profiles you’ve seen, I guess you could predict the fact that what you are about to see, is nothing like that before. We are different, I am different, and the collaboration we have created is defiantly out there. Expect nothing! Take it as it comes. As I don’t want/like expectations, for they create pre-established thoughts that will alter or effect the way you will see what will be, its originality, which is then open for these opinions and interpretations.
To quickly take it back to the first part of the question… the promotion. That has been a really good learning experience for me. I choose to take such direction as more or less a test. A test in a couple of ways. Firstly I had figured that we were so far out there, geographically and mentally, that showcasing our selves to the world this way, would be the most logical way to guarantee sales before the release of the film. I don’t know if I am the one to say, but I don’t believe our names alone could have or will sell this film. We are not newbies but we are probably pretty fresh to the rollerblading scene as a whole. So with that, I choose to take the approach of continual content and allowing access into our skating lives regularly. Im not yet at the level to call it drip drop with no promotion and sit back guaranteeing the love of the world. Then secondly, I hate to put it second, cause to me personally it was my number one reason. Reason being that I am in the process of starting up and promoting my own photography through my online portfolio (www.dustinwerbeski.com) and blog/printshop to be. The imagine-blading blog was and is a knock off of what I have planned to be doing with my own. More on that later, as it now comes the part of apologizing for the halt in content/promotional material for all of you to enjoy. The reason nobody has heard or seen anything from us in a good month or more, is because of this transition back to my hometown. With that, I have taken my hurting! macbook and have been living without internet ever since. Just recently I was borrowed by a friend a brand new version of my exact computer. This one in one piece instead of five, with an attached monitor, internet card, all of its keys. I thank you so much for this Travis Nabe. This favour has allowed me to finally wrap up the editing process, and with that you will all be seeing the final promotion quite soon. For I am sitting on sooo much left over footage and content. Just bare with, its all in here, just waiting to be out there.
What were the reactions to “Imagine Blade Shun” so far? Are you satisfied with your own part in it?
To be completely honest, really good! People have been very accepting to such a strange style of skate video. Love it or hate it, it’s going to happen, but I do thank all of you for backing my creation so far. Its first appearance into the blading scene was very entertaining to me. It happened in a way that, I had uploaded a bunch of content one night secretly, so that Todd could use his profile promo in his be-mag interview. But by the time I had woken the next morning, it was all over the internet and slapped up in everyones face. There was no stopping it, and by the end of the first day it had 4.5 thousand views and a whole lot of love. As for my own part, thats hard to say, we’ve each got a few, for even the flow of the video is different and unpredictable. But if you were to have asked about my footage in it, then I would have answered as such. I could always be happier, always, no matter how good I get at this, I will still find a flaw or three in my own skating. Also, having the video come together in such a way, has made it almost impossible to think up what I would like in it, then go ahead and get that filmed. This is the best way to produce the part your happy with, envision it, then make it happen until your content. But, with this, I was forced to make with what I had already produced. Of course there was filming sessions for this video, but by then, the majority had been collected and the overall image I had created for myself had been settled. Happy, but could always make it better. This is where my next project comes in, I have been given the opportunity to film for SHOCK and with that I am making a full effort at producing the exact well rounded lump of footage I see myself being happy with, all done with the skills I have gained through my newly found “Imagine-Blading” style.
You seem to me like a really creative individual – especially when I see you skating and when I watch “Imagine Blade Shun”. Have you ever thought about applying your creative mind for something bigger? Let’s say a job in the field of film or graphic production?
I am always thinking about bigger and better things that I could apply myself to. As for a job in either of those industries, I would have to say nope. I admit it now, I am not really a fan of either, even film for as crazy at it seems. I am really just and have always been drawn into photography. Now that I am in this mentality of actually applying myself to something with a future. I plan to do what ever it takes to make it as a successful fine art photographer. I can not wait to clear my plate of all these little projects and focus all of my skills and energy into one single field. I am putting everything I have into it in hopes of getting everything I need out of it. Right now that isn’t to much, for you’ve got to spend money to make money. I guess a job in the industry would be wise, but even then I only want to do what I want. I do not want to shoot weddings or babies or any of that junk. With the right funding I feel I can create my own field in a sense. Not the next question, but the one after may explain this a bit better.
Some people say that creativity is mainly based on experience. Do you agree with that opinion? How is creativity formed from your point of view?
No, not at all, well kinda. My personal view of creativity is something along the lines of creativity is no different than anything else in this universe. It is an energy. At the base of everything is energy. But right now were talking about that creative energy. It doesn’t come from experience, but ones ability to tap into this source, or open them selves up to allow it to flow right through them and into or onto what ever medium they may use to express their own creativity. I understand the logic that experience can create the illusion of becoming more creative, but I do not think that that is where it comes from at all. Experiences can show you or train you on how to be or allow creativity, but even then once you figure you’ve got it, it will come and go. This is why at different times of the day or week we feel more creative than others. I have found my self to be in the most creative mind sets at some of the most random and unpredictable times. Just this past weekend as we wrapped up a long night of partying and seeing Richie back off to Australia, I found my self sitting up at 5am with a mind overflowing with creative energy, although my physical body energy was at an obvious low as I could barely stay awake. We can all buy a redbull (caffeine) and give our selves physical energy, but I don’t think there is a consumable product for this creative energy. Hmm, well I used to use pot as a creative influence, for I felt it acted as a redbull in the sense of being a consumable product to give me the creative energy I needed. But after enough of it, I realized that it wasn’t the consumption of THC, but what it did to me that allowed this desired effect of creativity. There is no denying the fact that taking drugs opens ones mind to more of the unknown possibilities out there. It has been proven throughout history, look at or listen to any of the greatest artists, do a little research and you’ll find that most of them were using some substance to tap into or allow the flow of this energy into their body or to be proper, their minds. I am not saying that this is the only way at all, creativity is everywhere and there are endless amounts of ways to get it. Last summer in the midst of my hippie mentality, I studied and practiced meditation. I am not going to get into this, but I recommend searching for David Lynch’s view on creativity. I believe he states perfectly what I would only try to speak about on this topic. So in conclusion, it can not be consumed, formed or gained through experiences, you just need to find your own way of finding and translating it, your own muse or inspiration or means to creation.
Thanks man for this great excursion. Really inspiring. But tell me, is there something else you are working on right now – in terms of Rollerblading? What are your plans in general for the next few months?
I am back at home, building the connections I need and the funding for my life trip ahead. Me, my home, my cameras and skates will be going on a solo cross north america tour to promote and build on my future of photography/rollerblading. I figure if I can live out of a van, I can do it anywhere, so why not do it in places with people and opportunities. In terms of rollerblading, I plan to be working with you guys here at be-mag with live updates and of course promoting all of my supporting companies. As always I have the support of people like Shop-Task and the Conference, while I hope to wrangle and promote every applicable company or shop or persons I come across on the way. It will be as big as I can make it, and the way I see it is huge. I will be making my best effort of stopping by and documenting/promoting all of the hottest scenes and skaters across our continent, while spreading my word and work. The plan is to spread it through my own portfolio and blog, all of the online communities in our industry, and all the interesting little ways I think up from here on out. One example is how I will be turning my van into a live hand painted billboard/storyboard of the travels I have been on, and showcasing all the respectable companies/people I have come across. I have the hopes and dreams of starting this, and having it be my future completely. If all goes as planned or dreamed, I hope to make a living on the road through many means, some I have been thinking about, and others are still to come, but one way would be by selling fine art through my own online printshop, and another idea in the works is some sort of physical hardcover book covering the whole adventure and with the hopes of being sold through all skateshops at the end of this amazing adventure. I believe no matter what happens, it will all open the endless possibilities for me in skating and photography. If anyone out there feels they or I could benefit from having me come on through your area to promote you, your city, your scene or your company. Contact me ([email protected]) and well make it happen for I believe your all going to want to be a part of this once it starts, so why not start now?
One day I heard a Pro saying that “to get in the spotlight or to become the attention of the industry, it’s all about selfpromotion” What do you think about that? Do you think a lot of people in our industry suffer from narcissism or image neurosis?
Oh I fully agree with that statement. You have to put yourself out there, and do it in such a way that you are confident in what you are and the way people will perceive you. If you don’t do it, nobody else will. Well at least thats the way it is up here in Canada. That Pro wasn’t Richie Eisler was it? HA! This is the man who taught me most if not all of what I know about self promotion. He has been one of the greatest role models in showing me the way to proper exposure and imagery. Well I think I worked on and developed my own image, but as for exposure or the spotlight. This guy proved to me time and time again that it is all up to you, and its all there for the taking. An example, he had once told me that the year he had won International Skater of the Year, he did nothing. Well not nothing, but nothing much more than self promotion through properly planned out and well executed online content. He had promoted himself to the point of not needing to put himself out there physically in the scene, but could get all he wanted through having high personal standards, and a bit of just go for it if you want it attitude. He had said it was the year he travelled and competed the least, but yet got the most out of this sport. A sport which is thought to have success come from competitions and video profiles and printed images. Not necessarily true, you can get all you want by just being you, and presenting it an a professional proper way, oh and that you has to be marketable of course. But also any smart artist or businessman knows its best to just create your own market and declare this it, making them all conform to you.
There are a lot of Rollerbladers who love to put themselves in the spotlight (or love being in the spotlight). What about you? Do you like to be in the spotlight?
I guess this interview is a good enough example of yes, I enjoy the spotlight. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have taken the opportunity you have given me, and I defiantly wouldn’t have opened up the way I have. Its really good to put yourself out there fully, and take everything you can from it, good or bad. I used to really enjoy the amount of hate I received from my clothing style in the online edits I would make. Mainly my pants HA! but as you can see from a couple of these photos, I am still wearing the exact same pair and still showing off those calf muscles HA! I laugh at haters, for even bad publicity is good. I don’t always ignore the criticism I get, I love constructive criticism, for no matter how conscious you are of the way people perceive you, you cant always see it from all views, and being told something you never thought of or took into consideration is a great growing experience. So with the plans ahead and the things I am working on now, I do have the hope to have more of this spotlight placed on me. I don’t need it for any egotistical reasons, but for the life lessons and opportunities that can be gained from it.
I interviewed your friend Todd McIrnerney recently. And he thanked me for not asking him the question “What we should be doing to make rollerblading more popular again?”. He said “That’s a question we should all stop asking!” What would you do if I ask you that question and do you agree with his statement.
Of course he would, this is the man who will blade around wearing a shirt stating the statement “how to be unpopular” while rolling around on the ground kicking at this and that. He does not care how people perceive him or think of what he does, he does it for the personal love. I don’t want speak to much for him seeing that he has already avoided such question, but I do understand where he is coming from, and fully agree with it. If everyone was to do their own thing with no anxiety or fear of what others think, or with no hope of making what they are doing look cool and become popular. We would have a much broader styled group of bladers who as a whole would attract the attention of these outsiders, which so many of us wish we had.
The first time I noticed your skating was in one of the edits from the Regina-Skatepark. It seems like you skated this park with Richie all the time. When you skated this skatepark was this the time you fell in love with Rollerblading? If not, so where and when did you fell in love with Rollerblading?
Wow, that is actually a really hard thing to pinpoint. Falling in love is such a smooth transition, next thing you know your just in it, fully. Well at least for me, it works that way. If i had to think back, I would say it started way before that, probably 5 years before that. When I started to travel with Richie and the rest of the Regina guys on all these wild rollerblading trips I never knew were possible. I was being introduced to endless amounts of people and fun that no one else I knew was getting to experience. Sure they were travelling for all of these organized sports, but they were being regulated and just not given that same freedom you get from this one. I was still in elementary school, but would spend my weekends away in other cities partying and skating with all of these cool older guys, while getting to grow and learn at a rate not offered through anything else I could ever find. It was something I couldn’t even or ever explain to my friends back home. I think thats love and probably around the time I fell into it.
You must have thought about this at least once. A skating career doesn’t last forever. You won’t be able to skate at that level when you are facing the mid thirties or forties. How are you going to compensate the lack of adrenaline and fun when you come to that point?
I am not one to worry about the future cause I know it will always work itself out. But of course I have thought about the day my skating will change for the worse. I think it will be such a gradual change, just as that of falling in love with it, that I wont even complain about the situation I find myself in and will just see it for what it is, as it is, the goodness that I can even still do it. By doing it, Im sure it will be along the lines of just cruising park for the physical exercise. I have already noticed the shift away from that young go try it all no worries of pain game. This does make it more difficult to get warmed up or in the zone of adrenaline on the streets, not hard or impossible, but its different to get there. I will just need to figure it out then. This is actually my last question to fill out and Im not putting to much thought into it, sorry, I don’t really care what happens. Im enjoying it as it is right now and am pretty sure I will always have fun with these little wheel boots under my feet.
Last year you won the “Popularity Contest” in Kamploops. Are you going to defend your title this year? And what about the Montreal Classic? Are you going to attend it this year as well?
Ah yes I did, and last year was a very entertaining win at that. I have gone to every single popularity contest since the first one, making it 6 in total. I had won the first, some other one and again last year. But, by last year I had began to feel like I had no urge to push my self and really try to win. For a couple of reasons. One, I was quite sick and tired of being the most hurting man on the planet after the competition. Every year I would go down to Kamloops and really push myself, a lot of times to win, but also as a personal goal to see just how far I could take it and what unthinkable tricks I could manage to pull off at that same old amazing skatepark. This mentality always resulted in more than enough painful falls, and a super soar body to put up with afterwards. This always seemed to downgrade or ruin some of the best parts of the weekend for me, parts like the after comp sessions or after parties with all of your best friends just chilling and having a good time. Both of which I would usually be too soar to fully enjoy. Then secondly, I admit I was sick of winning. I was tired of being put in the awkward position of holding the win against some foreigner who more often then not deserved the win. I wont get into that, but it was pretty weird a couple times and I do feel for the judges and their tough decisions. So last year I made the trip with the mentality that I was not going to try. This sounds bad, but it was true. I wanted to go and just cruise, do my own thing, have fun and not get hurt. I guess the format of last years comp worked in my favour in a way that it was a chill jam session. So, yup I won, and the best part was that I walked away from it for the first time with no injuries at all. Oh, I have to tell this story… Dallas Kurtz, one of Canada’s best came up to me right at the start of the comp and said something along the lines of “hey man don’t try to hard, i don’t want to have to push myself and get hurt.” It always seems like him and I were going head to head tossing ourselves at tricks beyond our reach year after year. I reassured him I was taking it easy. But within the hour he was sticking to tradition and hucking himself at tricks I was not going to compete with. I believe he was on his way to the win, then bam! He split on a gap to true mizou on the spine, which resulted in the end of the comp for him and a badly! bruised testicle. That was the perfect reassurance that my new way to compete would work for me, win or lose. I just didn’t want anything like that to happen, ever. So now year seven, I will most likely return, why wouldn’t I, but with my return I will be bringing that same laid back mentality. Oh and Montreal Classic, I would love to for I have never been, but I don’t even know when it is, or how I would get there. Any connections out there willing to make it happen?
You most likely check the most common Rollerblading News Websites on a daily basis as well. Is there any Rollerblader you recently saw an edit from that you really would like to have a session with?
I’ll straight up say it right now that I personally feel that Kevin Yee’s 9 minute Xsjado section which went up earlier this year, had set a bar that I haven’t seen anyone come close to yet. That section put me back in my seat, then to the edge, then back again as my mind had been blown. There is a man who has developed his vision and skills to a point which is untouchable. For this and many other reasons, he has inspired me to really push my own vision to see where it will blindly take me. I really do hope it takes me down to his stomping grounds for a good old session and a chance to get to know this guy better. Oh and I have to say that the whole Australian Vine Street scene has it going on just right. I saw the trailer for their soon to be film, and it was full of amazing raw talent! I also just got to spend a week with Mr. Eisler and he couldn’t help but promote what is happening down there/give me a sneak peek at his section to be. They appear to have a really healthy next level scene which I hope to be a part of come this winter.
Some people say that the style of skating has changed in the last 5 years. For example: While some years ago the most popular skate videos were filled with nothing but hammers, the skatevideos nowadays mostly feature creative tricks and only a few videos show the big hammer stuff. What’s your opinion to that?
Rollerblading is defiantly changing, it’s maturing. Its doing so because everyone left in the spotlight of it, is the older more logical skaters who have all been there done that stunt blading before. Who have now come around to realize that you can get just as much out of this little hobby by not putting your life on the line day after day. This is a really good thing for many reasons. It creates more realistic goals for the newbies to strive for, and a much cleaner more stylish image for the outside world to appreciate. Lets just leave all the huge extreme stunts for all the other action sports who find this strange endless need to backflip the unthinkable. K well maybe not all, it is needed to push the limits of our sport and there is no stopping people from doing such. But I personally will not be showing much respect for those people who are doing it hideously or with no real thought put into their own safety and health. As an example, I have a lot of respect for someone like Chris Farmer, who had really made the adventure through almost every if not all styles of this sport. He has proven he has the skills to take the reigns at all and can walk away when ever he feels the need to move on to something new and interesting. You cant 360 soul everything or jump the biggest gaps for ever, thats quite boring and also quite bad on your body. What he is doing now may seem to be small or weak to the weak/close minded skaters out there, but what he is doing is still pushing himself and our sport in a direction far beyond the average mental/skill level of the “normal” skater.
What’s your attitude towards Skateboarders? Do you have a problem with them or do they have a problem with you. What’s your experience on that issue?
Where I am from, we have gone from hated to respected, but the transition was over a long period of time. There was always a hate on for us, but as we got older and wiser, there was no denying our skills and talents. One issue was always sharing a skatepark and fighting over the use of wax, I always used to use the statement that real skateboarders use wax, and that we were actually forcing them to enhance their skills in doing more than just the last foot of that sticky ledge. We were getting better, while making them do the same. So in the end these skateboarders who once hated, now looked like idiots for trying to even pretend that what we are doing is lame. Its the exact same thing as them, but just has a different name. As for my personal perspective towards them, I love them, I find inspiration in what they do and have achieved. I can’t imagine being a hater, for it would get me nowhere. Why put the energy into finding or pointing out the bad or flaws of someone else, when you can so easily with no effort see the good, this will only make your life that much better and happier.
Great point of view! Ok one last question: Is there a really good advice you’ve been given once that you want to share with us?
I just recently picked up a new book and this one line from it hit me, it goes hand in hand with the skateboarders or perspectives of others I was just talking about. “Be kind to cops; they’re not cops, they’re people in disguise who’ve been deceived by their own disguise.” -Allen Ginsberg
Thanks for everything dude! This was very inspiring for me! Now it’s time for some shout-outs!
I would like to thank you the reader for finishing the read. I would also like to thank Be-Mag for offering up such a good opportunity, as I really enjoyed the interview. It allowed me to get a lot out there, think a lot through, and learn a few things new. Also, thanks to Leon at Shop-Task and all the guys at The Conference and Xsjado for as always hooking it up. I hope we can all work together into the future. Lastly I have to thank everyone back in Vancouver who had made my winter the winter I had dreamed of. As well as all of the old friends, new friends and family who so kindly waited for me back here in Regina, and have either made or are making it the easiest move back ever. You are all amazing people and I don’t know what I would do with out you. Love you all! Ah I could go on forever, thanks to my little brother Dillon for shooting the 720 figure four cork photo, you are the easiest person to direct when it comes to getting someone to shoot photos or film me with my own equipment. Thanks to Eric for shooting the skatepark tiny groove makio photo, again quite easy to work with and I hope we can skate together more while Im around, for you are now one of the only 3 bladers left in this city, remember that, embrace it and keep it alive. Thanks to the Ontario house for helping produce the mutestale photo and mini day edit, I had a lot of fun living and skating with you guys, so much. Lastly I swear, thank you Todd McInerney for producing the portfolio I’ve always wanted, exactly, thanks so much, and congratulations on the engagement, Carly is an amazing girl and you two are going to live a long enjoyable life together guaranteed. Again, I love you all. Peace.
