Write to Litterbox, c/o TransWorld SKATE, 353 Airport Road, Oceanside, CA 92054. E-mail us at: dave@twsnet.com
MORE MONGO Hey, what’s up with all this mongo pride crap that’s increasingly littering the Litterbox pages in TransWorld? Before all the stupid-ass mongos start to pull their pens and paper out to respond by saying, “What would you know, you stupid back-foot pusher?” I would just like to state that I too was once a mongo footer. I was also proud of it, until I got wise and started pushing with my back foot. Why be proud of being a mongo footer? It’s honestly the single ugliest sight in skateboarding-worse than any slam, trick, or hairstyle skateboarding has ever seen. And it’s getting worse, because kids who start skating and push mongo, and then read this magazine, think it’s okay to do so. It’s not okay now, and it never will be.
I wanted to stop short of saying, “Beat down mongo footers,” but why not? They must be stopped now and forever, or future generations of skateboarders will suffer the gross deformity that is “mongo foot.” Mongo footers must die.-Craig Evans, Melbourne, Australia
I can’t believe the amount of mail we got over the mongo issue. Most of it was from mongos trying to justify themselves to us and the rest of the world. The key to their argument being don’t alienate us, we’re just skaters too, and we all want is to live together as one. Nothing more remains to be said on the subject; everyone has had their say. We were thinking about doing a Starting Point on pushing, but that just seemed like we’d be adding insult to injury. If you are just learning to skate, here’s a good tip: push with your back foot. Pushing with your front foot may at first seem a lot easier, but you’ll learn in time that the easy way out isn’t always the best way out. Pushing mongo while going switch-stance is acceptable-D.P.
LAZY I’m from a small town in Indiana called New Palestine. This town has no skate terrain to offer whatsoever. But somehow me and my brother managed to get decent at skateboarding. This summer I went to California where I was born and raised for half my life until we moved to Indiana. While in California we stayed in Ventura, home of Skate Street and a few other cement parks. It’s illegal to skate in the city, but me and my brother did so anyway. A cop caught us in the act and took our skateboards, until I showed him my ID from Indiana. He then proceeded to be a cock and tell us we couldn’t skate anywhere.
So me and my brother went to Skate Street. After one trip there we were broke! We had nowhere left to skate but the two cement parks. Well, the kids at these parks were all lazy bastards who wouldn’t take the time to learn to ride a bowl and just sat on the curbs. That’s not skateboarding, that’s laziness. Many of the kids bitched about the transition on the bowls.
I just wondered what it would be like if one of those were in my town, let alone two! I would never bitch. Well, I did have fun out there and did learn some new stuff. I also learned many kids in California take what they have for granted. Bring them here and let them skate my terrain-they won’t like it. In closing, I would like to say skate, have fun, and enjoy what you got, ’cause you don’t even know how good you got it! Eddie Floyd, Midwest
Lazy or spoiled, is there a difference?-D.P
RANTING Tony Barsocchini (“This Is How I Feel” Litterbox Volume 16, Number 11) obviously is some sort of hermit who lives in an abandoned boxcar out in Malibu, or is that just a cover-up? Does he really live in some hick town like Lompoc? He says skaters don’t wear Osiris, yet people who actually skate wear them more then his “props” shoe company. Then he goes on, asking who would buy Titans? He must not skate, because Titans are one of the best truck companies out. He insults skaters who get sponsored by no-name companies, but I’m pretty sure those skaters are much better than he is. He pbably doesn’t even skate. He should remember that all skate companies were once no-name companies. So, Tony, shut up! You are the next Michael Bolton or even Hanson!-Chris, Lakewood, California
NUMERALS It was pretty cheap when that guy from Montana totally shunned your magazine, because he was some perverted drug addict. It was cool though that Wade already knew Big Brother had already censored all the stuff that shouldn’t be in a good skate mag anyway. His own ignorance probably shut him up permanently (which probably would make everyone happy). But anyway, I was wondering if on page 87 in your September issue (for the MTV ad or whatever) was a picture of Dave Navarro (the ex-guitarist of both the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction)? By any chance, would you know what the Roman Numerals on his fingers mean?-Christina Garza, Whittier, California
Thanks there, Christina, for sharing your views with us. It’s funny you should mention the MTV ad that featured Dave Navarro. Like you, I was also wondering what those numbers on his ax wielding fingers meant. I’d give it a rough guess that those stand for the year Dave was born. Hey, what would we do with out those Romans? Did you know that even today you can still see the influence they had on the Western World?-D.P
SHILO Thanks so much for running the Shiloh Greathouse Interview in Volume 16, Number 10. It was dope, and it’s about time Shiloh got some props. He’s an amazing skater and has a great personality. The look back 150th issue on all the years TransWorld has been producing mags was pretty cool to read and look through. Would you mind doing a Starting Point on how to do hardflips? It would be greatly appreciated. Also, maybe run a Pro Spotlight on Maurice Key. Peace.-Jake Johnson, Atascadero, California
NO PARKING You know what, I am sick and tired of you guys down in the U.S. getting all the skateparks. There’re skaters up in Canada, too, eh! The parks where I live suck, and aren’t even worth the ten or twenty dollars (Canadian dollars) they charge. When is someone going to build a decent park in Canada? I picked up a recent TransWorld SKATEboarding mag and there was an add for the new Vans Park in California that’s supposed to be the second coming of god. Well maybe if I ask nicely, can we get a Vans Park? I doubt it, but could someone at least take my letter into account?-Brian Isted, Ontario, Canada
I thought Canada was sprouting out concrete parks like there was no tomorrow?-D.P.
FLIPPING I want to say that Moses Itkonen (one badass dude) was right. It was a backflip Mr. Boyce did and he didn’t get what he deserved. Although you claim you knew that at the ’97 X-Games you saw Mr. Macdonald do a backflip, how come in your mag you said it was a rodeo flip and in the issue with the Woodward section, you show a photo of the ramp where Mr. MacDonald perfected the rodeo flip? I saw the pic of the X-Game flip and it was a rodeo. He went up and spun a 540 and came down fakie only three feet away from where he started. If he did a backflip, he would have landed a lot farther. Look at the pic of Mr. Boyce on the Contents sequence. He lands about ten feet away from when he got air. I think you should look at the pics again (like I did) and if I’m right (which I hope I am), give an apology to both Mr. Itkonen and Mr. Boyce. I mean no offense to Mr. Macdonald because he busted mass ass doing that trick I could never do. I also hope that Mr. Boyce and others continue bringing skateboarding up to a higher lever. Oh yeah, that license to skate ain’t a bad idea.-Lawrence Wilkowske, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
It is time for me to bury my head in the sand.-D.S.
TV Why don’t skateboarding companies advertise their products on TV? Every once in a while you see a Vans commercial, but what about the other companies? If they advertised their products on TV, they’d get more money and more people would get into skating. Moving on, I was reading about the skating license in Litterbox in your October ’98 issue-I totally agree. But that’s the opinion of a skater who has been kicked out of places for skating many times. But only skaters would agree with the license.-Graham Hargreaves, Enfield, Connecticut
Why would anyone want to advertise on TV, who watches TV? Nobody watches TV.-D.P.
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO? In your mag I see all these skaters doing some of the tricks that I can. My question is, how could someone get their picture in your mag? Do you have to be a pro, or do you have to be sponsored, or do you have to have any qualifications? Eric Ferraiuolo, Detroit, Michigan
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE Over the years you’ve been giving pro skaters the credit they deserve, as well as exposing up-and-coming ams for all the world to see. In your October issue you presented a section called “Retrospective” including a look at the beginning of skateboarding up until now. Although you covered many important events and mentioned many pioneers of skateboarding, you failed to mention one of the most influential and inventive skaters of the early era-Duane Peters. He defined what is was to be a punk-rock skateboarder before some of those dudes were out of junior high. Not only did he contribute to the scene then, he’s still out there contributing to the punk-rock scene and busting his ass on a skateboard every day. That’s more than you can say for most of the old skaters who are long gone. I think he deserves a little credit, since he truly is an icon of skateboarding.-Alex Rohr, Boston, Massachusetts
Alex, you are correct in the fact that Duane Peters is truly a living legend within the skate community. When I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, Duane was the man. Any move he did, I had to learn-fakie footplants, sweepers, layback rollouts, etc. But the article in which Duane is not mentioned isn’t a comprehensive history of skateboarding, it is a review of TransWorld SKATEboarding’s 150 issues, which began in 1983. A time when Duane was influential, yet he wasn’t in the limelight (although he did appear a few times in the mag over the years).-D.S.
nto skating. Moving on, I was reading about the skating license in Litterbox in your October ’98 issue-I totally agree. But that’s the opinion of a skater who has been kicked out of places for skating many times. But only skaters would agree with the license.-Graham Hargreaves, Enfield, Connecticut
Why would anyone want to advertise on TV, who watches TV? Nobody watches TV.-D.P.
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO? In your mag I see all these skaters doing some of the tricks that I can. My question is, how could someone get their picture in your mag? Do you have to be a pro, or do you have to be sponsored, or do you have to have any qualifications? Eric Ferraiuolo, Detroit, Michigan
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE Over the years you’ve been giving pro skaters the credit they deserve, as well as exposing up-and-coming ams for all the world to see. In your October issue you presented a section called “Retrospective” including a look at the beginning of skateboarding up until now. Although you covered many important events and mentioned many pioneers of skateboarding, you failed to mention one of the most influential and inventive skaters of the early era-Duane Peters. He defined what is was to be a punk-rock skateboarder before some of those dudes were out of junior high. Not only did he contribute to the scene then, he’s still out there contributing to the punk-rock scene and busting his ass on a skateboard every day. That’s more than you can say for most of the old skaters who are long gone. I think he deserves a little credit, since he truly is an icon of skateboarding.-Alex Rohr, Boston, Massachusetts
Alex, you are correct in the fact that Duane Peters is truly a living legend within the skate community. When I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, Duane was the man. Any move he did, I had to learn-fakie footplants, sweepers, layback rollouts, etc. But the article in which Duane is not mentioned isn’t a comprehensive history of skateboarding, it is a review of TransWorld SKATEboarding’s 150 issues, which began in 1983. A time when Duane was influential, yet he wasn’t in the limelight (although he did appear a few times in the mag over the years).-D.S.
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