Tony Gale, Senior Editor/Site Administrator
Tony (our freestyle correspondent) is a professional freestyler from England – which means he can barely skate at all for four months out of the year. He rides for Moonshine Skateboards, Jimmy’z, Seismic, and Synopsis Bearings, and is open to promoting anyone who will give him enough whiskey to get him through next winter (or this one, depending on when you’re reading this page).
Dan Gesmer, Senior Editor/Senior Staff Writer
Daniel Gesmer graduated from Yale University in 1986 with a degree in philosophy and psychology. In the late 1980s he became notorious in the pro skateboarding ranks as the innovator of a unique balletic approach to the flatland freestyle discipline. His personal need for better equipment quickly drew him into the skateboard industry. Since 1994 his Boulder-based company, Seismic Skate Systems, has designed and manufactured some of the world’s most advanced longboard skateboards and components. On the side Dan has written widely on the movement arts for publications including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and leading arts and skateboarding magazines. In this realm he is best known as an authority on skateboard engineering, technique, and history; and as a scholar on the life and work of the legendary Russian artist Vaslav Nijinsky. He was also the Editor of The Legacy of Warren Bolster: Master of Skateboard Photography (Concrete Wave Editions, 2004), a retrospective on the work of the foremost pioneer of skateboarding photography.
Lew Ross, Senior Editor/Senior Staff Writer
Lew owns a small microbrew skateboard company called Fickle Skateboards that sells meticulously handcrafted, long-lasting wooden planks intended for creative skateboard destruction. He also has a super-sized beard that has become his facial-hair trademark. He’s a super friendly guy that loves to share the joys of skateboarding with everybody. Staff bio coming when he washes all the glue and the sawdust off his hands.
Claudia Yaw, Editorial Intern
Claudia is a Vitamin D deficient 19 year old living in Seattle. Buzzfeed once told her that she’s going to marry Dave Franco. To kill some time until that happens, she’s studying communications and working at a grocery store to fuel her Kombucha addiction.
Jim Goodrich, Senior Staff Writer/Photographer
Jim Goodrich originally got his start in skateboarding in 1976 as a skateboarder. When a skateboarding accident sent him to the hospital with a broken arm, it started him on a path that changed his life when he began shooting photos of his skate buddies while recovering from the accident.
In 1977 he met Warren Bolster, the editor of SkateBoarder Magazine, and in 1978 was hired as a staff photographer at the magazine. For many years he photographed the wealth of top skate talent around the world, and chronicled the golden age of skateboarding. Years later, he went on to work as manager and team coach at Gullwing Products, and then as managing editor at TransWorld Skateboarding magazine.
Since leaving the skateboard scene in 1986, Jim pursued other career interests, but never lost his love and passion for skateboarding. In 2000, he once again became active in the skate scene, attending and photographing various skate events, and has donated his time and skate photographs to raise money over the years for a variety of charity causes.
In 2012, he was brought on as the staff photographer for the World Freestyle Round-Up competition in Vancouver, Canada, which he continues to shoot each year.
Jim’s love of skateboarding had originally drawn him into photography, and now the love of his work over 30 years later has brought him back into the skateboarding world. His biggest stoke in skateboarding now is experiencing the new generation from a fresh perspective, and seeing others enjoying his work.
You can friend Jim on Facebook here.
Daniel Fedkenheuer, Senior Staff Writer/Photographer
Daniel’s goals for a future in skateboarding are composed of two critical points:
– Connecting with as many players in the industry as possible, and
– Keeping his knees healthy enough to actually stay on a skateboard as his career unfolds
When he’s not side stepping his way through PT or feverishly typing through a set of emails, he’s probably at his hometown skatepark figuring out the next best way to add a footplant or an extra board into his video clips.
Ron “Fatboy” Barbagallo, Senior Staff Writer
Ron “Fatboy” Barbagallo owns and operates Jersey Boards out of his east coast flower garden. Fatty (our slalom correspondent) is probably off somewhere cutting some cones, wearing a kilt, or eating a fistful of his favorite pie. He’s super f’n cool like that. Staff bio coming soon. And it will probably be hilarious.
AJ Kohn, Senior Staff Writer
AJ is probably really busy in Philly running The Philadelphia Skateboard Academy, One Skateboard Co., helping the next generation learn how to skate, throwing some sort of grassroots contest or event, being a positive force in skateboarding, or heading off to the mountain to go snowboarding with his lovely lady, Shannon. Staff bio coming maybe a little bit later; AJ’s a super busy bloke these days.
Chad Thomas, Staff Writer/Photographer
Chad’s probably busy finishing up the second part of the Tony Magnusson Retrospective piece, working on his own retrospective photo-essay, or making dinner with his wife for their kids. He’s also an avid skater, snowboarder, and music fan. Staff bio coming whenever he gets it done.
Candice Dungan and Aaron Hampshire, Contributing Writers/Photographers
Candy Dungan and Aaron Hampshire are the epitome of a “Power Couple.” Not only do they both hold a top 5 world ranking for downhill skateboarding, they run Momentum Marketing & Public Relations together. He is a social media guru, and she is an artist of the written word. He knows the shops, and she knows the media. He can design skateboards, and she can design websites. He can contribute a manufacturer’s viewpoint, and she can contribute a women’s viewpoint. He is an encyclopedia of skateboard gear, and she is an encyclopedia of female skateboarders. As a team, these two are unstoppable. Photo by Aaron Anderson.
Michael Brooke, Contributing Writer
Michael Brooke has been skateboarding since 1975
In 1996, he founded the skate Geezer homepage one of the world’s first websites on skateboarding.
In 1999, Michael authored the Concrete Wave (The History of Skateboarding) with Warwick Publishing. It went on to sell 43,000 copies, and spawned a 52-part TV series shown worldwide.
Michael co-founded International Longboarder Magazine, the world’s first longboard-specific magazine in 1999.
In 2002, he launched Concrete Wave Magazine. It covers all types of skateboarding, and has hundreds and thousands of readers and devotees worldwide.
Concrete Wave Editions also published a number of books, including The Legacy of Warren Bolster, and Sean Cliver’s Disposable (The History of Skateboard Art)
In 2012, Michael established the Longboarding For Peace movement. Working with the Peres Center for Peace, he was able to have Arabs and Israelis skateboard together. Longboarding For Peace also encourages skateboarders to give blood, and continues to work with a number of police departments to exchange guns for skateboards.
At the beginning of February, Michael re-launched the Concrete Wave website, which now boasts an interactive forum.
Coltyn Nelson, Staff Writer/Photographer
My name is Coltyn Nelson, I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a kid I knew I wanted to remember the happenings of my life, so I started writing in a little Harry Potter journal at age 7. When I was 11 I found skateboarding, and the course of my life changed forever! I have met all of my best friends through skateboarding, travelled to many places, and experienced so much that I never would have otherwise if it wasnt for my skateboard. I started skating for my local shop Salty Peaks my senior year of highschool, and now also skate for Natural Cause Productions, DC Shoes, and Bombas. Skateboarding is my outlet from daily monotony, and also a vehicle into new places and experiences, a catalyst for adventure and fun.
Outside of skateboarding I like to travel and explore with my girlfriend Haley, camp/backpack in Utah’s diverse wilderness, and experience new and interesting things with my friends. Western novels are my favorite thing to read, Zane Grey being my favorite author. I also love to play baseball and ping pong, and have an undeniable addiction to chocolate chip cookies.
I love to expose and write about aspects of skateboarding we may not think about or overlook. To the average skater in the streets, skateboarding lives in the grime of gutters and ditches, at the bottom of stairsets and handrails, or the crusted piece of asphalt you use for flatground. This lifestyle and the experiences that surround it, the people we encounter, these small details are what make up the day to day experience for a skater. This is ultimately what I am committed to writing about and showcasing, and I am stoked to have the opportunity to do that through EverythingSkateboarding!
Simone Mondino, Contributing Writer
Hello!
I was born in 1988 in Italy where I currently live. I’m a self-taught freelance photographer working mainly in the North of Italy, but I have also had opportunities to work in other areas of Italy and other countries in recent years and my work has appeared in numerous publications on international skateboard magazines.
The passion for photography began when I was young and inspired by the mountains and the snow. In fact, as a child, I was always fascinated by snowflakes and mountains, so much that when I was thirteen I asked for a camera as a Christmas gift to capture every single snow event. With time, the passion grew more and more, and after many years doing different jobs I could finally bought my first reflex (a Nikon D90) and then the rest of the equipment. After some experience as an assistant photographer, I understood that the only job I want to do in my was to be a photographer. My favourite sentence is “Fotografo la realtà per renderla eterna” (“I Photograph the reality to make it eternal”).
In the summer of 2012 I began photographing longboarding, and following the Italian Tour of Sector 9. Thanks to this sport now I have now published several photos and articles on some of the most important magazines of the skateboarding at the international level: HeelSideMag (Australia), Crvis3r Skateboarding (Brazil ), Concrete Wave (Canada), ThrillMagazine (UK), and an interview in “Limitless Pursuits” magazine, where I’ve talked about my projects and jobs on social networks.
I participated and won national photographic contests, including the first place in “Visions Poetics”, “We Love Langhe”, and “MonViso Unesco”. I was also a finalist at SIPA (Siena International Photography Awards) in 2016, and a Semi-Finalist at Redbull Illume 2016.
I live my life as a spy, observing and documenting the world from behind the lense of my Nikon.
www.simonemondino.it
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone.mondino/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SimoneMondinoPhotographer/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/simonemondino
Blog: www.simonemondino.it/blog
Nate Sherwood, Contributing Writer
Nate was diagnosed with Dyslexia and turrets syndrome in 1988; he was soon medicated and then dragged to a “special education” center. He was surrounded by complete mental cases in a would-be asylum. He learned fast how to adapt and overcome to survive. In 1994, a teacher checked Nate into a cement wall and Nate was put in the ICU. Nate suffered a fracture to his mastoid process and temporal bone; that lead to brain damage. Nate permanently lost the hearing in his right ear and has suffered many complications due to this injury since, including balance and cognitive problems, the worst being two bouts with meningitis that almost ended Nate’s life. The accident was so bad; the school and staff feared a law suit. Rather than dealing with a courtroom, they let Nate not do any work at all in exchange for school credits.
Nate transferred from the asylum in 1996 to a public high school where he was around “normal teenagers” once the tests showed he was reading and writing and doing math at a 5th grade level rather than a 12 grade level. They soon sent Nate to a trade school, where Nate had to learn how to hang and finish sheet rock as well as paint and do trim work. Nate was again surrounded by lunatics. Sons of Russian mobsters. Junkies on methadone. Maniacs on Lithium. Nate fought the good fight and paid his dues ’til he graduated in 1997. Nate went into the Trade as a union painter. He painted most of the port of Portland and the Heathman Hotel.
One day, Nate was at Cal Skate (a local board shop in Portland, Oregon), and Nate read a flyer for open entry for Slam City Jam in Vancouver BC. Nate always loved skating; it was his saving grace that kept him alive and well during the strife and adversity. Nate drove to Vancouver BC. That spring of 1999, he entered Slam City Jam, and next thing Nate knew he was famous. He had sponsors, he had video parts, and he had coverage in magazines. He was traveling, living the dream of every sponsored skater. About a year later Vision skateboards turned Nate pro. Elevate trucks soon dropped the now cult classic “Levitate”; this projected Nate into an obscurity of the same sort as a David Lynch. Nate even spent a summer on a couch in San Francisco. It was epic.
He met a man one day at Pier Seven, who claimed to be Jack Kerouac’s old roommate. He told Nate (after hearing Nate act a fool and tell some jokes) that Nate ‘needed to become a writer.’ Nate soon channeled old “Jack”, and he took a few road trips, couch surfing all over the map. After eventually settling down in San Diego, Nate met Lindsey (his wife) in an alleyway as she was taking out her trash. Eight years later, they moved to her home town of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to spark up their own skate shop and screen printing outfit.
Nate still is hungry for the world of the word smith. He lives to type, and types to live. Nate likes to tell folks that skateboarding has always been his wife, but his mistress has always been writing. Nate feels skateboarding should be about unity, not cliques, and he lives by the motto “more thrashin’, less fashion”, as well as the other moniker, “more tricks, less politics”. Nate hates plastic people. However, he loves salt of the earth humans! Nate has worked for TransWorld SKATEboarding Magazine; was a staff writer for skateboard.com; and contributed to many blogs zines and web sites over the past twenty years. Not bad for a guy who was told he would never amount to anything but a pile of shit due to his learning disabilities.
Keeping it real in the battlefield since 1979, Nate is an old man now who at times still gets to scrape some pressure flips when time permits.
Natalie Krishna Das, Contributing Writer
Natalie Krishna Das was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father is from India and her mother is from England. After California, Natalie moved to Mississippi, and then to Arizona.
Natalie graduated from Arizona State University with her Bachelors Degree of Science in Psychology and a Minor in Interdisciplinary Arts.
Natalie has been skateboarding for 20 years. She turned pro in 2010. Her current sponsor list includes: Silly Girl Skateboards, Spinelli’s Pizzeria, Sidewalk Surfer, Helton Brewing Co., and Las ChicAZ. Natalie has been featured in Juice Magazine, Surf Life Magazine, Concrete Wave Magazine, Skate Jawn Magazine. and Spunk Skate Zine; she was also on the cover of Concrete Wave Magazine in 2013. Natalie is in five Coca Cola skateboarding commercials. She and her Las ChicAZ skate crew were recently featured in four Spotify music videos.
When Natalie is not skating, she is busy creating Light&Death Micro Skate Zine, managing her creative strategy, branding and photography business “iLList Light Productions,” and being a wife and a mother. She also loves to surf, ride bikes, and play instruments and create art.
Bud Stratford, Executive Director and Publisher
I didn’t really want to write a bio, so I decided to just show off some of my crappy art instead. As if there’s not enough of it all over the website already. I’m on Facebook, too, but not very often; if you’d like, you can friend me here.
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