November 21, 2005
Brian Wenning: Photo By Ryan Gee
DC Pro Team Bios 1
By Rob Brink
dcshoes.com June 2004
Here's the first batch of some dcshoes.com pro team bios I wrote. Danny, Colin and Dyrdek to follow...
Brian Wenning
In the mid ‘90s, there was an explosion of skateboarders from the East Coast coming onto the skate scene from Philly, New Jersey, Boston DC, and New York. A gander at Dan Wolfe's Sub Zero's Real Life video or Eastern Exposure 3 will attest to that. As time passed, so did the craze of hunting out East Coast riders to add to West Coast teams. New Jersey's own Brian Wenning (and friend Anthony Pappalardo) was at the forefront of the next batch of East Coasters to start taking skateboarding by storm. A pro for Habitat since its inception, Brian has also been on DC since 2001. Somewhat elusive and avoiding the spotlight, Wenning possesses board control that is nearly unmatched, innovation and trick variations that most people envy—and then copy, manual, ledge and flip trick precision and consistency that'll make you laugh because it's so insane. And don't forget he switch backside 180 ollied and nearly switch heelflipped it (everyone knows his bent axle-induced slam landing is near as good as making it) the LOVE fountain. Perhaps skating would like to see more of Brian Wenning, but quality, not quantity is what makes him shine.
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November 21, 2005
DC Am Team Bios
By Rob Brink
dcshoes.com June 2004
Prior to my stint at DC Shoes as their copywriter, I was asked to write bios for the team pages on dcshoes.com. Here are the Am ones. As you can see by reading them, a lot has changed since June 2004 when they were written. To the best of my knowledge, most of them are still on the dcshoes.com website.
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November 21, 2005
The Changing Role Of Contests
By Rob Brink
Skateboard Trade News October 2005
Despite mixed feelings from pros, media, and other industry folk who either embrace them or avoid them like the plague, contests have existed since skateboarding's early years and remain vital for a multitude of reasons. Contests bring skateboarders together while showcasing skateboarding so outsiders can watch, learn, and hopefully get stoked and start skating themselves.
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November 18, 2005
Manufacturers And/Or Distributors
By Rob Brink
TransWorld Skateboarding Business June 2002
Hypothetical Scenario
Giant Distribution calls me one day to ask how my shop is doing on inventory, and to let me know that they have the new issue of 411VM and the new Element Tosh Townend Welcome board in stock. But I don't go direct with Giant because I can get all the Giant brands from AWH. I am a loyal customer there, and also get terms and free freight. AWH is also the only place that has Monkey Business, and they have Lib Tech. However, they don't carry enjoi, Blind, Deca, or Darkstar, so I get those products direct from Dwindle, who gives me a free deck for every twelve I buy, and some free wheels depending on how many sets I order. Sometimes the Dwindle orders take over a week to get to the store, but AWH does carry Tensor and Speed Demons, so I leave that out of my Dwindle order to get it here faster.
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November 18, 2005
America's Public Skateparks:
How do municipalities' parks, rules, and laws measure up?
By Rob Brink
TransWorld Skateboarding Business October 2003 / No Comply: Skateboarding Speaks on Authority
This piece, along with my Cops vs. Security Guards piece, are scheduled to appear in No Comply, which hits stores on December 1.
With the number of public skateparks steadily increasing in the United States, the legislation and laws that go along with the building and management of these parks is quite varied from state to state.
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November 15, 2005
The Alliance:
Are women skaters being undercut in pro contests?
By Rob Brink
TransWorld Business October 2005
When Flip pro Geoff Rowley receives the same $2,000 check for showing up and not skating at this summer's X Games 11 that Elissa Steamer won for her gold medal in Women's Street—something is bit off kilter. And this year, the Games were abuzz with chatter of a supposed Women's Vert boycott due to the lackluster prize purse. As the Games went on, however, so did the Women's Vert event, which left many wondering “What happened to the boycott?”
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November 14, 2005
Snow, Schmow—Let's Skate!
By Rob Brink
TransWorld Skateboarding Business June 2002
This was one one of my first articles ever published in TransWorld Skate Business (along with a few others in the same issue. It was only June 2002 but it seems like ages ago.
In the Northeast (and of course plenty of other areas of the country), we don't have the luxury of warm, sunny days year-round. At least one third of the year is less than optimal for outdoor skating, if not unbearably cold. When the days shorten and the weather gets cold, wet, and frozen, skaters aren't the only people who panic. Shops have to start pondering if the weather and drop in skate time will affect business, and if they need to shift gears to snowboards, BMX, in-line skating, or special promotions to subsidize the loss in skate sales. Not every town has a cozy, indoor skatepark nearby. And with local ordinances against skating popping up everywhere, the harsh weather, and the continual rise of skateboarding's popularity, it seems that indoor parks have never been more in demand.
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November 14, 2005
Skateboarding's Steady Staple
By Saba Haider, Rob Brink and a few others I don't know.
TransWorld Skateboarding Business October 2002
Despite having fluctuated in popularity over the years, the backyard mini ramp has been steady refuge and a savior for generations of skateboarders. There's no doubt that it will always remain as such.
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November 12, 2005
Charity eBay Dunks-Custom Nike Dunks Win 30 Gs
By Rob Brink
TransWorld Skateboarding Business October 2003
Authors note:
Rumor has it that Nike bid the 30 Gs on their own eBay/Dunk auction to generate hype. Quite possible since the winning bid came from Beaverton, Oregon. Regardless of whether or not that is true, here's the article:
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November 11, 2005
Packaging Excess
By Rob Brink
TransWorld Skateboarding Business January 2003
Whether it's cute, gimmicky bearing packaging, boxed wheels, toys that come with mounting hardware, complete setups in huge cardboard boxes, or aluminum-boxed truck gift sets, it's safe to say that product packaging in skateboarding has gone haywire in the last few years. But how much of it is really "necessary" and how much is simply a by-product of the consumer culture around which skateboarding thrives?
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