When I decided to learn street skateboarding I was in a dilemma many skaters will identify with, I wanted to start at the top with some spectacular flip tricks and rail tricks that would have my friends jaws a-drop. But soon enough I realized that skating is an art of slow, small steps, and you have to give yourself room to reverse, always an escape hatch. Evan Goodfellow's introduction to flat world curb tricks was just what the doctor ordered.
I've never seen Goodfellow in person, but the clips I saw convinced me he knew what he was talking about. I started on page one and never really looked back. Funny to think of pro Evan posing for the photo set where he just ollies up a curb over and over again, must be like child's play to him. Soon enough he's onto switch stances and the "half cab noseslide," one of the most surprising of the curb tricks he outlines. On the wax debate, Goodfellow places himself firmly on the pro-wax team, even going so far as to suggest we abolish skate parks in favor of imitation city curbs and lots and call them our parks.
You have to hand it to the photographer too. They certainly don't skimp on photos unlike some of the other so called intros to skateboarding. The photographer, Tadashi Yamaoda, prints his slides in a clever greyscale system so that the deep background of each picture, the city skyline and so on, appears only in a fog of light gray, and the important details of the foreground are rendered in sharp black clarity. Very useful. A disclaimer at the beginning of the book says to wear safety equipment while skateboarding, but neither Evan nor any of his fellow models doing the tricks in the book look like they're wearing any gear, maybe a jockstrap possibly? Oh well, we get the picture, it's a sport that takes balls and talent. |
Street Skateboarding: Endless Grinds and Slides: An Instructional Look at Curb Tricks Books In Print, Audio Books.