Thrasher Magazine

There’s a war outside of your window. It’s destroying our world, so get all your 35-year-old homies out to the desert for four days of smarty skate talk and medium-heat sessions. Yes, it certainly seems like dim wits and dim times go together like some shit that always goes together. So maybe learning a few things with us nerds at my boyhood bestie Ryan Lay's academic conference is your best bet to prevent WWIII. It’s not, but I also got you a few skate photos of the New Balance team, as a treat. —Ted Schmitz

Damn, the crowd’s younger than I remember

Asked these dudes what they were doing here. They said Mostly Skateboarding

Who says you gotta touch rail for a back Smith to count? I do, but it’s the first day, so Alex gets a pass

Looks like the gang’s all here. Let’s get to our first event

A classy art gallery opening. Wonder if I know anyone?

I knew they’d be in here. Two tall drinks of water Ted Barrow PhD and Mike Barker

No, those aren’t big newspapers. They’re art, stupid

Who’s that defacing our hard work?!

Oh shit, it’s Alexis Sablone signing her iconic cover for our friend Kevin Marks

Sam Korman’s all dressed up for somethin’

The Great Skate Debate! Is wax illegal? Should dogs be on the session? My opponents on Team No here made some dog-shit points that somehow won the judges over

Actually, you weren’t there. So fuck it, here’s my teammate Betsy on Team Yes taking home the win as she reminds you Hitler hated dogs too

Day two, the crowd assembles for some real-deal academic lectures

Jesse Van and Mr. Judkins made the long trip down from Portland and wherever Nestor lives. Stoked!

Looks like we settled that debate about dogs on the session

Opening remarks, ASU professor Alan Gomez reminds us about that old slow creep of fascism and how building community might be the only way out. Hope he’s right!

Maurice Crandall used to teach in the Ivy League

Now, he’s hosting talks about some literal shit with Professor Brian Glenney, who is an actual philosopher

Damn, fr?

Not cool, Kevin…

Skateboarding’s in the Smithsonian and you’ve got Betsy Gordon to thank for that

Now, we’ve got your attention!

Who would you say is the Gonz of pedagogics? For me it’s scholar Dylan Williams, hands down. Bryggeriet’s John Dahlquist agrees, and he taught Oski!

Magazine mile, keeping print alive. Hmm, look’s like something’s missing

Clockwise: Adam Abada with his solo zines, Noah McManus from Skate Jawn, Sam Korman from Plank and my friend and veteran of the mag wars Jaime Owens from Closer. Man, shit, I’m blanking on which magazine would make a great addition

Tom’s here! Fallin’ into old study-hall habits

Now, the weekend’s most anticipated talk: Antwuan Dixon interviewed by Krooked’s Spencer Gillespie

Packed the whole place

What a slide, might need to rename the conference

Twenty-year-old skate beefs?!

The Rodfather called into squash that shit

Missed the standing ovation, but you already knew he got one

Brought your FTP shirt? You know the drill!

Hey, that’s my job!

I think Antwuan set a record for most photo requests in Tempe

Finally, some fresh air! Ted Barrow takes a crowd on an architectural walking tour through campus. Kinda like ToL IRL at ASU

Remember when Johnny Tsunami noseslid that shit?!

Need even fresher air?  

We got you with a beautiful sunset hike through the desert

Hiking: It’s like walking on gravel

Oh shit, Grant’s here! Are we actually going to skate?!

New dude, next up, young buck, doesn’t matter what you call him—Haesung Jang has the goods

Friend of the mag Brendan Spohn got outta the snow to launch his signature kicky

Patrick made it! Soaring heel, switchly

Arizona’s favorite son Preston Harper had no business catching such phat air off such modest bump

Couples that play together, you know?

Where would we be without ‘em?! Somewhere shittier, that’s for sure! Alexis, Leo and Alex catch a parkside hang

I told Bill I needed to talk to his boy that talked shit on my boy, and he responded by asking me to shoot this booger slide. He’s a man of peace, if you can’t tall

Motion-blurred fish-eye photos. That’s still in, right? Haesung, front blunt

Then Yelyah rolled through for the demo ender. Go home, boys, we got it covered

First sights walking up to Saturday’s talks. What kind of skate event is this?!

Who cares, Pat’s holding a puppy!

Round two of the talks, published author and loyal subscriber Kyle Beachy holds down half his hosting duties for the weekend

And the bad news is?

Kinda thought I was gonna see one of these shirts here

Data! Stats! Math! All shit I failed in school

We could all use a few more yewwwws these days. Amateur philosopher Mathias Rotstein reminds us of the important shit

I recognize exactly two of those covers. But why are they all here, Kevin?

Jerry’s here! In conversation with photographer and artist Sandy Kim

Would you say the people in your photos are kind of like car wrecks?

Old friends everywhere, Jerry and Will Harmon reconnect after a few years apart

Any academic skateboard event wouldn’t be complete without our friends at CSEF! Applications open now for their scholarships. Hit it

A brief skate break in the park. Alexis catches another parkside hang, this time with Lee Dubin at the Skate Like a Girl session

Speaking of SLAG, the OG Skate Witch Kristin Ebeling ain’t runnin’ the show over there anymore, so she’s got way more time to slappy crooks

Friend of the mag and my own personal hero Alex White switch pivots on the steep ramp

It’s the fuckin’ WKND, baby! Grant brought Filip and the crew out to show some of his best skits over the years

None better than Alan Gelfand High

More shit for the culture, this time at Cowtown. Kerry from Switch and Signal greets us at the door

You seen her in the mag. Now she’s on the wall. Norma Ibarra got some solid prints up

New Balance’s top brass Seb admires the vintage railslide

Gang, everywhere!

You know Jaime’s a skate rat, but did you also know he shoots a mean photo? This was his show, after all

Yep, just more old heads gettin’ antsy for the literary reading

Hosted by, you already know, published author Kyle Beachy. Year five of his reading series Anything at All jerked hella tears

Only about half the roster: Grant Yansura, Ty Thompson, Sima Safavi-Bayat and Eunice Chang (doing a magic trick, in case you were wondering about the fedora)

Starting the next day with this picture, 'cause I forgot my wallet and the dude said I could have a bagel if I get him on Thrasher. Good bagel, worth it

Last day for the NB team

From the merch table to everywhere, it’s FUCK ICE

Sounds pretty familiar! Our guy Ted got into the weeds of ledge origins with landscape architect Taj Hanson

A perfect ledge should be about yay tall

Can we get a specific measurement?

Okay, literally yay tall

Nestor agrees

Who paid for this thing again?

The best part about this event is the odd pairings you see throughout

Longtime industry insider and our dear friend Dan Santovan spoke about the power of spreading light in a dark world. The fact he showed up before his chemo treatments was unbelievably powerful

Missed the standing ovation, but you get it. He’s loved, goddamnit

Tough to follow the sentimental moments, but should we do some fit checks now?

You boys been to the merch table?

Then it’s over to the Wedge for the last session! The young ones fired up the tabletop ride-on rail

And the young at heart too, like rad dad Thad with his piggies out

For anyone else, it’s a bail. But this is Arizona legend Jeff Stevens we’re talking about. Footloose feeble over the whole shit

No flatbar is safe when my Thunder TM Jack Olson comes to town. Frontside noseblunt

Haesung Jang was the breakout star of the weekend. Think that’s a front blunt? Shit, you have learned anything from all these geniuses! Back tail, all the way

Let me guess, you think that’s Koston Eaton doing a regular backside noseblunt? Wrong again! That’s a Cab back noseblunt to you, buddy

T-Ed might have a different opinion but this Ted LOVES him. After 25 years, I’m still blown away by Ryan Lay’s switch front blunts

What’s a big bash without a few bumps? Paige took it like a champ and crutched it to every event

Is that St. Louis legend Randy Ploesser on drums?!

Sean Bonnette and the Van Deck Parks get a new playlist of skate video songs every year

Yeah, people get hyped

Jokamundo brought up the guest of honor for a rendition of Biggie’s “Let’s Get it On”

Calamity Jean, the most Thrasher girl I know, loved it

GET HIM UP! Actually, put him down so he can get some sleep

Now, GET HER UP! Kebs rides the last wave

Damn, you made it this far? Well then here’s some sincerity after all those jokes. The endless wars, the state-sanctioned ICE murders, the crypto scams, the AI slop, it’s all fuckin’ bad. What’s not bad is getting together with 350 skaters who aren’t fuckin’ assholes to talk about the etymology of the word “ledge,” or how Marxist theory says you need to be nice to freestylers. This shit is fun—funny even!—and the weather’s beautiful. Now, walk down the street and sing a happy song to make the world better