Today (October 14, 2011) Thrasher Magazine announced that they have convinced Ewan Bowman to join the team as Director of Videography.
[Ewan] work with P-Stone, Schmitty and the rest of the crew to take the videos you see on our website and DVDs to the next level of radical. Though he’s known for being one of the best in the biz behind the camera and computer, we’re stoked to have Ewan on the team because he’s a stand-up dude, a true skater and fuckin’ hilarious.
We can’t agree more. Follow the jump for an full interview with “Lord Bo.”
Just when we thought we’d heard pretty much every story from the monster surf spot Cortes Bank comes word of journalist Chris Dixon’s upcoming book Ghost Wave from Chronicle Books. Here’s the story:
[Dixon] recounts stories from Greg Long, Brad Gerlach, Mike Parsons, and a cadre of divers, explorers, sailors, nation builders, and lunatics who have all tried their luck at Cortes Bank and barely lived to tell of their encounters. This astounding true story of the Everest of the sea will captivate anyone with a curiosity about, and respect for, the vast and unknowable ocean.
We’re almost more interested in reading about the history of the place, than we are to hear wild tales of surf bravado. And what’s more Sebastian Junger says Ghost Wave is a “beautifully researched and compellingly written book. I read it straight through from the first page. Terrifying.” Let’s just say we’re looking forward to reading it.
Ghost Wave goes on sale on Amazon in October, 2011. Click here to pre-order it. Or visit Warwick’s Booksk in La Jolla, California on October 13, 2011 at 7:30 PM or The Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente on October 14, 2011 to hear Dixon read from the book live and in person.
The Association of Magazine Media (formerly the Magazine Publishers of America) has released their print advertising numbers for the quarter July through September 2011 and that whole recovery thing isn’t looking so strong just now. Total magazine advertising was down 5.6 percent for the quarter. And when we check in with the only action sports magazines to be tracked by the MPA (Transworld Media) we find that four of their six titles were down in ad pages sold. Check out total pages for Q3 2011 vs 2010.
Skateboarding took the biggest hit with a 15.2 percent drop, followed by Ride BMX with a 12.1 percent fall. Not sure there is much to be taken away from this other than to say that the skateboarding and BMX markets continue to feel pressure. On an up note, it appears that Wakeboarding Magazine has found a great home in Carlsbad. For past Boardistan print coverage click here, or click the link for more info from this quarter.
We were just thinking about what ever happened to Fuel TV’s CJ Olivares (who left the cable channel April 26, 2011) and what should show up but a little announcement that he’s joined GrindMedia (fomerly ASG) as a television/video advisor.
“I’m thrilled to engage someone of CJ’s caliber to serve as TV/video advisor for GrindMedia,” said Norb Garrett, SVP Group Publisher of GrindMedia. “The development of original TV and video programming by our brands is a critical next step in the evolution of our business, and I can think of no one who brings more credibility, insight, knowledge and creativity to the table than CJ.”
Can’t really believe anyone still uses the term “television” but Olivares has seen action sports video distribution from pretty much every angle. As long as he doesn’t start pitching people on a new cable channel it seems like his knowledge will be a great addition to the Grind team. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
Rome Snowboards would like the readers of Boardistan.com to know that they can now purchase several hours of Rome product advertising (a.k.a. The Shred Remains) in the iTunes store for the low-low cost of $9.99. Click here to buy it now.
There’s just nothing like paying good money to have someone pound you in the face with logos for a hour. Then again, it’s probably better than getting prop dusted for two-hours by the Jitter Cow helicopter.
While we still don’t believe we’ve ever seen anyone under 45 using an iPad in the wild (fie to you obnoxious moms using iPads to snap photos of your kids at the beach), apparently Vans has. Why else would they put the time and effort into creating their new Off the Wall TV iPad app? Here’s what they say about it:
Off the Wall TV iPad app, delivers Vans’ offthewall.tv video network of exclusive, original action sports, music, art and street culture programming to millions of iPad users around the world. . . [users are] now able to enjoy offthewall.tv anywhere with the easy to use app.
The app (which is free in the iTunes store) features all the content from the offthewall.tv website. So, the next time you’re over at you aunt’s house, grab her iPad and load this thing up. It’s probably pretty cool. Not that we’d know.
Eddie Wall and Peter Line will be premiering their newest snowboard film The Peddie Files at Vestal Headquarters in Costa Mesa, California on Friday evening, October 14, 2011 at 8 PM. But don’t come expecting a video filled with naked children. No, no, no. This is a snowboard video. Sure, they could have just called their movie Walline, but then we wouldn’t have gotten all this Google search traffic.
Longtime surf scribe Drew Kampion has written an apparently commissioned biography of O’Neill wetsuit founder Jack O’Neill titled (not suprisingly) Jack O’Neill: It’s Always Warm on the Inside. The book is being published in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the iconic Santa Cruz brand.
Jack O’Neill began with a vision to create an innovative suit and unknowingly he spawned an entire industry. Today, O’Neill is sold in more than 47 countries and is the number one wetsuit brand in the world. The brand is currently carried in core shops, department stores, and other mass retailers world-wide and is known for high-quality goods for men, women and children. . . “O’Neill has a 60 year history of developing the industry’s best products,” says Pat O’Neill son of Jack and CEO of O’Neill Wetsuits, “the brand was founded on my dad’s passion to be the ‘first in the water’ and we infuse this belief into each product we produce.”
It would appear that Bonnier Corp’s rocketing TransWorld Business print successes have inspired others to dive in on the recession fueled trade advertising bonanza.
ASM will reportedly feature these novel ideas:
Timely coverage will offer insight into what’s on snow, skate and surf retailers’ radar at the moment and into the future. A cross section of contributing writers lending their voice to the magazine come from throughout the industry, including reps, brands, shop owners and managers, along with retail business consultants, marketing and social media professionals, merchandising specialists, reputable writers and others.
While ASM Publisher Jay Driscoll has been in the trade show business since 1999 neither he nor editor Heather Fried appear to have any experience in the action sports business. While that may be a good thing, it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which ActionSports Merchandising will find success (even with Yea.Nice co-founder Josh Sherman selling ads). Nation Business Media, however, appears to be optimistic.
From the photos it would appear that this BurtonAnalog & Gravis sponsored gathering was a pretty A-List. We know quite a few people who weren’t invited and couldn’t get it. . . click the link to check it out.
