Rollerblading Throwback #6: SKATER MAGAZINE Issue #1

          Today’s throwback is a bit special because of the rarity of this issue, which was the controversial  issue of “SKATER MAGAZINE” due to the words on the cover.

          SKATER MAGAZINE Issue #1 came out around July 1998 and it was the final issue due to the negative feedback of the cover wording. On the cover is one of Rollerblading’s most infamous personality’s…New York City’s own RAWLINSON RIVERA. And all it took was 1 classic sentence of Rawls Royce’s lingo to throw the literary world into an uproar. “WHO’S THE JOHNNIEST NIGGA YOU KNOW?” was plastered on the cover alongside his scowl and the rest is history. Just by the cover alone you can easily tell that this Rollerblading magazine was catering to the older crowd…it even had a centerfold model semi-nude wearing a SKATER MAGAZINE t-shirt. This was definitely not for the little grommets at the skateparks with the oversized skates getting in everybody’s way.

          Once you get past the cover there is some good content inside these pages. Especially ads from companies that were once the “hottest” thing out at the time. Do you remember these companies?

DION ANTHONY & JON JULIO United Urethane Ad

MARCO HINTZE Super Computer Robot Ad

SHANE SAVIORS Medium/Smell The Glove Ad

RISE ABOVE “Pro Shirts Are Gay” Ad

MIKE BUDNICK Hangers Clothing Ad

          There were articles such as “AMERICA’S AMS” which highlighted upcoming Rollerbladers Jeff Belzeski, Fade Hurricane & Jeff Fredrick and a piece called “RAT-TAILS” which was a brief interview with the most famous rat-tail of them all BRIAN SHIMA…and yes, he had a rat-tail. Of course included were double-page spread shots of some of the top Pros & Ams at the time including MARQUES THOMPSON, NIK PRODERICK & TJ WEBBER who laced a stylish Gap over the rail to ROYALE on the dumpster!

Here is the picture of the centerfold so I don’t get accused of welching 😉

          The meat and potatoes of this issue though, is the RAWLINSON RIVERA Interview. Rawlinson is one of those rare personalities that keeps Rollerblading on its collective toes. His raw, in your face persona makes a great read everytime. Here are some of the interview questions which were asked to him by Arlo Eisenberg.

Arlo: Who is Tim Ruddy?
Rawlinson: The biggest idiot I’ve ever met in my life! I allowed him to work at HYPER. Tom Peterson asked me if this guy was good, and he flew me down to meet him one night. This guy fucked up everything. We practically, like, tried to get Hyper a cooler name, stop them from being so stupid. He came in, went over the stuff I had done, and what I had said, and did his own thing; doing like drug titles on the wheels, and making me look like a criminal being arrested, and all kinds of shit. And I got him fired.

Arlo:What happened when Brooke was going to fight Tim Ruddy, how come you got Tim’s back?
Rawlinson: You know. You know the whole story about that one. I was like “Yeah! Yeah! I got yo’ back!”

Arlo:What?
Rawlinson: I don’t know, I just thought Brooke was being kind of stupid at the moment, and I didn’t really know Tim Ruddy that much. ‘Cause, from what I heard, Brooke just went and punched him or something like that. But, I didn’t know that Tim Ruddy had hit Vera in the arm at the time when she had the accident, so I was like, yeah, whatever, I got your back, but of course, I was like, I’m gonna go and just sit here and watch you get beat up and shit. But, you know, nothing happened. Brooke punched out, and his Canadian was a freak.

Arlo: Is Mark Shays hard to work with?
Rawlinson: Very hard. I think Mark Shays is a nerd. Especially when he starts talking about tricks on TV, and says like, stupid stuff, like, he goes up in the air and does a 180 degree spin and grabs his foot through the back, you know. That kind of shit gets me mad.

Arlo: Who is the biggest player hater in the industry?
Rawlinson: B. Hardin

Arlo: Why?
Rawlinson: Because he playa hated me plenty of times.

Alley-Oop Soul in Orange County at Oceanview High School