Happy Birthday: TWS Turns 25
May 11 2007 / Los Angeles, CA
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No other magazine in the sport can match the quality of its images, and the covers are the stuff of legend, be it Tod Swank on the classic June '87 cover, Guy Mariano's jaw-dropping sequence on the Nov. '97 cover or Bob Burnquist taking on the Grand Canyon in Aug. '06 (to name just a few).
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Now the magazine celebrates its 25th anniversary with a jam-packed issue that not only serves as a straightforward history of the sport, but also an insight through its trademark photos and interviews into how its culture has changed and developed.
TWS launched in 1983 when the market was dominated by Thrasher, but it wasn't a problem to find and an audience ready and willing to support it.
"It was a different viewpoint on skateboarding," Carleton Curtis, Managing Editor of TWS (pictured), tells Lat34. "It was about new possibilities, it was about skateboarding on a global level and it was about the pros themselves actually getting involved with the magazine."And pros there were. Tony Hawk, Neill Blender, Lance Mountain, Tod Swank, Steve Berra are just some of the skaters who cut their teeth working for the magazine -- that is, when they weren't featured on its pages or on its cover. Each of them also takes the time to answer questions about their time at TWS in the special issue.
Additionally, pros like Steve Caballero, Geoff Rowley, Bob Burnquist, Chad Muska and Danny Way talk about their favorite covers, while Eric Koston and Marc Johnson do Check Outs, and Andrew Reynolds gets the Last Word. There's also one feature no one will want to miss.
"We have a timeline that starts with '83 and goes up all the way through the present and basically details all the most ground-breaking moments in skateboarding and inside the offices here at TWS" says Curtis. "That timeline is a really critical feature of the magazine."
The issue took four months to put together and just misses skateboarding's biggest story of 2007 -- the death of Shane Cross in a tragic accident in Australia this March. Cross is remembered on the cover of TWS's June 2007 issue.
"This was a kid who was going to be a blue chip pro in the near future. It was a very devastating loss for skateboarding because he was so young and because he had so much promise."
TWS's online coverage of the accident that killed Cross and critically injured Ali Boulala highlights how the magazine has changed and continues to adjust for the future. It has shifted its news coverage primarily to its website, and hopes to expand the video it offers online. And TWS has plenty of video, having a dedicated film department and 21 releases over the last 11 years.
"Our next video is premiering in June -- it's going to coincide with our awards," Curtis reveals. "In the near future, I would like to see our online video parallel the quality of our DVDs."
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The TWS Skate Awards are another example of how TWS has expanded to more than just a print publication. The ninth edition's nominations, which are based on the votes of the pros themselves, were just announced and act as a barometer of who's breaking out each year. Jerry Hsu and the Enjoi team are among the leading nominees.
"Jerry wasn't nominated for anything last year. He's definitely a guy who's been around a while who has sort of emerged as a top ten sort of skater.. But his video part from Enjoi's "Bag of Suck" -- that just launched him into superstardom. He's definitely going to be a major presence in our awards this year."
So as the first 25 years wind down TWS will continue to focus on what's next and what's happening in skateboarding. The future may be unknown, but one thing will stay the same -- it's all about the pictures.
Or, as Curtis puts it, it's all about "The best photography of the best pros doing the best tricks."
Amen.
- Greg Baerg
