Tag: Cons

Damn, that is # 3 already? Yes. Our third Converse “Push Berlin” session earlier this year went down successfully and we can’t wait to reopen the doors of YAAM next Tuesday. Here is what went down, who was there and what you have missed out on:

Together with Converse, we are proudly hosting a session for everyone to join on the 03.03 (Tuesday) at YAAM Berlin, after Give Something Back To Berlin took over the park, build by Yamato Living Ramps.

Learn more about GSBTB HERE and watch our Converse CONS team session HERE.

All photos by Danny Sommerfeld.

All you need to know for next Tuesday:

It wasn’t the first time that Converse decided to help the Berlin Skateboarding scene with an indoor facility during those dark days of the Winter. Meet “Push Berlin” – a project in cooperation with Converse.

In this video, a few Converse CONS ambassadors took a look at the park to show you around, which ended up in a session for everybody.

Featuring.: Danny Sommerfeld, Daniel Pannemann, Vladik Scholz, Jonas Hess & more.

The Converse CONS team went to Brasil and came back with some hectic maneuvers caught, cut and edited by our good friend James Cruickshank.

Feat.:  Aaron Herrington, Brian Delatorre, Mike Anderson & more.

Carolina Argueta’s first interview with a skateboard magazine was on Sunday the 28th of July’18 and it so happened to be the day her son Sean Pablo was having a get together / press day about his now released colorway with Converse. Luckily, they were kind enough to fly us out to the city that never sleeps.

A moment before Carolina and her son arrived in the hotel lobby, she was sitting poolside, taking it easy while having a drink. The rays of joy she was exhuming while she walked into the room are saying a lot about the way she looks at life. A very positive, attractive and proud woman was sitting in front of us and we immediately forgot that we were in a press meeting about Sean’s new colorway of the CTAS.

A few moments later, after we were done talking, we visited a Tiki-themed bar called “Otto’s Shrunken Head” on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was there that Carolina told all her friends that she was super nervous during our interview. Well, that was definitely not the case.  I guess professionalism and being humble is in Sean’s family’s DNA.

Photos by Danny Sommerfeld / Interview by Daniel Pannemann

Why did you decide to move to NYC?

When I came to NYC for the very first time I didn’t have a place to stay. I was just in Paris and on my way back to the States, where I decided to give Dylan Rieder a call. I knew he had a room and he was traveling so much at the time, so I called and he was immediately cool with it. He even asked if I didn’t wanna stay there for a longer time, so he just sublet the entire apartment to me and that’s how I got here.

Carolina, how did you feel about that? Him leaving the nest and moving to the other side of the continent, seemingly all of a sudden at this young age?

C: It was hard because I feel like Sean is living the life of a 25-year-old for the last five years, or so. He was so young when he left. And now he already has this other apartment living on his own, but he’s not even 21. It’s hard for me because I feel like he left so quickly. I had no chance to even get used to it – he just left.

Do you get to visit him a lot out here?

C: Well, he’s coming to visit me a lot

S: I’m sort of living bi-coastal. I’m always in L.A. but I really like to spend the summer in New York. It’s just so much fun here, I don’t wanna leave.

C: I was in L.A. for Thanksgiving. We stayed all at his house and made a Thanksgiving dinner all together and that was really lovely.

S: Mum, you should see the apartment now.

C: I heard you have new patio furniture? He has a very nice apartment for NYC Standards.

S: It is pretty big, yeah. It’s bigger than the balcony we are sitting on right now. Probably twice the size.

C: When I was there, we decorated the kitchen. I give him some cooking tools and a few things he really needed to have.

(Sean found a sticker saying “congrats” and he put it on my phone. Sean: It’s a gift from me, I just found it.)

Speaking of gifts, Sean. We just bought something for you guys to doodle on and I’m sure that at least Sean is very familiar with this. Also, It would be nice if you (Carolina) could doodle on it too.

S: I wish dad was here now, he could help us out. He’s the creative guy in the family.

C: Yeah Brendan is a true artist. He’s a painter.

S: Yeah my dad is helping me a lot with my brand “Paradise”. I’m doing most of the drawings’ tho, But he’s taking care of a lot of things actually. It’s pretty much just me and my dad running the whole thing. He is doing the website and stuff. It’s a family-owned business.

C: Sean? What is this thing? Is that from skating?

S: Yeah I don’t know, I just have a lot of wounds. Don’t even worry about it.

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Have you seen all of Sean’s tattoos?

S: No, she hasn’t.

C: Well, I think at least all of the ones visible. He has all these little things and I keep telling him to stop.

Jerome Campbell, Converse TM, interjects.

JC: Well that doesn’t really help. That way he probably just wants more.

S: I’m Sorry.

JC: Maybe you should tell him to do more?

C: I tell him to stop because right now he’s very young but once he gets older he might not want them anymore. By then he will have a different view on things. In ten years, all of his tattoos might be irrelevant. Because, right now, his brain is not fully evolved yet.

S: Maybe that’s the point.

JC: Just imagine how they are all going to look ten years from now.

S: I think they gonna look just great.

JC: What about 40 years?

S: I don’t really have any big ones, tho’.

How was it seeing Sean growing up, starting to skate and doing his own thing at a very young age?

C: I was really worried because he was just ten or eleven and I’m a teacher, so that was really worrisome and his dad was just like “Let him do it, it’s ok”.

Did you teach Sean from home?

C: Well, his dad did that, because I had to work every day, so Brandon was home-schooling him for a few years during High-school. They were watching Charles Bukowksi movies together and all kinds of documentaries. It wasn’t very traditional, to say the least.

S: It felt more like a friendship yeah. But he is my dad, tho’. It was still scary when he got mad at me and stuff.

That’s not particularly a bad thing, I guess. How many times does Sean call you when he’s gone?

C: We are texting a lot because kids are all about texting these days. We talk every now and then but it’s actually hard to get him on the phone. He’s always saying that he is going to call me back later and then two days will go by and then I won’t hear from him. Mostly I’m worried about if he’s healthy and eating right.

Is he living a healthy lifestyle?

C: No.

JC: I did buy him a juice today.

S: Yeah, Jerome bought me a smoothie this morning.

C: That’s good, thank you. But yeah, he’s a good boy. A very good kid.

What’s your first memory of Sean skating?

C: He was gonna get one of those scooter kids toys, the ones with the handlebars on it. He was about to get into that and Brendan was like “No, man. You can’t do that – you have to get a skateboard, Sean!” And so he did. Sometimes after skating he came home super happy and was like “Mum, I learned how to Ollie.” And all the other trick names and that was really cute. Then at other times, he would be gone with his friends for the whole weekend although he had to finish a school project.

S: I was getting good grades until I started skating.

But, did you finish school in the end?

S: To some degree, I did, yeah. But it’s a grey area. No official diploma, or anything. But I have passed the practical test. Now it’s just a matter of me going in and taking the test. One day I will.

C: Yeah. I made that appointment quite a few times but he didn’t go because he was traveling and working on his career, which turned out well you know. But I still hope that at one point he’s going back to school to finish it all and will start something specific to his interest like for example design or art. I want him to become an educated person.

S: How was the first time you met Sage (Elsesser) How old were we?

C: Uhm, I don’t really know!? Eleven, twelve? But he was really innocent and sweet and I have met his mum quite a few times as well, she is really cool. And now he is this really amazing skater. He is so though. He reminds me of Jim Kelley – A karate guy from back in the days.

(Everyone’s laughing)

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C: But I think I just messed up the whole shoe. I was gonna make an “S” but it turned out to become an “E” instead – now it is saying “Eastside”. But, talking about Sean in school, he still has all of his middle school and high school friends from back in the days in Los Angeles and I’m friends with their mums.

So every now and then you will meet all together? A real “skate-mum” get together?

C: Haha. Well, we did. We had a few meetings.

S: This one time we all got arrested for hopping this fence at a school.

C: No, it wasn’t a school. It was the LAPD station near our house in Los Angeles. It got renovated and they jumped the fence of the police station because they had all this wood laying around and little ramps and stuff… Obviously, they got in trouble with the cops. The police came right away all the kids ended up having to sit in the cop car, and that weekend Aidan’s (Mackey) mum organized a meeting with all of us. We all wanted to make sure that we always know where our kids are. It was like a two-hour meeting, but soon after that, we gave that up. We knew we couldn’t keep them from hopping fences anyways. We were just all worried about them because they didn’t care about anything other than skating at this point.

S: This is a true story. But where did you learn how to draw like that?

C: I grew up in Echo Park, Sean.

You said Sage is a tough guy. How would you describe Sean’s style on a skateboard?

C: I don’t really know any trick names and all that. But I know that he just has a great style. The way his body moves and the arms, I really like that. Plus he is so gorgeous, look at him!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t97CupyzQPg

( All laughing.)

And what is your favorite clip of him skating?

S: You like “Cherry”, right?

C: I like “Cherry” a lot. It’s amazing. That was a proud mum moment. Getting invited to the premiere in Hollywood. It was at the “Egyptian Theather”. I invited a few of my friends to go along and we were really proud of Sean. When I’m in school and we have some free time with my class I sometimes ask “Guys, you wanna see my son?” And I just show them a little something. They always seem to be very impressed with that. They are all like – “Oh my god, this is your son? Hook us up!” or “Get your son to come and talk to us” And that one time he actually came into a class and he helped me teach.

S: Did I really? Was I just pointing at stuff?

That is probably a pretty smart way for you to gain respect among the kids in class?

C: Yeah, I’m just a regular teacher with a very cool son. Especially boys know him, of course. Especially the last couple of years. Sometimes Sean gives me a few stickers I can take with me to give out after a lesson if they did well. Supreme stickers, they are really happy about that (laughs).

Did you know about his colorway on Converse CONS?

C: I didn’t really. But I knew that he was facing a deadline and they kept asking for images. He buckled down and just did it. It’s been a year or so. He had to send all these pictures and ideas.

 

How long have you been working on the design?

S: I always had this idea to do it. But, it took a while to actually make it work. I always kind of drew on my chucks and all of a sudden they were hitting me up about doing something. The one I’m wearing is the limited version. That one you can only get at Supreme in NYC and L.A. There is also a red and a white one but the pink one is the limited one. They have been sending me all these different colors of the shoe and I would love to make more of these. There are so many more color options!

Are you going to get a pair as well, Carolina?

C: Yeah I will get a pair. And all my friends want a pair as well and all the kids in the class, of course. We get a lot of boxes of shoes to the house but they are all his size so I’m always asking like “Sean, can you get me some shoes?” And he did order me some but they messed up the order, unfortunately. They didn’t send the right thing, haha.

S: We have to do something about this, Jerome!

If you would have to interview your son and you could ask him anything, what would it be?

C: I would say.. hmm. How do you make sure that you don’t let all this go to your head? Because I don’t want him to become arrogant or stuck up. I just want him always be in control about everything. Be aware of his surrounding.

JC: That’s not a question.

C: How do you stay so cute and humble?

S: I don’t know!? I guess you guys did a good job.

C: Oh, and by the way, did you tell them about you getting a new job now? Tell them!

S: Yeah, well. I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about this. I will start to work at Supreme. I will get a desk in the design department. I’m going to sit there now once a week.

C: Will you wear a suit to work and everything?

JC: If Sean will wear a suit, other people will start to wear suits.

S: Wearing suits while skating? Did this ever happen before? Heath did it right? In “The End”!?

Ok, let’s put this the other way around. What would you ask your mum if you had to interview her?

S: How was it raising me as a child? Was I good?

C: He had a charm in his pocket all his life. I don’t know if you guys know about this but he had a real band back in the days and he was the lead singer. It was called “Nerd Army”, he was only seven or eight years old but it lasted until he was fourteen, fifteen!? As soon as he was getting more into skating, he didn’t want to do it any longer. But he wrote at least ten original songs, and they were all very good. He has a good singing voice, that’s for sure.

There should be a comeback at some point, Sean.

S: It’s coming. Don’t worry about it. I’m working on my Solo album right now.

C: My friends were always like “Sean is so cool, he is so talented.” And his teachers were always very impressed with him. It has always been easy for him, kind of. You know what? He actually recorded a song with “Karen O” the lead singer of the “Yeah Yeah Yeah’s” when he was only nine years old. A song that he wrote and she wanted to record. But I don’t know what happened to that recording? I remember she was saying that she was trying to get it on the O.S.T. For “Where the Wild Things Are” but for some reason, Spike Jonze wasn’t having it. Or, I don’t know, something happened. And it kind of fell through.

How did that all happen?

S: My dad’s stepbrothers girlfriend is really good friends with “Karen O”.

C: She is huge. So, the song was called “Why Am I Me” and his voice sounded like Alfalfa from “The Little Rascals” – super cute. I think I still have it on my iPod, if you guys wanna listen to it!?

Maybe you could play it at tonight’s party?

S: I’ll request that song for you. But maybe I’m just going to use it for the Supreme video. For my Part. Haha.

C: It’s a really, really good song!

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Thanks a lot guys, we will see you at the party. Make sure to play that song at one point, Carolina!

 

The minute that people are starting to talk about Kenny Anderson his style is always the main topic. His most discussed feature is an unseizable talent and it seems like it is even getting better with age. No wonder Kenny is always smiling. While you are at it, take a look at Converse CONS‘s new “Purple” video – out now!

The whole office was looking for the word that would describe a “too good to be true” kind of situation, only to try to explain what Bobby De Keyzer‘s skating looks like. You could actually get the feeling that at this point, it is not even fun anymore for him or maybe even more fun? Most definitely he broke our brains a few times since he’s on the map. What do you call this? Sublime? Really?

James Cruickshank is definitely one of the most talented filmmakers in our skateboarding community. This piece was filmed just a few weeks ago and features a small selected part from the European Converse Cons team and introduces a household name: Mauro Caruso.

A video by James Cruickshank for a brief glance skateboardmag, in association with Converse Cons.

Filmed on location in the region of Puglia, Italy and starring: Felipe Bartolomé, Remy Taveira, Pietro Bontà, Ollie Lock, Jonas Hess, Jerome Campbell and Mauro Caruso.

Film and edit by James Cruickshank.

The times of big budget productions are over. Now everyone and your uncle got the chance to hit the 1.000.000 views. We really like that and we also have the feeling, that some of the pressure is gone this way. Power to the inaccurate! Get your camera out, Streetlab Stockholm did the same thing!

Featuring: Simon Källkvist, Samuel Norgren, Elias Mensi, Tom Botwid and Victor Larsson Blè.

Felipe Bartolome is actually one of our favorites. He’s one of those people you have to meet in real life to see and feel his power and the way he deals with things. Although he won’t be up before noon, there is a huge amount of energy parked somewhere in his body, that pours out just right after he wakes. His batteries are charged around noon, I guess.

When we met Felipe again in January for a Converse event in Stockholm, Sweden he told us to come to Madrid and stay for a while to go out skating with his friends. While he was probably just being nice to us, we had actually thought about it earlier but kept our mouths shut because we thought packing our things to visit Spain for the 50th time might be a bit much. Besides, we didn’t wanna make a false promise, of course. Though Felipe admitted he was a bit astonished when he got the call that we will be on the plane within the next few days, he surely responded positively to the news.

Picture the following scenery: It’s August the 15th, we are in Abu Dhabi and the clock is about to hit the 12 pm mark. Can you imagine how it would feel to skate outside in the heat of the desert city? Well, the day before yesterday we did the complete opposite of the above-explained situation. Converse CONS sent us out to Stockholm/Sweden (Yeah, it was cold), where we celebrated a very special happening. Main topic was: David Stentström took us on a very personal tour through his life in Stockholm (HERE you have the masterpiece) and some of us took a little but happy detour that night. The following photos will give you a taste of who was there:

A good amount of the American CONS Team went on a trip to Australia & New Zeland to give some demos and hang out with the locals, starring: Sage Elsesser, Sean Pablo, Mike Anderson, Kenny Anderson, Bobby De Keyzer, Aaron Herrington, Al Davis, Brian Delatorre, Zered Bassett, Jake Johnson, Andrew Brophy, Bryce Golder, and Dean Palmer.

In about three weeks I’m going on vacation to Lanzarote. Just in time, there is a short about Octavio Barrera traveling from Barcelona to the island of Lanzarote/Canary Islands. If this would not have come out before I went I am sure I would not take my skateboard with me. Now, I might give it a try. A short film by Dani Millan for RVCA featuring Octavio & Carlos Cardenosa.

It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make a full-length skateboarding video happen. And most importantly: It takes time! And time is crucial. A team of skaters is very difficult to coordinate, especially if they have a “real” job in front of them, such as a video mission. Rémy Taivera for example is 100% skateboarding. I think I’ve never seen anybody so passionate and focused, but at the same time cool and relaxed. He may possess just the right balance to work hard and not look like a jock. The stuff he did for the video is on a top notch European level, complemented by a good eye for putting things together. Almost like Aaron Herrington, he can simply adapt to a spot in less than no time. He can do the math and read the situation.

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But let me tell you, Rémy is a hard-working kind of skater. And even though he knows what he wants, he doesn’t always get it. But he never lets up easily, at least not without fighting for his goals. Isn’t that amazing? That’s like earning your own money for the first time to buy something you always wanted. Like being a kid again, working odd jobs at a shop or restaurant. Remy is sometimes trying so hard that you can see his body wanting to stop, while his mind simply can’t. He gets that look in his eyes that could actually hurt people. This state of mind projects a lot of energy and sometimes infects others to try harder, give more, and reach for their own goals with a little more persistence.

BILDER_pleasecharge_neu_highres-12Rémy Taveira with a boardslide to fakie.

Paris is beautiful and home to the best pavement in the whole wide world. And all the others things they say about the French capital are also true. Well, at least most of them. It’s pretty hard to find a guy with a mustache, a baguette pinched under his arm, a glass of red wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other, wearing a French hat of course, and a white-and-blue striped shirt, too. That’s a stereotype. But no sidewalk on earth can reach the Parisian standards when it comes to smoothness. Probably one of the reasons why there are so many good skaters here, for example the Blobys. Danny said it best: “Greg is like one of these street soccer players.” He should put a hat next to where he skates and let the people throw money in it. It’s really that refreshing to see him skate.

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Paul and Kevin, the security and a German shepherd.

If a day could only have more then just 24 hours. After every filming trip, everyone involved only had a day off to take care of their lives. Going home to do a quick laundry run, only to wake up in the early morning to take a cab back to the airport is a very unusual lifestyle. A lifestyle some of us should probably not get used to, myself included. I always hated going by taxi. It just feels so unnatural to me. I would say it spoils your character in a way and lowers your horizon. Good thing you don’t have to depend on taxis. Sometimes it’s good to get a little lost here and there. That’s also how you get in contact with people.

BILDER_pleasecharge_neu_highres-13Remy Taveira – SW Crooked Grind

Paris will be the European hot spot this year, that’s for sure. And how could we forget to mention the whole Nozbone skate shop crew. You have to pay Paris a visit!

BILDER_pleasecharge_neu_highres-19Paul Grund and Ben Chardoune.

Watch #pleasecharge here:

by Daniel Pannemann

Starting in June 2015 the CONS Skate Team will be visiting cities around the world to skate, hang and promote the new Converse CONS One Star Pro. If you’re lucky and live around Cologne or Berlin – go see the whole squad, namely Kenny Anderson, Louie Lopez, Jake Johnson, Zered Bassett, Mike Anderson, Jason Jessee, Ben Raemers, Sage Elsesser, Aaron Herrington, Eli Reed, Tom Remillard, Sammy Baca, Don Nguyen, Sean Pablo, Harry Lintell, Jonas Hess, Danny Sommerfeld and Daniel Pannemann

PIVOT OS TOUR INSTA

Köln, 27. Juli
Signing Session: 16:00 Pivot Skateshop
Skate Demo: 18:00 KAP686

CIVILIST OS TOUR INSTA

Berlin, 29. Juli
Meet&Greet: 17:00 Civilist Store
Skate Demo: 18:00 Pappelpatz