The Beast 4.0

Normally we try and be clever with the information we throw up in here. This time, however, we've decided to forgo the witticisms in exchange for mas informacion but we still came up short. Too bad. The following is a mess of stuff we've run across in the last month. Enjoy.

Switch founders Erik Anderson and Jeff Sand score their first cover in the August 96 issue of Inc. Magazine

RANDOM & RECKLESS

"Our number one mission is growing the sport. . . but I have a responsibility to protect our corporate assets." --The Skiing Company President Brian Sellstrom explaining why SOL | Snowboarding Online advertising has been banned from the pages of Snowboarding, Snowboarding Business, and Heckler.

TRADING PLACES

Guess what? Dennis Jenson decided to stay at Burton. After playing up the "I'm leaving for more challenges" thing, Jenson was talked into $taying with Burton. This in conjunction with completely denied, unsubstantiated, and persistent rumors that Burton is going public should add up to something rather interesting.

Do wah ditty ditty dum ditty dee. Tim Swart is gone from Airwalk, really. In the meantime he's been meeting with northwest footwear giants and surfing his fish far more than he should.

Sean O'Brien, formerly associate editor of Outdoor Retailer, was recently hired by TransWorld Snowboarding Business to work as an editor/writer for the magazine. Sources report that Sean does not snowboard. But then, why should he, it would get in the way of writing business stories.

Ride Snowboards moved into new offices on Saturday, July 27. The new space is larger and better and will give the company room to grow, says Ride Marketing Director Tim Hall.

MEDIA MASSAGE

Wig Magazine, the ultra-on women's magazine published by SOL contributor Kathleen Gasperini and friends, was censored by their last printer. WIG moved to a printer in Denver and everything was peachy until Kathleen got a call three days before the magazine was supposed to print. Seems the good ol' boys in Denver didn't want to print a pro-sex, feminist, sports magazine either. Damn, laying it down straight up can be a real pain.

Melissa Longfellow and Bethany Stevens of Fresh and Tasty Magazine  have started a rock band called "The Sheagles." The band is an all female group (surprise!) that plays ONLY Eagles tunes. Which brings a whole new meaning to the line "Drivin' down the road trying to loosen my load, I got seven women on my mind. . ."

On his way to work at the T-Dub magazine factory, Snow Life photo guy Andy Supergenius had the pleasure of watching a Harley rider do the blacktop ballet directly in front of his hood. "I guess the guy thought I was going to pull out in front of him so he locked up the brakes and went right down. He was on his feet, but there was blood everywhere."

Times-Mirror Co., is looking to buy Peterson Publishing Co. the Los Angeles-based creators of Guns & Ammo, Bowhunting, and Motor Trend among others. According to news on Cowles/Simba Media Daily, "Times Mirror doesn't need that infrastructure, but the acquisition could jump-start a lagging consumer-magazine wing. "Of course, we're sure they're not talking about T-Dub's flagship, Snowboarding Magazine. But this could mean some creative new magazines like, "Gun's & Powder," "Board Hunting," and "Good Snowboard Cars" Magazine.

Jeff Galbraith, Snowboarder magazine's editor at large totaled his VW Golf while leaving a golf course with Dan Dupont. That should teach 'em not to swing the sticks on company time.

EVERYBODY HURTS

John Steward co-founder of Bonfire Snowboarding slammed pretty hard while riding out of bounds at Hood with friends. John said he slid out on some ice while riding toeside and fell down a gully about 100 yards. Broke his tibia and fibula. Total cost to get out of the backcountry? $1500 dollars an hour. So, everyone helped haul him to an easier spot, then Shannon Melhuse hoisted John onto his back and snowboarded him in bounds. John went into surgery Thursday night and was out of the hospital Sunday. He's now at home in Salem resting, partying, and holding all night drum circles in his tree house.

Not to be out-done by his Northwest industry friend, Mervin Manufacturing's super-guru Mike Olson snapped his fibula and tibia skating a ramp of his own design (suicide machine?) in Cannon Beach, Oregon and had to be put back together with a nice big steel pole (bathtub?). Lawyer's will be happy to note that he was not wearing Bent Metal Binders at the time of the accident. If you have book suggestions or know of any new Sega games fax Mike Olson at Mervin: (206) 270-9792. He'll be down for awhile.

NOTABLY NOTELESS

Snowboarder Magazine took a handful of their advertisers to Opening Day at the Del Mar Race Track on July 24, to enjoy some horse racing where the Turf Meets the Surf. We're wondering: was it publisher Doug Palladini who came up with the strategy of aligning gambling with advertising in Snowboarder?

Limited Snowboards is a major sponsor of the new Fat World Productions video (by John Long and Jon Boyer). They've also hooked up a deal with Atlantic Records to give away CDs and hold a grand prize draw at selected indy record stores and Limited authorized dealers.

Sal Masekela is enjoying his new BOKS team manager role. BOKS is buying him a fancy four-wheel drive van to haul the team kids around. Sal said he just got okayed for his chick budget, so he'll be adding a girl or two onto the team any day now.

Sims had a big party in the end of August to show off their new Seattle digs. Debbie Murphy said everyone had fun. In case you need to get a hold of the Sims crew, their new number is: (206) 951-2700; FAX: (206) 951-2740.

After a pretty poor year of Slide and Ride's last season due to unstable snow conditions, the SIA is taking another stab at on-snow snowboard demos with the Freeride circuit. With the help of fat-Daddy sponsors like Sports Illustrated, Mountain Dew, and Volkswagen, the events should prove to go over well. To find out where the Freeride nearest you is taking place next season, check out SOL | Scoop Calendar.

Airwalk is going to have a fun year in Japan. After giving up the downhill battle with gray marketing in Japan, their disgruntled ex-distributor has decided to do his own line of Airwalk shoes because he owns the name. The ironic thing is these shoes will have nothing to do with Airwalk International. Like we said, should be a fun year for Airwalk.

Word on the street: Those new Reef booties fit like a glove, that is once they relax to fit.

Spill all you want, we'll add more.