Introduction
We're proud to introduce the unveiling of a new column here at The Solitary Life titled "Heads Up!". "Heads Up" is going to be our version of a "Buyers Guide" that will be updated, and published, throughout the year, for [hopefully] years and years to come.
This was an idea that we hatched very, verrry early on in the life of TSL. Actually, the original concept goes way back to my time at Concrete Wave Magazine, working on their Buyers Guide. Which was always a little bit of a pain in the tuckus, and a whole lotta fraught with anxiety. And, I wasn't even the dude putting it all together. Thank Gawd.
However: The basic problems with print buyers guides are many, and intractable. First of all, you're still killing trees to print information on, which is soooo un-green, and such a fucking "dinosaur" technology...
Then, secondly, you have the fact that a "print" buyers guide takes many, many weeks to compile. By the time it actually comes out, many of the products inside are already well through their usual "product life cycle". Which, in our "industry", can usually be measured in "weeks" or "months"... but, almost never in "years". As such, any given Buyers Guide is only "current" for a few months [at best]. Which makes it fully useless for the rest of the year. All those trees, killed in vain...
But then, we also have the hijinx of The Media to consider. Not so much with Concrete Wave... thankfully, Michael is a dinosaur with standards, at least... but, with other mags' "buyers guides", we generally have a system where every product under the goddamned sun (and then some) is included therein. Whether they're totally bullshit or not, seems not to matter very much (if at all).
And, "inclusion" in these "guides" almost always has it's price. It's sort of like a "payola" scheme that the mags are running, where the general rule is "Cash For Coverage". Which always serves the magazines' interests... and, serves the interests of the manufacturers, maybe... but, all of this bullshit almost never serves the interests of the average skateboarder, who usually has to sort through "the bullshit" for themselves. And almost always, "The Expensive Way". Through buying these products, and then undertaking an experiment in trial and error. And oftentimes, disappointment.
Hey: Isn't that what a "buyers guide" is supposed to help average skaters avoid...? Expensive and disappointing "guesswork" in the marketplace...!?
Well, of course it is.
Why We're So Weird!
Here at The Solitary Life, we like to do shit a little bit differently. And, we follow through on that.
First of all: Eliminating the "print" in the world of "buyers guides" saves trees, chemicals, and energy...making this Buyers Guide a hell of a lot more "green". As well as "timely", "infinitely editable" (with just a couple of clicks, any and all errors can be rectified!), and "dynamic" (we can add, delete, and update products at our whim... again, with just a click! Woooooooo!).
Instead of doing just one Buyers Guide a year, we can easily do two, three... hell, however many that we'd like to compile. Just depends on how masochistic we're feelin', I suppose. At the end of the day, we decided to just make our "Buyers Guide" an ongoing column, updated whenever we saw or felt the need to do so. Easy, simple, quick... perfect.
That brings me to my last "point". That, unlike most Buyers Guides, this one is heavily "filtered". That means that, we actually put our hands on a lot of this stuff... researching, going through the house quiver, chillin' at skate shops with the calipers, arguing... testing, and re-testing... and finally, sorting out which companies had the best, and most consisent reputations for product quality, longevity, design, style, and function. You just can't buy that sort of "insight". It's gotta come from a team of completely temperamental nerds. Skating your ass off for a couple decades or so doesn't hurt, either..
The following is a bunch of stuff that outlines what we're thinking, and how the Buyers Guide is gonna work from here on out:
The Companies
In order to qualify for the Buyers Guide, you had to be first and foremost, a skateboard company that we would "normally" support here at The Solitary Life. And, why would we "normally" support these companies? Because:
- They do good shit for skateboarding, or
- They consistently make good stuff, or
- They're truly skater-owned and operated, or
- They're some combination [or, all] of the above.
Nobody paid one red cent to be included here. Indeed, many of these manus might not even be aware that they actually made the cut. We're pretty secretive, selective... and, maybe most importantly, fully independent from "the industry" hijinx. This is the closest thing that you'll find to a "Consumer Reports of Skateboarding", right here. A vision that I've wanted to see come to life, eventually. Finally realized, after all these years...!
And: We went all-out to pick a broad cross-section of disciplines, styles, and philosophies. Whatever the hell you're into, it's [hopefully] represented here. Street, vert, pools, freestyle, longboarding, cruising, carving, racing... it's all included. It's The Skateboarding Smorgasboard, At It's Fullest. Dig in.
Standout Product(s):
For each manufacturer, we picked one [or more] products that we felt represented the overall line, and/or, deserved special recognition. These are things that piqued our interests for one reason or another, and ended up squarely on our "wish list".
And, that best describes what this list is... a wish-list of stuff that we'd like to check out in the near future. Things that we'll almost surely be buying, skating, sizing up, and enjoying for ourselves. We'll keep ya posted on our impending bankruptcy, because I can already see that it's gonna be a pretty good time...
Here's a perfect example of a "standout product" from a "standout company", right here: SMA's beautiful and bitchin' "Stigmata" longboard. More than likely designed as a "cruiser", this board excels in all sorts of skating situations. Everything from bowls, to banks, to the boardwalk... this thing performs great, and is a head-turner to boot. This one's set up with 60mm 92a NOS Santa Cruz Bullets, and Independent 169's. It's also a prized piece of the "house" quiver... when I let anyone else ride it, of course...!
Spotted At
This was almost always, an online retailer. Or, the manufacturers' own website(s). The main retailers that we "shopped" at were:
- Socal Skateshop (www.socalskateshop.com),
- Skate Supply (www.sk8supply.com), and
- Tailtap (www.tailtap.com).
Because, these are the shops that we use, and endorse, here at The Solitary Life. That said, I'd like to take a moment to give Mike Hirsch, Dave Anderson, and Buddy Carr some recognition. They all run outstanding shops, and they all serve their customers extremely well. They stock all sorts of fun, and hard-to-find shit. And, they're cool fucking people, to boot. Thanks, guys. Where would we be without ya...?!
For the hard-to-find longboard stuff, we also consulted Daddies Boardshop here and there (www.daddiesboardshop.com). We've never used them in the past, but we surely will in the future.
If you still really can't find what you're looking for, you can buy direct from [most of] these manufacturers now. Wow, man... the wonders of the internet...
In The Spotlight
There are certain companies that we felt had earned "spotlight" status. These are brands that we feel are making major moves. Whether by doing something exceptional product-wise, for skateboarding in general... or, for their customers... these are the brands that we feel are going above and beyond, right now.
Hey, man: We give credit where credit's due.
Mentionable:
And, of the brands who's reputations we couldn't "confirm" for ourselves (usually because, they're pretty new "brands")... we vowed that we'd get to the bottom of those, soon enough. After all: There's only so many skate-hours available in a day. Those "new" brands will be featured in a "Heads-Up!" sub-column titled "Mentionable", the first of which has already gone to press...
But still: Our ultimate mission was... and, still is... to separate the boss from the bullshit, and the kooky from the killer. In short: This is designed to be the Buyers Guide that you can actually trust to deliver the very best of the best.
We're pretty damn sure that we succeeded with that.
Can Your Company Make The Cut...?!
Find out for yourself. Send us an e-mail (no payola required), and do your damndest to convince us why your "brand" should be in the next installment.
It'd better be some pretty fucking good shit, though, because we [obviously] have some pretty high standards around here. You've been warned.
The first installment of "Heads Up!" is coming soon! Stay Tuned...
