Blading Chats

what can you say about Jon?  If they ask me who Jon Julio is, I'll answer BLADING.  Jon is not only one of the historical icons of our world. He is also a family man, husband, owner of THEM and a blader.  With Jon we talked a little bit about his career, from how he started skating to how he entered the USD and revolutionized our world. From how he finds the time to go skating to how friendship can be the true foundation of a team.

I guess there's no need to introduce Joe. He was one of the most influential filmmakers in our scene, from ELEMENTS to Coup De Tat, from Amateur to Fruitbooter every video production by Joe Navran was a guaranteed success. It was either for the people he filmed or for the always right musical choice. Joe, together with all the FP, was able to change the face of blading. With him we talked about Future Prospect, playing golf with Chris Haffey and what it meant to go around filming with people like Aaron Feinberg, Dustin Latimer, Josh Petty and so on.

Who here knows anything about Speed Skating?  Erika has been world, European and national champion many times, with her we talked about the preparation that an athlete at that level must maintain, what it means to participate in races the opposite of those we are used to, how this crazy situation, ironically, helped the whole skating scene and how she became part of the Rollerblade family working in the sales&marketing department.

in the spring of 2005, I was skating in Central Station alone, as often was the case at the time. One afternoon a group of foreign bladers came out of the subway and I went to meet them super enthusiastic and we skated together all afternoon. I didn't know anything about them for a long time until (after seeing Delfon Dio and Jo Zenk's last edit at Athens) I decided to interview for Blading Chats Nick who, to my surprise, turned out to be the blader I knew 15 years ago. Unbelievable!! Nick is one of the mainstays of the Greek scene, with him we talked about the most envied spot of this quarantine, the very famous Athens Blade House, what it means to tour with some of the best bladers in the world, to host one of the most important events of the scene at, literally, his own home and how he manages to manage his professional career as a cinematographer.

Tomek is part of the new generation of Polish bladers. Complete on all aspects of our sport, he is able to skate on the Fise facilities as if he were doing stunts on his prail.  With him we talked about the situation regarding the virus crown in Poland, what it means to skate for Hedonskate, the Fise circuit and the difference between Gawds skates and Usd Skates.

Bfree is an example of coolness in our sport. Its mission is clear, to make the blading known to as many people as possible. With his school and the recreational activities he organizes in NorCal Bfree he is doing an incredible job. He has been running events with Decathlon, skateboarding for almost 1050 consecutive days and manages to combine seemingly different cultures like skateboarding and blading. We should all be a bit like Bfree.

I had the pleasure of meeting David in 2012 when he gave me the opportunity to appear in his newspaper. Wheel Scene probably one of the only free press in our world. With him we talked a bit about the scottish scene, the famous Unit23, how his life as a journalist has evolved from being a writer for UNITY magazine to editor-in-chief of Wheel Scene and how it has now become one of the most active websites in the scene.

Buck has a mission, to push his brand to the max trying to hold a certain standard.  A full-time worker, working more than 40 hours a week, Buck takes care of his brand as soon as he has a moment. Red eye. The dedication and charge he puts into his brand is remarkable. How remarkable is the way he wants to treat his team riders, looking for a bond with each other and always ready for a confrontation about the brand. With him we talked about Red eyes, covid19 in florida and what it means to run a wheel company at this moment in history.

Pat is one of the style icons in our world. From skating to music research Pat leaves nothing to chance. We talked to him about the situation in Mannheim about Corona Virus, what it means to skate for Them Skates and the world famous FTS crew.

Ivan has had an incredible career. Not only in the world of skating but also in the world of filmmaking. From Hyphy to Hermano his evolution has been incredible and the most incredible thing is that he doesn't have a single trick but rather he is like wine, the older the better. With Ivan we talked about his Mexican origins, Valo and Them Skate (there's an incredible bts on Erik Bailey's sweatstance), how he manages to produce 8mm/16mm videos both in the world of blading and music productions and SHRED TILL YOU'RE DEAD.