(Photos from right to left)
PROFILE
He spent his elementary and junior high school years in Seattle, U.S.A., where he discovered skateboarding , and after returning to Japan in 1989, he became an important figure in the skateboarding scene in Japan. . He is the editor-in-chief of "VHSMAG," Japan's leading web media specializing in skateboarding.
Instagram:@vhsmag
PROFILE
. she has worked for magazines and brand lookbooks. She loves rock and punk, plays guitar herself, and writes lyrics. Occasionally, he performs on insta-live. . He is not skateboarding at the moment, but has a deep understanding of the culture.
Instagram:@sickjiji
PROFILE
. works at "Hi-Socks Skateboards," a skate store that won the top spot in Asia at "Vans Showdown 2020." He is a member of MxMxM SB, a skate team of "Magical Mosh Misfits". Hobbies include bass fishing.
Instagram:@mackey_highsox
PROFILE
. from the skating and music culture behind the Vans brand to professional wrestling and other martial arts, as well as manga, anime, idols, and other subcultures.
He loved skateboarding more than anyone else and led the scene in the right direction.
Ann, did you know Jeff Grosso?
Anne: No , I did not know that.
Kajiya: He is a skater who was active in the 80's and was good at a vertical ramp, and he is a rider for Vans.
Shimada: He passed away last year, and this "Grosso Forever Collection" is in his memory. The collection features models and apparel named after him.
Anne: What kind of skater were you?
Kajiya: Skaters in the 80s were a bunch of weirdos, or rather, a group of outsiders who were not accepted by the masses. Many skaters still follow that trend today, but one in particular, Jeff Grosso, was a maverick with a punk spirit.
Currently, the store in Harajuku is decorated with photos of Grosso in his former life.
Shimada: I've known Vans since the '80s. . They wore our "Skate High" and "Skate Mid. The reason why we released this collection is because they made a great achievement in the skateboarding world, and most importantly, they were loved by us.
Lined up in front is the "Grosso Forever Collection" of this collection.
McKee: When I started skateboarding, it was all street skating, so I didn't really watch Jeff Grosso skating bowls and ramps. But when I started doing halfpipe, I started to understand what kind of style was cool, and when I dug back into old footage, I found Jeff Grosso, and he had a huge style. . It's also cool to say clearly that lame is lame.
Kajiya: Yes . . a personality that is not afraid to speak his mind. He corrected the unspoken rules of skateboarding, saying, "This is how skateboarding is supposed to be," even though he could not say what he wanted to say because of the sponsors' involvement. So, he was an important figure in the skateboarding world. The program "Loveletters To Skateboarding," which had been running for 10 years on YouTube by 〈Vans〉, told the history and culture of skateboarding, and it remains as a legacy.
Shimada: In the release of this collection, he is introduced with the title "Historian". . he is the man who taught us the history of skating, and his influence on the skateboarding scene as a whole is significant.
McKee: I was watching "Lovelletters To Skateboarding" and he said, "Tuck your knees, tuck knee" for a technique called Frontside Air. I thought it was cool when he said, "If you can't do that, don't do it anymore.
Kajiya: For example, there is a technique called indi air, but many people do the grab the wrong way. He corrected me on those aspects as well. This is cool, this is not cool, and I can sympathize with him, even though it is his subjective opinion. I don't think the culture is diluted because of that.
Anne: I didn't know him at all , but I'm drawn to him. A lovely person . I thought he was respectable. Are there other people like him?
Shimada: No, not so much. With music or fashion, there are people who can tell you what to do, or present the right image, or say things in a straightforward manner, but with skating, there are so many different styles that it's hard to make a blanket statement. But I feel that Grosso was deeply in love and wanted skating to continue on the right path.
Kajiya: It's a bias, isn't it? Biased , but not wrong.
Anne: You are an amazing person. You are a person who has a sense of self ,.
Shimada: But isn't it interesting? The one on the left is Steve Van Doren, the iconic figure and founding family member of " Vans," and the one on the right is Grosso (laughs). They are joking around.
Steve Van Doren (left) and Grosso (right) are pictured on the right.
Anne: It's true (laughs). . when I look at the picture, the expression on your face is goofy. Not pretentious.
McKee: It was also nice to see them making funny pushes and goofing off during the tournament.
Kajiya: He is passionate and has more love for skating than anyone else . . and yet he has a sense of humor and cynicism.
Shimada: It's cool. It has the spirit of punk.
Anne: . I like punk too, and I say what I think clearly. I also want to do things differently. . now I know a little more about Jeff Grosso.
Kajiya: I had an image of it being lively , but it's very sensitive.
Shimada: . you've met Mr. Kajiya, right? Jeff Grosso came to Japan for an interview to unravel the history of skateboarding in Japan for "Loveletters To Skateboarding" , October 2019.
Kajiya: I was asked to be his attendant and interpreter, and that was the first time we met properly. 10 days of interviews, but we didn't talk much during the first two days. . Partly because I was nervous, but also because he is a sensitive person, and we were both inquisitive about each other. . But as we drank together and went around interviewing various people, we became closer. Through our interviews, I felt that he had dedicated his life to skateboarding. It seemed that from childhood until his death, he had only been thinking about skateboarding, and I was able to reconfirm the importance of history and culture. It made me realize many other things and made me feel that the work of the media is important and not wrong. It was a very precious time.
