cologne

Confusion Magazine – Issue #4

Confusion Magazine – Issue #4 – release date end of Janauary, 2012. Featuring Adam Benson, Matt Grabowski, Balder Lehmann, Ferit Batir, Phil Jackson and Sadam Yoshizawa.

D.R.I. + Scheisse Minnelli. Live in Germany

I first checked out Scheisse Manelli back in 2006 at the Jury Room in Santa Cruz. Advertised as “skate punk” from Germany, I had to go check them out. Classic hardcore punk ‘n’ roll with humorous songs about skateboarding, rebellion, and running from the cops. I asked the singer, Samuel el Action for a CD after the show, to review it in my old magazine, Concussion. For the next five years, every time they were playing in California, I was in Germany, and every time they played in Germany, I was in California. Finally, five years later, we were both in the same city at the same time.

OWL BOWL opening – Cologne, Germany

October 1st was a momentous day in Cologne with the opening of the first concrete bowl in Germany’s fourth largest city. Built by IOU Ramps and the local skaters of Cologne, the OWL BOWL is located at the NorthBrigade Skatepark, which has been open since the 1980s. Skaters from around Germany showed up for the opening party which was graced with sunny skies, which at this time of the year is a treat, as there was just as much chance the rain would shut down the event.

Under the Bridge: Köln – Built It… & They Will Come

A month after the city had a brief but futile attempt to destroy the under the bridge DIY spot built by the skaters of Köln, the Yama Skateboards team from Austria were passing through town on their way to Belgium. We had planned a mini-ramp session at the Lohse Ramp, but Germany’s sketchy summer time weather canceled that plan with intermittent rain throughout the day. Our only option was to hit up the DIY spot…

Under the Bridge: Köln, Germany (building): PHASE II & III

Under the bridge in Köln, Germany, a DIY skate spot had been started a few years ago, and then lay stagnant. With some motivation from the Köln skaters, Phase II was underway, with a pump bump and quarter pipe. Money was gathered for bags of concrete, tools were purchased, trowels were customized, and even a concrete truck made a delivery of fresh ‘crete.

WASTED BOX: Shop opening party / skate / art show

Last Sunday Wasted Box skate shop opened their doors with an all day art/photo show from Brusk Collective, Sergej Vutuc, and Herr Schulze, with a freshly constructed skateable installation by Koet Construction that was the focus of the day, into the nights entertainment. Free beers and pot stickers were on hand throughout the evening as psychotic skateboarding went on in the corner of the dark and dingy cellar below….

Spring arrives in Köln, Germany

The first really nice “Springtime” weather hit Cologne and the locals at the Lohseramp came out in full force, like a reunion after a long, wet, drunken winter.

Impakt Crew attack Siegburg, Germany

Any given Sunday in Cologne, our crew attempts to motivate to go skateboarding. Either to the Factory/OMSA Bowl in Düsseldorf, or to the outside concrete bowl in Siegburg, Germany. We all talk about how we aren’t going to drink much the night before so we can be fit to skate the next day. That never works out. “Just a couple beers” turns into “too many beers”, and before we know it, we’re stumbling home at 4 in the morning, with plans for meeting at 1pm the next “morning” to go skate.