Bring up skating (a.ka. skateboarding) with any grungy
fashion aficionado, graphic designer, indie musician…in fact, anyone who owns
at least one pair of black skinny jeans, and the response will be almost
identical.
“Oh skating? Yeah, I used to skate all the time…”
One of Brisvegas’ most iconic indie-label retail stores, The
Outpost, has leveraged off their target market’s common appreciation of skate
culture to host a periodic event they like to call “I Used to Skate Once”. The fourth occurrence of this event was held on
Thursday 26th of June at The Zoo, straight around the corner from
The Outpost store.
The evening kicked off at 6pm
and encapsulated the essence of independent art, fashion, music and the general
frivolities which these disciplines entail.
A key element of the evening however, was the unconventional display of
local artistic talent. Over 40
individual pieces, each a skateboard deck crafted into a work of art, were
scattered across the flaking brick walls of the Zoo.
The highlights of the night?
- Entry
was still free. Rad. Of course, the beer still cost money, but cheaper
than that $138 gig I attended last week.
- Not
one, but four bands…and good ones at that! I Heart Hiroshima, for example,
rocked the audience’s socks off.
- Little
groms carrying around their skaties, proud as punch and cocky as Corey the
party-boy. You can’t help but smile
at the little bastards.
- Tight
jeans, flannelette shirts, knotty long hair and pool tables. Australia,
the way it should be.
- Raw
art. Fresh talent coming out of the woodwork and into the eyes of the
public is always a good thing.
The attendees at this event were obviously there for various
reasons. Some were there to actually purchase art. Others were there to be seen
in their brand new $280 red flanno shirts. One or two locals were there just to
dominate the pool tables like any other night, oblivious to what all the fuss
was about. I wonder if they ever used to skate….?