3 Rayures Dans Paris

We have published our entirely almost factual  ‘3 RAYURES DANS PARIS’ article as printed in Issue 47 featuring a healthy line up of adidas Skateboarding riders unleashing skateboard stunts across the French capital. Featuring Dan Fisher-Eustance, Sengo Provost, Heitor Da Silva, Jenn Soto, Lawrence Ravail, Vincent Milou & Brad Saunders.

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Words by: Guy Jones

Photography by: Clément Le Gall

I’ve only ever seen a ghost once. It was in Paris and it was head to toe in adidas. Just to make our readers aware, I wasn’t actually on this adidas trip but with a combination of ethereal vibes (and to a lesser extent 5G) I knew exactly what was going on. I’ll start from the beginning-ish. A few years back I had gone to Paris accompanied by our foreign affairs consultant Heywood Ward to cover an adidas art show, ‘Au Bout Du Compte’ kindly arranged by mag favourite Liisa Chisholm in Arrow & Beast Skateshop. The artists were Nora Vasconcellos, Liisa, Nour de Bary and Margaux Saingolet. The event was amazing and to see these artists getting rightfully supported always stokes us out. Anyway, after an overnight bus from the UK to Paris complimented by a child prodigy gamer who had a craving for games with fruit machine noises, it’s fair to say tiredness became our right hand man.

A few hours into the trip I skipped a heartbeat after seeing a man seemingly get hit by a Parisian taxi, only for nothing to happen. I solo at this point so had no one to confirm what I’d just seen but myself and the man in question.

 “What the fuck happened there, are you alright?” 

“Why? do I look weird to you?” 

He did a bit.

“Who the fuck are you to judge me ay?” 

The accent was instantly recognisable; I enquired, “Where are you from?”

“Birkenhead lad.”

The man with little regard for reality or traffic turned out to be a man called Brian and, after discussing notable Birkenhead points of fame such as ‘Birkenhead Park’ the park Central Park in New York is based on, Paul O’Grady, 80s Wirral music like OMD and the all night takeaway that specialised in herbs called “Starvin’ Marvin’s”, I felt he could trust me.

“I knew Marvin before he was starvin’, none of us were starvin’ when there were more than two jobs to rub together. Anyway, I don’t need to worry about hunger too much now, on account of being dead.”

He lit a stubbed out ciggy and waited for me to react.

“If you’re dead then how do you…”

“How do I smoke? Fucking hell lad, how the fuck should I know, what am I? Some sort of ethereal Bruce Forsyth?” You wait 30 odd years to speak to someone and they’re questioning your shit like some sort of pedantic… Bruce Forsyth!”

Being a part of the loony left wokarati, I admired how he wasn’t fulfilling the stereotype of looking like a dishevelled Victorian, but was rather in a fetching 2 piece adidas tracksuit with black Superstars. I thought it only right to compliment this look.

“Of course lad, it’s the 21st century, you’ve got to look smart, deceased or not (he dusts some fictional dust off the tri-ferg logo of his tracksuit top); they have women ghosts as well you know.”

He went on to explain that, after the ship yards shut down, he and a few pals would venture over the Channel for cheap booze and the latest in athletic garments, just sometimes they’d forget their wallet and have to leave I.O.U.s to replace the smashed glass and borrowed items at a more convenient date.

“Anyway one time some of the ‘vino collapso’ was working a bit too well and the outfit was a bit too athletic, so I ended up doing the hurdles from Calais to Paris for a laugh, been here ever since. The year would have been 1987 as I had a bit too much momentum and I ended up hurdling through the window of a RUN DMC gig. They actually were the first celebrities to give me their adidas clobber on account of I had bled all over my own. Lovely blokes they were. Anyway, after I was chucked out for helping myself to a bit more ale, who do I bump into? Mark Gonzales; seeing me sweating wearing three stripe actually inspired him to get on adidas years later. 

“Despite him being a bit arty I like Mark, he was genuine and ended up sending me gear for years. He’s a cosmic dude Mark, and can make anything happen.”

While I enjoyed speaking to Brian, I had journalistic obligations and had to depart, but not without asking him how he passed on. He said he didn’t remember but it might have been something to do with a hand grenade being put on a DJ booth at a rave. He keeps in contact with the DJ still, turns out it’s some nuttah myself and Jono met in Brighton a few years back and is covered in Jono’s latest book ‘Threatend By The Bell Tolls Of Time’. Fortunately he had a half ciggy in his mouth at the time which he was now puffing away on for the rest of eternity. I stayed in touch with Brian and over the years he started to relay iconic different tricks that went down in the French capital.

“I knew that those nose press 270s were coming into fashion before the Blobys could even say Bonjourno.” 

He told me Marcos Montoya was going to do the back nosebluntslide (which is bonkers) for this issue’s cover that long ago, I had several opportunities to forget and remember again – in fact, this article was written 5 years ago. So, if you see a slightly disgruntled man from Merseyside in three stripe roaming skate spots in Paris, have a chat with him about hip hop, the Gonz or the documentary ‘On The Scrap Heap’. And, if you don’t see anyone of that description, just pretend and laugh infectiously until they humour you. Thank you to Brian, Clément Le Gall, all of the riders featured and of course adidas for the support, it’s super appreciated. Who else is hooking up the living and the dead?

In the words of Mark’s 1987 griptape “Why Talk Smart Shit Ass?” I’ll tell you why Mark’s griptape, because some of us have a magazine to run! Roll credits.