For a time, my relationship with the former Wizard Publications staff (comprised mainly of Mark Lewman, Andy Jenkins, Spike Jonze) was not that different from that of a child and a divorced parent. Starting in the mid ‘80s, I was brought into BMX and reared on the backs of any BMX magazine I could find. There were more than a few at the time, but none that captured the independent spirit of the newfound “sport” as much as Freestylin’ Magazine (and later on, it’s descendent Go: The Rider’s Manual.)
Each month, Freestylin’ taught me how to ride, dared me to not fall in line with the trends of the day and opened up a world of possibilities for myself and its thousands of readers throughout the world. After Freestylin’ morphed into Go, things stayed much the same; I’d get a new issue, drool over Homeless Bikes ads and channel the energy of the magazine into my riding and my life. But the times were changing. Neon died, uniforms became a racing-only thing and the term “street riding” entered the vernacular as a fresh alternative to flatland and ramps. Along with these changes came an economic recession, and because of that, BMX died sometime in late 1990. It wasn’t an official death, but things were changing too fast for a downtrodden BMX industry to cope. Go went from 100 pages, down to 80, and finally ceased publication with volume 2, issue 2, at 76 pages. I guess BMX Plus! was still around, but I don’t think anyone ever expected Plus to fill the gap left by the end of Wizard Publications.
Afterwards, the staff of Wizard, the same people that had essentially schooled me in early BMX, left BMX behind and moved on. The following period, which lasted for a few years through the early ‘90s, was a pretty dark time for BMX. If you still rode or did anything to support the scene, it was only because you loved it dearly and held it sacred. Which is why I equated the staff of Freestylin’ Magazine with a divorced parent. Here one minute, gone the next, with no explanation for the kid from New Jersey that washed dishes in a kosher delicatessen to pay for his two-year subscription to Go. (I was baffled for a few months, checking my mailbox daily for a magazine that had already folded. But I digress...) Now I understand we all need to do what we have to do to pay the bills, but I was still pretty surprised that Mark Lewman, Andy Jenkins and Spike Jonze moved on away from BMX so easily. To be honest, I felt betrayed by the same people that had brought me into this world. But I eventually learned to approach the Wizard staff’s departure from BMX in a different light. Yes, they had moved on, but their influence had not. In fact, their influence would become their greatest legacy.
A new chapter of BMX had begun, and neither Freestylin’ or Go were the right outlets to document the changing times. Thankfully, fellow readers of both Freestylin’ and Go were ready, willing and able to pick up where Wizard had left off. And if not for the direct influence of the staff of Wizard Publications, magazines such as Ride, Dig and Ride UK would not have existed. There was a direct line of influence on the first pages of these magazines. The torch had officially been passed, and we all owed a debt of gratitude to the staff of Wizard for lighting a fire that refused to die. Still, I always hoped for one last visit from the parent that had unexpectedly left.
And twenty years later, my hopes have been answered. A final issue of Freestylin’ from Mark Lewman, Andy Jenkins, Spike Jonze and assorted Wizard staff members. Except the magazine is now a perfect bound, 153-page, limited edition book, full of iconic imagery from the pages of Freestylin’, where are they now interviews from a plethora of ‘80s pros, lifestyle shots and an archive of magazine covers. To be honest, it’s awesome, encompassing more ‘80s BMX influence within its pages than any other effort that’s been released thus far. And the imagery contained within strikes a major nostalgic cord. From one 1988 photo of Chris Lashua gliding a steamroller, I can tell you that I seriously drooled over the photo for hours, doing everything within my power to mimic both the trick and Lashua’s style of dress. I think there’s a certain point in one’s teen-age life when influence is imprinted within the brain at a more dramatic rate than any other time in one’s life, and for many, that point began with Freestylin’. So seeing the photos within the Freestlylin’ book is going to evoke a long overdue rush of emotions. I don’t know how else to put it, but there’s a scattered mess of us throughout the world that were raised on the words and images of Freestylin’ Magazine. And the very fact that Freestylin’ ended so abruptly and left many of us wondering what happened seems to have helped freeze a classic moment in time. An influential era that hasn’t been touched and explored this thoroughly in twenty years.
Safe to say, the influence is officially back. It never actually went away, but the proverbial final chapter was never written until now. One final epilogue from Freestylin’. One last visit from an icon. Glad we got over that divorce thing… -Brian Tunney
