Last week we got a mention on a/the Vans Blog, written by a guy in their marketing department named Nikki. I assume Nikki is a he? The only other people I can think of with that name spelling are Nikki Sudden and the dude from Mötley Crüe. I’m not sure if the blog is part of the job or what, but one of the things he pointed out as being noteworthy is our 80’s skate zine archive. After getting the heads up, I told the author that he she had somehow incorrectly identified us as being Texas based, which we aren’t. He She said his her coworkers dug the fact that the zine archives featured actual skate zines instead of music zines. Surely there have to be other archives out there? I got to thinking that it has been a while since I added a new one. So this one goes out to Nikki and the clock punchers at Vans. It’s issue number six of Exotic Pets out of Dallas Texas.
Exotic Pets is short and to the point. Three letter sized sheets photocopied on the front and back, then folded over and stapled for a total of 12 pages. We could never hold ourselves to so few pages after the first couple issues, and as a result they became fatter and more expensive to produce. I can’t figure out who actually made Exotic Pets since the author is identified only as “Me.” Also, the exact date is unknown, but one clue is that on the Dan Wilkes interview page it says Tracker is going to stop making Dan Wilkes’ boards, shirts and stickers. So if anyone (HouseOfNeil) can tell me when that was, we can get a ballpark idea. Dan Wilkes himself pokes around on this site every once and a while. He drops me an email saying he still enjoys it. Then I ask if we can re-interview him, and then I don’t hear from him for three more years.
Check out: Exotic Pets #6
UPDATE: I got it wrong. Nikki wrote back:
…One thing though. Although my affection for Nikki Sudden and Nikki Sixx runs deep…you flubbed that one just as I flubbed Texas. I am on the other team:)
So there you have it. Nikki from the Vans Blog is a gal, or woman. Female, as it were.
UPDATE: Comments have moved to the gallery now.
11 comments
Dan Wilkes
I have a TON of ‘zines that I hope to get digitized in the near future….Exotic Pets included! Hi Robbie Becker! I skated with Pat Sherman in Irving a couple of months ago and lost his number. I wanted to send him pictures.-Later Dan
Eric Clay
i dont have any copies of the zine left from back in the day but i DO still have a few of those Xerox machine photo-copy stickers.LOL(i either got em from Jeff a.k.a.Team Party or Sherman)
good to see a few names from the old days still kicking about..albeit on teh interwebb.
Robbie Becker
Just checking.Thans again for posting it and everything else, great site. The photographers are actually, Danny Hollenbeck, Robbie Becker and Louis Carlton. Hard to read Pats handwriting sometimes.
Kilwag
No, I don’t. Why, are you clearing out the warehouse? Is there a sale on back issues? I’ll put ’em up if you send them, but I suppose you could put them up somewhere as well.
Robbie Becker
Do you have any of the other issues?
Scott
Who knows how to reach Robbie Becker? I have been out of touch with him since college in Denton. Would love to find him!
Scott Ellis
Kilwag
I do it all for you, the guy I don’t know who lives somewhere else and I have never met… Ha!
I’m amazed it traveled so fast. Mark found and commented on it about 4 hours after it was posted. Sometimes it takes months or years for anyone related to find it. Sometimes they never do.
Robbie Becker
Thanks for putting that up! great memories. I just called Pat and told him you posted it.
brad
you forgot Nikki Sikki- you’re slipping man I swear!
Kilwag
Hey, you’re in this issue. That was fast.
Mark Roach
Pat Sherman put this zine out. Think it was around 86-87. Louis Carlton took the photo of my wrist. It still looks like that. Pat and I were recently talking about Exotic Pets, crazy.
Mark
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