Harsh Euro Barge 2002 - Brief Article

Thrasher Magazine, Sept, 2002 by Rick McCrank

I GOT A CALL about a tour of Portugal, Paris, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria called The Harsh Euro Barge. I was told there would be a bus tour of each city and a possible cruise. "The Barge" in Portugal and the cruise was the clincher; I wasn't planning on going anywhere due to it being the prime season for bird and butterfly watching up in the Kootenays.

When I arrived I soon realized that I'd been lied to. This was yet another skateboarding tour that had nothing to do with bird watching or cruises. It doesn't help when you're surrounded by the likes of Rick Howard, Mike Carroll, Eric Koston, Jeron Wilson, Brian Anderson, Robbie McKinley, Brandon Biebel, and a loud mouth from Boston named Jereme Rogers. Joining them were Ty Evans, Dan Wolfe, and Gabe Morford, none of whom gave a damn about birds or butterflies, just skateboarding. It's quite lovely to be relaxing on one of Portugal's many twisty cobblestone streets, enjoying the unique architectural maze that it is, when a corn-rowed Brandon Biebel charges past you belting out JA Rule's latest masterpiece. Oh well. I'll make the best of it, maybe there will be some good museums or at least some pigeons to watch.