Crude Conversations

Former pro skateboarder turned videographer Micah Hollinger discusses his transition in skateboarding, adapting to age in the sport, and the documentary project with Jesse Burtner capturing the era of Boarderline Alaska snow and skate days. They chat about personal reflections, evolution of skateboarding culture, exploring old footage for the documentary, and the influence of occult books on perceptions and experiences.

This week, Crude is revisiting the top 5 most popular podcast episodes of 2019. Tied for the number 1 spot is with Cody's dad, Scott Liska, the founder of Boarderline, an Alaskan snowboard and skateboard shop that nurtured, represented and influenced the Alaska snow and skate scene in the late 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. They talk about a lot of firsts: how Boarderline began and what it turned into, how King of the Hill—a three day snowboard competition in Thompson Pass—got started, and how Boarderline Summer Camp got started. They also discuss the importance of local businesses to a community, and Scott's current venture, Alaska Surf Adventures. This episode originally aired on January 31, 2019. 

This week, Crude is revisiting the top 5 most popular podcast episodes of 2019. Tied for the number 1 spot is EP 033 with Jason Borgstede, owner of the Anchorage-based snowboard and skateboard shop Blue & Gold Boardshop. Cody and Jason talk about how he went from being a professional snowboarder to a professional poker player to a waiter and now the owner of a local snow and skate shop. Jason's history with the Alaska snow and skate scene goes back twenty some odd years and includes some pretty wild stories. They get into that (story time) as well as what it means to be a local retail business pushing a culture. This episode originally aired on January 3, 2019. 

This week, Crude will be revisiting the top 5 most popular episodes of 2019. Number 2 on the list is with retired marine and pararescueman Roger Sparks. In 2010, Roger was part of operation Bulldog Bite 2 Charlie, a heavy firefight with insurgents in the Watapur Valley in Afghanistan. The fight was, as Roger puts it, surreal. He talks about how, after the fight, he was in such disbelief that he checked Wikipedia for proof that the fight actually happened. For his part, he was awarded the Silver Star, one of the highest awards for valor in combat you can receive from the United States Armed Forces. After a 25-year-long career in special forces, Roger is now a tattoo artist and author. It’s taken him a long time to be where he is now—with the understanding and the self-analysis that comes with soul searching. His perspective is a reflection of a life spent in uncomfortable situations, be it as a Recon Marine, an Air Force pararescueman, or a tattoo artist. Because, as he puts, “if you’re risking virtuously, it leads to better and more things.” This episode originally aired on Friday, October 25, 2019. 

This week, Crude will be revisiting the top 5 most popular episodes of 2019. Number 3 on the list is with Cody's uncle, Jay Liska. Jay was the first professional snowboarder from Alaska to get his own pro-model. He also started Boarderline Alaska Snow and Skate with his brother, Scott Liska, and went on to start his own shop, Northern Boarder. They talk about the snowboard scene in the 80s and 90s, and Jay shares some of his most memorable stories from back in the day, including the time he was in a helicopter crash on Mount Spurr and the time he took Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys snowboarding in Thompson Pass. This episode originally aired on Wednesday, March 13, 2019. 

This week, Crude will be revisiting the top 5 most popular episodes of 2019. Number 4 on the list is "lost anchorage" episode 05 with Claude "Muff" Butler. Muff ran a crackhouse in the late '80s. After he gave that up, he made deliveries all over town. Between dealing drugs, prison and tragedy, Muff's past was a turbulent one. Today, he is an ideal example of someone who turned their life around. He now teaches kids how to play basketball and emphasizes the importance of school. This episode originally aired on Thursday, September 5, 2019. 

This week, Crude will be revisiting the top 5 most popular episodes of 2019. Number 5 on the list is with Andy Elsberg, an emergency room doctor at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. Cody and Andy talk about how he went from being a ski bum to an ER doc, the idea of wilderness medicine, the pervasiveness of alcohol and opiate addiction in Anchorage, what a gunshot actually does to a human body, and the short but aggressive spice epidemic that hit Anchorage a few years back. They also discuss how the urban/wilderness split doesn't exist in Alaska, meaning things like bear maulings and ATV accidents exist alongside things like inner-city gun violence and drug overdoses. This episode originally aired on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. 

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with photographer Brian Adams. Brian originally got into photography by way of videography. When he was a kid, growing up skateboarding with his friends, he would film everything. The motivation back then was getting a shot in one of the local skate and snowboard videos. In high school, he took a photography class because it was the closest thing to a videography class at the time. That experience, along with what he was reading about skate photography, helped him make the transition from video to photo. Today, Brian is a well-known photographer with photo credits in legacy publications.   In 2018, Brian released “I Am Inuit,” a project that focused on the Alaskan Inuit people. Through photographs and short stories, Brian was able to successfully convey the Inuit life and perspective. When everything was said and done for “I Am Inuit,” all the work amounted to a critically celebrated book and museum exhibit. Recently, Brian’s been working on a new project called Ilatka — which is the Inuit word for “My Relatives.” Ilatka will focus on the Inuit of the circumpolar, which includes Alaska, Russia, Canada, and Greenland.

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Dan Redfield, the creator of Alaska Photoventures, a television series that explores Alaska through photography. Although Dan grew up in the outdoors, he didn’t start documenting it for himself until about three years ago, after he decided that this was how he could scrapbook his adventures and family memories. As he puts it: “Instead of opening up a book, we’re turning on either the TV or a computer and watching it.” Dan has a new show called Adventure for Ava, where he helps families with special needs create memories in the Alaskan outdoors. He got the idea after his daughter Ava was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, a rare, fatal genetic disorder. After all the hospital visits and time spent at home caring for Ava, Dan realized that his most important memories were those spent outdoors with his family. So, with the help of his fiancé Kristen, he decided to use the culmination of his professional and personal experience to help families in similar situations.

In this episode of "lost anchorage," we look at how the colonization of Alaska has and continues to affect Alaska Natives through the perspective of Aaron Leggett, the Curator of Alaska History and Culture at the Anchorage Museum, and the President of the Alaska Native Village of Eklutna. Aaron explains how the effects of colonization didn't happen overnight, that it was a gradual chipping away at an indigenous system that was in place for thousands of years.