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The Vancouverite Interview: Al Cabino, Sneakerographer

Well, it's nearly September kids. That means back to school, a new TV season, and even a new hockey season starting. Here at The Vancouverite, that means some new features. The first of which is this, interviews. This is the first in a series of interviews we're working on. To kick things off for back to school time, we thought that a discussion with Al Cabino, the Internationally renowned sneakerographer would be a good idea.

Cabino's launched a serious campaign to get Nike to make the infamous McFly sneakers from "Back to the Future II" - what he calls the "Holy Grail of sneakers" in fact, in the current issue of Lemon magazine, he's created the world's first spy sneaker, the "Puma Spy", and he's been featured in a bunch of interviews on his quest. Now with the first sneaker magazine in development for launch in late-2006/early-2007, he talks with The Vancouverite about shoes, hockey, Ricky Bobby, and more.

The Vancouverite (TV): You are pretty much the Jacques Cousteau of sneakers. You call yourself a sneakerographer, What does that mean exactly?

Al Cabino (AC): The 'sneakerographer' title is a Jacques Cousteau reference, Jacques was a world famous oceanographer and a classy guy, he loved the ocean, I love sneakers.

TV: Tell us a bit about yourself.

AC: I'm a former writer for Sneaker Freaker Australia magazine, I visited the Adidas worldwide headquarters in Germany, I contributed to the Adidas Superstar 35 book. I love Nike, Puma, Adidas, classic Reebok, Vans, Converse, New Balance Japanese editions.

AC: Since late 2005, I started a quest to get the Nike corporation to manufacture the futuristic sneakers Michael J. Fox wore in Back to the Future Part II.

You've got Eddie Murphy's Adidas in Beverly Hills Cop. You can buy them. You can buy the Nike Cortez that Forrest Gump wore. You can get the Kill Bill Tigers that Uma Thurman wore. You can get Rocky's Chuck Taylors when he runs up the stairs. If you look at movie sneakers, the McFlys are the only ones that were created for the film and never worn beyond the silver screen.

There's now a commercial for the sneaker campaign. It was created by award-winning New York film editor Robert Ryang (he's even edited a Spike Lee commercial before).

The commercial is a favorite on YouTube, it's been on iFILM's top 10 and it's cracked AOL's Top 11 (#8). It is also featured on Film Threat Magazine's site as well as countless other fan sites. Google it and you'll see. You can check out the ad on YouTube:

The petition can be found at petitiononline.com/future2 and, so far, more than 23,000 signatures from sneaker fans in 50 countries.

TV: Maybe because of space/time issues it's impossible for Nike to reissue them now. Like, if they arrived on the planet it would upset nature or something.

AC: Well, there's a sneaker legend that says in 2015 Nike will come out with them. This I cannot confirm to you, but someone supposedly back in 1989 wrote a letter to Nike, and the answer came from [Nike founder] Phil Knight: "You have to be patient."

AC: That's a good question, there are a number of great sneakers, the Puma Clyde is one of the greatest sneakers ever made.

TV: The latest big news I've seen in sneakers is the Ricky Bobby sneakers on eBay. Are these good?

AC: Yes, I want some Ricky Bobby Pumas.

TV: I have to ask, as a hockey fan - a Montreal fan no less- any NHL predictions?

AC: I love the Montreal Canadiens. I want them to win the Stanley Cup. The Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo is born in Montreal, the Canucks can go far this year but I gotta pick the Canadiens to win the Cup.

TV: Can you tell us anything about your future projects?

Right now I'm involved in a new sneaker magazine launching late 2006 - early 2007.

TV: Cousteau made documentaries. Is there a market for a sneaker documentary or film and are you making it?

AC: Yes, there's always a market for a quality product. I've had talks with Torontonian and American production companies. I'm dedicating my time and energy to this new sneaker magazine but hopefully we can work on a film project in the future.

TV: Do you have a motto?

AC: Just do it because impossible is nothing.

TV: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Any sneaker philosophy for your Vancouver followers?

AC: Sneakers are born to be worn.

Check out Al Cabino at his Myspace site.

Posted by Jackson Murphy | Link |