LOVE!

LOVE may be a zero in tennis, but THIS is no zero.
ROGUE magazine's April 2011 issue
Styled by LA Consing Lopez
Shot by Mark Nicdao

Now that the issue's out, I can finally talk about it.

So LA, my ROGUE boss, called me for a meeting before his trip to NYC last February. Over his late lunch and one of the best Americanos I've had here, he told he what he wanted to do for the April issue, not knowing that this would be the April issue I'll be calling my number one favorite issue of ROGUE so far. I've maxed it people, saying it over and over again how I love ROGUE and if ROGUE was marry-able, I would, really, but Jesus Christ this issue is something worth a space in a museum. Imagine that, a museum of amazing magazine covers from all over the world, I play curator (this is all daydreaming okay) and this shall be part of that prized collection of covers.

When LA told me to write about Chucks, I said yes. When he told me to write about Bjorn Borg and David Beckham for this issue I said yes. Who wouldn't say no on a spot in the pages of ROGUE, right? He also told me that the inspiration behind the shoot for this issue was inspired by Vampire Weekend's Giving Up the Gun and I say LA, you've done perfectly well. In my head I had it figured that yes, the colors would be something this creamy (and dreamy) but the fonts would've been black and something like red. But thank God they went for this refreshing look. It's amazing. I could go on and on and on about it, talking about how amazing it looks. And I could also go on about how excited I was when I saw my pages days ago and days before the issue got published. Just looking at those pages in their raw form (with red notes and marks on them still) made me realize that this is EXACTLY what I want to do. People may never come to understand how I feel whenever I see my name on any publication or how it feels to be given the chance by big people to do something small that'll eventually lead to bigger things, but it's really a lovely feeling. It's one of the finest, actually and I'm so thankful for it. Each and every day I thank God for it and for the people who have the time  and generosity to pluck someone like me from nowhere.

So. The cover is brilliant, my favorite in ages. My Chuck Taylor piece got it to the headlines (I am so proud, thank you LA). With the HUGE help of my editor, I think I wrote one of my finest for ROGUE after seven, eight months. And I'm just way too excited to get copies I might have to take pills now to shut me up. But anyway, get yourselves a copy of ROGUE magazine's April issue, it's damn worth every penny and you'll keep looking at that delicious, elegant and super dreamy cover 'till you feel like you're melting it. Amazing...Really, really, really amazing. I am in love.

Seriously, soon I'll go beg each and everyone of them to take me in. :))

- Gerard