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Since everyone is entitled to my opinion:
Blog Time! —Clarkie
5/8/08
Stop by and say hello to Peggy Oki in Carpenteria this weekend:
ARTIST STUDIO TOUR WEEKEND
FRIDAY MAY 9th - 5:00-7:00 p.m. -- 855 at the Arts Center
RECEPTION to meet the artists who will be opening their studios
on Saturday. Come pickup a map, enjoy a glass a wine and view
work of the artists on the studio tour.
855 at the Arts Center will feature artist studio artists in the
gallery from May 2nd to May 30th.
Gallery hours Friday thru Monday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
SATURDAY MAY 10TH - 2nd annual
ARTIST STUDIO TOUR - 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Over 30 artists (including Peggy Oki) will open their studios.
Maps are available at 855 at the Arts Center, Porch, Hurley Optical
and Sand Castle Time.
information: 805.684.7789
4/26/08
Find some old rollerblading gear from
the 80's and skate the opening of Lake Cunningham Skatepark today.
Good luck with knee pads restricting your pants and legs, don't
get hurt. I'm very surprised insurance companies and cities haven't
yet researched ACCURATE injury statistics as to better protect
themselves. If they had, we'd know as the only gear requirement
would be ANKLE PADS!
4/20/08
Consolidated is heading out and about
on a shop demo tour this week:
S.B. Skateshop in Santa Barbara, CA
Fri. April 25th 3pm
The Station in Fremont, CA Sat. April 26th 4–7pm
Derby Park "Der-b-que" in Santa Cruz, CA Sun. April
27th 4pm hosted by Skateworks
If your local skate shop is interested
in having a demo, please call Leticia at (831) 457-8206
4/18/08
The Ultimate
Border contest is set to bring in major $$ to
it's promoters, $$ to the city merchants and $$ in purse to the
token skater who is "crowned." The skateboarding part
of this production is being held in Ventura where skaterboarders
have been struggling for over 14yrs to get a decent skatepark/skateplaza
built. My friendly neighborhood activists to the south decided
to call out the organizer on it and protest/boycott with a demonstration
at the event. The promoter caught wind of it an actually met some
of their demands. But the demonstration is still going to happen
as they have permission to collect (tax deducible) donations for
the skatepark. Please visit their website as plans have been changing,
and if you are in the area tomorrow (4/19) your support would
be greatly appreciated.
I'd love to see more of this happening.
People exploiting skateboarding to make their dream homes and
caviar wishes come true need to give something back to skateboarders.
All this money floating around and yet some of us are relying
on bake sales to get our local city skateparks built. Major kudos
to the skaters who are making this happen! I hope it sets precedent
for more demonstrations at these high rollin events for the mainstreamers.
Call 'em out!
4/17/08
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"He said, for example, that kids at the Skypark skate
park often scatter when they see a police cruiser pull into
the parking lot. By bicycle, he says he can ride up to the
park without being seen and nab kids who aren't wearing
their helmets."
—Quote from Press Banner.com
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Seems Scotts Valley, CA just can't seem to get enough
of those $360 skatepark tickets. They've tried an undercover cop,
niled the idea of surveillance cameras due to expense, toyed with
ideas of a monitor, paid admission and a dress code. So now have
trained a bike cop to "nab" skateboarders easier. Skating
where you are not suppose to skate will get you a $35 ticket,
on the streets (under 17) without a helmet is $25. So financially
speaking it makes sense to me that if you want to skate in Scotts
Valley don't go to the skatepark that skaters themselves raised
money to build, skate illegally - right? And for safety reasons
you may get off cheaper outside the skatepark but you may get
killed by a car. What's wrong with this picture? I wonder what
Scotts Valley plans to do, in means of police training, about
some of their non-skating teen population with drug problems and
some who have a habit of burning down their schools and libraries
and some who formed an Aryan nation teen group. Scary priorities!
I guess the best advice I can give skaters about skating in Scotts
Valley is don't skate in Scotts Valley.
4/11/07
System Skateboarding Magazine. A fairly new online skateboarding
magazine out of Poland. I love the layout and format; the way
you can turn the pages. Check out Issue 3. It's mostly features
skaters as opposed to product even though it appears to be backed
by a distribution company. Nontheless, it's cool! Thanks for sharing
it with us Mateusz Paszkiewicz!
4/9/07
OOps, looks like ESPN made a mistake. VERT is back in the X-Games.
From ESPN PR:
ESPN X Games 14 Sports & Competition Announcement
ESPN has decided to continue its 13-year tradition of vert competitions
at this year's X Games. Over the past month ESPN has engaged in
many conversations with the X Games BMX and Skateboard vert athletes
in an attempt to transition the Vert discipline into one featuring
a skatepark course design. While many athletes were initially
receptive to the idea, the majority of them have indicated to
ESPN that they would prefer to compete on a halfpipe. ESPN will
also continue its plans to hold SuperPark as a new discipline
for skateboarding and BMX at the X Games while working with the
athletes to better define exactly how the SuperPark course will
be designed. "The X Games has always had a commitment to
the athletes and our consistent communication with them has allowed
us to collectively grow this event to where it is today"
said Chris Stiepock, General Manager, X Games. "In this particular
case the communication took many turns but a consensus by the
athletes has emerged that has lead us to reinstate Vert as an
X Games discipline this year. We will continue to work with the
athletes to make the X Games relevant and successful." Pro
Skateboarder and 14-time X Games medalist, Bob Burnquist, said:
"I think it's great that ESPN will continue to have a Vert
contest, and I'm looking forward to working with them to make
sure the vert competition at the X Games is the best that it can
be."
4/9/07
Real Skate supports the Olympic torch run demonstrations in San
Francisco today.
4/3/07
I've been hearing the X-Games (ESPN) was dumping BMX vert and
thinking of doing the same with vert skateboarding. Today they
dropped
the axe. Not surprising, but what is surprising is
that they took a decade to figure out vert wasn't popular. They
plan to event a new game, er competition for the mainstream viewing
pleasure called something like "super park." Watch out
street skaters the magic of television is about to invent super
jock park stars to watch on Cribs. This will be interesting, I
imagine the other TV fake skate competition shows will follow
suit. I bet the IOC is laughing their heads off!
3/23/08
Tampa Pro going on right now at the SPoT. 411 Video Magazine is
live webcasting as we speak. Consolidated has 3 pros entered.
Yeah for the home team! Go DON'T DO IT.
3/21/08
You know you've been on the Internet too long when the names of
50% of the people you know, you know only by their handles. Broken
Magazine sent a bulletin "bobcat stuck in the
pool at the skatepark this morning..." Of course I immediately
thought it was "bobcat" from Sleestak and wondered how
the heck that could happen! Check
it out.
Now you get it. I swear, I just got
an e-mail from MoveOn.org with the subject "FOX attacks Obama."
Yikes, I'm afraid to look!
3/15/08
Roller Derby Girls! Hells yeah.
So for all you target marketeers here's the new "in"
thing. But don't take it too far, because you wrecked it for them
last time. They have regrouped and doing a great job of mostly
having fun. Here is a letter I recently got from "A-Bomb."
I love their names, tattoos, their whole thing; they are gnarly
for sure. I use to go to roller derby in the bay area with my
Dad. Wow, twice my Dad has appeared here lately. First Willy Nelson
now this! So I saw how it got marketed, finally becoming as fake
as televised wrestling, so fake it just flopped. They're back,
and I can really see some of the parallels with skateboarding.
I think that's why I hear from so many roller girls. Well ladies
you have my support and guess what? I'm going to see the Santa
Cruz Roller Girls tonight!
You go girls!
Dear Clarkie,
With all the sports out there for older women, very few allow
you to compete in a full-contact competitive sport with women
half your age.
I hope you are well. My name
is Annette Melillo. During the day, I work as a sales representative
for a heating and oil company. By night, I'm referred
to as "A Bomb," a 42 year old woman standing merely
4'9” tall, yet currently one of the top jammers for
the NJ Dirty Dames Roller Derby League, located out of New Brunswick,
New Jersey. I wanted to maybe pique your interest on the
growing full-contact competitive sport for women, roller derby. In
a way, roller derby has changed my life.
At this point in my life,
in almost every other sport that I've previously competed in,
my opponents' ages ranged from 35 to 50. Oddly enough, roller
derby has allowed me to compete on a level with skaters of varying
ages; however, women in this sport aren't judged by age. They compete
according to the level of their league. This is a sport that is
inspiring and empowers women who perhaps never thought they could
play a sport or had the drive to succeed in something active or
fitness oriented, yet they attend every grueling practice no matter
how difficult and push themselves to become the best athletes
possible and get in the best shape of their lives. They are mothers,
wives, daughters, students, computer geeks, office dwellers, librarians,
waitresses…you name it, but on the track they are teammates
working together to win.
Roller derby has been around
since the 1930s; however, the sport faded away after it became
“scripted” much like professional wrestling and fans
lost interest in it. Flat-track Roller derby returned as a competitive
sport in 2001 and since then has grown into over 300 leagues across
the country.
Just to tell you a little bit about
my league and what we do: Founded in March of 2006, The NJ Dirty
Dames are a group of hard working successful women from all
different backgrounds, ages currently ranging from 22 to 42 who
are working to get the sport of roller derby back into the public's
eye. We have been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines,
and on television and are constantly trying to put our name out
there aside from our normal day-to-day jobs. We normally have
bouts once a month and practice three nights a week. We are a
“by the skaters, for the skaters” organization meaning
that every ounce of work comes from the skaters themselves as
opposed to being run by any corporate businesses.
I'm hoping that you will have interest
in letting women know about this great sport. Many people, when
they think of roller derby refer back to the days when it was
scripted and consider it just a bunch of women on roller skates
beating each other up. This couldn't be further from the truth
and my goal is to get people to see that this is 100% a real competitive
sport that has grown away from what made people lose interest
in the first place.
For more info on the
Dirty
Dames, check out their website. Thank you so
much for your letter A-Bomb!
3/12/08
Thrasher
is having an interesting contest, almost like a treasure hunt.
This weeks' booty is a Consolidated Roberto
Aleman complete. May the best pirate win! UPDATE
- Someone is really running away with the contest so Birdo and
Leticia decided to also offer a complete to the second place winner.
Nice!
3/4/08
Gotta love our Brazilian skater girls, not only their skating
but their artistic, writing, photography talents as well. Don't
miss AP and Bruna Massadas' photography show beginning March 13th.
What: Ana Paula Negrão &
Bruna Massadas Photography Show
Where: 8484 Wilshire Blvd, suites 711 & 730, Beverly Hills,
CA 90211)
When: From March 13 – May 8
Free Admission
Contact information: Andrea Curtin, (323) 651-2664, ext. 219 or
cultural(at)brazilian-consulate.org
2/21/08
Get off the message boards and GO SKATE! Heard that one
before? Well that is exactly what 37 SLAP
Pals have done and came up with their own vid under the
anonymity of their "handles." I love it. I'd give that
a "gnar" if I could! For now it's posted on YouTube
in 9 parts. Check it out and be sure to leave good comments or
better watch out, you might get "kooked!"
Part
1 ericlogan,
bothersome, yeah dude!
Part
2 loophole, rocklobster, MFS,
brandon, Zurg, L.S.
Part
3 Gest, Sony MDR
V2 headphones, ATMurrel, Duffy, tonycoxhox
Part
4 natenola, diabolik, jura, tommy
tuttone, mikey pioggia, somekid, mackattack, matt/tx, forks/knives
save lives
Part
5 grimcity & joshewwuh
Part
6 toy machine, stagefright, iskaterowleyclassics,
foray, SRjunky, peter
Part
7 universal remonster, Raw!
Part
8 ah lee, fuckyocouch
Part
9 nick immediato, iwishilevedinfinland
2/21/08
Kat Von D., my new best friend, is throwing the biggest
music/tattoo art shindig of the century at the Orange County Fairgrounds
this weekend. Seriously, Kat and I are tight, after all I'm in
her top 936,840 friends on MySpace! I sent her a Real Skate sticker
for her new ramp but haven't spotted it yet. She's a busy girl
with this event and all.
2/14/08
Abusive
COP Over the Top - More info is surfacing and more
charges filed against Baltimore Police Officer Salvatore Rivieri.
Check this
out.
Was Rivieri the the inspiration for this character? This "dude"
is a monster. God forbid he has kids of his own.
Note to Youth: If anyone EVER abuses
you in any way no matter if it's a COP, parent, teacher, minister,
doctor, neighbor, relative, friend, ANYONE, PLEASE REPORT IT to
the Police or someone. If you are too afraid or don't have anyone,
call me and I will report it for you!
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Baltimore Officer Salvatore
Rivieri has been suspended pending an internal investigation.
Over 500,000 views on YouTube
of him verbally abusing and manhandling a 14 year old skateboarder. |
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2/13/08
Birdo and Consolidated's
DON'T DO IT campaign against large
sporting goods companies who are taking from skater built and
owned businesses got national recognition last night on CNBC's
new documentary Swoosh!
Inside Nike. Several more air dates are listed
on the site. Of the show my favorite quote is from Michael Jordan
"I never wore a pair of Nike's until I signed with them.
Adidas was always my favorite shoe."
2/12/08
Cops
Gone Wild (again). This time in Baltimore, Officer
Salvatore Rivieri. He didn't want this to show up on YouTube,
well guess what DUDE! There's eventually going to be enough of
these incidences for it's own reality show. This is a total abuse
of power and totally unacceptable. I'm glad skaters are exposing
what really happens in their lives. The citizen review board for
formal complaints' number in Baltimore is (410) 396-3141. DUDE!
2/11/08
I went to a Willie Nelson concert last night, how nerdy is that?
I've always loved his songs, they are sweet. And he's 74 and still
going strong. Some of his songs I remember my Dad singing around
the house. Usually the silly phrases he'd sing to me like "Hey
good lookin, what ya got cookin, howz about cookin something up
with me" and he'd do this little dance with me standing on
his toes trying to follow. He cracked me up! Looking around the
theater at all the cowboys, I wondered if they sat around the
campfire (we know they didn't have message boards) talking about
the cowboy boot brands like skaters talk shoe brands these days.
Wondering if one brand tried to monopolize and overtake the cowboy
culture by soaking up all the brands. Saddles, hats, chaps, all
controlled by one corp? Nah, nobody could be more shoe fashion
conscious these last 10 years than skaters. Hey my Dad was a pro
in his younger years! He was a bronco rider in the rodeo circuit
in Laramie, WY. I don't know how good he was but he always talked
about a horse named "One-eye" the meanest horse around.
I like to think he was pretty gnarly. I miss my Dad, RIP. Ohhhhhhhhhh
mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...let them be
[skaters] and lawyers and such...
2/10/08
No
love for skateboarders. Fayetteville is
the sixth largest city in North Carolina, praises itself as diverse,
and has won All-American City awards and other honors. It has
many parks, an award-winning golf course, and Cycling, Hockey,
Baseball, and football clubs. Why can't they spare a tiny little
plot where skateboarders can skate legally? There's nothing more
"All-American" today than skateboarding, that's for
sure.
2/8/08
Broken
Magazine is holding a photo contest - best backyard
shot of Jan.–Feb. '08. Winner wins an 8.25 Scarecrow deck.
"It can be a pool, ramp, DIY, or some random thing rotting
in your backyard." Good times!
2/6/08
Skaters, be the first to get your new "skurban"
look on! Now you too can be more presentable (like snowboarders
are now that they are in the Olympics) when you go with mom to
the country club. Hot! Thank you Volcolm, marketing geniuses!
2/4/08
Tomorrow is the big day. After all has been said and done and
all the mud has been slung, Real Skate is endorsing Hillary Clinton.
Hillary played a very important role during Bill's administration.
She's one of the smartest women out there today. If you recall,
their administration cleaned up our country after Bush Sr. screwed
it up, paid off the deficit, ended the meaningless war, etc. Now
that same clean up is needed for what little Bush has done to
this country. Hillary and Bill have the proven formula. Here experience
is seriously something needed at this time. She worked hard on
the Health Care system, only to be rejected by the Republicans
who comprised the majority of both houses. Now both houses are
Democratic controlled, and with that support, I am confident we
will see the changes everyone wants.
I think Obama is a very good Senator
and I would not be disappointed if he became president. And, the
last thing I want is another Republican regime. I swear I will
leave the country. If I had the confidence in American voters,
who are a majority of Republicans over 40 and only 20% of people
18 to 29, and a whole slew of brainwashed evangelicals, I would
push for him. He could be president by a landslide if only young
liberals would participate in voting. And that's what would have
to happen in the general election. The electoral college system
is not the best system but still it is based on how many delegates
are appointed according to popular vote. Bottom line, you have
to register and you have to vote if you want change. And if Obama
wins tomorrow, I'm going to get after ALL you young flake's who
don't vote!
1/31/08
We just got word from VBS.tv that the Epically Later'd episode
1 of 16 of John
Cardiel is finally out. We will be posting early updates
from them as new episodes are released.
1/31/08
Right on THRASHER! Thrasher
Mag has agreed to post this ad from Consolidated
with a url to Birdo's response to Nike's Chet Childress' hypocritical
bashing of Birdo (and other entities) which was printed in The
Skateboard Mag. As you know TSM would not print Birdo's response.
I have canceled my subscription to TSM and removed them from my
Links page. Note to Chet: Take off your shoes and THEN maybe you'll
have some validity in deciding who's keeping it real in the skateboarding
world.
1/29/08
We are very sad to report that Dane's body was found on a street
in San Diego according to this press
release. Our sincere condolences go out to his family
and friends.
1/28/08
Dane Williams Missing after ASR in San Diego - Got this from the
ASR folks; let's hope he is OK.
Sorry for sending two e-mails this morning.
But just got this and they need everyone's help to find Dane.
Please see below. Dane Williams from the Hurley Marketing Dept.
has been missing since Friday night at ASR (Action Sports Retailers
Tradeshow). He was last seen Friday night at close to 2 am by
the Hard Rock Cafe outside of the Marriott Gaslamp in San Diego.
We are worried because no one has had contact with him since then.
If you have heard from him or seen him, please contact the San
Diego police department or call:
Amy- 714-553-4375
Jessica- 714-330-6952
Danny-714-613-2369
Or his parents Jim and Valen- 714-960-1341
PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG TO EVERYONE WHO WAS AT THE SHOW AS SOMEONE
MIGHT HAVE SEEN SOMETHING. THANKS!
Robby Adams
Hurley Creative Dept.
robby_adams@hurley.com
949.548.9376 x3307
1/27/08
Here is Birdo's
(Consolidated) response to The Skateboard Mag's article by Nike's
boy Chet Childress (See 1/10 below.) Interesting TSM refused to
print Birdo's response. Something's flat out wrong with this scenario.
Keep fighting the good fight Birdo! When the day comes when Nike
dumps skateboarding shoes, their pros, their mag spreads, we'll
see articles titled "We Should Have Listened to Birdo."
Keep it real out there!
1/24/08
Nike is on the cover of the February Forbes
business magazine, "Going for the Gold." Gold, meaning
money to Nike, of course. Personally I've never known a skateboarder
who would fall for such a hoax as Nike trying to convince the
world they are a skateboarding company. I don't even know anyone
who would wear a pair of Nikes if they were free! But, they are
walking the walk by buying a few pros as they have done with all
their other disciplines like golf, running, biking, hockey, etc.
It reminds me of a used car dealer "have I got a car [shoe]
for you" thing. Interesting read for any skateboarders on
the cusp of buying into this fashion statement illusion of a shoe
being marketed primarily to sneaker freaks and non-skateboarders.
1/11/08
Danny Renaud - We were hoping it was a rumor, but Stereo
has confirmed their Pro Danny has survived a 9-story fall from
a building in Miami. He suffered broken legs but a full recovery
is expected. Stereo also has provided a way to get well-wishes
to Danny as he recovers. Please check out their website. Our best
goes out to Danny. We will be supporting him 100%!
1/10/08
Starting off the year with a bang, but no big surprise. Pretty
predictable actions when a skater and a skate magazine jump in
bed with a major sporting goods company. You know the one. So
Nike pro Chet Childress calls out Birdo in print in The
Skateboard Mag. Birdo writes a response but TSM won't
print it?? Something is wrong here, but like I said, predictable.
Check it out. We'll follow this one for sure, and if Birdo wants,
I'll publish his response here, gladly!
1/1/08 - Happy New Year!
12/31/07
Lists tend to pop up at the end of the year among ambitious people.
Since I don't have one of my own I will post Michael Brooke's:
WHAT IF WE TREATED ALL ATHLETES
LIKE SKATEBOARDERS?
1. A scandal would rock the badminton
community when it discovered that some shuttlecocks are blanks
with no graphics.
2. Swimmers, gymnasts and weightlifters
would be pimping out their new Mercedes Benz's.
3. Golfers, curlers and dart players
would wind up on MTV "Cribs."
4. Bowling shoes would be a 3 billion
dollar industry. Studies would show that 90% of all bowling shoe
buyers didn't actually bowl, but purchased the shoes because they
looked cool and "felt comfortable." There would be 300
different types of bowling shoes.
5. The US Military would run recruitment
ads in bob sledding magazines.
6. South Korean Archery champion I'm
Dong Hyun would have his own reality show with Big Black. It would
be called I'M DONG AND BIG.
7. Axe Deodorant spray would pimp out
world champion fencer Keeth Smart's bathroom.
8. Table Tennis clubs would be set up
at churches to bring in youth.
12/28/07
Concrete
Disciples and (cream of the crop) company get a secret
test drive of the new Lake Cunningham monstrosity. Nice work Zach!
12/25/07
Happy Winter Holidays from Real Skate!
12/24/07
Thank you, Z-Girl! Same to you and thank
you for all your hard work throughout
the years with the whale movement. Peggy invites you all to participate
in the "Minds
in the Water"
Visual Petition campaign and help her
win the competition for a sponsored trip to the IWC
meetings next May in Chile.
12/20/07
Blank Planks? A World without steel
wheels? Gotta love those So. Cal. freestylers.
But, careful Bob you might incite a riot! Merry Christmas to you
too, and thanks for
all your good work with the good non-profits.
 |
12/13/07
Tribute
to Big Mike - Any friend of Neal Boyd
is a friend of us all. Hammond, LA's backbone of skateboarding
Big Mike Jeansonne lost his life on November 16th in a freak
skateboarding accident. Mike leaves behind his wife and
son for whom Neal and the community have set up a trust
fund. We are encouraging our readers to help
out, any amount you can give will be greatly appreciated.
If you are getting Christmas money for a new deck, you
might want to wait until January and grab up Mike's tribute
deck, designed by Neal and manufactured by Deluxe,
SF. This will be a Real deck, part of the "Actions
Realized" series sold through regular distribution.
Look for it in your skate shops around the 3rd week in January.
Call your shop and make sure they will be carrying it. Most
shops will do a mail-order transaction, so if you're stuck
out in the middle of nowhere, you're covered. All proceeds
from the deck sales will go to the trust fund.
Huge, gigantic thanks goes out to Jim Thiebaud and the
staff of Deluxe who went out of their way to do this tribute
deck for Mike's family. And of course thanks to Neal, Small
Time Skates shop, and all those who have contributed in
some way to help out Mikes family.
The skateboarding community and all its goodness just makes
me sit down and cry sometimes!
Our sincere condolences go out to all of Mike's people
who are suffering a tremendous loss.
RIP Big Mike.
|
11/26/07
I had a nice long chat with Patrick O'Dell about the Epicly Later'd
which aired Saturday night on MTV2. I think he did a good job
editing which parts would work. By work, I mean depicting what
pro skateboarders are really like. While watching it, I couldn't
help doing my own mind comparison to Ryan Sheckler's skateboarding
life. Quite an extreme difference (excuse the word extreme) whether
it was intentional on Patrick's part or not. I loved Spanky's
part and his Dad recollection of him as a young kid as well as
Alex Olson's interaction with his legendary skate dad Steve. Spanky
and Alex are skateboarders. Ryan is an "athlete." Braydon
is just Braydon! hahaahh. Of course getting around to the proverbial
question was this money driven, Patrick said no in fact he lost
money producing this for MTV. He added EL is not scheduled for
future MTV2 shows and doesn't think it ever will show again. Let's
hope not, plus I don't think this will appeal to the mainstreamers.
Let them idolize the White and Sheckler jocks of the skateboarding
ranking system. Save the blood, cuss, and piss (and excellent
skateboarding) for the rest of us to appreciate. Thank you Patrick,
keep up the good work.
11/25/07
 |
We are very saddened to hear Michael
Reed, 21 of Rialto was fatally shot last Wednesday
trying to stop an armed robbery at the Fontana Skatepark.
A teen was holding a gun to another teens head when Michael
intervened and was shot instead. Michael will certainly go
down in history as a hero. RIP Michael. |
11/22/07
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! - Whether you celebrate the
holiday or not there is always something to be thankful for. I'd
like to thank all our readers and supporters and skateboarders
all around the world. Keep fighting the good fights for your deserved
rights. -Clarkie
11/20/07
Epicaly Later'd - I'm not so sure I want to post this,
but so far I think EL has been keepin it pretty real. Colab with
MTV though? I don't know, every skate thing that has mainstreamed
to MTV has been a money driven flop, at least in the minds on
non-mainstream skate minds. I'll give them the chance but well
we shall see when the reviews come in. I hope they don't tell
the world ALL our secrets!
Hey Real Skate,
Just wanted to drop you a note about the VBS.tv skate show Epicly
Later'd. On Saturday, November 24th at 9PM/ 8C, MTV2 will air
a compilation of three episodes of the popular VBS.tv web series,
Epicly Later'd. Based on the photo blog of the same name and brought
to life through VBS.tv, Epicly Later'd is the brainchild of Vice
magazine photographer and skate world insider Patrick O'Dell.
Hosted and filmed by O'Dell, Epicly Later'd features intimate
and exclusive interviews and footage from the lives of pro skateboarding
legends and young up-and-comers alike. It's a casual and candid
look into the real, weird life of the pros. Saturday's 30-minute
program profiles three of the hottest young skaters around today:
Braydon Szafranski, Kevin 'Spanky' Long and Alex Olson. If you
never seen it before, check out Epicly
Later'd. You can also check out the clip about the
show on Saturday here.
11/18/07
Longboarding - Found this article in the LA
Times containing some competitive longboarding history.
John Hutson is a Santa Cruz local, and there is quite a contingency
of longboarders here trying to bring back the Capitola [Downhill]
Classic. It's definitely not died and may even be safe to add
it's growing. A friendly suggestion, please wear helmets on
the roads! You are not a car. Bombing hills at high speed
requires special boards and wheels. According to statistics compiled
by Skaters for Public Skateparks from media feeds, last year over
40 deaths to skateboarders occurred on the streets, most of them
hit by cars or just going too fast and out of control. I'd be
safe to guess from my Google alerts it has risen this year. California
has a mandatory state law that 17 and under wear helmets while
skating on roads, it's a vehicle code. Yet the skateparks are
getting stormed with riot tactics to ticket for helmets and pads
which are not needed for park skating anyway. You don't see helmets
and pads in the X-Games park and street comp. do you? The fine
for being helmetless on the roads is $25. The fine for skating
in a park without a helmet — $360 or more. Go figure.
11/16/07
So you think voting doesn't matter? Check out this article
about the city of Los
Gatos, in the Santa Cruz mountains and the skaters
major fight to get a decent skatepark in their town. This is the
first I've heard of a skatepark going up to a vote. Who do you
think will win if skaters aren't registered to vote? Who will
win if the majority of your town is conservative and NIMBY? If
you are 18 better think twice about how lame you think it is to
vote. And you can also vote for or against the city council based
on their interest or lack of it in youth. Even the signers on
the petition for the referendum have to be registered just to
get it on the ballot. The article points out out of 3,098 sigs
only 1833 were valid. They did get enough, however, to get it
on the February ballot. For those skaters under 18 (which are
probably the majority) better get on the campaign and get those
18 year olds on the stick and Rock The Vote in Los Gatos!
11/15/07
Mainstream Mania - Lately I have been receiving tons of
skate related writings, photos from professional photographers
of skaters which in their minds is a great skate shot, bands on
the skate band bandwagon, and video companies producing "skate
vids." This would be all good content and are the things
I would normally gladly accept and post, however one glance and
you know how clueless these submissions are. I'd rather post a
pic a Dad took of his kid attempting a trick, no matter how blurry
or fuzzy, or how "beginner" but because it is in fact
a trick; it's real and depicts sincerity and meaning.
Nike, the biggest non-skate mainstreamer
of them all (with no disrespect to the pro skaters they bought
to form a "skate team") continues to detract all sincerity
and meaning, all in the name of marketing shoes. I mean come on,
Mamma, Pappa, and Baby bear skate shoes? Do they really think
they are appealing to skateboarders? Check out Michael Brooke's
opinion of the latest Nike "skate video."
The Whole Truth
About Nike's Nothing But the Truth… November 15th, 2007
Not only did I
receive the new Nike dvd, but on Monday, I received a 300 page
hardcover book that features stills and information about the
dvd (there is also another dvd tucked in the back of the book).
I managed to catch about 45 minutes of the dvd. I have promised
myself to watch the rest. The truth about “Nothing But the
Truth” is that the skating is amazing, but the bits in between
are having a weird affect on me. I can't really explain it, but
the video (not the skate parts, mind you) seems like one of the
most self-indulgent things ever done in skateboarding.
Arts for ARTS sake?
What does it REALLY mean?
How does it FEEL?
It's like some bad art film…you just want the damn thing
to end.
Maybe I am too old…perhaps my generation doesn't get it…maybe
we're not supposed to.
Look, I am not denying that Nike has a great skate team. They've
also pumped a ton of money into skateboarding. Through an incredibly
shrewd marketing dance, they have cultivated their Nike SB in
core shops while at the same time moving the Nike 6.0 line thorough
mass market channels…Yes Virginia, a 16.3 billion dollar
company can suck and blow at the same time.
Yep, Nike posted 16.3 billion in sales in the last fiscal year.
Their goal is to be 23 billion company by 2011.
That's a A LOT of money.
It buys you a lot of talent.
It also appears to buy you a lot of video tape and self indulgence.
It's not just me who thinks this film was a dud.
Check out this review:
"You know what, I'm so sick of this
movie, after 35 minutes, I can't stand it. full of scum, crap,
lame stuff, non-skateboarding stuff (hey it's nike, what did you
expect?) and it's straight up boring. i haven't been stoked once.
i'll just wrap this up now, and say it's crap, i don't feel like
watching the rest."
Hard to believe that a skate video would turn skaters OFF skateboarding.
Ironically enough, Craig Stecyk has contributed to the book. Yes,
the Craig Stecyk who inspired and continues inspire skaters worldwide.
Perhaps instead of giving him the writing gig, they should have
put him in the directors chair?
The truth for me?
Nike will pump money into skateboarding till it bleeds…or
their investors run for cover!
Thanks for the
free content Michael!
11/12/07
SMP - Smoke More Pot? Skate More Pools? Nope, Terry
Kennedy explains for Thrasher that the new acronym
is Sober Mind Power. Seems the message is on the ups, let's hope
this one sticks.
10/23/07
Our sincere hopes for the best go out to all those in So. Cal.
experiencing the tragedy of the fires. Our support goes out to
all the firefighters working with limited personnel and equipment
due to our Reserves and planes being dedicated to Iraq. It's messed
up. Here are some practical ways you as citizens can HELP. Help
for animals.
10/19/07
Skateboarding as a Sideshow? Casino owner Joe Maloof is
throwing down 1.5 million to showcase an X-Games style invitational
competition they term as the Maloof Money Cup, the "The superbowl
of skateboarding" to attract more attendees to the Orange
County Fair according to this article in the OC
Register. Step right up folks, here ya have yer livestock,
here ya have yer carnival, here ya have yer skateboarders and
the Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyying Tomaaaaaaaaaaaaaaato! If they're lucky,
maybe a skateboarder will get badly hurt. Geeze, when we wanted
to increase our fair attendance, we hired the Alaskan Racing Pigs.
Worked like a charm. And they're cool. The announcer divides the
audience to root for a certain pig. Their "purse" is
a trough of food at the end of the course. And the girl pigs get
as much "purse" as the boy pigs. Speaking of which,
I noticed there will be no female vert skaters. Ya think Cara-Beth
told them to $%@#-Off? If so, good for the vert ladies. Wow, just
think want 1.5 mil could do for skatepark development. See you
at the pig races.
10/17/07
Verdugo Skatepark Event - We are happy to announce that
we will be having our third annual Teen Equinox at the Verdugo
Skate Park. This is a great event and we have some great sponsors
this year including eS shoes and our local Kiwanis club. We have
a Battle of the Bands; which the grand prize winner gets to play
at the 2008 Van's Warped Tour in Los Angeles, and a great 18 years
and younger Game of SKATE with a best trick contest on a flat
bar to follow. It is FREE to enter in the Game of SKATE and the
Battle of the Bands but the bands need to submit a CD to us ASAP
if they want to play. There will be fun booths which will include
hair painting, henna tattoos, skateboard stenciling, photo buttons
and more. Plenty of food and good music!
Thanks,
Adam Porte
Community Services Specialist/Skate Park
City of Glendale
work (818) 548-2786
10/10/07
Capitola Skatepark - Judi O is informing that Thursday,
the 11th the Capitola City Council has the skatepark issue back
on the agenda. Skaters are needed to rep and support the skatepark
and voice your opinion on location. Meeting starts at 7pm but
the issue won't be heard until 8 or 9pm. Please attend if you
can, and please help spread the word among local skaters,
it's very important to have a turnout of skaters any time skateboarding
related issues are on the agenda. The Council chambers are where
you see all the cop cars parked.
10/10/07
A couple of good objective articles on Nike.
Validates everything Birdo has been trying to get across for years.
Wake up some of you, and stop stretching it - Nike is not a skateboarding
company:
Praise
and criticism for Nike's foray into skateboarding culture
–The Canadian Press
Nike
Abandons Hockey –The Star.com
10/8/07
Peggy Oki, the Z-Girl of Dogtown is still doing good things; from
saving the whales to blessing our world with her beautiful art.
Here are two of her current art shows:
One-Woman Exhibit of Paintings by Peggy
Oki
at Zookers
Cafe
8 October - 1 December 2007
Mon-Sat: 11:30am - 3pm and 5pm - 9:00pm
5404 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, CA 93013
Ph. 805.684.8893
One-Woman Exhibit of Paintings by Peggy
Oki
at The
Sojourner Cafe
3 November - 14 December 2007
Reception 3 Nov (Saturday) 3-5 pm
Monday thru Saturday: 11am - 11pm
Sunday: 11am - 10pm
134 E. Canon Perdido, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Ph: 805.965.7922
Peggy's
Current Exhibits:
10/7/07
And speaking of bananas, here is a press release on the new "Drunks"
Osiris (and later other major core skate companies in solidarity)
will be making in support of the DON'T DO IT campaign.
Press Release—OSIRIS TEAMS UP WITH
CONSOLIDATED SKATEBOARDS FOR THE DRUNK
SAN DIEGO, CA, Sept. 26, 2007
 San
Diego-based skate/surf lifestyle brand, Osiris
has teamed up with Consolidated
Skateboards to create a new special-edition of their
infamous shoe called "The Drunk," which takes aim at
large sporting good companies who are strategically trying to
invade the action sports industry. The shoes are going to be sold
only at core skate and surf shops in support of the Don't Do It
campaign, a movement that seeks to put the power back into the
hands of those companies that built the action sports industry.
The Drunk, a thinly
veiled comedic wordplay on a popular shoe style from one of the
large sporting goods companies, bears a signature banana logo
on the side of each shoe. It was created as a playful knock on
the large sporting goods brands that are now making a strong push
to take a share of the market in the action sports industry. Though
the shoe is humorous in it's design, the message that the Don't
Do It Campaign conveys is a very serious one. Steve "Birdo"
Guisinger, owner of Consolidated Skateboards states, "There
is a reason there are no football, baseball, basketball, or soccer,
player owned companies-and there should be. "We don't want
this to happen to our industry." Jay 'The Wizard' Wilson,
Executive Vice President for Osiris, adds, "If they can make
skate shoes, we can make basketball shoes that you can skate in.
Can't we all have a little fun?"
Osiris will be the first in
a series of core skate companies who will be creating a new version
of the Drunk each season. The Osiris Drunk is a patent leather
paneled quarter top shoe, with it's design borrowed from a new
style of shoes from Osiris called the South Bronx. "Ever
since I can remember, I longed to work with the famous banana.
It's a legend in its own right, for it's continued efforts to
break down the corporate evils that plague our industry,"
says Brian Reid, Chief Creative Officer for Osiris.
Consolidated Skateboards,
who has been leading the Don't Do It campaign since 1997, rallied
the support of the heads of many of the core industry companies
to lead this awareness campaign by creating a new version of the
Drunk each season. "Making quality skate shoes is not our
specialty, so we are excited to co-op "Drunks" with
Osiris and other quality skate shoe makers." says Steve "Birdo"
Guisinger.
The Osiris Drunks will be
available at select core shops and will be priced at $69.95
For more information, visit: DontDoItArmy.com
and myspace.com/dontdoitarmy
10/7/07
Consolidated's new video "Goin' Bananas" is being shipped
out now and will only be sold in skate shops. Support your local
skate shops and DON'T DO IT!
9/20/07
No Skateboarding in the Olympics! No, I'm not bugging you
about my petition
any more. I am announcing that there will be no
skateboarding in the Olympics! At least not unless it's done
right, by the rules, through the front door, and if skateboarders
really want it to happen. I think we have spoken out loud and
clear not only to USA Rollersports, the Cycling Fed, and the IOC
but to Gary Ream's questionable USAS and International Skateboarding
Federation and except for the latter, they listened.
Below is a news item that went out on
Monday at "Around
the Rings" a subscription-only news website all
about the Olympics nitty gritty. I was given special privy to
post it on Real Skate. You will more than likely be seeing this
in mainstream media soon, especially by those who reported grave
misinformation in all those articles in June.
Half-pipe skateboarding
had been under consideration for addition to the London Olympics.
(ATR)
Plans to bring
skateboarding to the program for the 2012 Olympics are headed
for a crash landing, sources tell Around the Rings. Discussions
have been underway for months between the International Cycling
Union and leaders of the nascent International Skateboard Federation
about forming an unlikely marriage.
In a bid to increase
youth appeal for cycling the UCI wants to add half pipe BMX to
the London program, joining the motocross discipline which will
debut in Beijing. As part of a play to make maximum use of the
BMX half pipe track, UCI was also willing to consider bringing
skateboarding into the federation for a double-barreled shot at
attracting younger sports fans for the Olympics.
UCI's ardor for
skateboarding has cooled, however, in the face of a number of
issues, several of them involving breaches of established rules
and requirements for adding sports and disciplines to the Olympic
Games. UCI sports director Olivier Queguiner, who met recently
with IOC officials to discuss the situation, now tells Around
the Rings that the "no decision about skateboard" will
take place during the UCI Congress in Stuttgart later this month.
A vote of the UCI Congress is a must to bring a new discipline
into the sport of cycling. Failure to act this year effectively
kills the chance of adding skateboarding to London.
High-level sources
in Lausanne say the IOC will take no action on skateboarding until
it hears from the UCI. One source indicates 2016 is a more likely
start for skateboard. But before the sport can make it to the
Olympics, organizational issues have to be addressed, including
whether riding along with cycling is the proper way to join the
program. A number of federations which meet IOC requirements to
join the program were said to be concerned over what they saw
was a backdoor effort to bring skateboarding to the Olympics.
Who represents
the sport is also a divisive question. The U.S. – based International
Skateboarding Federation has yet to stage a world championship
and is way short of the number of national federations needed
to be considered for the Olympics. Efforts to reach the federation
for comment for this report have been unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the
International Roller Sports Federation, which is planning to stage
a world championship in 2009 for skateboarding, remains committed
to seeking a spot in the Olympics for traditional speed skating,
not skateboarding. And there seems to be as little enthusiasm
among serious skateboarders for representation by the IRSF as
there is for the current leadership of the International Skateboarding
Federation. Skateboarders are also apparently divided on what
event to stage in the Olympics, with the majority of top boarders
believed to be in favor of a street-style event, not the half-pipe
proposed by UCI.
Thank you, Around the Rings. So there
you have it. Thanks to everyone who signed and helped circulate
our petition and kept up the good fight on all the message boards;
and thanks to those who had my back. I'm keeping the petition
going as I have a hunch though this has been nipped in the bud,
maybe not the end. But to anyone standing next in line to try
and pull this off again, all I can say is BRING IT ON and let's
play above the table this time. - Clarkie
9/13/07
Break Wainwright's Ollie Record!
WIN $500 FOR THE HIGHEST OLLIE AT THE HOBBY SHOW Canada's largest
Hobby Show at International Centre 6900 Airport Road, Mississauga.
Date: November 2, 3, 4 2007 Organization: Concrete Wave
Can you beat Danny Wainwright's High
Ollie Record of 44.5"? If you can, you'll make it into the
Guinness World Book of Records! If you do the highest Ollie
for the weekend, you'll take home $500. Even if you don't win
you could win clothes, shoes, boards and other prizes.
Here's how it works: Fill in the application
at thehobbyshow.com.
Send it along with a check or money order for $5.00 to The Hobby
Show, 365 Colonsay Court, Oshawa, ON L1J 6H3. Yep. It'll
cost you $5.00 to enter, but you also get a weekend pass to the
Hobby Show worth $24.00!
The rules are simple. Each skater gets
two shots at every level; if you fail, you are out. The finalists
in each contest get three tries. The Contest winners will compete
on Sunday for the final $500 and the draws for the raffle prizes.
This is your chance to showcase your
skills. But even if you can't ollie that great, you'll enjoy watching
the contest along with all the cool stuff at the Hobby Show. If
you are under 18 we must have your parents' signature on the application.
Contest times are: Friday 4PM & 7PM, Saturday 12PM, 2PM, 4PM,
7PM, Sunday 12 noon and Finals 3PM.
Michael Brooke, Publisher
Concrete
Wave Magazine
1054 Center Street, Suite 293
Thornhill, ONTARIO L4J 8E5
905-738-0804
9/6/07
The Olympics apparently does NOT want skateboarding!
My suspicions all along have been confirmed by a July '07 e-mail
conversation from Christophe Dubi, (IOC Director of Sport; through
the e-mail address of Pierre Ducrey), when I submitted our petition
to the IOC. Over the last few years, more than a dozen people
in the sports field told me the IOC doesn't go looking for new
sports to add to the program, that this push for skateboarding
more than likely came from Gary Ream and Mike Jacki after the
bombarding outrage from skateboarders effectively suggested Roller
Sports change their mind about putting skateboarding in the Olympics.
Gary was quoted in the media as saying he wanted to form USAS
to "protect the look of skateboarding" in the Olympics.
Another subsequent quote I found interesting from him something
to the effect "...if we don't put skateboarding into the
Olympics ourselves, someone else will," and "they (IOC)
can do it with or without us." Gary hasn't spoken much to
media, but every quote (NY Hearald; NY Times) implies that the
IOC is responsible for approaching UCI to work on including skateboarding
and that it was inevitable it would go in by 2012.
The e-mail exchange:
Dear Mr. Dubi - Skateboarders all over
the world request that you do not
include skateboarding in Olympic games. It is not a sport.
Skateboarding was built as an ALTERNATIVE to sports for its
individuality and freedom. Skateboarders have no governing body
and do
not want one. We urge you to leave skateboarding out of your long
range
plans. Note our petition which has gained national attention.
Many professional skateboarders have signed it and big names in
skateboarding:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/656763888
Sincerely,
Clarkie, Editor Real Skate Magazine
Dear Ms Clarkie,
Thank you for your interest and views.
Please note that the inclusion of the discipline of skateboarding
in the
Olympic Games can only be considered if an International Sports
Federation puts such a request forward.
We would therefore advise you to contact UCI [Cycling Federation],
should you wish to discuss
further of the creation of an international governing body for
skateboarding.
Best regards,
Christophe DUBI
Although Gary Ream has his USAS members
under gag order, (perhaps to hide the inclusion of skateboarding
from the Cycling athletes as they will lose two more events to
skateboarding as they did to make way for BMX, which Gary holds
a seat on) I think he owes the skateboarding community an explanation.
Don't you?
So given this information, we will switch
our petition and address the Cycling Federation which Gary holds
a seat on. There is still time to sign our petition and we will
be giving you a way to give your input.
Here is an article I stumbled across
showing the cycling athletes presenting UCI with over 11 thousand
signatures of bike riders protesting losing two Kilo races. Here
again, UCI blamed it on the IOC.
http://quickrelease.tv/?p=115
Interesting stuff. You will be hearing
more very soon.
9/2/07
Skate
With Gusto - I was happy to hear from Ana Paula, one
of our awesome Brazilian girl skaters, and happier to hear she
is still involved in supporting not only female skaters, but any
skater who needs funds to travel to events in So. America. I hadn't
heard from her or Luciana and that crew in a long time, but they
say they are still doing their magazine, Check It Out.
If you are in the LA area, please do what you can to help support
the cause. They will send us pics and coverage from the event
later. Contact AP for more info.
8/31/07
The X-Games always stirs a flurry of laughable disgust among the
skateboarding community. Not too many, if any skate media report
on the X-Games at all. We did once, since we had a staff member
in Sydney and there was nothing else to cover so we ran it. We
will probably even see less as these fake TV show "contests"
and non-skateboard related sponsors continue to attract mainstream
media and turn ordinary kids into TV stars.
I seriously loved and laughed at the
article Concrete
Disciples did on this year's X-Games 13. More than
likely their last article on the topic, but it's a gem. They also
have some good pictures, however, in their gallery (even pics
of WOMEN skateboarders; unusual).
8/29/07
Got this from our Aussie friends. I think it's a video game??
Check out their website for more details.
8/29/07
9th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Contest coming up next month, don't
miss it!
8/25/07
TWS
Biz needs a few good opinions. I don't know what
rock they've been living under lately, but it looks as if they
may do an article about skateboarding in the Olympics. That's
good, the more people getting exposed to it the better. It's being
handled under gag orders and backroom dealing by people who have
no business representing/governing skateboarding. Send in your
letters, however note that the e-mail addy they provided doesn't
work. Send to one of the e-mails on their "contact"
page. You may also express your opinion (which will be sent directly
to the IOC) by signing our petition (above).
8/24/07
Problems, problems everywhere! Even in London. Got this from the
UK Skate Association. Please help them out by signing their online
petition:
Written by Kevin Parrott, Thursday,
23 August 2007
In an amazingly odd move the management of the new London bridge
skatepark have imposed a rule banning skateboarders over 18 from
skating the park. Sign the petition organised by Seth and Slam
at...
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/892230000
Here's a quote from the parks management..."In
the case of Whites Grounds, we are not permitted to allow unaccompanied
adults on the site at any time as young people. If a young person
was to be assaulted or groomed during our supervised sessions,
we would be held accountable."
You also have the chance to write a
comment on the petition so please keep it articulate and sensible.
This is a crazy rule that needs overturning so get signing.
More info can be found on the UKSA
website.
8/16/07
Well hello! No, I haven't been traipsing off on exotic tropical
vacations, I chose something about the same cost this year, knee
replacement surgery. Insert your favorite swear word here as I
tell you it HURTS! I will be back more often, I have some cool
pics people have been sending in and other things to post. See
you soon! *ouch, spell-check hurts*
8/6/07
Local shop, SC Skateshop has developed a skateboarding
community on their website. It's kind of like a
MySpace for skateboarding. It's pretty cool, you can post pictures,
vids, blogs, stories, just about anything skate related, check
it out!
8/4/07
X-Games - We don't report on the X-Games, nobody cares
and it's more fun to make fun of them on message boards. But one
thing that must be said is how irresponsible they were in handling
Jake Brown's accident. We're hearing today that he has stress
fractures of the spine, concussion, fractured liver, etc. Must
be in the ESPN contracts that any injured "athlete"
must walk off the stage after an accident? After a fall like that
anyone in their right mind would have put him in a neck brace
and back board before moving him. The so-called paramedics did
nothing of the sort, in fact made him get up and walk off, put
him in a chair and began manipulating his neck! How much more
blood and guts will skateboarders give television programming
before they realize their safety is not in the best interest of
their viewers? It's really too bad skateboarders didn't come up
with their own way of "advancement." And now the vert
jocks going along with the Olympic movement, can't get much worse.
We need to hit the reset button, get back to basics, and not consider
skateboarding success dependent on how many cars you drive or
getting a segment on "Cribs."
Our best goes out to Jake, and we hope
he will make a full and speedy recovery.
7/29/07
Articles - We covered the 4th annual Ramsay Skateboard
Competition, check it out.
7/28/07
We asked local skate artist Jim
Phillips to provide us with some info on his new book
fresh out, no doubt slated to be every skate collector's must-have:
 SKATEBOARD
ART OF JIM PHILLIPS
This retrospective on Jim's skateboard art boards the reader with
colorful skateboard decks, logos, ad art, ad layouts, photos and
stickers to illustrate the history of skateboarding from before
the urethane revolution up to the present. You are invited for
a ride, and an inside view of Phillips Studios, to observe the
wacky world of his crazed studio artists, and examine their graphic
assignments. The story traces the roots of skateboarding with
more than a half-century of Phillips' involvement. It provides
insight into the creative evolution of the sport and the worldwide
interest and influence that has occurred from this California
artist. 208 pages.
If you're feeling your hand screaming,
tell it to grab your credit card—Skateboard Art of Jim
Phillips can be ordered online
at Shiffer
Books for $29.95, or check with your local skate shop
to see if they are carrying it.
Good luck Jim!
7/26/07
Good article from the Wall
Street Journal about branded skate gear. Pretty much
validates what I keep saying about the industry being to blame
for their "world without pros" scheme. The only pros
that will be well-known are those on TV, and yet the industry
keeps pushing skateboarding towards the Olympics where then only
ONE pro will be well-known, the vert winner. Can anyone even name
the 2nd place winner of snowboarding half pipe in the O-Games?
7/25/07
7/20/07
Ramsay Skatepark Competition (ages 8 to 21) is tomorrow from 10
to 2pm. Real Skate will be one of the sponsors this year. We'll
be out there schmoozing and drumming up interest to get a permanent
park built replacing the metal ramps. Consolidated and SC Skateshop
have donated stickers to hand out at our booth and we'll be giving
out free bottled water. Come chill with us!
7/19/07
Ok this news
article is making me crazy. Read it and see what you
think yourself. A city is freaked out and requiring helmets because
a skater dislocated his shoulder? And they call it life thraetening?
Then, the fire department takes an hour using ropes and ladders
to get the kid out of a 10ft. bowl? Isn't that standard? An hour?
A 6ft. guy could have just walked or skated in right? I'm glad
my life doesn't depend on THAT fire department! Or is this some
kind of scare tactic propaganda. I see the city aims to go into
the helmet business though. Geeze.
7/18/07
FLIP DEMO IN GERMANY/WUPPERTAL
7/17/07
Skateboarding is Dying—FINALLY! Here is an interesting
article showing (according to the Sporting Goods
Manfacturers Association), skateboarding isn't quite the cat's
meow we have all been advertising it to be. Several years back
the SGMA statistics showed skateboarding high on the fastest growing
list: "More kids are skateboarding than registered in Little
League." It helped getting concrete skatepark approval, and
I think at least in California will continue to do so. They include
skateboarding in "extreme sports" which includes definite
extremes like motocross. I would think that is probably the most
popular spectator sport. I wonder if TV crews still stage the
X-Games spectators right around the vert ramps to make it appear
well attended on camera? I was at the X's when Tony did the 900
and I seriously don't think there were more than 50 people there.
Me and my crew were more interested watching the street skaters
practice haahahahah. By 2012 the O-Games might get 50 people
to watch a vert show, who knows.
7/10/07
TWS is publishing a story
written by Yoon Sul on the "Wild in the Streets"
final day in San Francisco. It sounds to me like WITS 2007 will
go down in history as a success. Unrelated to the ride, Yoon writes
of a very disturbing incident that happened afterwards that I
am posting in hopes of helping out this young woman.
"ONE MORE
THING—PLEASE READ!
On that night at Delores Park, some asshole was throwing M-80's
at crowds at the park. Look, I know I love fireworks, but not
dynamite, and I especially dont throw little sticks of dynamite
at crowds. One of the M-80's blew up the hand of Roisin Isner,
a drummer from the local SF band Tinkture. Unfortunatley, her
hand is now disfigured and lost a couple of fingers. Her music
career is over because of this asshole. I know that park was filled
with skaters, so if you were there and saw this asshole, hit up
roisin's father at chrisisner (at) hotmail (dot) com. He's offering
a $20,000 reward for this mark ass bitch. Here's a description
of the mark ass bitch: he was a white male, mid 20's, 5'10, had
a dark newspaper boy cap on and had a black with red plaid messenger
bag. He was last seen riding a medium blue fixed gear bike with
black wheels and stickers on the down tube. thanks." - Yoon
Sul
7/9/07
It is with heartfelt sadness to report that 20 year old Chelsea
"Chess" Peters, son of skateboarding legend Duane
Peters, was killed in an auto accident in Orange
County 7/6/07. Our condolences go out to all his friends
and family, we are so saddened. We will keep you posted of any
memorial services and jams.
7/7/07
Sorry for the delay, I've been gathering all the reports on arrests
and tickets Go Skateboarding Day brought to skaters. The worst
reported was in Hot
Springs, Arkansas: Advance media
reports looked grim on the upcoming
"Wild in the Streets" scheduled for July 4th
in San Francisco that Emerica puts on each year (normally on 7/21).
Misinformed press made it look like they were expecting a riot
of 5,000 skaters. I must admit, I was nervous and feared a big
mess would jeopardize the new skateparks plans for SF. Mark Waters
of Sole Tech/Emerica who organized and was at the event put it
all into perspective for us:
The Critical Mass
comparisons that have worked in the past don't work in SF due
to the history of the event and the militancy of that event in
SF compared to other cities. It really worked against us.
The police weren't
in the dark, in actuality. I was in touch with the Sergeant in
the Southern Station who was in charge since last Thursday, June
28, but the media was apparently asking the wrong people. We are
not in any hurry to cooperate with police unless we have to.
I'm not sure which
skatepark advocates you spoke with who didn't know anything about
it. The folks in SF sure did. They brought out a banner, and raised
more than $1000 at the barbeque and through Emerica.
As of Tuesday afternoon
deadlines at 4p.m., everything was very neutral/factual or positive.
As the event got closer and we released more info, everyone relaxed...
We turned the tide Tuesday with some key interviews and everything
from the day of the event was positive-There were the basic "skateboarding
hooligan" questions, but most of the interviews were handled
very well.
The funny thing about the police escort is that every time we've
done this event we've had police escorts-so this was not really
anything new or special to us. The cops know that anytime you
get a large group together you've got to make safety the number
one concern, and they've given us escorts in NYC, Philly, Chicago,
over the last few years...
I think the 5,000 came
from the expected attendance from a too-hyped media alert... The
actual number on-site at the start was 700-800, and probably 500-600
who made the skate. We cooked and gave away 360 hot dogs and 120
burgers and veggie burgers, 360 bags of chips, and 900 bottles
of water. I'd say that 3rd & Army had a solid 400 people for
90 minutes and another 250 for another couple of hours... It was
a fun session, although it was much smaller than the last two
years. I wasn't surprised based on the general SF hardcore attitude,
but it was still a bummer that the number was small. But other
than less people, the event was great in every way.
The Arkansas thing
was terrible, but actually very typical throughout the midwest
about skateboarding or anything else that doesn't fit their molds...
A very similar thing happened to me in Oklahoma City about ten
years ago... With no cameras there to film. - Mark
Here is the article
on Wild
in the Streets website.
6/30/07
Gary
Ream Doesn't Speak For Me - Bud Stratford
has pretty much summed it all up about skateboarding being inducted
in the Olympics and calls out Gary Ream of Camp Woodward, the
man most directly involved in doing just that. Please help spread
his article
and our Petition
around especially to those who may still be confused about this
and what it will mean to the future of skateboarding. So far,
all Gary's dealings has been behind closed doors, closed to the
public with mostly IASC members. There is nothing whatsoever informative
on the websites of his self-appointed president of International
Skateboarding Federation or USA
Skateboarding. He needs to listen to skaters. Hopefully
this will get his attention.
6/28/07
So
the battle is on! Who will win the the $$$$ for
being granted the "governing body of skateboarding?"
Gary Ream, owner of Camp Woodward gymnastics/bmx camp and on the
Cycling Federation, vs. FIRS and the Roller Sports Federation.
A gymnastics/bmx camp or a rollerskating camp? Isn't it a no-brainer
that skateboarding doesn't want either? Well, at least 99.999999%.
The only true voice of skateboarders that I can find is our petition
above. Please sign and spread the word. Stand up now, or these
men could ruin skateboarding forever, trust me on this one. Petition
Some pros who have signed it: Koston, Rob Roskopp, Bob Burnquist,
Eric Ellington and many more.
6/27/07
 Lee
Bender Benifit T-Shirt Lee was recently
diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. His friends in Arizona have
made a benefit T-shirt to help his family out with medical expenses.
$15 with $10 going directly to Lee. Log on to AZPX
Skateboards for details and please help out if you
can.
6/26/07
Element team coming to Santa Cruz/Capitola. I'm told the action
starts at noon and Strange Notes will be there to vid all the
fun! Muska, Nyja and all the team is scheduled to show up.
6/20/07
Go Skateboarding Day - To all the skaters planning to act
like total idiots in your city streets tomorrow for no apparent
reason other than the encouragement by the IASC, I just want to
say thanks a lot from those of us who have been striving for years
to gain respect of city officials for skateboarders.
6/16/07
Tony Hawk invents new trick—The 360° Flip Flop!
I think everyone who has read anything anywhere about skateboarding
has seen a similar quote from Tony:
"Someone has to stop the madness
with the Olympics. They need skateboarding way more than skateboarding
needs them." -Tony Hawk
He went on to speak about how lousy
the Ski Federation was to the snowboarders and how their pros
boycotted it. I even checked with him before posting his quote
in one of my articles to make sure he wanted that comment to be
set in stone. He said go for it. According to this article
in the NY Times and Herald Tribune this week he says:
"It is about time," according
to the skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, who has helped organize the
sport worldwide. I believe the chances are good skateboarding
will appear at the 2012 Games," Hawk wrote in an e-mail message.
"The Olympics desperately need a cool factor for their Summer
Games. They finally figured out that snowboarding is more popular
than curling during the winter. Now they need to make the same
realization for summer sports."
It was announced about the same time
last week that Tony has endorsed a mass production bicycle corporation,
Dynacraft. Ah OK. Tony serves as one of the VP's on Gary Ream
and Mike Jacki's self proclaimed governing body of skateboarding.
This and their International Federation of Skateboarding which
also seems to be nonexistent and is also not recognized by the
IOC must be the reason Gary got himself on the Cycling Federation
as he finagled betting BMX in the 2008 Olympics. What a smart
move on his part, owning high end BMX and skateboarding training
camps! Yeah, Tony, we need to stop this madness with the Olympics.
You have disappointed your own as we were counting on YOU to be
the one to stop it.
6/15/07
NO
SKATEBOARDING DAY! My boy Neal Boyd, super genius
of the skateboard world, and the one who brought us all "A
World Without CEO's" in response to IASC's attack
on shops, has struck the IASC again! Seriously, would you risk
getting a ticket or arrested for being a little heathian in the
streets for an IASC t-shirt? It's just another way they are using
you without caring about you. Way to go Neal, and thank you so
much for the shout out!
6/14/07
Oh boy the Olympic parodys are already starting to float around.
I don't know who to give credit, but thanks, this is great! Only
I'm sure Koston wouldn't be caught dead at the O-Games, he signed
our petition! If anybody has any more, please send them my way.
6/13/07
Concrete
Wave Magazine has a special spring
edition posted online for your viewing pleasure.
6/12/07
Imperial Beach Skatepark Design Meeting June 19th
The City of Imperial Beach will hold a public meeting to solicit
input and design ideas for a proposed Imperial Beach Skatepark
on Tuesday June 19th. Over the past year City staff and Imperial
Beach council members have worked with local skateboarders to
build support for a skateboard facility that would be built at
Sports Park. Last August more than 50 people attended a City of
Imperial Beach council meeting to urge the Mayor and Council to
move forward on the skatepark project. Supervisor Greg Cox has
provided a grant to the City of Imperial Beach for such a facility
Emily Young, the mother of two young skateboarders has been working
closely with city staff and council members to involve the skating
community in design efforts, "This is a great opportunity
for skaters of all ages to provide ideas for the type of facility
that will provide a great recreational resource for our children."
According to Young, "The Tony Hawk Foundation has been extremely
helpful in this process. We are grateful to Tony's brother Steve
who is a writer on HBO's "John from Cincinnati" for
connecting the City to the Foundation. I am hopeful that we can
work proactively with the City to identify a variety of grants
to build a park we can be proud of."
The meeting will be held on Tuesday
June 19th, 6:30–8PM at IB Sports Park recreational facility
at 423 Imperial Beach Blvd. For more information contact Tom Ritter
of the City of Imperial Beach at 619.423.8614 or contact WiLDCOAST
at 619.423.8665 ext. 201 info@wildcoast.net. WiLDCOAST will provide
pizza for meeting participants.
Serge Dedina, Ph.D. Executive Director, WiLDCOAST
925 Seacoast Dr.
Imperial Beach, CA 91932
Tel: 619.423.8665 ext. 202
Fax: 619.423.8488
sdedina@wildcoast.net
6/11/07
Well our petition (above) has kicked into gear since the announcement
that the Cycling Federation is going to try to include skateboarding
as an Olympic discipline. Anybody surprised? Let's backtrack a
bit. So Gary Ream, owner of Camp Woodward, sweeps up our group
forming to OPPOSE the Olympics saying he's going to protect it
and its look. He fails at getting skateboarding recognized as
a federation, so he gets a hot shot position on the Cycling Federation;
they kick out a women's cycling event and get in BMX for 2008.
Now he's acting not only as a cycling head, but the self proclaimed
president of the governing body of skateboarding, along with IASC
members and some vert pros. So he's consulting with himself whether
or not to get skateboarding into the cycling program? Camp Woodward
is a training camp right? So Gary has the training camps, a ramp
building company, in his mind is skateboarding's leader, cycling
leader, and he has Tony Hawk on his "governing body"
wow! Sounds like quite a one-man show to make one rich man even
richer, and the biggest conflict of interest I've ever heard of.
All at the expense of making skateboarding dorky. And Tony Hawk
has said repeatedly he is opposed to skateboarding being in the
Olympics. Where are you Tony, why aren't you speaking out against
this?
It's interesting how some skateboarders
are taking this. Some just see it as a television appearance for
4 days or so, no big deal. But it WILL be a big deal. It will
affect all competitive skateboarding at every level. Not to mention
the bad publicity skateboarders will get if even once a "doping"
violation happens. And they test at all times, not just during
the Olympics, they test during practice and can even go into your
home unannounced and hand you a sample jar! Seriously, if you
do just a little research you will see how badly the corruption
of the Olympics will affect skateboarding. Skateboarders have
a bad enough rep as it is, which we try and change every day to
our city officials and communities.
Thanks to Real Skate, we managed to
get Roller Sports disinterested in skateboarders through our e-mail
link to them. They gave in after floods of e-mails, they do not
want skateboarding because skateboarders don't want the Olympics.
Nuff said. The voices of many are very effective.
We all know skateboarding is not represented by any group, but
it takes a large consensus to get representation respected and
validated. Skateboarders are the voice.
So please take a minute to sign our petition (above). Spread the
word through your MySpace accounts and let's get another 10,000
signatures like we did on the helmet repeal petition!
Here is a link to contact the International
Olympic Committee
6/6/07
Update on Ali Boulala | 
