December 30, 2008

Locs...Ian Sherman

Sequence by Sam McGuire

Name: Ian Sherman

Age: 22

Nicknames: Shit Bag, Shermo, Pile, E, B.S.H.B, and I don’t care what you call me!

What's your deal? Working the park...trying to get motivated.

Where are you doing it? I live in Burnsville, but mostly in Minneapolis.

How high can you ollie? Huh? A deck or two...Maybe?

Can I have your board? You can have it after I break it...

Favorite local video: Weekend Warriors, Myskate.

Whats in your car? So much stupid shit...Maybe a condom or two that I never use...A bag of sweaty clothes...Some cig’s...Maybe some Volume decks!

It's a hot day, skating or swimming? Listening to Maiden drinking Odoul’s...trying to stay up!

Who's you favorite local skater? Munzka, Dennis (Burnt Dick), “Swash”, and DAVIS T!!!!!

Where's the best place to eat? Tin Shed, or AppleBee’s.

Mini-Ramp and beer or street? Street with a few Sparks fool!

How old are you in skate years? Almost ten… more if you can count my legs and ankle’s in!

It's 10PM on Saturday night, what are you doing? Some Jager and and some Coor’s Lite’s...playing Donkey Kong and wishing I were skating!

December 29, 2008

I Love Your Blog, Can I Touch It?

It's good to see that some dudes are out making the most of this bullshit. Rohrer rips and Max is that dude at the shop that I always see but never really got a name for, welcome to Plat Max. I gave Dom Randazzo a Platty for jumping off the roofs onto a table doing some ungodly thing in between the roof and the table but I called him Dom Randozzi so let's just call this a correction. Either way, good job dudes getting out and making something happen in the winter. I've been over it for sometime now.

Speaking of this whole winter bullshit and how much I'm over it, I just used a Placed with Kerry Getz for an upcoming issue of TSM as a full on diatribe against winter. Let me tell ya, I'm still in Arizona up in this mountain town where my dad lives and shit has been trife, weather wise. You don't think of AZ and 30 degrees and snow but brother I've been living it, and all in all I'd been checking the weather in Minne and it wasn't that much worse than it was here. At least until today; shit was 55 and sunny. Booya. Here's another installment of posts from the hotel room with no internet:

Or I thought I'd had it. My computer just froze like 20 ago and that has been lost to the world of 10101010000101010. Oh well, here is the gist of it.

I'd just listened to this On The Media story which discusses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the bath in my hotel. It was sick. The story details the problems with the manual and how the fact that as ever newer disorders are categorized in every volume, the drug companies have more designer drugs to manufacture and market to the people. I for one am against the rampant use of prescription drugs to take care of life's smaller ailments, but all in all some are necessary and for the greater good. I've also noticed that I'm quite the neurotic and that I've been told a little help would do me well. Ok. Then I thought about how all my friends and then skateboarders in general are all a bit nuts and that's ok with me. The story concludes on the idea that all these newly categorized and endorsed disorders only raise the bar on being normal, and while mental illness really does fuck shit up, we have to be aware that the biggest disorder of them all might be thinking that there is something normal out there. Or something. Believe it or not, I not only lost the first edition of the post which I'm trying to summarize, but I lost my first try at a summary. So here it is; hit up the link and listen to the story or read the transcript because my girl Brooke Gladstone is way more eloquent than I can be a third time through.

Moving on, recognize the skills in that cha'boy J...er...Pilot Light over at BTO aka Boil the Ocean has been doing a stellar job of re-capping the ten or so best video parts of the '08 complete with links to the parts, many of which I was unaware of, complete with fully proper nerdily and thickly written rationales. The blog is indeed hot. His listful and loving ranking made me think of:

My Top Three Interviews With Rad People In Weird Places

1. In Mandan, North Dakota in the parking lot of Mandan High with Nick Trappasso.

2. In the parking lot of Best Buy in Phoenix, Arizona, with Patrick O'Dell.

3.In Viking's apartment in Spanish Harlem with Brian Lotti.

;it should be noted that I wrote the Flick for Midwest Marauders while in transit between Bismarck and Fargo. Also note that directly after completion of said Flick we attempted to skate some fullpipes at a fullpipe factory and it was wet out so we tied plastic bags over our shoes. That didn't work and there was constantly three feet of standing putrid water keeping us from the pipes. After that we high-tailed it to Grand Forks and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Platinumseagulls, home to the floating semi-colon. I'm out! Holler to my friends, I'm home today!

December 28, 2008

December 26, 2008

SPRNTRL SECRETS

Supernatural's "Chill Chill Tour" outtakes, 2001

December 25, 2008

NBA Dudes and Our Dudes

Photo via Free Darko

I wrote this sitting in a hotel room drinking a big beer watching strong man competitions with no internet. Nerded out so hard! Call the b.s. as it is in the comments. Isn't that artwork sick even though it has nothing to do with anyone mentioned in the post?

Eric Koston=Lebron James

Why it works: It's simple, both are loved, can do whatever they want, whenever they want, have a long legacy with signature shoes, and both have been mind-boggling since early on. While Koston has always had a good team to back him up, Lebron recently does too; and both can handle many different roles, Koston has done 540s on vert, and Lebron will end up playing point forward when the game really matters.

Why it doesn't work: Lebron is only 23, Koston is about ten years his senior. Koston signing with Zoo York in 2010 has never come up, and Koston was SOTY, Lebron has never been MVP, at least yet.

Alternatives: Kobe Bryant; Koston is a Lakers fan and they share the honor of being the best dude in their respective fields for a year. Koston though, has never felt the level of distaste or controversy that Kobe has, thus ruling him out.

Marc Johnson=Steve Nash

Why it works: Both are extremely crafty, both are in their thirties, both have been named the essential MVP in recent years, and both seem to have a sardonic sense of humor. MJ is your go-to technician who can go big if necessary, Nash is the same; a cross-over to bounce pass while triple-teamed assist to dunk is essentially the same thing as a switch noseblunt slide to hop over a rivit to backside noseblunt slide to fakie. Both are weird.

Why it doesn't work: MJ is not Canadian, and he's bald, thus, no bad haircuts. Steve Nash plays for a team that is more boring now than it was a year or two ago; MJ is still on Chocolate and they have not gotten boring, at all. Shaq does not ride for Chocolate, yet.

Alternatives: Jason Williams; White Chocolate was equally crafty and made his name while playing for a so-so team. Alas, Williams toned down his game and became a more standard performer before winning a ring with the Heat while MJ has never toned down his game and is still excelling, MJ was SOTY.

Danny Way=Dwayne Wade

Why it works: They share initials, both play/ride for high-profile teams, DWay has been SOTY, DWayde has been Finals MVP. Both go for broke and have had their fair share of injuries, from broken necks to dislocated shoulders to knee problems to broken ankles. They get gnar.

Why it doesn't work: Way is much older than Wayde, Shaq was never on Plan B, though if Sal Barbier and Sean Sheffey combined maybe Shaq did ride for them. Wade is not a shoe in for the Hall of Fame, yet, Way is already there.

Alternatives: Alonzo Mourning; getting a new kidney and coming back is much akin to breaking one's neck and coming back, though Mourning hasn't been nearly as game changing or successful as Way has been.

Kerry Getz=Kevin Garnett

Why it works: Intensity, intensity, intensity. While Getz focuses boards, it's obvious that Garnett would love to focus a ball. Both came from relative obscurity, i.e. highschool and a yogurt factory. Both have only played/ridden for only two different teams. Both are consistent. On their respective teams they are surrounded by talent equal or greater than their's.

Why it doesn't work: Getz is not insane, KG has been MVP and is not friends with Bam.

Alternatives: Rasheed Wallace; both have a temper and both never seem to live up to their potential...both are part of extremely strong teams...it doesn't work because Getz doesn't have a white spot in his hair, I guess...

Sean Malto=Chris Paul

Why it works: Both are young men and the ceiling only seems to go higher after every passing year; They're beloved by their teammates and are both small for their position, but equally crafty. Three out of their four names are first names. Both are potentially at the top of their respective fields though it's going to take a year or two. Both can actually ball, and each are conservatively awesome while getting the job done.

Why it doesn't work: CP3 doesn't play for an elite team, Malto does. CP3 is not BFF with Mikey Taylor.

Alternatives: Brandon Roy; Malto was never traded away for someone not nearly as good as he is, but, that's about it, otherwise it works too.

December 24, 2008

Twisted Christmas

click for foote

Got the Glue Factory X-mas video above, it rips, let's talk about fruckin' Nate huh? Yeah. Good times.

McGuire on Wednesdays with Reda.

I turn 27 tomorrow. Wish me luck.

December 19, 2008

08' Platty's

I think I remember that I did the original Platty's in March of this same year, but alas, the whole damn thing is lost to the world of 101001010101's and such. Time magazine just did their lists issue, and it's close enough to being the end of the year, seeing as how of this writing it is the fifteenth of December, yet this is to post days later. Anyways, here is the time for me to poke fun at my friends, actually praise them, note things that actually are important, or just make shit up. Nonetheless, here are the 2008 Platty Awards:

Local Boy Done Better Than Good: Davis Torgerson

Older Than His Years: David Jaimes

Really, Best Video Part of the Year: CJ Tambornino

Best Local Vid of the Year: Duh, Boondoggle

Rad Bloody Dad: Luke Hunt

Singled Out: Me, Extreme

Still Cute Together: Me, Extreme

URL RIP: Cherryonaspoon.com

Most Eligible Bachelor: Ryan Hansen

Naked Man: Juri Loginov

To the Glue Factory then: Jamiel Nowparvar

Still Cares: Chad Benson

Epicly NYC'd: Viking, EC, Cynthia, Laurie, Stacy...

Still Old School Olu Pratt, Me

World Tours: Todd Bratrud

Who, Me Worry?: Sam McGuire

Event of the Year: Red Wave Challenge

Delirium: Johnny Vang's bachelor party

A New Leaf: Keith Spettel

The New Hotness: Gorgeous mostly Jewish girls.

Born Again: Hardflip.com

Greener than green: Seth McCallum

No Longer Dreaded: Cody Banks, let's keep it that way.

Soon To Be Rad Dad: Steve Nesser

Best Skatepark: Oakdale

The new Ken Kesey?: Tucker Gerrick

Confirmed Suspect: Wayne Cummings Jr.

Onto the Table???: Dom Randozzi

Dude Doesn't Even Skate: Sam Cassidy

BIG Baby: Rocco Espinoza

It's just a frontside bigspin: Danny Jansen

Dickies: Dan Narloch

Wedded: Johnny Vang and FT, congrats!

Free At Last!: Steve Gareri

Lurker of the Year: The Mantis

Still skates: Ryan Damian I swear.

My Band of '08: Belle and fucking Sebastian.

My City of the Year: NYC for about two or three days, MPLS for the other 362 or so.

That's what's up. Be sure to comment and let me know how wrong I got it.

December 17, 2008

Gentlemen

Took the train out to the MOA yesterday because driving sucks, ended up at Hooters drinking $3 Heinekens trying to get drunk at the mall. Ah winter! Next time we're bringing sippy cups and just will hit the wine store there in the mall and slip into the bathroom be good.

Took the train to Triple Rock and proceeded to down Newcastles because it was still winter and everyone seemed to be in bed last night by ten but it was straight. Dance party on the stage and this chick just loved photographing us and I got her number then deleted it. School's out and that's how it's gonna be for a while, rigged a ride home and the Gentleman's Tuesday was through.

Thoughts on the poll, I think Tigger ended up getting banned from the city, Nate still probably knows Ghetto Stash (the early vote leader-wonder why?), I saw Buckland do kickflip backside nosegrind reverts in like '98, and rumor has it that Dave Cardwell evidently landed on switch tre flips down the Reliastar Ten (now ING) at some point in the mid-90's. So there you go, random thoughts on random old Locs.

Ellis has been gettin' nostalgic over at Wiskate and it's good stuff. Did Rolo win? Can I really make a run with this Rolo thing, and when's he coming out of hiding anyways? I liked those shoes. Jammin' Jays blog, you should peep it out.

That's probably it.

Ten things in '09

Five trips to the steep-bank of doom, one nollie heel flip fakie landed on the fifth trip three different times. I landed on the one above, didn't ride away. I gotta film another video part, and I'm glad I never have to skate that stupid thing again, no matter how fun it really was; Photo by Joe Blum.

1. Film another video part. I was talking about Weekend Warriors in a post below, and now I gotta get two minutes of foote in a year, when my (usable) two minutes of foote for WW took about three years to get. Wish me luck.

2. Stay on track to finish school in a timely manner. Shit's about to get hectic.

3. Get the hell to Mazatlan.

4. NYC, LA, and maybe like, Austin, TX?

5. Handle a ton of Lurfing.

6. Unlock my I-phone.

7. (Not) completely and utterly lose all faith in the Timberwolves as a team, organization, and as a motherfuckin' crew. Could be harder than filming a video part.

8. Europe?

9. Write about something other than skateboarding, have it published, and get paid for it. I'm pretty much fine with this at #9 though.

10. More cabins, more sneaking into hotels and using the hot-tub, more hot-tubs in general, more rooftops, more biking, more fine dining, more reading; more awesome, since this is #10.

On the outside looking in: Quitting sinning, escaping hell, win all the Dew Tour stops, get that Black Amex-why not?, see Iron Maiden in Sweden, get someone to name their first-born after me, perfect the hecto-buck (the most dangerous of them all), make sure that Beer Up, Bro Down Part II happens, go to some really crappy city for no reason, somehow get another skate-photo published in a magazine, get a clip in Beez 4, make out with a chick while listening to November Rain again, write the Great American Novel.

December 16, 2008

More Poll Answers

To each his or her own, but I'd go to NYC, followed by LA. The correct answer made a late push after lagging for a minute, indeed, Ms. Birch is hot, look no further than Ghost World, and also make note of Thora's pedigree. It was a recount to the bottom, either answer works, though I lean towards Coleman being worse.

Bonus Graph: The awesomeness of the internet strikes again.

December 15, 2008

Congratulations Luke and Kirt!

Vincent Foslien Hunt

They may not have named him Munzy Sam Benji Hunt, but that's OK, he looks great! Congrats Luke and Kirt!

A Life's Pursuit

If you can believe it, Weekend Warriors will be three years old come February. Come next year, December to be precise, Midopoly will be ten years old. Hot damn! It's hard to say what I've been doing skateboard-wise since WW came out, though I think that Steve pretty much hit's it on the nose when he tells be there's more out there than PBR and mini-ramps. Ah hell though, up above is the WW line-up before Bauman was brought into the fold; must have been spring of '05, look closely and see the affects of Jagermeister on my face.

So yeah, it looks like Wayne turned himself in. I like Turkey's bravado in the comments regarding the original story about the perv above, but you gotta figure the guy was targeting the kids that were least likely to drop his ass. You know?

Davis does some ripping via Nike at Tampa, and he looks good doing it, but then the real world steps back in and he's just another dude working at the shop. Paradoxical!

Onward to basketball; see how many teams you can name in three minutes. I got 24 my first try, and four hours later I topped out at 28. More on KG talking shit. I can't help but think about all the shit-talking that takes place during a normal session; what purpose does it serve anyways...?

We used to rip The Front hard back in the day and then go play leg guitar on the street. Yup, same night, look into my eyes in the photo above and it makes sense. We walked back to 1072 that night. It's easy to be all nostalgic when it's this goddamn cold out.

If you can be there be there, I can't...

I'm stating the obvious, but Mind Field is going to fucking melt faces, just look at the line-up there son. Carry on.

Be sure to jump over some of your friends or other random shit this week!

December 13, 2008

The Joke Ain't So Funny Anymore

Philmer Phil emailed tonight, and this story is what the email contained. It was a running joke, more than understood, but when I think of it it was all speculation, at least up until now. Remember that creepy ass dude Wayne? Well we were right, here's the story wholly copy and pasted from The Strib, someone catch that pervert:

Former Rogers skate park owner is wanted on sex charges

The former owner of a skate park in Rogers was charged Friday with showing pornography to teenage boys and inappropriately touching them.

Wayne Lee Cummings Jr., 31, faces four felony charges of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct and one felony charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Police were unsure of the man's address, and authorities are trying to find him.

According to the criminal charges, Cummings owned the Showcase Skate Park in Rogers between December 2007 and October 2008. During that time, he is accused of making boys sit on his lap, rubbing their shoulders and thighs, discussing sex in detail and showing them pornography on the skate park's computer. He also hosted sleep-overs at the skate park and slept with his arms around the teens, the charges said.

One 16-year-old boy told police that Cummings once tried to handcuff him to a bench. Five boys between 14 and 16 told police that Cummings touched them, according to the charges, including one who reported that Cummings drew on him with a marker.

Anyone with information about Cummings' whereabouts is asked to call police at 1-888-988-TIPS.

Locs...Eddie Kochendorfer

Photo by Sam McGuire

Name: Edward Kochendorfer

Age: Old enough to get a supplying to minors ticket.

Nicknames: Teck Ed, Edword, Squidword, Fast Eddie..

What's your deal? What's Jamiel's deal?

Where are you doing it?: Hopefully on silk sheets!

How high can you ollie? Not that high...

Can I have your board?: Didn't I already give you one?

Favorite local video: I agree with Shay..

Whats in your car? Don't own one of those..next question please..

It's a hot day, skating or swimming? Swimming then skating! Ya digems!

Who's your favorite local skater? Are they all locals? Everyone is killin' it!

Where's the best place to eat? In my moms kitchen..she merks! And if you don't know now you know! Our last name means village chef..moms merks!

Mini-ramp and beer or out in the streets all day? Beer and street! Ya heard meh!

How old are you in skate years? Ask Jamiel, we been in this together.. I think I started a half year after that man...

It's 10 PM on a Saturday night, what are you doing? Just starting to get buck with some homies and some homegurls!..sexy ones!

December 12, 2008

One More Thing

Is The Future Living Up To The Hype?

On the phone the other day Sam was telling me that he did a ton of epic shit that he never told me about because he was afraid that it would end up here. Finally something happened where I was front and center then chaboy Malto went and posted some pictures and here we are.

Sam called me last night at 2:00 AM.

I answered the phone typically haggard because I'd been sleeping a couple of hours, "Hello? What's Up?"

Sam deadpanned, "What are you doing?" He sounded like a robot or something.

"Um, trying to sleep."

"Oh cool," said robo-Sam, "I have no idea where I am."

Weird. Before I get much more out, Sam went ahead and said, "Oh wait, I think these people are picking me up." Off the phone, "Hey, were are guys going." Dead phone. I went back to sleep but it was weird.

Enter this and then this. Oh hells yeah. Phone call explained, he was just blacked out drunk in Cali after the Sole-tech X-mas party or something. Oh sweet. Sam, that story about you burning that girls costume on Halloween and all that stuff about that other stuff is still safe with me.

Otherwise...otherwise...Fink pointed out some random dude in the second Alex Olson episode rocking a Lair T. Right? Peep the screen shot below: Anybody know that dude?

What else? Oh yeah, I guess we were Sanger's site of the week some time ago: I don't know if I remember seeing that one ever.

Remember when EXPN did that thing about Plat? Am I too lazy to track down the link? I guess not, there's the story. I recently stumbled upon some bloggy reaction to it, it's pretty rad, read it right here. I'm going to run with that whole, "the fact that these are four of the most well known sites out there for skaters," thing. Sweet.

Anybody looking to buy Platinum? Just got this shit appraised. I was looking through my bookmarks to see if there was any lurking content that was unaccounted for, and yes, I had to post this Todd Brown video, even if I was trying to hold out and use it for his Locs. Maybe I still can. Originally the video was supposed to be for this super re-edit compilation video that Meyer was doing, another scrapped project I guess. Let Turkey make your weekend gangster-I'm out!

Locs...Juri Loginov

Name: Juri Sorso Loginov

Age: Sweet 16ish.

Nicknames: Juri KILLS, Juripalooza.

What's your deal: Being awesome.

Where are you doing it? MPLS/St. Paul , European Union.

How high can you ollie? Over your house.

Can I have your board? Can I have yours?!

Favorite local video: Any of the Benji's flicks and upcoming Familia vid.

What's in your car? Not much,keeping it clean.Oh wait ,case of red wine.

It's a hot day, skating or swimming? Both,but mainly swimming.

Who's your favorite local skater? Rada and Bovee.

Where's the best place to eat? Home made meal with friends and wine.

Mini-Ramp and beer or street? Mini-Ramp and Beer,less impact. But streets are always fun!!!

How old are you in skate years? Sweet 16ish.

It's 10P.M. on Saturday night, what are you doing? Keeping it legendary with my friends! You've probably heard of us.

December 11, 2008

Arms...

I'm trying to think of someone who consistently looks better than Keenan Milton did on a skateboard, and I'm not thinking of anyone right now.

December 10, 2008

Wha-Cha!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Locs...Davis Torgerson

Photo by Sam McQuire

Name: Davis Torgerson

Nicknames: Torgy

Age: 19

What's your deal? Just some dude...

Where are you doing it? For the most part it would have to be Minneapolis.

How high can you ollie? People still ask this question?

Can I have your board? Nah I just lost mine...

Favorite local video: Open Iris

Whats in your car? A ton of garbage, some flood lights, extension cords, more garbage...

It's a hot day, skating or swimming? Skate then jump in a cold lake.

Who's you favorite local skater? David Jaimes, Pat Gallaher, Dan Narloch, Munzy.

Where's the best place to eat? Steak Knife has been killing it lately.

Mini-Ramp and beer or street? Street means more than one place, so probably that.

How old are you in skate years? Almost 7.

It's 10PM on Saturday night, what are you doing? Chilling with the homies.

December 9, 2008

That Old Dude

I judged Damn Am this past summer and one of the judges, DC Bob, kept referring to Nate as "that old dude." After a while I stopped correcting him even if Nate is still young, and will always be Junior to me one way or another.

Nate also possesses one of the top five switch flips ever, and the world should be waking up to this as he blasts one over that sketchy ass gap at Farmer's Market; peep page seven of Internet Slap for the context of it all, and note Worrest's backtail backside flip out at Square Triangle on page five. The Familia Blog clued me into all of this, thanks!

Did Wiskate just get weirder?

CJ foote from the Thrasher site at Tampa AM. They didn't know his name but you do.

SPRNTRL TOUR-2001

December 8, 2008

4-15

I haven't mentioned much regarding my beloved though much maligned Timberwolves recently, trying to keep in mind that old mantra that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all (though that's pretty much only been extended to the lowly T-Pups, since you know, we hate on stuff sometimes...). But there's actual news here with the chance for a tad bit of analysis, they fired Randy Wittman and now Kevin McHale will be the head coach. Here's the kicker though, and I'm still awaiting further news on the matter...McHale is strictly the coach now, and no longer the General Manager.

This has a ton of implications, seeing as how McHale is fully in control of McHale's Monster, and now if he's not the GM, does that mean The Mayor, Mr. Fred Hoiberg takes over? Will McHale take over as GM after his coaching stint is up when we hopefully hire a more well-known coaching quantity next summer (ex-Wolf and recently fired Toronto Coach Sam Mitchell anyone?)? I would love to hope so, but you know, the Wolves do as the Wolves always go. It sucks that Wittman is really getting the short end here, in light of what he has to work with, but hopefully (and I'm not just a blind-McHale/Glen Taylor basher here), just hopefully, what we're hearing right now is the first couple of notes of Kevin McHale's swan song with this franchise.

So that's that for now. I'm going to the game on Friday and it'll be interesting to see what the hecklers have to say to McHale when he's front and center on the bench. I think I pity the fool.

Onto other things, the ever elusive Damiano has posted a bevy of memories over at his tea party; highlights include pirates, the young Whodi, this, and definitely this. Rumor has it he has more; who remembers when he shot skate photos too? Hidden gems I hope.

LOA did it again, this time with the mindfuckingly radical Chris Dane Owens, one mystical, epic dude. Sit through the whole thing and you won't look at reality the same, ever.

Wiskate's Tenth Birthday is coming up quick, and while I was invited to a birthday jam in Milwaukee of sorts and totally forgot to text Sanji back because I was busy winning a game of Scrabble and now I realized that I can't make it due to being booked solid through January, if there's nothing holding you back make it out there when the information goes live. Ten years in skate website years is like the age of the universe or something, hecka old. Thanks to Ellis and co. and Al Gore for making Wiskate a reality.

Finally, check out this article about Beethoven and the Illuminati. I couldn't help much but see the parallels between the following and the current phenomena of our batch of home-schooled skate prodigies:

Which is to say that Beethoven was a prodigy and had the classic prodigy's trouble: He knew all about music, but he didn't know how to live. He had only a hazy sense of the reality of other people. Throughout Beethoven's youth, a row of mentors would attempt to civilize and socialize him, with mixed results.

That sounds about right in light of some of my dealings with the current crop of never-had-a-jobbers, but whatever. Aside from alluding to the short lived board company, any connections to the Illuminati side of the story are still forthcoming, though I must say that the Beethoven to Illuminati connections, tantalizing in some conspiracy minded way, may not be tenuous but there still isn't much of a payout.

Bonus: When KG lost his mind after winning the Finals this past summer, you'd think that he'd eventually find it again. Not really it seems, here he is taunting the hell out of Jose Calderon, and for this next one, pay attention, he actually gets down on all fours when he's picking up Jarryd Bayless. I have no idea why he's guarding the point guard in the first place, but whatever. KG is insane.

December 6, 2008

Steady Cam'n

The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

I have no recollection of why Benji had rented a steady cam mount but that meant shit was on. Hey, let's have a photo shoot in the basement and dork out with the thing. It was some summer and Sam was crashing down there and he shot the photo above. Wearing a steady cam mount is really strange and cumbersome; you feel like an android, or some shit-yeah? The whole rig-up thing doesn't really even work that intuitively, and I really have much respect for people that can run that type of thing. A point in case, my favorite scene from my favorite movie, the oh so famous steady cam scene from Goodfellas imbedded below: It really gets no better than that. Lorraine Bracco is a hit for sure as well, and while she's played alternately Jewish girls and Italian girls in film, I'll just chalk her up as yet another Jewish girl I can have a crush on.

And so it seems the steady cam begets the long single take scene; Ty Evans knows what's up and gets steady with this amazing video. It's almost a shame that 411 isn't around in its original form so proper skate commercials get widely seen, but maybe the internet is more effective. Yeah. Babbling?

While "researching" this post, I rewatched Vincent Alvarez's part and got sparked on it. Fast skating and stylish imperfection will never go out of style; now I just need someone to purportedly check their pager during a line again.

If you didn't check the previous link know that it was Kareem Campbell, one of the most innately stylish skaters ever who possessed the pop that we all fucking want.

But yeah, this went way random, and I just want to say that I saw Kareem at The Berrics this summer and he had a skateboard and we were there for two hours or so but he never skated. It kind of sucked, if only for that what if factor. I'd have loved to seen him push.

As a wrap up to all this nerd out video type shit, check out A Visual Sound's write up on Penal Code, for proper musical nerd-out on one of the best skate videos ever made.

December 4, 2008

All The Fundamentals

I had some awesome ATF swishy pants back in the day. Yeah Bucky.

Beezaholics, check it out.

The second Carroll Epicly Later'd is heavy duty, and has some illuminating information in it. Skateboard journalism at its best-but I've said that before.

Chirp it.

Whatever, I'm over it.

December 3, 2008

Vote Davis/CJ in '08

Go vote for your choice of Davis or CJ for Damn Am of the Year.

December 2, 2008

Our Porch...

Never said anything, but I wish it would.

December 1, 2008

Never New Jacked-Keegan Sauder

Photo Jacked

The first ever Q and A interview I did for The Skateboard Mag was with Keegan Sauder more than two years ago. Lo and behold, they never ran it because Keegan was hurt at the time and his photos got old or something...So it goes right? I probably haven't looked at the thing in just about as long of a time, and man, that introduction is pretty bad, but the interview turned out ok. Anyways, here it is, seeing the light of day for the first time ever:

I spoke to a handful of Keegan Sauder’s friends for the following interview to learn more about him. If there was one theme that carried throughout all the conversations, it was that everyone was genuinely excited to talk about Keegan. In turn, I was looking forward to conducting the interview, and my hunch was correct, Keegan Sauder is rad person to talk to. I can only wish that my friends would carry on in a similar fashion about me.

I found out the other day that the new “old man” age in skateboarding is 25. That’s what Tucker at the skateshop said at least, and honestly, I agree. With that in mind, Keegan, at 25, just fits into that category. New jack or not, he’s been ripping for some time now, and I for one, am happy to see that he’s got some good solid footing beneath him. As one gets older in skateboarding, interests tend to diverge and diversify, and you’ll see that Keegan is no exception. Read on about this old man/new jack, and be sure to investigate Stunt Rock.

You’re boogie boarding?

Yeah, I’m just with my friend Adam, and we just went out, and then it got too cold. Maybe I’m just being a pansy though.

Where’d you grow up?

I grew up in British Columbia, starting off in a small town called Nelson. I lived there until I was 15, then lived on Vancouver Island in Victoria for three years, until I was 18. Then after that, Vancouver, and then traveling, but mostly home base is Vancouver. I’m kind of in the midst of trying to move to California. I think it’s time for a change. I just need to get out, and I might as well take advantage of all the opportunity I can, while I can. I don’t think anyone is going to want me to come skate for them and live in California when I’m 35. This is probably something I should have taken advantage of a long time ago, but for whatever reason it just didn’t happen.

How old are?

I’m 25 now.

I’ve seen you around for a while, coverage wise, how long have you been doing the sponsored thing?

I guess since I was about 17, I think. No, no, I was 15, when I first started getting stuff. It started off with a skateshop called the Boarding House, in Vancouver, that started helping me getting stuff for a good price, and keeping me skating. Then a really small company called Cherry Bombs out of Vancouver, when I was about 15. Then Deluxe, then Real, then Adrenalin for a while, then Stereo, and now Zero.

Are you working now, a job to keep you skating?

Not for the last year, I’ve been lucky enough to live the life of not having a regular job and just skating has been taking care of me.

You used to be a figure skater? How long did you do that for, what’s it all about?

Yeah, I’m completely guilty of that. I think I was nine years old when I started taking ice skating lessons, and then where the average person would quit, and start playing hockey, if you stay in it, it just turns into figure skating lessons. And I have no idea why or how, but I just stayed in it, got figure skates, and then did that for a year and half. And then slowly…I was about 11 years old when the indoor skatepark opened up in Nelson, and as soon as that opened I was way more into skateboarding then ice-skating. At the same time, ice skating, all the lessons, just got more and more boring and repetitive and serious, so I’d just be sitting there basically doing figure eights on one foot for a half hour, just thinking about leaving so I could go to the skatepark. And after about a week of that, I was over it.

It seems like you could get pretty worked figure skating.

I guess so, I never really made it to the point where I was gnarly or anything, like doing triple axles, nothing like that. I was still really small at that point, and just doing really, really basic stuff, but it was fun. It’s really good for your balance, I’ll say that much for sure. My mom’s probably bummed, she never got to have a kid in the Olympics.

How long have you been into motorcycles, and what got you into them?

It’s been five years now, starting, I think it was New Year’s Day, 2001. My friend Dylan, me and him were hanging out that day, new years day, did a bit of skating, got a coffee and stuff. We were just stoked, getting over hangovers. I asked him what he was doing, and he just said he was going to pick up a motorcycle, and I was pretty caught off guard. Then I went to his house, and he had this rad Honda CB350 in his basement, and the engine was in a milk crate. I just sat on it, and he started talking about going on camping trips and riding and just working on it and having a project, and I was pretty much sold. Two weeks later I bought my first bike, and that’s been it ever since.

Have you ever dumped your motorcycle, ever slammed?

Yeah, luckily nothing too serious, all my friends know about this one. I was camping at this spot, and to get to it you had to lift up this cable that was strung up across the road at about waist height. Me and my friend Will were just sitting around the camp fire, well, we did have a couple of beers, and then we were going to ride up the road because some friends of ours were driving in and we were going to meet them. I even told them as we set off, “Don’t forget about the cable,” and I forgot about the cable. And I saw it when it was about ten feet in front of me, I was only going about 15 miles an hour, but it was just gravel, so I grabbed a hand full of front brake, and then just slid out and dove under the cable off the bike, and put the first dent in my gas tank. Nothing serious, the bike was still running, I just picked it up and we took off. He showed up and he’d dumped his bike too in wet grass, so I didn’t feel so bad.

I heard about a whiskey bottle in Big Sur?

We just camp out, we try and barge spots, and just roll our bikes down pathways, and just hide out and not pay camping fees. And there is a whiskey bottle in Big Sur, buried at the base of a tree behind the Henry Miller library. It was actually this bottle I bought on a trip last year, I thought it was good stuff, but it was actually pretty horrible, so I just buried it to age it longer. I didn’t revisit it yet on this trip, so it’s still there. One of these times I’ll hit it, but I think I’ll have to wait until my friend Maybe is with me, because I buried it with him.

What’s the name, Maybe?

Yeah, Maybe, that’s a crazy Australian guy.

Dylan mentioned you ended up stuck in Thailand with nothing but a tailored suit.

I actually didn’t even have the suit with me, I sent it on with the friend I was traveling with,. I was in Australia, and I had to leave, because I’d stayed my three months maximum. I wanted to stay longer, and to do that I had to leave the country for a minimum of 24 hours, just to leave, so you can reenter, so I decided to go to Thailand for a month. I didn’t bring my ticket back to Canada, from Australia, and when I went to board the plane in Thailand to fly to Australia, I didn’t have a work visa or proof of my ticket out of Australia, so they couldn’t let me on the plane. All my bags were checked in, so they already went, and I had to spend about 28 hours in the airport. I was just phoning some people, some friends helped me out a lot during that one, and I had to get a copy of my ticket faxed to the airport. All I had with me was cut off jean shorts, the dirtiest button up shirt you can ever imagine, a passport, a wallet, an umbrella that I found on the side of the road, and flip-flops. Needless to say, when customs in Australia stopped me, they were not stoked. I got grilled, harder than I’ve been grilled before. To add to all of it, I think it was just part stress, and part just food, I got really sick and as soon as the plane started to taxi to leave Bangkok I just got diarrhea, and the whole time I was getting grilled by customs I thought I was going to shit myself. (Laughter) It’s funny in retrospect, but at the time it was a nightmare.

What was it like doing the Harvey Spanos movie?

At times it was stressful just because of everyone working on it, namely, my friend Corey (Adams), who was in charge and pretty stressed out, but all in all it was pretty fun.

You’ve got more stuff lined up working with him?

Yeah, I think he’s dropped a few hints about it. It sounds like we could be doing something in Eastern Europe next year. It sounds pretty good. I haven’t been pestering him about it all though because I think, for the last eight months, all anyone asks him when they see him on the street is how the movie is going, so I just try to make a conscious effort to leave him alone so he wouldn’t snap on me. I think it’s just going to get bigger and better with those guys.

I think Corey was telling me that you’ll get hyped on Devo, or let’s say a Metallica “Kill ‘Em All” DVD, and that’s kind of your thing for a while.

Yeah, I have tendency when I find something I like I just get obsessed with it until all my friends want to kill me. You know, it happens with everything, it could be a song, it could be a video, food, it doesn’t really matter. I just usually get obsessed and then just play it out until I can’t even stand it, and then a month later I’m back on to the same thing.

What’s going on with Devo nowadays?

Ah man, if you ever get a chance to see Devo live, and if you’re a fan of Devo, I highly recommend it, it’s probably the best show you’ll ever see. I just saw them in Seattle recently, it was good.

What’s Stunt Rock?

Stunt Rock is a fuckin amazing movie, and an amazing album as well. Go to sorcerymusic.com and figure it out. Basically the best band ever, a model of how we should all live our lives.

You love tea and chocolate too?

Uh yeah, dark chocolate, definitely obsessed with that. And tea time is always the right time.

You turned Tony Cervantes onto tea, you kind of blew his mind with it?

Yeah, actually he had a sore throat once at the Zero house, and I handed him a little, some kind of herbal tea, and he looked at me like “What do I do with this”, and I didn’t know he was serious but I guess he’d never made tea at the time, so yeah, I showed him the way.

What’s up with the Zero house, where’s that at?

Rest in peace, it was in Vista, we had some good times there. Nothing too crazy, but, what can I say about that place? I don’t know, we smashed Matt Winterberg’s (Zero filmer) car to pieces.

How’d you end up getting on Zero?

I guess it was instigated through Scott Pommier? I think I was just talking with him and I didn’t really feel like I was fitting in, or in the right spot with Stereo. And then, yeah I guess he just mentioned it to Jamie, and then, one thing led to another, and here I am. I’m really happy about the whole situation, its’ good, I like where I’m at now.

Are you guys working on a video?

Everyone else is, I haven’t really…I’ve been hurt, hopefully I’ll have some stuff in there. We’ll see what happens, I don’t know, I haven’t really been able to deliver too much lately.

Dylan says you enjoy a good nature swim?

A nature swim?

Yup, those are his words.

Oh that guy always has to mention something like that. Yeah, swimming naked, why wouldn’t ya? Throw in some phosphorescents, maybe a full moon.

Want to list your sponsors?

Yeah, I’m probably going to forget someone though, so here goes. Zero, Vans, Momentum, Anti-Social, Analog, Independent, and I also get hooked up with a phone by Solomobile. Ok, I think that’s everything, nailed it.

Shout outs?

There’s probably way too many people to list, but I have to say without the help of all my friends I probably wouldn’t be alive, same for my family. Maybe thanks to Maybe for taking me to the beach when I was in a rough state, in August. He’ll know what I’m talking about. And maybe no thanks too because he put me on the back of his motorcycle and I probably shouldn’t have even been on my feet.

What about your dog Shmee?

God, I’m missing that guy right now. That dog is a product of a divorce. I probably won’t be seeing him as much as I’d like to, but when I do, I’ll just kidnap him for a few days and bro-down. Dogs rule. They’re pretty much a man’s best friend for sure.

Locs...Tucker Gerrick

Sequence by Sam McGuire

Name: Tucker Jaymes Gerrick

Nicknames: Tuck 187, Tuckcity.com, Tukies (Damiano inspired), Captaincup.

What's your deal: Heavy livin'.

Where are you doing it? In the future.

How high can you ollie? I still have my street legs kiddies.

Can I have your board? Sure. I got about a hundred more on deck.

Favorite local video: FREAKS (by Eric William Carroll).

What's in your car? No car homie...only bike. Faster, fitter, freer.

It's a hot day, skating or swimming? Skate downtown (only), then bike to the lake afterdark to get my skinny on.

Who's your favorite local skater? Darrell Pelton

Where's the best place to eat? Cafe Maude (bonus: R.I.P. Pane Vino Dolce)

Mini-Ramp and beer or street? Street till it's cold, then mini ramp in my house with beer or Lambrusco.

How old are you in skate years? Uh...been riding the stuntwood for 22 big ones now. Plenty of stories to make it alllll worth it.

It's 10P.M. on Saturday night, what are you doing? With some of my favorite people getting awesome. Cause that's what we do.

Middle East Leftovers

Thanks again Steve for lettin' me tag along.