Something, something, 'The Wire'

Stoked enough to update the usually languishing website at 11:18 p.m. with a banger, TC hall of famer Jeremy Reeves posted about the above and dared friendsters to, "Just try to find a better part this weekend." You have 24 hours and 42 minutes.

Strikes and Gutters

One time Twin Cities skater/resident Steve Johnson, who previously managed the Discontent in Bismarck, is looking at a lengthy prison term following his conviction for selling synthetic marijuana. I heard this one on the radio earlier this week and just put it together today. From the Bismarck Tribune:

The owner of the Discontent chain of skateboard stores, which once included a location in Bismarck, could receive up to 30 years in prison after a South Central District Court jury found him guilty of four counts related to the sale of synthetic drugs and drug paraphernalia.

The jury deliberated nearly nine hours over two days in the case against Thomas Teply of Moorhead, Minn., and his employee, former Bismarck Discontent store manager Steven Johnson.

The jury convicted Johnson of three charges: possession of synthetic cannabinoids with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to deliver and delivery of synthetic cannabinoids. Johnson was acquitted of three charges, including two counts of conspiracy and one count of delivery of drug paraphernalia.

Johnson could receive up to 25 years in prison.

On a whole entirely lighter note, Boil the Ocean hit us with another banger:

Several skateboarders at New York’s Nike-augmented Lower East Side skatepark, which some advanced internet flunkies already had begun to scour for cracks and weeds and other signals of lax upkeep, expressed confusion toward the commercial.

“Lacrosse, fam?” remarked a bearded driller who gave his name as Skinny Todd.

Longtime skeptics of Nike’s expanding profile and influence in the skateboarding sphere were quick to argue the ad confirmed years-long suspicions that Nike would inevitably pull out of skateboarding at some inopportune moment, leaving certain skaters “high” and various others “dry,” in favor of the more-established legacy sports that require more advanced and expensive shoes and equipment, and where Nike’s technological prowess can draw deeper distinctions between its products and those of rivals — versus pitting its vulcanized soles against those of less deep-pocketed competitors.

“Lacrosse, fam,” said Burt Ballwickey, an artist specializing in dinosaur tattoos who sported a vintage “Don’t Do It” tee to a local bar. “Everybody knew when Nike showed up 15 years ago they wouldn’t stick around when things went south, and now this commercial proves it.”

“And at the end — the football gives the board a final shove, as if to say, ‘the jocks won,'” Ballwickey ranted.

More east metro rumblings:

@mmunzenrider rumors of a shop (Vicious Circle?) at Ruth & 94; dude was giving out shirts at oakdale last fall. Jul7 open date. very curious

— Dan Rusin (@DanRusin) July 23, 2015

TWITTER DUMP

A coworker said she ran into a guy on the street in North St. Paul who was scouting locations for an east metro indoor skatepark.

— Mike Munzenrider (@mmunzenrider) July 21, 2015

The guy asked another reporter as she was entering the newspaper building whether it was for lease. She said no, it's a newspaper. The guy, who had a septum piercing and longish hair, regular type build, chatted her up and said he wanted to find a strip mall space for an indoor park. He'd been looking in Mahtomedi as well.

Other stuff:

-Kids turns 20 next month. It was a strange mystery when we were just starting to skate roughly 20 years ago, too.

-Continuing the stream from above, Nthn Cmrn came up with this interview by Pat O'Dell with Harmony Korine. The bit on how his skate upbringing influenced the place and looks of Gummo is pretty good stuff, and his reflections on how violent youth used to/could be were interesting as well. Our little crew made it through our early skate-days without getting beat up for it, but all you needed to see was a truckful of assholes to feel the threat of violence.

-Figuring out how to write about surfing.

-A skater from Ames, Georgie Tsushima, died over the weekend. He was recovering from a brain injury and had just opened a shop the same day he died. There's a memorial jam planned, details in the link.

-Covered kind of a wild prison break/bank robbery last week.

STANDBY

?shine 📹 @durhamdurham

A video posted by @kirianstone on Jun 25, 2015 at 7:32pm PDT

Could just convert this into a Kirian Kickflip Blog. I gotta figure out how to pay $36 dollars for this hosting by August or this thing dies. More later...

Park Zombies

Few more from the HUBBA HIDEOUT edit by @kevin_horn live now on @thrashermag website or click link in BIO! #DayOfFamilia 🔟 #familiaHQ #TFBSE @codydavis21 @notsofrenchyost @thegohigh

A video posted by Familia Skateboard Shop (@familiask8shop) on Jun 15, 2015 at 7:02pm PDT

We show up five days after the contest and post the link to the full video here. My voice is still kind of gravelly from announcing that thing. Fine job to everyone that came out and had a good time. An hour or two after that Theotis Beasley put on a one man show before 17 iPhones and 10 people, who watched in rapt silence.

If you were down at Familia HQ this weekend you might have seen a Strib reporter talking to both little skaters and grizzled vets; her work product is right here. The comments on the story are surprisingly benign (for now) and it's nice to know the status of the principal twin cities' skateparks. Good news:

Skate parks are also a part of Minneapolis’ master plans for Nokomis-Hiawatha Regional Park and Northeast Athletic Field Park. The city estimates that a skate park in Nokomis Park would cost about $500,000.

[Park Board planner and designer Colleen] O’Dell said that as soon as funding becomes available, the city will begin building skate parks at the two sites.

Based on the number thrown out above, I started Googling around searching for the cost of say, Ojibwe Skatepark in Woodbury, and ended up being reminded that Rob Zombie made national news because he was bummed on the noise generated by the Woodbury, Connecticut skatepark. We'll just leave it all there.

Update:

@mmunzenrider ojib had a budget of $100k but the foundation was already there from the previous setup. I think it ended up being $120k

— Dan Rusin (@DanRusin) June 19, 2015

It's a doozy.

The most bull dude @themostelkdude heeldaddy #ordinarypeopleliketowatchskateboarding

A video posted by Kyle Henkler (@henklurk) on Jun 7, 2015 at 1:23pm PDT

UPDATED MONTHLY

at long last, #thequiltvid is premiering alongside #newlife !

A photo posted by danrusin (@danrusin) on May 3, 2015 at 9:40pm PDT

I owe web hosting $34.00 for two more years of this, don't know the username or password that which I need to pay up, and am contemplating starting a Kickstarter. One lie, two truths. Go check out Dan Rusin and Shane Brown's twisted dream, The Quilt Vid on Friday.

Update:

Redbull's Greetings From Minneapolis is right here with video by Meyer, photos by Alex Uncapher and a rather gully (at least at the beginning) voice over from Anthony Hart. I did some writing too. Proper clip.

Update:

This one goes out to all the quitters out there: Farewell My Lovely Cigarettes. That piece hit pleasure centers in my brain rarely roused since I gave up the wonderful/horrible habit. Good riddance.