Monday, March 31, 2014

Aaron "Jaws" Homoki.



The big drop guy.

Aaron started off as an am for enjoi. He switched to Birdhouse and turned pro for them. He does some of the biggest ollies down some of the largest gaps ever. If anybody could have landed the Leap of Faith, it would probably be him.

Transworld - August 2009 Volume 27 Number 8

Friday, March 28, 2014

Jason Dill #8



Supreme.

I watched the new Supreme video last night. Here's eight random things I took away from it.

1. Cherry has a Mixtape and Peep This vibe.

2. There are more no complies than every video from the 1980s put together. There's no shortage of ollie impossibles either.

3. You get sightings of Tino Razo, Anthony Pappalardo, Scott Johnston, Brian Anderson, and a whole bunch more.

4. Paulo Diaz drops a bunch of unique tricks that only he does, including a massive nollie over a fence. This swings the 1990s Doomsday Clock a minute back away from midnight.

5. Dylan Rieder kicks ass. Alex Olson, too.

6. Is Dill the new Salman with the permanent wrist cast?

7. Would it have killed you guys to put some names with the skaters? I keep up with the new faces as much as an old dude can be expected to, but I was having a hard time figuring out who was who. The new blood deserves their names on the screen so we can identify them in the future. That minor gripe aside, the kids are tearing up the streets.

8. The Gonz went back at the end to paint the wall.

The photos are by Rodent and Greg Hunt.

Transworld - December 2009 Volume 27 Number 12

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Jeff Grosso #6.



Gnarly 3/4 pipe grind action.

The whole over vert thing doesn't make sense to me at all. It seems to defy physics.

Thrasher - January 2009 Volume 29 Number 1

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Lance Mountain #6.



Future primitive.

It looks like Lance Cyril Mountain, Lance's son, has a photo show at the Seeing Things Gallery in San Jose. I'd been wondering what happened to him.

From the photos Michael Burnett keeps posting in Burnout, Cory Kennedy is insane.

UPS says I get my copy of the Supreme video today.

The weather might be nice enough for skateboarding outside this weekend. Maybe.

Thrasher - April 2009 Volume 29 Number 4

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Foundation #2.



I ran the original version of this ad when the F-Troop turned 20 in 2009. Happy quarter century, Swank & crew.

Thrasher - July 2009 Volume 29 Number 7

Monday, March 24, 2014

Max Schaaf #8.



4Q your Monday.

I'm looking forward to the coverage of the recent Fourstar Crocodile Done Deal tour of Australia.

This thing is slowly creeping up on 1,500 posts.

Thrasher - February 2009 Volume 29 Number 2

Friday, March 21, 2014

Jake Donnelly.



We're talking proud.

Jake Donnelly won Slap's One In A Million amateur contest in 2007. He caught the attention of Real and was soon sponsored by them. He turned pro last year. Jake is from a small town near Buffalo, New York. It's roughly halfway between my town and the Queen City. He would come skate the local park and totally rip it up back when he was in high school. It's great to see that he has put in the work to reach pro status. Given the ups and downs of Buffalo's sporting history, it's about time we had a winner.

Thrasher - June 2009 Volume 29 Number 6

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Dylan Rieder #3.




Dylan dropped a bombshell on the skateboard footwear world with his fancy kicks in 2009. The unusual shoe was followed up with a ridiculously good video part in the summer of 2010. After Gravis folded last year, Dylan took his feet over to Keith Hufnagel's self titled shoe brand.

Gravis was a Burton supported shoe company. It was started in the late 1990s as chilling shoes for snowboarders, or something along those lines. Over the years, things changed and they made a go of the skateboard footwear market. The team included Dylan, Arto Saari, Javier Mendizabel, Sammy Winter, Jake Johnson, and Steve Forstner.

Shoe: Transworld - December 2009 Volume 27 Number 12

Skate: Thrasher - July 2009 Volume 29 Number 7

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Chris Pfanner.



Master blaster.

Anthony Acosta took the picture.

Thrasher - May 2009 Volume 29 Number 5

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Riley Hawk.



The kid has come a long way since he was playing with kittens in the first Birdhouse video. Riley initially started riding for his dad's project. As time passed and his talents developed, other companies took an interest. Lakai sponsored his feet and soon he was asked to join the Baker squad. Riley has since turned pro for Baker and put out a few solid video parts.

I was never a huge fan of the early Birdhouse cartoon type graphics, but I'm glad they have gone back to using them with their current series of boards. It just looks better.

Thrasher - October 2009 Volume 29 Number 10

Monday, March 17, 2014

Brian Anderson & Frank Gerwer.



Happy St. Frank's Day.

A big thank you to Anti-Hero and Girl for going on the Beauty & The Beast tours to give us priceless moments like this one.

Transworld - November 2009 Volume 27 Number 11

Friday, March 14, 2014

Javier Mendizabal #3.



Bon Voyage.

Jamming Friday. Just going with a Vert Is Dead favorite for simplicity's sake.

Thrasher - June 2009 Volume 29 Number 6

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Ben Raybourn #2.



Turnip the hell.

There's a good chance you might get featured on Vert Is Dead again really quickly if you put out a ripping video part. Ben's new Nike video is off the charts and full of crusty bowl and transition annihilation.

Matt Mecaro took the photo.

Thrasher - August 2009 Volume 29 Number 8

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Chris Cole #2.



Strange World.

The Cobra just dropped a new part of tech gnar for his latest kicks on DC. You sort of don't realize how difficult some of his tricks are because of how effortless he makes them look.

I got in a flat bar seesion yesterday after work. Today we might get anywhere from six to ten inches of snow.

Transworld - October 2009 Volume 27 Number 10

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Anthony Pappalardo #5.



Elevator going up.

Thrasher - February 2009 Volume 29 Number 2

Monday, March 10, 2014

Mark Gonzales #17.



Supremely manic Monday.

Fourstar broke new ground by running both the skate and lifestyle photo large instead of the suggested Consolidated method where one was small and the other was large.

It's going to be 2009 for the next four weeks with a mix of familiar faces and new blood.

I pushed around in the street in the cold for 15 minutes on Sunday. I did a couple pop shove-its and a heelflip. We're supposed to get between 5" and 10" of snow on Wednesday.

Thrasher - July 2009 Volume 29 Number 7

Friday, March 7, 2014

Mike Anderson #2.



Rad dad.

Mike rides for Krooked. Gonz and company turned him pro a few years ago. He somewhat recently started riding for Converse after éS went on hiatus. Manderson rips. I like how he does things.

2009 on Monday.

Thrasher - August 2008 Volume 28 Number 8

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Jake Johnson.



No complies & wallrides.

Regular or switch for good measure.

Jake is from State College, Pennsylvania. He had a break out part in Alien Workshop's Mindfield video from 2009 with a bunch of raw East Coast skating. Things got switch wallied. Handrails, too.

Thrasher - August 2008 Volume 28 Number 8

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Jason Dill #7.



IRAK.

Modern ramblings.

It's looking like the next two big videos on the horizon are from Supreme and Vans. It will be interesting to see if Vans ever actually wraps up production. I think with Greg Hunt handling filming it will get done. It will also probably turn out great given the team. You have to figure the Supreme video will be somewhat decent considering that Bill Strobeck is working on it. If the cast of characters includes quality footage of Mark Gonzales, Dylan Rieder, and Alex Olson, then that should make it worthwhile. I'm assuming some of the ams for Fucking Awesome will be in Cherry as well.

The Ed Templeton Epicly Later'd episodes have been enjoyable to watch.

Walker Ryan turned in a fine piece of skateboard journalism in the new issue of Thrasher about a trip to Iran with Kenny Reed. More stories like that mag folks, even if the damn kids won't bother reading them.

Alex Olson's company finally has a name and it is Bianca Chandôn. I'm not a big fan of naming things after proper nouns, but that's just me. Alex seems to have plenty of ideas he is developing.

Thrasher - February 2008 Volume 28 Number 2

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Josh Kalis #5.



DGK.

Josh was sponsored by Invisible early on before Jamie Thomas took him to Toy Machine. From there Josh spent a lot of time at the Alien Workshop until leaving to ride for DGK with his longtime friend Stevie Williams. Josh has been on DC Shoes since the late 1990s. He always speaks his mind honestly and directly in interviews, which is refreshing to see and makes for some interesting reading.

The photo is by Mike Blabac.

Thrasher - January 2008 Volume 28 Number 1

Monday, March 3, 2014

Austyn Gillette #2.



Ease into Monday with an Austyn nollie floater. He's got that trick so smooth. I have no pop or control on frontside nollies. And after over twenty years of trying, I'm pretty sure it's not going to magically happen one day.

You know it has been a rough winter when the weather is too crappy to drive to an indoor skateboard park. I pushed around in the street for ten minutes last Sunday and did a few ollies. Real skateboard time needs to happen soon. This 1˚ F in the morning thing is getting tired.

Congrats, Spike.

Thrasher - January 2008 Volume 28 Number 1