Friday, July 25, 2025

Jordan Trahan.


Static Ender.

Jordan is from Lafayette, Louisiana. He was pro for 5Boro and has been on Chocolate for a while now. Some of his favorite skaters include Tim O'Connor, Keith Hufnagel, Jack Sabback, Nate Broussard, and Jimmy Lannon. New Balance has been his shoe sponsor for over a decade. I like how Chocolate incorporates parts of New Orleans culture into his graphics.

It has been toasty this week. I actually had fun for a change last night skateboarding in the driveway.

Work was extra busy the last five days so there might not be anything for next week. I'm not exactly sure yet and don't really have any ideas. I'll see how it goes over the weekend.

Thrasher - December 2015 Volume 36 Number 12

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Arto Saari & PJ Ladd.


Flippin' legends.

Arto was riding for Gravis prior to New Balance. I believe he has contributed photography work for them over the years. Since PJ and New Balance are both from Boston, it made sense to add a local legend to the team. I think he was on DC, but he also might have been floating in shoe sponsor limbo in 2012. I like how Arto got into both pool skating and photography as he grew older.

Arto: Thrasher - September 2015 Volume 36 Number 9

PJ: Thrasher - October 2015 Volume 36 Number 10

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Levi Brown #2.


"Levi Brown is a rad stylish underrated skater." - John Rattray

Now this is more like it. New Balance found their artistic direction and everything clicked from there on out. Levi was pro for Element and moved over to office life at New Balance.

RIP Ozzy. Go watch Fred Gall's part in Timecode for some heavy duty grimy shredding that might as well be on the streets of Birmingham.

Thrasher - July 2015 Volume 36 Number 7

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

New Balance Team 2015.


Numerical.

After disappearing for a bit, New Balance came back in 2015. I'm saying disappeared because I couldn't find any ads after early 2014 and before this one. I checked mags other than Thrasher and nothing turned up. The team in the ad is all the riders who were in the Second Narrows video. Based on John Rattray's LinkedIn page, he was only team manager for a year and was working for Nike by the end of 2013. This supports my theory that things didn't click with Black Box. Of note is that Jack Curtin and the UK's Tom Knox have been added to the crew. Tom Karangelov is riding a 3D board. It's cool to see how long some of these guys have been riding for New Balance.

Thrasher - June 2015 Volume 36 Number 6

Monday, July 21, 2025

New Balance Team 2013.


I thought I'd take a look at how New Balance got into skateboarding. They had an unremarkable beginning in 2013. In an article on ESPN by Robin Fleming from December of 2012, it was announced that New Balance would be fielding a skateboard team. They partnered with Jamie Thomas and used his Black Box operation as their distributor. New Balance worked with Westlife Distribution for their creative and design needs. Westlife was a distributor for Dickies, Paul Frank, and a snowboard clothing brand called 686.

The team was formally announced in May of 2013. John Rattray was the team manager. The squad consisted of Arto Saari, PJ Ladd, Levi Brown, and Tom Karangelov.

New Balance released a video called Second Narrows to go with the print rollout in November of 2013. It featured John, Arto, Levi, PJ, and Tom plus Tyler Surrey, Marquise Henry, Jordan Trahan, and Jordan Taylor. Joe Pease and Russell Houghten were the filmers. It's an interesting little video with creative editing that harkens back to the days of Sheep Shoes and Physics Wheels.

After the opening serve, New Balance ran three more ads like this:


They had similarly bland ads with Arto Saari and PJ Ladd before disappearing until the summer of 2015. My guess is that the partnership with Black Box didn't work out. Other than having some top level skate talent, there's wasn't much that looked overly exciting about New Balance's debut. Everybody's got to start somewhere.

Team: Thrasher - November 2013 Volume 34 Number 11

Jordan: Thrasher - January 2014 Volume 35 Number 1

Friday, July 18, 2025

Jake Duncombe.


Gremlin attack.

Jake is from Byron Bay, Australia. He won SLAM's Skater of the Year award and turned pro for Blind in 2006. His other sponsors included Globe, Bones Wheels, Volcom, and Theeve Trucks. Jake joined up with Life Extention in 2013 and had a full part in their Theatrix video. His skating is a mix of gnarly park tricks and precise street tech with some hairball moves thrown in for good measure.

I'm still not really skateboarding so well for myself. It's made for a long week. I keep plugging away at it and hope something clicks again soon.

It's going to be a look at the early days of New Balance's skateboard program for next week.

The camera work is by Chris Ortiz.

Thrasher - November 2008 Volume 28 Number 11

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Nick Trapasso #3.


"I wish I had took it more seriously now after having a real job, like how easy it was. But yeah, you're kind of on your own schedule just thinking you can do things however you want, but you really should be focused on skating all the time. I was like 50-50 with wanting to party and skate, or just make fun of it. But yeah, it shoulda just been a little more serious, for sure."

Nick reflects on how he maybe should've made better use of time during his pro skateboarding days. He also hampered by a couple of knee injuries. All things considered, he did have a pretty good run as professional skateboarder.

For the quote: Thrasher - April 2023 Volume 44 Number 4

Thrasher - December 2012 Volume 32 Number 12

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Pat "Sinner" Pasquale.


The drop.

Pat is from Chicago, Illinois and moved out to Huntington Beach in the early 2000s. He was sponsored by Baker thanks to connecting with Beagle. Erik Ellington gave him the Sinner nickname. In addition to being pro, he handled a lot of the behind the scenes jobs at Life Extention. Sinner closed out their 2014 Theatrix video. He had a three song part that was scored to dubstep. His skating is a mix of technical manuals with some well planned big drops and a couple handrails.

Thrasher - September 2012 Volume 32 Number 9

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Life Extention.


Life Extention was started in the fall of 2011 with the products hitting the streets in early 2012. Nick Trapasso and Pat "Sinner" Pasquale were the ones in charge of most things. The misspelling of the name was intentional. The boards were distributed by Blitz, the home of Birdhouse and Flip. They managed to get Jay Strickland to handle the creative duties. Jay knew Nick from the Bootleg days. The team included Jake Duncombe, Beau Reid, Jamie Tancowny, and Tony Tave. As near as I can tell, they ran all of three ads. I was surprised they went with Blitz and thought they partnered with somebody else.

Thrasher - March 2012 Volume 32 Number 3

Monday, July 14, 2025

Nick Trapasso #2.


HO-TEL!

Nick was the talented am from Phoenix with the very relaxed style. He relocated to California during the days of Bootleg in the early 2000s. Nick turned pro for Toy Machine and got in on the ground floor at Converse's rebooted skate program. He had previously ridden for Vans. Converse was quick to give him a pro shoe, too. He had a great part of big stair tech in Thrasher's Prevent This Tragedy video from 2010. He would leave Toy Machine to start Life Extention in 2012. As of 2023, he was working at a motorcycle dealership.

The photographic gnarlitude is by Seu Trinh.

Thrasher - November 2008 Volume 28 Number 11

Friday, July 11, 2025

Blake Carpenter.


Vinyl me, please.

Blake is from Daytona Beach, Florida. He rode for Toy Machine up until 2022 and then floated around without a board sponsor for a couple years. There were rumors of a spot on Nyjah Huston's Disorder, but that never happened. He also moved back to Florida from California. His other sponsors are Nike and Spitfire. He recently started his own company called Vinyl. The team includes Art Cordova and Thomas Dritsas. Blake had a really smooth part for Spitfire in 2024. He has a solid grasp on quality technical skateboarding with a few big handrails thrown in the mix.

Skateboarding has been a chore lately and not fun. I’m trying to work through it with minimal progress. I'll get a couple tricks fine and then struggle with others that I normally can do easily. I hadn't done any switch pop shove-its in a while and then rattled off a bunch of decent ones no problem the last two nights. I'll follow that up with not being able do a boardslide or a 50-50 on a ledge. I guess that's how it goes. This happens to me every few years. I think it might be more of a mental thing, although it has been weird gear issues in the past. I don't exactly know. I'm going to keep on trying and hope things get better.

Jonathan Mehring took the photos.

Thrasher - July 2013 Volume 34 Number 7

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Diego Bucchieri #8.


Chopping up the lumber yard.

Diego is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He had a very successful run for Think and Toy Machine before starting up Cleaver Skateboards. There's kind of a Geoff Rowley air to this photo.

The picture is by Ignacio Morresi.

Thrasher - October 2011 Volume 31 Number 10

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Leo Romero #16.


"Man, I don't want to get into that, dude. I mean, I'll say it, but there's so many. My push is jacked, too! But Leo Romero's got a pretty hectic one. I know he was your guy's SOTY, but especially his switch push is very hectic. Antwuan Dixon told me this back in the day, it's like, 'Dude you can take ten little pushes or three or four big, good ones.' I'm more on that side of the fence. I'd rather just take like, three. Sorry, Leo, but to each his own, you know? I'm probably gonna get hated on for that one, but whatever. I get hated on for skating slow, too." - Pat "Sinner" Pasquale

I don't know why I remembered this quote from Sinner. I'm a fan of Leo, but I thought this was funny, too.

The guitar slinger photo is by Kevin Barnett and the noseblunt slinger photo is by Michael Burnett.

For the quote: Thrasher - July 2014 Volume 35 Number 7

Thrasher - August 2011 Volume 31 Number 8

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Dan Lutheran #2.


Sun blasted daydream.

Dan is one of Albuquerque's finest hubba and handrail skaters. He's been on Toy Machine and Vans for a long time now. I dig the noseslide photo and how the whole spot is shown. The trick was in Dan's part in Propeller, the Vans video from 2015. He studied art education for a couple years in college before the pro skateboard career took off.

The photographs are by Joe Hammeke and Jonathan Mehring.

Pop shove-it 50-50: Thrasher - September 2011 Volume 31 Number 9

Nose: Thrasher - March 2013 Volume 33 Number 3

Monday, July 7, 2025

Jordan Taylor #2.


"He was a little bit of a slow starter, and he had some injuries, and he's not as gregarious of a personality like Daniel Lutheran. He's a lot quieter. We saw something we liked, he had a lot of different moves. Some companies make the mistake of putting the same rider on over and over again. He has a different bag of tricks. It would be easy to put a rail chomper on. Kevin Barnett, our filmer, was showing me a lot of stuff he was doing, and I liked what I saw." - Ed Templeton

Jordan got on Toy Machine in 2007 and left for WKND in 2016. He turned pro in 2017. He's still involved at WKND, but injuries have taken their toll on his skateboard tricks so he works behind the scenes. Jordan also does a belt and clothing company called Loosey.

I like how the Toy Machine ads were looking in 2012. This would've been in the time after their Brainwash video from 2010. Ed was using bigger photos and not as much additional art. The graphic designer in me hates the small text and copy in the trim zones.

The photo is by Eric "Rodent" Cheslak.

For the quote: Transworld - July 2012 Volume 30 Number 7

Thrasher - February 2012 Volume 32 Number 2

Friday, June 27, 2025

Tom Karangelov #3.


WKND Warrior.

This was the second to last trick from Tom's part in Cold War. His ender involved two homies moving a fence from in front of a set of stairs so he could ollie over a rail to what I'm calling a nosegrind. It's a seven stair rail that Chris Senn and Cairo Foster have skated where they ollie from a set back step to hit the banister. The part was neat because it started to show how Tom was changing his approach to spots from the typical Zero fare to more interesting and overlooked places. He took down some big handrails with gaps for the section, too. The Fugazi and Joy Division tunes didn't hurt either.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, July 7th.

It will most likely be a week of Toy Machine. I've also figured out how to put together a week of Life Extention.

Skateboarding has been a mixed bag lately. I think I'm just old and tired. Have a good weekend.

JT Rhoades took the photo.

Transworld - May 2012 Volume 30 Number 5

Thursday, June 26, 2025

John Fitzgerald.


Slapshot.

Much like Donovon Piscopo, John took the Zero to Alien Workshop pipeline. He might even have been on Alien by the time this ad ran. When Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen launched FA and Hockey, John went along with them. He's from Glendora, California and has been pro for a while. He's a noted gnarly spot skater who has endured some heavy slams and injuries. His other sponsors include Nike, Thunder, and Pepper Griptape. I think he even slammed so hard once that he broke the ground.

In contrast, Nick Boserio went from the Alien Workshop to Zero and then onward to Polar. It was an ad of Nick that prompted me to do this week of scans. Nick didn't get included because his ad was in the black/white/red design that was used once Cold War was ready for release in 2013.

The photo is by Andrew Peters.

Transworld - December 2011 Volume 29 Number 12

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Tony Cervantes #2.


It's nice to know that Tony is still pro for Zero and Fallen in 2025, just like he was back in 2013. He was slated to turn pro around the time of Strange World in 2009, but some injuries and adult life changed those plans. Jamie Thomas granted him professional status after Cold War in 2013. He's a big Jimi Hendrix fan.

Transworld - March 2011 Volume 29 Number 3

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Donovon Piscopo #2.


Blemished.

Donovon was an am for Zero and had a few tricks in a montage in Strange World. This boardslide was in his part. He was abducted to the Alien Workshop by the end of 2011. His dad runs Pawnshop Skateshop in Covina, California. He stuck with Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen to ride for Hockey after the Workshop closed up. Donovon recently parted ways with Hockey to start his own company called Blem.

The photo is by Johnny Martinez.

Transworld - July 2010 Volume 28 Number 7

Monday, June 23, 2025

Dane Burman.


Municipal rail grinder.

Dane is from Sydney, Australia. In the classic Zero style, he jumps down a lot of handrails. He turned pro off his part in Strange World. Dane rode for Fallen and is still pro for Zero. He once showed up as an uninvited guest to watch Bob Burnquist skate his backyard ramps.

The Zero harsh production schedule is a real thing. Strange World premiered at the end of 2009 and was being promoted in ads up until April 2010. After a few months of Mystery adverts, they announced Cold War in the summer of 2010. It made sense to jump right into a new project because Strange World was mostly montages and shared parts. Zero did deliver Cold War in the fall of 2013.

I like how these ads look. It's a nice break from Zero's usual black, white, and red color schemes.

It's been hot this weekend, but the biggest issue were the high winds. I only fit in a minimal amount of skateboarding due to the breeze. Strange how things like that happen.

Transworld - July 2010 Volume 28 Number 7

Friday, June 20, 2025

Clint Walker #2.


Monolith.

I think it is interesting that for much of its existence Birdhouse has been a street focused company. It's only within the last couple years that Tony Hawk has shifted to primarily sponsoring vert skaters, which reflects what he likes the most about skateboarding. Granted there have always been ramp riders like Elliot Sloan, Lizzie Armanto, Ben Raybourn, and Kevin Staab on the team, but with new faces like Tom Schaar, Greyson Fletcher, and Tate Carew, the move to keep vert alive is in action.

Clint had a gnarly part in Ambiguous Clothing's Modern Art video from 2013. I think that was a nice goth tinged free DVD that came with Thrasher. I have not watched it in a decade so I'm going by hazy memories on that one. They had a solid team with JT Aultz, Matt Bennett, Sean Conover, Clive Dixon, and Luis De Los Reyes, before sputtering out like all skateboard clothing companies do.

I guess it is Go Skateboarding Day this weekend so go skate. Or not. I'm not your boss. Do whatever you feel like doing, but at the least maybe try to buy something from your local shop if that's possible.

With the upcoming heat wave, we're going to have a cold war next week.

It's another lipslide photo by Trevor Vaughn. This is almost like when Girl ran consecutive frontside noseslide advertisements back in the year 2000.

Transworld - December 2011 Volume 29 Number 12

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Clive Dixon #2.


Falling apart.

After a decade at Birdhouse, Clive parted ways with the company in the fall of 2021. Nyjah Huston invited him to ride for Disorder soon after. Clive is friends with a couple of the guys on the team and was looking for some new motivation for his skateboarding. He figured skating with Nyjah would do just that. Clive does a lot of big and gnarly handrails. He also is a writer and has dabbled with art for board graphics.

It's been raining the last couple days so I'm finally getting some days off from skateboarding. I hope the break does me some good. I figured out that I'm just old and my knees hurt.

The photo is by Trevor Vaughn.

Transworld - November 2011 Volume 29 Number 11

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Elliot Sloan #2.


Spin cycle.

Mr. Sloan adds a heelflip to Mike McGill's Wicked Twister. Elliot has been on Birdhouse for a very long time now. He has a new shoe out in collaboration with Fallen and Birdhouse.

I appreciate the consistency of Birdhouse ads. They've had a few variations, but generally stick with a photo sequence on a solid colored background over the years. It's maybe not the most exciting design, yet it serves its purpose well.

The sequence is by Brian Fick.

Transworld - August 2011 Volume 29 Number 8

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Aaron "Jaws" Homoki #3.


Saturday night ate our lives.

Jaws is from Phoenix, Arizona. He grew up skateboarding with Dakota Servold. Birdhouse turned him pro back in 2011 and he is still on the team. If you want to feel old, sore, and amazed at how fast time passes, Jaws jumped down the famous 25 stair in Lyon, France that Ali Boulala attempted ten years ago this fall. I guess it's a stalefish in the photo and a fisheye lens was used to add to more upside down distortion. It's a cool looking picture with all the colored lights and black background.

The photos are by Matt Price. I think there's a quote from Matt about spots and his reply was, "I shoot with Jaws. I only know rooftops and quarter pipes."

Drop off: Transworld - May 2011 Volume 29 Number 5

Pro: Transworld - September 2011 Volume 29 Number 9

Monday, June 16, 2025

Shawn Hale #2.


Hover Hand.

Shane put together a very strong part for Birdhouse at the beginning of the year. It's full of unique wallrides plus no comply and wallie handrail moves to go with some ledge tech. He's also developing a special physical therapy slipper that helps rehab your feet after a day of skateboarding. Shane is wearing a pair of Vox shoes in the photo.

I was going to post a week of 2012 Birdhouse, but their ads ran spottily that year so I dropped it back to 2011 and had more success. For the future, I think there's going to be some Toy Machine, Cold War era Zero, and DGK. I want to do a Life Extention week, but I've only found three ads thus far so I'm not sure if that is going to happen.


I went over to Jamestown Skateboard Products on Friday night to see a couple of bands (Vial, pictured) play their garage. I got to skateboard upstairs while the bands were doing soundcheck. I had fun just doing a bunch of ollies and boardslides while cruising around. Saturday and Sunday were kind of clunkers. I only skated my ledges in the driveway and it wasn't really working.

The photograph is by Patrick Driscoll.

Transworld - April 2011 Volume 29 Number 4

Friday, June 13, 2025

Lee Yankou #3.


Lee goes to the very top shelf and grabs the jar of peanut butter.

Jeff Landi snapped the photo.

Thrasher - August 2012 Volume 32 Number 8

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Josh Matthews #3.


Be all easy.

Josh is from Eugene, Oregon. He has ridden for Think, Organika, Habitat, Spitfire, Venture, and HUF over the years. His pet peeve is too much cheese on tacos and Gino Iannucci is his favorite skater. Josh's part in Think's Business As Usual is a solid batch of technical street skating that isn't overblown or trendy and holds up well in modern times. I don't think I paid enough attention to his skateboard talents back in the day.

The photo is by Dave Chami.

For the info: Thrasher - May 2012 Volume 32 Number 5

Thrasher - November 2012 Volume 32 Number 11

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Adrian Williams.


Northern Exposure.

Adrian is from Anchorage, Alaska. His dad was in the military and they wound up living there once he was out of the service. Even with a lot of winter in Alaska, Adrian still was able to get into skateboarding. The summers were pleasant enough with probably too much daylight. They made the most of what indoor parking garages or warehouses they could find for the winters. He relocated to San Francisco for more spots and improved weather. His sponsors included Think, FTC, Grind King, Sushi Wheels, and possibly Nice Skate Shoes at one time. Adrian did turn pro for Think. On the topic of skateboarders from Alaska, Erik Ellington was also born in Anchorage.

The sequence was photographed by Dan Zaslavsky.

For the info: The Skateboard Mag - June 2009 Issue 63.

Thrasher - June 2012 Volume 32 Number 6

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Dave Bachinsky #2.


Business as usual.

Dave takes care of business on a frontside 5-0. He does artwork and woodcarving these days. OC Ramps employees him to show off his absurd mini ramp skills, too.

The photograph is by Dan Zaslavsky.

Thrasher - May 2012 Volume 32 Number 5

Monday, June 9, 2025

Russ Milligan #2.


City thinker.

It's a look back at the 2012 era of Think. They released a video called Business As Usual. A couple of the riders moved over from City Skateboards after the company was put out pasture. Russ is from Vancouver and a proficient street stylist. I like the vintage Think logo.

I've been skateboarding a bunch lately, but it hasn't been going great. I can't tell if I'm just getting old or what. It's been that way for about the last month and I think it's starting to get in my head. I'm trying to stay positive and work through the slump. It's been a grind. And not the fun ones either.

Thrasher - January 2012 Volume 32 Number 1

Friday, May 23, 2025

Ocean Howell #6.


Projecting a stereo mood.

Ocean was one of the finest technical skaters of the early to mid 1990s before moving on to an academic life of studying architecture. He was still ripping and would pop up in Slap or get a mention from Patrick O'Dell from time to time. Occasionally his writings on how skateboarders interact with the concrete environment would be published in the mags. Ocean is currently a professor at the University of Oregon. I think the university should make commercial of him skateboarding around campus for a minute. It would really stand out in the sea of college adverts that dot the television landscape. Ocean is riding a Flip board, which isn't as shocking as it sounds since they shared an office space with Birdhouse way back when.

The weather has been rainy, windy, and cold so skateboarding hasn't been happening a lot lately for me. I think I'm in a slump and not stoked on things either. I put on some new wheels the other day and that seemed nice. It might even dry out and warm up for the weekend.

Vert Is Dead is taking a break and will be back in a week or two.

It's going to be at least a week off and maybe two or even three. I'm just burned out on computers and I want some time off. I'll post a comment once I have a schedule plan in place.

The photographs are by Rob Brown.

Transworld - March 1995 Volume 13 Number 3

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Marc Johnson #18.


Trippy night at Tito's Shampoo Lounge.

Marc takes a backside tailslide down Hubba Hideout during the much simpler times of the mid 1990s. He would have riding for Maple and Etnies when the photo was taken.

Transworld - November 1995 Volume 13 Number 11

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Sean Mullendore #10.


Repping the district.

Sean crushes one of the ledges at Pulaski with a switch Smith grind. He rode for a bunch of companies, including Capital, Silver Star, Circuit Wheels, Pig Wheels, and more. Sean was also on Stereo and in their very last print ad, near as I can figure. Vanilla was a clothing line created by Joyride Snowboards. The other riders included Charlie Coatney, Reese Forbes, and Satva Leung.

This dumb thing turn 17 as of today. Yippee.

Note: This ad ran opposite Sean's Check Out in Transworld.

Pete Thompson took the photo sequence.

Transworld - December 1995 Volume 13 Number 12

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Mike Sinclair #2.


Team manager to the stars.

Mike gets a lofty ollie for Endless Grind back in the good old days. He currently works as the team manager for Nike and Tum Yeto. He's been in those roles for a long time now. His pet project is Slappy Trucks, which seems to be gaining popularity as a new way to hold your wheels on your board. I like finding random older ads and photos like this where the person is still involved in skateboarding after all of the years.

The photo is by Ben Knight.

Transworld - October 1995 Volume 13 Number 10

Monday, May 19, 2025

Josh Beagle #15.


Vroom Vroom.

The OG Beagle was a handrail titan back in the 1990s and was a pioneer of doing more technical tricks on banisters. He stepped away from the pro ranks to work behind the scenes at Foundation before disappearing from the scene. His middle name is Zeus.

I rummaged around some Transworlds from 1995 and managed to find enough stuff I hadn't posted for the 17th anniversary week. I've been really into the middle to late 2010s, but wanted to switch it up for a little bit.

Transworld - May 1995 Volume 13 Number 5

Friday, May 16, 2025

Ruby Lilley.


DJ Goldfish.

Ruby is from Ocean City, Maryland. She moved out to California in an RV with her mom a few years back. Her speciality is parks and transitions with a focus on some of the older tricks like crail grabs, finger flips, and going to disaster. She is sponsored by Foundation, Vans, Ace Trucks, Bronson, and Bones Wheels.

The photo is by Brian Shamanski.

Thrasher - July 2022 Volume 43 Number 7

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Toby Ryan.


Real Madness.

I think Toby is the new hot am on Real, but I'm not positive on this. There isn't much concrete information on his background and I'm connecting a couple dots that most likely connect. He possibly rode for DC Shoes and hung out with the SK8MAFIA crew, too. Did Toby maybe have a Lunatic Fringe in Thrasher within the last year or two? Anyway, this is a sick vertigo inducing photo.

Chris "Rhino" Rooney documented the foolish behavior.

Thrasher - March 2019 Volume 40 Number 3

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Sam Beckett.


An air of madness.

Following in the footsteps of notable British vert skaters such as Steve Douglas, Hugh "Bod" Boyle, and Andy Scott is Norwich's own Sam Beckett. He turned pro for Blind a few years back and then made switch over to Madness in 2018. An interesting tidbit is that his pro model on Blind was issued in conjunction with Darren Navarrette's Skeleton Key. Sam is currently pro for Opera and involved with the Skateboard GB project.

The picture is by James Griffiths.

Thrasher - January 2021 Volume 42 Number 1

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Clay Kreiner.



Clay is from Simpsonville, South Carolina. He gravitated toward parks and was hooked up by Woodward early on. Some of his favorite skaters include Grant Taylor, Raven Tershy, Ishod Wair, Zion Wright, and Alex Perelson. Clay currently rides for Opera, Indy, and Nike. He basically flies around skateparks doing the wild transfers that don't seem possible without pads. Clay even did a backflip on vert, which might have been inspired by Rob "Sluggo" Boyce.

Madness did some unique shapes, cutaways, and printing jobs on their boards. I don't know if I'd necessarily want to ride one of the decks, but they do look neat.

The photos are by Bailey Schreiner and Chris Dangaard.

BW: Thrasher - September 2019 Volume 40 Number 9

Boards: Thrasher - August 2020 Volume 41 Number 8

Monday, May 12, 2025

Madness.


Phantom of the Opera.

Madness was a vert oriented division of Dwindle that was started by Bill Weiss in the fall of 2018. The original team was Sam Beckett, Jack Fardell, Clay Kreiner, and Alex Perelson. The artwork was a mix of Francisco Goya and pop stylings. They were not afraid to create some unique shaped boards either. The team specialized in parks, vert ramps, and transitions. This seemed like a somewhat odd theme to base a company around, but I think they found a good niche to occupy. Shaped boards with creative artwork were popular back in 2018 thanks to Welcome and Polar so they capitalized on that to an extent. I'd see Madness decks around so I imagine they did a decent amount of business. It also felt genuine given Bill's background as a vert skater. The Madness ended when Dwindle collapsed in the fall of 2022. In the time since, Bill launched Opera Skateboards, which carries on along the same lines as Madness and with much of the same team.

Madness: Thrasher - September 2018 Volume 39 Number 9

Boards: Thrasher - October 2018 Volume 39 Number 10

Friday, May 9, 2025

Tom Schaar.


Vintage Ozzy.

Tom is from Malibu, California. He grew up with skateboarding and obtained fame as a small kid by spinning around a lot at assorted vert and mega ramp contests. Fortunately, that was a phase of his youth and he expanded his trick pallet to be more well rounded as the years went by. He was pro for Element and joined up with the growing ramp riding crew at Birdhouse in 2024. Tom recently dropped a heavy duty part called Vert's Not Dead that puts his unique spin on the big ramps with tricks inspired by the likes of Bob Burnquist, Colin McKay, Tony Hawk, Alex Perelson, Danny Way, Rune Glifberg, and more.

The weather has been rainy and spring-like over the last couple weeks so I've only been skateboarding in the driveway. It's been OK, but I haven't really been skating great for me and I think that's gotten in my head. I blame getting older more than anything. Or maybe it's just a bushing on my front truck that needs to be replaced. That's probably it.

Chris "Rhino" Rooney took the photograph.

Thrasher - March 2020 Volume 41 Number 3

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Mami Tezuka.


Dancing on the ceiling.

Mami is from Shiga, Japan. She's pro for Blood Wizard and is a park specialist. Mami is friends with Lizzie Armanto. Her Smith grinds, feebles, and crailslides are all top notch.

The photo is by Tim Aguilar.

Thrasher - August 2022 Volume 43 Number 8

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Elliot Sloan.


The Sloanyard.

Elliot is from Manhattan and relocated to California to skate vert. He learned how to skate on the few ramps that were in the New York and New Jersey area. Given the Big Apple's propensity for street skateboarding, it's a tad amazing that's what he picked, but he was inspired by Tony Hawk's 900 at a young age and stuck with it. Elliot would sometimes skate with Ivory and Shelter Serra and Rich and Sanford Lopez. He later would meet East Coast vert legends Tom Boyle, Darren Menditto, and Dan Tag. With a little bit of luck and an assist from Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Elliot bought a house in 2012 where he was able to install a giant ramp complex, similar to what Bob Burnquist has. ESPN even rented out his yard for an X-Games contest. His sponsors include Birdhouse, Fallen, Thunder, Skatelite, and Bones Wheels. Elliot is also into electronic music and scored his Monster Energy part himself with an appropriately titled song called "Ode To Rune".

The photo is by Will Owens.

Thrasher - April 2021 Volume 42 Number 4