Jeff Kendall.

I've gotten a few requests for some Jeff Kendall, but I hadn't gotten around to scanning in anything. His part in Streets On Fire where he skates to the Minutemen was awesome.

Steve Keenan snapped the picture.

Thrasher - November 1988 Volume 8 Number 11

Chad Jackson.

I watched Splendid Eye Torture the other night. That's an overlooked video with street skating on par with the other big videos of the time. Rick Howard and Sam Cunningham railslide some big rails. It's also heavy on the Fugazi and other Dischord bands for the soundtrack, which is fine by me.

Chad does Small Beating Skateboards these days.

Mark Waters took the photo.

Thrasher - March 1990 Volume 10 Number 3

Jim Gray.

The man behind Acme when he was skating old fridges on the decks of ramps.

It's a Steve Sherman photo.

Transworld - October 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

J.J. Rogers #5.

Before he was pro for Dogtown, J.J. was an am for Blockhead and feeble grinding a rail twenty years ago. It seemed like Blockhead was trying out new things to make street skating better rather than just doing what everybody else was doing.

El Steam fotos.

Poweredge - July 1989 Volume 2 Number 6

Mark Partain.

Another all around ripper. I had his board. If the internet can be believed and in this case I think it can, Mark is still destroying pools. It's good to see that the guys who were pro when I was growing up keep on riding.

Steve Sherman snapped the photo.

Transworld - August 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

Sam Cunningham.

It's Blockhead week. The company was started by Dave Bergthold in 1985 and was around until 1994 when it changed to Invisible. There are occasional anniversary reissues of Blockhead products. Thanks to a combination of a ripping team and the unique art of Ron Cameron, the brand has retained a special place in the hearts of old dudes. I think they blended being weird and creative without being too kooky quite well. Once wheels got small and pants got big, Blockhead tried to keep up with what was going on without much luck.

The big three pros were Sam Cunningham, Jim Gray and Mark Partain. Soon a kid named Omar Hassan was given a board with his name on it. Rick Howard also turned pro for Blockhead. Other notables to ride for the team included Steve Berra, Jeremy Wray, Jason Dill, Dan Rogers and Laban Pheidias.

Sam was from Sacramento and was an all around skateboarder - street, vert, mini and pools. These days he works for a college caring for reptiles, something he talked about in the Poweredge interview that this picture is taken from. I'm pretty sure he still skates, too.

The photo is by Christian Kline.

Poweredge - July 1989 Volume 2 Number 6

Ray Underhill #2.

10/18/1962 - 8/1/2008

Do you brush your teeth twice a day?
No, I don't.

Just once?
Once, but it's a damn good brushing. Bleeding gums and the whole bit. When it comes to brushing, if you don't bleed, it ain't clean.

For some reason I've always remembered Ray's quote about brushing his teeth from his pro spotlight interview with Stacy Peralta.

Ray died from cancer a year ago. He was a long time Powell Peralta rider during the heyday of the Bones Brigade. He invented the classic experimental deck that you would see in the videos when pros were testing out new shapes. He was a very stylish and clean skater.

Left: Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - June 1989 Volume 3 Number 1

Right: Bones Brigade Intelligence Report - December 1989 Volume 3 Number 3

For the quote: Transworld - July 1991 Volume 9 Number 7