Tony Trujillo #7.

"Everyone else in the Cleveland Triple Crown contest was riding brand new set-ups, bright white wheels, except Tony Trujillo who was riding this piece of shit, widdler's project of a board. No graphics, worn down to the seventh layer, almost rectangular, with old, yellow wheels. Probably looked like your board. He finished second on it. And he had that mohawk. All punk and shit. Hell, I would've given him first. On the top of his board he had spray painted "Charles Bronson." Julien Stranger said it was some band he was friends with. I was curious. When I got home, Steve the Intern handed me this Possessed to Skate compilation from Pessimiser Records. Charles Bronson is the first band on it. I can see why he spray painted them on his board. They're awesome. Just the dumbest punk, fuck-up shit you can find. There's six other bands on this CD that are almost as good. It's a great sampler of skate rock. We've come a long way from the Faction's "Skate and Destroy." - Dave Carnie

It's these odd little bits and pieces of skateboard minutia that I think I like the best from Big Brother.

The contest Dave was writing about was the Cleveland stop of the Vans Triple Crown tour. It was held from June 2-4 in the year 2000. Tony placed second. Tyrone Olson was the winner and Kerry Getz took third.

Is that Andrew Allen in the top ad?

For the quote: Big Brother - November 2000 Number 66

Never heard of it: Thrasher - January 2005 Volume 25 Number 1

Zombie: Thrasher - September 2005 Volume 25 Number 9

Peter Hewitt #17.

The trippiest thing about the Grimple Stix video was a street clip of Peter Hewitt.

Thrasher - August 2005 Volume 25 Number 8

Julien Stranger #27.

Sick Stranger Smith.

Here's Dave Carnie's review of the infamous can cover sticker:

Can Cover: Big Brother - March 2000 Number 58

Thrasher - April 2005 Volume 25 Number 4

John Cardiel #17.

Tower Records.

Thrasher - February 2005 Volume 25 Number 2

Dennis Busenitz #8.

You were a serious SOTY contender for a long time. Was that something you ever thought about going for?

No, they wanted me to be that way, but I could never do that. It was orchestrated after Away Days that I should try going for it or whatever. It totally backfired. It just makes me not want to do it. It's also just a hard thing to do. Something's really unappealing to me about gunning for Skater of the Year. I know that's what it takes now. It doesn't happen casually anymore. It seems like from an outsider's perspective, it used to be just people shredding, and then it was just a random award. At the end of the year it was like, You shredded the best. And now it's people trying to shred the best, which is kind of what people should be doing anyway. Would people rip so hard if there was no SOTY award?

Real talk.

For the quote: Thrasher - May 2022 Volume 43 Number 5

Thrasher - December 2005 Volume 25 Number 12

Chima Ferguson #3.

Chima takes a switch backside heelflip out to the curb.

The fine print on these ads mentions Control Freak Construction for boards that are wider than 7.5". This seems like an odd thing to come up with. Smaller boards already have a quick response on a lot of tricks. The larger than 7.5" implies that Real was making several boards that were at that size or smaller. I know the tech people dig their skinny boards, but I thought decks were getting a little wider around this time. Real is also known to try out new types of concave and board constructions so in that regard it makes sense from a marketing standpoint.

I thought this run of Real ads looked neat so that's why I scanned them. They went with the same design for a few months and then switched to a variation of the layout.

Thrasher - January 2006 Volume 26 Number 1

Ernie Torres & Peter Ramondetta.

A couple of Oklahoma Sooners on a land rush in California.

Ernie and Peter are both from Tulsa. It's weird to think that I might have gotten to skate with them at some point. I'm positive I didn't, but they did make the trek to the Skate Station in Fayettville, Arkansas at least once or twice. It was probably after I finished up grad school when they would have been begun venturing to other spots outside of Oklahoma.

Ernie: Thrasher - October 2005 Volume 25 Number 10

Peter: Thrasher - November 2005 Volume 25 Number 11