Sacred No More.

Blankets.

Consolidated was never afraid of running text only ads offering their 2¢ on a matter. I don't think that still happens because we simply hash things out on the internet these days. I can't remember the last time there was a beef between companies in print, which was a staple of skateboarding up until Instagram came along to ruin everything. Two companies need to start up an advertising fight in Closer to fully recapture the spirit of skateboarding in the 1990s. Given that this ad ran in early 2004, my guess is Consolidated was referring to the return of Stereo in 2003.

It was recently announced that Louie Barletta rescued enjoi from the grip of the venture capitalists. Bill Weiss also pulled Madness back from the same depths of despair. Louie has a fairly detailed interview at Slam City talking about what enjoi meant to him and why he wanted it back. He has a well thought out plan for the company that doesn't step on anybody's toes in the process. Louie is open about the business side of skateboarding and provides insight into the nuts and bolts of what he is doing.

In general, reboots of deceased skateboard companies seldom go well. The magic that sparked the original idea is often never rekindled. Creature is perhaps the lone example of a successful return to the land of the living. Chris Pastras and Jason Lee did get the band back together for Stereo, but the mood has never exactly felt right. It would've been better for the two to start a new project under a different name. Another reboot that probably gets overlooked is Converse. They went bankrupt until Nike stepped in to resurrect the company. If nothing else, the new Cons have way less padding and helium than the old ones so that can count as a victory of sorts.

There's also the burden that nostalgia is becoming. We don't need a reissue of every single defunct company that had a niche following, such as Popwar for example. One point I liked in the Chrome Ball interview with Louis Carlton was that he said he has no real interest in making another run of Small Room boards. That was the past and it was good, but we don't need to repeat it, we can let it be. Personally, I would be cool with a fresh batch of Small Room t-shirts since I never had one back in the day, but that's a trivial request that can go unfulfilled. You do have to take into account the circumstances that cause a company to depart. In the case of Madness and enjoi, it wasn't of their own missteps, but because of corporate ownership. It makes the return slightly different. I've seen plenty of Madness boards around so obviously Bill was doing something right. I'm curious to see where all this ends up going. I'm also curious to see when skateboarding is going to tone down celebrating its storied past as the driver for new projects. You always need a good balance of new and old to keep people interested while connecting them with history.

Sacred: Big Brother - February 2004 Number 105

Blankets: Big Brother - January 2004 Number 104

Seth "Zed" McCallum.

Legend of Zed.

Seth is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was pro for Consolidated and rode for Creature. I don't really know too much about him. I checked out a couple of his video parts and he could blast some big ollies over gaps on street. I think he also skated vert. Seth had a couple of interviews, but I didn't have the mags they were in. I'm curious about how his Zed nickname came about.

The weather has been warmer and more springlike for the week. I've gotten in some skateboarding most days. I've been pressed for time with adult life lately so the results have been kind of mixed. It's also been sporadically rainy. What are ya gonna do?

The photo is by Andrew Hutchison.

Big Brother - October 2002 Number 89

Ryan Wilburn #5.

The Crow.

Ryan rode for Stereo and Consolidated. He's one of those pros that in retrospect you don't know a lot about. I don't think he had much in the way of interviews so his coverage was mostly ads, editorial photos, and a couple video parts. I like the boards with the giant cube logo that are popping up in the photos this week. It's a simple graphic that works well without being overly bland, maybe because Consolidated's cube logo is a strong piece of graphic design.

The photos are by the late Joe Hammeke.

Big Brother - July 2003 Number 98

Jesse Paez #7.

Visalia still rips.

Jesse and his younger brother Richard were both pro for Consolidated. They were born in Culver City, where they discovered skateboarding as little kids. The family moved to Visalia and that was when they really got into skating. Having ripping locals like Karma Tsocheff, Dale Blackmon, and Tom Knox around probably aided the cause. Jesse's frontside 180 down Wallenberg in 1992 was one of those big tricks that hinted at what would be possible in the future. He would go on to ride for Think before returning to Consolidated at the end of his pro career.

Nik Freitas took the photograph.

For the info: Thrasher - April 1994 Volume 14 Number 4

Big Brother - January 2003 Number 92

Alan Petersen #20.

Shadow air.

AP is from Fresno, California. He rode for Eppic, SMA, and Consolidated. Vans and Puma provided shoes for his feet. During the 1990s, Alan was one of those all terrain rippers who was equally adept at skateparks, ramps, and street skating. That seems like an odd statement given where skateboarding is at today, but back then there was a little bit of distance between the different fields. He vanished to Australia in the early 2000s. Big Brother was a magazine started by Steve Rocco at World Industries in 1992. The mag was sold to publisher Larry Flynt, of Hustler fame, in the later 1990s. Consolidated wasn't the biggest company ever and didn't have a ton of money for advertising. They sometimes partnered with Vans to get more coverage since many of the Consolidated guys were also riding for Vans. Or in this case, Big Brother gave them a deal after an interview with Alan. And that's way too much skateboard history condensed down into a few sentences when I could've just written that this is a sick photo.

I'm not sure what to write for these things some days. When I started, the audience was generally people who grew up with skateboarding so they knew the cast of characters. I don't really know who might stumble upon this site so I sometimes want to write a more general overview of a skater's history in case a new reader hadn't heard of a pro or company. I suppose it doesn't matter too much since blogs are freeform creatures to begin with, but I do want to provide a little more context since a whole bunch of this stuff is from a long time ago now.

The photo is by Nik Freitas.

Big Brother - February 1998 Number 33

Hollywood & Kris Markovich.

Finale.

These two ads ran in the same issue of Big Brother. Markovich split for Blind at the end of 2003 or early 2004. There were some financial issues and potential team cuts at Hollywood that led to his departure. Kris wasn't on Blind for long before starting Crimson with Charlie Thomas. Tum Yeto kept Hollywood going for a little while longer, but they weren't overly excited about the brand. According to his Chrome Ball Incident interview, the reason Kris bounced from Blind so quickly was because they changed the business plan they initially offered him. The idea he signed up for was a version of Blind that used more original artwork along the lines of when Mark Gonzales started the company. There would still be boards with the childish reaper graphics, but there would be a bigger focus on more creative endeavors. That's something to ponder.

It was 46˚ F when I left work yesterday. It warmed up to near 70˚ F by the time I got home. Living near a Great Lake can sure cause some weather discrepancies over a just few miles. I skateboarded in the driveway for a bit because it was much warmer. Things actually felt OK for once, even though I didn't land much of anything. I think being out in the nice weather helped. Have a good weekend out there.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, April 13th. I'm worn out and taking a little spring break.

Big Brother - February 2004 Number 105

Justin Roy #3.

Piling down.

Justin is from Lafayette, Louisiana and moved out to San Diego for the sake of skateboarding. He was an am for Foundation and turned pro for Hollywood. Later on he would ride for Hellrose, the short lived LA based company with Richie Belton, DJ Chavez, Don Nguyen, James Atkin, and a few others. In a Thrasher interview from 2003, Justin said he didn't see Kevin Staab very often when they were both on Hollywood.

The weather has been windy and rainy since the weekend. I skateboarded a couple of times in the driveway with mixed results. I started breaking in a new pair of shoes, too. I haven't really had much going on lately.

Big Brother - January 2004 Number 104