Greg Hunt.

Backside smith grind on a bench in the middle of nowhere. After being pro for Stereo, Hunt got behind the camera lens for the DC video and is currently working on the new Alien Workshop video.

Slap - October 1995 Volume 4 Number 10

Ethan Fowler.

Smooth. I'm glad this guy did what he did when he did it.

Slap - December 1995 Volume 4 Number 12

Coco Santiago.

I went through the issues of Slap that I have from 1995 and scanned in a bunch of stuff. I also reread some of the articles. The tour stories about the Deluxe team were nuts. They basically were like vikings on skateboards, ransacking and pillaging wherever they went for months on end.

Slap - October 1995 Volume 4 Number 10

Mark Gonzales #2.

"The Gonz in mid shifty at the Ashtray, Eugene OR."

The photo is by Lance Dawes.

They played "Lowrider" on the radio during my drive into work today.

Note: Mark is riding a Jay Adams Z - Flex. It measures 9.5" x 33". I know this because I scanned in a bunch of stuff from my issues of Slap from 1995 and there was a Z - Products ad with Jay that gave the board size.

Slap - September 1995 Volume 4 Number 9

Forties #2.

More Forties goodness. So simple and so amazing. I almost think Natas took the top photo of the truck. Or maybe Thomas Campbell. It's post - bar time on a Saturday night, so I'm not sure and not sober. As for the bottom photo, Chris "Dune" Patras is on the acoustic guitar and Tommy Guerrero is on the electric. I don't know who the bass player is. Enjoy.

Slap - July 1995 Volume 4 Number 7 (Keep on truckin')

Slap - September 1995 Volume 4 Number 9 (Keep on rockin')

Forties #1.

Forties was Tommy Guerrero's clothing company. I think their ads are awesome. They used art from a variety of the usual Deluxe suspects - Guerrero, Tobin Yelland, Mic - e Reyes and Natas Kaupas to name a few. Their clothes were hard to find, at least wherever I lived. I think I only ever had one Forties t - shirt.

Here are a pair of ads with Natas from 1995. I don't know if he actually rode for the company. I don't think it matters.

Slap - August 1995 Volume 4 Number 8 (Number Of The Beast drawing)

Slap - November 1995 Volume 4 Number 11 (Frontside Air)

Ron Chatman #2.

"The world looks a little better from up here. Ron Chatman, La Mirada California."

It sure does.

Once again it's a Spike Jonze photo.

Transworld - October 1990 Volume 8 Number 10

Eric Murphy.

I like this photo. I don't know all that much about Eric Murphy. I guess he rode for Alva and was from Chicago. This week has developed into air to fakie week. I hadn't planned on it, but I'm just going to roll with it.

Spike Jonze took the picture.

Transworld - May 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

Tim Brauch.

I watched a good portion of the Maloof Money Cup on Sunday. The clips that were shown of Dennis Busenitz made me think of Tim Brauch. I seem to remember a quote about Brauch's win in the Vans Triple Crown Street Competition of 1998. The quote dealt with how Brauch won the contest - by hauling ass, grinding the shit out of everything and doing big airs in comparison to what the other riders were doing. Granted some heavy tricks went down in the Maloof Money Cup, but what Busenitz was doing was a lot more eye pleasing than the carcass toss down the sixteen stair handrail.

Mark Waters took the photo.

Note: I looked around the last couple of days for the quote, but couldn't find it. I think it might have been in Big Brother because somebody had an actual opinion.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Julien Stranger #3.

I found this ad when I was looking for a Keenan Milton photo at the beginning of the month.

Thrasher - June 1994 Volume 14 Number 6

Mark Heintzman.

A split second before the grab part of a backside grab to fakie on a bank. This is the one guy who probably should have been on Alien Workshop, but wasn't.

The photo is by Grant Brittain.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Intensity Skates 1991 Catalog #2.

Round two of skateboard porn. There are a few classic board graphics in the group, including Julien Stranger's low rider, Jim Thiebaud's hanging Klansman, the Henry Sanchez Crayola bite, Ed Templeton's second pro model with the crowd of people and the Randy Colvin Goodwill graphic. As for the t -shirts, I'd still wear most of those today if I could.

Intensity Skates 1991 Catalog #1.

For whatever dumb reason I got into the habit of saving skateboard mail order catalogs. I have long since stopped since graphics change so often and there is no good reason to save a CCS catalog with Ryan Sheckler on the cover. This is from Intensity Skates in Maryland and is worth it for the photo of Jim Thiebaud alone. I'm liking the Blockhead, Dogtown and Planet Earth graphics, especially for the Chris Miller tree.

Ed Templeton.

The Tempster throws down a noseblunt slide on a curb. It's hard to believe Ed has been pro for eighteen years now. It's even harder to believe his cat Ptah is alive and kicking after the same number of years.

It's a Spike Jonze photo.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Real Slippery Bottoms.

Slick bottom boards seemed like a good idea at the time, but they were horrible. Santa Cruz was guilty of inflicting this technology upon skateboarding first and then everyone else followed along. The layer of plastic made the boards heavier and affected the pop. Plan B slicks were about the best because they still felt like a normal deck and the coating gave strength to flimsy wood. The only good thing to come of this bad idea was the expanded creative freedom the plastic allowed for with graphics.

Thrasher - December 1991 Volume 11 Number 12

Alien Workshop Collage.

This collection of photos and screen shots would be from the making of the Memory Screen video. All the riders are featured - Rob Dyrdek, Duane Pitre, Steve Claar, Thomas Morgan, Scott Conklin, Bo Turner and Neil Blender. However, I'm not seeing any John Pryor. Two of the biggest strengths of the early Alien Workshop were their overall lo - fi aesthetic and intentional obscurity. They created their own identity. I'm sure some of this was done on purpose and some of it happened because they were a new company without a lot of money, but whatever the case might be, the results were amazing.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

John Cardiel #2.

I work with good people at a printshop and it is a pretty cool job, but I simply don't feel like doing anything at all this week. I think I need a vacation.

Thrasher - October 1991 Volume 11 Number 10

Ray Barbee.

This photo just radiates happiness.

Thrasher - August 1989 Volume 9 Number 8

Jim Murphy.

"The perfect song for the posse was the Circle Jerks, "Wild in the Streets." That's exactly what they were about. They didn't need sleep. They could party and skate so hard that they were just legendary. They were like road warriors - just a total destruction machine." - Tony Alva

This wraps up Alva week. I figured the week wouldn't be complete without Murph. This was fun, but it was also a little bit of a pain specifically looking for the pictures in the magazines. I have some ideas for what I want to put on this site and then other things I find randomly as I'm looking through the stuff, but this week was more like doing research.

The photo is by Joel Cherry.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2 (for the quote)

Thrasher - August 1989 Volume 9 Number 8

Dave Duncan.

"We were a little more spontaneous and a little less polished. We wouldn't win the contests but our lifestyle would be more of a show. We grew up looking at dudes like T.A. - with long hair, smoking a joint - and that's all we knew."

Dave Duncan seems like the right guy for Saturday.

The photo is by Kevin J Thatcher. He was the editor of Thrasher.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2 (for the quote)

Thrasher - August 1989 Volume 9 Number 8

Eddie Reategui.

"We had a brotherly love and we loved skateboarding. It was never about money and we never sold out for a second. It was all worth it, every second of it."

I was never sure what I thought of Reategui back in the day. In looking through the old mags now, he got a lot of coverage. So I started doing a little investigating. He placed well in contests, skated pools and did demos. He put forth the effort and treated skateboarding with respect, as was evidenced by his interview in Thrasher from July 1990. He rode for Powell Peralta and then turned pro for Alva. He was friends with Christian Hosoi. That probably helped him out a lot, too. I'm now calling myself an Eddie Reategui fan.

Luke Hudson took the photo.

Note: Reategui had the photo for the month of April in all three Thrasher calendars I have, even when things got hella fresh in 1992. His birthday is June 28, so that wasn't the reason.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2 (for the quote)

Thrasher 1990 Calendar

Jesse Neuhaus.

"We had Jesse Neuhaus, who was like 12 at the time, in a couple of the shots. But every shot with Jesse looked like a bunch of bikers stole this kid and were going to pimp him out on the streets." - Steve Dread

Neuhaus was and is still cool. He resurfaces every so often with a photo or an interview. Somebody needs to print one of the Alva team photos with him in it. I bet it would be hilarious.

This photo is by Rick Kosick. Yes, that is the very same Kosick who went on to work for Big Brother.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2 (for the quote)

Transworld - June 1990 Volume 8 Number 6

John "Tex" Gibson.

"I had been pro for 12 years and John Falahee was sending me to places like Wichita, Kansas, to do a demo on a curb in front of a skateshop. I was just like, "Man, don't drag me out of my house for this shit." I'd look at my shrinking check, and it was like, "Fuck this." Let the new kids kickflip the curb. I just stopped answering the phone."

Street skateboarding made life hell for the vertical savages of the 1980s. It really is too bad there wasn't room for both in the early 1990s. I related to street skating much more because vert was an impossibility for two simple reasons - the lack of any vert ramps in my small town and the fact that I do not have the coordination to ride a huge ramp. As more people favored riding in the streets, there was a major shift in the direction of skateboarding that left the old pros out to dry.

One little thing I've noticed in looking at all these old photos is that the Alva team was all over the place in terms of truck sponsors. If Alva happened today, they would all be riding Indys. Guys rode for Independent, G & S, Thunder, Venture, Cutter and Tracker. Could you imagine somebody on Anti Hero riding Trackers? They'd get kicked off in two seconds.

Note: John Falahee was Tony Alva's business partner for Alva and then New School and ATM Click. I'm sure by the time it got ATM Click, T.A. had nothing to do with it.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2 (for the quote)

Transworld - April 1989 Volume 7 Number 2

Bill Danforth.

"If I stayed in one place I just felt like it was stagnant. My goal was to meet as many people and skate with as many people as possible."

Danforth was probably my favorite of the Alva team because he rode street and mini ramps.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2 (for the quote)

Thrasher - December 1989 Volume 9 Number 12

Craig Johnson.

"All that other '80s shit was just like a Vision brainwash. Like Brad Dorfman trying to rape people's minds with this day - glo crap. We were just like, "This ain't Madonna, motherfucker. This is AC/DC, bitch."

You really can't fuck with a proper backside ollie in a pool.

The photo is by Jamie "Mouse" Mosberg.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2 (for the quote)

Transworld - November 1989 Volume 7 Number 7

The 1988 Alva Team Photo.

"The stark contrast between the group of individuals depicted in the Steve Gross photo and the candy - coated norm at the time left most skateboarders scared shitless or running to buy an Alva board."

It's Alva week on Vert Is Dead. I wasn't really too into Alva back in the day, but I recognized the team for what it was: a gnarly group of skateboarders. I think I like Alva more today because of how raw they were. They certainly provided the blueprint for current companies like Baker and Creature.

The quote is from an article on the Alva posse compiled by Mackenzie Eisenhour in Skateboarder Magazine.

Skateboarder - August 2002 Volume 11 Number 2

Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Keenan Milton.

Keep on shining.

8/4/1974 - 7/5/2001

Thrasher - March 1996 Volume 16 Number 3

James Kelch.

Independence Day.

Thrasher - July 1994 Volume 14 Number 7

Jason Lee.

"Skateboarding is just skateboarding, it's not a course in school."

Jason Lee doing a pivot to fakie at Tower Skatepark in Arizona. The photo is by Luke Ogden. It's from his pro spotlight interview. Lee is wearing the Gonz designed Gene Simmons fish - car shirt. I'm saying nothing about Mr. Lee's current career, but the skateboard stuff is the only thing that matters.

Transworld - November 1990 Volume 8 Number 11

Reese Simpson.

Grant Brittain photo of Simpson at Carlsbad. I liked his Schmitt Stix graphic with the snake. I think I had the t - shirt. I've still got my Steve Douglas Crystal Palace shirt.

Is it just me or does the head seem out of proportion with the body? Could there have been some darkroom trickery going on? Sorry, Reese. I'll find a better photo for the future. I scanned a bunch of pictures on Sunday so I was ready for the week and could update at work, but I'm not liking everything about this particular photo. I should have been paying better attention.

Transworld - December 1989 Volume 7 Number 8

Jason Jessee.

Frontside ollie on one kinked up plywood mini ramp with graffiti all over it. No coping either. That's an airplane in the background. There was no photo credit, but I would not be surprised if Daniel Harold Sturt took the picture.

Transworld - December 1989 Volume 7 Number 8