Shawn Mandoli.

I feel like J.A. Andade whenever he wins on Around The Horn and has his "Andade Lounge" bit, but I'd like to welcome Shawn Mandoli to the Vert Is Dead Lounge. Thanks for checking out the site. Here's an ad where nobody almost died, unlike that Real one from the other week. The Deluxe Store has had some dope ads over the years.

Thrasher - January 1994 Volume 14 Number 1

Mike Carroll #2.

Thanks for the link the other day, Sanger. Here's a picture of one of your bosses from the 1991 Thrasher Calendar. MC frontside blunt slides in San Francisco. This is another example of a cool looking board set up. Blue anodized Indys, H - Street green deck, blue rails and a sticker collage in the middle. Might those be A - 1 Meats for wheels? You can even see the spray paint on the Airwalks.

The photo is by Bill Thomas.

Todd Congelliere #2.

My boards never looked cool compared to what the pros rode. I never had the skinny rails or the World Industries Bedpan risers. I still want a set of those things. That bear is awesome.

The high point of Todd's career in terms of contests was when he got 5th at the NSA Norfolk Pro Vert contest in the fall of 1990.* Tony Hawk won, Jeff Kendall got second, Omar Hassan was in third and Chris Miller placed fourth.

* As far as I can tell the contest was in late 1990 since the coverage was in early 1991. There was no date listed in the Transworld article. I don't think it would have been in 1991 since the magazines had a longer turnaround time from event to print than today.

Thrasher - October 1990 Volume 10 Number 10

Todd Congelliere #1.

Todd wasn't around for very long in the skateboard world, but he made quite an impression before moving on. He could do any bigspin variation on vert - bigspin to disaster, bigspin to back tail, etc. There was even an appearance in the tours/demos section of Plan B's Questionable. He started the band F.Y.P while riding for Mike Smith's Liberty and created Recess Records, which is still going today. Liberty was backed by Steve Rocco. Todd and Mike were the pros. A vert only company wasn't going to last in the early 1990s and Liberty was soon gone.

Thrasher - October 1990 Volume 10 Number 10

Jovontae Turner.

I didn't care for World Industries' Love Child video when it came out. I was expecting something more like Plan B's Questionable. Instead it was a bunch of little kids who looked even smaller by their oversized clothes and an oldies soundtrack. The oldies didn't fly by my freshman year of college taste in punk rock. I can't really say I like that type of sound today either. The baggy clothes I guess were fine by 1992 standards, but turquoise is a nasty color no matter what year or size. As time went on, I noticed people started saying that this was a good video. I gave it another chance and although it will never be one of my favorites, Love Child does have its moments. Or at the least it launched the careers of guys like Chico Brenes, Spencer Fujimoto and Daewon Song. Shiloh Greathouse deserves some props, too. However, Jovantae Turner skated like a grown man with proper style in this sea of Bob shirts and 42" Blind jeans. I watched Love Child recently on the VCR and I wish he had given us a few more full video parts instead of disappearing.

Luke Ogden took the photo at Wallenberg.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Double Dip.

Some of the older guys in my town were pissed off when skateboards started to evolve into the precursor of the popsicle shape that we take for granted today. This was in 1990 and 1991 before things got worse or better, depending on your point of view. They hated freestyle and double tails. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that skateboarding was changing and having a nose the same as the tail on a board was much more functional. Of course some of the early attempts at having a symmetrical board were nasty. Vision tried and there was a Powell Tony Hawk that resembled a barn door. Or an uncut Naked blank. Does anybody else remember Naked? Their whole deal was that you could order an uncut blank and make your own shape. It made for an ideal shop class project. Too bad the idea sounds better on paper than in reality. When one of my friend's tried it out, the end result sucked. Of course he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and a high school shop isn't going to have all the fancy tools that a woodshop geared toward the production of skateboards is going to have.

Transworld - February 1990 Volume 8 Number 2

Phil Shao #4.

"Nosegrab backside air over the wood extension at Jim's."

Although he's gone now, we can be thankful Phil graced the Earth with his presence.

Luke Ogden took the photo.

Note: I'm going through old scans I hadn't posted. I've got a week off for Thanksgiving and I'm planning on getting a lot of new stuff ready to upload. There will probably be some sort of big Jeff Phillips tribute around Christmas time.

Thrasher - January 1998 Volume 18 Number 1

Real Summer Tour 1995.

"Over the course of two and a half months, who knows how many miles will be covered? Last year Mandoli fell asleep at the wheel, the tour ended and what was left of the van never came back.

This year Mic - E Reyes is at the helm and he never sleeps.

1995

The year the van survives"

It's cold, snowy and they are fixing the heater at work, so I'm craving some warmer weather. Only 7 months until June.

This ad is a year after the infamous Real tour where Sean Mandoli fell asleep while driving and nearly sent the team to the spirit world. It also marks the return of Mic - E Reyes to the Deluxe camp after a stint on the San Francisco Police Department.

Slap - September 1995 Volume 4 Number 9

Street Sheet.

Gary Scott Davis' two pages of weirdness in Transworld. He gets a little help from Randy Colvin, Steve Sherman and Miki Vuckovich this time around. I always liked the random columns in TWS that were more like 'zines.

Transworld - June 1989 Volume 7 Number 3

Chris Miller #2.

"Chris Miller caught here shucking one last fastplant."

This is the Miller steez I was talking about yesterday.

The photo is by Chip Morton. I believe Chip was the man behind Limpies Clothing. Worst/best company logo ever.

Transworld - April 1989 Volume 7 Number 2

Lester Kasai.

"Occasional visitor Lester Kasai proceeding to slap a titanic air into the square pool's corner pocket."

I made it onto Crailtap yesterday by sending in the scan of this photo with Ty Evans in the background. The Girl/Lakai videographer is sadly located under Lester's butt in the photo. I'm not even going to try to make a joke about that.

Grant Brittain's picture was from one of the last sessions at the Pipeline in Upland, California. The article it was used with was about the closing of the park. The Pipeline was open from the 1977 until 1988. I remember seeing the pics in the mags and it looked super burly. There wasn't a lot of concrete around in the late 80s with the focus being more on street and wooden ramps, which made the place stand out even more. Guys like Chris Miller and Steve Alba were some of the locals/regulars. Every Miller photo from there is beyond amazing.

The small photo by O is of Gerry Hurtado carving the banked slalom run.

Transworld - April 1989 Volume 7 Number 2

Danny Sargent.

Danny Sargent and Ed Templeton were the new street shredders for Schmitt Stix and then soon after, the New Deal. Since Vision was partnered with Schmitt, there would be some overlap of sponsors, which is why Sarge is rocking the VSW. I do recall wanting a pair of the DV8 high tops, but I never got them or even tried very hard to get a pair. I stuck with Airwalk. Sargent's parts in the New Deal vids were great. His Useless Wooden Toys performance was raw SF footage with no music so you heard every grind and every screech of urethane. As for 1281, Sargent pulled a switch backside 180 down the Big 7 at EMB. He was one of the first people to do a big gap switch. Unfortunately, he faded from the spotlight because of heavy drug use and that was the end of his pro career.

The photos are by Christian Kline.

Transworld - March 1990 Volume 8 Number 3

Mark Heintzman #2.

"Lofty sentence. Mark Heintzman presents a thesis on progressive aeronautics to a vacant faculty. School W."

Full G & S setup.

Steve Sherman took the photo.

Transworld - March 1990 Volume 8 Number 3

Tim Gavin.

I got the Beauty & The Beast DVD yesterday. I only had time to watch the Anti - Hero edit, but it was obviously very good. Any Max Schaaf, Brian Anderson and Julien Stranger footage is always a great thing. But that got me thinking that they could have dragged the Gav along on the trip, too.

Transworld - June 1994 Volume 12 Number 6

Paulo Diaz #2.

More Paulo? Why not? This is from an ad for Kools, Mark Gonzales' clothing company that was backed by Union Wheels. Kools existed briefly when the Gonz got back into skateboarding after leaving Blind. That's if I remember things correctly. I'm too tired tonight to cross check some phone numbers in ads or try to figure out which came first: 60/40 or ATM Click.

Note: Union Wheels did fund 60/40 and Kools. The fine Chrome Ball Incident has a Gonz post up today and in the mix is a 60/40 advertisement, so I was able to check the phone numbers without having to do much research.

Transworld - July 1994 Volume 12 Number 7

Paulo Diaz.

Paulo is rocking such a classic early 90s kit: X - Large t - shirt, baggy jeans and Pumas. The nose slide is nothing to mess with either. Along with Salman Agah, Paulo was one of the first people to do big stuff switch on street and he did it with his own unique style. He started off on Powell Peralta, switched to Stereo and wound up on Chocolate before disappearing into the rock and roll world. I've read rumors about him having some assorted problems over the years, but I hope he's doing OK these days.

Floating removable axles? Uh, yeah, that's a good idea. Sorry, Tracker. I did ride your trucks a couple times and they worked fine, but that was before 1993.

Transworld - January 1993 Volume 11 Number 1

Alan Petersen.

Nose grinder in a pool. This is fucking gnarly.

Thrasher - January 1991 Volume 11 Number 1

Lori Rigsby.

Lori Rigsby rode for Powell Peralta and had a part in Public Domain. She did a lot of technical mini ramp tricks and thus became the dream girl of numerous lonely boy skaters who were looking for a lady friend that understood skateboarding. Then she kind of just disappeared.

Now about the Indy ad. If anybody under thirty actually reads this, there used to be a rivalry between Independent and Tracker trucks. (Wait, you've never heard of Tracker? Well, there used to be a company by that name that made things to hold the wheels on your board. Tony Hawk even rode them.) The rivalry sort of lives on today with Transworld versus Thrasher. Transworld was started by Tracker owner Larry Balma before eventually winding up in the hands of AOL Time Warner. Balma's problem with Thrasher was that they kept it a little too real with things like swearing, sex, drugs and rock & roll. The Skate & Destroy motto didn't sit too well with the Tracker camp either. As a result, Transworld was started. Anyway, about the trucks. Trackers had plastic baseplates that were designed to make the trucks lighter. They were also more likely to break since plastic obviously isn't as strong as aluminum. So there you go. Indy disses Tracker.

The photo is credited to a Mr. Richard Meter. Pen name? Probably.

Thrasher - June 1989 Volume 9 Number 6