Rob Pluhowski.

Pluhowski closes out Photosynthesis week. He switched from Element to Habitat, but never went pro. It's good to see on Epicly Later'd that he is alive and well with a family now. I hope he still skateboards for fun every so often.

There was no credit, but the safe bet would be that Ryan Gee had his hand on the camera.

Transworld - September 2000 Volume 18 Number 9.

Fred Gall #2.

"Freddy Gall switch ollies a chained embankment in Philadelphia."

If you are looking for any sort of clever writing today, you aren't going to find it here. Go check out You Will Soon. They've been blogging it up over the last 24 hours. But if you want to see an old photo of Fred Gall from the Photosynthesis days, then this is your stop on the internet. He wore a lot of yellow shirts back then.

The photo is by Ryan Gee.

Transworld - September 2000 Volume 18 Number 9.

Pat Corcoran.

"East Coast kids are the craziest > West Coast kids always runnin' shit > Pat Corcoran runnin' a 360 flip."

Pat was another new am for Alien Workshop who debuted in Photosynthesis. He was from Philadelphia and had a lot of Love Park footage. He disappeared from the scene rather quickly. I know there was an interview with somebody from Alien saying that Pat was still skating, but not into the limelight. I also think I remember reading that he had gotten into doing graffiti.

I have no clue about the caption. Seriously. That's bad even by Transworld standards.

Note: There was a Pat Corcoran who reviewed albums for Slap and was not the same guy. The Pat who wrote for Slap had tastes in music that agreed with mine and I'm sure I bought a couple of the CDs he reviewed. He liked a lot of shoegaze/indie type stuff.

It's another Ryan Gee photo.

Transworld - August 2000 Volume 18 Number 8.

Anthony Pappalardo.

Not to be outdone, Pops had another of my favorite tricks in Photosynthesis based on how it was filmed: a nollie heelflip down some stairs that had a board over top of them. I like the composition of the shot and how it is more or less a silhouette. It was kind of surprising when he left Alien for Chocolate. Alien is or was one of those companies that guys are on for life and if they leave, they usually vanish from skateboarding. The Epicly Later'd show helped shed some light on why Pappalardo switched teams and made me like his part in Fully Flared a little more.

Note: This was the second page of yesterday's ad.

Ryan Gee handled the photos.

Transworld - February 2000 Volume 18 Number 2

Brian Wenning.

The first Alien Workshop ad for Brian Wenning and Anthony Pappalardo. One thing that I liked about the Workshop was that they found their own obscure East Coast riders rather than just looking for guys in California. I know that has changed in recent years, but I'm not going to point any fingers of blame at them. Of the two, I think Brian had the slightly better part in Photosynthesis. He did obscenely long nose grinds on the ledges at Love and some big switch 360 flips. He also did one of my favorite tricks ever based solely on how it was filmed: a backside 180 to fakie 5 - 0 to half cab out on the ledge of the fountain at Love. It was a wider shot and the camera was rolling along with him. It just looked very graceful with all the rotation involved in the trick and how the sun was lighting everything up.

Note: This was a two pager and I'll post the other half tomorrow.

Ryan Gee handled the photos.

Transworld - February 2000 Volume 18 Number 2

Tony Ferguson.

"Haven't we seen you someplace before? Tony Ferguson lipslides backside over painted smoothness. Ottawa gas station."

This was from a Transworld tour of Canada. It was probably Tony's first major bit of coverage. He went on to ride for Plan B and turned pro for Girl.

I figured I needed to end the week with some street skating since next week is going to be Alien Workshop stuff from Photosynthesis. I made a list of the guys to find pictures of and I'm doing the scanning this weekend. It would be tempting to do a week of Rob Pluhowski, but I'm going to mix it up. I forgot about him until I saw the Epicly Later'd and I'm not sure how that happened either since I like Habitat's Mosaic video a lot.

Thanks to Police Informer for including Vert Is Dead in the links.

The photo is by Spike Jonze.

Transworld - January 1991 Volume 9 Number 1

Wade Speyer #3.

Ever wake up thinking it is Saturday and then realize it's only Thursday? I'm not firing on all cylinders today. I mean to keep up with the Epicly Later'd show on Vice, but I'm not always successful. I have seen all the Anthony Pappalardo episodes since there's been a lot of discussion about him and Brian Wenning online lately. I watched Photosynthesis last night. I forgot how good of a video that was. What that has to do with Wade Speyer is beyond me, but next week is probably going to be all Alien Workshop stuff from when they were making Photosynthesis. It is a little hard to believe that was almost ten years ago now. All the old guys, myself included, love the late 80s/early 90s stuff, but I think I like 1998 - 2000 just as much, if not more. Those years had that same type of feel as the late 80s for me because I had met a new group of friends to skate with and there were all sorts of new spots around. The gear was a little more functional, too.* So anyway, it's all good skateboarding whether it is Wade blasting a big air or Pappalardo nollie heelfliping down some stairs.

* Osiris and swishy pants don't count. I seem to remember visors being popular as well. Those don't count either. I wore big ass Plan B shorts in 1992, which means I can pick on any fashion statements I see fit.

Thrasher - September 1990 Volume 10 Number 9

Bernie O'Dowd.

Back in November I posted a picture of Todd Congelliere and was wondering what year the NSA Norfolk Pro contest was in. Mr. O'Dowd left a comment confirming my hunch that the event happened in 1990. He didn't do as well as Todd did, but managed to stay out of last place by beating Mark Roach. It's skateboarding. Contests don't mean crap. I'm just stoked that somebody who was pro for Toxic checked out my website. Dave Crabb was underrated for street skating.

Grant Brittain snapped the pic.

Transworld - September 1989 Volume 7 Number 5

Lori Rigsbee #2.

Lori's Check Out from Transworld.

Mark Waters did the photos and the interview.

Transworld - November 1989 Volume 7 Number 7

Ron Allen.

The guy just keeps on going. He was old back when he was pro for H - Street and that means he's even older today. Ron's got a board out on Creation and also rides for Satori wheels. And from the looks of the photos on the websites of both companies, he is still killing it.

The idea behind the no scratch graphic was that all the paint was on the nose and front of the board, so you wouldn't mess it up. This was just before nose slides gained popularity. Hey, it was H - Street and they could do no wrong.

Transworld - October 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

John Cardiel #4.

Best left hand in skateboarding.

Slap - April 1999 Volume 8 Number 4

Sean Kelling.

Nice ollie. I liked the Rookie ads. They were a good blend of skateboarding and design without being overly arty. Zoo York's Peep This is one of my favorite videos and Sean Kelling had a few tricks in there.

Giovanni Reda pushed the button on the camera.

Slap - November 1999 Volume 8 Number 11

Tim Upson.

Upson and Jim Gagne were am and then pro for Black Label. They stuck with the Label during a rough spell in the mid to late 1990s. After John Cardiel left, I think of them as the face of the company. Gagne faded away from pro skateboarding to go to school and learn a trade. Upson split for Anti - Hero and then vanished, possibly due to less than positive reasons.

The photo is by Suaze. No name in the contributing photographer listings matched so I don't know if this is a nickname, a last name or they forgot to put him in.

Slap July 1999 Volume 8 Number 7

Bobby Puleo #3.

Bobby had two banging photos in the May 99 issue of Slap. This was going to be yesterday's post until I turned a couple more pages and found the uphill 50 - 50. I figured I needed to start the week out with something amazing.

Speaking of amazing, check out the Weekly Image on Skate Daily.

Slap - May 1999 Volume 8 Number 5

Bobby Puleo #2.

"grinding up in New York City"

Classic Puleo street action. I was going through my stack of old Slaps when I found this photo. I don't even remember it from when the mag came out, but it is fuckin' sick. That Girl board looks awesome, too.

Mike O'Meally took the photo.

Slap - May 1999 Volume 8 Number 5

Ben Schroeder #2.

John Lucero kept a board on the market for Big Ben even when he was hurt. Schroeder has been through a lot of injuries, including a nasty car accident some years back, but as of late he has returned to form and is the one doing the hurting to ramps everywhere. He still rides Gullwings.

Transworld - April 1991 Volume 9 Number 4

Curtis Hsiang.

Superstars are important. They do amazing things, inspire us and attract the casual fan. Ideally they show off the best aspects of whatever they are doing. However, once you get into something, you start to realize that there is more to it than just the big names. There are talented individuals who make substantial contributions that go unnoticed by a lot of people. I'm a longtime Los Angeles Lakers fan. While it is easy to give all the credit for their three titles to Shaq and Kobe, anybody who is into basketball knows they didn't do it by themselves. Without guys like Robert Horry, Rick Fox and Derek Fisher, there wouldn't be a column on Crailtap called Ring Ring Ring. Unlike basketball, where a player can carve out a successful career as a clutch three point shooter or lock down defender, skateboarding is a little different. You are only relevant as long as you are on an NBA roster. Thankfully skateboarding doesn't have employment requirements. If you are ripping, you might wind up on the cover of Thrasher or in the intro to 411 (back when there was a 411 on VHS). Skateboarding has more room for the underdogs and the people who are doing it because they love it. This is where Curtis Hsiang comes in.

I was bummed when I found out Curtis had died. He might have been sponsored, but was never pro or anything. Not that it matters. The impression I got of him was that he was a good guy who was down for skateboarding. I really don't know all that much about him beyond what was in the mags. He'd have a photo here or an article there. He was friends with the Deluxe crew and would pop up in Anti - Hero videos from time to time. Curtis also made art, including these neat drawings that used white out on selected words from torn out pages from books. For as much as superstars like Eric Koston, Andrew Reynolds and Chris Cole have done for skateboarding, it is always good to see the little guys get in on the action, too. It keeps things grounded. Most skateboarders aren't sponsored and probably never will be. That's not important. Going skateboarding and hanging out with your friends is more important. That was the message that came through with Curtis.

Slap - April 2000 Volume 9 Number 4

Mike Youssefpour.

Stalefish at Mike McGill's Skatepark in Carlsbad, California.

Mike turned pro for Santa Cruz and then vert died, but he found a home at Birdhouse Projects for a bit as Tony did all he could to keep the big ramps alive. I believe Mike worked at Foundation some in the 1990s. He also put in an appearance at the recent Rumble In Ramona.

Grant Brittain took the photo.

Transworld - April 1990 Volume 8 Number 4

Mark Gonzales #4.

Cryptic Gonzo art.

Thrasher - June 1993 Volume 13 Number 6

Jeff Grosso #3.

How awesome is the photo of Grosso grinding that 3/4 pipe thing in the January 2009 issue of Thrasher?

Thrasher - June 1990 Volume 10 Number 6

Max Schaaf #2.

Everybody rode Ventures back in the early 1990s.

Thrasher - June 1993 Volume 13 Number 6

Andy Roy.

"I am so very scared of him"

Jason Dill after reading the Andy Roy interview in Big Brother.

A young and very innocent looking Andy Roy throws down a grind in a pool.

The Dill quote was from Big Brother July 2002 Issue 86.

The photo is by M. Fo. and was used in the 1991 Thrasher Calendar.