Ethan Fowler #3.

Ethan looks so clean cut in this photo compared to the beard and long hair he has these days. At the time, his switch to an all black wardrobe was the talk of the gossip sections of the mags. Or at least Big Brother. Remember that Elements Of Style article they did that spoofed GQ? That was hilarious.

Transworld - September 2000 Volume 18 Number 9

Kris Markovich #5.

Seven years after Tod Swank made a fake ad claiming he rode for Foundation, Markovich really did end up on Foundation. He surprisingly left Element after having been there for a long time. His part in Art Bars and the footage in the tour video The Good Times Are Killing Me are both prime examples of Markovich's all terrain destruction.

Transworld - September 2000 Volume 18 Number 9

Brian Anderson #2.

"Prepare to be Brian - Washed..."

That cracked me up last night when I scanned this in.

Transworld - September 2000 Volume 18 Number 9

Mike Maldonado.

Super Imperial was a short lived Toy Machine wheel company. This was probably the only ad for them. Ed Templeton has said in the past that he hates doing wheel graphics because there isn't a lot of room to work with.

You can expect a lot of Toy Machine and Foundation this week.

I think Ed took the photo. If it wasn't him, then it was Ryan Gee.

Transworld - January 2000 Volume 18 Number 1

Fred Gall #3.

The view from the other side.

This is the game plan for the next couple of weeks:

4/27 - more late 90s/early 2000 stuff
5/4 - Tim Brauch week
5/11 - Spitfire week

Ryan Gee snapped the photos.

Thrasher - April 2000 Volume 20 Number 4

Anthony Van Engelen.

A.V.E. nose grinds the Synagogue rail during the Photosynthesis days. No tats and DC's instead of Vans.

Elwood was Sal's clothing company that went along with Aesthetics. Their clothes were hard to find. Elwood was in some sort of limbo the last few years, yet somehow survived after everybody left for Zoo York. Kenny Anderson has recently brought the brand back into a functional existence. The team has expanded to include John Rattray, Dan Drehobl and Anthony Pappalardo. You now can actually find their clothes and I finally own my first Elwood t - shirt after years of looking. I didn't look very hard, but you know what I mean.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Big Brother - June 2000 Issue 61

Clyde Singleton.

Most of the kids out there probably don't realize Clyde can skateboard pretty damn well. They only know him from his assaults on the English language in Transworld, the Skateboard Mag and maybe Big Brother. I work as a graphic designer and as I was putting together a brochure for an upcoming conference, I got to wondering how Clyde's articles were edited? Did the words just get pasted on the page with the hope that everything was spelled right? Did somebody have to proofread them? How would you tell the difference between a creative misspelling and a flat out typo? I usually have to read them a couple times just to figure out what he is talking about and even then, I'm still left scratching my head most of the time.

Speaking of time, Diakka was a watch company that started up around the same time as Nixon did. The team had Clyde, Chad Muska and Rune Glifberg, plus a young Arto Saari. There was some beef between them and Consolidated. Consolidated ran an ad spoofing a Diakka ad with Chad Muska DJing. Like so many assorted lifestyle start ups, Diakka wasn't around too long. I'm a little surprised Nixon has lasted as long as it has.

I guess it's Aesthetics week on the internet.

Theo Hand was the photographer.

Big Brother - June 2000 Issue 61

Kevin Taylor.

I'll probably check out the newest Zoo York video when it is done because of this guy. Taylor rode for Sal Barbier's Aesthetics before Sal took the whole team to Zoo York. In retrospect, that was a bizarre move. Shut down your company, take the whole team to an established brand and go from there. Only it didn't go much of anywhere. Taylor is the only guy still with Zoo.

Big Brother - August 2000 Issue 63

Marc Johnson #3.

MJ slides a long backside tailslide. Marc started off on Maple before joining up with Rodney Mullen for the A-Team. I think the A-Team was supposed to be like Plan B for the new millennium, but it didn't work out too well. The team of Marc, Rodney, Chet Thomas, Gershon Mosley and Dave Mayhew was solid for the time. However, the graphics and ads were kind of lame. Marc used the phrase "the opposite of stoked" to describe how he felt about the company just prior to starting enjoi.

The photo is by John Old.

Big Brother - July 2000 Issue 62

Steve Bailey.

You know you're doing something right when Neil Blender designs the graphic for your first pro model.

Nik Freitas took the picture.

Todd Bratrud drew the smushed birdies and sexy ladies.

Thrasher - April 2000 Volume 20 Number 4

Frank Gerwer.

Mister courageous O.D.B.
You need to recognize he's a P-I-M-P.
You need to recognize, you need to recognize.

Cash Money Vagrant.

Slap - October 2000 Volume 9 Number 10

Brandon Biebel.

A young Biebel gets up on one of them rails. He started off on ATM and then switched to Expedition before settling in at Girl. There were also some Circuit Wheels in the mix.

Did Venture ever make a video? I do not think that they did and it got me wondering how many truck company videos there have been. There was Gullwing's Full Power Trip and Tracker cranked out a few - Stacked, The Brotherhood and Hi-8 - but past that I don't recall any others. I don't think I've seen any of those actually. If it stays slow at work, I might do a little searching on YouTube for once.

Thrasher - March 2000 Volume 20 Number 3

Mike Carroll #4.

Is a Lucky Bearings ad too random to use? There's that line between providing worthwhile nostalgia and posting something just because it is old. I think this Mike Carroll backside flip is more than worthy. The photo would have been from the time period after Carroll and Rick Howard quit DC to start Lakai, but before there were any Lakai samples made. That's why Mike is wearing Koston 1's with a Lakai shirt. There is also a Girl ad from the same time with Mike wearing Koston 2's and a Lakai shirt.

Which brings us to today. It's looking like the video of Eric Koston leaving Lakai wasn't a belated April Fool's Day joke, but the real thing. I figured Eric would end his career with Lakai. A lot of times when a pro switches companies, there are enough rumors, subtle hints or incriminating photos of said pro riding a different company's gear to give you an idea of what is going to happen. Think Marc Johnson leaving Emerica for Lakai for example. None of this happened with Eric. It was a complete surprise. I'm thinking he will probably go to Nike, although I'm not really sure. The idea of Vans also entered my mind as a possibility, too. There can't be a lot of money floating around these days, even for the biggest name in skateboarding. Eric's not going to ride for some fly by night venture and I don't see another company being created out of Podium. I don't see him going back to Sole Tech either, unless it was to save eS. The thing is that for all the years of rumors that eS is getting axed, they still keep making shoes.

Thrasher - March 2000 Volume 20 Number 3

John Rattray.

"John "Braveheart" Rattray backside lipslides this Marin School rail in Berkeley."

I kind of slept on Rattray when he first started getting coverage for no real reason, but that changed over time. He adds some variety to the Zero team.

Brian Uyeda took the photo.

Slap - March 2000 Volume 9 Number 3

Keenan Milton #2.

Switch crooks in Sydney

Bunny hop, son.

The photo is by Mike O'Meally.

Slap - August 2000 Volume 9 Number 8

Brian Anderson.

A little more Fourstar for the week. B.A. puts down the frontside bluntslide at the Brooklyn Banks. This is from when he rode for Toy Machine. I was a little bummed to see him leave the Machine, but if you get the call from Girl, you'd be an idiot to decline the offer. Brian is one of my favorite pros and I usually ride his boards because I like the shape.

Big Brother - December 2000 Issue 67

Anthony Pappalardo #2.

Espresso shots.
New socks.
Games of S.K.A.T.E.
Johnny Cash.
Electronics.
Flatground sessions.

This is the view from the other side of the stairs from yesterday. I wonder how different Anthony's list would be today?

Do you know how hard it is to find a Vinny Ponte ad from the Treefort days when you don't have a lot of time and think it will only take a couple of minutes? It takes more than a couple of minutes and I didn't find one yet. Back to looking tonight and I don't think I'm going to use it this week. I did see a cool Gino ad for Elwood, but I'm leaving that for Chrome Ball. Should have just done Spitfire week.

Ryan Gee took the photo.

Big Brother - April 2001 Number 71

Rob Pluhowski #2.

"Varial heelflip. Philadelphia, PA."

This is the same set of stairs Anthony Pappalardo switch kickflipped for an early Lakai ad, but shot from a different angle. I just noticed that today. Also check out the scooter posse chillin' in the background.

The photo is by the one and only Lance Dawes.

Slap - February 2001 Volume 10 Number 2

Andrew Reynolds.

The Boss back in the Fourstar days.

Slap - October 1999 Volume 8 Number 10

Matt Field #2.

"Ollie - Sacramento"

One of the benefits of all that Yoga is Matt's ability to tweak the fuck out of his ollies.

Joe Brook manned the camera.

Slap - February 2001 Volume 10 Number 2

Matt Reason.

This was a request. I must have read the interview when it came out and completely forgot about it until I got an email wondering if I had the issue of Skateboarder it was in. I like Matt Reason, but there aren't a whole lot of photos left of him that haven't already made their way to the internet. All the mid 1990s Philadelphia scene photos are awesome, just with what gear the guys are riding and the tricks that they are doing.

Skate Daily had a couple of good ones yesterday.

The interview was by Mike Sinclair and the photo by Ryan Gee.

Skateboarder - November 2007 Volume 17 Number 3

Jerry Hsu & Louie Barletta.

I miss Big Brother. Just like everybody else.

The photo is credited to the B.M.C.

Big Brother - June 2002 Number 85