If I had turned on the computer between leaving work yesterday and this morning you might be looking at a scan of Ken Fillion right now. But I didn't and you are treated to this photo of the late Blaize Blouin instead. Blaize was an East Coast ripper from South Carolina. He turned pro for G & S. I believe he started a company called Subliminal during the mid 1990s, but I need to check the old issues of Slap to be sure.
Footage was the last big thing to come from G & S before the company went into a decline. It was a trial run in a way for some of the ideas that Chris Carter and Mike Hill would use in the Alien Workshop's Memory Screen video. The team soon split apart. Neil Blender, Steve Claar, Duane Pitre, Rob Dyrdek, Scott Conklin and Bo Turner were all abducted to Ohio. Remy Stratton joined up with Acme and Willy Santos flew the coop to Birdhouse Projects. G & S lingered on after that, but didn't last long. I had the poster on my bedroom door for the longest time, but I never saw the video until 1999 when I was going to grad school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. I watched it in the living room of former Zero am Jud Ferguson's house while a bunch of people played cards in the kitchen. My friend Steve said he was going to send me a copy a few years ago, but I'm still waiting for the tape to show up in my mailbox.
Robert McClory took the picture.
Transworld - October 1990 Volume 8 Number 10
7 comments:
Not to be dark, but I think he's dead. Am I confusing him with another guy from PA from that era?
Yes, Blaize is dead. I want to say that he was killed in a car accident. It will have been ten years ago this September. There will be another post of him on September 9th with the necessary back story.
There was also Sean Miller who died in a car accident. He rode for G & S and was from Pennsylvania.
that's too bad. a little more has come back to my ancient brain. i think he lived in easton and had an art studio.
He ripped. I met him at the last Savannah Slamma contest in '89 I think. "Footage" is worth it for the Neil Blender clip alone.
Blaize did die in a car wreck. My wife and I went to go visit his Mom recently. It was great to see her. The memories came flooding back. Losing a brother is never easy. His talents as a skater only mirrored a fraction of his true talent and beauty. He did own and was the creator of Subliminal.
Sarge sent Blaize and Sean up here to do a demo back in 1989 or so. They brought Bernie O'Dowd who was riding for TOXIC at the time. Brewce brought the fiberglass halfpipe down from Parkersburg. It was set up on Kanawha Blvd. on the riverfront for the biggest peckin fest in Charleston. Painted on the ramp in red letters were the words 'No P-burg Pussies'. Those dudes ripped shits and then partied and went swimming in the river. R.I.P. Blaize and Sean, powerhouse skaters.
I was just cutting my grass and his name popped in my head... I haven't thought about Blaize in many years. I was probably 12/13 the first time I saw him skate. He showed up at a local ramp in Savannah, Ga (Sugar Mountain) and tore the roof off that place. Literally... He put the tail of his board through the ceiling tiles... It was like watching Superman on wheels. I was hooked at that point.
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