Bill Danforth #2.

Danforth in yr face on G & S trucks.

It's another Mouse photo.

Thrasher - September 1989 Volume 9 Number 9

Ken Fillion.

Ken rode for G & S and Toxic back in the day. He is still skating today and riding for John "Tex" Gibson's Embassy Skateboards. Don't mess with Texas.

Transworld - November 1989 Volume 7 Number 7

Monty Nolder.

I've gotten a few requests for some pics of Monty over the past months and I was keeping an eye out for a good one.

Jamie Mosberg took the picture.

Transworld - August 1989 Volume 7 Number 4

Tom Groholski #2.

This is from an interview with the Jersey Devil by Glen Friedman:

Do you think California pros are threatened by pros outside of the sunbelt?

I don't know. They might be a little bit. It's not like we're out to get them or anything. We're just back here with no magazines, no companies, no hype (don't believe the hype) and crappy weather. We don't skate because it's a novelty or because it's hip. Things are not handed to us here like they seem to be there. We have to shovel ramps and deal with bad weather. We work to skate and we appreciate what we have. I like it back here better because it's not as big on a fad level. It's big but it's on an underground level. We can have a pool and not have it graffitied in a week, and we can skate the pool for longer because there are not a million people going there to make it obvious or a bust. We're not worried about catching up to those guys. I don't think there's any catching up to do nowadays.

Outside of this area, who do you like to skate with and why?

I'll skate with anybody, but I don't like competitive attitudes, like jock skateboarders. If it comes down to a contest type attitude trip, I'll just sit down, let those guys go for it and I'll skate when no one's around. I'm not into that type of situation. As for favorites, I like to skate with Dan Wilkes and Jeff Phillips because they're my friends. And as for style, Reese Simpson, Lance Mountain and Steve Caballero are the people I really like to watch.

***

RIP Eric Stricker.

***

The picture is by Marty "Jinx" Jimenez.

For the ad: Thrasher - March 1989 Volume 9 Number 3

For the quote: Thrasher - September 1989 Volume 9 Number 9

Lee Ralph #2.

Matt Mumford offered up this bit of praise for Lee in the current issue of Thrasher:

"Even though Lee's from New Zealand, us Aussies claim him as our own. He's one of the best skaters to come out of the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the raddest blokes that's ever been. I guess Australia and New Zealand are just gonna have to learn how to share when it comes to Lee Ralph."

David Walsh snapped the photo.

For the ad: Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

For the quote: Thrasher - October 2009 Volume 29 Number 10

Marco Saiz.

Marco is the brother of former Powell Peralta pro Steve Saiz. As far as I know he never got heckled at EMB, but it's not like I was there or anything.

I never rode a Vision board. I did acquire a couple of old decks from friends back in the day, but those were too used to bother setting up. I'm sure one of my friends had a Lee Ralph that actually had a kicked up nose for a brief amount of time. This would have been from when companies were starting to experiment with longer noses. I don't recall any of my friends riding Vision boards either. We stuck with Powell and Santa Cruz before H - Street, New Deal and World Industries came into play.

O photos.

Transworld - December 1989 Volume 7 Number 8

Jinx, Gonz & John Grigley.

I wanted to post this one for the pic of Mark Gonzales.

Grigley did some graphic design for Poison. Hey, it was the 1980s.

Jinx handled a lot of the graphic design stuff for Vision in addition to taking some photos.

Photos: Jinx by O, Gonz by Grant Brittain and Grigley by Jinx

Transworld - June 1989 Volume 7 Number 3

Ken Park.

This is going to be Vision week. No real reason behind it, other than I have a couple of Vision scans that I haven't used and decided to fill out the other three days. I was never big on the company and it is interesting how time has treated their pros. Gonz and Lee Ralph are regarded as legends while guys like Ken Park and Johnny Kopp are the butt of jokes. The team as a whole certainly ripped, but I think the full on 1980s fashion/MTV style hurt things. For somebody like Gator, this was perfect. Not so much for Tom Groholski.

The photo is by Chip Morton.

Transworld - April 1989 Volume 7 Number 2

Jeff Grosso & Mike Smith.

Here comes trouble times two.

Thrasher - September 1989 Volume 9 Number 9

Thomas Taylor & Byron Kothe.

Thomas Taylor was an am for Schmitt Stix. I believe he had a pro model on Torque Skateboards. He owns Stratosphere in Atlanta, which he has been running since he was 19.

His son Grant just turned pro for Alien Workshop.

The photos are by Hughes (no first name) and Eric Bose.

Thrasher - March 1990 Volume 10 Number 3

Lester Kasai.

This graphic popped up in my head for some reason recently. There have been a few current Lester sightings lately, including a couple of photos on Chris Eggers' Sk8Boarding4life website.

Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Rip Grip.

This is an ad for OJ II Street Razors, too, but I want to focus on the Rip Grip. Rip Grip was this foamy stuff with an adhesive backing made by Santa Cruz that you put on your board to make it easier to hold onto for grabs. I don't think it ever really helped out much. Rails were better to hold for most grabs anyway. Even if Rip Grip did manage to help you hang on, it was soon realized that you put it in the wrong spot from where you actually grabbed the board. We were just kids doing early grabs off small launch ramps so maybe we were missing out on the full benefits of the product. It looked cool at least and if Eric Dressen had it on his board, well then it better be on mine.

Street Razors were good wheels.

Thrasher - April 1989 Volume 9 Number 4

Jake Phelps.

Before he became the Editor in Chief at Thrasher, Jake handled the monthly product review column. He gave both positive and negative feedback on the gear.

Thrasher - September 1989 Volume 9 Number 9

Mike Kepper #2.

Kepper crail steez.
He tattoos people these days.

My brain is done. There's been too much work at the day job this week.

Thrasher - June 1990 Volume 10 Number 6

Bryce Kanights #2.

I'm not sure if Bryce was ever mentioned for gnarly tricks done at China Banks, but I'm saying he gets props for this crail slide/grind.

In case you were wondering about the little A in a circle sticker like I was, it is design for Thrasher comics. I looked it up last night and found the answer rather quickly.

The sticker is a spoof of the Comics Code Authority logo. The CCA logo appeared on comic books back in the day and still is found on some books these days. The idea behind the Comics Code Authority was that comic books were corrupting the minds of the youth and that naughty things like sex, horror and violence needed to be kept from their young eyes. Any comic book displaying the little approved logo was safe for the kids. All of these shenanigans went down in the 1950s during that fine period in US history called McCarthyism. Of course there were a bunch of bad asses who didn't need anybody's approval and kept drawing the bad kind of comics. The Wikipedia article is an interesting read.

Thrasher's logo went by the name of SCUM, which was an acronym for Society for Comic Underground Morality.

Blaize also has the same sticker on his board in yesterday's post.

The photo is by Steve Sherman.

Thrasher - March 1990 Volume 10 Number 3

Blaize Blouin #2.

12/2/1969 - 9/9/1999

"Blaize Blouin's patented mute flapper in the Hanger's bowl is just one of the many high-speed moves he's capable of."

This Q & A is from a Thrasher article after Blaize won the 1988 NSA Vert Championship.

When?
I started skating in '78 - just dorking around on Fiberflex and Bahne boards. I started park riding in late 1980. My main influences were Keith Durden, the McKinnon (Speed) brothers, the Uke Boys and the Toke Team.

Where?
I'll go underground from here. Skating is heading for trouble. Hospitality and unity barely even exist anymore.

Why?
I skate for personal enjoyment. It's a natural way to release all of my aggressions. I'm not very concerned with other people's reasons for skating.

Faves?
Concrete, plywood and pool coping. The Rancheros, Reese, the Wainrights, the Toke Team, Lenny, Leaphart. The Farm Ramp Jam. The Rolling Stones, jazz, reggae, psychedelic rock.

Dave Swift took the photo.

Photo: Transworld - July 1991 Volume 9 Number 7

Quotes: Thrasher - March 1989 Volume 9 Number 3

Bonnie & Blaize Blouin.

The Blouins were from Charleston, South Carolina.

Bonnie wrote a column for Thrasher called Skater's Edge. It was pretty cool and dealt with a bunch of issues related to skateboarding. She committed suicide in the early '90s. There was a letter asking about her column in last month's Thrasher.

Blaize won the 1988 NSA Am Finals for vert and turned pro for G & S soon after. He started Subliminal in the mid 1990s. He was killed in a car accident ten years ago.

This was a two page spread in Thrasher. I doubt it was intentional, but makes for a nice coincidence.

Thrasher - March 1989 Volume 9 Number 3

Rick Howard #4.

It might end up being Blockhead Fridays for a while. I've got a few leftovers from Blockhead week still. I wasn't sure on what else I wanted to use today and went with Rickoo.

I need to say thank you to Rob at the Skatepark of Tampa for posting a link to Vert Is Dead on their website. I enjoy reading about the adventures that the SPoT crew go on.

I feel like a poser because I haven't skated since last Tuesday. This break was caused by work, teaching, framing art, a college welcome back party, seeing Elvis Costello, rain and more framing art. Everything is taken care of and the weather looks good for the Labor Day weekend or at least Saturday and Sunday.

The photos are by El Steam.

Thrasher - June 1990 Volume 10 Number 6

Henry Sanchez & Chris Branagh.

How many people thought that Ryan Sheckler would disappear like Chris Branagh did?

(When I did a search to make sure I spelled Sheckler right, Google gave me six pictures of him, three without his shirt on. Thanks, internet.)

Thrasher - June 1990 Volume 10 Number 6

San Diego Trucking & Supply.

The only reason I'm posting this one is for the Don Pendleton photo. Sorry about that Jesse, Troy and Buck.

San Diego Trucking Supply was a venture run by Henry Hester and Terry John Myers that produced trucks based on ideas from G & S. These two men had worked to develop G & S trucks, but weren't happy with how things were going and opted to do their own thing.

It feels like odds and ends week at Vert Is Dead.

Poweredge - October 1991 Issue 36

Molotov #2.

More of the Molotov art tip.

Poweredge - October 1991 Issue 36