Monday, November 23, 2009

Neil Blender #3.



Classic Neil at Sadlands. That place doesn't exist any longer, does it?

When I watched the clip from Memory Screen last week to make sure I had the wall graffiti* right for the Steve Claar post, I decided to listen to Don't Mean Maybe's Real Good Life album again. I even played it for my students in class. Of course most of them have their iPods on and don't listen to the music I play. This ends up being amusing to me. I figure I do about 99 and some odd percentage of everything for the students and that last little fraction is playing music for myself. If they want to listen, cool, but otherwise I don't worry about it. I know a couple of times I've had students tell me that their iPod just played a song from the album I was playing in class. On the other hand, I know at least one person who really got into Pavement because of me.

* The graffiti didn't have any punctuation.

The photo is by Miki Vuckovich.

Transworld - August 1989 Volume 7 Number 4

10 comments:

smorales said...

Unreal Neil! Always a good choice. Jeff Phillips too...

Old School Sammy said...

Did G&S ever come out with a Neil Street shape? This guy is without question one of the all-time greats---more style per mile than just about anyone.

Jason said...

G&S made some mini Blender decks but I don't think they ever did a "street" shape. G&S continued to use Neil's later graphics on team decks after he left to help co-found Alien Workshop. Pretty lame of them.

Justin said...

What about the deck with the scorpion on it? Was that a street board?

Anonymous said...

Ever notice "Alien" is "neil A" backwards?

Jason said...

Seems like that Scorpion deck was a "street" board if I remember correctly. I can ask Neil for you. I know one thing, he's not into popsicle shapes. That's why he left Black Label after they put the "Rocking Dog" and "Coffee break" graphics on popsicles without asking him.

Sleezy Bone said...

yeah, sadlands got dozed a while ago, quite unfortunately.

Old School Sammy said...

FreakbeatFuzz,

Does Neil have a board sponsor these days? I know Tracker still lists him as a lifetime team member, but I highly doubt he skates em anymore...and I am totally in agreement with him about popsicles---terrible. I am a big a fan of them as I am rip-off graphics, neither require any imagination to create.

Jason said...

Old School Sammy,
Neil doesn't have a board sponsor these days. He has his own company called The Heated Wheel for his art and boards. He hasn't made boards in a few years but he sells his art on eBay these days. He had some shirts up this week. His boards were made by Chuck Hults of who used to shape for PS Stix. Chuck runs the excellent Deckcrafters Skateboards now. Neil has been working on "roller customs" for a while which are tiny boards using old roller skate trucks and wheels. He shapes the boards himself and paints or screens them. Some are wood, some are fiberglass. Tracker lists Neil as a lifetime member but he is actually on Indy. Rides Bones too.

Jason said...

justin, sorry for the delay. yes, the scorpion deck was a street deck. neil didn't do the graphics. i think this was the only board of his where he didn't do the graphics. -jason

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