Digging Through The Stacks.

Vert Is Dead will be back on July 6th.

I'm going through the archives. It will probably be either 1994 or 1997 after the break. Feel free to leave suggestions.

Yes, that's a Sony Walkman. It still works.

Brian Ferdinand #3.

If this doesn't put you in the Brian Ferdinand Fan Club, nothing will.

This was on the back of Jason Roger's poster from Transworld. Jason had a sequence of a Smith grind on bar off a bank.

Tobin Yelland captured the gnarliness with his camera.

I'm guessing this is from 1990 or maybe very early 1991 in terms of when the poster was published.

Matt Hensley #4.

Vintage Hensley.

This is an Airwalk poster from 1991. On the flip side are pictures of the various shoes, which are probably worth scanning, too.

Sin Egelja took the picture.

Steve Claar #3.

You can't have Neil Blender without Steve Claar. He's alive and well these days playing in a band called Batarzan.

The photo is by Joe "Xeno" Lloyd.

Poweredge - October 1991 Issue 36

Neil Blender #5.

"Reliving a moment from yesteryear, Neil Blender draws a line out of a concrete bowl and grinds over the hip at Corio, Australia. Photo: Lance Mountain/Jason Jessee."

This was on the back of a Mike McGill poster that Transworld made in 1989. I left the masking tape on for dramatic effect.

Transworld - April 1989 Volume 7 Number 2

Mark Gonzales #8.

The Gonz with a big ollie impossible.

Everything this week is something that used to be hanging on my bedroom wall back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A lot of these were the backsides to posters and there will be some tape damage. Normally, I clean things like that up in Photoshop, but for these I feel it adds something to the scans, like a used skateboard versus a new one.

Transworld made a book of posters in 1991 that featured the Gonz, Tony Hawk, Omar Hassan and Matt Hensley. The back of each poster had some information on the skater and a sequence of them doing a trick. This was the back to Mark's poster. The other side was him doing an ollie over one of those traffic barriers wearing the same Dork shirt as in this sequence.

Spike Jonze took the photos.

Mike Crum.

Technical vert shredder from Texas.

Mike turned pro for Vision and rode for World Industries' vert heavy team for a good portion of the 1990s and early 2000s. He was also on DVS. Mike is doing Push Distribution with Kareem Campbell nowadays.

****

Ring 'em up. Looks like a certain photographer at Girl is getting another purple and gold office makeover.

Transworld - October 1993 Volume 11 Number 10

Kris Markovich #7.

Markovich blasts a gap and takes it to the street for Union Wheels.

Transworld - February 1993 Volume 11 Number 2

Justin Strubing & Jai Tanju.

There are many things I post on Vert Is Dead because I really like them a lot. There are other things that help explain some small part of skateboard history. Then there are things that I just find funny for no reason at all and feel need to be online. This is one of those.

Transworld - May 1993 Volume 11 Number 5

Jason Rothmeyer.

Jason rode for Foundation, Santa Cruz, Acme and Nation. He is a sales rep for Fallen these days and pops up on the SPoT website all the time. His part in 411 #2 was really good. He also had a huge Star Wars collection.

Transworld - July 1993 Volume 11 Number 7

Jeff Pang.

Swamped with work today. Trying to stay smooth with all the pressure. I almost didn't think I'd have time to update.

I've been moving into a new apartment and cleaning my parents' basement. I managed to find some old posters that were on my wall back in high school. Look for some awesome photos of Gonz, Blender and Brian Ferdinand shortly.

Transworld - June 1993 Volume 11 Number 6

Max Evans #2.

This is one of my favorite photos. It's a trick I like a lot. I've been doing them pretty good on flatground lately. It's probably time to try the half cab over the flat bar again. I haven't done that in a long time.

The photo is by Steve Sherman.

Transworld - November 1993 Volume 11 Number 11

Keith Hufnagel #3.

The helmet hair and small wheel days.

Thrasher - December 1993 Volume 13 Number 12

Alien Workshop Team Graphics.

At the same time as Marc Mckee, Sean Cliver and the World Industries crew were designing all sorts of provocative graphics and exploring the early uses of Adobe Photoshop, the Alien Workshop was blazing their own trail out in Ohio with Mike Hill's sculptures, Neil Blender's drawings and experimental video techniques. Both sides can be equally satisfying depending on what you are in the mood for.

Transworld - October 1993 Volume 11 Number 10

Tim Gavin #2.

The Gav rolls in style.

That was one of great things about the old World Industries days. You never knew what sort of crazy idea they would come up with next.

Thrasher - October 1993 Volume 13 Number 10

Laban Pheidias #2.

Blind ripped off Burger King for Jason Lee's board.

Blockhead ripped off Blind and added a vegan twist for Laban's board.

I bet they didn't get a cease and desist letter.

Transworld - July 1993 Volume 11 Number 7

World Industries Catalog #4.

Time to close out the week with the last quarter of the catalog.

First off is the Blind page. Blind 1991 > Blind 2010.

Then there's the first batch of Plan B boards. These don't strike me as all that impressive in terms of graphics, but the skaters sure are still impressive.

The back cover is Gabriel Rodiguez versus the Crusher, which would be his next board graphic.

Sometime in early 1992 World Industries made a second catalog called World Pigbait. It picks up where this one left off and has a better line of Plan B graphics, along with the underrated Blind Racing Team series. I have it all scanned in and I'm saving it for a rainy week.

World Industries Catalog #3.

This is the second half of the 101 ad that Transworld wasn't thrilled with. After multiple sequences of trying the trick repeatedly and failing, it was implied that Gabe gave up on everything. The rejection of the ad was one of the factors that led Rocco to start Big Brother in 1992. I sort of think that this catalog was kind of test run in publication because it is printed on nice, glossy paper and contains a small amount of random dumb stuff that Big Brother would focus on.

One of the things that World Industries was famous for was using rip off graphics. They got lots of cease and desist letters, some of which would wind up in ads. World was also famous for pushing the boundaries of good taste, as is illustrated with a few of the decks shown here. Of course the kids, myself included, loved this shit.

The kids breakfast cereal review page is pure Big Brother. Marc McKee, Sean Cliver and whoever else picked out all the unhealthy cereals and did a Consumer Reports style write up on them. I remember eating Bill & Ted's Excellent Cereal.

World Industries Catalog #2.

Today you get a blurry page of stickers with three classics of early 1990s design - the Henry Sanchez two girls, the Plan B logo and the Rudy Johnson 40 oz. of Old English.

There's also the end of Liberty. This catalog is the only place I've ever seen those boards, which is an interesting contrast with how recognizable the other graphics are.

Finally, there is the first half of a 101 ad that Transworld wouldn't run with Gabriel Rodriguez trying a frontside 360 over a ledge. Tune in tomorrow to see the second half that TWS wasn't cool with.

World Industries Catalog #1.

This is a World Industries and related companies catalog from late 1991 or possibly very early 1992. It's 12 pages long and I'm going to post three pages each day this week. There is a cereal theme to the whole thing and there is even a page of cereal reviews. The catalog is a little rough around the edges in places.

For the 101 page, that is Kris Markovich's first board after leaving G & S.

Mullen's Rock Is King is awesome. I think the story behind that was that Sean Cliver and Marc McKee came up with the idea, made the boards without Rodney's knowledge and then made sure the decks were in shops when Rodney was on tour so that would be the first time he ever saw them. There is also the first Jeremy Klein Japanimation girl deck. I had the Bean Cup wheels.

Way to land a shoe model, Chromeball.

Does that mean people from the big companies look at my website, too?