Chet Childress #3.

Apparently kickflip backside grabs enjoyed a degree of popularity in 1998 as this is the second one I've posted in two weeks. And before you call out the trick for being lame, remember that Matt Hensley did them in the H-Street days and that means they are cool. Of course if you don't remember that time because you were born in 1990, well, then feel free to talk some shit.

The photos are by Lance Dalgart.

Thrasher - October 1998 Volume 18 Number 10

Mike Carroll #7.

You can't have Rick Howard without MC.

Freak Beat Fuzz has some photos from the recent Neil Blender art show opening at Thalia Surf/Vans Laguna Beach store.

Thrasher - December 1998 Volume 18 Number 12

Rick Howard #6.

One of Rick's many contributions to skateboarding was bringing the velcro strap back to footwear. I believe the story behind the Howard 2 was that Rick had an ankle injury and figured he could use a little more support. I had a pair of these in the gray and orange colorway. They were a little tight and had crappy ventilation so your feet would build up a nasty sweat.

Aaron Meza filmed the sequence. It's a frontside pop shove to nose grind and is a video grab, which is why it is so small.

Slap - July 1998 Volume 7 Number 7

Frank Gerwer #2.

More Frank than blank.

I think Gerwer would have been riding for the Firm at this time. If he wasn't, he would be soon.

I never got into the idea of cored wheels. Just give me a solid piece of urethane. It's the same as a plain wooden board. Keep it simple.

Thrasher - November 1998 Volume 18 Number 11

Ethan Fowler #6.

Save yourself.

Slap - April 1998 Volume 7 Number 4

Steve Olson #3.

Making it a great Friday with the Funky Monk rocking some blue Kastels and a big crooked grind.

My friend had a pair of the Ricky Oyola pro model from Kastel. They looked tight and were all synthetic, which mattered to my friend since he is vegan. I had a pair of the Mercury team model. They were big and clunky space boots. I never got them broken in. They might have been a little too small for my feet as well. I gave the shoes to another friend and he was stoked on them.

The excellent Chrome Ball Incident turned three years old this week and has a selection of classics hand picked by Michael Sieben for today. Keep up the good work, Chops.

I actually rolled away smoothly from a couple of frontside boardslides to fakie last night. I don't think I had ever tried or done that trick before. I've been working on my frontside sliders on the old flat bar and they really are nothing to brag about, but it feels good to land a new trick.

The photo is by Joe Picciolo.

Slap - July 1998 Volume 7 Number 7

Bob Burnquist #3.

Bob Gnar.

Larry tests a parachute.

Thrasher - December 1998 Volume 18 Number 12

Caz Helmstetter.

What influenced your decision to purchase this copy of Big Brother?

A. The cover
B. The featured skateboarders
C. The silly business
D. The Natural Koncept ad

For the poll: Big Brother - October 1998 Issue 41

Big Brother - January 1998 Issue 32

Stacy Lowery.

The guy who doesn't host the Internet Shack at Roger Skateboards.

Stacy was riding for Powell prior to joining up with Mike Vallely for the short lived Transit Skateboards. Charlie Wilkins and Tom Boyle were also on the team. After Transit, he rode for Santa Cruz and Bueno before starting Roger.

Slap - July 1998 Volume 7 Number 7

Rob Gangemi.

It's in the details. Don't sleep. Our rulers slash like swords.

Giovanni Reda took the picture.

Slap - July 1998 Volume 7 Number 7

Dale Blackmon.

One of the problems with picking out the more obscure skateboarders and companies is that you don't always have a lot of background information to add. This is one example of that. I like the photo, it's a good trick and that's it.

There's a new interview with Drake Jones over at Already Been Done. Chops gets to the bottom of things and clarifies what Drake was doing in that one Real ad where it looks like he was skating in boots. It was a frontside varial heelflip and he was skating in Nikes, not Timberlands.

It's going to be 1998 on Monday. 1997 has gone on for far too long.

Nick Freitas was the photographer.

Slap - July 1997 Volume 6 Number 7

Pete "The Ox" Colpitts.

"A large part of the frightening beauty of Pete's skateboarding is the relentless nature of his attack. Me, I'm happy to make my tricks, to try to put them together in a line. Ox will take a trick, wrestle it to the ground, and brutally pummel it into submission. Try to imagine yourself hucking a stinkbug frontside air, carve it out, now lock it into a Smith grind. Extend that grind by muscling it up into a frontside 50/50. Now you have a choice. You can either grab the rail and air back in at speed, or muscle it back down into a frontside Smith until you stop, grab the nose and tail and yank it back in. That's a set up trick for the Ox. Probably for a backside boneless or something. You can't imagine it. He doesn't think twice." - Curtis Hsiang

Pete was pro for Think in the 1990s. He brought some 1980s rawness to the 1990s. He also played drums in the Loudmouths and is currently drumming for the Young Offenders. It looks like Pete is sponsored by Felem in Japan.

For the quote: Thrasher - August 1996 Volume 16 Number 8

Thrasher - May 1997 Volume 17 Number 5

Dan Drehobl #11.

I'm too swamped with work to type up a Pete The Ox post today so y'all are just gonna have to wait a day or two for that. Since the Krooked video from the Lock Down at Double Rock went online today, I figured I'd go with Drehobl instead. Mike Andreson kills it at the Thrasher park. For some reason I thought he was taller.

Kerry Getz also kills it in the Weekend at Kerry's clip DVS put up recently. I'm glad to see he is still going strong.

Thrasher - December 1997 Volume 17 Number 12

Oli Buergin.

I found this Este ad and I figured I'd post it because I like Oli's part in The Strongest Of The Strange. A vintage New Order song and well filmed European spots make a nice combination.

Oli works at Sole Tech in Europe and he might have had a pro board out on Santa Cruz at one point. The internet isn't being too helpful today and I don't feel like looking very hard.

Note: There's a couple of different last name spellings for Oli and I'm going with the one with an i in it.

Jai Tanju took the photo.

Thrasher - June 1997 Volume 17 Number 6

Richard Kirby #2.

Richard was an all around shredder in the mid to late 1990s for Santa Cruz. He is doing Big Mess Skateboards these days.

Thrasher - December 1997 Volume 17 Number 12

Joel Price.

"My 17 year old ollie photo won’t have a photo blog credit associated with it because it was shot before blogs were invented. Back then people just talked to each other. It was a weird time." - Michael Sieben

That has nothing to do with Joel's back tail. I just like the quote. I like the photo, too.

I watched Toy Machine's Brainwash again last night. That's a nice video. I like Dan Lutheran's style. There's also a TM tour article written by Michael Burnett in the new issue of Thrasher, which is my formula for a great issue of the mag. As an added bonus, Sieben breaks down skateboard nostalgia.

The Chrome Ball Incident kept it Real all week long and nothing went horribly wrong like those skits on Dave Chappelle. Great work, Chops. I'm looking forward to seeing the Real video.

One more week of 1997 and then it's either onto 1998 or something different.

Slap - November 1997 Volume 6 Number 11

Edward Devera.

From Real to Mad Circle to ATM, Ed is still going today. It seems like it was only yesterday when he was bickering with Shawn Mandoli and laying down some smooth tech lines in the first Real video.

Slap - July 1997 Volume 6 Number 7

Sergei Trudnowski #2.

While they aren't Matt Reason's 63mm street crushers, 60mm is still approaching monster truck status. For a bit of perspective, 60mm would have been considered a slightly smaller street wheel in 1988 that very well could have been used by freestylers.

The photo is by Skip.

Thrasher - September 1997 Volume 17 Number 9

Caesar Singh #3.

Do you like it when you see a person wearing your shirt or riding your board?

I love it! I don't see it that often, but when I do, I get hyped. It's a definite ego-booster. They probably don't even care about you, they just like the board. I think I'm the shit for at least five minutes.

Caesar always seems to go over well.

Chris Ortiz take a ton of photos.

For the quote: Transworld - July 1996 Volume 14 Number 7

Transworld - April 1997 Volume 15 Number 4

Anthony Correa.

A Zoo York minute.

Dimitry Elyashkevich snapped the photo.

Slap - July 1997 Volume 6 Number 7

Josh Kasper.

"Josh Kasper cross-trains for the big gaps by jumping off the roof, hoping to make a big splash on the scene with his balls-out maneuvers."

I couldn't find the Gonz pic I wanted and the Vans ad announcing the debut of Simon Woodstock's pro model was maybe just barely stepping outside the boundaries of good taste, so a Benihana into a pool is about right for April Fools' Day.

Michael Burnett risked water damage to his camera to get this photo.

Thrasher - November 1997 Volume 17 Number 11