Mark Appleyard.

The nollie bigspin champ.

Appleyard got on at the ground floor for Habitat and had a part in their section in Photosynthesis. He soon left for Flip and spent most of the last ten years with the company. He is now on Element. Appleyard also switched from Circa to Globe quite a few years ago. I find his sponsorship moves a little unusual, but he seems to know what he is doing.

The photo sequence is by Frankie.

Slap - October 2000 Volume 9 Number 10

Tosh Townend.

A young Tosh got hooked up with Element thanks to Kris Markovich. The kid was only thirteen or fourteen years old at the time and jumping down fifteen stair handrails. He turned pro for Element and also had a shoe on Emerica. Tosh is currently riding for Dogtown. His father is Peter Townend, a former world champion surfer.

Slap - December 2000 Volume 9 Number 12

Alex "Trainwreck" Gall.

Creeping death.

Trainwreck did a lot of damage on a skateboard at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s. He came up with Platinum and Duffs before getting on Zero and DC. He switched over to Bootleg and then pulled the old disappearing act.

Thrasher - April 2000 Volume 20 Number 4

Justin Strubing #2.

If I recall correctly, the story behind this ad was that Brad Staba made a horizontal move at Tum Yeto from Foundation to Toy Machine. The F Troop picked up Strubing from Adrenalin, which had gone out of business at that time. I think this was when Toy Machine was in a state of flux with its team. Bam Margera, Kerry Getz, Mike Maldonado and Chris Senn had all quit or were let go. This left Brian Anderson, Elissa Steamer and Ed Templeton so acquiring Staba was a good idea. However, this version of the Machine didn't last long as Staba went to enjoi, Steamer to Bootleg and BA to Girl.

Thrasher - May 2000 Volume 20 Number 5

Nate Jones.

Velvet Jones.

His part in Real To Reel has some of the best 360 flips ever.

The sequence is by Gabe Morford.

Slap - October 2000 Volume 9 Number 10

Sean Mullendore.

Sean is goofy footed. It helps explain the photo. Sort of. He rode for Clean, Capital, New Deal and Stereo. He works as a mechanic on expensive cars these days.

Thrasher - February 2000 Volume 20 Number 2

Aaron Suski #2.

This is how you do a frontside noseslide.

Big Brother - December 2000 Issue 67

Wade Speyer #8.

So far it's been nothing but big guns for the week.

Wade rode for Think up until the year 2000. They thought he was maybe ready for retirement, which wasn't the case and he switched over to the Black Label.

In addition to skateboarding, Wade has a backhoe services company in Farmington, California that he started in 1998. He can dig you a ditch or a pond, demolish a sidewalk or remove a tree stump and pave your driveway.

Slap - December 2000 Volume 9 Number 12

Alan Petersen #8.

Disappearer.

I watched a couple of clips on the Berrics yesterday. I'd say that all the Anthony Pappalardo fans can be cautiously optimistic about him having a part in the Chocolate video based on the footage he had for a segment called Off The Grid. It won't be a return to the Photosynthesis days, but it will be more like the Lakai video if it happens. The guy hits up some raw parts of New York City. The other clip was also from the Off The Grid section and had Jason Adams shredding the streets of Hollywood. The Kid is good and did a lot of tricks that you don't necessarily associate with him. It reminded me of an old H-Street video.

Hats off to Lakai for winning KOTR.

Jai Tanju shot the sequence.

Big Brother - December 2000 Issue 67

Dan Drehobl #12.

Dan illustrates the concept of irony by doing an ollie over a box with a smoking kills sign on it while smoking.

I think this sequence might be by Lance Dawes.

Thrasher - February 2000 Volume 20 Number 2

Tino Razo #2.

"Cos shit just happens like that in Tino's world."

I've always liked this ad.

It will be the year 2000 on Monday.

The photo is by Rhino.

Slap - June 2001 Volume 10 Number 6

Lauren Mollica.

Lauren was on Rookie and Gallaz. She's from New Brunswick, New Jersey. She may or may not have a Tumblr account in her name that has lots of pictures of tattoos.

Sometimes it's hard to find relevant background info on people. That's pretty much been the case this week and won't be changing for tomorrow. At least tomorrow's ad is totally awesome, not that there is really anything wrong with today's post. I'm just sticking to the Seinfeld tradition of going out on a high note.

It's a Yuri photo.

Slap - August 2000 Volume 9 Number 8

Jaime Reyes.

Jaime was an am for Real in the time before Rookie started. She was also on Gallaz, the girls division of Globe footwear in the early 2000s. Jaime was probably on par with Elissa Steamer in terms of skill and definitely raised the bar for quality women's skateboarding. She got the cover of Thrasher in the early 1990s, too.

In other skateboard happenings, the Manny Santiago part that just went online is pretty damn good. I'm not really feeling a couple of his sponsors, but the kid is coming up with some very complex tricks down rails. Good job, Manny.

There's a new Chrome Ball Incident interview up at Already Been Done with Chico Brenes. He's doing a lot of good things to promote skateboarding in Nicaragua.

Slap - August 1998 Volume 7 Number 8

Jessie Van Roechoudt.

Jessie is from Kelowna, British Columbia. She rode for Rookie, Vans, Venture and FTC. It looks like she is a graphic designer these days.

Joe Brook took the photo.

Slap - August 1999 Volume 8 Number 8

Rookie #1.

Welcome to Rookie week.

Rookie was started in 1998 and based out of New York City. The company definitely had the arty vibe to it, but not in a way that was overbearing or overdone. The original team was Jessie Van Roechoudt, Lauren Mollica and Kyla Duffy with Jaime Reyes joining after that. Jon Klein, Tino Razo, Sean Kelling, Shane Medanich, Dave Chesson, Simon Skipp and Lisa Whitaker were also on the team over the years.

In looking back, I really don't know all that much about Rookie, I just like their ads and decided to do a week of them.

Slap - January 1998 Volume 7 Number 1

Max Schaaf #6.

"Max was perfect for what we were looking for. He skated and did tricks how we liked to see them done; he popped into and out of ramp tricks like a street skater would do on a ledge." - Guy Mariano

It just wouldn't be Fourstar without Max.

It's Rookie week beginning on Monday.

For the quote: Thrasher - October 2011 Volume 31 Number 10

Thrasher - November 1999 Volume 19 Number 11

Colin McKay #4.

Once Colin was on Girl, it made sense for him to ride for Fourstar. He was doing the type of tricks that Guy and Eric did on ledges on the coping of the old vert ramp. He was on from 1998 to 2000.

Transworld - May 1999 Volume 17 Number 5

Rick Howard #7.

"When we came up with the idea of starting Fourstar, it was Guy, Rick and myself meeting about it. When Guy and I started to talk about the team, we both said to Rick, "Well, you and Mike have to be on." We skated and hung out with Keenan Milton so much at that time that we wanted him on, too. We got to hang with Max Schaaf in Europe a few times during the contest circuits that went on there every summer, and we liked him as a person as well as appreciated his skating. When we found out Mark was into riding for us, I shit myself! He was my childhood idol, so I was fuckin' psyched." - Eric Koston

For the quote: Thrasher - October 2011 Volume 31 Number 10

Thrasher - May 1999 Volume 19 Number 5

Eric Koston #3.

"It all started by taking a piece here and there from out of my closet, bringing it to Girl, and getting it duplicated. That's when Girl started to do a bit of cut-and-sew. We just thought to ourselves, "Why don't we start a clothing company?" None of us has clothing sponsors, and we had ideas we wanted to create because no one was actually making exactly what we wanted at that time." - Eric Koston

Fourstar turns fifteen this year so I figured I would do another week of Eric and Guy's clothing company.

For the quote: Thrasher - October 2011 Volume 31 Number 10

Slap - September 1999 Volume 8 Number 9

Ruben Orkin.

If you've ever looked at the masthead in Thrasher, there are the names of three deceased skaters listed under all the staff credits. Everybody should know who Phil Shao was, but Curtis Hsiang and Ruben Orkin are probably a little less well known. I've posted a few scans of Curtis and I've been meaning to include Ruben as well. He was the team manager at Thunder and Spitfire until his untimely passing from lung cancer in 1999. His signature trick was the Rube-a-Dube, an alley-oop frontside grind to hang up. That's what he's doing in the sequence.

Enjoy the Labor Day weekend. I'll be back on Tuesday with another four days of Fourstar.

Thrasher - May 1999 Volume 19 Number 5

Mike Carroll #9.

Taking the quick and easy way out with a MC post. I like switch pop shove-its. It's one of the five tricks I can do well on a regular basis.

I've been dealing with a back to school rush of sorts at work. Otherwise I'd like to write up a little something about how the summer league basketball games that you've been hearing bits and pieces about parallel skateboarding, but I haven't the time right now. Maybe next week. Or maybe Frozen In Carbonite is up to the challenge.

Thrasher - September 1999 Volume 19 Number 9