Eric Jay.

You gotta chuckle at the substitution of the parrot for the eagle.

Eric was an amateur for Anti-Hero. In addition to a bunch of ripping on transitions and pools, he is possibly most known for pushing a rollerblader out of the way in their untitled video from 1998.

Thrasher - May 2003 Volume 23 Number 5

Darrell Stanton.

Darrell turned pro for Real in 2003. He's got a lanky and effortless style with massive pop on tricks like switch backside 180s and switch heelflips. He was riding for Vans and then switched to DC. He also left Real for a brief stint on the reformed Plan B. After Plan B, he joined up with Element. As far as I know he still rides for them, although he seems to have fallen in the vortex of disappearance that surrounds that company. Darrell did get a photo sequence in the 100th issue of the Skateboard Mag doing a cannonball to 5-0 down a handrail so maybe he's got some gas left in the tank. I hope so. I liked what he was doing back when he was on Real.

Props to the Mag for hitting 100.

Thrasher - January 2003 Volume 23 Number 1

Greg Lutzka.

Welcome to 2003. It's going to be a fun and quick trip through the year.

No, really Lutzka was on Krooked for a little bit. He even got an ad. Krooked was started out of Deluxe in 2003 as Mark Gonzales' company. Lutzka had been riding for Illenium. He wasn't on Krooked very long and then joined up with Almost at Dwindle. Although I don't think Almost existed in 2003, it probably was in the works. These days he's riding for Darkstar.

Thrasher - July 2003 Volume 23 Number 7

Mark Gonzales #13.

The Gonz with a noseslide down a big handrail.

The Chrome Ball Incident has a great interview with Tod Swank today.

Heavy Metal Chuck is subliminally influencing my beer selection. I'm not usually a Miller High Life drinker, but the convenience store by my place has been stocking High Life Tall Boys lately so I've been opting for those over PBR for when I just want one cheap beer.

Later 2002. It will be 2003 on Tuesday. Have a good weekend.

Thrasher - January 2002 Volume 22 Number 1

Kevin Taylor #2.

"The "Hydrant Gap," first made famous by Ricky, or was it Eric Ruwadi? Or was it Damian's... forget it, the "Hydrant Gap" f-cking sucks. But Kevin Taylor's switch hardflip is gangster."

Filling in the week with Philadelphia.

It's another photo by Shawn "Frankie" Brodsky.

Strength - October 2002

Mike Bouchard #2.

"Smith grind while on a Ricky Mission."

The dearly departed Mike Bouchard.

A Ricky Mission refers to skating with Ricky Oyola. At the time Ricky had a bunch of refrigerators and other obstacles that he would take to spots to make them more interesting. The end result might only be a 5-0 or a tailslide, but when you do it on something rigged up that looks different and is difficult to skate, the effort is worth it. You don't always have to blizzard flip into a grind and then impossible out.

If anybody has any pictures or stories of Mike, please email them to his sister Pamela. Her email is djandbg at msn.com. Be sure to label the message in the subject line as Mike Bouchard so she will know it isn't spam. The family misses him a whole lot and any positive things about Mike's skateboarding are appreciated.

Note: This was a spread across two pages. That's why the milk crates look a little weird on the bottom.

The photo is by Shawn "Frankie" Brodsky.

Strength - October 2002

Josh Kalis #3.

Boom box.

I guess I've watched more of the Transworld Cinematographer project than I thought I have. The Alien Workshop section is my favorite so far. I like Mike Manzoori's part. The video has a lot of Mark Gonzales in it.

I'm going to finish the week out with 2002 and then start on 2003 next Tuesday. I'll probably do 2003 for all of June and then do 2004 for July. I'm curious what sort of stuff I've forgotten about in the years since then.

Shawn "Frankie" Brodsky was the photographer.

Strength - October 2002

John Cardiel #10.

Two examples of all terrain skateboarding from one of the best.

Check out how bulky the shoes are. They even have air bubbles. I'm not saying we need to go back to that time for shoe design, but is it possible to get some kicks these days that have a little more padding to them?

Vert Is Dead is officially four years old now. Thanks to everybody. Extra special thanks to the Chrome Ball Incident, Fairways & Flips, Skateboarding Is, Jenkem, Roger, The Skate Nazi, and Toy Machine.

These are Gabe Morford photos.

Thrasher - February 2002 Volume 22 Number 2

Alan Petersen #10.

A.P. goes big over a hip.

Vert Is Dead is almost four years old.

Sharky took the photo.

Thrasher - September 2002 Volume 22 Number 9

Diego Bucchieri #2.

The Butcher slashes up a pool.

Thanks for the link on Facebook when I posted Leo a couple weeks ago, Toy Machine. Not quite a Crailtap bump, but a lot more people stopped by.

There might be some more Big Brother coming to the internet shortly.

Michael Burnett took the picture.

Transworld - November 2002 Volume 20 Number 11

Jon West #2.

All systems go!

There's something really cool about well done tricks around a curved ledge or rail.

Thrasher - September 2002 Volume 22 Number 9

Rune Glifberg #3.

Firestarter.

Thrasher - February 2002 Volume 22 Number 2

Nestor Judkins.

Trivia question: Who was the 1,000th post on Vert Is Dead?

Answer: Nestor Judkins.

Nestor started out as an am for Santa Cruz and then found his way over to the enjoi team. He turned pro for them in 2011. He also rides for adidas, RVCA and Pig Wheels. I like his part in Tiltmode's Bonus Round a whole lot.

Thrasher - December 2002 Volume 22 Number 12

Neil Blender #8.

Neil does a frontside invert in St. Louis in 1988. He's wearing a Lester Kasai shirt.

88 was a new shoe company in 2002 that was backed by Osiris. The team included Kris Markovich, Neil Blender, J.T. Aultz, Justin Strubing, Kristian Svitak and Corey Duffel. There were a few financial issues that led to the end of 88 and the start of Vox. The name came from Kris Markovich picking his favorite year in skateboarding.

Speaking of Vox, the new Darren Navarrette kicks look cool.

I got the Transworld Cinematographer video yesterday. I haven't watched all of it, but I really like the Alien Workshop section.

Thrasher - December 2002 Volume 22 Number 12

Peter Hewitt #6.

Everything went black.

Peter floats a backside ollie above a concrete pit.

Thrasher - February 2002 Volume 22 Number 2

Darren Navarrette #3.

The Vertical Vampire hits the streets.

Darren's Free Lunch episode was pretty good. Ditto for David Gravette's Transworld interview. It looks like there might be a new Creature video by the end of the summer.

Ed Dominick was the photographer.

Thrasher - February 2002 Volume 22 Number 2

Jeremy Wray #3.

Jeremy owned this roof ledge gap thing.

So The Smiths have been used fairly often in skateboard videos, just not the ones I watch all the time. I watched Wieger's part and most of Nothing But The Truth last night, along with the Rock Adio promo. Steve Nesser skates to the tune of "Bigmouth Strikes Again." Alex Chalmers was a beast.

Frank Galland took the picture.

Strength - December 2002 Volume 7 Number 12

Heath Kirchart #5.

Speedway.

Have The Smiths ever been used in a skateboard video? I can't think of anybody, even during the low budget days of the early 1990s. Given their popularity, this seems a little amazing that they haven't in a video. I'm guessing it must be impossible to get the rights, which is probably the reason why.

The photo is by Joe Toreno.

Transworld - April 2002 Volume 20 Number 4

The Beastie Boys.

RIP Adam "MCA" Yauch.

MCA passed away from cancer after a three year battle with the disease on Friday. I basically keep this a strictly skateboarding website because everybody's got their own opinions about music and we don't need another Jane's Addiction/Red Hot Chili Peppers comment feud, but sometimes events happen that are so relevant to skateboarding that I would feel remiss in not addressing them. Such is the case with the death of MCA.

The Beastie Boys were undeniably a huge influence on skateboarding and the culture that goes along with it, especially in the big pants/small wheels days from 1992 to 1994. Their music is something that I associate very closely with that era. They were a big influence before and after that time as well, but that's when I was listening to them the most.

Obviously, their tapes got heavy play in the car while driving from spot to spot. They were in the videos, including Mike Carroll's groundbreaking part in Plan B's Questionable. The use of "The Biz vs. The Nuge" and "Time For Livin" set the tone perfectly for the modern street skating Carroll was about to throw down. I don't know how much anybody in the band actually skated, but they came across as being down with skateboarding and that mattered because skateboarding was very small in those days.

I think the Beastie Boys, and to a slightly lesser extent Sonic Youth, were the ones who served the purpose of the internet as a means of disseminating information to the people who needed know. The Beasties seemed like older siblings who clued you into all the cool stuff out there in the world that you didn't know about. The fashion, the sneakers, obscure Japanese baseball players, hip hop, basketball, old punk rock and hardcore... the list goes on and on.

My condolences to the band, their families and friends.

The photo is by Glen E. Friedman.

Transworld - July 1992 Volume 10 Number 7

Leo Romero.

"I don’t want a kid leaving a demo and saying, “Why didn’t Leo skate?” I wanna skate like they see me in a video or a magazine, not pussyfoot it just because it’s a demo."

Everybody loves Leo.

Leo was an amateur for Foundation and turned pro for them. He switched to Baker for a few years before switching again to Toy Machine. He has been on Emerica the entire time. Leo won Thrasher's SOTY in 2010. He was sponsored by RVCA until he went with Jimmy Arrighi to ride for his new Eswic clothing venture.

The San Dieguito Handrail Challenge was a contest held at the Coup D'État in 2002. The Coup D'État was an alternative to the ASR trade show cooked up by Tod Swank. It was held across the street from the convention center at the San Diego Children's Museum. I think the contest itself involved the hand rail from the San Dieguito school that was featured in a lot of skateboard videos, including Birdhouse's The End and numerous Zero videos. Or it might have had a replica of the Rincon stair set. I did a quick search of Transworlds last night for more specifics, but didn't find anything and gave up to go skateboarding. Whatever they did the carcass toss on, Billy Marks was the overall winner.

The quote is from an interview with Rob Brink conducted in 2010.

Big Brother - December 2002 Number 91

Don Nguyen.

The Death Squad.

The Nuge's introduction to the skateboarding masses was when he straight blasted the 20 stairs of El Toro on the contents page of Thrasher in 2001. He has ridden for a variety of Tum Yeto companies - Foundation, Hollywood and Pig for both wood and wheels. Don turned pro for Hollywood. In 2009, he left Foundation for Baker. He's from Oklahoma City and still jumping down big things.

That's Richie Belton and Justin Roy in the small photo.

Transworld - April 2002 Volume 20 Number 4

Victor Fonosch.

You can maybe file this one in the head scratcher category.

According to a few of the Shorty's ads, Victor was handpicked to ride for them by Chad Muska. He was treated to the complete Muska hook up, which included all the different Shorty's gear, Ghetto Child Wheels and Circa Footwear. He was an occasional house guest at the Shorty's skatepark. I'm not exactly sure what they were going for with this marketing effort for their newest rider. Also keep in mind that this is from the waning years of Shorty's before the original team split for Element, SK8MAFIA and parts unknown.

Big Brother - November 2002 Number 90

Scott Kane.

"Whoa there!!! It don't stop! Our ams be putting the hurt on all you burned out old crybaby pros! Kick rock! The next generation of pros is here!!! Welcome to the team Scott!! Let's do this!"

The fine print.

Scott was an amateur and turned pro for Bootleg. He was also on Vans. After Baker started as a board brand out of Blitz Distribution (Birdhouse, Flip), the posse of friends was too big for one company. Jay Strickland partnered with NHS (Santa Cruz) to launch Bootleg. The team included Elissa Steamer, Alex "Trainwreck" Gall, Mike Maldonado, Anthony Mosley, Pete Eldridge and Nick Trapasso. Unfortunately for Scott, injuries forced him to retire from skateboarding. He works in the escrow business now.

For the info: Skateboarder - April/May 2012 Volume 22 Number 2

Thrasher - August 2002 Volume 22 Number 8