Reese Forbes #3.

It's hard for thee to kickflip against the pricks.

Slap - January 1999 Volume 8 Number 1

Kyong Kim.

I'm as surprised as you are.

Kyong was pro for Toxic. That's about all I know. He also had a couple curb tricks in the opening part of the new Assault Skateboards video, which is why I dug this ad up.

Assault has a promo video out now. It's a fun little flick. The intro is a total curb attack featuring the team and friends, including Mario Rubalcaba, Kyong, Jason "Weeman" Acuna, Heavy Metal Chuck, and Aly Moore. Ollies are not popped and every trick is slappied into. There are parts from younger team riders Greg Harbour, Wildman, Demarcus James, Casey Meyer, and Ace Pelka. They all rip with combination of new and old tricks. The highlights for me are the parts from former H-Streeters Chris Livingston and Kieu "Donger" Lieu. Livingston tears up a couple of pools and the Donger can still ollie over everything in the streets. Finally, the video ends with Ricky Winsor slashing around on a few backyard quarterpipes. SSD.

Transworld - June 1991 Volume 9 Number 6

Cairo Foster #3.

Keep yr. pop war out of my real street.

Filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour picked Toy Machine's Jump Off A Building and Elissa Steamer for part of her Top Ten list in the May 2014 issue of Artforum.

Slap - March 1999 Volume 8 Number 3

Aaron Murray.

Frontside air attack from Aaron Murray.

Aaron was pro for Dogtown and one of the Venice Beach locals. He was also on Thunder and Speed Wheels. It looks like he runs Koping Killer Skateboards these days.

The photo is by Chuck Katz.

Thrasher - December 1989 Volume 9 Number 12

Alone?

Contact Mike Smith for help.

Have a good holiday weekend. Vert Is Dead will be back on Tuesday.

Transworld - April 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

Tino Razo #4.

A love supreme.

Mike O'Meally photographed the sequence.

Slap - March 1999 Volume 8 Number 3

Dan Drehobl #18.

Dan squeezes in a backside 50-50 between the bars at Ft. Miley during the Think days.

Vert Is Dead is now six years old.

Thanks to everybody for stopping by.

Slap - July 1999 Volume 8 Number 7

Anthony Van Engelen #4.

Is it over?

Mike Blabac was the cameraman.

Slap - April 2000 Volume 9 Number 4

Skip Pronier #6.

Skip Pronier times two.

The sequence is a half Cab to feeble to fakie.

Chris Ortiz took the pictures.

Transworld - February 1992 Volume 10 Number 2

Mike Archimedes #2.

Clawz.

There was a mention of Clawz while I was in the process of organizing Gimmick Week. I initially thought about including the wrist guards with that, but after looking more closely at their ads, I decided Clawz were too bad ass to lump in with all that crap. The team featured Thrasher art associate Ken McGuire, Jim Murphy, Lonnie Hiramoto, and a couple others.

Greg Hain took the photo.

Thrasher - November 1989 Volume 9 Number 11

Scott Oster.

One of Alex Olson's favorites.

Rudy Johnson illuminates some of the history of Powell Peralta, Blind, and Girl in a new interview at the Chrome Ball Incident.

Thrasher - December 1990 Volume 10 Number 12

Steve Olson.

The original.

Thrasher - March 2004 Volume 24 Number 3

Mark Gonzales #18.

Gonz poetry reading and bowl jam from Ohio.

Patrick O'Dell wrote the story and took the photos.

Thrasher - July 2002 Volume 22 Number 7

Rick Howard #10.

It was a little surprising to see that Rick used a Buffalo Bills inspired graphic since they aren't the most prominent NFL team out there. I thought the board turned out pretty sweet.

It's cool to see Buffalo getting a lot of coverage as of late. Jake Donnelly turned pro last year and now there is a bunch of video floating around of the city. Grant Taylor did some serious damage in his Nike clip and the new Dan Plunkett part is very good.

Mike Ballard was the photographer.

Slap - July 1999 Volume 8 Number 7

Tim Brauch #14.

BMC salute.

It doesn't seem like it has been fifteen years already.

Thrasher - August 1999 Volume 19 Number 8

The Skateboard Mag.

If you are gonna start a new magazine, you might as well make the cover be as insane as possible. Congrats to the Mag on hitting the decade mark.

Mike Blabac took the photo of Danny Way.

The Skateboard Mag - April 2004 Volume 1 Number 1

Corey Chrysler #3.

Rest in peace.

Corey was an am for SMA and was part of the original group who started Consolidated in 1992. He turned pro for the Cube. Corey ollied some big gaps and took some harsh slams in the Consolidated company profile in an ancient 411. Sadly, he passed away recently.

Thrasher - April 1997 Volume 17 Number 4

Guy Mariano #2.

A National Acrobat.

Transworld - October 1996 Volume 14 Number 10

Matt Rodriguez #2.

Roots.

Loose trucks and odd shaped decks.

Thrasher - October 1993 Volume 13 Number 10

Master Blaster.

"Every so often I get something in the mail that is truly one of a kind. Everyone has some new invention that "every skater needs" and the Master Blaster fits into this category - imagine a siren that's supposed to warn pedestrians to back off. Invariably, this invention will let the peds know you are coming and most assuredly they will jump right in front of you. It amazes me to think that someone could conceive, design and build something so utterly ridiculous. But hey, what do I know?" - Jake Phelps

I think that they spelled decibel wrong was the least of their problems.

Sorry, no Bonite. My first board was made from it, but that was before I started getting skate mags.

Thrasher - September 1990 Volume 10 Number 9

Misunderstood Trucks.

Over the years there have been some experiments in truck design. This has included plastic baseplates, extra metal added to the hanger, and a roller instead of the standard solid metal.

I've learned from doing this website that truck choice is up there with politics and religion as topics to avoid in polite conversation to prevent unnecessary arguments. And with that I'm saying nothing else.

Speaking of trucks, did anybody watch the video by the owner of Theeve Trucks? It had 30 tricks on vert for his 38th birthday. Trevor Ward was not messing around.

I scanned a bunch more stuff than there are days in the week so there will be Vert Is Dead this Saturday. Next Monday will start two or three weeks of clearing out the hard drive to go with a couple of other things. Don't worry, it's all good stuff. There will also be a week of women skateboards sometime soon. I'm working on it.

Chris Cook photo by Joe "Xeno" Lloyd.

Rannalli: Thrasher - January 1989 Volume 9 Number 1

Jimmy Acosta: Thrasher - March 1989 Volume 9 Number 3

Deadbolt and Cutter: Thrasher - July 1990 Volume 10 Number 7

Ranger Trucks: Transworld - July 1990 Volume 8 Number 7

The Back Pages Of The Magazines.

Here's a bunch of assorted products that range from cute to practical to fun to fire hazards.

Rick Kosick took the Rodney Cassell photo.

Madrid Fly Paper: Transworld - October 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

Tony Hawk & Lester Kasai: Transworld - February 1989 Volume 7 Number 1

Finger Boards & Tailfire: Transworld - November 1989 Volume 7 Number 7

Turf Lights: Transworld - July 1990 Volume 8 Number 7