Al Partanen #5.

Parts in a pool.

Vert Is Dead is on a break until Monday, July 14th. I'm worn out on doing this so I'm taking a little extra time off. I will be posting a week of women skateboarders when things start up again. Feel free to leave any requests in the comments.

The photo is by Brendan Klein.

Thrasher Photo Annual 2008

Van Wastell #2.

Earache My Eye.

Thrasher - December 2003 Volume 23 Number 12

Mike Prosenko.

Why not?

I'm taking a break from this thing starting Friday.

RIP Shogo Kubo.

The photo is by Steve Keenan.

Thrasher - February 1989 Volume 9 Number 2

Ethan Fowler #11.

Great Cop.

Nostalgic for the early days of Toy Machine. I think I mainly miss being on summer vacation from college instead of having to piece together the film for a 36 page booklet. My job is cool and all, but you can't go wrong with time off.

Transworld - May 1994 Volume 12 Number 5

Pete "The Ox" Colpitts #2.

Other levels of gnarly.

Slap - April 1999 Volume 8 Number 4

Natas Kaupas #4.

One zero one.

A friend from grad school tracked me down on Facebook. She lives out in LA now. I noticed that one of her friends had the last name of Kaupas so I had to ask. I mean how many people have that for a last name? Turns out my friend is friends with Natas and his wife. It's a small world.

Big Brother - Issue 20 Spring 1996

Omar Salazar #2.

J. Mascis guitar solo.

I'd been looking for an ad with Omar on Foundation for a while and then randomly found this as I was looking for other things. That's usually how this website works. Either I know exactly where a particular item might be or it takes a little time. After the F-Troop, Omar moved to Rasa Libre before being abducted to the Sovereign Sect of the Alien Workshop. With the Workshop having gone the way of the dodo, I'm not exactly sure who Omar is riding for right now. He does have the financial security of a Nike sponsorship so he should be fine.

Check out a cool Kris Markovich interview over at the Chrome Ball Incident.

Slap - October 1999 Volume 8 Number 10

Plan B Summer Tour 1995.

School's out, what did you expect?

Transworld - December 1995 Volume 13 Number 12

Ben Krahn #2.

Blood Wizard's Warlock.

Those old plexiglass ramps seem crazy to me, especially the clear ones.

The photo is by Shapiro. The internet says his first name is probably Jay.

Slap - August 1999 Volume 8 Number 8

Sean Young #2.

Everybody's favorite whatever happened to that guy.

I always liked this ad.

Thrasher - November 1994 Volume 14 Number 11

Darren Navarrette #6.

The Vertical Vampire makes for a spooky Friday the 13th.

Be careful out there.

Slap - June 2000 Volume 9 Number 6

Sonic Team 1997.

The Sonic crew circa 1997.

I'm not sure if this was the full team or just most of the riders. Jason Adams and Simon Woodstock were on Sonic in 1998, but might have been on other companies in 1997.

Thanks to Simon for stopping by.

Transworld - November 1997 Volume 15 Number 11

Gershon Mosley #2.

Floating the one foot to fakie with a Sal Flip thrown in for good measure.

(I assume the one foot is to fakie.)

Gershon did a lot of big tricks, both regular and switch, in the 1990s. He rode for Santa Cruz, Powell, The A-Team, and Blind. There might be a couple other companies, but those were the main ones. He was famous for sweating a lot, something I'm not sure is the best thing to be remembered for so let's stick to the skateboard tricks done with a ton of pop.

Transworld - August 1992 Volume 10 Number 8

Stereo Team 1993.

A fine ensemble from the early days of the jazz scene.

Thrasher - November 1993 Volume 13 Number 11

Bobby Worrest #2.

"No offense to those dudes, but some ledges just need a little bit of wax if you want to be able to do tricks on them."

Man of the moment.

For the quote: Thrasher - July 2014 Volume 34 Number 7

Thrasher - January 2007 Volume 27 Number 1

Barker Barrett #4.

Scratch Acid.

Barker is an OG East Coaster with ridiculous board control on curbs and mini ramps. He has ridden for Shut, Planet Earth, Zoo York, Creature, Scarecrow, and probably a few more I'm forgetting over the years. Lifeblood Skateboards just hooked him up on their Lifers Division.

This is the 1,500 post on Vert Is Dead. Another meaningless milestone.

Academy award winning director Spike Jonze snapped the photo.

Transworld - January 1993 Volume 11 Number 1

Mario Rubalcaba.

River Of Souls.

Mario was one of the new ams on Alva and turned pro for them. He made the in-house switch to New School and then ATM Click before easing out of the fickle sponsorship world to play in a variety of bands. Mario was also on Physics Wheels and had a part in their Dream Reality video. Assault Skateboards currently has a reissue of his first Alva pro model and Mario has couple tricks in their new video. He has played drums in a number of bands over the years, including, but not limited to, 411, Clikatat Ikatowi, The Black Heart Procession, Rocket from the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Earthless, and Off!

The photo is by Joe "Xeno" Lloyd.

Thrasher - October 1991 Volume 11 Number 10

enjoi it.

Only took like two years to get around to Sean's request.

Doing theme weeks is fun, but I'm having a good time doing this random hodge podge of things.

Transworld - Winter 2002 Volume 20 Issue 13

Ronnie Ceager #3.

Photoshop in those devil horns.

Ronnie recently left his long time board sponsor of Blind. He had been pro for them for at least twenty years. I'm not sure if he has anything new lined up. Current video clips offer proof that the man still has it.

Chris Ortiz took the photo.

Thrasher - July 1994 Volume 14 Number 7

Simon Evans.

July 28, 1996 3:04 P.M.

Just got in - spent all morning walking around with my skateboard trying to find good-looking spots. The reason for such a practical skate was the fact that I spoke to Tobin Yelland at 11:00 AM. He talked to me about doing some pictures for Transworld. Scary! I mean, I thought photo sessions were for stainless-steel pros - guys with legs like hairy trees, loads of cash in their pockets, a board dispenser in their bathroom, more shoes in the closet than Imelda Marcos. Guys who can slide twenty stair handrails in flip-flops - 360 flip on a dime. They all hang out together, throw pro parties every Friday night, and talk about the business. Me, well, I'm pro. My name is Simon - I have a board with my name on it, I swear. I've seen it in FTC. There are holes in my shoes the size of outer space, my board is so sharp you can shave with it. I guess I know some pros, I mean, I've seen them. They say hello sometimes, and I get nervous. Money? Well, I don't have any. I can't 360 flip and haven't done a handrail since 1992. I wonder what we'll take pictures of.

*

This feels much more relevant today than it did back in 1996.

It also appears that this hasn't been on the internet yet.

Simon has moved into the world of fine arts. He had a recent exhibit reviewed in Artforum and you'll see ads for his work in the magazines.

Paul "Skin" Phillips took the photo of Simon's busted shoe.

Transworld - December 1996 Volume 14 Number 12