Rob Mertz.

Happy Halloween.

It's not just about scary graphics, sometimes it is about scary tricks.

There will be a post on here tomorrow. New School is up for next week with 1995 Consolidated and Neighborhood to follow for November.

Jeff Newton took the photos.

Transworld - January 1990 Volume 8 Number 1

Zorlac Street Hell.

Zero Heroes.

Pushead whipped up a crazy and evil looking graphic.

The boards are for Donny Myhre, Aaron Deeter, Mark and Barry Abrook, and Craig Johnson.

Congrats, SF. KC, thanks for putting together one helluva a playoff run. Let's do this again next year.

Transworld - May 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

John "Tex" Gibson & Craig Johnson.

Texas is the reason.

John and Craig had ridden for Zorlac in the 1980s before switching to Alva. After street skating became more popular and Alva changed over to New School, the two went back to Zorlac.

Transworld - April 1991 Volume 9 Number 4

Rick Charnoski.

Creeping Death.

Since Metallica's James Hetfield rode a skateboard when his contract allowed him and Pushead was doing the graphics for both Zorlac and Metallica, a series of decks for the band was inevitable. The popularity of Metallica among skateboarders in the 1980s also helped moved some boards. There were a variety of Metallica graphics and shapes in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Rick currently works with Buddy Nichols for Six Stair Productions. The two have made a number of skateboard films, including Fruit of the Vine, Deathbowl to Downtown, Tent City, and Jeff Grosso's Love Letters to Skateboarding.

Might this be the first street pirate reference, long before Fourstar developed their own version?

Thrasher - September 1990 Volume 10 Number 9

Zorlac.

Don't mess with Texas.

In keeping with tradition, Vert Is Dead focuses on the spooky and scary for Halloween week. Zorlac was Jeff Newton's creation that helped define gnarly Texas skateboarding in 1980s. The artwork was done by Brian "Pushead" Schroeder. This gave Zorlac a very recognizable style that fit well with the guys on the team and the punk scene in the Lonestar State at the time.

Transworld - August 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

Chet Thomas #3.

Frontside flips on a mini ramp.

Powell Peralta to Public to Santa Cruz to Channel One to Platinum to A-Team to Darkstar. I think that's all of 'em.

Get ready for Halloween hi-jinx with Zorlac next week.

Transworld - October 1995 Volume 13 Number 10

Jon Miner.

Stay gold.

Tell me your name, age and where you live.

Jonathan Minor, sixteen, Santa Rosa, California.

When did you start skating?

In fifth grade I saw a whole bunch of kids skating this launch ramp and got a board for Christmas and I've just been skating ever since.

Who are your sponsors?

New School sends me boards. They're pretty cool.

What's the best thing about skateboarding?

I just love going fast and doing tricks solid.

What do you like to skate?

Curbs, big blocks and steps, just the usual.

What spot do you frequent?

Santa Rosas Junior High. That's where I hang out. I just got back from Albuquerque and that was really rad.

What's your goal in skating?

I don't really have any goal. I'm just doing it right now for fun. I'm not planning on going anywhere or anything.

Who do you skate with?

Joel Price, Brent, Jesse and a bunch of kids that hang out in Santa Rosa.

Any shout outs?

Hi to my dad in Arizona, Charlie Watts in Albuquerque, my friends John and Justin in jail, and all my friends around Santa Rosa and Troy in Salt Lake City.

*

I'm going to do a New School week at some point.

Sean Dolinsky took the photo.

For the check out: Thrasher - January 1994 Volume 14 Number 1

Transworld - January 1995 Volume 13 Number 1

Chris Lambert.

Salad Days.

Chris was an am for Blockhead and Prime. He switched to Planet Earth and then Expedition. A quick browsing of his video parts this morning showed that he blasted some pretty big gaps and stairs with a solid style. Chris was also backside lipsliding a lot of giant handrails.

Note: This trick was in Prime's section from 20 Shot Sequence.

R.I.P. Matt Reason.

Transworld - June 1995 Volume 13 Number 6

Keith Hufnagel #8.

Hanging on the telephone.

Real has a reissue of Keith's first board on Fun with the UPS graphic ripoff. It's cool to see riders stick with the same company for a long time, just like in pro sports when somebody stays with the team that drafted them until they hang up the cleats. It's also cool when the company stays true to what they have been doing for all those years.

Thrasher - March 1995 Volume 15 Number 3

Geoff Rowley #3.

Gray Matter.

I watched some of the Dew Tour on Saturday. It was from Portland and featured a downhill street course that was probably way gnarlier than it looked. And it looked pretty gnarly. I haven't watched too many of the contests lately, but this one seemed a little more relaxed and fun. Plus you got to see Rick McCrank on real TV.

Transworld - August 1995 Volume 13 Number 8

Chad Muska #5.

Billed beanies and cargo pants.

Transworld - December 1995 Volume 13 Number 12

Mike Daher #3.

"I don't mean to downplay the skating in Mike Daher's part. There's a reason that it's my favorite and I'll try to explain why. It's accessible. He's not kickflipping down shin-splinting gaps, navigating nut-shattering rails or doing noseslides on the blades of a moving helicopter, but there's a refined elegance in his street stylings that was really refreshing when the video came out. A Visual Sound was released on the heels of the tech-obsessed pressure-flip ere of the early '90s. I won't wax on too long about that time in skateboarding; I'll just say that it got to the point where there was very little actual skateboarding involved in the pastime. It was mainly half pushes and bails. But like any trend, a breaking point is reached and the ball starts to swing back the other way." - Michael Sieben

I watched Mike's part from A Visual Sound last night along with Collin Provost and Brandon Westgate's parts from Made. The weather has been mixed lately so I haven't gotten to skateboard much, but I did get to roll around last night. I feel better about doing this website on days after I ride. How long is it supposed to take to break in new shoes, anyway?

For the quote: Thrasher - November 2013 Volume 33 Number 11

Slap - September 1995 Volume 4 Number 9

Mike Frazier #6.

Stereo Sound Agent flying high for Tim and Salman's clothing company.

The photo is by Bryce Kanights.

Thrasher - February 1995 Volume 15 Number 2

John Reeves.

Custom belt buckle.

John rode for Life, Invisibile, and Dynasty. He was also on Tracker. The Man did some big skating back in the 1990s.

Transworld - February 1995 Volume 13 Number 2

Sean Sheffey #4.

Gonna have a funky good time.

Thrasher - September 1995 Volume 15 Number 5

Ron Knigge #3.

The Odd Numbers.

Ron was one of the first to do a lot of nollie tricks way back when the New Deal sun was shining bright in the sky.

Slap - September 1995 Volume 4 Number 9

Brian Gaberman.

A master lensman squeezes in a grind on a tight handrail.

Wheelie Co. was Rob Erickson's company before he partnered with Tum Yeto to do Landspeed Wheels. That led to a little video that showcased Bam Margera's antics and the rest is history.

Sean Dolinski was the photographer.

Harold Hunter #3.

Switch flip at the Banks.

American Dream Inc. was a short lived company backed by Deluxe. Ron Allen and Alyasha Moore were the brains behind the operation.

Dimitry Elyashkevich took the photo.

Slap - August 1995 Volume 4 Number 8

Joe Gruber #2.

Flip in.

There's a cool video with Lance Mountain over at the Chrome Ball Incident where he talks about his classic part in Ban This with Neil Blender and O.

Transworld - April 1995 Volume 13 Number 4

Laban Pheidias #4.

That gum you like is going to come back in style.

On the Twin Peaks trip.

We watched the whole Twin Peaks series a couple times in college. It was fun, but I'm not sure I could handle watching it again. Too weird of a time.

Kevin Bergthold snapped the photo.

Transworld - March 1995 Volume 13 Number 3

Neal Hendrix #3.

Tar Heel.

Neal was one of the new faces of vert back in the early 1990s and put out a few solid video parts for the New Deal. He rode for Black Label in the late 1990s into the early 2000s. He is on Mike Vallely's Elephant Brand Skateboards these days.

Thrasher - January 1995 Volume 15 Number 1

Kelly Bird.

Frontside heelflips.

Kelly rode for New School and then Salman Agah got him on Real. After the pro days were over, he was the team manager at DC Shoes before joining up with Lakai.

Thrasher - January 1995 Volume 15 Number 1

Moses Itkonen 2.

Let the horns blow.

All around Canadian street, vert, and in his younger days, security guard terror.

Thanks, KC.

Thrasher - November 1995 Volume 15 Number 11