Javier Mendizabal #4.

Creme Brulee.

Thrasher - April 2005 Volume 25 Number 4

Tyler Bledsoe.

Quasi.

Tyler rode for the Alien Workshop and is one of the three pros on Mother. However, due to legal issues in the form of a cease and desist order, Chad Bowers was recently forced to change the name and went with Quasi. Luckily for him, the company didn't have much in the way of logos so it's not a huge deal from a graphic design standpoint. Does he know about the band Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes have with the same name?

In other Tyler news, he recently picked up Huf as a footwear sponsor after riding for Etnies for a long time. He is still on Fourstar.

Transworld - December 2008 Volume 26 Number 12

Brandon Westgate #2.

Cranberry bog.

Longtime Zoo Yorker Brandon Westgate left the New York based company to ride for Element this past April. Hopefully we continue to see footage of him and he doesn't fall into the vortex that causes some planeteers to disappear. I don't think we have anything to worry about with Brandon. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and a solid work ethic.

Gary Rogers makes me laugh a lot.

Transworld - December 2008 Volume 26 Number 12

Jason Dill #9.

"It's like that Chinese proverb: may you live in interesting times. It's always been interesting it seems like, but it was a bit stagnant about a year and a half ago. I feel like it was board series, board series, board series and then it's, like, "Oh have you seen the latest board series from the people that make the board series?" I love skateboarding. I'm a fan. I watch it to get the feeling I like out of it, like seeing the people I like. It seems to really still matter what someone's board sponsor is. So that's great. That's good. I'm afraid of a day when your board sponsor ins't part of your identity. So I'm glad that still matters."

Dill wallriding into a grind during the Mind Field days.

The photo is by Mike O'Meally.

For the quote: Thrasher - July 2015 Volume 35 Number 7

Transworld - November 2008 Volume 26 Number 11

Clark Hassler & Paul Rodriguez.

Going back to the country.

Clark got abducted by aliens or was sucked into a portal so his part in Oververt was similar to what Randy Colvin had in Love Child. Or maybe he's chilling at PRod's house.

Jon Humphries took the photo.

Thrasher - December 2008 Volume 28 Number 12

Ben Raemers.

Wax Idol.

Ben closes out Oververt with a part that has a lot of transition shredding to go with a monster boardslide in a ditch. He's from Colchester in Essex, England. Ben used to be on the Cube a few years ago and since turned pro for the Panda. He rides for Volcom, Indy, and Converse.

I've been a space cadet and it's felt like I've been phoning things in this week. Up next will be assorted stuff from 2008 and 2009.

Thrasher - May 2008 Volume 28 Number 5

Caswell Berry #2.

Ladykiller.

Caswell managed to film enough tricks to share a part with new am Blue Turner in Oververt. He suffered a few nasty injuries that limited his time on the board.

Thrasher - April 2009 Volume 29 Number 4

Cairo Foster #4.

Game Of Pricks.

Cairo skated to vintage Guided By Voices and suddenly everything was all right in the world. Not that there is anything wrong with the soundtrack to Oververt, because as far as skate videos go, it has one of the best in recent years, if not ever. It was just good to hear some GBV in a video.

This ad is from when Cairo was riding for RVCA and Lakai. He has since switched to Etnies and Jimmy Arrighi's Eswic. I like Eswic.

Thrasher - August 2009 Volume 29 Number 8

Wieger Van Wageningen.

Erasure.

Everybody's favorite heelfliper even did a kickflip in Oververt.

Wieger is from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. He rode for the Firm. After Lance Mountain broke up the gang, he found a spot on enjoi. Wieger has been pro for them ever since. He also rides for Nike and has had a few video parts for the Swoosh. He's got a fast and smooth style with the right blend of technical tricks without overdoing things.

Look at how loose the bolt is on the axle. I ride my wheels with some wiggle room, but that's a lot of space. I suppose the thin wheel makes it look even bigger.

Thrasher - October 2008 Volume 28 Number 10

Louie Barletta #3.

I wish I was 37 again.

Let's get this thing going again with a quick look at some of the characters in enjoi's recent Oververt video from the end of 2014. The flick featured veterans you all know and love like Louie, Caswell Berry, Jose Rojo, Cairo Foster, Nestor Judkins, and Wieger Van Wageningen. There were also a few new faces with Ben Raemers, Zach Wallin, Blue Turner, and Jimmy Carlin (FFWD) having parts. I've been watching Oververt often as of late. I don't have the same amount of free time I did when I was younger to watch it every day in the summer like I did with H-Street's Hokus Pokus, but it's been in the DVD player a lot. The panda crew made an enjoyable video that makes you want to go skateboarding. As always for a company that never uses actual skateboard riding in their ads, they deliver the on-board stunts on film.

Louie started off riding for Sonic and Maple before Marc Johnson requested he ride for enjoi. He's been there ever since, although he has now taken on the role of brand manager. This ad would have been from the Bag Of Sucks era. Is Duffs still around? Louie switched over to Globe in the last couple of years.

If you happen to be in the Santa Monica area, check out the art of Tripper Dungan at the Daniel Rolnik Gallery. Dungan is a painter and musician based in Portland, Oregon. He made a couple of pieces on skateboards for the exhibit. Bunny Board is shown above. The work of Bwana Spoons is also featured. Based on the gallery website, Spoons appears to have at least one painting of a dinosaur riding a skateboard. The show runs until August 14th.

Skateboarder - October 2006 Volume 16 Number 2

Kris Markovich #16.

Five piece chicken dinner.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, July 20. It will be a week of some of the characters from enjoi's Oververt video. Other future content plans include random 2008 - 2009 scans, a DVS Skate More feature, and maybe Rasa Libre. In general, I'm going to be taking a break from the 1990s and focus on early to mid 2000s, if I can get over how thick some of the magazines were then.

Chris Ortiz was the photographer.

Transworld - August 1993 Volume 11 Number 8

Tim Gavin & Henry Sanchez.

Influential short form video grabs.

I ordered Tim & Henry's Pack of Lies my freshman year of college. I also got the 101 video with Kris Markovich, Adam McNatt, Eric Koston, and Gabriel Rodriguez. Beyond a trick or two from the rest of the team in the opener, the video was just full parts from Tim and Henry. Tim put down some stylish tech lines and Henry unveiled a whole bunch of tricks that had never been done before while the Black Sabbath played. There was a whole lot of pushing between the tricks and that's a good thing to see. As the years passed, Tim & Henry's Pack Of Lies has come to be regarded as a classic video from the time as well as holding up for today.

Speaking of short form videos, Austyn Gillette's new part for Huf is pretty damn smooth.

Thrasher - July 1993 Volume 13 Number 7

Ron Chatman #6.

98% sure I had a pair of the Sorry Lows in blue.

I'm taking next week off from this thing so feel free to make some suggestions. I'm putting together a week for enjoi's Oververt and I'm going to make the look back at Skate More happen. Probably. I'm also finding a few random things in the search for Oververt so I think it's going to be stuff from the 2000s.

Daniel Harold Sturt took the photo.

Thrasher - January 1993 Volume 13 Number 1

Chet Thomas #5.

Public Image.

It turns out there was at least one other Public ad. I'm not sure what they are really going for with this. Controversy? Anyway, my curiosity about Public has been satisfied.

Chet was on Santa Cruz by the October issue of Thrasher.

Rick Kosick snapped the photo.

Thrasher - May 1992 Volume 12 Number 5

Coco Santiago #3.

Nuns have no fun.

One heck of a typo.

Transworld - December 1992 Volume 10 Number 12

Kris Markovich #15.

One Zero One.

You always got something groundbreaking with a photo from Daniel Harold Strut. Spike Jonze, too. It was usually the hottest pros doing a crazy trick you'd never seen before and it looked really cool. This had to have been one of the first documented backside noseblunts on something other than a curb since the photo was taken in 1991.

Does anybody know where the term mall grab came from? It seems like Michael Burnett has popularized it in recent years. The question was raised in the comments the other day and I don't really have an answer.

I can vaguely remember discussing how to hold your board back in the day and I think we knew not to hold on to it by the trucks. I recall in 1997 or 1998 grabbing my board by the truck by accident and getting a sliver of metal in my finger. I've made it a point to never touch my trucks ever since.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday with one more week of early 1990s stuff. Have a good holiday and be careful around the fireworks.

The photo is by Daniel Harold Sturt.

Thrasher - January 1992 Volume 12 Number 1

Mark Wyndham.

"This is Markus. You do not know him now, but you will someday."

How many times has that line been used to introduce somebody in a skateboard video in the years since Hokus Pokus?

Mark got really tech for 1989 in H-Street's Hokus Pokus and kept on rolling with that approach. He turned pro for Planet Earth. Along with his friend Ocean Howell, Mark was at the forefront of helping to evolve technical switch skateboarding in the early 1990s. He gradually disappeared in the later half of the 1990s.

Miki Vuckovich took the photo and Ocean Howell filmed the video sequence.

Transworld - December 1993 Volume 11 Number 12