Bam Margera.

Strictly skateboarding, no antics.

Well, OK, a few antics because you kind of have to mention that with Bam, but this week is going to focus mainly on his skateboarding.

Bam got dumped out of a UPS box on us in 411 #7. The 14 year old from West Chester, Pennsylvania had a part that featured him skating his hometown, Love Park, and a couple assorted parks in the area. He mixed it up between street, vert, and mini ramp. He was riding for Evol at the time. Oddly enough, Bam was taking a bubble bath and got repeatedly dunked in the tub during his Wheels Of Fortune segment. Foreshadowing, perhaps?

Kelly Ryan took the photo.

Thrasher - September 1994 Volume 14 Number 9

Chris Borst & Lance Mountain.

Bones Brigade doubles.

Quicksilver started in 1969 as a surf clothing company in Australia. Over the years they've grown larger and become a global entity. They bought DC Shoes in 2004. I think they've had a few financial ups and downs in the last decade or so. I want to say they axed their skate team a few years ago.

I like this photo. That's all.

It will be a week of Bam on Monday. No antics, just skateboarding.

Transworld - December 1988 Volume 6 Number 6

Chris Miller #11.

This is the way, step inside.

The photo is by Chip Morton. Interestingly, Chip would go on to start the Limpies clothing brand.

Thrasher - April 1989 Volume 9 Number 4

Lester Kasai #5.

Gotcha!

Gotcha was a surf clothing company from Laguna Beach, California. It was started by Michael Tomson and Joel Cooper in 1978. They specialized in beach wear in a variety of vibrant colors and prints. They sponsored a number of pro skateboarders, including Steve Alba, Steve Caballero, Jim Gray, Lester Kasai, Jeff Kendall, and Rob Roskopp.

They also gave us them gem of life advice:

Lester: Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Don't Skate: Thrasher - December 1988 Volume 8 Number 12

Swatch.

Swiss Watches.

I never got into the whole Swatch craze of the 1980s. Aside from a couple of days in the second grade, I've never worn a watch in my life. It feels too uncomfortable having something around my wrist. Yet oddly I'm obsessed with constantly knowing the time. It's a good thing everything has a clock in it these days.

Swatch was doing well enough selling a variety of colorful watches to the mall crowd that they had a little extra cash to sponsor some professional skateboarders. The team included Rodney Mullen, Rob Roskopp, Pierre-André Senizergues, and Per Welinder. They also sponsored pro snowboarder Bert Lamar, who did skateboard as well. Swatch organized the Impact Tour in the late 1980s. This was a traveling show with loud rock music and video projections that featured vert and freestyle demos in some of America's finest basketball and hockey arenas. Chris Miller, Jeff Phillips, Mark "Gator" Rogowski, and Kevin Staab were all part of the spectacle. For action sports crossover appeal, the Impact Tour included rollerskater Jimi Scott along with BMXers Ron Wilkerson and Brian Blyther, too. I don't think it ever came near my town, but I doubt I would have known one way or the other. Here's to the blissfully unaware 1980s.

Why did you need to wear more than one watch anyway?

Transworld - December 1988 Volume 6 Number 6

Christian Hosoi #4.

It's back to old school fashion week.

Reader Andrew requested I scan some stuff from clothing companies that sponsored skateboarders in the late 1980s. The idea was to look at some of the bigger brand name companies that weren't necessarily part of the core industry who gave it the college try of getting into skateboarding. I figure with school starting back up all across the country right now that this is a good time to get some new clothes.

Jimmy Z was started by surfer Jimmy "Z" Ganzer in 1984. Ganzer was an important figure in surfing in the 1960s and was an assistant art director for the magazine Surf Guide. He came up with a side mounted Velcro waistband for shorts and the company took off from there. The team included Christian Hosoi, Scott Oster, Tommy Guerrero, and many more. Jimmy Z is still around today and sponsors Steve Caballero, Sean Goff, Eddie Elguera, and few more.

Props to the Skateboard Mag for having Leticia Bufoni on the cover of Issue 139. She's boardsliding a big handrail. They did a special series of eight different covers for the eight skaters who are filming video parts for the Mag and/or the Berrics. I got a fully padded Ben Raybourn doing an Andrecht at Chicken's. They also have started to dabble in adding words to go with the pictures and feature short interviews with the people who are participating in the project.

Warren Bolster took the photo.

Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Ashley Anson.

Fine Art Friday.

Poor fashion choices of our youth on Monday.

Joe Hammeke did the photography.

Thrasher - December 2008 Volume 28 Number 12

Don Nguyen #3.

"Nuge introduced us to an addicting game called "Urban Jellyfish." You play by catching floating plastic bags out the window of The Tank. It not only feels amazing being at the right place at the right time, but helps save the environment. The Tank has three captured bags wrapped near the door handle. Looks like trash, but they're trophies forever. Nuge caught the first in Vegas. I caught the next two in LA. Bryan Herman once spilled weed off his lap trying to reach for one - and failing. With bags costing ten cents these days, they're even more endangered and therefor more rewarding." - Beagle

Baker filmer Beagle explains one of the more legal things that goes on in the company van, also known as the Skate Tank.

The photo is by David Broach.

For the quote: Thrasher - December 2014 Volume 34 Number 12

Transworld - June 2008 Volume 26 Number 6

Levi Brown.

Blast off.

It seems like Element has put together a decent team of young rippers. I don't know much about Levi, but he always gets cool photos in the mags. He reminds me of Nate Jones and Matt Field.

It never works out for some reason when board companies branch out into footwear. Habitat tried to do the same around this time as well. A bunch of guys leave their shoe sponsors to ride for their board brand's footwear effort and then wind up not having free kicks after the project didn't take off.

Setting up a new deck was a good idea last night. My old one was done. Ollies had pop again once I got used to the tail being a little shorter. Staying up until 12:30 AM watching the news and old videos of 120 Minutes while drinking a couple beers was probably also a good idea, but I'm a little slow today.

Brian Gaberman snapped the photo.

Transworld - November 2008 Volume 26 Number 11

Daniel Shimizu.

Keeping up that bummer high.

Daniel has ridden for Acme's Formula One, Foundation, Stereo, and Bummer High. He's currently pro for Heroin Skateboards. I had one of his boards a couple years ago and really liked it.

The photo is by Ben Karpinski.

Thrasher - December 2008 Volume 28 Number 12

Kevin "Spanky" Long #3.

"That was also a semi-gradual thing, but what happened was first I started just looking at this opportunity differently and wanting to do something about it—not necessarily get my sponsors back or anything like that, but some super-close friends were like, “Dude, why don’t you try not drinking, see if that helps. Figure out what the next step is and give skateboarding a real go.” So I was, like, “Sure, that’s no problem,” thinking that it was just gonna be some casual-like experiment. And basically, for one reason or another, I re-found my passion for skateboarding and realized that my body wasn’t as bad as I thought and that I had actually just been torturing it and kicking it while it was down! So I started skateboarding every day and I really just fell back into being out there and decided that my potential was much different than I thought. I just started wanting to chase my own potential. And that snowballed into being accountable, being present, being out there and having a blast and getting healthy and skating with the guys and re-forming relationships and, yeah, things have just been slowly coming back together."

It's good to see somebody get their act back together to rejoin the sponsored ranks. Spanky's got a couple of tricks in the new Thrasher from the Stay Flared tour.

For the quote: Thrasher - May 2015 Volume 35 Number 5

Transworld - May 2009 Volume 27 Number 5

Quim Cardona #4.

Spiderman arms.

Quim turned pro for Real a long time ago now. He also rode for Zoo York before settling in at Karl Watson's Organika. Along with his late brother Mike, Quim helped progress throwback tricks like wall rides and pole jams by doing them switch in the mid 1990s. He recently had the last part in Josh Stewart's Static 4 and he's still got it with a bunch of big ollies and nollies out of wallrides.

The sequence is by Eric "Rodent" Cheslak photos.

Transworld - October 2008 Volume 26 Number 10

Chris Pfanner #2.

"My stuff is more around spots. I’m not the guy with the hugest bag of tricks or whatever. I just look for stuff that’s weird in its own way. I’ll say I like to go for the shit that nobody wants. If nobody wants to skate it, that’s what I’ll skate. Weird-ass spots. Just things that are not too inviting most of the time. Often I find things and people are, like, “We’ve walked past this for years. That’s not even a spot!” But I think it’s a spot, so yeah, that’s how I can explain it. I just like the things nobody wants, I guess."

Kids In The Hall.

For the quote: Thrasher - May 2015 Volume 35 Number 5

Thrasher - December 2008 Volume 28 Number 12

James Hardy.

Roll Tide.

James is from Madison, Alabama. He is pro for Real and rides for Eswic Clothing. After a few changes at Fallen, James is now on Dekline Footwear. He had the opening part in Real's Since Day One video from 2011.

The Fallen Patriot II was my shoe of choice for the last couple or three years. The replacement model of the Patriot III was a complete disappointment and I threw the pair I had out after a month. Anyway, the Patriot II was a solid shoe. It had a good cupsole and well padded upper that lasted a long time. This isn't the best colorway, but I wanted to get some James Hardy on here at some point and this is what I found. The all black ones with a white sole reminded me of something from the middle of the 1990s.

Joey Shigeo took the photo.

Thrasher - June 2009 Volume 29 Number 6

Jake Johnson #2.

Penn State.

There was some question as to what Jake was going to do when the Alien Workshop came to an end. The rumors included him being out of commission due to injuries, which were an actual problem, or that he might ride for Krooked or Polar. There was even the chance that he was done with skateboarding. He was granted a Gest Board from the Gonz and wound up on the new Mother Collective, which is now Quasi.

The photo is by Eric "Rodent" Cheslak.

Transworld - November 2009 Volume 27 Number 11

Pat Rakestraw.

The Street Rake.

Pat is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He rode for the Black Label and later switched over to Ethan Fowler's Bummer High. Pat was also on Duffs and Pig Wheels.

Thrasher - November 2008 Volume 28 Number 11

Rick McCrank #3.

Gone fishin' for Friday.

I wonder if I've made that joke before? I'm not going to do a search of the site in case it comes up more recently than I remember.

It's going to be two more weeks of 2008-9 stuff before a back to school fashion special for the last week of August.

Thrasher - August 2008 Volume 28 Number 8

Jesse Neuhaus #2.

Chicago's favorite son.

Jesse rode for Alva, New School, Life, and Fun in the way back when. He decided that he didn't need to be a part of the whole professional scene in California so he headed back home to the Windy City. He still skates and he still shreds. The Lettus Bee lifestyle.

Speaking of wind, it has been too breezy off the lake the last two times I've gone skateboarding. I stuck around way longer than I thought I would last night. I figured that since I'm breaking in new shoes, it's going to suck anyway.

Frank Vegas snapped the photo.

Thrasher - July 2009 Volume 29 Number 7

Jeff Lenoce.

Switch ollies.

Jeff is from Clearwater, Florida. He was an am for Birdhouse with a few tricks in The End before he joined up with the Baker crew. He was on Lakai and had a shared part with Scott Johnston in Fully Flared. Jeff left Lakai for the relaunch of Axion. The last major thing we saw from him was a full part in the 2011 Shake Junt video, Chicken Bone Nowison.

Thrasher - September 2008 Volume 28 Number 9

Chet Childress #4.

Permanent gypsy tour.

Chet drops in during his time on the Black Label. He rides for Heroin Skateboards these days.

The new issue of Thrasher features an interview with Morrissey. I was a little surprised to see that. I figured the Moz would not be into appearing in a skateboarder mag. It looks like there are a bunch of other good stories, but I only skimmed through it quickly.

Eric "Rodent" Cheslak was the photographer.

Transwrold - March 2009 Volume 27 Number 3

Chris Cole #3.

Never been done.

After parting ways with Zero and not really having a pro board on the market for the last year or so, Chris Cole has joined up with the Plan B team. He also put out a part of tricks that had not been done before. I got a little confused watching it, which is I guess kind of the point.

In other sponsorship news, it appears Roger is done and Michael Sieben and Stacy Lowery have started a new project called the Program. It looks very entertaining.

Transworld - March 2009 Volume 27 Number 3