Eric Dressen #2.

Happy Halloween!

Ed Dominick took the photo.

Thrasher - June 1998 Volume 18 Number 6

Dr. Slimeballs.

Blood & Guts.

Santa Cruz often went with the gross out option for their line of Slimeball wheels. Here you have Ben Schroeder, Monty Nolder, and Rob Roskopp dressed up as the worst surgeons in the world.

The Rip Grip on the handle of scalpel is a subtle bit of product placement.

A little 151 tomorrow.

Transworld - August 1989 Volume 7 Number 4

Laban Pheidias #5.

Idle hands are the devil's playground.

Invisible was not afraid to bust out some costumes or come up with unusual themes for ads and videos.

Transworld - March 1996 Volume 14 Number 3

Chris & Ricca Gentry.

Outer Space.

Chris Gentry started his own company called Kingdom in the mid 1990s. He had been pro for Vision before this. His wife Ricca was also prominently involved in the effort. Their ads were notable for featuring the couple floating in the final frontier.

Chris Ortiz did the photography, Shannon McMullen did the hair, and De'arnna Kilekeras did the makeup.

Transworld - November 1996 Volume 14 Number 11

Rob "Sluggo" Boyce #3.

Pinhead.

Sluggo gets dressed up as the memorable character from Clive Barker's Hellraiser movie franchise.

The sequence is by Derek Kettela. The mugshot is by Jody Morris.

Transworld - November 1999 Volume 17 Number 11

Retired Girls.

The whole key to a successful Halloween is a good costume. This week Vert Is Dead takes a quick look at the use of costumes in skateboarding over the years.

The plot behind the Chocolate Tour was that the now retired Girl team was getting the boot from the old folks home they were living in if they didn't come up with the rent money. The Chocolate team loaded up the van to drive across the country doing demos to raise the funds. They also made some cash a few other ways that were slightly less than legal. Hilarity ensued on the trek to Florida. At this point in 1999 Girl was growing as a company and Spike Jonze had developed his directing career in Hollywood. This gave them access to higher quality effects and costumes so Tim Gavin, Mike Carroll, Eric Koston, Rick Howard, and Rudy Johnson were all aged to perfection to play senior citizen versions of themselves.

Transworld - November 1998 Volume 16 Number 11

Tim Gavin #4.

Save it for later.

You can't spend three weeks on DVS without mentioning the Gav. He was one of the first team riders and helped build the company as he transitioned from being pro to working in the industry. Tim is doing Filament Footwear these days.

Gone phishin'.

Transworld - May 1996 Volume 14 Number 5

Daewon Song #3.

This Modern Love.

Daewon did something different for his part in Skate More and skateboarding was the better for his efforts. Rather than stick to the usual schoolyard picnic table trickery we were used to seeing, he searched out some more unusual spots. It also felt like he simplified his trick selection, in terms relative to Daewon of course. There was still the mix of manuals and blunt slides, but he was also doing pole jams to fakie and going back to his Z-Boy roots with transition and ditch skating. Granted he was doing kickflip transfers in a steep pool or jumping into some tight transitions, but again that's Daewon.

The photo is by Giovanni Reda.

Thrasher - April 2005 Volume 25 Number 4

Steve Berra #4.

The Faint.

Steve put together a solid part of the classic tricks you would expect from him for Skate More. You get some backside kickflips, backside 360 ollies, and a full Cab or two down some stairs. He also flips into a few tricks, like the frontside noseslide in the ad. I believe there was a minor internet stink caused by his part because he skated a few man made obstacles that were built to look like real street spots. I understand the slight problem that could arise from that, but at the same time, building your own spots is fine. I suppose living in California with access to a lot of places to skate could minimize the need to do such a thing, but at the same time it reduces the ongoing conflict of where do you want to skate/I don't know/that's not a spot/how about/we went there yesterday...

Was Jereme Rogers pro for Girl? I've been looking around the internet and can't find proof positive there was a board with his name on it, although I'm fairly certain he was.

The sequence is by Atiba Jefferson and the portrait is by Giovanni Reda.

Transworld - October 2005 Volume 23 Number 10

Jereme Rogers.

Lasers.

Jereme had a part in P.J. Ladd's Wonderful Horrible Life, the Coliseum skate shop video from 2002. This landed the kid from Boston spots on the Girl and DVS teams. He later left Girl for Plan B in 2008. Jereme briefly retired from pro skateboarding to focus on a rap career. He later returned to skateboarding with his own company called Selfish. Jereme's section in Skate More consisted of a lot switch and regular flip tricks done down stairs along with smooth ledge tricks. He looses a few points for skating to Jamiroquai. I believe he was a mystery guest with Chocolate on this year's King Of The Road contest. I suppose we will find out soon enough how that went.

Thrasher - July 2005 Volume 25 Number 7

Dennis Busenitz #3.

The Wizard.

This is the last week of the Skate More retrospective. Dennis had been on Vans before signing to DVS. He was not on DVS too long before he switched over to Adidas as the brand with the three stripes redid their skateboarding effort. Dennis has been with Real as a board sponsor his whole career and is still on Adidas.

Thrasher - April 2005 Volume 25 Number 4

Zered Bassett.

East Coast Spot Destroyer.

Zered split a part with Dennis Busenitz in Skate More. Dr. Z had only had a short portion of the part because he just got on the team. He still delivered some gnarly tricks, both switch and regular. Zered was riding for Zoo York at the time. He is currently sponsored by Expedition and Converse.

Thrasher - February 2005 Volume 25 Number 2

Torey Pudwill.

Grizzly.

Torey was a little kid riding for Shorty's at the time of Skate More. After Shorty's stopped making boards in the mid 2000s, he accepted an offer from Daewon Song to ride for Almost. He turned pro for them and was on the team until he joined Plan B in 2010. Torey does a lot of Storm inspired tech tricks that could be from a video game. I like it better when he does simpler tricks higher or longer, like a hardflip off flat over a picnic table or a backside tailslide that goes forever. Torey is still riding for DVS after ten years.

Torey has been doing Grizzly Grip since he was a teenager. The company has grown from his garage to having two page advertising spreads in the mags. Honestly, I do not get having graphics on griptape, but that trend does not seem to be letting up any time soon. It just looks confusing to me.

Gilbert Crockett has a killer new part out for Quasi.

Giovanni Reda was the photogapher.

Thrasher - March 2005 Volume 25 Number 3

Daniel Castillo.

Between Clark and Hilldale.

Daniel was on World Industries back in the Love Child days. He was added to the Chocolate family early on and turned pro for them after a long time as an am. He shared a part with Torey Pudwill in Skate More. Daniel does a lot of manual tricks and odder flip tricks, like inward heelflips.

RIP Skatemaster Tate.

Thrasher - August 2005 Volume 25 Number 8

Chico Brenes #2.

Smooth operator.

Chico is from Nicaragua and was part of the crew during the heyday of the Embarcadero scene. He was riding for World Industries until Rick Howard and Mike Carroll started Chocolate. Chico has been on DVS since the beginning and still has a pro shoe out with them. Recently he started up a shop called Central in Nicaragua to give back to the country he was born in.

Seu Trinh photographed the sequence and Giovanni Reda took the portrait.

Transworld - August 2005 Volume 23 Number 8

Jason Dill #10.

Flick off a seagull.

Jason delivered a part full of odd fashion choices to go with some unique tricks for Skate More. He busts a few big ollies on flat over things to manual and mixes in some slappy type tricks, which would foreshadow what he was going to have his in part in Alien Workshop's Mindfield a few years later. It's honestly a solid part. The bluntslide to salad grind is the ender for his segment.

All the photos are by Giovanni Reda.

Transworld - November 2005 Volume 23 Number 11

Jeron Wilson #3.

Mikey Taylor on a mini bike.

Jeron rode for Real and Blind before jumping ship to join Girl. J-Dubs was on the DVS team from the beginning. He's pro for Girl and it's cool to see he's still skating. His video parts always look like he's having fun.

Thrasher - May 2005 Volume 25 Number 5

Keith Hufnagel #9.

Pop art.

Huf's part in Skate More is full of classic street lines in San Francisco. Keith had been on DC Shoes, but switched to DVS in 2000. He started a retail store called Huf in 2002. The store gradually evolved into its own footwear company, also called Huf. He seems to be doing pretty good with that these days.

Roll Forever is a great video, too.

Sadly, Huf had no tricks in Real's new Through and Through video. That thing is all killer, no filler. Max Schaaf even had some vert moves. I was hoping Jake Donnelly's parking meter ollie from his latest Adidas ad would be in there, but it was not. It was nice to see Ernie Torres busting a few stunts. Is T & T going to be released in a physical format? Is Propeller ever coming out on DVD?

Thrasher - March 2005 Volume 25 Number 3

Kerry Getz #3.

Alphaville.

Kerry's section in Skate More is probably one of my favorite video parts ever. Everything about it fits together perfectly. Kerry isn't messing around with his tricks and everything is caught clean. Kerry had been on Toy Machine and etnies before switching to Habitat and DVS at the turn of the century. These days he is running Nocturnal, his skate shop in Philadelphia, and skateboarding when he can.

I had intended to use ads from a variety of companies for the skaters in Skate More, but I wound up using a few more from DVS than I planned. I limited my search to magazines from 2005 only and picked out what looked the best in most cases. One benefit of using more DVS ads is that you get to see a sampling of the shoes from ten years ago. I'm not going to fully say things were better, but I'd be much more into a slightly beefy cupsole than the thousand and one variations of a crappy boat shoe that are plaguing the industry today. Our feet were more protected a decade ago.

Giovanni Reda photographed the sequence.

Thrasher - January 2005 Volume 25 Number 1

Mikey Taylor #2.

Leadoff batter.

Mikey had the opening part in Skate More. He skated to "Pounding" by Doves. It's one of the few tunes I like by the band and it works well with his skating. Mikey mixes it up with some technical rail tricks and lots of lines. His stuff is difficult, but more in a way that makes you want to skate and not dwell on the fact you cannot nollie flip into a crooked grind or ollie over the back of a handrail. I've always like this part. It does everything the opener to a good video should.

At the time, Mikey was riding for Alien Workshop side company Seek, but that soon came to an end and he was moved over to the Workshop. He left Alien at the end of 2013. As far as I know, he still does not have a board sponsor. In the years since 2005, his feet have been sponsored by Etnies and DC. He is currently on DC.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Thrasher - February 2005 Volume 25 Number 2

Skate More.

Another skate video completely different from some of the other skate videos which aren't quite the same as this skate video.

The DVS Shoe Company released their first full length video in 2005. It was called Skate More. Colin Kennedy was the editor and main filmer. The entire team was featured in this full length project. There was an overall fun vibe to Skate More. There were also some neat Monty Python inspired animations for introductions to each part. I decided each rider gets a day on Vert Is Dead so this will take three weeks to go through the cast of characters.

Here's a sticker for Skate More:

Thrasher - August 2005 Volume 25 Number 8

Michael Burnett & Michael Sieben #2.

Funny business for Friday.

Keep in mind that this is from ten years ago and does reflect a few of the trends of that time.

Thrasher - January 2005 Volume 25 Number 1

Jaime Reyes #3.

A drifting ghostly kickflip.

The photo is by Myke Reyes.

Slap - May 2000 Volume 9 Number 5