Scott Oster #2.

Boys Of Summer.

Vert Is Dead takes it back to the late 1980s and early 1990s for the month of December. I went more early 1990s and focused on street skating this time around.

The best video I've seen in a long time is Jeff Kutter's Boys Of Summer. It's backed by Supreme and features all the skaters you would want to see presented in a casual fashion. Boys Of Summer feels like it was filmed on an old VHS camera when everybody was out skating instead of being a major media production. It has the corresponding 1980s soundtrack to add to the throwback vibe. There's also assorted movie clips thrown in for good measure.

Scott has a couple of tricks in Boys Of Summer. He used to pro for Dogtown and Alex Olson issued a guest board for him on Bianca Chandôn.

The photo is by Cesario "Block" Montano.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Brian Anderson #5.

Top shelf, next to the peanut butter.

That's a hockey reference for scoring a goal, as in the Canadian sport and not the skateboard company.

So are some of the seemingly random rumors that get posted on the Slap message boards actually turning out to be true?

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, November 30th for the usual month of older scans from 1988 to 1991. Enjoy your Thanksgiving or the week in general.

The photo is by Skate Mental.

Thrasher - May 2006 Volume 26 Number 5

Max Schaaf #11.

"Money has nothing to do with the value of life, but that's just common sense."

Thrasher - July 2006 Volume 26 Number 7

Billy Marks #2.

Aqualung.

Joey Shigeo was the photographer.

Thrasher - May 2006 Volume 26 Number 5

Ed Templeton #21.

Templeton Tuesday.

Ed brings back the slightly old school impossible tailgrab for this vintage Toy Machine ad. I always like skating the sides of loading docks. It's like a natural launch ramp.

Congrats to Frenchman Aurelien Giraud on winning the 2015 Tampa Am. Every little positive helps.

The photograph is by John Bradford.

Thrasher - August 2006 Volume 26 Number 8

Matt Bennett #3.

Mandatory Monday Machine.

A younger Matt B. takes a different approach to a handrail. The backside 180 to fakie 50-50 is a neat looking trick that doesn't come up all the often. Huf did one on a ledge in Skate More that looked really smooth, too.

The photo is by Scott Pommier.

Thrasher - June 2006 Volume 26 Number 6

Cody McEntire.

The Catfish.

Cody won the 2006 Tampa Am. He's from Belton, Texas and turned pro for Think. Cody currently rides for Blind and Vox. He recently dropped a new part on the Thrasher website where he does a ton of flip tricks caught really cleanly.

Be careful out there today. Good luck to all the ams skating in the 2015 Tampa Am at the Skate Park of Tampa this weekend.

Thanks to the links from the Ride Channel in their story on 11 companies that went out of business that would be huge today.

The photo is by Shaun Mefford.

Thrasher - May 2006 Volume 26 Number 5

Kevin "Spanky" Long #4.

"When asked who I thought would win, I always said, "I don't care as long as it's Billy Marks or Spanky." With Billy and his white pants stumbling into 13th, I put all my money on Kevin. Conscious or not, Spanky put together the kind of run that even the street purists like to see - ollie based, more-tech-than-big-air-oriented, and with a calm, flowing style. These are the kinds of runs that Eric Koston does, incidentally. Kevin backside 180d the big rail the hard way to flat, spun well-sprung 270 backside flips over the pyramid hips, hit up the big rail and looked good doing all of it. It's nice to have a Tampa Am champ that everyone can get behind. Good, one, Kev. He won the mini Ducati motorcycle which he can ride straight into the pro ranks, as far as I'm concerned." - Michael Burnett

Kevin won the Tampa Am in 2003 and turned pro for Baker sometime after.

For the quote: Thrasher - May 2003 Volume 23 Number 6

Thrasher - June 2003 Volume 23 Number 6

Kyle Berard.

The Cardinal.

Kyle won the Tampa Am in 2000 and then won the Tampa Pro in 2001. He's from Virgina Beach and used to have a skateshop with his dad there. Kyle has ridden for World Industries, Consolidated, and Mike Vallely's Elephant Brand. I think he might have been on Illenium, but I'm not positive on that. These days he has his own skatepark building company called Front Rock Concrete. They specialize in backyard landscapes for skateboarding that combine street and mini ramp type elements. The designs look awesome.

So what exactly happened to everybody who was riding for Elephant? I know Mike has his Street Plant project going with Kristian Svitak and Jason Adams returned to the Black Label. Neil Hendrix was on the team as well. I'm a little curious as to how it ended.

Thrasher - February 2001 Volume 21 Number 2

Judd Hertzler #2.

Swirlies.

Judd won the third Tampa Am in 1997. He would go on to ride for Foundation and Unbelievers. I was a little surprised to see his name on the list of winners. It's slightly odd to announce that Mike Rafter is pro in an ad that features Judd, but it was the 1990s. Arsenal was a branch of S.O.P., the company that did New School and ATM Click.

Alan Wong took the photos.

Slap - December 1996 Volume 5 Number 12

Donny Barley #3.

Meglomania.

Since the Skate Park of Tampa is having their annual Tampa Am contest at the end of the week, I thought a week's worth of previous winners made good sense. Theories of Atlantis man Josh Stewart won the first Tampa Am back in 1995. Gnarly Barley got the victory in 1996 and subsequently turned pro for Toy Machine.

The photo is by Rick Kosick.

Transworld - June 1996 Volume 14 Number 6

Omar Salazar #3.

Hell in a Bucket.

Thrasher - December 2005 Volume 25 Number 12

Nate Jones #3.

Uncle John's Band.

Thrasher - November 2005 Volume 25 Number 11

Nilton Neves.

Stir It Up.

Thrasher - June 2005 Volume 25 Number 6

Dylan Rieder #5.

Truckin'.

Thrasher - February 2005 Volume 25 Number 2

Reese Forbes #5.

Touch of Grey.

It was going to just be Rasa Libre scans paired with Dead song titles for the week, but then a few things happened in skateboarding.

It appears Geoff Rowley is off Flip. I thought he had moved into position of ownership after they left Blitz Distribution. This is a little surprising since he is kind of the face of the company.

The new issue of Thrasher is out. There's a good interview with Jim Greco that features a guest appearance by Jeremy Klein. Klein also did the interview. Anyway, Greco's current phase seems to be 1990s skate rat and that's working out well for him. He says he rides the same board for three months at a time. That seems like a long time for a pro who does some gnarly tricks.

There's a new Alien Workshop video out that I need to watch.

Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals for winning the World Series. This makes up for last year. A tip of the hat to the New York Mets on winning the National League Championship.

Thrasher - January 2005 Volume 25 Number 1