Bobby Worrest #4.

Riddles in Mathematics.

Transworld's Riddles in Mathematics video is a really good flick. It features full parts from Bobby DeKeyzer, Yaje Popson, Leo Valls, Bobby Worrest, Stevie Perez, and Ben Gore. It was filmed by Chris Thiessen in the USA, France, and probably a few other spots. I intended to give each of the riders in it a day, but I had a tough time finding something for everybody so that didn't happen. Bobby puts in the effort to bang out switch and regular 360 flips, crooked grinds, noseslides, and a hefty switch backside tailslide for an ender. Leo's part is great. I dig the backside nollie shifty on flat he does around the halfway mark of his section.

I just noticed yesterday that I've basically written the same post each day for the month.

Transworld - December 2016 Issue 382

Nora Vasconcellos.

The Style Council.

Anybody have any requests? I'm not exactly sure what to scan next. I've got newer stuff left yet to finish out the week and then two weeks of Lakai for June. I also spaced out on Friday. Work wasn't busy in the morning and then we got swamped for the afternoon when I figured out what I wanted to update with.

I put new bearings in my old wheels. My board is now maybe too fast and much quieter. I didn't realize how beat my old bearings were.

Transworld - August 2016 Issue 378

Nick Boserio.

Matt Reason, Ricky Oyola, and Sergei Trudnowski have to approve of those wheels.

The photo is by Alex Pires.

Transworld - January 2017 Issue 383

Stevie Perez.

The Flare.

Stevie is from the North Hills region of Los Angeles, California. Along with Raven Tershy and Elijah Berle, he was one of three new ams on Chocolate in 2011. The trio, plus Cory Kennedy and Vincent Alvarez, were dubbed the Trunk Boyz, a noble title given their fondness for sitting in the back of the van. In retrospect, the name seems a tad silly these days. All five of them have fortunately outgrown that minor marketing misstep and are certified rippers. Stevie has a part in Transworld's recent Riddles in Mathematics video. He's out in the streets of LA, grinding handrails, doing some ollies, and putting together tech lines. His other sponsors are Lakai, Spitfire, and Thunder. Cory Kennedy booked a mariachi band to play his house for Stevie's birthday one year. That apparently did not go over very well with the neighbors.

Thrasher - January 2016 Volume 37 Number 1

Ronnie Sandoval.

Turf Killer.

Ronnie is from San Pedro, California. He grew up skating the Channel Street skatepark. His first sponsor was Transitions Skateshop. Daewon Song was hooking him up with Almost boards back in the day. He later accepted an offer from Mic-E Reyes to ride for Krooked at the age of 14 and has been on the team ever since. He also rides for Vans, Ace Trucks, Spitfire, Doom Sayers, and Transitions Skateshop. Mark Gonzales recently turned him pro at the beginning of 2017. To celebrate the event, they threw Ronnie a surprise pizza party at an archery range. He's into riding and building motorcycles in his spare time.

Thrasher - January 2015 Volume 36 Number 1

Lizzie Armanto.

Totally on fire.

Lizzie is from Santa Monica, California. She recently turned pro for Birdhouse. Her other sponsors are Vans, Independent, Bones, and Brostyle. Lizzie is the first woman to be on the cover of Thrasher since Jaime Reyes in April of 1994. She was also on the cover of Transworld's November 2016 issue. She started skateboarding in 2007 and was a regular at the Cove Skatepark in Santa Monica. A couple of her favorite pros are Pat Ngoho and Jeff Grosso. She shreds vert and transitions.

The photo is by Anthony Acosta.

Transworld - November 2016 Issue 381

Ishod Wair.

Sabotage.

Ishod is from Bordentown, New Jersey. His sponsors include Real, Nike, Spitfire, and Thunder. He won Thrasher's Skater of the Year award for 2013. Ishod is mostly a street skater, but lately he has been shredding all manor of transitions. It's cool to see him adapt to new things and switch it up a bit.

Thrasher - April 2015 Volume 36 Number 4

Andrew Brophy.

Sheila.

Andrew is from Margaret River in Australia. He was pro for Cliché until that company called it a day. Thanks to his connections with Mike Carroll and Rick Howard from Fourstar, he was able to land a spot on the Girl roster. He's the first established pro to join Girl since Brian Anderson did so in 2001. His other sponsors include Converse, Tensor Trucks, and Modus Bearings. Andrew runs Wayward Wheels with Benny Fairfax. He can ollie really high. I like his approach to skateboarding.

Vert Is Dead turns nine years old today. Thanks for all the support. Also shout to the Chrome Ball Incident for hitting the nine year mark a month ago.

Thrasher - July 2012 Volume 32 Number 7

Austyn Gillette #4.

The Game Grid.

Thrasher - August 2016 Volume 37 Number 8

Callum Paul.

Streets of your town.

PASS~PORT is an Australian company from Brisbane that was founded by Trent Evans. Their team had a featured section in Transworld's latest Cinematographer Project Worldview 2017 video. The extended part is full of street skateboarding in the land down under. PASS~PORT recently partnered with WKND's new distribution company, Hyperion, so you can check out their gear in the states.

Callum is the first guy to turn pro for PASS~PORT. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology and Botany. He may or may not be internet famous for some silly hi-jinx.

Jason Morey photographed the sequence.

Transworld - May 2016 Issue 375

Yaje Popson.

Orange Painting Pants.

Yaje is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has lived in New York City since he was a little kid. Chocolate was flowing him boards around about 2010. A knee injury at the time caused him to take a break from skateboarding and move back to Brazil to heal up. He used the time to expand his interests outside of skateboarding to include painting, playing the guitar, farming, and yoga. After about three years off, Yaje was ready to roll again. He has since turned pro for the Alien Workshop and gotten sponsored by Adidas. He scored the last part in Transworld's recent Riddles In Mathematics video.

Zach Malfa-Kowalski took the skate photo. Joey Guevara took the chilling photo.

Transwrold - March 2016 Issue 373

Andrew Reynolds #7.

Frontside air attack from the Boss.

Andrew recently left his clothing sponsor of the last decade for RVCA. He had been riding for Krew before launching Altamont in the mid 2000s. I want to say the company was supported by Sole Technologies. They had an arty vibe going and sponsored a number of skaters, artists, and bands. I don't think Altamont ever really caught on as much as it maybe should have. Soft goods can be a tricky business.

I watched Nikola Racan's Solsticij DVD last night. It's an independent skateboard flick out of Croatia that's primarily filmed in the eastern parts of Europe. There are appearances from the Magenta and Isle teams, too. Solsticij has a lot of street lines on some very rough looking streets. There's also a little bit of vert. It reminds me of the old Zoo York videos in a way with gritty street skating that is often done at night. Totally worth checking out. If DVDs are dead, how come I've gotten a bunch of good ones thus far this year?

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Thrasher - June 2012 Volume 32 Number 6

Auby Taylor.

Channeling the spirit of Jeff Phillips.

Auby is from Dallas, Texas. He was riding for Krooked before switching to the Black Label and turning pro. He also rides for Nike, Indy, and Bones Wheels. Auby was quite the street shredder and I'm sure he still is, but all of his recent coverage has been a full blown vert assault. I think it's awesome. His current pro model graphic is a tribute to the Jeff Phillips Breaking Glass art. It also seems he has switched from riding the 1991 style version of the board to the vintage 1980's shape.

Transworld - August 2015 Volume 33 Number 8

Daniel Vargas.

Judo Air.

Daniel is from Lake Forest, California. He rides for Welcome, Thunder, Spitfire, and Adidas. His part in Welcome's recent Fetish video features a whole lot of transition shredding at a variety of skateparks. I like the fakie pop shove-it tail grab trick he does. They look neat.

The photo is by Shane Cox.

Transworld - May 2016 Issue 375

Ben Gore #2.

Out of the Eye.

Ben has the opening part to Transworld's Riddles in Mathematics video. He puts down some solid backside 50-50s, heelflips, and wallies while skating to one of my favorite songs by Woods. Riddles is a strong video and totally worth checking out if you haven't seen it yet.

State Footwear is a new shoe company run by Kevin Furtado. Kevin used to work at Dekline and decided to start up his own gig after that company came to an end. The team includes Jon Nguyen, Jordan Sanchez, Christian Maalouf, and Kevin Coakley.

RIP Christopher “Big Black” Boykin.

Dave Chami snapped the photos.

Transworld - February 2017 Issue 384

Dane Brady #2.

Small Wheels.

Dane is from Portland, Oregon. He had the opening part in Polar's I like it here inside my mind, don't wake me this time video from last year. Of note for that part was that Pontus Alv used the song "Alone" by The Cry, which was in H-Street's Hokus Pokus video from 1989 for a European tour montage. It's also worth noting Hokus Pokus was released about five years before Dane was born. That bit of history aside, Dane recently turned pro for Polar. He does a lot of curb and slappy tricks, mixes in some handrails, wallrides, and ollies.

Never forget Tim Brauch.

The photo is by Matt Price.

Transworld - March/April 2017 Issue 385

Kyle Walker.

Oklahoma thunder in Kansas City.

Kyle is from Moore, Oklahoma. He rides for Real, Thunder, Spitfire, Volcom, and Vans. His favorite skateboarder is Andrew Reynolds. Kyle's favorite tunes include a lot of hip hop, Fleetwood Mac, and Slayer. He was first hooked up for sponsorship by Adio, then Emerica, and Zero, but was given a chance to ride for Real and has since turned pro for them. He's allergic to beets. Based on his ability to grind gigantic handrails and ollie massive gaps, Thrasher honored Kyle with their Skater of the Year award for 2016.

It's going to be newer stuff for the rest of the month. I always come up with a list and then in the search process the list gets changed so I just end up picking out whatever. I figure it's a good idea to save some things for the future.

Thrasher - May 2015 Volume 36 Number 5

Chet Childress #6.

Brew Jay.

Chet is from Wilmington, North Carolina. His previous board sponsors include Acme, Creature, 151, and the Black Label. He currently has a board for Heroin. Chet was sponsored by Vans before switching to Nike. He also rides for Indy and OJ Wheels.

The next few weeks will be an assortment of much newer stuff. I usually do a month from five years ago when the new year starts, but I didn't feel like it this time around. I waited for a bit and made up a list of current skaters to focus on.

Thrasher - April 2003 Volume 23 Number 4

Adam Alfaro.

Building a lighter wheel.

It appears Revolution tried to save a little weight by making the bearings smaller to go with the plastic core. This is a somewhat more practical concept over the mythological one bearing wheel creature that may or may not ever come into being. I never got into the hollow core wheel phase of the early to mid 2000s. It just didn't seem like a good idea to me.

Adam has been pro for the Black Label a long time and still has a spot on the roster, but I haven't seen much coverage from him recently. He has ridden for Duffs, Ipath, Destructo Trucks, and Sessions Clothing over the years.

Simple Shoes is back from the beyond. In addition to selling footwear, they created an illustrated timeline showing the history of skateboard footwear. It features many neat drawings of some of the more memorable sneaker designs from past eras. I added the site to my links under the Simple name.

Thrasher - January 2003 Volume 23 Number 1

Patrick Melcher.

Poor & Weird.

Patrick is from Rockford, Illinois. He was an am on Black Label and turned pro for them. Later on in the 2000s, he switched to Death Skateboards. Patrick is into scooters and attending moustache conventions. He was also sponsored by Vans and Dekline for shoes, as well as Destructo for trucks. His part in 2003's Black Out features a lot of different types of handrail tricks, a few big drops, and some pole jam variations.

Thrasher - October 2002 Volume 22 Number 10

Ben Gilley #2.

Speeding Motorcycle.

Thrasher - June 2002 Volume 22 Number 6

Louie Barletta #5.

The wheels keep on spinning.

Revolution was a wheel company done by the Black Label that was around from 2001 to 2003. The team included Adam Alfaro, Jason Adams, Chet Childress, Dan Drehobl, Ben Gilley, Josh Harmony, Jerry Hsu, Jub, Patrick Melcher, Alan Petersen, Ragdoll, and Chris Senn.

Thrasher - December 2001 Volume 21 Number 12