Matt Hensley #10.

"When I skate, I push around, and look down at my shoes. If my shoes don't look right, I get bummed and can't skate. Sometimes if I try to get all artsy fartsy and get some killer design on my skateboard, I just can't skate it. I'll take it apart and give it to somebody. Or I'll have a totally good board and I'll sticker it all up perfect. I'm just into that, you know? It's the only thing I do, I skateboard, so putting my skateboard together is like putting my house together. I just put my stickers on and go, "OK, that looks killer." I just go down the line of my sponsors. "OK, cool. This is rad." I put the grip tape on right, slant it just perfect, everything's looking killer, and then I'll get the paint pens out. I'll ride it for a day and I'll be stoked on my set up, and then I'll draw some stupid looking thing that blows it all, and I have to give it away."

Matt talks about the madness. I'm the same way with grip tape art. Sometimes I would draw stuff, but I would always end up hating it so I stopped. It's been the same grip job for ages now - two pieces with a thin line in front of the back truck. Ideally none of the top graphic is showing, but sometimes a little bit slips in. I think it makes the skateboard look fast.

This poster was on the wall of my bedroom for a bit. I think I even took it with me to college for my freshman year.

A few things I dug about skateboarding in 2017:

1. Ryan Lay's part in Welcome's Fetish video
2. Nikola Racan's Solsticij video
3. The Pass~Port section in Transworld's The Cinematographer Project: World View
4. Ben Gore's part in Transworld's Riddles In Mathematics
5. Nora Vasconcellos' part in Welcome's Fetish video
6. Raven Tershy in Lakai's The Flare
7. Gilbertt Crockett in Venue's Gospel video
8. Lizzie Armanto turning pro for Birdhouse

I got skateboarding 257 times in 2017. Some of those were long sessions at the park, other times it was 15 minutes on my lunch break or pushing around in the street, and a couple of times it was a few ollies and a 43 on the front porch. February was mild so that was nice. I had this goal of no double digit days off this year and I was successful, although it got dicey at the end. Hence the porch skating. The winter is here now and I'm not sure when I'll get to roll next. I'm hoping it clears up enough to hit up an indoor park next weekend, but that might be asking a lot.

Vert Is Dead is going on winter hibernation until Monday, January 15th. Have a safe and happy calendar change.

Daniel Harold Strut was the photographer.

For the quote: Transworld - August 1990 Volume 8 Number 8

This is from a 1991 Transworld Poster book.

Chris Miller #12.

Pool Cat.

For those wondering, my town did not get the five feet of snow that Erie, Pennsylvania is now buried under. We're sitting on a wind blown eight inches or so of snow. The roads are clear, but daily highs are only in the teens. I'm about 45 minutes northeast of Erie, which is just enough to make a difference with the weather, particularly with lake effect snow storms. Lake effect often dumps a lot of snow in a small area while avoiding other places that are nearby. Needless to say, I'm not going to the mall in Erie any time soon.

Transworld - September 1990 Volume 8 Number 9

Remy Stratton #13.

"Remy's neighborhood consists of only six different styles of houses. Each house is basically the same, except some face different directions. For added spice: Beaver Cleaver could definitely live on Remy's street. It's most likely that kids from Remy's neighborhood grew up pretty ordinary, coming from one of the six housing styles. The surprising thing about Remy is that he is far from ordinary. He lives in the garage, and lives to skateboard. He is accompanied by his wide variety of music, a vintage motorcycle, strange clothes, and a broken rifle with a flower peering out of the barrel. The people that planned out Remy's neighborhood probably never imagined that a kid with so much character, confidence, and style would emerge." - Max Schaaf

Remy was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia and then his family moved to the Los Alamitos area of Southern California. He used to play soccer as a kid, but quit once he got to high school to stick with skateboarding. Remy was briefly sponsored by Blockhead, Skull Skates, and Madrid before getting on G & S. He turned pro for the Ampersand and then left for Acme, Jim Gray's new company, in 1991. He gradually faded from the pro side of things and moved over to the industry side of things to work at Volcom. Remy still works at Volcom and his name pops up every so often in the mags or online.

For the quote: Transworld - February 1995 Volume 13 Number 2

Transworld - December 1991 Volume 9 Number 12

Rob "Sluggo" Boyce #4.

Breakdancer.

Rob is from Vancouver, British Columbia. He was sponsored by G & S before leaving for Real. After a short stint on Real, he was pro for World Industries for the duration of the 1990s and early 2000s. His part in 1993's The Real Video features nearly all airs that have been flipped into plus a few McTwists set to the tune of Marky Mark's "Good Vibrations". Oddly enough a day or two after I scanned this ad, it was announced that Real is reissuing Sluggo's first pro model.

Thrasher - October 1991 Volume 11 Number 10

Steve Saiz.

EMB Vibes.

I got a Steve Saiz deck for Christmas in 1989. The recent Powell Peralta reissue reminded me of how much I liked that board. Steve had been on the team as an am for a bit and after a couple video parts, they finally turned him pro. He skated a mix of street, mini, and vert. The one I got was white, and although I'm not big on white as a board color, it made sense for this graphic because it has a lot of detail. I had blue Powell rails and white Thunder trucks. I took three or four of the Bones stickers that looked like warning labels for flammable material and put them across the top over the Ripper. The rest of the board was covered with grip. I think I had some A-1 Meats Sex Cells on it first and soon swapped those out for T-Bones to keep it all Powell.

I'd been skateboarding for a little over two years at this point so I was starting to figure out tricks better and feel more comfortable on board. This setup felt really good and I remember learning new stuff on it. I don't remember exactly what all we were doing for tricks back then, but it would have been boardslides and 50-50s on curbs. There were launch ramps and quarter pipes, too.

One of our friends had a mom who was the office manager for this mail order seed company with a large warehouse. The warehouse was right next door to his house. Shortly after this particular Christmas, a couple of us went over to his place on a cold Saturday night. His mom was out for the evening with her friends and he somehow snagged the key for the warehouse. We got in a nice little session with a launch ramp and maybe some boards to ollie over. It was winter so this was bonus time skateboarding. I think we were back in the house safely before she got home, but a light in the warehouse was left on or something. It could have just been a mother's intuition for all I remember. She knew what happened and he got a darn good lecture about how he shouldn't have done that. The rest of us didn't get in trouble, but we never skated the warehouse again.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Make sure you got permission before you barge at will. Or at least remember to turn the lights off on the way out.

Transworld - October 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

Noah Salasnek.

Big Air Attack.

Noah was from Marin County, California. He was sponsored by H-Street and had a good amount of tricks in Hokus Pokus. In addition to skateboarding, he was a snowboarder and you could see the influence on his skating. From my recent viewing of Hokus Pokus, he would float and tweak his airs in a way that not many other people were doing. He stood out from the rest. Noah turned pro in 1991 for Life, Ron Allen's branch of H-Street. His part in A Soldier's Story is rad with a whole bunch of nollie tricks on ramps. As vert was dying out in the early 1990s, Noah shifted his focus to snowboarding and became one of the top pros. Sadly, he passed away from cancer this last April.

Always remember those who have left us too soon.

The photo is by Tobin Yelland.

Thrasher - October 1991 Volume 11 Number 10

Jeff Toland #2.

Venture Force.

I always have to have at least one vintage Venture ad for the month since they're my truck of choice for the last twenty years. This pic is gnarly.

Thrasher - October 1991 Volume 11 Number 10

Alphonzo Rawls #3.

Vert dog on an H-Street curb attack.

I don't know if this has been on the internet yet. I think companies ran different ads for Poweredge. It happened last year with an Ocean Howell Gullwing advertisement. I wish I'd gotten more issues of The Edge back then, but it might have been a minor miracle even a few copies of the mag wound up in my corner of New York.

Daniel H. Sturt took the photo.

Poweredge - October 1991 Issue Number 36

The Tracker Team #2.

Power Trio Tuesday.

Sam Cunningham was pro for Blockhead and works with reptiles these days. Basically, it doesn't take much to get me to put anything related to Dave Bergthold's company on here.

Lester rode for Sims, Tracker, and House Of Kasai. He was also sponsored by Airwalk.

The late Jeff Phillips rode for Zorlac, Sims, and BBC over the years. He helped to define Texas skateboarding and was one of the best vert pros ever.

Transworld - March 1990 Volume 8 Number 3

Lance Mountain #10.

Lance and Michael Burnett discuss the merits of any given particular park:

Lance Mountain, along with being one of the most beloved skaters of his generation, is a man who, when it comes to concrete terrain, cannot be satisfied. Although he occasionally admits to having a good time at a park or pool, when pressed, he admits that he actually hates everything.

"Did you like that park?" you'll ask.

"Yeah. Maybe. It was cool," he'll respond.

"So you didn't like it?" you'll ask.

"No. It was rad, I guess," he'll say.

"So you like it?" you'll ask.

"Yeah, I mean, it's terrible and it sucked, but yeah," he'll say.

"You think it sucked?" you'll ask.

"I'm just kidding. Maybe I suck," he'll answer.

It typically goes around like this for awhile, but if you read through all the smiles and raised eyebrows the message is clear: Lance hates everything.

****

I always do the same thing and think most spots suck, even if they really don't and I had fun. It usually breaks down to constructive criticism in my head, like those transitions should be a little mellower, that ledge is in the wrong spot, who moved the parking block, that ramp would be cool if it didn't have a kink at the bottom, and so on. It's also fun to compare what spots your friends liked against what spots you liked. There end up being some interesting differences at times.

For the back and forth: Thrasher - September 2006 Volume 26 Number 9

Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Danny Sargent #4.

"I like to ride both ways, but sometimes I forget which was I'm going. I'm trying switchfoot backside 360˚ ollies. I like doing switchfoot backside 180˚s over stairs, impossibles, and ollie flips. Ollie shove-its and late shove-its are rad. Nollie everything. I've always loved doing 360˚ frontside ollies since my friend Dan Feldman taught me in Portland in 1986. We both learned it on the same day, but he did it first. Since then, I always like to push that trick over longer stairs and over hips. On vert, I like backside ollie tail slides. I want to try and get gnarlier. I want to do backside disaster reverts. I love vert. I love street. I love going fast, hauling ass."

Danny doesn't always get the credit he deserves for pushing switch skating back in the early 1990s. For example, he had a switch backside 180 down the EMB Seven. I like how he calls it switchfoot instead of simply saying switch. Of course this was a time when the names of tricks were still being worked out. Danny was also riding ramps as well to keep his skating well rounded.

Bryan Temmermand took the photo.

For the quote: Thrasher - January 1992 Volume 12 Number 1

Transworld - December 1989 Volume 7 Number 8

G & S Amateur Team 1988.

The Future.

This has been sitting on my computer for a few years and I'd never gotten around to posting it for some reason. It's the G & S team after the NSA 1988 Amateur Championships.

Mark would soon turn pro and become one of the new wave of street skaters changing the landscape of skateboarding.

Blaize would also turn pro. He was an excellent vert shredder who sadly passed away in a car accident in 1999.

Eric and Mark were later sponsored by former G & S pro Chris Miller when he started Planet Earth.

In addition to being sponsored, Mike was a graphic designer at G & S before leaving to launch the Alien Workshop with Chris Carter. The two worked together on the Footage video.

Derek Rinaldi rode for Shut and Think. He's still involved in skateboarding today and helps run the Skate Daily website.

The photos are by Daniel Harold Sturt.

Thrasher - June 1989 Volume 9 Number 6

John Reeves #3.

Metric Measurements.

When I watched Hokus Pokus the other night, I noticed that John and Kein "Donger" Lieu had a lot more tricks than I remembered. I also noticed that nearly all of the parts are a little more loosely defined, with different riders showing up throughout the video. You get a healthy dose of John and Kein's skating over the course of an hour. The two stand apart from a lot of the team because rather than awkwardly flip into some stall and shove-it out, they are blasting ollies over the largest sidewalk gaps and grinding the tops of picnic tables. Their skating is a different take on progression by pushing the tricks they have already to new heights and lengths over technical innovation, which can sometimes look a little awkward upon its debut.

Thrasher - December 1991 Volume 11 Number 12

Sal Barbier & Baird Bergenthal.

Double shot.

A-1 was a wheel company supported by Tracker. They had a solid team that featured Matt Hensley, Kris Markovich, Bo Ikeda, Laban Pheidias, and many more. I rode a bunch of their wheels because of Matt. I've still got a shirt of their meat cleaver logo.

Was Baird on Blockhead? I thought he was on H-Street, but I watched Hokus Pokus last night and he probably wasn't in it. I may have gotten him confused with Ray Simmons, who was in the video. It looks like he might be building custom bicycles these days.

The photos are by Joe "Xeno" Llyod and Christian Kline.

Transworld - January 1990 Volume 8 Number 1

Tony Hawk #9.

Music

AC/DC
Alarm
Alphaville
Buzzcocks
Depeche Mode
Channel 3
The Cure
The Cult
The Damned
Devo
Dickies
Duran Duran
Echo & The Bunnymen
Erasure
Front 242
Guns 'N' Roses
The Jesus & Mary Chain
The Jam
Joy Division
Kraftwerk
Lene Lovich
Love & Rockets
Mad Parade
Manheim Steamroller
Ministry
Missing Persons
Mission
Alison Moyet
New Model Army
New Order
999
Nitzer Ebb
Sinead O'Conner
Oingo Boingo
Peter & The Test Tube Babies
Prince
Iggy Pop
Sisters Of Mercy
Stiff Little Fingers
Time Zone
U2
Violent Femmes
Wall Of Voodoo
X
XTC
Yaz
Yello

Movies

A Boy & His Dog
Airplane I & II
Beetlejuice
Blade Runner
Cat's Eye
Die Hard
Hellraiser
Hellbound
Hollywood Shuffle
All Indiana Jones
Lethal Weapon
Naked Gun
Platoon
Prince Of Darkness
Rain Man
Robocop
Serpent & The Rainbow
Top Secret
Anything with Tom Hanks or Eddie Murphy

Food

Barbecue Chicken
Chin Chin's Chicken Salad
El Torito
Herbal/Iced Tea
Italian
Japanese
Joe's Banana Bread
McDonald's Breakfast
Mexican
Seafood (not shrimp)
Soup North/South
Subway
Sushi

The Birdman's favorites circa 1989. I'm mildly surprised that Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol wasn't in his movies category. I kind of dug lists back in the pre-internet days because it gave you some insight into what a person was like. I'm not sure if we checked out any of the bands Tony mentioned at the time, but we were definitely listening to a few of them. I know I got into some of the others later on.

Congrats to Jamie Foy on winning Thrasher's Skater of the Year.

For anybody who saw the Colts vs. Bills game and was wondering, my town didn't get the snow Buffalo got. We've had about six inches on the ground since Thursday, but we didn't get dumped on like the Queen City did yesterday afternoon. We're south just enough that our weather can be slightly different from Buffalo.

For the stuff: Transworld - August 1989 Volume 7 Number 4

Transworld - October 1988 Volume 6 Number 5

Phil Esbenshade #3.

Gently take my skull for a ride.

Transworld - February 1990 Volume 8 Number 2

Andy Howell #3.

H-Bomb blasts frontside.

For all the technical street innovation Andy brought to skateboarding with nollies and switch tricks, it gets a little overlooked that he was also good on ramps and vert.

The snow is here as of today. I brought my board with me to work yesterday because it was dry when I got up. The weather at lunch featured a stiff breeze and the slightest amount of flakes possible. Somehow it warmed up to 39˚ F and the wind subsided when I clocked out so I got in an unexpected twenty minute session at the park before sunset. It was a nice bonus for the day.

The photo is by Bill Thomas.

This was in the 1991 Thrasher calendar on the back cover.

Mark Oblow.

Industry Man.

Mark is from Oahu, Hawaii. He rode for Vision, Indy, and Jimmy-Z. Some of the companies he has been involved with over the years include Acme, Color, Think, Vita, Analog, and Gravis to name a few. Mark has served as a team manager, a creative director, and more. He's also an accomplished photographer.

The photos are by Tony Roberts. He's the guy who filmed some of the Santa Cruz videos.

Transworld - May 1990 Volume 8 Number 5

Sam Cunningham & Jim Gray.

Two for Tuesday.

I bought Blockhead's Splendid Eye Torture video back in 1989 at the local skateboard shop. I loaned it out to a friend and never got it back. He loaned it out to another skateboarder who dubbed a copy of it. I somehow wound up with the duplicate VHS tape, which also included World Industries' Rubbish Heap, so in a way I came out ahead in the end. Blockhead somewhat recently reissued all their old videos on two DVDs and I added the full library to my collection. And no, you can't borrow any of them.

Blockhead has come to be my favorite of all the 1980s stuff. It's good to see Dave Bergthold keeping things going on a small scale with reissues and whatnot.

The lake effect snow is headed our way. I used an hour of vacation time to take a long lunch yesterday so I could get in some skateboarding at the park. I had a good little session on what was probably the last of the warm days for a while.

Thrasher - April 1990 Volume 10 Number 4

Julien Stranger #21.

"My first concert ever was Black Flag, that had to be one of the best, too. When I was a little kid I used to go to lots of shows, 'cause my mom was some punk rock girl/lady/mom. It wasn't like she was going to leave me at home every Friday and Saturday, so she would take me to shows. It was like 1980, '81, '82, it was a thriving scene here [SF]. You could go out to this place, Temple Beautiful, and see five to ten bands for like four bucks. I was like this little punk munchkin kid. I would just run around, all these punker chicks would be grabbing me. The Temple Beautiful had this big padded staircase, 'cause it was a real Jewish synagogue, but they would rent it out on weekends. Anyway, I would just dive down the stairs, that was my big thrill. I used to stand at the top of the stairs with my back facing the stairway, I'd tell some passing-by punker to act like he would shoot me, then I'd just fall back on my head and tumble down the stairs. It seemed like you couldn't even get hurt when you were a little kid."

It's safe to say Julien had a more interesting childhood than a whole lot of other people. I really like the design of the old SMA ads. They brought in some different styles that stood out from what other companies were doing. I'm also curious about that milk board. Was that a sticker? It looks very ahead of the time for 1990.

For the quote: Transworld - March 1992 Volume 10 Number 3

Thrasher - August 1990 Volume 10 Number 8

Nate Jones & Max Schaaf.

4Q Conditioning & Velvet Jones.

I think the general theme for November has been skateboarders whose video parts I like so I'll wrap it up with these two guys. Nate had a true classic of a part with the opener in Real's Real To Reel from 2001. Max has consistently been a favorite of mine over the years, ranging from the Real Video in 1993 to his section in the aforementioned Real To Reel to 2005's Roll Forever and beyond.

Real's logo from this time period is a solid piece of design work.

I've gotten in some lunch break skateboarding the last four days at the skatepark. It's been varying degrees of nice outside. The forecast calls for a good weekend and the possibility of snow later next week. I will gladly take 45˚ F and sunny with no wind for every day in December, but that probably ain't happening.

It will be the traditional 1988-1991 old school stuff for the rest of December starting on Monday. This weekend is going to involve some planning and scanning. I usually get everything ready to go at Thanksgiving so I don't have to touch a scanner until the new year, but I was lazy this time around.

Thrasher - February 2003 Volume 23 Number 2