Bobby Puleo #7.

Purple haze.

It's a little odd to see Bobby at a recognizable spot out in public.

For the sake of comparison, here's a few things that were happening in 2008:

1. Print media was going fairly strong. Thrasher, Transworld, Skateboarder, and The Skateboard Mag were alive and functioning. Slap was also still around, but ended in December. Currently only Thrasher and Transworld are publishing. The Skateboard Mag became The Berrics and they've managed to make all of two issues.

2. Skateboard blogs were starting to become a thing and that's what motivated me to start Vert Is Dead. The Chrome Ball Incident, Boil The Ocean, and Police Informer all began in 2008. You Will Soon got in the game in 2007. Patrick O'Dell was continuing to post behind the scenes skateboard content on Epicly Later'd. Myspace was considered a viable promotional platform, as is illustrated by the top left corner of this ad.

3. I'd been at my current graphic designer job for about a year. I was also teaching a night class as an adjunct at the college, plus freelancing sports photos for the local paper on Friday nights. I have no idea how I found the time to do anything, but I did.

4. Girl and Anti-Hero teamed up to go on the Beauty & The Beast tour, Baker launched Deathwish, Fallen released Ride The Sky, and Independent Trucks turned 30. I finally finished watching Indy's 30th anniversary tour video last year.

5. A few bands I liked then that I will still admit to liking include No Age, Yellow Swans, These Are Powers, AIDS Wolf, High Places, The Body, and Windy & Carl.

Slap - August 2008 Volume 17 Number 8