Aaron Herrington #3.

The last man well known to kingpin.

Did you know Aaron was on Blood Wizard? He rode for them for a couple of years until about 2012. This was the time span from when he moved down to San Francisco from Oregon and before he moved to New York City. I was going through some old videos and found a Blood Wizard DVD from 2010 with his name on the back. I didn't remember his part at all and that's a shame. Aaron was still a bit young, but the roots of what he is doing now were all there. He's probably got the best part, which is full of street lines in SF and NYC. There are some big rails and big ollies, too.

We're going to the Mind Field on Monday. Or next Monday. It depends how the weekend goes, but we'll get there eventually.

Thrasher - June 2018 Volume 39 Number 6

Remy Stratton #14.

A rare sighting of street Remy. You can take the vert dog street skating, but he's still going to hit the walls.

The photos are by Dave Malenfant and Ryan Groat.

Thrasher - March 1998 Volume 18 Number 3

Tino Razo #5.

Party in the back.

Slap - November 2000 Volume 9 Number 11

Frank Gerwer #5.

Livin life by the drop.

Gerwer in the Firm days before getting on Anti-Hero.

Slap - March 2001 Volume 10 Number 3

Scott Conklin #4.

Big time 50-50.

It seems like everybody is always pushing the limits of how high you can take a trick and then you find a photo from ages ago where somebody did the same thing. I'm a little surprised I had never noticed this ad before either.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Transworld - December 1997 Volume 15 Number 12

Dan Drehobl #23.

"It seems like for a while there were a lot of rules in skateboarding, like people would judge you by whatever, and that's not what it's about, it's about having fun. Whatever you feel like doing, that's what you should do. When a trick comes to mind, just do it and don't worry about what everyone's going to think about you. It seems like too many people do that nowadays. Skateboarding is supposed to be an individual thing and it's not supposed to be about clothing or whatever."

Dan's take on skateboarding from 1994 sure sounds about like where we are currently. I think that's a good thing.

I had a pair of the Gama model in black. I really liked those shoes.

Bobby Worrest's new Venture part is plenty respectable. He does a few noseslides on some seriously high ledges.

For the quote: Thrasher - October 1994 Volume 14 Number 10

Transworld - November 1997 Volume 15 Number 11

Darren Navarrette #12.

"One time when I first came out to California I was hanging out with Jamie Thomas and I was looking at a magazine and just flipping through it until I'd find a vert photo. He was like, 'Is that all you do? Do you even street skate?' 'Yeah, I street skate.' 'Do you ever go to handrails?' 'Yeah, I've done handrails.' So he took me to a handrail, and I five-O'd it. And he was like, 'You don't even boardslide it first?'"

The Vertical Vampire talks about his approach to street skateboarding. For a fun fact, Jamie did offer Darren a spot on Toy Machine, but he declined since he was already on Creature.

For the quote: The Skateboard Mag - September 2009 Issue 66

Transworld - February 1998 Volume 16 Number 2

Marc Johnson #12.

Secure.

This is Marc during his handrail phase before fully taking on ledge tech. He had two pro model shoes from Emerica and later went on to ride for Lakai in the early 2000s. Marc has since switched over to Adidas. He was riding for the A-Team at this time. I like the view through the fence of the photo.

Transworld - May 1998 Volume 16 Number 5

Jamie Thomas #12.

Communication Breakdown.

The Chief and his crew at Zero helped bring back the street grab to skateboarding. A well done one is a thing of beauty. Jamie scored a pro model from Emerica, but left for a brief stint on Adio and later joined up with Circa.

Transworld - December 1997 Volume 15 Number 12

Andrew Reynolds #10.

Identify.

I made a note to myself to scan in some Emerica ads from 1998. I'm not even sure these were the exact ads I had initially noticed, but it is what I scanned in. They did a lot of split compositions with the skateboarding on one side and the rest of the space being devoted to arty content. I like how they look.

The Boss had been on Airwalk before joining up with Etnies in 1997. He then switched over to Emerica and has been with them ever since. Andrew is pretty much the face of the franchise and it is cool that he has stuck with them.

Transworld - June 1998 Volume 16 Number 6

Jake Phelps #3.

Hellrider in the sky.

Thrasher editor in chief Jake Phelps passed away on Thursday night. He used to write the product reviews for the mag and that was where I learned who he was back in the 1980s. Phelps would pen fair gear critiques. He wasn't afraid to point out if something sucked. At the same time, he would give credit where it was due, even for companies that didn't quite fit the image of Thrasher. As the years moved on, he became the editor and eventually the figurehead role of editor in chief. His approach to skateboarding maybe wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but there is no questioning his passion and commitment to the board.

My favorite recent Thrasher article was the trip to Ohio with Peter Hewitt, Grant Taylor, Raven Tershy, Frank Gerwer, and company to skate this crazy giant bowl thing. Jake's story about getting stabbed was pretty epic, but I mainly keep looking at the photos because the guys are doing amazing tricks in a ridiculously gigantic pool. Also you can tell from the pics that it was cold and crusty in the Buckeye State when they were visiting so that makes the article even more interesting to me for some strange intangible reason.

I also like how Emerica kept Jake's feet in Marc Johnson's first pro shoe from them, long after Marc left for Lakai.

Rest in peace.

Thrasher - August 1994 Volume 14 Number 8

Javier Mendizabal #7.

King of style.

RIP Jake Phelps.

Is this the end of everything?

The photo is by Diego Bucchieri.

Transworld - August 2009 Volume 27 Number 8

Jason Adams #15.

Slash the wave.

Transworld - April 2005 Volume 23 Number 4

Austin Stephens #4.

Suffer the Joy Machine.

Transworld - August 2009 Volume 27 Number 8

Ethan Fowler #19.

Dark psychedlia.

Transworld - April 2005 Volume 23 Number 4

Cairo Foster #13.

Guided By Voices.

Cairo put together quite the impressive body of work over his pro career. He was jumping down gaps and hitting handrails with a solid precision to his tricks. Everything was landed properly and caught cleanly. He did a lot of nosegrinds, nollie kickflips, and frontside noseslides on some different types of gaps and spots over the last couple of decades. Enjoy your retirement, Roger.

Thrasher - December 1998 Volume 18 Number 12

Cairo Foster #12.

Carry the zero.

A couple of random things:

1. I want to set up a new board, but winter isn't going away quite yet so it is not worth the effort. My old one is at the point where it is done and the griptape has a little crust on it. I don't think I've ever let a board get this dirty before. I'm kind of disappointed in myself.

2. A couple of years ago I posted the Canvas article for Reuben Sawyer. I figured I probably had tapes of some of his music. It turns out he records under the name Rose and I do have three of his tapes of distant atmospheric techno. I only recently learned that bit of information.

Slap - December 1997 Volume 6 Number 12

Cairo Foster #11.

The will always negates defeat.

Over the years, Cairo was sponsored by Supernaut, Mad Circle, Real, Popwar, and enjoi. He received free shoes from Duffs, Adio, Lakai, Etnies, and Adidas. His truck sponsors included Venture and Krux. Spitfire, Pig, and Ricta all gave him wheels at one time or another. Cairo was also on RVCA and the now defunct Eswic clothing company.

RIP Transworld. I cannot wait until June.

Transworld - April 2005 Volume 23 Number 4

Cairo Foster #10.

The universe works on a math equation.

For better or worse, Cairo was known for doing nollie hardflips. He said he could do them over just about anything he could ollie over. This trick was in Real's video from 2001, Real To Reel.

Slap - June 2001 Volume 10 Number 6

Cairo Foster #9.

"If I stay healthy I think I could make it a decent, lasting professional career, but I don't think I'm going to be able to rig a prosperous career like Tony Hawk's or Rodney Mullen's. There are people who have been out there for such a long time and they're still ripping. Plus the way skateboarding is progressing now, it's going to tear people's bodies up a lot faster than it used to, I believe. So you have to take all those factors into consideration, thinking how long pros are going to last nowadays."

Since he recently retired from the pro ranks to work at Adidas as their social media manager, Vert Is Dead is going to take quick look back at some vintage Cairo Foster for the week.

For the quote: Thrasher - January 1999 Volume 19 Number 1

Slap - November 2000 Volume 9 Number 11

Crusty Trails.

"Thirteen feet of concrete death wave couldn't stop Peter Hewitt from his frontside handplant fate."

This here is the Thrasher version of the same trip to South America. Most of the crew went to Peru and Ecuador without the third stop in Venezuela. Drehobl, Cards, Paez, Hewitt, and Kirby all totally killed it. A number of the same guys headed back to Ecuador last year for a reunion tour that was documented in Thrasher. They even got Peter Hewitt to recreate the cover photo, although this time around it ran on the Something Else page.

The majority of photos are by Luke Ogden with a couple by Lance Dawes. The story is by Jake Phelps, written under the alias of Chip Detail.

Thrasher - March 1998 Volume 18 Number 3