Marc Johnson & Jake Phelps.

Phelper's Choice.

We have to take a moment to ponder the absurdity of Jake's shoes. As Ashley Trujillo described them, his choice of footwear was the "how-do-you-still-find-those Marc Johnson Emericas", which seemed to be on his feet more often than not in the last two decades.

The shoe itself is a somewhat simple cupsole design with a good amount of protection for your toes and heels. Emerica has had several models that were basically variations on the same design over the years and especially at this time in skateboard history. I'm not big on the M on the side, although it makes sense why it is there. It's a tad odd that this is the shoe someone would pick to keep wearing, but sometimes it is the strange little things that end up appealing to us the most.

Marc's first pro model for Emerica was released in 1998, although it might have slipped into the marketplace in late 1997. His second pro model came out in 2000. Marc left Emerica for Lakai in 2001 and was formally announced as being on the team in 2002.

That probably should have been the end of the MJ1. But it wasn't.

A strange thing started to happen. You kept on seeing photos of Jake wearing the MJ1s. This made sense for the first few years of the 2000s, but as time flew by, the shoes with the M were still there. Where did he get them? Did he have a stockpile? Was Emerica doing small runs for him?

Over the years, Jake had photos where he was wearing Fallens, Adidas or maybe another Sole Tech shoe, but he always seemed to come back to that first Marc Johnson design. In a recent Ronnie Sandoval interview, Ronnie said he likes a Tony Alva model that Vans made at one point, but has since discontinued. Vans is custom making the shoe for him in limited runs of thirty, which is what I assume Emerica did for Jake. Being the editor of Thrasher most likely had a few side benefits in terms of getting odd product requests honored.

I was going through my old Thrashers to find photos of Jake wearing the shoes, but there weren't always pictures of his feet. Once the mag put the memorial retrospective online, I took the easy way out and pulled a few pictures from that.

Here is Jake at the lost skatepark in Japan from 2000. The photo is by Luke Ogden. That's firmly in the production run of the shoe.

Fast forward to 2011. This picture by Atiba Jefferson shows Jake and company in Paris. Of course, he's rocking the MJ1s.

Michael Burnett snapped this photo of Jake rolling into the Pizzey Park in Australia in 2012.

Twenty years after its release, here's Jake in a pool with Tony Vitello still wearing the same sneaker in 2018. The photo is also by Michael Burnett.

However it happened, Jake kept the MJ1 alive for far longer than most skate shoes will ever exist. There's something very respectable in all of that. I've reached a point where I want to keep using the exact same gear for skateboarding so I don't have to get used to anything new so I understand the thinking behind this.

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Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, July 8th. I need a little break. Have a good Canada Day and a safe Independence Day.

The shoe: Transworld - January 1998 Volume 16 Number 1

All the other photos are from Thrasher.

Coco Santiago #5.

"See that? It’s a spider waiting for its prey."

Thrasher - July 1996 Volume 16 Number 7

Josh Beagle #12.

Produce by.

The longtime F-Trooper takes a hurricane down a handrail. I wonder what all this guy is up to these days?

Thrasher - March 1997 Volume 17 Number 3

Alan Petersen #16.

It's cool how much coverage Alan got for riding vert during the span of his career.

The photo is by Dave Malenfant.

Transworld - November 1996 Volume 14 Number 11

Quim Cardona #8.

Levitate me.

Thrasher - June 1998 Volume 18 Number 6

Mike Crabtree #2.

Push it away
The world looks red
People with fish eyes
The ground sucks
Walk on my fingertips
Displacing the fog
The weight of my body
Is too much to bear
The memory drained
The life from the doll
An ocean of insects
Worked like a sheet
The immovable fact
Buried my mind
In a horsehair coat
In a pile on the floor

Thrasher - May 1998 Volume 18 Number 5

Shon Farren & Kyle Sandridge.

Channel One pop art.

I picked this one simply for the design and the color scheme.

Transworld - February 1997 Volume 15 Number 2

Spitfire Team 1995.

That's quite a cast of characters.

Thrasher - November 1995 Volume 15 Number 11

Josh Kalis #8.

Levitation.

It's kind of cool how DC Shoes is going back to their late 90s technical styles. éS is dabbling in big puffy shoes, too. I'm not sure if I'm ready to return to wearing those types of kicks again, but they look more appealing than the crappy vulcanized slip-ons that are plaguing the marketplace.

Ryan Gee snapped the photo.

Transworld - March 2000 Volume 18 Number 3

Joe Pino #3.

Jumpin' Joe hits up a dumpster.

The photo is by Grant Brittain.

Thrasher - December 1997 Volume 17 Number 12

Bobby Puleo #8.

I watched Bobby's Out There part the other day. I was thinking he was either riding some small 1993 sized wheels or maybe his wheels were colored because they didn't look very big at all. However, I did see that he had some new wheels in his apartment. It turns out his setup was just dirty and crusty:

I think those Ventures might be from the late 1990s or early 2000s. The trucks were beefier back then. It wouldn't surprise me if he has a stockpile of old gear that he prefers to ride sitting around somewhere.

Thrasher - July 1998 Volume 18 Number 7

Ryan Wilburn #3.

Night falls on Hoboken.

Or Burnside. Yeah, it's probably Burnside and not New Jersey.

Thrasher - December 1997 Volume 17 Number 12

Sean Mullendore #5.

Hi-fi backside 50-50.

Sean had some ridiculous pop. According to Jake Rupp, he works on high tech cars these days, but still has the skateboard skills that get flexed from time to time.

The photos are by Andrej Tur.

Transworld - June 2001 Volume 19 Number 6

Scott Bourne #8.

The writer can ollie.

Thrasher - March 1998 Volume 18 Number 3

Tim McKenney #5.

Tim takes a disaster to the top shelf at the China Banks. This photo maybe should have run someplace other than the back half of a 300 page issue of Transworld.

Transworld - March 2000 Volume 18 Number 3

Kris Markovich #20.

The Metro.

As a surprise to no one, Kris scores the last part in Art Bars. This was his first part for Foundation after leaving Element. I think he might even be riding Element boards in a couple of the clips. You know what you are going to get from Markovich and he certainly does not disappoint. It is nothing but blazing fast lines of street skateboarding mixed with big gap ollies and a sampling of handrails. His trick selection sticks to the classics, but when the tricks are done so properly at high speed, you are just left in awe. There are 360 flips, backside 50-50s, boardslides, bluntslides, noseblunt slides, and frontside shove-its. Kris does a couple of fakie ollies down gaps to relive the A-1 Meats days. His signature backside 180 nosegrinds make an appearance, too. A few frontside airs at a skatepark are floated about to round out the section. This backside Smith grind was near the end and his last trick was a frontside varial heelflip down a double set. Markovich is one of the best ever and this part is another solid chapter in his legacy.

Big Brother - December 2000 Number 67

Justin Roy #2.

Skull & cross bones t-shirt.

Justin was the new am on Foundation for Art Bars. His part featured a lot of handrails and a couple of roof gaps. There were also some nice ledge lines to break up all the carcass tossing. He did a half cab noseslide and a nollie frontside noseslide to create some variety. There were nollie kickflips and backside kickflips. Justin did a few kickflips to frontside noseslide and boardslide on handrails. He even throws down a Barley grind in the part. His last trick is a kickflip backside lipslide that he was super happy about rolling away from.

Transworld - March 2001 Volume 19 Number 3

Ethan Fowler #20.

White Pants & White Stripes.

Ethan has a two song part in Art Bars. He probably would have had the last part, but with Kris Markovich on the team, he wasn't the closer. Both of those guys were in their prime and completely killing it. Ethan delivers all his classic tricks. There are backside 360s ollies, backside lipslides, backside 50-50s, and frontside flips. He does a few frontside pop shove-its, either on flat or out of 50-50s. Ethan also does a 180 to switch crooked grind down a rail and 360 flips a double set. At the end, he does a backside 50-50 and a crooked grind on very high and seemingly unwaxed ledge from flat.

Big Brother - November 2000 Number 66

Mike Rusczyk #5.

Freedom for Saturn.

Mike has a great section in Art Bars. Whatever trick you are looking to see, Mike probably does it. There are big regular and switch ollies over gaps and obstacles. He throws down the tech with hardflips, switch frontside flips, nollie noseslides, and crooked grinds. There are no complies and no comply kickflips to satisfy those who want to see the older roots of street skateboarding. A whole range of terrain is skated, including gaps, rails, ledges, banks, stairs, and even the Derby park. Mike goes fast and strings together interesting lines between stop motion footage of animated Lego people. This part definitely falls into the category of an obscure classic. Rusczyk rips.

Transworld - May 2000 Volume 18 Number 5

Omar Salazar #5.

Omar had a shared part with Judd Hertlzer in Art Bars. He was fairly young and sustained a serious knee injury that limited his on board time. He was also a big fan of Zero and Jamie Thomas, which is why he is skating a bunch of handrails in a hooded sweatshirt. I tried to keep everything period correct, but Omar only had one Foundation ad and I posted it already.

The Look Back Library made a stop in Jamestown this past Friday at Jamestown Skateboard Products. It was a pretty cool. I browsed some vintage issues of Poweredge.

Thrasher - November 2004 Volume 24 Number 11