Orbs Wheels.

Happy Halloween!

Orbs is the supernatural wheel division of Welcome, the makers of magical shaped skateboards. The team is mostly made up of Welcome riders, although they do sponsor skateboarders from other companies. This has included Corey Duffel, Zach "Ducky" Kovacs, and Breana Gearing. The ads for Orbs tend to be a little more lo-fi than the art for Welcome, but things can get kind of trippy.

The photos are by Alex Papke, JD Palmer, and Richie Valdez.

Zach: Thrasher - November 2018 Volume 39 Number 11

Aaron: Thrasher - March 2018 Volume 39 Number 3

Will: Thrasher - December 2017 Volume 38 Number 12

Pat: Thrasher - October 2017 Volume 38 Number 10

Kenny Reed #3.

If there was anybody who should ride for a company called Planet Earth, it had to be renowned globetrotter Kenny Reed.

The new Spitfire part from Leo Baker is a well done display of street tech. The part brings up the important question: have The Replacements been used in a video before? I'm not recalling anyone using them. Maybe the Mats just aren't skateboard music, but they'd often get mentioned in interviews back in the low 1990s for what pros were listening to.

It will be some ghostly wheels for Halloween week on Monday. I'm always trying to think of scary stuff for the haunted season and I legit cannot believe I scanned the next round in with the intent to post immediately before it hit me to save them for the right time.

The picture is by Brian Uyeda.

Thrasher - December 2005 Volume 25 Number 12

Jack Sabback.

Foreign psychedelic rock.

Jack is from Charleston, South Carolina. He has a BA in History from Temple University. Rasa Libre, Popwar, Traffic, and Ipath have sponsored Jack over the years. Some of his favorite skaters include Mike Daher, Josh Kalis, Bobby Puleo, Rich Adler, Pepe Martinez, Lucas Puig, Dan Plunkett, and Jake Johnson. For tunes, he likes Paul Parrish, Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsbourg, The Zombies, The Smiths, Animal Collective, and foreign psych rock. Jack enjoys traveling and has lived in Philadelphia and New York City.

The photograph is by Jonathan Mehring.

For the info: Skateboarder - August 2008 Volume 17 Number 12

Thrasher - November 2005 Volume 25 Number 11

Steve Nesser #6.

Joe Mauer.

Now that we have some distance from the 00s, you can start to form opinions on what has held up, what was good, what was bad, who was underrated, who was overrated, and so on. I'm saying Steve's skating was under appreciated, perhaps because he wasn't riding for a bigger name board company. Also with a bunch of mags and a slew of videos in that era, a skater and/or company could get lost in the shuffle, too. As an example, Steve ollied the stair gap Louie Lopez ollied for his second to last trick in the recent Again & Again video back in 2006.

Ian Patrick O'Connor was the photographer.

Thrasher - November 2005 Volume 25 Number 10

Guru Khalsa #2.

Tranquility in the Astrodome.

The photograph is by Travis Howell.

Thrasher - August 2005 Volume 25 Number 8

Ed Selego #3.

Habitat moods & earthy clothes.

Planet Earth was started by Chris Miller in 1990 after he departed Schmitt Stix. The company was initially distributed by H-Street before Miller took things solo. They had a solid hard goods run through the 1990s before switching over to a clothing only brand in the early 2000s.

Ed was riding for Planet Earth and switched to Habitat for boards after the change to soft goods. He had a quick ripping part full of handrail stunts in Habitat's Mosaic video from 2003 set to a smoking J. Mascis song.

Speaking of clothing, I found this gem at the thrift store on Friday:

Eric "Rodent" Cheslak was the photographer.

Thrasher - June 2005 Volume 25 Number 6

Dave Bachinsky.

Blueprint Hat.

Dave is from Lowell, Massachusetts. He gained skateboard fame when he kickflipped the stairs at El Toro in 2006. This led to him getting sponsored by City. He would ride for them for a few years and then switch over to Think. When Street Corner folded in 2013, Dave found a home at Darkstar and is still on the team in 2022. He's also still sponsored by Venture Trucks. Dave wore the same style of hat from England's Blueprint Skateboards for the longest time. He likes hamburgers and has some serious mini ramp skills.

The photograph is by Joe "Xeno" Lloyd.

Thrasher - July 2006 Volume 26 Number 7

Jeremy Reeves.

Jeremy is from St. Paul, Minnesota and moved out to San Francisco. Some of his favorite skaters are Dan Drehobl, Tony Cervantes, Ryan Gallant, Danny Fuenzalida, Peter Raffin, and Brian Heck. City got him a Honda scooter as a gift. He likes hockey, cooking, camping, and collecting random junk.

The picture is by Dan Zaslavsky.

For the info: Thrasher - October 2005 Volume 25 Number 1

Thrasher - August 2006 Volume 26 Number 8

Russ Milligan.

Russ is from Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. He's into golf and cooking. He was riding for Lucky before City was started and was moved over to Think when City ended. Russ has a good grasp on the street tech.

The photo is by Dan Zaslavsky.

For the info: Thrasher - July 2006 Volume 26 Number 6

Thrasher - September 2006 Volume 26 Number 9

Jason Wakuzawa.

Jason is from Torrance, California. He's into graphic design and music. Some of his favorite skaters include Sean Malto, Nick Trapasso, Guy Mariano, and Paul Rodriguez. Jason would also ride for Mike York's Turf Skateboards.

For the info: Transworld - June 2008 Volume 26 Number 6

Thrasher - November 2005 Volume 25 Number 11

City Skateboards.

We ain't going to the town, we're going to the city.

City was started in 2005 out of Street Corner Distribution, the home of Think, Venture, Hubba Wheels, and Lucky Bearings. They went with a more metropolitan look for graphics and ads. The initial team included veterans Pete Eldridge and Mike Maldonado. I don't think either had an ad. Alex Klein, Russ Milligan, Tony Montgomery, Jeremy Reeves, Terell Robinson, and Jason Wakuzawa rounded out the squad. They closed up shop and moved out to the country around about 2010. A couple of the riders were shuffled over to Think with the rest being left to fend for themselves out on the streets.

Thrasher - May 2005 Volume 25 Number 5

Chico Brenes #4.

Shopping cart.

Chico takes a fakie ollie nosegrind to switch 180 out down an odd handrail. Give him some money.

I really like these Evan Hecox raw sketches that were used in this series of Chocolate ads.

The new Gilbert Crockett part is so good. Congrats to Nicole Hause on getting the pro nod from Real. I dug that Polar video, too. I'm running behind on things in general. It rained a lot of yesterday, but then dried up enough so I could skateboard a little in the driveway after work so that was a nice bonus for the day.

Thrasher - June 2006 Volume 26 Number 6

Devine Calloway.

Always smiling.

Devine is from Bakersfield, California. He rode for City Stars until that company went under and then Lee Smith helped get him on the Chocolate team. He turned pro in 2005. His first board was a Creature with Ventures and G & S wheels that his grandparents got him for Christmas. Devine was also sponsored by DC Shoes. He would later ride for Primitive and Etnies. His backside bigspin game was on point.

For the info: The Skateboard Mag - June 2005 Issue 15

Thrasher - May 2006 Volume 26 Number 5

Kenny Anderson #4.

Kenny is wearing some Adios that were modeled after Chuck Taylors. He had always liked Chucks and was on the Converse skate team at the end of the 1990s. He had pushed for them to make a skate version of the classic shoe, but it didn't happen until Converse got back into the skate game in the later 00s. The obvious solution was to design a shoe on Adio, Kenny's shoe sponsor at the time, that resembled the famous kicks.

RIP Scott Starr.

Thrasher - April 2006 Volume 26 Number 4

Scott Johnston #6.

Tape hiss makes me happy.

Mr. Clean tries out for the Zero team with a kinked handrail attack. Scott actually had a few other photos around this time where he was skating some rails.

Thrasher - March 2006 Volume 26 Number 3

Anthony Pappalardo #11.

Chocolate for a change.

Anthony did this trick in his part in Lakai's Fully Flared video from 2007. He switched over from the Alien Workshop to Chocolate in 2005.

I did skateboard at the new park in Jamestown on Sunday. The weather was nicer than in my section of the county. I liked parts of it, but I was unsure on a lot about the place. I'm going to skate it a couple more times before I form a complete opinion of the park. The potential for a smash up derby is high and it wouldn't take many people to make it far too crowded. I lucked out in that basically nobody was there. I also saw a duck fly over so that was cool.

Thrasher - February 2006 Volume 26 Number 2

Jason Adams #21.

This feels important.

The slash grind on the abrupt wall was Jason's last trick in Bag Of Suck, but I'm not sure this photo is from the same session as the video. I think in the picture he's wearing a different t-shirt than in the video. Jason was sporting a shirt for Hep Cat Records in Bag Of Suck and this doesn't look like the same design. The jeans and shoes do look the same. You also have to appreciate how they worked San Jose punk J.J. Rogers into the another ad.

I have secured directions to the new Jamestown skatepark and I intend to check out it this weekend on whichever day has better weather. It was 70˚ F yesterday so I hit up the Dunkirk park after work for a change of pace. I had a good time cruising around.

I've been into noseslides lately.

J.J. Rogers: Thrasher - February 2006 Volume 26 Number 2

Evel Kenivel: Thrasher - December 2006 Volume 26 Number 12

Louie Barletta #10.

The color purple.

Louie slashes a backside Smith grind on a board with a totally busted nose.

Thrasher - September 2006 Volume 26 Number 9

Matt Hensley #15.

Matt was always good for a mini ramp or odd warehouse obstacle photo in the later stages of his career. I like how he still looks in vintage form from the H-Street days.

Thrasher - August 2006 Volume 26 Number 8

Mike Rusczyk #7.

Last man well known to Kingpin.

Mike floats a sick ollie while J.J. Rogers chugs a beer. I like how Duffs brought the former Dogtown pro back into the spotlight a little.

Thrasher - June 2006 Volume 26 Number 6

Don "The Nuge" Nguyen #6.

"Gets cold in Oklahoma."

The Nuge goes over a rail and into a bank for Duffs. He would have been in an odd board sponsorship limbo in 2006. Don had ridden for Hollywood and Hellrose, but those both had come to an end. Josh Beagle was giving him Pig Wood boards and that turned into riding for Foundation.

It's a week of Duffs. Duffs started out as Steve Rocco's shoe company in the middle 1990s with some decent shoes and funny ads. At some time at the end of the decade, they became their own entity. I'm not really sure on all the details, who worked there, and how the company was structured. They kept it rolling up until about 2016. I think they had a BMX team in addition to skateboarders.

I guess I should have gone to the grand opening for the Jamestown skatepark. Creature's John Gardner was there to rip the place up.

For the quote: Thrasher - March 2006 Volume 26 Number 3

Thrasher - October 2005 Volume 25 Number 10