Leo Romero #11.

Leo does an unusual switch backside 50-50 down a hubba. You don't usually see many opposite foot moves from him. He's got the strong nollie game and will throw out switch flip tricks often, but pure switch tricks are a rarity. He'll nollie out of a frontside 50-50 down a handrail for fun, which is a subtle classic of a trick.

Transworld - November 2005 Volume 23 Number 11

Tommy Gurrola.

Sultan of Swing.

Tommy rode for Foundation, Pig Wheels, and Vans. His hometown is Bermuda Dunes, California. He had a Dire Straits scored part in Cataclysmic Abyss. His skating was very much of 2007 with lots of stairs and handrails. The section had a nice progression from ledges, ditches, and flat to more hammer style skateboarding. Tommy's favorite video part is Javier Sarmiento in The Firm's Can't Stop video. He likes Apple Computers and Dinosaur Jr.

I didn't have the issue of Skateboarder with his Who's Hot interview so this was a tough one to put together. I had forgotten he had a part in Cataclysmic Abyss.

Thrasher - May 2005 Volume 25 Number 5

Don "The Nuge" Nguyen #7.

Big ollies & fictional heavy metal bands.

I put together a random week of Foundation stuff that has been sitting on the computer for a long time. Tum Yeto rotated ads for their companies so there wasn't always a F-Troop ad every month. This made it confusing because I'd find a cool ad and then struggle to find another. I gave up on the search although I know there are a few Corey Duffel ones I wanted to scan that I keep seeing while searching for other stuff.

I am not really sure what the Fiberlam board construction was.

The holiday weekend was nice. The snow all melted and we had warm weather most days. I decided to break in a new pair of shoes on Saturday and that went really well. My ollies were popping and my noseslides were nosesliding again. It's kind of strange how a fresh pair of shoes can improve a few minor things.

Thrasher - December 2006 Volume 26 Number 12

Gilbert Crockett #7.

Denim Car.

Gilbert put together a part for Quasi that features him driving around in a denim covered automobile. I'm sure it was a project to get all the fabric to stick to the car. I like the aesthetic Quasi has going with their art and videos. They've captured this odd 1990s Midwestern cable access Guided By Voices mood that is really wonderful. Denim Car is one of my favorite parts of the year and I think Gilbert is one of my current favorite skaters. The video feels genuine.

As an added bonus, here's Gilbert's Who's Hot from 2007:

Joey Shigeo took the mysterious photo and Seu Trinh took the falling photo. Joey also took the picture for the Who's Hot.

Both: Transworld - May 2008 Volume 26 Number 5

Who's Hot: Skateboarder - February 2007 Volume 16 Number 6

Jim Greco #3.

The White Wall.

Jim recently released another short film of his skateboarding called The White Wall. It's an LA centric part with a ridiculous backside 360 ollie on a very tight white wall. Jim also cracks a few big ollies and battles the wind trying to get tricks in a parking lot. I can relate to the problems with wind, as it is often breezy around here and it is not fun to deal with.

Two things I've never liked about Vans is how their shoes are constructed and how mid the graphic design looks in the ads. It's great how much they give back to skateboarding on so many levels, but nothing much they do appeals to me beyond the humanitarian efforts. Also everybody wears them. That's not a slight or anything, simply an observation. I saw my friend's band play at a bar two weeks ago. The crowd was mostly college students and nearly everyone was wearing Vans of one type or another. There were maybe a couple pairs of New Balance and I'm sure somebody had Nikes on, but it was Vans all the way. Except for me. I was wearing some Lakais.

Giovanni Reda hammered down the photo.

Thrasher - October 2005 Volume 25 Number 10

Tyler Bledsoe #8.

Heroic.

Tyler lofts a backside kickflip from the Fourstar and Alien Workshop days. I think he was on Etnies for shoes in 2009. He's still pro with models out on Quasi as well as working as a tattoo artist in Portland.

My town got a manageable foot of snow over the last few days so we escaped the several feet that forced them to move the Bills game to Detroit. The sun was out and it dried up enough so that I even got in some skateboarding in the driveway on Saturday afternoon.

Thrasher - October 2009 Volume 29 Number 10

Dave Abair.

This one's for you.

Dave was from St. Albans, Vermont. He was pro for Scumco & Sons. His other sponsors included Satori, Indy, and FTC. He also had ridden for Creation Skateboards. Charlie Wilkins was the first pro he met and his go to trick was the nollie frontside flip. He worked at a doggie daycare place in San Francisco, too. Sadly, Dave passed away in 2021.

The photograph is by Brian Shamanski.

For the info: Skateboarder - April 2008 Volume 17 Number 8

Slap - December 2007 Volume 16 Number 12

Danny Montoya #6.

One step beyond.

The nollie heelflip champ does a switch backside kickflip in Mexico.

There's snow in the forecast. I'm glad I got skateboarding at the park for 25 minutes after work on Tuesday. That might be it for a while depending on how all this weather shakes out. I was hoping we would ride out November with a mild combo of rain, snow, winds, and sun with temperatures in the mid 30s to low 40s. Although after the current storm is done, we appear to stabilize to finish the month. Here's hoping there's not too much to dig out from.

Skateboarding has been feeling really good the last couple of months. I've been on an extended hiatus from beer so there's no day or two of feeling uncomfortable recovering from party time. That can't hurt. Also I've been mixing it up with skating the ledges in my driveway, the local park, and trips to the new park in Jamestown. Not that I have a big bag of tricks any more and ramps feel oddly uncomfortable, but this is the best skateboarding has felt in a bit. You're always going to have ups and downs obviously, however, I've been way more consistent and on point the last few months, even before I went on the break from beer. I'll take it for being old.

Ian Patrick O'Connor took the photo.

Slap - February 2008 Volume 17 Number 2

Jimmy "The Greek" Marcus.

Jimmy is from Clearwater, Florida. He's a noted pool ripper. Black Label gave him a pro board on their Emergency branch many years back. I thought this photo was sick and a little bit different than most of the Satori ads.

What size wheels are people riding these days?

I've been using 54 mm Spitfire Classics in their regular urethane formula. I was riding 55 mm Classics before the plague hit, but they don't seem to make those any longer. I'm thinking about going back to 56 mm. The 54s seem slow, even though one or two millimeters should not make a huge difference, especially when new.

Slap - May 2008 Volume 17 Number 5

Dave Caddo.

Pattern Language.

Dave is from Cincinnati, Ohio and moved out to New York City in the early 2000s. He was an eye for unique spots and exploring the lesser known neighborhoods of the Big Apple. His current board sponsor is Politic. Dave has previously ridden for Creation and Ipath.

Slap - January 2008 Volume 17 Number 1

Ben Gore #5.

Ben takes a kickflip over a lion in San Francisco back during the Stereo days.

Satori was started in 1998 by Craig Nejedly. The name is taken from a Japanese Buddhist term that means "pure awareness". They were around for a while, took some time off to find themselves, and returned in 2020. Team riders Karl Watson and Matt Pailes are involved with the company now. Satori has program that recycles old wheels into new wheels.

The photograph is by Dan Zaslavsky.

Slap - December 2007 Volume 16 Number 12

Adam Alfaro & Pat Rakestraw.

Double shot of Black Label.

Black Label is one of those companies that I've always been stoked on. I don't have much else to say beyond that.

New ride. I guess I set this up last Saturday. It seems way longer ago than that. There's a bunch of scratches on it now. I've been thinking about switching it up from Polar, but this one and the last one have both felt really good, as in better than nearly all the Polars I've ridden in the last year and a half. That doesn't make any sense. I'm not sure what I think of the all white board with a rectangular graphic in the middle, but I like how it balances evenly with the Grains sticker. The board makes more sense in person, to me at least. The top ply is light blue so that's a good color.

Adam's photo is by Chris "Rhino" Rooney. I'd like to know who did Pat's ad since it's neat-o looking.

Adam: Skateboarder - December 2006 Volume 16 Number 4

Pat: Skateboarder - April 2006 Volume 15 Number 8

Peter Watkins.

"My dad's a graphic designer and I was never good with computers so manual labor has been the way to go this year. It's the wave of the future."

Boring handyman extraordinaire.

Some dude named Otto took the photo.

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

Skateboarder - March 2007 Volume 16 Number 7

Chris Troy.

"Varial flips, the Diet Coke flip. That's what me and Kenny Hoyle call them 'cause a 360 flip is like a Coke and diet's like a half, half as good."

Throwing a full can of Coke down a double set.

Chris is from Carlsbad, California. He is pro for Black Label and has ridden for them for an eternity. There's still a board with his name on it from John Lucero's enterprise. He likes working on cars. Chris is a fan of the skating of Jason Adams, Arto Saari, Andrew Reynolds, and Fred Gall.

RIP Little Blue Car.

The photo is by Matt Daughters.

For the quote and info: Skateboarder - September 2009 Volume 19 Number 1

Skateboarder - February 2007 Volume 16 Number 6

Shuriken Shannon.

Shuriken is from San Diego, California. Black Label turned him pro. He also rode for Santa Cruz. Osiris sponsored his feet. He currently rides for Arbor. Shuriken is into art and makes collage pieces from old decks. I don't know too much about him, other than he's been in the pro game for a long time.

The picture is by Russell Houghton.

Skateboarder - April 2007 Volume 16 Number 8

Chet Childress #12.

Ludacrooks all up in the air at either a DIY spot or an unfinished park. It might even be an unfinished DIY spot. I dug the random enthusiasm that Chet brought to skateboarding. I wonder what he's doing these days. One would assume he is still skating, making art, riding bikes, and whatever else he's been doing all along.

We had a decent blast of summer for the weekend before we plunge into early sunsets* for a month. I set up a new board and skated a bunch. I was on the tired side so everything was a chore. I more or less understand the reasoning behind the clock change, but it seems like it would be better to put it off for two weeks or only turn the clocks back 30 minutes instead of an hour. November weather is generally good so we're wasting quality outdoor time because the man says so. Time isn't real anyway.

* Sunsets begin to get later again in very small increments starting on December 10th. Sunrises don't get earlier until January 5th. Times may vary upon location.

The photograph is by Joe Brook.

Skateboarder - May 2007 Volume 16 Number 9

Jason Salillas & Zach "Ducky" Kovacs.

Cannonball!

Good thing at least one of you guys is wearing a helmet.

Richie Valdez documented the tomfoolery.

Thrasher - October 2018 Volume 39 Number 10

Ryan Lay #5.

Arizona Coyote.

Ryan is a fan of East Coast skateboarding, which led to him being a Philadelphia Flyers fan. He got into hockey a bit when he was younger after the NHL stuck a franchise in the desert. His interest in hockey has waned in the years since.

Richie Valdez risked getting wet for the photo.

For the hockey info: The Skateboard Mag - July 2011 Issue 88

Thrasher - July 2018 Volume 39 Number 7

Dylan Witkin.

Dylan is from Lake Forest, California. He is pro for Foundation. This photo is from late 2018 or very early 2019 and was Dylan's last trick in Foundation's Star & Moon video from 2021. Thrasher featured him in a Lunatic Fringe article in 2016. He was possibly riding for Expedition at the time. He's also into BMX and skated to buzz band Turnstile in the Star & Moon video.

There was no John Shanahan part in the new DGK video. Maybe he's dropping a solo video soon?

The picture is by Richie Valdez.

Thrasher - February 2019 Volume 40 Number 2

Breana Geering #3.

Boo! It's Breezy!

This was probably the first big ad Breana had in a mag. The dates are a little difficult to pin down, but it is from about the same time she was added to the Girl team. I'm not sure what board she is riding. Of note, there is a Red Dragons sticker.

I guess the DGK video drops today. I'm saying John Shanahan's SOTY push starts as well.

I've been to the new Jamestown city skatepark the last four Sundays. I still don't know what I think of the place, other than I wish I lived closer and could get there more often to get the tricks I'd like to do wired.

Jordan Puetz took the photo.

Thrasher - August 2018 Volume 39 Number 8