Stefan Janoski #2.

"I once used my shoe as another form of ID at a Hertz rental-car counter."

The successful sneaker designer pilots a switch backside kickflip across a driveway gap. Stefan upped the opposite footed game with his part in Mosaic. His casual and lanky style probably made the tricks look much easier than they were to actually do. Liberty worked his dog Liam into the ad, too.

Is that a photo of Nirvana?

Shout out to Cole Nowicki and Simple Magic. You get extra props for citing sources.

For the quote: Thrasher - April 2021 Volume 42 Number 4

Skateboarder - March 2007 Volume 16 Number 7

Danny Garcia #6.

Out there.

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Habitat's Mosaic video. As it has been covered to death, I didn't bother putting anything together to commemorate the passage of time. However, I had a few of the team riders randomly scanned in already so I decided to tie that in with a small anniversary feature.

Habitat debuted with a section in Alien Workshop's Photosynthesis video in 2000. Mosaic was their own video three years later that had a Workshop section, which was notable for Jason Dill's line skating in an era of stair jumps as well as Anthony Pappalardo's street stylings.

Danny had the last part in Mosaic. It was probably a toss up between him and Stefan Janoski as to who would close out the video. Both skate remarkably well. I've always thought Stefan's part had more of a last part mood because of how it was sequenced. Thinking about it now, Danny had been with Habitat since the beginning whereas Stefan had switched over from Expedition so it makes more sense to give Mr. Garcia the ender. His skating is a little more subtle and maybe doesn't register at first as to how good he is. Everything is so smooth and solid you need to spend some time processing what he is doing. Danny is still out there, skateboarding, playing basketball, and recording music.

Liberty was a skateshop in Brea, California. It was started by Matt Pindroh in 1993. They stepped it up by running ads in the mags and had some top pros on the team. I don't believe they are around any longer.

In the week off, I didn't really organize or plan anything out. I guess I needed the break. I did dodge some winter weather to skateboard a few times so there's that.

RIP Tom Verlaine.

Skateboarder - February 2007 Volume 16 Number 6

Nick Boserio, Emile Laurent & Chris Milic.

I had a conversation all planned out in my head back in the early summer when the Tony Hawk documentary was making the rounds. If somebody asked me if I had seen it, my reply was going to be, "Nope, I don't have HBO. Tony always presents himself professionally so I'm sure it was good. Did you see the Last Resort video? That actually meant something."

Sadly this conversation never happened.

Pontus Alv did pretty well for himself with the videos for Last Resort AB and Polar. Sounds Like You Guys Are Crushing was a fun watch and featured all the familiar heads. I thought Nick and Emile were the stars. Since I've ridden so many Polar boards, I tend to favor the guys with their name on the deck I'm riding. It's nice to see what they are up to so I was stoked on new skating from Aaron Herrington, Paul Grund, and Dane Brady. Alv's Angels was an enjoyable viewing, too. Chris Milic channeled Jeremy Klein for his impressive closing section. I guess I still dig Polar, although I maybe want to try some other brands for the sake of variety. I'm still riding the boards as they feel good and any time I switch up my ride on whim, it can get uncomfortable. Growth is learning from your mistakes over the years and not repeating them.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, January 30th. I'm taking a little winter break from this thing to organize content and figure out what to post next.

Joe Brook took the photo of Emile and Kris Burkhardt took the photo of Chris.

Nick: Thrasher - February 2022 Volume 43 Number 2

Emile: Thrasher - March 2022 Volume 43 Number 3

Milic: Thrasher - January 2022 Volume 43 Number 1

Nicole Hause.

Nicole is from Stillwater, Minnesota. She rides for Real, Indy, Nike, and Bronson. Some of her favs are Nora Vasconcellos, Peter Hewitt, Pedro Delfino, Happy Gilmore, and Kendrick Lamar. The first best trick she learned was the blunt to fakie. Nicole is a classic park and vert skater who is unafraid of the occasional gnarly street drop-in.

Real tripled their professional vert team in 2022 with Nicole turning pro and adding Jimmy Wilkins. Max must be happy he doesn't have to skate alone any more.

The photographs are by Gabe Morford.

Thrasher - October 2021 Volume 42 Number 10

Mariah Duran.

Rapa Nui.

Mariah is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her two brothers, Elijah and Zeke, also skateboard. They grew up rolling together and Habitat's Inhabitants video was a big influence for the trio. Mariah is pro for Meow, Thunder, and Adidas. She's got a mean hardflip, skates rails, and will do tricks into some steep looking ditches. Her skating very much builds off of what Elisaa Steamer and Alexis Sablone have done.

Jeremiah Arias took the photo.

Thrasher - December 2022 Volume 43 Number 12

Nora Vasconcellos #6.

Bombs away.

It felt like Nora did a lot and was constantly around in 2022. I thought she had a video part or two, but I couldn't find anything specific. Adidas gave her a pro model shoe and has been pushing that in their advertisements lately, which is cool to see. Nora was in a fair amount of ads and articles so that's maybe why I was thinking there was a video, too. I do not know. Nora rips and I don't have much else to say.

Thrasher - October 2022 Volume 43 Number 10

Shanae Collins.

Bad Batch.

Shanae is from Melbourne, Australia. She rides for Welcome. Sheezy likes skating bowls, parks, and assorted street spots. Her favorite skaters include Nora Vasconcellos, Nicole Hause, Bam Margera, Vanessa Torres, and Grant Taylor. She plays guitar and was once in a band called Bad Batch.

The picture is by Travis Adams.

Thrasher - October 2019 Volume 40 Number 10

Elijah Akerley.

The Stoned Spork.

Elijah is from Lewiston, Maine. He recently turned pro for Black Label. He also rides for OJ Wheels and Indy. His spot selections tend toward a mix of ditches, natural transitions, pools, and the crusty streets. Elijah will do some surprising H-Street style tech moves as well as throw in a few Neil Blender inspired handouts. I bought his pro t-shirt last month because I like the Black Label, which has now been chugging along for a quarter century. Elijah gets a few bonus points for using Sonic Youth in his video part.

The picture is by Tadashi.

Thrasher - January 2023 Volume 44 Number 1

Nyle Lovett.

Look Blue Go Purple.

Nyle is from Brazil, Indiana. He has the honor of being the first pro for Theories of Atlantis and was issued a board this past December. TOA also released a video part called Pyramid Park at the same time to showcase Nyle's talents in the big cities of the East Coast. His early influences were Habitat's Mosaic and Girl's Yeah Right! videos. He's got a really good command of technical ledge and manual skating. Nyle works at a printshop when he's not skateboarding.

Speaking of the Midwest, my favorite video of 2022 was Act Three in the Grains series by Kevin DelGrosso. It was also the only DVD I bought, but that's a coincidence and not related to the quality of Act Three. I like the look of small towns in the middle of country and how Kevin puts his videos together. I almost think I'm over buying skate videos. I've got so many of them that I never have the time to watch so it feels pointless to add to the collection. That being said, I'll almost always pick up any new DVD by a filmer or small company that documents skateboarding in out of the way places.

The photo is by Connor Noll.

Thrasher - September 2022 Volume 43 Number 9

Kevin "Spanky" Long #10.

Can't you see I'm in misery?

Spanky put together at least a couple of video parts for 2022, with Horses for Baker and a Cat Power scored Lucky Shirt feature for Ace Trucks. I feel he did even more, but those are the two solo joints that stand out. It's cool to see how he continues to skate and progress his blend of tech tricks paired with slappys and wallrides.

I also have to give some props to Leo Romero and Dakota Servold. I like how both of those guys skate and keep on keeping on. They easily could've made my 2022 wrap up, but I wanted more variety for the scans.

Thrasher - September 2017 Volume 38 Number 9

Louie Lopez.

"I used to wear a Daewon Song Matix shirt that had his name on it when I'd skate with him."

Louie talks about an awkward fashion choice of his younger days. His favorite vert skaters are Bob Burnquist, Jimmy Wilkins, Pedro Barros, Mark Gonzales, and Remy Stratton. He has a very nonchalant style and is capable of making any trick look perfect.

For the quote: Thrasher - December 2022 Volume 43 Number 12

Thrasher - September 2022 Volume 43 Number 9

Nelly Morville.

I just took a bite of dirt.

Nelly is from San Clemente, California and moved to New York City. She rides for Limosine. Her favorite skaters include Jerry Hsu, Rowan Zorilla, and Jesse Alba. For tunes, Nelly likes melodic hardcore and emo. She had the opening part in Limosine's recent I Just Took a Bite of Dirt video. Nelly rips with a fun go-for-broke style and unique spot selections.

The photograph is by Kris Burkhardt.

Thrasher - November 2022 Volume 43 Number 11

Malo Simonet.

Arrow & Beast is a skateshop with locations in Stuttgart, Germany and Paris, France. I simply really enjoy the graphic design of their ads.

The photo by Thibault Le Nours.

Thrasher - August 2022 Volume 43 Number 8

Jake Hill.

Neil Blender's co-worker.

One unusual thing that happened in 2022 was that Neil's Heated Wheel became a board company. Former Maple and Vox team manager Ed Dominick helped launch a new version of the project with Tom Remillard as a pro and current team manager. Finland's Eniz Fazliov is also a pro rider. Neil had been using the Heated Wheel to sell his art and it was unexpected to see the name evolve into something more. They are making a variety of popsicle and shaped decks, all featuring Neil's amazing art.

Jake is from Oceanside, California. He grew up skating with Riley Hawk, Collin Provost, Louie Lopez, Chris Gregson, and other familiar names. Jake was previously sponsored by Osiris and $lave. He likes to skate the gnarly handrails and crusty ditches.

The photo is by Ed Dominick.

Thrasher - September 2022 Volume 43 Number 9

John Shanahan #2.

It's a DC ad masquerading as a Venture ad. So I guess I didn't get my favorite truck brand in the 2022 recap properly, but I've got some V-Force scans planned for the future. I like how DC has recaptured their fresh swagger from the late 90s with some well crafted reissues and new models to go with a crew of younger rippers rocking baggy jeans and shredding Phillie. If I was a sneaker head, I'd probably add a pair into my footwear rotation.

John was my sleeper pick for SOTY based on two still photos he had in Thrasher. One was of a backside air over a kicker box in Costa Rica and the other was a straight up ollie over that one brick bank spot that I cannot recall the name of.

RIP Ken Block.

Mike Heikkila took the photo.

Thrasher - December 2022 Volume 43 Number 12

Tyshawn Jones #3.

The General.

Tyshawn joined Danny Way and Chris Cole as the only two time winners of Thrasher's SOTY award this past December. He first won it in 2018. Tyshawn dropped three heavy duty video parts to end the year that put him at the forefront of the race for the coveted shorts wearing trophy. He also announced his new company, King Skateboards, with Na-Kel Smith at the same time. Both had been pro for FA until the spring of 2022. If you look back at assorted ads from 2022, you will see clues that this was coming and what tricks Tyshawn was going to be doing. It's one of those neat things that pops up in retrospect.

We hadn't heard too much from Tyshawn in a sense since he won the SOTY in 2018. I don't follow much of anything on Instagram so I'm not up on the latest news and possibly wrong on that. I figured he had made his mark on skateboarding and was maybe moving onto the next part of his life. The young businessman certainly has several other options to invest his time in. It was cool to get an extra large size helping of Tyshawn's street skating powers. His approach is the type of thing Thrasher has written essays about in prior decades. You, your board, and whatever is in front of you in the street. Only few skaters are blasting over large obstacles off flat in traffic, regular and switch, or taking flip tricks across dangerous gaps the way Tyshawn is. It's both pure and raw.

The heated internet debate over the SOTY was a tad ridiculous. It's OK to root for your favorite to win and then be disappointed when they lose, but people need to chill out on taking things so seriously. It's only skateboarding, which for better and perhaps worse, now can be a very lucrative industry, which leads to an inflated sense of value for contests and prizes.

In much more local skateboard news, New Year's weekend was what could be considered warm and spring-like. I got to skateboard three of the four days. My friend Paul was in town to visit his family for lunch so we got to skate together for about an hour on New Year's Day. I set up a new board, too.

The photo is by Jonathan Mehring.

Thrasher - February 2019 Volume 40 Number 2