Lucas Puig #5.

"I actually grew up on the 411 Best Of 4 (1997). I got it with a Tricks (former French magazine). That was really the VHS tape all the kids I knew had at that point. It had Andrew Reynolds, Marc Johnson, Jay "SAD" Stephens - it was legend style. SAD with the little towel. Legend. I actually was at Hooters once with Jason Rogers and Joey Brezinski recently and they were saying like, 'Hey, SAD is gonna come through.' I was just like, 'SAD who? SAD from 411?' Sure enough, there was SAD, looking exactly the same. He starts telling me he's into my skating. The whole time I was fanning out."

I'm not sure which is more epic. This story or the switch kickflip.

The picture is by Dave Chami.

For the quote: Transworld - October 2011 Volume 29 Number 10

Thrasher - December 2012 Volume 32 Number 12

Andrew Brophy #2.

The funniest thing Andrew ever did was mistakenly call one of Rochester's famous Garbage Plates a Trash Can on a tour of upper Western New York and Canada for Thrasher a few years ago.

Arto Saari took the photograph.

RIP Robbie McKinley.

Thrasher - October 2012 Volume 32 Number 10

Pete Eldridge #2.

As Cliché was around longer, they switched up the team a bit to include guys from the states and Australia. Pete had been on Mystery previously after spending a couple years doing construction in the Philadelphia area. He had shared part of opposite footed tech gems with JB Gillet in Cliché's 2013 video, Bon Voyage.

The photo is by Dave Chami.

Thrasher - July 2012 Volume 32 Number 7

Daniel Espinoza & JB Gillet.

Two for Tuesday.

Daniel is from Fontana, California. He was sponsored by Powell and Adio before getting on Cliché and Lakai. His first board was a Girl Eric Koston. He really dug his iPod in 2007, just like the rest of us. I wish Apple still made a stand alone music player. Sometimes all you want is a piece of technology that does one thing and does it well.

JB is from Lyon, France. He's been in the game for forever, having gotten his start on the New Deal in the mid 1990s. JB has ridden for Lakai and Deca. Primitive currently has a board with his name on it so that marks over 25 in the spotlight. Remember when pros were done after three years?

The photos are by Nicholas Huynh, aka Nikwen.

For the info on Mr. Espinoza: Skateboarder - June 2007 Volume 16 Number 10

Daniel: Thrasher - September 2011 Volume 31 Number 9

JB: Thrasher - January 2012 Volume 32 Number 1

Flo Mirtain.

The Old World.

I finally put together the week of Cliché that I had been meaning to do for ages. Although I think I might have left out a couple of my favorites from over the years. I'll get 'em next time.

Former New Deal rider Jeremie Daclin started Cliché in 1997. The company began as a European entity and eventually expanded to include skaters from the states. They partnered with Dwindle Distribution in 2006. Dwindle was really promoting them a lot in the early 2010s. Unfortunately Cliché bid adieu in 2016.

Flo is from Lyon, France. Back in the day he also rode for DVS, Matix, Venture, and Spitfire. His first board was a Hook Ups. He drinks Coca Cola and likes Daft Punk, Camille, and Architecture in Helsinki for tunes.

The photo is by Nicolas Huynh.

For the info: Skateboarder - December 2009 Volume 19 Number 4

Thrasher - December 2010 Volume 30 Number 12

Stevie Perez & Elijah Berle.

Truck Boyz.

I thought this was a sharp pair of skateboarding photos. Stevie hits up a rail with a frontside boardslide and Elijah boosts a boneless. Check out Raven Tershy with the camera in the background.

Thrasher - May 2013 Volume 33 Number 5

Miles Silvas #2.

This would be Miles in the time when he was on Lakai and Organika. He switched over to Adidas and the underwhelming Numbers Edition before settling in at Primitive. Miles is from Sacramento. His favorite video is Baker Has A Deathwish. Some of the skaters he is a fan of include Pedro Delfino, Stefan Janoski, Heitor Da Silva, Ishod Wair, Paul Rodriguez, and Guy Mariano. He prefers Curb Your Enthusiasm over Seinfeld and likes basketball. Miles once bought a Vespa and decided after a week it wasn't for him so he sold the scooter. He puts his grip over the bolts, which I find kind of strange, but obviously he knows what he is doing.

I started breaking in a new pair of shoes yesterday. I've noticed my noseslides improved the last two times I've done this. It seems easier to lock in and slide better with a new, stiffer sole. My ollies feel weird because the new shoes are still stiff, but in my old shoes, ollies were weird due to a lack of grip from wear.

The photo is by Henrik Biemer photo.

For the info: Thrasher - July 2022 Volume 43 Number 7

Thrasher - March 2013 Volume 33 Number 3

Girl 20th Anniversary.

Happy 30th anniversary, Girl. It seems like only yesterday a bunch of disgruntled employees split from Steve Rocco's empire to do their own thing. There are a whole bunch of classic photos in this collage. One of my favs is of Sean Sheffey holding the board up over his face. That deck looks so small and he only has two bolts for each truck.

Thrasher - November 2013 Volume 33 Number 11

Ishod Wair #6.

Ishod floats a switch heelflip down what appears to be a four-flat-four for Fourstar. That's some good subtle symmetry.

Thrasher - April 2013 Volume 33 Number 4

Chima Ferguson #4.

This trick is absurd. You get kind of jaded to all the big drops and rails by the sheer repetition of the images and videos so you don't always notice the details unless you stop to ponder things for a second. Chima's got it like that.

Welcome, spring. Although we didn't get much of a winter and there's a realistic chance of accumulating snow for the next month or so, it feels good to switch seasons.

The photo sequence is by Mike O'Meally.

Thrasher - November 2013 Volume 33 Number 11

Adam Dyet.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The photographer was Dave Chami.

The Skateboard Mag - June 2006 Issue 27

Evan Wasser.

Orange, said in Jon Spencer's voice.

Evan is from Culver City in the Los Angeles area of California. He basically grew up skateboarding and has had a few sponsors over the years. Termite gave him boards when he was younger, then there was a deal with Almost and Globe, a stint on WKND, and finally he landed on Frog. Evan impressed everybody last year in a shared part with Nick Michel for Thunder Trucks. He kind of reminds me of Omar Salazar with a mix of classical transition skating to go with hairball street stunts. His interests include playing music and acting in plays. He is famous for wearing some bright orange shorts.

Skateboarding in the DST just feels better.

Thrasher - December 2022 Volume 43 Number 12

Dennis Busenitz #9.

Did Dennis train to be a welder? It was kind of implied in an old Real ad that he had a backup plan in place in case the whole skateboarding thing didn't work out.

Thrasher - August 2006 Volume 26 Number 8

Zered Bassett #5.

Vicious Cycle.

Here are a few fun facts about Zered. His dad made up his name because he thought it sounded cool. One of his first sponsors was Sixteen Skateboards. He used to work with his dad and uncle doing heating and air conditioning installation. Zered is also handy with a camera and has had photos he's taken of skateboarding published in Thrasher.

You know it has been a mild winter when you don't mind a little light snow because you really could use a couple days off from skateboarding. We've gotten more snow in three days in March than we did in all of February and most of January.

Giovanni Reda took the action photo and Mike Piscitelli took the portrait.

For the info: Thrasher - September 2003 Volume 23 Number 9

Thrasher - August 2006 Volume 26 Number 8

Kyle Walker #2.

Can't do nothing for ya, man!

This was a good bit of talent scouting by the crew at Deluxe. The kid turned out all right. Kyle's backside Smith grind was in Real's Since Day One video from 2011. He had a shared Public Enemy scored part with technical street wizard Antoine Asselin.

Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5

Steve Alba #6.

Roll forever.

The Screaming Lord celebrated his 60th birthday in February. His brother Mickie was a top notch vert skater in the 1980s and his son Jesse is pro for Frog. Skateboarding is clearly in their blood. I think this photo is at Lance Mountain's backyard pool and Salba would have been almost 50 when it was taken.

Thrasher - May 2012 Volume 32 Number 5

Peter Hewitt #18.

Pete drifts one to fakie at Washington Street in San Diego.

Yeah, I don't get the caption on this one. I also cling to the idea that it should only be grinds in truck ads.

I like how Peter is riding the Spitfire Classic 56 mm wheels. I rode a bunch of those for the longest time until I dropped down to 55s. I've been using the 54s since they stopped making 55s in the regular Spitfire urethane, but I'm going to give the 56s another go. 54s feel a tad slow, especially for ramp stuff.

Thrasher - November 2011 Volume 31 Number 11

Jim Greco #4.

Jim sticks to his Zero roots and jumps off a building.

I like how they matched the cross to the orange of the Deathwish logo. Speaking of the cross logo, Indy somewhat recently retired it. A few hardcore loyalists had their feelings hurt over this, but it was probably a change that was way past due. Indy has always had subtly underrated graphic design with numerous quality logo variations over the years so it is not a big deal. The only reasons you should be riding Indys is for their turn and smooth grind anyways.

Thrasher - October 2011 Volume 31 Number 10

Al Partanen #10.

It's Parts floating around a pool and over the diving board.

Thrasher - May 2011 Volume 31 Number 5

Steve Nesser #7.

Steve probably did that really big handrail or ollie before anybody else did. From listening to the Mostly Skateboarding podcast, I've grown to be an even bigger fan of Minnesota skateboarding.

Thrasher - March 2010 Volume 30 Number 3

Leo Romero #13.

Leo's new Skater part for Emerica is great. It's almost the opposite of the majority of the current crop of skate vids, even though there are plenty of fine ones being made right now. The music fits Leo's style and it is perfectly filmed. It's absurd to think about how long Leo had been in the spotlight. He's still crushing handrails tastefully and his flip trick game is ridiculously on point. Most of the spots are out of the way and look great on camera, especially with the bright sun and blue skies. Skater has the proper balance of being mostly contemporary with the correct small amount of nostalgia to give it the right mood and character.

Notes: I like it when Leo nollies out of frontside 50-50s down handrails. My buddy Coburn filmed some of the clips in Skater. Emerica really should press up some DVDs collecting a bunch of their recent web only videos.

Thrasher - May 2014 Volume 35 Number 5

Caswell Berry #10.

Everybody has probably read the Jenkem interview with Louie Barletta by now which explains everything that has happened with the venture capitalist clearcutting at Dwindle. One cool tidbit I took away from the interview was about how Globe kept enjoi going even though it was losing money simply because the owners dug the company.

Thrasher - July 2009 Volume 29 Number 7

Corey Duffel #5.

The Duffman pilots a heavy duty backside lipslide down a Brutalist banister.

The calendar flipped over to March. This was the mildest February I can recall in ages, if not ever. I doubt there was more than 3" of snow total for the month, if even that. I managed to skateboard on 24 of the 28 days, with only one cheap day where it started to rain after I was warmed up. These are some bizarre times. I really need to set up a new board.

Second verse, same as the first.

The picture is by Eric "Rodent" Cheslak.

Thrasher - November 2008 Volume 28 Number 11