Chris Senn #12.

Artist Extreme.

Chris gets wild both in the streets and on the canvas.

What was the story behind the ollie into the ramp? Was it something along the lines of Chris doing the trick after time expired in the best trick contest so it didn't count? He landed the trick in his run, too. Who won best trick? Was it Jamie Thomas or Gerhson Mosley? Chris was the street winner for 1995, with Tony Hawk in second and Willy Santos in third at the Extreme Games.

Speaking of skater artists, is there a new article or interview with Sean Cliver somewhere on the internet? A few posts for him have been getting a lot of hits and I can't figure out where the traffic is coming from.

The photos are by Bryce Kanights and Geoff Kula.

Hill bomb: Slap - August 1995 Volume 4 Number 8

X Games: Slap - November 1995 Volume 4 Number 11

Matt Reason & Hanzy Driscoll.

Two times the adrenalin rush.

Matt does a switch frontside nosegrind to 180 out and Hanzy does a noseslide out past the stairs. Both of these guys were pro for Adrenalin. Matt rode for a couple other companies during his career. I'm not sure who else sponsored Hanzy or if he rode for another board brand.

Slap - October 1995 Volume 4 Number 10

Justin Strubing #7.

Timeless ripper Justin Strubing floats a ghostly trick off a bump. It could be a pop shove-it. Adrenalin scored some sweet product placement free advertising with Strubing's cover of Thrasher in February 1996. He's doing a salad grind on a ledge while riding a board with Adrenalin in big letters and wearing a company t-shirt.

Slap - July 1995 Volume 4 Number 7

Adrenalin.

Adrenalin was a mid 1990s company that lasted for a few years and then made a slight return in the early 2000s. They were distributed by Think initially. Chris Senn and Jaya Bonderov were the main pros and handled most of the art and team management.

I had a request for a specific Adrenalin ad that a reader was searching for and I decided to make a week of it. I didn't really remember the black & white ads they ran in Slap.

Characters: Slap - September 1995 Volume 4 Number 9

Kill Your Television: Slap - January 1996 Volume 5 Number 1

Wade Speyer #14.

The city does a weekly concert series on the pier during the summer. It's mostly cover bands that pay tribute to classic rock and pop icons. Very safe, very bland, very well attended because people around here have no taste. Depending upon the band's volume and atmospheric conditions, the sound travels fairly well. You can usually make out what they are playing at the skatepark, which is a bit of a distance from the pier. The lake assists with acoustics, too. It also helps that the bands are playing hits you've heard a thousand times over so your brain can fill in the details. Last night was a phony Journey. Or maybe it was the real Journey. I can't imagine there's much demand for them these days. Anyway, they were coming in loud and clear. They even did a drum solo. You know what kills the buzz for skateboarding? Journey.

The photo sequence is by Bryce Kanights.

Thrasher - January 1997 Volume 17 Number 1

Paul Grund #4.

This is what I'm riding now. It's the same old 8.125" x 32" Polar shape with my worn down Ventures and some bigger 55 mm regular 99A Spitfire Classics. I had this board a while back so it's a repeat. The paint is a super shiny black and on the first go round, I dropped the board on the step by accident and put a scratch in it so I'm content with a redo. The Photosynthesis sticker seemed to fit the graphic well.

Taylor Kirby #2.

Taylor's got a new Spitfire part that is really good. He takes lengthy ride-on grinds to tasteful new places. There are also some good manual and ledge combos that are pleasant in their subtly. The tricks are difficult enough to be entertaining, but not in the realm of silly ledge dancing.

Thrasher - July 2018 Volume 39 Number 7

Diego Johnson.

Diego is Rudy Johnson of Blind and Girl fame's son. He had some coverage a few years back and then faded away. It looks like he is riding an Anti-Hero board in the photo, but it's hard to tell. I wouldn't be surprised if Diego was similar to Lance Mountain Jr., in that he skated, got some coverage, and then decided it wasn't the best option for him.

Diego is not to be confused with Avery Johnson, Marc's son.

Thrasher - June 2018 Volume 39 Number 6

Jahmir Brown.

Man of the hour.

The recent Palace and McDonald's collaboration has raised some eyebrows, but everybody is stoked on Jahmir.

Can we seriously knock off the collaborations? They do absolutely nothing beyond generate more crap that is destined for the thrift stores and landfills.

I finally went back to the Jamestown outdoor skatepark yesterday. I hadn't been there since October. Nobody was there for the longest time so I could cruise around and do some illegal tricks. It was nice to have the 55 mm wheels for a little extra speed. I saw a green heron, too.

Free - March/April 2022 Issue 41

Lance Conklin & Nyle Lovett.

Employees of the Month.

Did anybody else notice this and why is it the best thing ever done?

Josh Stewart at Theories of Atlantis crafted an excellent homage to an old Powell Peralta ad celebrating Lance Conklin turning pro for TOA pro rider Nyle Lovett.

Lance: Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Nyle: Thrasher - April 2023 Volume 44 Number 4

Antonio Durao #2.

12:45.

The current hot video is Johnny Wilson's Johnny's Vid. Antonio opens the project with his recent switch 360 flip to noseblunt on a handrail in Houston that graced the cover of the June 2023 issue of Thrasher. His part has all the high level NYC trickery we've come to expect. He even dabbles in Yoshi Obayashi's trick realm with a half flip and some unique one footed moves. I like how Mr. Durao will also straight up blast a proper grab down some stairs.

The famous Los Angeles High School turns 150 this year. It's funny to think the school has been immortalized in skateboard videos that probably generate more fame for the place than any of its academic accomplishments. Maybe not, but perhaps.

I always want to call him Toad because of the name similarity to Blood Wizard's Antonius "Toad" Dintcho.

The Skateboard Mag - April 2017 Issue 157

Cambryan Sedlick.

Mr. Clean.

Cambryan was born in Dallas, moved around to San Diego, and now lives in Los Angeles. He's a fan of Donny Barley, Kevin Rodrigues, and Andrew Allen. His board sponsor is RASSVET, a Moscow based company run by Gosha Rubchinskiy. The name means sunrise in Russian.

FACT is a clothing company that skews on the arty side of streetwear as far as I can tell.

He's goofy footed so I think this is a backside 360 ollie.

Thrasher - September 2019 Volume 40 Number 9

Geoff Rowley #6.

Punch Out.

We always talk about how thick those Transworlds were in the late 90s and early 2000s without giving much credit to how they grew to so many pages. They could print that many pages because skateboarding was growing and companies were pumping money into print media, which was the major advertising avenue of the era. Hence, monstrosities like this three page ad for Flip existed.

I legit thought this was Simon Woodstock for a split second. It doesn't look like anybody is wearing a mouth guard so this whole scene is probably staged.

Transworld - June 1998 Volume 16 Number 6

Jerry Fisher.

Metal Man.

Jerry is from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He skated Philly and New York a lot. His crew was called Metal and consisted of Fred Gall, Brian Stevens, Eric Ruwadi, and others. This is where Fred got the name for his current Metal skateboards project. The Metal moniker has been in circulation over the years since the mid 1990s so it was a natural progression for Fred to keep using it. Jerry rode for Think, Venture, and Failure skate shop. He's also the one who pushed Fred to skate handrails more.

The photograph is by Gabe Morford.

Note: I cropped this one down from a subscription ad in Slap.

Slap - August 1995 Volume 4 Number 8

Fred Gall #8.

For the filming of Timecode, Fred was often riding a custom shape called the Long Boy. It was 33.5" x 8.25" with a 15.25" wheelbase and paired well with the 60 mm wheels he was using at the time. The deck wasn't ever available to the masses until a Metal reissue was released this summer. That's a bigger board than his assorted pro models from 1998. I'm inclined to believe he's not overly picky about a whole lot of stuff and is fine with riding whatever size board is available.

It's going to be extra random stuff for next week. Just sayin'.

The photographs are by Mike Ballard.

Transworld - August 1998 Volume 16 Number 8

Anthony Van Engelen #10.

The rest of the odd couple.

AVE and Jason Dill were added to the Alien Workshop team at the end of 1998. Both had been riding for 23. I also included Anthony's first, last, and only ad for Sal Barbier's company. Now that I think about it, 23 would have been on its last legs at this time and Sal would go on to start Aesthetics in the near future. Anthony took Dill's approach of wearing DC Shoes and did end up on the team.

Anthony's regular footed so both of these are switch, regardless of what the caption says in either.

The photo in the Alien ad is by the hardest working man in skateboarding, Chris Ortiz.

Alien: Transworld - December 1998 Volume 16 Number 12

23: Transworld - April 1998 Volume 16 Number 4

Jason Dill #21.

We all know that Dill likes to talk, but has he ever talked about the possibility of getting on DC in the late 1990s? He had a ton of coverage wearing their gear. I know from a Fred Gall interview that there was a formal process to be added to the team with a probationary period to see if everything was going to work out. I imagine Dill wouldn't have been super into that. The offer to ride for Vita probably showed up around this time as well so getting on DC would have become a lower priority. I think it would have been interesting to see an alternate timeline where Dill was on DC.

The photos are by Gabe Morford.

Transworld - November 1998 Volume 16 Number 11

Josh Kalis #12.

"I didn't want any of that 'no switch mongo or you're not getting footage' crap. None of those bullshit-ass rules. If you rip, you're getting footage. Simple as that."

Josh had a different take on some of the well known rules that were part of the Philadelphia scene in the 1990s.

The photographs are by Ryan Gee.

For the quote: Closer - Winter 2022 Volume 1 Issue 3

Transworld - June 1998 Volume 16 Number 6

Fred Gall #7.

Know Tomorrow.

The Metal Man hucks a switch 180 into bank and does a backside 50-50 to backside 180 out at the Brooklyn Banks. The Alien Workshop started to reboot their program following the Timecode video from 1997. A few long time riders were let go and new talent was added to the team. This would eventually lead into Photosynthesis and the launch of Habitat a few years later.

I think I should've taken another week off. I'm kind of worn out and not really feeling it for anything. I'm also mired in some weird slump for skateboarding. I set up a new board and that didn't help as much as I thought it would. Oh, well. What are ya gonna do?

Transworld - October 1997 Volume 15 Number 10