Amy Caron.

Amy is from Half Moon Bay, California and is pro for Meow Skateboards. I'm not sure who else sponsored her over the years. She's riding a Popwar deck in the photo, which is what caught my eye after the trick she is doing. I thought she might have been on Element at some point. Amy founded Bigfoot Skateboard Magazine with Meghan McGuire. She likes plants and owns a boat.

Transworld - September 2003 Volume 21 Number 9

Emeric Pratt #3.

Keep off the fence.

I didn't realize Emeric rode for Illenium. I thought his first major sponsor was Iota before he went on to Consolidated. I think he's taking a manual from the ledge to the flat. The perspective of the photo makes it hard to tell.

Polar recently granted pro status to Portland's Emile Laurent and Sweden's David Stenström. David's dad used to skateboard and was apparently quite the ripper. They designed his son's graphic based on a board the old man was riding. The panther's source was a sticker from a roller skate brand. I really like how this turned out.

I'm not really sure what I've got planned for next week so stay tuned and don't worry if there isn't a week's worth of posts.

Thrasher - February 2000 Volume 20 Number 2

Ruben Garcia.

Illenium was a turn of the century company that went with a vague Y2K theme for their image. I'm not sure on a lot of the details behind the brand. The phone number puts them in San Diego, but I always thought they had more Midwestern roots because of Al Partanen and the skaters they sponsored. I do like how they subtly worked in the mysterious figures from their logo into their ads with some decent Photoshop editing. All things considered, Illenium did a reasonable job using a very easily dated concept for the identity of the brand.

Ruben is from Spain and would routinely pop up in the ads for North Cal Distribution in the back of Thrasher.

The photo is by Alto. Any help with a full name would be appreciated.

Transworld - August 2002 Volume 20 Number 8

Al Partanen #11.

Space Pupil.

Al rode for Illenium in the span between the demise of Creature in the late 1990s and its relaunch in 2005. I think he was involved in the business side of Illenium in addition to riding the boards. Al also did some team managing duties for Globe before switching over to Nike in some capacity.

It's another photo by Demarco.

Transworld - July 2002 Volume 20 Number 7

Greg Lutzka #2.

Greg is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He turned pro for Illenium before switching to Almost and would later ride for Darkstar. His shoe sponsors over the years included Globe, K-Swiss, and Osiris. He was one of those younger, very talented skateboarders who could do whatever trick they wanted to upon command in the early 2000s. It's worth noting that Big Brother was the first mag to stumble upon and then showcase Greg's talents. He also popped up in an ad for Krooked in 2003 before riding for Almost.

The photo is by Michael Burnett.

Transworld - May 2002 Volume 20 Number 5

Mike Peterson.

Mike is from Jacksonville, Florida. He was pro for Illenium, World Industries, and Consolidated. Based on an old interview in Big Brother, he might have done some carpentry and lawn care work, too. Mike runs a shop in Jacksonville called Block Skate Supply.

Buffalo's Sam Korman has launched a new skateboard magazine called Plank. It's going to a thicker, more literary type of mag that will look nice sitting on your coffee table, bookshelf, or floor. I ordered a copy and I'm curious to see what it is like.

I guess it will be a full week after me talking about posting less.

The photo is by Demarco. If anybody knows a full name, let me know.

Transworld - March 2002 Volume 20 Number 3

Steve Saiz & Jake Burns.

Street grabbing.

Poweredge had their own trick tips column, just like Transworld and Thrasher. It was a necessary feature in the glorious days before the internet was an entity. I'm never sure how much those columns helped, but it's the thought that counts. You can only garner so much information from the oft repeated "go fast, ollie, do the trick, roll away" directions. They'd at least give you some ideas for moves you would never come close to landing at spots that didn't exist in your town.

Steve was pro for Powell Peralta. This trick was probably in one of their videos. Jake rode for Black Label and Milk. Street grabs were cutting edge stunts in 1989.

I'm kind of liking the relaxed schedule I've been doing the last two weeks. After the old iMac died, I'm so over digital life, but here I am on a computer. One post a week seems too little so two or three seems like a good balance.

I am not liking the earlier sunsets. The city never turned the lights on at the skatepark this summer so the place is unusable once it gets dark. Some very good evenings are being wasted and that straight up sucks. Although I do oddly appreciate the limited amount of time to skateboard since it frees up space to take care of other things in the day.

The photos are by Christian Kline and Sean Sullivan.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

Clae.

"These are the best nonskate skate shoes in the world, and I like that they have no bones about being a line of chill shoes." - Chris Nieratko

Clae was started in 2001 by Sung Choi. The shoes were initially distributed by Podium, the home of DVS, Matix, and Lakai. Choi was the director of footwear design at Lakai when he launched Clae. This is why the shoes have a very Lakai vibe to them. He had previously worked as a designer at DC Shoes. Clae is still going today, making higher end fashionable sneakers for men and women. I never had a pair, but they looked pretty good. I imagine they would have been decent for skateboarding since the materials would have been the same as DVS and Lakai. I want to say they sponsored a few other people beyond videographer extraordinaire Ty Evans, but I didn't do an extensive search after I found his ad. I wonder if Dave Carnie or Chris ever got the sponsorship deal they were trying to get with Clae back in 2002 to be on the chill team?

For the quote: Big Brother - December 2002 Number 91

Ty: Transworld - March 2003 Volume 21 Number 3

Pryor: Transworld - January 2003 Volume 21 Number 1

Langston: Transworld - Winter Issue 2002 Volume 20 Number 13

Miles: Transworld - December 2002 Volume 20 Number 12

Mike York & Gino Iannucci.

Action figures.

Fresh Jive dabbled in manufacturing action figures in the early 2000s. They made a Mike York figurine in 2001 and followed that up with one for Gino Iannucci in 2003. There was also a John Cardiel version a bit later on, but in a different style.

From a minimal amount of research, it appears Fresh Jive had a company called Dragon Models Limited from Hong Kong make the action figures. They specialize in models and military action figures.

For clarification purposes, sedition refers to actions that incite people to revolt against the government or an authority figure. A seditionary would be the person who causes the act of sedition.

This is a rather strange stylistic choice to make for an action figure of a pro skateboarder. At the same time, Fresh Jive wasn't afraid of edgy content. I honestly wonder if Gino's model actually existed as there is scant documentation of it on the internet. That's what prompted me to scan these ads.

Vert Is Dead will post on 9/19 and 9/20.

Mike: Big Brother - April 2001 Number 71

Gino: Skateboarder - March 2003 Volume 12 Number 7

Damian Bravo, Daniel Castillo & Cairo Foster.

Nighttime seditionists.

I think I picked these out because I dug the Damian Bravo photo. He was an am for Real and DVS at the turn of the century. Daniel was on Chocolate for ages before finally turning pro. Cairo had a long professional career on Supernaut, Real, Popwar, and enjoi with a couple of shoe sponsors along the ride. Fresh Jive was kind of an odd clothing company, alternating between edgy ads, straight up skateboarding, and manufacturing action figures.

The photos are by David Broach, Socrates Leal, and Gabe Morford.

Damian: Big Brother - March 2001 Number 70

Daniel: Big Brother - May 2001 Number 72

Cairo: Big Brother - June 2001 Number 73

Pro Property.

Ramp Locals.

This is an interesting read on the assorted ramps of the pros from 1989. Christian Kline talks to Christian Hosoi, Eric Nash, Steve Alba, Lance Mountain, and Bryce Kanights for the feature. It's fascinating that all the ramps are vert ramps except for Bryce's Studio 43. It's cool to have the data on the ramp specs and who helped build them.

The photos are by Christian Kline, Rick Kosick, Alec Schroeder, Joel Hyatt, and Sin Egelja.

Poweredge - March 1990 Volume 3 Number 3

John Thomas & Jef Hartsel.

Cellblocks & Blue Thunders.

Two of the guys in the Alva posse skateboard at a mini ramp in the backyard of a crusty looking house. I've got nothing on this. I liked the layout of the ad. It's a bit different from many of the other Alva advertisements.

The photos are by Joe "Xeno" Lloyd.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

Allen Losi #3.

Losi Grind.

Allen had a return to the spotlight after some injuries in the later 1980s. He had his own board company that was distributed by Airböurne called Allen Losi Skates. Allen invented a lot of tricks including the Losi grind, also known as a bag lady, which is shown in the top sequence. It's a trick that pops up every now and again on street and vert. Mike Smith said Al did some great Smith grinds, too.

The photos are by Mike Ballard and Anderson. I'm not sure on a full name for Anderson.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

Mike Smith #4.

"That was in the Dog Bowl at Marina Del Rey skate park. Me and Pat Ngoho were just skating together in the shallow end, just being lazy. Instead of grinding and hurrying to get back in the bowl, we were trying to figure out a way we could stay up there and rest for a bit before we dropped back in. It was basically a 'Smith stop.' You went straight up and lapped over and rested the rail on the coping. Later on, people started doing good ones and putting it together like Allen Losi. He'd do Smith grinds where he'd go really far on the coping. Monty Nolder did backside ones."

Mike discusses the origin of his namesake grind. I like this photo. You can see the Rip Grip and World Industries Bedpan risers on Mike's board.

RIP Chris Casey.

The photo is by Rick Kosick.

For the quote: Big Brother - December 1997 Issue 31

Poweredge - March 1990 Volume 3 Number 3