Circle A.

Couch Guy.

Circle A was Bob Schmelzer's company. They were famous for not putting rider names in the ads so I have no idea who this is. For example, they left Ed Templeton's name off an advertisement where he was doing one of the first documented frontside 50-50s down a handrail. The team has included Joe Lopes, Ricky Winsor, Justin Girard, and many others. I always dug their graphics and ad layouts.

Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Rob Mertz #2.

Straightedge Shark.

Rob is from Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He's lived in Florida, Texas, and California, too. Rob was pro for Zorlac. He also rode for Indy, Brand X, Skate Rags, Santa Cruz Speed Wheels, and Airwalk over the years. In addition to doing big airs, Rob also innovated some unique tricks on vert.

The interview is by Ken Sigafoos. The photos are by Geoff Graham.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

Steve Schneer #3.

Flip out.

The late Steve Schneer uses his Gullwings to carve over a tight spot in a backyard pool. He was a master of unique inverts that influenced select modern day skaters such as Erick Winkowski. Of note is the Poweredge sticker on his board. There's also a Grind King sticker and it looks like he is using the inverted Grind King kingpins.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

United Skates of America.

The New Breed.

I'd never heard of this before. It was a partnership between Bronze Age clothing from Venice, Shut Skates from NYC, and Cow Skates from the Dayton/Cincinnati area of Ohio. I'm guessing it was for distribution purposes.

I think I figured out the plan for this thing's 4,000 post. It's at 3991 as of today. The initial idea was two weeks of Poweredge from the three issues I scanned from the Look Back Library, but I posted nearly all the really cool ads last summer. I pieced together a best of the rest from those mags for the week and then will go back to the middle 2010s for next week.

Congratulations to Sora Shirai on winning the Tampa Pro.

Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Ben Gore #6.

Hipster flash art.

Ben has been ripping for a while now and is a long time pro on Magenta. He showed up with a bunch of tricks in the new Miles Davis video from clothing line Butter Goods.

The high winds have been blowing all week long so it hasn't been a ton of fun going outside for skateboarding. There has been rain, too. I took a trip to Jamestown last Sunday. After getting some new socks at the mall, I swung by Jamestown Skateboard Products to see if they were open. They were and I got to roll for a bit on rainy day. Otherwise, I've just been skating the ledges in my driveway. It'd be nice if the weather improved enough to hit up the park again, but the forecast is looking cold and wet for the week ahead.

The photo is by Josh Stewart.

Transworld - November/December 2017 Issue 389

Brian Powderly.

Maryland Wildlife.

Brian is from Long Island and moved to Baltimore when he was younger. That's where he fully got into skateboarding. Once he was older, Brian headed out west to San Francisco. He is pro for Politic. His part in Static VI is full of quick footwork on spots off the beaten path. He reminds me a little of Bobby Puleo and Jake Rupp in trick selection.

Dial Tone is the wheel company that Josh does under the Theories of Atlantis umbrella. The team includes Alexis Sablone, Jordan Trahan, Zander Mitchell, Trevor Thompson, and Christian Maalouf.

RIP Josh Marlowe.

The photo is by Josh Stewart.

Transworld - September/October 2018 Issue 397

Steve Brandi.

Car wreck.

Steve is from Tampa, Florida. He's a regular in all the assorted Josh Stewart video projects. He's also a tennis instructor on account of his sister being a professional tennis player. Steve has ridden for Planet Earth, Hopps, and Converse. He has his own company called Dance Parti.

Mike Heikkila was the photographer.

Transworld - July/August 2017 Issue 387

John Baragwanath.

Sheepril Fools.

Theories of Atlantis has a bit of fun with a spoof of the classic Sheep Shoes logo and ad design.

The photo is by Josh Stewart.

Transworld - March/April 2019 Issue 397