Patrick Praman.

The end number.

Patrick was born in Bangkok, Thailand and moved to the states when he was a little kid. He grew up in Virginia. He got into skateboarding while living in Virginia and would film in DC, Maryland, and North Carolina. Deluxe hooked him up with Real, Thunder, and Spitfire. Patrick made the move out to California and was part of Thrasher's Am Scramble 2022 tour. He turned pro for Real in the summer of 2023. For the demo, Patrick did a number of tricks over the bump to bar. In addition to this backside noseblunt, he also did a nollie heelflip to noseslide on the hubba.

I dumb lucked into this photo and caught the light from the filmer's camera illuminating Patrick. Some moderate lifting in Photoshop was enough to make it look good.

It will be something quickly demonic for next week.

For the info: Thrasher - February 2023 Volume 44 Number 2

Andrew Reynolds #19.

Florida Marlin.

The Boss skated the whole time and had tricks for the entire park. You got to see the classics: kickflips, frontside flips, a kickflip shifty or two, and a varial heelflip over the picnic table. He did a noseslide down the hubba and some frontside ollies on the quarter pipes. Andrew was riding a Kevin "Spanky" Long deck and wearing a Florida Marlins hat. He had his pro model sneaker from New Balance on his feet, too. I'm sure he was who the majority of the crowd wanted to see the most and Reynolds delivered.

One highlight of the demo was Jake Hayes blasting a 360 flip over the bump to bar behind Andrew. Wilton Souza skated a bunch. Justin Henry landed a frontside shove-it to backside 50-50 on the hubba. Brian Reid also had a bunch of tricks over the bar, including landing in a 50-50. Brian was really good and did a lot of unique transfers around the park. He has a similar jump over the whole spot approach that Brandon Westgate has. I was stoked on his skating and wish I'd gotten a picture of him.

Franky Villani #2.

Horror business.

You can have two pictures of Franky as a treat for Halloween. I wasn't sure what to expect from the demo. It was mostly the guys casually skating the park before they did the more formal show portion of the demo on the stair section. Of course, a pro casually skating a park means way better tricks than us mortals can do. Franky did a whole lot of stuff and landed his tricks fairly quickly. He did take a couple of slams, too. Also like Jamie Foy, he had lip tricks for the quarter pipes. Some of the highlights were a kickflip to frontside nosegrind on the hubba, a kickflip to late shove-it over the picnic table on the right, a Bennett grind to 360 out down the hubba, and a couple of flip tricks down the stairs. The photo is of a nollie heelflip. The other picture is of a wallie out of the bank. He did all of these tricks on his egg shaped board. Franky rips.

I kept more space in the wallie photo so you can get an idea of the park's layout. The quarter pipe wall in the back is where Foy did his frontside heelflip. Franky landed a nosepick of some sort on the quarter and Andrew Reynolds did some frontside ollies. I think that's Tiago Lemos standing on the pyramid. I know Tiago skated, but I don't think he skated a long time. He was also on the opposite side of the park so I simply missed what he was doing.

Clyde Singleton was the MC for the event. He is wearing the Champion sweatshirt on the left side of the nollie heelflip photo. Against the wall by the fence is Brandon Westgate talking to Levi Brown. Brandon didn't skate. I'm not sure on the name of the kid in the tall white t-shirt next to them as there are no titles in real life. He absolutely crushed the demo with massive pop shove-its, flip tricks, and a smooth backside 360 ollie over the picnic table.

These photos were rather drab in color so I went with the easy fix of making them BW and adding film grain.

Jamie Foy #4.

Balancing act.

The reigning SOTY did not disappoint at the New Balance demo. Most of the guys skated the whole time and checked off a lot of tricks. Foy put in the work and took a couple of slams, too. This is a fakie ollie to backside lipslide. He also did a fakie ollie to backside tailslide and a 180 to switch crooks on the hubbas. He had lip tricks for the ramps, which was neat to see. I believe he did a massive frontside heelflip on one of the quarters. Jamie landed a huge frontside heelflip over the picnic table to the right for good measure. The crowd was stoked.

This picture was kind of drab in color so I made it BW and added some film grain to make it a tad more interesting. I wish I took a few more photos, but I wasn't sure how the images would turn out. I didn't want to spend the whole time looking through the viewfinder instead of watching the skateboarding.

Tyler Surrey #2.

Running the Numbers.

I went to the New Balance demo at Food Court Skatepark in Buffalo, New York on Saturday. It was a lot of really great skateboarding in a mellow atmosphere. Most of the team was there, including Andrew Reynolds, Jamie Foy, Franky Villani, Brian Reid, Patrick Praman, Tiago Lemos, Jake Hayes, Tom Karangelov, Justin Henry, and a couple others. There was a good sized crowd and people were stoked. They skated for about two hours, did a product toss, and then signed autographs. I'm not an autograph collector so I split after the skating was done. I didn't talk to anybody and stuck to watching the skateboarding.

I brought my camera. The lighting at the park is equal to a hockey rink so without flashes and/or studio lights, it's rough sledding. I eked out a few pics that are decent enough for the internet. Thrasher is covering the tour so there will be better documentation at some point down the road. If you need an instant fix, I imagine all the highlights are on the Instagram by now.

Tyler closed out the demo with this nollie to backside 180 nosegrind type of move. I was a little surprised to see him there since he lives in Spain.

Eric Koston #17.

Edgy.

Eric pilots a nollie lipslide down a handrail. This was a popular trick amongst the rail skating pros and ams at the turn of the century. I've only ever landed two of them to forward on a flat bar and that was well over a decade ago. I've done more than a few nollie lipslides on ledges and flat bars to fakie, but the trick is awkward and doesn't feel good. But that one evening I was skating with this kid who coincidentally is also named Eric and he encouraged me to give the trick a try on the flat bar. I successfully did two and have never done a nollie lipslide since.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, October 20th.

Work's been really busy and I'm burned out so I'm taking a week off. I'll see what I can come up with and then it will be something demonic for Halloween week.

Thrasher - July 2001 Volume 21 Number 7

Robbie McKinley #4.

Society Dog.

The late Robbie McKinley skids a frontside noseslide across a piece of copper. I always thought this was an odd photo. While it is interesting and functions as almost an abstract painting, it doesn't do the trick any favors.

Thrasher - June 2001 Volume 21 Number 6

Colin McKay #11.

Heavy metal parking lot.

Colin rode for Plan B and DC Shoes with Rick Howard and Mike Carroll. He would ride for Girl for a couple of years after the initial run of Plan B came to an end. Colin was also on Fourstar. He switched to Seek in 2002, the short lived third board brand from the Alien Workshop, before returning to the rebooted Plan B. I don't think the strange detour that Seek was is talked about enough. He has a strong part of vert tech in The Chocolate Tour video from 1999.

Thrasher - March 2001 Volume 21 Number 3

Rick Howard #21.

Power forward.

Rick rode for Blockhead and Plan B before starting Girl in 1993 with Megan Baltimore, Mike Carroll, and Spike Jonze. He's been mostly behind the scenes in running the company since the middle 2000s, but will still pop up for an occasional clip or photo. His last full part was in Lakai's Fully Flared from 2007. I thought this noseslide was in a video, but I couldn't find it. I might be thinking of a different spot and/or clip. There were also video magazines 25 years ago so maybe footage wound up in one of those productions. Rick did a lot of noseslides on big rails and hubbas.

Thrasher - February 2001 Volume 21 Number 2

Tony Ferguson #5.

Loading dock.

Tony spins a backside 360 ollie in Philadelphia while wearing some Lakais. The trick was in the Girl montage of Yeah Right! from 2003. I didn't know what to pick out for the week and some Girl scans from 2001 was an easy find. I was surprised I hadn't posted any of these before. They would have been starting to film for Yeah Right! around this time. Tony is from Ottawa and moved out to Vancouver. He rode for Real, Plan B, and Girl.

Thrasher - January 2001 Volume 21 Number 1

Dan Drehobl #34.

Freedumb flight.

Dan does a frontside air at Kempsey in New South Wales, Australia. This was from a trip down under with Brian Anderson, Brad Staba, Julien Stranger, and Tim Upson. Luke Ogden was the photographer. Jake Phelps was lurking in the background and I'm guessing he organized the ride. It's sort of an odd crew. The trip would have been from 2000 or very early 2001. Dan was on Think and Emerica at the time. Brad and Brian were both still on Toy Machine and wearing Saviers. The article was lean on words, but had lots of pictures of everybody. Luke even got a skate pic. I like how in your face and up close the photo is. It stands out even with all the text. I had to include this cover in the feature because Dan is one of my favorites and I think this was his only Thrasher cover.

Here's a Google street view of the park. Dan would've aired the hip on the front left. I like the skeleton sculpture and shoes hanging from the power lines.

The weather has remained in summer mode so I've been skateboarding most days. I hit up the Jamestown city park, too. I'm still not really skating so great for me and it's getting kind of frustrating. I'm trying to make it work, but it's a chore.

Luke Ogden was the photographer.

Thrasher - March 2001 Volume 21 Number 3

Darren Navarrette #18.

Guy in the sky.

I'm a fan of Darren and knew I wanted to include him in the cover feature. He graced the front of Thrasher with this vibrantly colored creature. It's a full blown 1980s style cut-out design with the relevant talking points of 2003. Those were some wild days, let me tell ya. Darren would've been on 151 at the time. He's wearing a pair of Emericas. I thought this was his only cover, but he was also on the front of The Skateboard Mag with Al Partanen back in 2008.

The photo is by Luke Ogden.

Thrasher - October 2003 Volume 23 Number 10

Julien Stranger #29.

Caution tape.

I had to pick a couple of Slap covers from my senior year of college. Slap was a welcome third voice in addition to what Thrasher and Transworld were publishing. They were a little more creative and arty while focusing on slightly more underground skateboarders. The music reviews were solid and more likely bands I was actually into. I put this feature together quickly so I'm not sure if I'd chosen the same two I scanned. I think I'd maybe have gone with Greg Hunt's cover instead, but I wasn't going to change anything once I got everything organized. You also can't go wrong with any Julien photos so that made this one an easy choice. I think he is wearing some Etnies or possibly some early run Emericas. I like how he's got "nose" written on the front of his board.

As was the case for the Rick Howard cover, there was no photographer credit for the picture. My guess would be Lance Dawes took the picture and didn't credit himself.

Slap - April 1996 Volume 5 Number 4

Ben Gore #7.

Ode to Kalis.

Dave Chami took this photo of Ben Gore at Fort Miley as a homage to the November 1995 issue of Transworld with Josh Kalis on the cover. The issue had interviews with Eric Koston and Guy Mariano plus a feature on the photography of Ari Marcopoulos. That collection of words and photographs is regarded as a high watermark in the legacy of Transworld. Of note is that Ben is wearing State shoes. I had two pairs of them and the shoes were awful. They were so uncomfortable that they didn't even cut it as chillers so I can't imagine skateboarding in them. That aside, Ben rips and is pro for Magenta.

Transworld - February 2017 Volume 35 Number 2

Rick Howard #20.

Green backside ollie.

I believe the story was that Rick wanted to skate vert so he built a ramp at the Girl headquarters. I know this was there for a while, but I don't recall the ramp getting the same amount of coverage other spots got. I imagine it was torn down when the Girl offices moved to a new location. The ramp would be mentioned in passing by assorted Crailtap staffers, creating an aura of mystery to the halfpipe since most of the team skated street. It produced this cool looking cover where Rick is wearing Converse.

There wasn't a photo credit for this one.

Slap - March 1996 Volume 5 Number 3

Ben Krahn #4.

Freedom summer.

If memory serves me correctly, the story behind this is the Big Brother crew took a trip to Philadelphia around about Independence Day. Ben is skating some private bowl/mini ramp creation with his dog Pee Wee. I probably should've skimmed through the issue as a refresher, but skipped it. I knew I had to include a Big Brother cover in the feature and this one looked about the best as an example of what their mag was all about. I almost went with the Cario Foster cover where they announced Larry Flynt as the new owner, but that's a whole other story. Ben rips and has ridden for a few companies over the years, including Lib-Tech, Emerica, and Blood Wizard.

The photo is by Rick Kosick.

Big Brother - September 2000 Number 64

Anthony Van Engelen #11.

Some of the covers I picked out are ones I see repeatedly when flipping through the stacks while tracking down stuff to scan. Repetition works. I like Anthony's board in the photo - a couple of stickers, lot of a solid color, and scratched out graphics. It looks cool. I'm not so sure how good the cover design is with the magazine's name in small text to the side and all the white. Running the photo as a full bleed and having a white S or maybe a red S with a white outline would be more dramatic and attention grabbing. The cover is from a few months after AVE and Jason Dill started the FA board company. I think he's still riding an Alien Workshop deck so it is probably an older picture. Eric Koston had a Nike ad from 2011 where he was frontside grinding the wall at the same spot.

Anthony Acosta was the photographer.

The Skateboard Mag - November 2013 Issue 116

Leo Romero #17.

"There was this man living out of his car in the parking lot of this famous rail. He went on and on about all the people he's seen skating it. When we got this trick he got excited. He couldn't believe that someone had gone up the rail when everyone else he had seen jumps down it. On the way home, we thought of the next group to go skate there and what this guy would tell them and how they would probably think he was crazy or something. Leo Romero breaking new ground. 50-50 up a rail." - John Bradford

Although Leo wasn't the first to go up a handrail, he did generate a lot of buzz when he went the wrong way up an eight stair. The trick was his ender in Emerica's Stay Gold. I picked this one because of how gnarly the grind was. It's an image that has staying power. I'm guessing Mark Gonzales or Natas Kaupas were the early pioneers of skating rails backwards. It also might have been Matt Hensley or somebody else on H-Street who used the boredom of being at skate camp as motivation to try going up an obstacle. Jeremy Wray, Paul Sharpe, Ed Templeton, and probably somebody on Shut have all dabbled in the field, too. A few years later Leo's fellow Tum Yeto employee Cole Wilson would 50-50 up a double kink for the cover of Transworld.

John Bradford was the photographer.

Skateboarder - May 2009 Volume 18 Number 9

Hugo Boserup.

"Hugo Boserup skates vert."

Imagine those words being said in the voice of the kid who introduces Mike Frazier in Stereo's Tincan Folklore video. This was a random find while putting together the covers feature. It's a totally sick photo. I'm not so sure about the layout Transworld was using at the end of their print run. It's serviceable enough graphic design work, but it lacks flavor. I guess they were counting on the photo to sell you on the mag, which it does.

I don't know too much about Hugo. He rides for Limosine and was part of Alex Olson's 917 team. I was stoked to see that he skates vert in Thrasher's video on the McTwist from a few months ago.

The picture is by Jonathan Mehring.

Transworld - January/February 2019 Issue 396

Daniel Powell.

The Only One I Know.

I've been thinking about magazine covers lately. I usually avoid scanning them for here for a couple of minor reasons, but thought I'd switch it up. The discussion over Jerry Hsu's recent Thrasher cover and the assorted interviews with pros at the Look Back Library have left me wondering what ones I liked. I tried to think of some different ones from over the years that have stuck with me for whatever reason. There was a mellow and haphazard selection process to pick out the ten I went with.

I believe Daniel is from the Atlanta area and rode for Underworld Element. It's a great photo of a low impact trick shot to make it look cool. The text frames the picture well and creates some bold points of emphasis. Even though it is from 1992, Daniel is wearing regular shorts, a Charlatans UK shirt, and chopped Vans. The fashion is much of the time, but also a little more timeless than the huge baggy shorts and oversized t-shirts of the era. The bands featured in interviews offer a bit of everything, with some classic hip hop, industrial, shoegaze, and arena rock. You get a couple of edgy Thrasher style blurbs to tease what is in the issue, too.

The photo is by Chris Ortiz.

Thrasher - October 1992 Volume 12 Number 10

Keith Hufnagel #17.

Reds & Blues.

It's Keith in his prime. There's not much else to say. He rode for DC before switching to DVS. Keith left DVS to develop a shoe line for his HUF clothing store. The shadows on the wall from the flashes are great in the photo. Sadly, Keith passed away five years ago around this time of the year. Finding the ad a little while ago was what motivated me to do the week of DVS.

Transworld - June 2000 Volume 18 Number 6

Daewon Song #8.

Construction pylons.

It doesn't get any more classic than Daewon skateboarding on picnic tables at a Los Angeles area schoolyard. I had a pair of these shoes. They were really good. They maybe wore out a tad fast due to the mesh on top, but otherwise the III was a solid sneaker for the turn of the century. I think Daewon stuck with DVS up until the end in 2015 or 2016 when he switched over to Adidas. DVS is still around to some extent and possibly focusing more on skateboarding again.

Transworld - December 2000 Volume 18 Number 12

Mike Crum #7.

"Mike, or the Nollie Lama as we call him, was my best friend during my transitional turning-pro stage. He got me into so much trouble and could somehow party like an ’80s vert skater. Oh yeah, because he was one! Crum is responsible for me getting a paycheck from Emerica and could nollie over your head. Thank you, Crum!" - Darren Navarrette

After keeping it real in the streets for years, DVS added Mike to the team in 1999. It's maybe somewhat odd to have a vert guy, but Mike was doing a lot of nollies and flip tricks on the big ramps so he fit in fine.

Shout out to Tim Anderson and Bobshirt. The Jack Sabback interview was really cool.

For the quote: Thrasher - February 2021 Volume 42 Number 2

Transworld - July 2000 Volume 18 Number 7

Richard Mulder & Mike York.

Double the chocolate.

Richard and Mike were both on Chocolate for much of the 1990s and early 2000s. Each had a stint on World Industries before switching to the Crailtap team. Richard also rode for Foundation and Mike was on Stereo in 1993. There was so much overlap between Chocolate and DVS that it's no wonder Mike Carroll and Rick Howard partnered with them when they launched Lakai in 1999. I dig the backside tailslide photo of Mike. Richard might be one of the first to explore becoming a real estate agent once the professional skateboarding ride was nearing the end. He had a clothing company called Heel Bruise, too.

Richard: Transworld - October 2000 Volume 18 Number 10

Mike: Transworld - September 2000 Volume 18 Number 9

Jeron Wilson #6.

Blue streak.

I figured after a week of Axion, DVS would be good for the next round. It's a little wild how many different shoes Axion and DVS had in the late 1990s and early 2000s when skateboarding still supported its native cobblers. These days you're a lucky pro if Nike grants you a colorway of a Dunk.

J-Dubs was on Real and Blind before settling in for the long haul at Girl. I think he's on the staff at the Nine Club interview show these days.

Transworld - August 2000 Volume 18 Number 8

Guy Mariano #9.

"Mystery is style. Our society thrives on the unknown and what exists in the shadows. The reason: that which we know little of, allows us room for modification and imagination. Enter Guy Mariano. Sponsored for nearly a decade, and not yet two decades old, he has managed to stay at the forefront of skateboarding while at the same time remaining virtually unheard of." - Joel Patterson

Guy spins a switch 360 flip across a school courtyard gap. Joel's quote is from Guy's 1995 Transworld interview. He mostly discusses how he started skateboarding, the hi-jinx of riding for World Industries, and switching to Girl. He does mention that he was working with Converse on some shoe designs. Eric Pupecki was the other rider on the team. He would be on Axion a couple of years later.

I've been breaking in some new shoes this past week. It's been going about as well as can be expected for somebody who hasn't been skating too well for the last couple of months. It's probably going to be a week of DVS up next.

The photograph is by Seu Trinh.

For the quote: Transworld - November 1995 Volume 12 Number 11

Big Brother - October 2000 Number 65

J.B. Gillet.

International man of mystery.

I don't know too much about JB. I assume he's had some interviews over the decades, but nothing turned up in a lazy search of the archives. JB has always had a fair amount of coverage in the US mags and ridden for some quality sponsors so he must be doing something right. His French connection part with Lucas Puig and JJ Rousseau in Lakai's Fully Flared video is a great showcase of Euro tech skateboarding.

Out of curiosity, what size boards are people riding these days? How long does a pair of trucks last on average?

The sequence is by Seu Trinh. JT got the product pic.

Big Brother - September 2000 Number 64

Mike Maldonado #6.

Poison venom speed.

I like how the Axion team expanded to included skaters that weren't only doing fresh ledge tech. I think the story is Brian Anderson was wearing the shoes since they happened to be making a shoe big enough to fit his feet. Obviously him being a total ripper and winning SOTY when SOTY still mattered made it an easy move to add BA to the crew. I would imagine the Toy Machine connection partially assisted in Mike getting on as well. I know Erik Ellington was running Axions a lot before he was on Emerica. It would've been cool to see him on the team, too.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson with the shoe picture by Dia.

Big Brother - August 2000 Number 63

Caine Gayle #5.

The winner's circle.

Caine takes a noseslide to the top shelf over a handrail. He was riding for DC before switching to Axion. Caine would have had a connection to Kareem Campbell since they both rode for assorted World Industries/Dwindle companies in the 1990s. That's how he would also be sponsored by All City/City Stars when Plan B folded. I believe the rumor was a few guys split from DC because a few of the newer riders were going to be given pro model shoes before the veterans got their own custom kicks. I have no idea how much truth there was to that rumor. Caine would go on to ride for Genetic, Airwalk's spinoff brand with the gross out medical themed ads, after the Axion ended.

The photo is by Atiba Jefferson.

Big Brother - April 2000 Number 59

Kareem Campbell #8.

Action.

Axion was Kareem's shoe company in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The brand made a couple of brief returns in the years since, but unfortunately it has not stuck around. They were definitely on the fresh side of spectrum, back when we classified skateboarding as either fresh or hesh. It's all a strange jumble these days. Kareem had been pro for Duffs and went on to start Axion with Steve Rocco's backing. He would later take the company with him when he split to do All City and City Stars. I think everything came to an end around about 2002 or 2003. Axion had some slick looking shoes paired with a somewhat unusual and well rounded team.

Atiba Jefferson took the photo of Kareem and JT got the product photo. Meanwhile, Nike can't be bothered to put rider names in their videos.

Big Brother - January 2000 Number 56

Omar Salazar #7.

Unsafe playground techniques.

Omar's wild slide hippie jump was in Mind Field, the Alien Workshop video from 2009. It's hard to tell in the sequence, but he's landing on the bottom of small bank or maybe even a quarterpipe. Omar rode for Foundation and Rasa Libre before Alien. Once the Workshop closed up, he expanded his Doomsayers project to include boards. Nike dug him enough to give him a pro model shoe. I like the freewheeling and reckless excitement of how Omar skates.

There has been rain over the week so I haven't been able to skateboard much. I set up a new board the other night. The old one was beat. I'm hoping the weather is better and I have a little more time to roll for the long weekend.

Vert Is Dead is taking a summer break.

I'm unsure when I'll fire this thing up again. It will probably be on Monday, September 8th. I don't have any ideas for scanning at the moment either. I was thinking maybe some Axion stuff. That's only speculation at this point. Have a good holiday weekend.

Slap - August 2008 Volume 17 Number 8

Guy Mariano #8.

Stoop trick.

I thought this trick was in Fully Flared, but it wasn't. It sure looks like something that would be in that video. I always forget Guy also skates a bunch of handrails in his part. As the years pass, Fully Flared starts to seem a tad less polarizing and more a document of a particular era of skateboarding, for better or worse. I don't see Nike's Nothing But The Truth aging in the same manner.

I used to be a fan of the Spitfire thins, maybe only because they looked cool. They reminded me of the small wheels of the low 1990s, but were larger so they were more functional than those silly bearing covers.

Slap - July 2008 Volume 17 Number 7

Massimo Cavedoni #2.

Inside track.

The former Real and Vans am takes a backside lipslide the distance on the inner side of a bench. He's venturing into some Torey Pudwill territory on this one, perhaps even before Torey was doing similar stunts. I'm not sure what happened to Massimo. He was really good at well crafted technical street skateboarding.

Slap - May 2008 Volume 17 Number 5

John Cardiel #20.

Cards slashes a frontside grind in a bowl. We are right about at the 30 year anniversary of Anti-Hero. The public debut of the company came in an ad in the September 1995 issue of Thrasher. The original team was John, Bob Burnquist, Julien Stranger, Sean Young, and Eric Jalovaara. A photo of Mick-e Reyes was also included in the advertisement. All hail.

Slap - April 2008 Volume 17 Number 4

Grant Taylor & James Hardy.

Classy Southern gentlemen.

A young Grant Taylor and the late James Hardy wreck some stair spots for Spitfire. They made a good call by sponsoring both of these guys. Since everybody is stoked on Johnny Wilson's new Spitfire video featuring his brother Andrew, Cyrus Bennett, Karim Callender, Antonio Durao, and Max Palmer, I thought a week of their older ads with none of those dudes in the video made sense.

Slap - February 2008 Volume 17 Number 2

Clint Peterson.

Mad ill switch crooks in the nite-nite.

Clint is part of the Minneapolis skate scene that produced Steve Nesser, Emeric Pratt, Seth McCalum, Todd Bratud, and a bunch of others. At a tradeshow in 2001, a possibly drunk Jake Phelps suggested to Consolidated that Clint should be pro. They honored Jake's request. Clint departed for Stereo in 2003 when Jason Lee and Chris Pastras restarted the company. He and Benny Fairfax were the first two new riders on the team. Clint had the connection to Chris from riding for Osiris. He is into woodworking and making art.

There has been occasional rain all week so skateboarding has been spotty. I did roll at the park for a little bit last night. One of teens who has been skating there often rigged up an old SONY video camera so it outputs to digital instead of a tape. I'm curious to see how it works. I'm not sure what I'll be posting next week. Have a good weekend.

For the info: Skateboarder - May 2006 Volume 15 Number 9

Transworld - August 2011 Volume 29 Number 8

Alex Schmidt.

Alex is from Leucadia, Califronia. He was on Toy Machine flow before landing on Stereo. As of 2007, his favorite food was sushi and the first video he saw was either Transworld's Uno or Etnies' High Five. He is presently pro for WKND. His other sponsors include Butter Goods and Pepper Griptape. Alex has appeared in videos for Josh Stewart and the Threads Collective.

That new Spitfire video with Karim Callender, Antonio Durio, Max Palmer, Cyrus Bennett, and more was really fun.

The photo is by Ryan Lusteg.

For the info: Skateboarder - April 2007 Volume 16 Number 8

Transworld - October 2011 Volume 29 Number 10

Josiah Gatlyn.

Josiah is from Pikeville, North Carolina. He relocated to Los Angeles and eventually moved back east to Miami. His introduction to the skateboard world came from being on The Berrics, Steve Berra and Eric Koston's indoor skatepark with a website. This led to him being sponsored by Stereo and later Zero. Josiah figured his skateboarding career wasn't going to last very long and he prepared for it as such by focusing on developing skills as an animator and designer.

Shout out to Black Phaze.

Scott Quintavalle was the photographer.

Transworld - April 2011 Volume 29 Number 4

Joe Pease.

Joe is from Brisbane, Australia. He was getting boards from Mystery before being added to the Stereo team. His other sponsors included Modus Bearings and Theeve Trucks. He might have been receiving shoes from Lakai to some extent because that's all he is wearing in his welcome to Stereo video from 2011. This crooked grind was in the part. It looks like Joe is an artist working with animations and video art.

Ryan Allan took the photo.

Transworld - July 2011 Volume 29 Number 7

Benny Fairfax.

Stereo Sound Agency.

Stereo returned from the instrument storage cabinet in 2003. Initially, Jason Lee and Chris Pastras partnered with Giant for distribution. Matt Irving was brought in to be the art director. At the time, Jason had gotten back into skateboarding and Chris was working as the team manager at Osiris. Clint Peterson and Benny Fairfax were the first two new riders. Stereo separated from Giant and went the independent route in 2006. I'm making an educated guess here because it wasn't something I was following, but I think the Berrics were helping promote the relaunched Stereo. I know a bunch of the younger guys at the skatepark were into the company around 2010 and I imagine being featured on the Berrics helped introduce Stereo to a new audience that wasn't around for the glory days of the 1990s.

Benny is from New Milton in England and also grew up on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. He rode for Stereo up until 2013 when he switched to Palace. Benny is sponsored by Adidas and possibly does Wayward Wheels with Andrew Brophy. I really like the design of this ad. They totally nailed the vintage Stereo look.

The photo is by Daniel Wagner.

For the info: Slap - February 2008 Volume 17 Number 2

Transworld - March 2011 Volume 29 Number 3

Stevie Williams #6.

Run, skate, chill.

Nike recently kicked up a little dust with their 30th anniversary rerelease of the Air Max 95 sneaker. They borrowed a quote from Stevie's part in The Reason, Transworld's video from 1999, and didn't exactly attribute it to him. Stevie was included in the promotional video for the shoe, but not mentioned otherwise. He was not overly thrilled. This led to some valid discussion on the internet about the appropriation of skateboarding's culture and whatnot. After giving it some time, I decided Nike is always going to do dumb stuff, but people are going to keep buying the shoes regardless of how bad a job the Swoosh does at anything. Failing to cite a source isn't going to cost them any business. Shrugs shoulders.

I've been skateboarding slightly better this week. Nothing fancy, but I'll take it. I am not sure if I'll post anything next week. Have a good weekend.

Transworld - January 2013 Volume 31 Number 1

Dane Vaughn.

"He lives the skate life, has a scum stash, and mega pop: the three things that'll make you a star!" - Josh Kalis

Dane is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In his Transworld Check Out from April 2012, he was only listed as being flow for DGK. That's about nine months after this ad ran. Anyway, some of his favorites from those days included Cajun food, Fred Gall, the late CJ Tamborino, and the iPhone 4. I think he is still pro for DGK. Dane was listed as being on flow for DC Shoes and switched over to Supra. He was also on KR3W and Venture.

For the quote: Transworld - April 2012 Volume 30 Number 4

Transworld - July 2011 Volume 29 Number 11

Rodrigo Teixeira #4.

Circling back around.

Rodrigo rode for DGK from 2011 until 2016 when he left to ride for Numbers. This was the short lived company run by Eric Koston and Guy Mariano. He went back to DGK in the summer of 2024. Prior to DGK, Rodrigo was on Flip. He was on éS for shoes before joining up with Adidas.

Transworld - May 2011 Volume 29 Number 5

Wade DesArmo.

Top of the World.

Wade is from Ottawa, Ontario. He turned pro for DGK and was on the team for a long time until he got an invite from Paul Rodriguez to ride for Primitive. His current sponsors are Primitive, éS, Thunder, and Bones Bearings.

Transworld - January 2011 Volume 29 Number 1

Josh Kalis #15.

SILAK.

Josh beamed off the Alien Workshop in 2009 after the Mind Field video. It made a lot of sense for him to ride for DGK since his friend Stevie Williams runs the company. He's been on DGK for 15 years now. Even as he approaches 50, Josh is still holding it down for proper technical ledge skating in addition to building an indoor skatepark and driving remote controlled cars. It's a little odd seeing Josh in a Yankees hat. He recently launched his own sweatpants company called Silak.

Transworld - October 2010 Volume 28 Number 10

Kevin Terpening #3.

Swimming on land.

After riding for the Alien Workshop and FA, Kevin moved back to Ohio from Los Angeles a few years ago. He started Swim Skateboards. Former HUF teammate Dan Plunkett soon joined the new board brand. They somewhat recently added Ethan Loy to the team. "Scuba" Steve Chalme hooked Kevin up with éS back when Kevin was an am for Alien in the post Mindfield days. He would go on to ride for HUF and Nike.

I had a couple of what passes as decent for me right now skateboarding days this week. Last night was a clunker because I didn't feel like skating, but did anyway. I wasted a bunch of the evening trying to figure out if one of my car's tires had an air leak. It did. I got it fixed up this morning at the tire place around the corner from my office. Have a good weekend.

Transworld - December 2010 Volume 28 Number 12

John Rattray #7.

The Migrating Bird.

John was on Osiris prior to éS. After éS ended, he popped in for a year at New Balance before taking a job with Nike. This trick was in his part in Cold War, the Zero video from 2013. He's wearing an assortment of éS, Adidas, and New Balance in the section.

I got the new Grains video on DVD the other day. I watched about 15 minutes of Tollway last night before I was too tired and had to go to bed. I hate to throw around the phrase "Instant Classic", but Kevin DelGrosso has done it again with his well titled and meticulously crafted approach to documenting skateboarding in the Midwest.

Transworld - August 2010 Volume 28 Number 8