Taylor Kirby #3.

Krew for Kristmas.

I'm not afraid of making cheesy jokes at this point. Taylor has been on Deathwish for a long time. He would've been an am at the time of the above ad and is still holding down professional status for them. He's wearing Circas in the photo and would later ride for Vans. There appear to be Nikes on his feet these days. I'm a fan of Taylor's skateboarding. He seems like a good dude, too.

Nice to see a Jon Sciano clip make an appearance in the latest episode of This Old Ledge. Ted Barrow breaks down the history of the famed Los Angeles Mall brick quarterpipes.

Skateboarding was again snowed out over the weekend. The snow was dicey enough and the temperatures cold enough that doing the drive to an indoor park wasn't appealing. I was also kind of worn out from the last couple of weeks and attempted to get caught up with things. I'm not sure I did a great job at it. I did start planning out the look back on 2024 for next year. I organized the magazine stacks, too. The weather looks a tad better going forward for the week.

Have a good holiday, everybody.

Thrasher - May 2015 Volume 36 Number 5

Ben Schroeder #6.

Blasting into the void.

My best guess is Ben is skating a street course setup and doing a lipslide from the ramp to what is probably another a ramp. The caption said it was a lipslide, but I can't exactly figure out the approach and landing. Nobody was doing flyouts to a straight ledge in 1989 so I don't think it would be that. It could be some type of mini ramp that was being taken apart or put together, too.

It was a dry and calm 34˚ F yesterday so I got to skateboard at the park for a little bit before the sun set. I retired my Ventures with the orange hangers and have been skating a new set of trucks. This set has silver hangers with orange baseplates. They are much of an improvement for grinds and ollies are more stable. The only catch is that they don't catch on coping so axle stalls and feebles are kind of dicey until I get them broken in. The upcoming forecast looks damp, but maybe the weather will skew to the mild side.

Note: I photoshopped out a page number, a caption, and the bottom of edge of a Jason Lee picture for the sake of a better photo to use.

The photo is by Dan Sturt.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

Allen Losi #4.

Ollie to fakie.

This is Al's Poweredge interview from 1989. He talks about his roots, skating for Variflex, the parks in California, being pro, the contest scene, pools, and trick innovation.

I've skated twice in December thus far, which is the fewest days I've skated in a month in probably over a decade. The weather has been appropriately seasonal so there have been a couple snow days the last two weeks. I had a head cold in there somewhere, too. It's thrown me off schedule for doing Vert Is Dead, too. We usually catch intermittent breaks from the precipitation, but not this go round. The snow we've gotten has been more than manageable, minus the inept plow guy who is supposed to get the driveway at my apartment. I'm really hoping for a mild finish to the year.

Congrats to Jamie Foy on winning his second SOTY.

The interview is by Alec Schroeder. The photos are by Alec, Mike Ballard, Sin Egelja, and Rick Kosick.

Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Dan Drehobl & Peter Hewitt.

Vocal Testing.

Everybody knows that Dan and Pete are rippers. The wall jam rock to fakie is sick.

I voted for Deedz in the SOTY finals because he skated to Xiu Xiu. It's a bummer Antonio Durao didn't make the second round because his skating was more exciting than a whole lot of the other choices.

The photographs are by Ed Dominick.

Dan: Thrasher - April 2009 Volume 29 Number 4

Pete: Thrasher - March 2009 Volume 29 Number 3

Emmanuel Guzman #5.

Above the black hole.

Emmanuel takes a backside tailside across a giant ditch gap. I like the sense of depth and the sky in the photo caused by the distortion from the fisheye. If I still did more photography, I should invest in a fisheye lens. It would be an interesting new tool to have.

I did manage to get all the snow cleared out of the driveway on Saturday. It warmed up for Sunday and I got skateboard for a while in the afternoon. I didn't think that would happen at the start of the weekend so it was nice surprise. It's been rainy and foggy the last two days and we are due to acquire more snow later today. What are ya gonna do?

Ed Dominick was the photographer.

Thrasher - January 2009 Volume 29 Number 1

J.T. Aultz #3.

Drastic Actions.

J.T. had a short and sweet part in Real's Real To Reel video from 2001. He was still am at the time and put together a solid mix of street tech with some handrails. J.T. turned pro in 2004. He was riding for Circa and switched over to 88 Footwear, which changed into Vox. They granted him a pro shoe. He would later ride for Osiris.

The photo is by Gabe Morford. You don't always realize how many pics this guy has taken over the years.

Thrasher - December 2008 Volume 28 Number 12

Tyler Surrey.

Tyler grew up in San Diego and moved out to Barcelona, Spain on a SK8MAFIA trip in the mid 2010s. He's been living there ever since. New Balance now sponsors his feet. He keeps putting together unique parts of smartly crafted technical street skateboarding year after year.

The photo sequence is by Ed Dominick.

Thrasher - October 2008 Volume 28 Number 10