Shawn Mandoli.

I feel like J.A. Andade whenever he wins on Around The Horn and has his "Andade Lounge" bit, but I'd like to welcome Shawn Mandoli to the Vert Is Dead Lounge. Thanks for checking out the site. Here's an ad where nobody almost died, unlike that Real one from the other week. The Deluxe Store has had some dope ads over the years.

Thrasher - January 1994 Volume 14 Number 1

Mike Carroll #2.

Thanks for the link the other day, Sanger. Here's a picture of one of your bosses from the 1991 Thrasher Calendar. MC frontside blunt slides in San Francisco. This is another example of a cool looking board set up. Blue anodized Indys, H - Street green deck, blue rails and a sticker collage in the middle. Might those be A - 1 Meats for wheels? You can even see the spray paint on the Airwalks.

The photo is by Bill Thomas.

Todd Congelliere #2.

My boards never looked cool compared to what the pros rode. I never had the skinny rails or the World Industries Bedpan risers. I still want a set of those things. That bear is awesome.

The high point of Todd's career in terms of contests was when he got 5th at the NSA Norfolk Pro Vert contest in the fall of 1990.* Tony Hawk won, Jeff Kendall got second, Omar Hassan was in third and Chris Miller placed fourth.

* As far as I can tell the contest was in late 1990 since the coverage was in early 1991. There was no date listed in the Transworld article. I don't think it would have been in 1991 since the magazines had a longer turnaround time from event to print than today.

Thrasher - October 1990 Volume 10 Number 10

Todd Congelliere #1.

Todd wasn't around for very long in the skateboard world, but he made quite an impression before moving on. He could do any bigspin variation on vert - bigspin to disaster, bigspin to back tail, etc. There was even an appearance in the tours/demos section of Plan B's Questionable. He started the band F.Y.P while riding for Mike Smith's Liberty and created Recess Records, which is still going today. Liberty was backed by Steve Rocco. Todd and Mike were the pros. A vert only company wasn't going to last in the early 1990s and Liberty was soon gone.

Thrasher - October 1990 Volume 10 Number 10

Jovontae Turner.

I didn't care for World Industries' Love Child video when it came out. I was expecting something more like Plan B's Questionable. Instead it was a bunch of little kids who looked even smaller by their oversized clothes and an oldies soundtrack. The oldies didn't fly by my freshman year of college taste in punk rock. I can't really say I like that type of sound today either. The baggy clothes I guess were fine by 1992 standards, but turquoise is a nasty color no matter what year or size. As time went on, I noticed people started saying that this was a good video. I gave it another chance and although it will never be one of my favorites, Love Child does have its moments. Or at the least it launched the careers of guys like Chico Brenes, Spencer Fujimoto and Daewon Song. Shiloh Greathouse deserves some props, too. However, Jovantae Turner skated like a grown man with proper style in this sea of Bob shirts and 42" Blind jeans. I watched Love Child recently on the VCR and I wish he had given us a few more full video parts instead of disappearing.

Luke Ogden took the photo at Wallenberg.

Transworld - August 1991 Volume 9 Number 8

Double Dip.

Some of the older guys in my town were pissed off when skateboards started to evolve into the precursor of the popsicle shape that we take for granted today. This was in 1990 and 1991 before things got worse or better, depending on your point of view. They hated freestyle and double tails. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that skateboarding was changing and having a nose the same as the tail on a board was much more functional. Of course some of the early attempts at having a symmetrical board were nasty. Vision tried and there was a Powell Tony Hawk that resembled a barn door. Or an uncut Naked blank. Does anybody else remember Naked? Their whole deal was that you could order an uncut blank and make your own shape. It made for an ideal shop class project. Too bad the idea sounds better on paper than in reality. When one of my friend's tried it out, the end result sucked. Of course he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and a high school shop isn't going to have all the fancy tools that a woodshop geared toward the production of skateboards is going to have.

Transworld - February 1990 Volume 8 Number 2

Phil Shao #4.

"Nosegrab backside air over the wood extension at Jim's."

Although he's gone now, we can be thankful Phil graced the Earth with his presence.

Luke Ogden took the photo.

Note: I'm going through old scans I hadn't posted. I've got a week off for Thanksgiving and I'm planning on getting a lot of new stuff ready to upload. There will probably be some sort of big Jeff Phillips tribute around Christmas time.

Thrasher - January 1998 Volume 18 Number 1