Eric Jay.

You gotta chuckle at the substitution of the parrot for the eagle.

Eric was an amateur for Anti-Hero. In addition to a bunch of ripping on transitions and pools, he is possibly most known for pushing a rollerblader out of the way in their untitled video from 1998.

Thrasher - May 2003 Volume 23 Number 5

Darrell Stanton.

Darrell turned pro for Real in 2003. He's got a lanky and effortless style with massive pop on tricks like switch backside 180s and switch heelflips. He was riding for Vans and then switched to DC. He also left Real for a brief stint on the reformed Plan B. After Plan B, he joined up with Element. As far as I know he still rides for them, although he seems to have fallen in the vortex of disappearance that surrounds that company. Darrell did get a photo sequence in the 100th issue of the Skateboard Mag doing a cannonball to 5-0 down a handrail so maybe he's got some gas left in the tank. I hope so. I liked what he was doing back when he was on Real.

Props to the Mag for hitting 100.

Thrasher - January 2003 Volume 23 Number 1

Greg Lutzka.

Welcome to 2003. It's going to be a fun and quick trip through the year.

No, really Lutzka was on Krooked for a little bit. He even got an ad. Krooked was started out of Deluxe in 2003 as Mark Gonzales' company. Lutzka had been riding for Illenium. He wasn't on Krooked very long and then joined up with Almost at Dwindle. Although I don't think Almost existed in 2003, it probably was in the works. These days he's riding for Darkstar.

Thrasher - July 2003 Volume 23 Number 7

Mark Gonzales #13.

The Gonz with a noseslide down a big handrail.

The Chrome Ball Incident has a great interview with Tod Swank today.

Heavy Metal Chuck is subliminally influencing my beer selection. I'm not usually a Miller High Life drinker, but the convenience store by my place has been stocking High Life Tall Boys lately so I've been opting for those over PBR for when I just want one cheap beer.

Later 2002. It will be 2003 on Tuesday. Have a good weekend.

Thrasher - January 2002 Volume 22 Number 1

Kevin Taylor #2.

"The "Hydrant Gap," first made famous by Ricky, or was it Eric Ruwadi? Or was it Damian's... forget it, the "Hydrant Gap" f-cking sucks. But Kevin Taylor's switch hardflip is gangster."

Filling in the week with Philadelphia.

It's another photo by Shawn "Frankie" Brodsky.

Strength - October 2002

Mike Bouchard #2.

"Smith grind while on a Ricky Mission."

The dearly departed Mike Bouchard.

A Ricky Mission refers to skating with Ricky Oyola. At the time Ricky had a bunch of refrigerators and other obstacles that he would take to spots to make them more interesting. The end result might only be a 5-0 or a tailslide, but when you do it on something rigged up that looks different and is difficult to skate, the effort is worth it. You don't always have to blizzard flip into a grind and then impossible out.

If anybody has any pictures or stories of Mike, please email them to his sister Pamela. Her email is djandbg at msn.com. Be sure to label the message in the subject line as Mike Bouchard so she will know it isn't spam. The family misses him a whole lot and any positive things about Mike's skateboarding are appreciated.

Note: This was a spread across two pages. That's why the milk crates look a little weird on the bottom.

The photo is by Shawn "Frankie" Brodsky.

Strength - October 2002

Josh Kalis #3.

Boom box.

I guess I've watched more of the Transworld Cinematographer project than I thought I have. The Alien Workshop section is my favorite so far. I like Mike Manzoori's part. The video has a lot of Mark Gonzales in it.

I'm going to finish the week out with 2002 and then start on 2003 next Tuesday. I'll probably do 2003 for all of June and then do 2004 for July. I'm curious what sort of stuff I've forgotten about in the years since then.

Shawn "Frankie" Brodsky was the photographer.

Strength - October 2002