Tommy Guerrero #4.

Chickens can fly.

Tommy was one of the first to turn pro for street skating way back in the 1980s. He rode for Powell Peralta and then started Real with Jim Thiebaud. He eventually retired from the pro ranks to move behind the scenes, but still pops up in the mags every so often. Tommy ran the classic clothing company Forties. He has put together a successful musical career over years, in addition to managing things at Deluxe.

Real has a new clip where they recreated the famous sequence of Mark Gonzales ollieing over Max Schaaf on a motorcycle. This time around they tapped Jake Donnelly and Ishod Wair for the stunt duty. Jake pulled off the ollie and then landed a kickflip over a speeding Ishod. Good times.

I voted for Colin Provost for SOTY.

I did a little organizing of the Vert Is Dead video archives last night. I wanted to watch Brent Atchley's pro debut video from Element for some reason. I discovered the DVD has a 15 minute Element team video called Elementality Vol. 1 Black and White. It's all in BW and has no music, just the sounds of skateboarding. I wonder where they got that idea from? The vid has mostly shared parts with skateboarding from Jacob Rupp, Tosh Townend, Colt Cannon, and Jeremy Wray. Bam Margera and a young Nyjah Houston have solo parts. Tosh goes beast mode on a few spots and any Jeremy Wray footage is worthwhile.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, December 2. It will be the traditional throw back December to the 1988-1990 era of skateboarding starting with a week of freestyle. I'm going to lurk around the comments on the Chrome Ball Incident to see if I can take care of any random requests that might be floating around there, too. Think Monty Nolder. Have a good Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.

Slap - January 1999 Volume 8 Number 1

Skip Pronier #5.

Exit light, enter night.

Skip is a Huntington Beach local with a habit of finding secret spots. He rode for the Black Label, Vans, and TSA Clothing. I need to scan his old Transworld interview sometime.

Slap - December 1998 Volume 7 Number 12

Kien "Donger" Lieu #2.

Massive ollies.

I've always liked Lieu's approach to skateboarding. He just cruises down the street and ollies or grinds everything that gets in the way. Maybe it isn't always the hardest tricks, but it is how the tricks are done that makes all the difference. Everything is landed perfectly. You can draw a line from him to modern day street blasters like Brandon Westgate, Colin Provost, Alex Olson, and maybe Dennis Busenitz a little.

Lieu rode for Dynasty, Maple, Planet Earth, Life, and H-Street over the years. He also had a pro shoe from Puma in the late 90s as part of their skateboard footwear effort with Alan Petersen. He might have a board out on the modern day Assault Skates. That company seems to be making decks for all sorts of early 1990s obscure legends.

I gave skateboarding a try last night at the local park. I had my suspicions that the lights were still on and it turned out they were. It was cold, but there was no wind so it wasn't too bad. My shoes are getting old so my toes got a little numb. The only catch was the lights shut off an hour earlier because the timer never was adjusted after the DST switch.

Slap - August 1998 Volume 7 Number 8

Eric Jay #2.

The eagle is eighteen.

Eric was an am for Anti-Hero. He vanished sometime in the early 2000s. Thrasher recently had an article about Anti-Hero with quotes from everybody who was on the team, except for Eric.

It looks like Enrique Lorenzo has joined the growing number of pros who have started their own board companies. His deck brand is called Louw and is based out of Barcelona, Spain. The team includes Enrique, Octavio Barrera, Pol Catena, and Felipe Bartolome.

Slap - April 1998 Volume 7 Number 4

Tim Upson #5.

Hardtimes Manufacturing.

I figure after a week of Tracker, you have to do a week of Independent.

Upson rode for Black Label and Anti-Hero. He started Hardtimes a few years ago. Tim was also on Dan Drehobl's Freedumb Clothing, which is now back in business.

Slap - March 1998 Volume 7 Number 3

Mark Gonzales #16.

Nobody ever believes the Gonz rode for Tracker.

Transworld - November 1991 Volume 9 Number 11

Steve Berra #3.

When it's cold I'd like to die.

Steve rode for Blockhead and Tracker before riding for Birdhouse. There were stops at 101 and Television in there as well prior to a long stint on the Foundation, a second tour of duty at Birdhouse and then the Alien Workshop. He transitioned from being a vert guy to a street guy and filmed a bunch of solid parts over the years. Steve also made the in house truck switch from Tracker to Orion in the mid 1990s. Reoccurring ankle injuries have reduced his board time in the last few years.

What's up with the music in the new Zero video? Is that what the kids are listening to on their headphones? Granted I'm watching Cold War in pieces as it gets posted on Thrasher's website so it might not fully make sense, but whatever Jamie Thomas skated to was horrid. I only made it through half his part and shut it off. Sorry.

Spike Jonze took the photos.

Transworld - September 1992 Volume 10 Number 9