Josh Matthews.

Touch of Orange.

These are actually the trucks I am currently riding. I liked the orange color and bought a set even though they were skinnier than what I prefer to ride. I browsed around the big box of old trucks that I have and found two fresh hangers in silver to use. And that's what I've been using to hold the wheels on my board for almost a decade now. I did replace a cracked hanger and changed the bushings at some point, but they have kept on going otherwise.

Note: The ad skewed far into the red. The trucks are much more orange in real life.

Slap - October 2008 Volume 17 Number 10

Soy Panday.

Magenta in B & W.

The artist for Magenta does a 360 flip to fakie on a piece of sculpture.

Dekline was a footwear brand that Tod Swank started in 2003. It lasted until 2015. Over the years, the team included Aaron "Jaws" Homoki, Chad Tim Tim, Jason Adams, Ben Gilley, Shiloh Greathouse, Patrick Melcher, and a few others.

Transworld - July 2008 Volume 26 Number 7

Mark Gonzales #21.

Nifty, nifty, look who's fifty.

Thrasher and Adidas recently celebrated a half century of the Gonz by recreating the famous y-shaped mini ramp with the channel from an ancient NSA contest in Hawaii. The old guy still has it and was able to land the ollie across the void, just like when he rode for Vision.

I picked out a bunch of stuff from 2008 for the next month or so of content. I figured it would be a good time to look back at what was happening in skateboarding when I started this website.

Transworld - October 2008 Volume 26 Number 10

Skateboard Mask.

It wards off evil spirits.

I’m always down to give away old decks to people who need a board. The guy I gave this one to was a ripper and he broke it flying off a ramp. He showed up a week or two later at the skatepark and gave me this sculpture he made out of the board.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Tuesday, May 29th. Enjoy the weekend.

Mike Rafter.

"This is more like your average street creature."

Mike is from Sacramento, California. He rode for Arsenal before switching to Creature. He was also sponsored by Shaft, Voice, and later, Santa Cruz. His favorite movie is Evil Dead. Some of his favorite skaters include Cairo Foster, Ron Whaley, Brian Anderson, and Jeff Toland. Mike was into painting, too.

I always put one sticker on my board by the back truck. I'm not personally into covering a deck with stickers, but it's good to have a minimal amount of decoration. I had been using the Eswic shield logo from Jimmy Arrighi's now folded clothing company since I had a ton of them. I decided I had to change to a currently active entity and thought about what companies I liked. I always enjoy Creature videos so I ordered up a 25 pack of their small logo stickers so I'm all set.

I have the t-shirt of the skull with the horns in this ad. I got to the skateshop and my friend who was working told me they had pulled the plug on Creature so he saved me the shirt. I'll wear it occasionally for Halloween or other random days. It's held up pretty good over the years, not that it gets worn too often.

The photo is by Lance Dalgart.

For the quote and information: Big Brother - February 1999 Issue 45

Big Brother - December 1998 Issue 43

Mike Manzoori #4.

No groove.

Mike transitioned from being pro to making videos. He recently completed Album, the new video from Etnies. I need to check that out at some point.

Gullwing is running a solid team in this ad.

Slap - November 1998 Volume 7 Number 11

Ben Liversedge #5.

The real number of the beast is 50-50.

(Read that in a Mark Gonzales style voice.)

Slap - August 1998 Volume 7 Number 8