Ryan Lay #7.

Magic Trick.

I'm sentimental for the days when Welcome was the company featuring unique art paired with obscure synth pop and post-punk music from the 1980s and 1990s. I guess they are still that, but they tapped into something special when they made Fetish, one of the better videos of the last 10 years. Ryan Lay is an all time great and it's good that people like him are involved in skateboarding.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, January 13th. It will be a review of selected highlights from 2024.

I feel like I should write a few words to wrap things up, but I don't really have much to say this go round. Skateboarding went pretty well for much of the year until we got served with some actual winter in December. The times I did skate this month were all solid, except for today's quick lunch break session. The breeze picked up right when I got to the park so I'm going to be haunted by a sloppy boardslide on a curb until the next time I get to skateboard.

Happy New Year, everybody!

The photograph is by Kyle Seidler.

Thrasher - May 2015 Volume 36 Number 5

The Back Forty.

The future is so bright that you have to wear shades.

This is one of those total headscratcher ads. I think the Back Forty was something Marc Johnson did out of Crailtap. I'm not sure if it was ever intended to be a board brand or was simply Marc being silly. Chris Roberts and Kenny Anderson were also on what I guess would be the team. Kenny did have a skateboarding sequence ad a couple months later. I don't think the project lasted more than a year.

Thrasher - April 2014 Volume 35 Number 4

Chet Childress #13.

Brakes.

Chet is another person I never realized rode for Krew. I like that weird ramp picture.

We are in our annual end of the year warm up so I'm taking advantage of it before winter comes back. I took a little longer on my lunch break to skateboard at the park and then didn't really land crap. The day job has been confusing and that was looming over me. I have to get work done first before I can relax. Hope everybody has a good weekend. I'll do two posts next week and then be taking the traditional January break.

The photos are by Robin Pailler.

Thrasher - October 2015 Volume 36 Number 10

Tom Knox #2.

Rad dad.

I was surprised Tom was on Krew. Dickies is his current clothing sponsor. He was on New Balance and has scored a pro shoe in the years since this ad. I think he was on Isle in 2015 and presently rides for Krooked.

Our winter has chilled out a little so I have been able to skateboard at the local park the last two days. I think the weather will be staying on the mild side for the next week or so. I'm giving a pair of shoes from the Ascis skateboarding line a try, too. They seem fine so far. They also don't seem overly impressive either. There's no real difference between them and the few remaining skater owned shoe brands except for Asics being arbitrarily cooler at the moment. Make of that what you will. Bah humbug.

Thrasher - June 2015 Volume 36 Number 6

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