Duane Pitre #1.

"One - footed gap ollie, Torrance, CA"

Spike Jonze took the photo of Pitre. I think this is a bad ass pic. After pro skateboarding, Pitre was in a band called Camera Obscura. They played at Arkansas while I was there for grad school, but I missed them because it was over the summer when I was home on vacation. I believe he is still making music. I'm not sure what the name of his band is currently. I know, I know, I could just google that shit, but I don't feel like it right now. Maybe tomorrow at work.

Note: There is another band called Camera Obscura presently on Merge Records. They are from Scotland and not the same group.

Transworld - August 1992 Volume 10 Number 8

Ed Templeton #3.

"One of the sickest spots ever discovered, Mount Baldy pipe in LA has swallowed up a ton of skaters over the years. Fearless interloper Ed Templeton ollies in the mouth of the worm."

Thanks for the link, Ed.

Dennis McGrath took the photo.

Slap - March 1997 Volume 6 Number 3

Thomas Morgan.

Thomas Morgan started out as the vert am on Alien Workshop, but with street skating pushing the giant wooden ramps out of the spotlight, he had to switch things up. His part in Time Code was all street action. It was pretty good, too, with a bunch of lines and solid flip tricks.

I tried learning fakie pop shove - its because of this ad. I figured that since I had my regular ones down, I should try doing them backwards. The trick never worked out for me. I can say that for a lot of tricks, so it's no big deal.

The photo is by Paul "Skin" Phillips and the video sequence is by Dave Swift. The video grab doesn't look horrible either, but it has the benefits of being small and in BW.

Transworld - December 1994 Volume 12 Number 12

Julien Stranger #5.

Aw crap. The week slipped by and I didn't scan in anything new like I planned. But then I found this while going through some Thrashers from 1999. The whole time frame from 1997 to 2000 was one of my favorite times to skateboard. I haven't ever stopped skating, but it was getting pretty boring without many spots in my town during the mid 90s. Then I went to grad school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and met a bunch of people who were down to ride. Plus there was the Skate Station and a lot of other spots around Northwest Arkansas. Skateboarding also started to become more popular at this point, which was a good thing because it meant the Skate Station was making enough money to fix up the ramps. Life is a lot better when there is a decent indoor mini ramp within walking distance of your apartment.

Thrasher - March 1999 Volume 19 Number 3

Jocko Weyland.

The man behind Elk 'zine, frequent Thrasher contributor and author of a very good essay explaining the mindset of a skateboarder's approach to art in the Beautiful Losers catalog gets a little coverage.

Note: Vert Is Dead is back now. Next post on Friday.

Thrasher - May 2000 Volume 20 Number 5

Vacation & Changes.

After daily updates for three months, I'm taking the next two weeks off from posting. New content will return on September 15.

Also, there are going to be some changes in the frequency of updates at Vert Is Dead due to my schedule. I work days as a graphic designer at a print shop and now that it is fall, I teach as an adjunct professor at the local college in the evenings. This means I have a lot less time on my hands. I had been updating every day because it was summer, but new posts are going to be scaled back to two or three days a week during the school year.

Neil Blender #2.

One all time great grinding in a photo taken by another all time great.

Lance Mountain took the photo of Blender in Victoria, Australia.

Transworld - June 1989 Volume 7 Number 3