Donny Barley #2.

Gnarly Barley.

Ed's black on dark brown handwriting:

Life in America will bring you down. Do not let Donny trade shirts for Ramens. You consumers are being controlled.

Never forget Tim Brauch.

Transworld - October 1995 Volume 13 Number 10

Jamie Thomas #4.

The Chief.

Jamie moved out to San Francsico in the early 1990s from Alabama. He turned pro for Experience and then switched to Invisible. From there it was on to Toy Machine in 1995. He started what was initially a clothing company called Zero with help from Tum Yeto. The rest is history.

I do have to ask a few questions as to what is going on with Zero these days. It seems like a lot of long time team riders are leaving and the whole New Balance partnership is peculiar. I can understand working with another company to develop a line of footwear, except when you already have an established shoe company in house with Fallen. It doesn't exactly make sense, especially with the current economy and the potential for things to go wrong with an unproven brand entering the skate shoe biz. New Balance isn't a Nike, where people will slurp up anything they do just because it has a swoosh on it. I guess we will see how it goes.

Transworld - August 1995 Volume 13 Number 8

Josh Kalis #4.

Heavy Metal.

Josh had been riding for Invisible with Jamie Thomas. When Jamie left, he went with him to Toy Machine. It wasn't long before Josh was abducted into the Alien Workshop since he was hanging out with the guys on the team. He stuck with the Workshop until leaving in 2009 to ride for Stevie Williams' DGK. Josh and Stevie have been friends from the early 1990s era of Love Park in Philadelphia so it was a change that made sense. He's been on DC Shoes for most of his pro career, too.

There's a slight possibility I'd never seen Heavy Metal, Toy Machine's second video, before last night. I picked up the Toy Machine DVD box set when it came out and when I was watching it, the video didn't seem familiar to me at all. I'm pretty sure I must have at least watched it once when I got it, but I might not have. You can start to see the influence Jamie Thomas had on things. There was less random stuff and the skateboarding was more organized. The soundtrack veered more toward oldies and classic rock with the exception of Ed skating to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. It's also neat to see Ed cruising around doing every flip trick in the book, even some nollie and switch ones. The same goes for Jamie. Drake Jones has a few cameos.

Gabe Morford took the photo.

Transworld - May 1995 Volume 13 Number 5

Pete Lehman.

Break - In.

Pete had a respectable part set to Fugazi in Live, the first Toy Machine video. He also rode for Voice. That's about all I got.

Anybody have any requests for next week and beyond?

Transworld - November 1994 Volume 12 Number 11

Charlie Coatney & Jerry Fowler.

We will rock you.

Jerry was on the early version of TV and Television. He was on Toy Machine and turned pro for Rhythm. He was also on DNA Skateboards and currently is on Hopps. Jerry was sponsored by Pig Wheels and Dukes Shoes.

I'm going to make an educated guess that Charlie was a Huntington Beach local that Ed thought skated well enough to be on the team. His part in Live was solid enough for the time.

Transworld - August 1994 Volume 12 Number 8

Joe Nemeth & Panama Dan Zimmerman.

Questions.

Joe is from Las Vegas. I don't think he is related to Crazy Eddie Nemeth from San Jose.

Dan is from Panama. It's fairly easy to see how he got the nickname.

So Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen have quit the Alien Workshop. I don't think there's been a major industry change like that in a while.* I figured they'd be moving to working behind the scenes with the company since they are getting older and seem to have been running things lately.

* Unless of course you're a hardcore old school guy who can't believe Tony Hawk is riding for Indy after all those years on Tracker.

Transworld - June 1994 Volume 12 Number 6

Jahmal Williams #2.

Hopps.

Jahmal was another skateboarder who was on Television and stuck with Ed when Toy Machine was launched. He has also ridden for Powell, American Dream Inc., and Infamous. Jahmal started Hopps in 2007 and has been doing that ever since. The team includes another Toy Machine alum in Jerry Fowler and Joel Meinholz.

Transworld - April 1994 Volume 12 Number 4