Jim Murphy #3.

Toxic Vert Avenger.

Murf lived in Buffalo, NY before his family moved to New Jersey. He started skateboarding in 1975 in the Garden State. He's ridden for Zorlac, Alva, Shut, and Toxic. Jim is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in economics. He picked Rutgers because Tom Groholski had his ramp in New Brunswick, NJ. In 1997, he started Wounded Knee Skateboards with the late Andy Kessler. They wanted to make shaped boards for people who were riding bowls. I'm not sure if that is still an ongoing project. Murf is also the Skateboard Editor at Juice Magazine.

The photo is by Bill Thomas.

Transworld - January 1992 Volume 10 Number 1

Pepe Martinez & Andy Stone.

D.C.'s Finest.

Andy rode for 101 and Element. Pepe was sponsored by Element from the beginning. They both turned pro for Element and then left to do their own thing back east in 1995. This gave us Capital Skateboards and Nicotine Wheels. Sadly, Pepe passed away in 2003.

A Reeves took the photos. Any idea on a first name?

Slap - September 1997 Volume 6 Number 9

Otis "O" Bartholomew.

Fluffy.

O is a master lensman. He's also played guitar and sang in Fluf and Olivelawn. Along with Neil Blender and Lance Mountain, O had a part in Powell Peralta's Ban This that featured the trio dorking around on tiny ramps, playing music, and having fun.

I'm cleaning off the hard drive for the next week or two with maybe a couple of new scans so things will be random. I've been burned out on computer life so I'm trying to avoid machines after work as much as possible. The next big project I'm going to undertake will be putting together something on Skate More. Also Rasa Libre and maybe enjoi ads from 2001 if I haven't done those already. I found some good ones while I was searching for Bam stuff.

Transworld - April 1995 Volume 13 Number 4

Bam Margera #5.

Bam owned FDR. I've been there a few times so that makes it more impressive to see his parts and know the terrain he did the tricks on. I'm pretty sure my best trick there ever was a nollie kickflip on the flat.

Around the same time as Bam was making the CKY videos, the Big Brother staff were also making their own videos of similar antics, thanks to the deep pockets of Larry Flynt. Obviously the two groups belonged together and thus the Jackass franchise was born. MTV aired the show and it spawned a movie with several sequels. I watched the TV show some and saw the first movie in the theater because I seldom go to the movies. It was neat to see the folks from Big Brother make the transition from a television in a skateboard shop to the big screen. I mostly lost interest in Jackass after that point and didn't really keep up with all the stuff that they were doing. I know the crew has been through some up and downs over the years to say the least.

I probably also need to mention HIM, Bam's favorite band. They are from Finland and that heartagram is their logo that you see all over the place.

I wanted to spend a week looking at the early years of Bam and focus on the skateboarding that allowed him to go onto making movies and whatnot. There really have not been many posts about him on here or even at the Chrome Ball Incident so I wanted to change that. The Emerica and Lakai Stay Flared tour stopped at his house so there was a recent update in Thrasher about him. That's where the idea for this week came from.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Tuesday, September 8. Enjoy the Labor Day weekend.

Thrasher - October 2003 Volume 23 Number 10

Bam Margera #4.

Nollie full Cab.

Bam left Toy Machine for Element in 2000. There was a dispute with Tod Swank over royalties from the Landspeed video that ultimately led to his departure. Element was starting to become a big deal so it was the perfect fit for Bam. As an added bonus Giant Distribution also handled 411, which made it much easier for him to get videos produced and distributed. Thanks to all the fame from the telly and movies, Bam is probably one of the top selling pros ever for board sales. He stuck with Element for a long time, although a recent check of their website no longer has him listed on the team.

Element ran this promotion when Bam first got on the team:

Transworld - July 2000 Volume 18 Number 7

Bam Margera #3.

SSBSTS.

Bam had to have been one of the first to throw down the switch backside tailslide in the mid 1990s on a regular basis, although this particular one drifts more into Suski grind territory.

Landspeed was a wheel company created by Rob Erickson and distributed by Tod Swank through Tum Yeto. Rob had been doing Wheelie Co. before this new venture. The team was heavy on East Coast talent and featured Donny Barley, Kerry Getz, Kenny Hughes, Mike Maldonado, Brian Seber, and Elissa Steamer. Landspeed started in the summer of 1998 and was only around for about a year.

For only being around such a short time, Landspeed released a single video that would be the launching point for Bam's celebrity outside of skateboarding. The video was called Camp Kill Yourself and was released in early 1999. There was minimal skateboarding from the team. The bulk of the flick was the antics of Bam and his friends having fun doing stupid stuff in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The name was taken from the band Bam's brother Jess played drums in, Camp Kill Yourself. This was later shortened to a more marketable CKY.

Camp Kill Yourself introduced us to the cast of characters in Bam's life that would be staples of his videos and assorted TV shows in the years ahead. This included Chris "Hoofbite" Aspite, Brandon DiCamillo, the late Ryan Dunn, Chris Raab, Art Webb 1986, Rake Yohn, and more. Also in the video were Bam's parents, Phil and April. Those two have to have the patience of saints for dealing with all the hijinx he put them through. I always thought the Landspeed video was a fun watch.

The Landspeed logo:

Ryan Gee was the photographer.

Transworld - September 1998 Volume 16 Number 9

Bam Margera #2.

Monster Squad.

Bam was added to the Toy Machine team in 1997. I don't think he got a lot of coverage after 1994 riding for Evol until Ed Templeton put him on the Machine. I could be wrong on this. I was searching for an Evol ad, but never found anything. They were in the process of going into footwear and starting Osiris so a teenager from Pennsylvania was probably a low priority. Since Bam's friend Mike Maldonado was already on Toy Machine, that gave him a connection. Their skate buddy Kerry Getz was hooked up at this time, too.

Bam had two parts in 1998's Jump Off A Building. One was him skating street and the other was all footage from FDR in Philadelphia. His skating was a blend of tech tricks and transition shredding with reckless drop-ins and big gaps thrown in for good measure.

The photos are by Ryan Gee.

Transworld - June 1997 Volume 15 Number 6