Ron Allen Spotting

Remember Ron Allen from H-Street videos in the late 80s.  I remember him doing some jaw dropping one foot ollies and ollie airwalks.  It's not alot of footage but it's nice to see footage of old skate legends skating.  I feel like we never see these old legends street skating....The last pics I've seen of Natas Kaupas, he was pulling an air out of a bowl.  The last thing I saw from Tommy Guerrero was footage of him skating a mini-ramp.  I do see old skate legends skating bowls and vert all the time....what is it with old street skaters, why don't wee see footage from them skating street still?  I've heard Tommy G's back is jacked, so maybe it's just wear and tear from street skating that makes them stick more to transitions or maybe its just that we don't see footage but really they are out there all the time ripping up the streets and skateparks?....I don't know, but I for one am interested in footage of all those dudes I looked up too and how they are skating today.

Suspects Nabbed in Mt. Trashmore Ramp Fire from 2006

Photo Credit: (Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot)

On August 16, 2006, the Mt. Trashmore skatepark or a big section of it caught on fire...from pictures it looks to be mainly the wooden bowl and anything connected to it. I was at the location sometime after the fire and I know that the vert ramp was still intact because it was separate from the park area. The park was completed rebuilt by March 2007.

From the Wavy.com article:

"On Tuesday, fire investigators said they think they have their suspects. Former Green Run High School students Alex K. Wilhelm who now lives in Richmond and Joshua Nichols who now lives in Northern Virginia were both charged."

An interesting thing about how they got a break in the case was a Police Officer who was working an unrelated case in La Vista Nebraska stumbled upon some emails from Wilhelm to a friend in Nebraska. I find this so strange since the town I grew up in and skateboarded as a child is in the area of La Vista, Nebraska. Small world, eh? The search warrant obtained by WAVY.com claims La Vista Police obtained an e-mail where Wilhelm admitted to burning down the skateboard park.

Apparently the two suspects were underneath the ramp and lit paper on fire, left it and that's how the ramp burnt down. According the article by Wavy.com, Wilhelm and Nichols face charges of burning or destroying property, and threats to bomb or damage buildings. No court date has been set.

Rodney Mullen Skated Vert Secretly

This is just amazing!  A Twitter post was on the Skatedaily.net website today linking to a photo on photographer Jim Goodrich's facebook page of Rodney Mullen skating vert!  Apparently this was a secret that Rodney Mullen kept from his parents because they forbid him from skating vert!  In the caption below the picture, it states

"Rodney Mullen in a never published photo at Sensation Basin skatepark in Gainesville. I kept this photo under wraps because his parents forbid him to skate vertical. November 1979. I thnk that's Tim Scroggs standing on the right. Hey Rodney, I hope your parents don't ground you for this. LOL"  

For those of you who don't know, Rodney Mullen was the master of Freestyle skating in the 80s and invented many of the flip tricks that modern street and vert skaters perform today.  I for one was stoked to be looking at Jim Goodrich's photos on facebook and reading comments from skate legends such as Z-Boys Jay Adams!  It truly is amazing what kind of insight into people's lives you can get from facebook.  I befriended a couple Pro Skateboarders on Facebook recently and now all these legends in the skateboarding industry are popping up in my suggested friends.  Now my own dilemma is should I ask these pro skaters that have no clue who I am to be my friend just because I'm a huge fan?  I want to, but at the same time, I would think that would make it a pain for them to decipher their "real" friends" from those who are just fans and really don't know them at all, ya know?  Well, I guess I can just request, leave them a little message telling them what a fan I am and they can always decline if they so choose. :)

Vandalism @ James City County Skatepark

Last week I was at the my local skatepark after it had been closed for several days for maintenance and some additions like a flat bar and picnic table.  The county did a nice job and the paint they used on the concrete was not slippery like stuff they had used in the past, so kudos to that!  Well, since then, I've heard not even a week has gone by and somebody has ripped out the flatbar...the rumor is that is was bikers.  Now, when I was frequenting the park more back in 2004-2007, there were not many bikers at all at this park, rightfully so, because bikes are not allowed at the park.  Well, now, you'll find tons of bikes at the park, sometimes actually outnumbering the skateboarders.  I have nothing personal against bikers, but the rules of the park state no bikes and it is actually more enjoyable to skate there knowing that a bike isn't going to collide with you.

The point of this post is just for me to gripe about the grafitti and the vandalism of the park.  I would think a flatbar added to the park would be a good thing for all skaters to enjoy, not something somebody would rip out.  I don't get it?  Also, I for one view grafitti as part of the skateboarding culture, but obviously the county does not like it, so why grafitti up the park knowing that the county will just close the park and paint over it....seems like such a waste of time on everybody's part. I know it wastes my time when I drive down to the park only to find it closed because some snot nosed kids grafittied it or ripped something out of the ground!  Ok, I know, it's not fair to assume its some snot nosed kids...I suppose it may not even be skaters or bikers doing it.  I don't know, just please, can't we all just respect the skatepark and be grateful we have a free place with smooth concrete to ride our skateboards at without hassle from business owners.....I know I am.  For the 7 years that I skated back in the 80s to 90s in Nebraska, I didn't have a skatepark.  I had the ledges and stairs at a movie theater located on military housing along with a ditch that ran between the houses that was pretty cool, the parking blocks at the local Hardees and my friends launch ramp, quarter pipe and homemade grind rail, oh and my driveway. :)  It still blows me away when I realize I had a 12 year break from skateboarding back when there were no skateparks in my area except for 1 that was an hour away and only had a vert ramp and then when I turned 30 back in 2004, there are a multitude of skateparks available and from 2004 to 2006 I had been to about 4 different skateparks and skated my first pool.  It's just crazy...I wish all these parks existed when I was a kid!

I meant to mention this while griping about the vandalism at my local park, but why not install surveillance cameras at the park?  That way when vandalism happens, we know who to point the finger at and we can punish those who deserve punishing and maybe just maybe prevent further vandalism to occur at the park,  I don't know...just a thought.

Fantasy Skateboarding Winner

Photo Credit:  Andy Adams/The Lufkin Daily News

Jonah Campbell, 15, won $10,000 through an online fantasy skateboarding contest, sponsored by professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and his Street League Skateboarding. Ya know, it's times like these where I really regret not entering that contest I heard about, especially when it's absolutely free to enter...*banging head on desk* :) ha!

30 Years Old @ James City County Skatepark in Williamsburg, VA

So, this is the only video footage of myself skateboarding that I currently possess. I may have some old VHS footage from when I was a kid in the late 80s at my parents house in Nebraska. About a year after this video I had gotten much better by my standards. Learning Varial flips, Heelflips and noseslides and learning how to get my kickflips to look better and go higher. Of course now after a broken foot and life knocked me off my board for the last two years, now I can't even land a kickflip, but I'm getting better, I'm slowly getting noseslides back and just getting a general feeling of stability on my board again. Maybe in a little while I'll break out the camcorder again. I think I need to put a better quality camcorder on my Christmas wish list...converting tape to digital is NO fun! :)

Step Off Tricks and No Comply Variations

Back in my heyday of skateboarding mid 80s to early 90s, toward the end, it seemed that all the tricks I did always consisted of some sort of No Comply Variation or a step off trick, like a step off impossible for example. Well, in this video is a guy who can land all those tricks I tried back in the day and still try now but I can only land a couple of things he shows in this video like the no comply variation at 0:40, but his looks way better! Anyways, watch his vid...it will make you want to get on your board and try these tricks for yourself.

Skater Dater (1965) - Short Vintage Skateboard Film

skaterdater from zgg on Vimeo.

I stumbled upon this short vintage skateboard film...I haven't watched the whole thing yet....but just watching a little bit, I know it's going to be awesome! You can't beat that whole early California skate/surf scene! The surf guitar, the bare feet, the headstands and the sound of those steel wheels on the pavement. Plus the film was shot in Torrance and Redondo Beach, two places I remember from family vacations to Southern California while growing up in Nebraska. Oh and somebody needs to smack that lady at 3:50 in the film...you'll see what I mean!

Here is the Wiki entry if you want to know more about the film...

Skaterdater is a short film that was released in 1965. It was Produced by Marshal Backlar, and written and directed by Noel Black and was the winner of the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.[1] It was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Short Subject category. First prizes in international film festivals including Moscow and Venice.
The film tells a story with no dialogue. The surf rock-esque soundtrack was composed by Mike Curb and Nick Venet with Davie Allan and the Arrows playing "Skaterdater Rock" [2].
It was the first film on skateboarding. It was distributed theatrically, both domestically and internationally, by United Artists. It was reviewed extensively, including "Time Magazine".
The skateboarders were members of the neighborhood Imperial Skateboard Club from Torrance, California. Their names are Gary Hill, Gregg Carrol, Mike Mel, Bill McKaig, Gary Jennings, Bruce McKaig and Rick Anderson. Most of the action shots were taken in Torrance, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes Estates. The final shot was Averill Park in San Pedro.
-wiki

Asher Bradshaw - 6 Year Old Skateboarding Sensation

This kid is so unbelievably good and he's only 6 years old! A friend of mine on facebook shared this video with me today and it just blew me away! There is an interview with him on another blog called "I Skate, Therefore I Am". Check out the article on their blog here.

Funny Early Grab Trick Tip

I have no idea how I stumbled upon this site. Anyways I browsed the site and ended up on this "early grab trick tip" and since I used to do early grabs all the time off launch ramps in the 80's, I was interested and watched it even though it was for longboards, the same principle applies to regular boards though. The video is freakin' hilarious, check it out!

80's Skateboarding - Day In The Life 2 1988

Somewhere at my parents house possibly lays a VHS tape with skateboarding footage of a friend and myself skating a homemade railslide made out of 2x4's and 2 pieces of PVC coping. I remember tape recording McRad music off of the Powell-Peralta video "Public Domain"....the music from the Rubber Boys segment. I had my boombox outside blasting that while we sessioned our rail. I don't know why I didn't bring the video camera out more (probably because it was my Dad's really expensive camcorder and it was HUGE) Oh yeah, now I remember why I didn't take it out often, you actually had to bring the VCR with you thus having to disconnect it from the TV and all. I should have asked my Dad to film us....I guess I just never thought I'd be where I am now reminiscing about days long gone. I hope the little footage I took then didn't get taped over or ruined somehow. :(

Anyhow, since I don't have my own footage from back then to look at now, I find myself searching YouTube for other people's old skate footage from the 80s. I have found a lot of good stuff...here is one of them I'd like to share with you all today...enjoy!

Fellow Old Skater Inspiration

I stumbled upon this guys YouTube channel sometime last year I think. His story is similar to mine in which he hadn't been skating for the last 14 years and then picked it up again and we are about the same age....only difference is that he is way better than me! :) His videos inspire me! Check them out at Bandini's Channel.

Office Skate Break

Great video from an Italian Skateshop called MC Skateboards! One thing I want to know is how these guys don't break a sweat! :)

Sorcery 118 Rocks!

I discovered this blog a little while back when they were featured on SkateDaily.net and ever since, I have been a fan and I check it daily for new video posts. Their skating on this site is like a mixture of old and new school...or you could say like Mike V refers to skateboarding, "There is no old or new school, just skateboarding!" Their videos are just so freakin' entertaining to me. They usually are doing something goofy in the video and the music is usually some old school punk that I love. It doesn't get any better. Check Sorcery118 out if you haven't already! :)