This one goes out to all the dutch ones. Happy Queen’s Day.

Wear that orange.

Made it out to Top Shop over the weekend. Caught up with some friends, made some new ones and finally found the Sirius Jam Band station. I’m not gonna write up a long ditty about what went down, so go read Kevin’s words at the coverage blog, ok!?

I did catch the premier of Creature’s new video “Black Metal”, which was major. Gravette kills it!

Oh, there was a contest going on that 3rd Lair won.

My long time homie just made over his shop, SILO located in Grand Island, NE. You might have seen their DC colab around the internet a while back.

The grand re-opening was last weekend, so unfortunately I have yet to visit in person. If you’re in the area I definitely suggest you pay them a visit.

Congrat’s, Brant!

Sublimited is having a contest in honor of the new Girl boxset coming out:

It’s simple. In honor of Girl’s new DVD box set coming out I’m having my web design company put up $1,000 to the person who can best duplicate Guy Mariano’s part in Mouse.

I’ll send something spectacular to the person who best duplicates the song he skates to, but it has to be done on the recorder.

Head over to Sublimited for the full details.

Thanks to the Dutchman for the tip off.

Happy National Peanut Butter Jelly Day everyone!

Templeton just posted this up, and I am so getting it… like for sure!

It’s a vinyl figure of Lettus Bee (from Wrench Pilot), by Andy Jenkins, Upper Playground and Ningyoushi. Here’s a translation for all the coolguys out there, “ANDY JENKINS x UPPERPLAYGROUND x NINGYOUSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

BUY BUY BUY! »

Happy birthday Rex!

You dudes keep up with PHX Am over the weekend? If not, peep The Mag’s coverage to see what went down.

• Day one »
• Day two »
• There’s more at Matt Price’s blog too!

I wonder how long till the skateboard world starts using twitter at events like this.
(Send me, I’ll tweet my little ass off!)

Happy birthday Rex!

Just saw this posted up at Thrasher. Got me stoked to go rip some curbs apart this weekend.

Fat Guy on a Curb »

Every year ’round this time I catch the sick for a few days. It usually goes down like this:

Warming air leads to flourishing plants and flowers which leads to an allergic reaction on my part (to something). I start getting some drainage, a sore throat, and then the weather turns sour again. The cold air/drainage brings on a full-blown sinus infection, which leaves me dizzy, hurty, and full of life.

This year I’ve got some gnarly stomach pains too, perhaps due to the extra strength medicine i took just before sleeping. I couldn’t lay down all night without being in pain so I sat up against the wall and tried sleeping—which worked for about an hour. Today I’m rockin a steady diet of TUMS, Advil, and ginger/honey tea (for the sore throat).

Kind of a weak post I know but I’m sitting here feelin sorry for myself. What else can I do?

S’pose I could catch up on some epicly later’d TV.

It’s been a sad week for skateboarding.

Ben Pappas – who used to earn $15,000 a month as a teenage skate star in the US – was dragged from the water by police divers off Victoria Pier at Docklands.

Homicide detectives had been looking for Pappas, 29, since the body of his former girlfriend, Lynette Phillips, was found at Dights Falls in Abbotsford eight days earlier.

Fallen idol dies a fugitive »

Thanks to huphz for the link.

Hometown hero, Mark Bussey (from my old stomping grounds) has a sequence up over at Thrasher in the CowTown article. Hamknucks keeping it middlecentric.

Drill powered skateboard… you know, so you don’t have to use… your feet?

Ever seen that movie, “Cabin Fever“? This snow cover is killing me (i’m in that middle blast of yellow).

Let’s hope the interstates open back up so we can make it to 3rd lair tonight.

A bunch of artists tied into skateboarding are in this auction to raise money for cancer research. Some really cool artists in the mix. I must say I’m stoked it’s not another paint on a board auction. Smell that?…it’s the scent of some thing fresh.

I’m not going to even get into it right now. Just watch and cringe.

Oh and nissan, as payment for spreading this I’ll expect my free Qashqai next week.

via huphtur via Worldwide Skateboarding. Thanks playuhs!

I’ve decided I’ve had enough of “The Good Life“, enough mild winters, and enough of the flippin’ Huskers already! So over the weekend I packed up and hightailed it up Norf to SF (I hear Huf has a shop here)!

I just wanted to let everyone know, just in case updates here take a dump this week. Also, if you’re in the area and want to go find a dry piece of cement to roll on lemme know.

p.s. Mount Rushmore isn’t that close, I just liked the picture.

A little fun with the fellow skate nerds.

Read all about it »

Holy shit does my head hurt from this on-going debate. There are some really good posts on the matter like that one and this ad featured on Brinks site. The funny thing is that most of the people saying no to the whole blank board deal own wood shops that produce blank boards and shop boards. Can you blame the wood shop? Not really cause every one moved to Mexico and China to make their boards. Can you blame the shop? Nope, cause the once exclusive skateboard item is found everywhere. Some biz dude once said to me that skateboarding retail is going the way computer retail went. There was a time you could only get computers and their gear in exclusive computer stores. They were small operations and independently owned. Once computers became popular the mega stores jumped in and slowly killed the independent retail shop. It seems most big biz happens this way the only difference is that skateboard shops now have a tool to stay in biz. Make your own shit and nurture your scene! Skate shops are the hubs of true skateboarding and it’s culture. They are the ones that feed the scene whether it’s through events or sponsoring the local rippers. If I owned a shop and some company told me they weren’t going to sell to me cause I sold blank boards or shop boards I’d tell them to take a hike and then I’d bring in some local brand to replace them or some other brand. Shelf space is limited so shops have the upper hand. If you worked in a shop you know how it works. The sales dudes sell the shit they stand behind. If your brand is hurting in the shops maybe you should take a harder look at your brand. Are you doing everything to support skateboarding in that specific area? Are you giving the shops tools to stay competitive with the mega chain mall stores? It’s funny how money can kill true passion. Sorry for rambling but what are your thoughts on the blank board debate?