m
describe. Bringing up second place is the Frenchman
Pierre Andre who is followed by Don Brown. The award
ceremony takes place without incident, and everyone
hightails it out of there so they can party in a big way.
ACHEN SIE SICH BITTE FREI! Everyone,
at one point or another, has been threatened
with getting kicked out of their hotels. It's
nothing new. Mertz and Stanton have been waterbal-
looning everybody from their room. There's the story of
the three Czech girls and the pro skater/porn star. Word
has it that Justin Ashby got thrown in jail for jumping
on cars. The devastation at the Odeon is almost a com-
plete trashout. Bottles are flying through the air, fol-
lowed by mugs, even a skater flies by once in a while.
Outside, a new dance is being invented by Grosso. First
he knocks a whole line of bicycles over, then Jumps up
and down on them until they don't look too much like
bikes anymore. One of the bikes at the bottom of the
heap belongs to Phil. At least it's the same bike he
50 THRASHER MAGAZINE
nabbed earlier in the day. Not too upsetting, he'll just
find another. Another bike belongs to Jagganath, who
bought his bike with his own money. Grosso learns a
newer dance called 'Run Away'.
WANN FAHRT DER BUS NACHT?: It's Monday morn-
ing. ten a.m. Phil and Scout are standing in front of
Halle Munsterland. Three giant limousine-type charter
coaches are boarded with nearly the whole competitive
force. Two of the buses are filled to the gills; bus #3,
piloted by a psychotic, is where the overflow, the riffraff,
the back wash, are all dumped together. Soon to be
known as the "Trouble Boys," they moon the other
buses on high speed passes. During a brief stop at a
border crossing, one of the Trouble Boys runs out the
door of the bus and writes 'DICK' in shaving cream on
the rear window of the bus in front. Number 3 hosts
many hours of "down and dirty" poker games, where the
stakes are high and the losses hard.
t's three in the morning when the buses unload.
Final destination: Le Grand Bornand, high atop the
French Alps. A youth hostel called the Rhododen-
dron lodges the competitors. The hostel is situated
in Chinaillon, a few miles higher than the village and is
run by some of the nicest and most tolerant people on
the European continent. The lenience shown towards an
army of 'Baby Hueys' is worthy of combat medals.
The days are filled with soldier ant-like exploration.
High into the peaks, alpine-ish wannabes rock-hopped
up towards the gods. One expeditionary force is
ambushed by a discriminating mountain goat, kicking
large boulders down upon the advancing party. of Le
Grand Bornand. The evening exit of the sun romanti-
cizes the region: the feeling of ultimate lofty freedom.
The vertical competition is to take place several miles
down the hill from where everybody is staying. Phil
makes it a point to skate the alpine switchback scene
every morning he can find the energy to wake up.
Half a block up the street from the Rhodedonderon is
where the streetstyle ramps are situated, placed or
dropped. Someone painted some weird French sayings,
and no one could figure out if they were trying to vibe
the Juggers or were just trying to make words into some
droid quasi-ghetto enhancement.
In a discoteque at the bottom of the hill, the boys hold
court. Heavy gambling on the pool table occupies the
attention of many while serious elbow bending occurs at
the bar. Someone lights a Roman candle fireworks rock-
et and throws it near the entrance of the club, adding a
brief light show to the evening. The police arrive and
close the place down. Bottles begin to smash on the
sidewalk near the front windows of
the danceteria. The shuttle up the
mountain had ceased its rounds
hours earlier in the evening, leaving
many to fend for themselves on the
five mile hike, straight up the moun-
tain. Just when all seems lost, the
BBC van, piloted by Mouse, swings European vacation,
up. "All aboard for the Night Train."
Ron Chatman pops
over the street mono
lith during Le Grand
street finale.
The little van is only big enough to
accomodate ten people comfortably,
but when the sixteenth (Continued on page 82)
Ultra-high frontside
airs help Chris
Miller (left) to win at
L.G.B. As the sun
sets on another
VISION
STREE