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Calgary, Alberta
Population: 710,700
Calgary has a cowboy problem.
There are more pickup trucks and cow-
boy hats there than anywhere in the
world (except for maybe Texas). The
Calgary Stampede, a week-long west-
ern wing-ding, is attended by thou-
sands who relive the days of chuck
wagons and lassos. If cattle roping
isn't on your itinerary, stop by Skaters'
Skate Shop for the lowdown on the
local spots. They might even tell you
where to get one of those nifty ten-
gallon hats.
Vancouver, BC
Population: 1,542,700
If you haven't heard of it you're in
the dark.
Red Dragon charter member Sam Devlin (above), cliff jumping in Vancouver. Tailgrab
to fakie by Barry Walsh (right) at the now possibly defunct Skateranch. Tim Bruns
(opposite right) and another set of stairs, but this time in St Louis. Over in Memphis
near Graceland, Steve Trimble (opposite bottom) heelflips over a Masonite hip. The
King would be proud. Adam Luxford (centerspread) flies from hip to flatwall.
Chicago, Illinois
We met up with Jesse Neuhaus
and Chris Quinn at a pier near Lake
Michigan in downtown Wind City. I
spent most of the session limping
around blowing my nose. Jess and
Chris however, were in much better
shape. They rule the pier.
Mr Quinn met us in the center of
town with a billion friends and ollied
a particularly large gap in the middle
of traffic on someone else's board.
He and Jesse ride like they're being
fired out of cannons. Add another
flurry of nice guys to the list.
Saint Louis, Missouri
Most of the Altered Skates team-
riders were lounging at Keiner Plaza
when we pulled in. Jason Pillow,
Brad Johnson, and Tim Bruns have
the place wired. Jason Sides landed
pretty much everything, switch and
regular foot. In fact, after snapping
the nose off his board, he still skated
long enough to break his back truck.
Sides offered us a place to stay, a
true godsend, and earned the title
of King Nice Guy. We stayed with
him and his mom, the most tolerant
woman anywhere, for a few days,
shooting pictures, cliff-diving and
nursing ourselves back to health.
Memphis, Tennessee
We stayed across the street from
Graceland but gave the place the
finger. Sixteen dollars is too much to
see a dead drug addict's playpen.
To the dismay of an eighteen-year-
old security guard, we skated a
waxed parking lot with Steve
Trimble for several hours. Then Wes
Briggs suggested we go to his
father's warehouse to check his
quarter-pipe and hip. Needless to
say, Steve and Wes had them wired.
We had gone to five cities without
encountering major attitude. Them
Memphis cats are darn good folk.
New Orleans, Louisiana
How can an entire city get drunk
at night? New Orleans is punk rock.
I awoke to find Duane Pitre and his
James Lapuyade in our hotel room,
They soon showed us the sights and
a good time was had by all. There
must be something in the water (or
beer) in New Orleans that makes
folks like Duane and James so chill. I
recommend the Big Easy to any who
can go without sleep indefinitely.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta seriously deserves more
coverage than it gets. Stratosphere,
the local skate shop, is located in
the punk part of town, so Andy and
Ben felt right at home. I, on the
other hand, got a cramp from giving
people the finger.
We hooked us up with a super-
hero named Matt B, who nollies.
higher than most people ollie.
We returned to the shop, and
Adam met up with Adam Luxford.
Those two went off to skate some
pool. Pools get Adam's panties in a
whirl. I sat around the shop and
begged Thomas for shoes.
Adam returned, we pulled Andy
and Ben away from Sid and Nancy,
and prepared for the voyage home.
This brings me to the four morals of
my story.
1. Bring Andy on the road, and
every day he will flip into some
body of water.
2. Put Ben behind the wheel and he
will no longer need sleep.
3. The hotter it gets, the more
often Adam will curse and tell
me I'm worthless.
4. I'm sick, hurt, and out of money,
but at least I have new footwear.
Home
We left Atlanta and a cornucopia
of nice guys in our wake, and were
finally homeward bound.
I had the guys drop me off at my
house and then they proceeded
onward to the Jersey shore to cele-
brate our safe return and have a
Roman candle fight at the foot of
the mighty Atlantic.