The first thing that struck me about Vancouver was that it was so clean and beau-
tiful. The people all smile and are more than friendly. We checked into our digs
and meandered down to the contest site with the usual gang of punks including
Julien Stranger and Andy Roy. Tonight's entertainment was to be at the Commodore
ballroom where the Hanson Brothers were playing. When the crowd gets gassed up
there is no telling, and after a couple of twelvers, the show was rocking. Between
Stranger and Roy, there are no rules. You could be talking to girl and they would
freak 'em out with some rude remark or grab a pinch. Andy entertained himself lun-
gering on the backs of unsuspecting concert goers while Stranger did some blood
art on the window of a leather store downstairs. Julien ended up in jail while Andy
kept everyone awake in the hotel ranting and raving, "I want some pussy!"
The next morning dawned contest and when we arrived we could see throngs of
padless skaters all over the wooden slatted coagulator course. The plan was to run
two skaters on the course at a time while the crowd ate it up.
Here's the line by line from the pit-Creager: Mister blindside kickflip. Weiss: Did
not make one trick. Oscar Jordan: Duh. Bill Pepper: Camera hog, always in every-
one's run. Simon: Mind control for the masses. Santos: Nollie
ollie oxen free. Senn: Beef patrol power. Suriel: Nice hair. Jamie
Thomas: Hat forward. Beagle: Half-Cab kickflip over the flat
bank hip. Bokma: Tattoo city. Hirata: Heelflip Indys. Jeremy
Wray: Biggest kickflips of the day. Templeton: Eggs will scram-
ble your mind. Rothmeyer: Flatland friskizoid, he almost won.
40
Brauch: Big boostin' boneless,
bro. Gavin: Waste of entry fee.
Jovontae: Pop & style. Omar:
Two-tone wheels. Kareem:
Four flips in a row in the finals,
including the switch kicker.
frontside over the steep bank.
Thank God he won. Carroll:
Step hop don't stop on a hurt
ankle. Gayle: Fast and loose.
Nanda Zipp: Take out the sec
ond N, what you got? McNatt:
The only skater wearing shorts.
Moses: Red motherfucking Dragons and a sweet
switch K grind. Ricks: Chill shoes and a navy tennis
visor. Chico: Next stop, Soul Train. Gabriel: Lots of
pushing and looking at his friends. Roy: Put the hood
over his head when his name was called. Petersen:
Johnny Cash. Fowler: Smoke in hand during run.
Markovich: Mach 5 180 nosegrind. Hair today, gone
tomorrow. Henry Sanchez: Big splinter in hand to
hospital. Matt Beach: Invisible man style. Cab: All
kinds of flips and he didn't ride the vert ramp once.
Olson: Crazy legs and the nollie kickflip over the
humpty jumpty. Way: Switchstance backside ollie to
tail revert
After the last run, everyone knew Kareem won, if
they didn't, they weren't watching too closely. The
ramps were immediately discombobulated and the
crowd ran for the hills. I was standing in my goopy
shoes looking for a ride to the clean sock shack.
The Saturday night festivities were all about look-
ing for girls up and down the strip by the pussy bars.
Everyone went in and watched girls all dolled up like
cowboys take it off. One barman was overheard
saying, "Fucking skaters, they never tip." A skater.
was quick to respond. "Why should we tip you? You!
ain't naked." So it went all night, as testosterone,
alcohol, and flesh became one. Some got lucky while
others went for the three tug nut syndrome, or
drowned their sorrows in Canadian ale..
Sunday was the vert contest, and when I got there
the ramp was not even done. Slowly but surely, all
the vert dogs showed. The ramp was far from vert,
and the reactions were swift and vocal. Paul Zitzer
asked, "Where's the contest ramp if this is a vert con-
test?" I helped sweep the biscuit and was soon the
only one riding it. Eventually, Tommy Guerrero, Max
Schaaf, Brian Howard and some others joined in. It
was fast but lacked the throw that a good vert ramp
will give. In practice, Brian Howard got a wind trans-
plant by hanging it out to dry on a scooped back-
side. The vert contest had only nineteen contes
tants and was over rather quickly. The first trick
rebate in the jam format is beat. Let it all run full bore
and let's see who wins it.
His royal Cabness (top left) thought nothing
of flinging heelflips to fakie on the steep
bank. Kareem Campbell (right) was all over
the switch flip on the flat hip. With the eyes
of the industry on him, Mike Vallely (bottom
right) is far above a kickflip to fakie. Loft yo
jive, Chris Senn (bottom) punches a hole in
the Canadian atmosphere with a frontside
tailbone. Ronnie Creager (bottom left) made
this blindside kickflip every time. Red Dragon
Colin McKay (opposite left) proved to all
comers that he is the man to beat. Backside
dogsled on the tail end of a winning run.
Joventae and the Chocolate crew (left) show
their disdain for multi-colored cash. Henry
Sanchez and Kareem Campbell (below) gas
after the results are announced.
DIVISION
FULL
PACTOR