Attack of the
Concrete
Vampires
Stary and photos by Nash Martineau
It didn't start out as much at
all. Portland was baking in
the sun, and all I felt like
doing was swimming in a
river. My friend Dick and I had
just returned from Seattle where
we'd spent a few days enjoying
the Monster Bowl and the
company of Holls, Munk,
Dr Grunge and the West
Side Rollers. We had plans
that day to attend a vert
demo that we knew nothing
about. As usual, I had no
Idea what I was in for.
Our crew for the day con-
sisted of Dick, myself.
Norm, little fifth grade
Fievel, Shaggs, the Arizona
Powerhouse, and finally Q-
Man, our storyteller and
respected elder. Things were
looking good
After baking in the moving
oven for a little over an
hour, we saw the ramp from
the freeway, and from there
it looked pretty good. It was
a motorcross race with a
skate demo, and the ramp
had a big cover tarp. I'd.
never seen those crazy bik-
ers jumping all over the
place before, and I was
impressed. The ramp was
small, but it was fun for a
little while. Little Fievel
snaked everyone from
below repeatedly, and
Shaggs didn't seem to
notice that it wasn't a vert
ramp with huge airs and
the best fastplants. Q did
handstands on a dirtboard in
the dirt, while we all got sick of
the ramp and getting snaked by
Fievel. We talked about cutting
over to this pool in the desert,
but Dick didn't want to drive, so
we decided to try out the
skatepark in Salem.
Qtold some good stories
about hopping freight trains,
and, before we knew it, we'd
had a bunk Denny's experience
and were at the skatepark. We
found out what most of us had
heard about the park to be true:
too many people trying to skate
a small skatepark, the kind of
place to go in the morning on a
Finally on the right
track, we went up and
over the mountain and
were surprised to see a
huge wall of fire off in
the distance.
school day. We got tired of
skating circles quickly except
for Flevel, who insisted on tak-
ing some more runs before we
left. So, that was it, we thought,
as we headed back to Portland
not knowing that the best was
still to come.
When we got home, we went
straight to drop off little Flevel at
his conveniently located home
just two blocks away from
Burnside. The next stop was the
obvious choice from there.
When we pulled up to Burnside,
we saw that the majority of the
West Side Rollers were in town.
They were on their way to camp
at the pool we had wanted to
go to earlier that day. So,
that was it-Shaggs, Dick,
and I were along for the ride.
We said so long to Q, who
didn't want to go, and, just
as we were leaving, who
showed up, but Red, just in
time to join the mission and
save the night. There were
sixteen of us by then, and we
set off in four vehicles to
meet in the desert.
Dick, Shaggs, and I went
with Munk and his girlfriend
Jennifer in the car named the
Blue Nella. Straight off,
Dick and I managed to get
us all lost with some shortcut
we thought we knew. Finally
on the right track, we went
up and over the mountain.
and were surprised to see a
huge wall of fire off in the
distance. It seemed to be
moving towards us, but it
was hard to tell.
After almost hitting a large
deer, we arrived at the pool
first, to our surprise. The
pool belonged to a deserted
house right next to a river
and far away from any
inhabited dwellings. When I
stepped out into the dark-
ness, I saw what I thought
to be a shooting star. It was
large and bright with a long tail,
and it was the first of many I
saw that night. Later I found out
it was a meteor shower, but for
that moment it was the sky wel-
coming us to our sacred hole in
the ground.
A few minutes later, the vehicle
named The Charlot arrived carry-
ing the Swami, Gacto, Mo and
Left: Dave "Shaggs" Palmer aims high with this Indy out of the pocket of the square bowl at
Burnside. Above: Little Fievel skated harder than anyone at the demo.