TRASH
GONE FISHIN'
Invisible Skateboards appear to be invisible. Intensity
Skates is another cryptic gig. Owner Mike Agnew is
said to be slow in responding to his friends and associ-
ates. Other possible RIPS: Acme, Formula One, Recs,
Dukes, Shaolin, and Sixteen.
Rumors place anger the Mad Circle. Supposedly
Justin Girard and Paul Schmitt are allegedly arguing
over Mad Circle's treatment in relationship to other
companies in the Schmitt stable. If this is true, it is high-
ly ironic, as Paul Schmitt is fabled to have launched his
empire after an argument with Brad Dorfman over
how Vision worked over Schmitt Stix.
Pat Duffy has relocated back to his Northern
California roots and seems to be settling in Daly City.
DC, the home of the Fish, the Carroll brothers and
Henry Sanchez, is one of the last great underground
skate terrains and others who have noticed Duffy's call
seem hot on moving there as well. Meantime, Pat is
working on a part in the new Think video and honing his
new model.
The Santa Monica Pier triple set has seen some heat-
ed sessions recently, with rumors of Guy Mariano
pulling the switch tre flip down the beastly flight, and
Donny Barley following suit with a switch hardflip.
Free agent Jake Rupp went the way of the living
dead and jumped in the coffin over at Creature.
Lincoln Ueda has left Formula One and will now be
going ten feet high on New Deal boards. Pat Channita
RIP IN PEACE
Mike Cardona 1978-1998
I met Mike and Quim when they were
about eight years old. Talk about little rippers.
They were both so small and could already
do every launch ramp air and 43 you could
do. They ended up being like my little broth-
ers. Their mom pretty much took me in; I
remember her taking us around the world to
skate. Mike and I would spend days trying to
get our tre flips down. Mike and I were kind of
the trainers, while Quim was more of a natu-
ral. Mike and I didn't care; we knew Quim
was just a peehead.
Mike passed away about a week ago now,
and
has become like a movie
my memory
rewinding and playing every moment the
three of us spent together, skating, listening
to Marley on the beach or just straight goofin'.
And
And even though Mike's gone, I know he
would want us to keep going forward and to
never forget our roots. Mike, your spirit is
strong in all of us, and we will keep your
dream alive and uplift the massive Jah bless-
ings.-Matt Field
Downtown Dave (San Mateo, CA)
knows how to get down in style.
weighed his options and
is now clocking dollars
over at Powell.
SOLE DOUBT
Shoe shuffle: Max
Schaaf from Vita to
Vans, Jaya Bonderov
from Nike to Reef, Kris
Markovich back on
Duffs, Chad Fernandez
from Kastel to Osiris, and
Peter Smolik from
Etnies to Osiris.
Following last month's
eviction, Flip am Alex
Moul has returned to liv-
ing in his van, The
Breather. Fellow evictee
Ali Boulala is on the couch tour, along with loose can-
non Jim Greco.
Recently tying the knot: Buster Halterman and
Tommy "The Brain" Budjanec (not to each other).
BAD BLOOD
away down the side of
the erupting vol-
cano in time to
escape the wall of
molten lava that
pursues him? Is the
cue ball cranium of one-
time skate distributor George
destined to be a romantic prime
time icon? Rumored to be on the
acquisition list for further such
plot developments are crossover
model notables like Cara-Beth
Burnside, Russ K, Kelly Slater,
John Cardiel, Burt Lamar, Joel
Tudor, Phil Edwards, and
Mike Hynson. Poetic Bo
Derek has appeared in pub-
lic as of late extolling the
virtues of "multi-boarding."
claiming it is the standard of
the new millennium.
DOWN PLUNDER
Australian Billabong magnate
Gordon Merchant has emerged
S.P.O.F.
With vert hot shoes Anthony Furlong and Mark
Roth eighty-sixed from this year's Vans Warped Tour
fina s by the infamously
batty Sonja Catalano,
all eyes are on Dave
"Science
Fair"
Maxwell to take top
honors and the Vans pro
contest. If so, look for
nude vert to be added to
next year's X-Games and
Triple Crown contests as
a demonstration sport.
Despite Lord Salba's
warnings to everyone to
keep it on the down low,
the cops around the pool
at Mecca of Fontucky
have starting busting
people en masse. The law
enforcement agencies
G
approved Design for 99 seattle park
Springtime [Reality
have figured out the Empties drill and they seem to be
letting everyone get a workout so that they're nice and
tired when they come in to bust them. With over twen-
ty highly skateable pools
in the region, more con-
flict is inevitable.
The ridiculous escala-
tion of the so-called
"multi board sports cate-
gory" continues unabat-
ed. The most excessive
example is the new net-
work television series
Wind on the Water. This
surf-skate-sail-tow in-jet
ski-skate-snowboard
takes place in Hawaii and
stars such real life practi-
tioners as Matt George,
Vince Klyne and Matty
Lieu. These lads and oth-
ers rub psyches and flesh
with the scantily-clad old-
enough-to-be-your-moth-
er Bo Derek in a never-
ending series of extremist
sport soap operatics. Can
the big island twins win
the giant surf contest in
time to save the family
homestead from the likes.
of Matt Houston using
their prize money? Will
Vince be able to skate
as the latest corporate de-
stabilizer on the West
Coast scene. In a little
over three weeks,
Merchant has lured back.
about eight of the Bong-
Hurley aquatic defectors.
and he is said to be intent
on making his mark on
the hard surface riders as
well. His well-funded
antics have added interest
to the rather pedestrian
machinations of Southern
Cali's mag publishing
empires. As previously
noted here, Larry
"Times Mirror" Balma
is aggressively attempting
to hook up a TWS surf title. His efforts have grievously
upset many including Surfing Magazine honcho Bob
Mignona. Apparently Balma's widely rumored meet-
ings with Fran Richards, Tim Risley, and Zeldo have
wigged the man out to the extent that he's plotting a
skate mag get even. Nick Carroll was summoned
from Oz, where he is fabled to have lined up former
Surfer/Slam editor Mike Perry and Slam-ite Andrew
Currie to work on the gig. Also said to be in on the
OLD SCHOOL
Sheer stamina Heath in Kensington doring the 1966 general election campaign
Balma Valley program are such former competitor pub
industry vets as George Salas, Jason Weatherly,
David Carson, James Cassimus, E Morrison,
Kevin Kinnear and Jon Foster. The corporate
sludges at Surfer are also working the back door
installing TWS intellectual Garry Scott Davis at
K2 cartel. This scenario rather humorously
places ex-Surfer publisher Steve and bro ex-
Skateboarder ed Tony in an ex-Ocean Pacific
exec Bonnie Crail-backed venture that is
also supposed to involve ex-Skateboarder
art man Paul Haven.
OF WHO DO YOU REMEMBER ME FROM?
John Cardiel 1992
Snowboarder as an art "advisor." A key figure in all of the
double dealing is Steve Sherman, who is said to be
being courted by all parties involved. To his credit,
Sherm split to Tijuana, Mexico on an extended skate
trip with Brazzio Golindez, Miguel Lopez, and
Gravity boys Brad and Jeff. Other G men such as
Buttons K, Benny Wai, Tom Wegner, Jimmy
Gamboa, and Darrin Lindenham are believed to be
in on the TJ sessions. But what do riders have to do with
the need for greed? Back in the melee, Skateboarder ed
Thomas Campbell showed up at Del Mar, where he
supposedly classified Tudor as being a total write-off
meltdown casualty. JT's recent insistence on not riding
any sticks of the long variety, in either turf or surf, may
be the basis for this brutal commentary. Adding to the
friction are Steve Rocco, who is according to many
planning his own surf rag with Sean Cliver and Larry
Flynt. Another classicist agitator is Herbie Fletcher,
who is also known to be plotting a board title. Fueling
POSER OF THE MONTH
Defendant: Jared Welty
Claim: Irie Boredslide
Sentence: Willy Baldman
the fire is Art Brewer, who was called back from
Indonesia, where he was hanging with Nathan and
Christian Fletcher and Stryder Wasiluski to negoti-
ate with the senior Fletcher, Surfing, TWS, and Surfer.
Will each of four corporate publishing empires that con-
trol Surfer, Big Brother, Surfing and TWS continue this
lunacy and respectively each launch duplicate clones of
their competitor's other magazines? Even the Hawk
brothers are hinted to be forming a rag financed by the
Tony Trujillo 1998
ART BROS
The notorious Spence clan were hon-
ored with a Laguna Art Museum show of
their vast collection. The family, who once
gained fame by commissioning leading
internationalist architect Bart Prince to
design their home/museum/skatepark/
miniature golf course/pet habitat have
been out of the public eye for the last few
years. When they abandoned the aforemen-
tioned cultural monument in favor of a
shack in the Sylmar mountains, it appeared
that the thousands of arcane art examples
that they amassed had disappeared forever.
Now through the efforts of curator Bolton
Colburn, pieces by people like the Gonz,
Skip Engblom, Lynn Coleman, Lowboy,
Sandow Birk, Natas Kaupas, Chris
Wilder, Al Ruppersburg, Michael C
McMillen and Stacy Peralta are now
being appreciated as "fine art."
According to loose talk, the Spences are
expected to donate a significant amount
of their highly-thought-of archive to this
public institution. Art in America maga-
zine once touted the Spences as being
"the most adventurous collectors on the
American scene."
GOOD BUY
A certain manu's non-payment of his
$60,000 advertising bill to a particular
Oceanside area magazine caused a
number of irate skate businessmen to
demand a secret summit meeting with
the publishers of this unnamed publica-
tion. Innocent enough. Were Rocco, Paul
Schmitt and Chris Miller again in atten-
dance at this grudge match? Was Jim
Gray now? Did a peculiarly uninvited
Santa Barbara toymaker again go ballis-
tic over his lack of inclusion in yet
another meeting? Did he speculate pub-
licly about there being a plot afoot to
control the industry? Once more and
forever, the forces of doom conspire...
WISDUMB
"More money just means more prob-
lems. I have enough of those already."-
Steve Sherman
"You might notice that Mr Lasek's name
appears on the poster. And you might notice.
that he has arrived in this stretch limousine
and it might lead you to conclude that he is
supposed to be included in tonight's festivi-
ties. Somehow you seem to be missing the
obviousness of all this." -Jim Fitzpatrick
WELCOME TO THE END
With careless whispers of the fourth death filtering
through the phone lines, faxes and gossip circles of skate-
boarding's big business, those who got it know that it will
take more than the same old program to keep it. Time to
drop the video bomb. Wouldn't you just guess that Tony
Hawk would be the one to raise the stakes, this time from
standard Hi-8 to 16mm film. The Birdhouse movie, The End,
premiered October 8th. It's a cooker.
cnnered
The premiere at the Costa Mesa Galaxy nightclub attract-
ed hundreds of invited
Is of invited guests and hundreds of uninvited
drop-ins. The large unruly
crowd drew the local fire and
police, who shut down access
to the general area, in the
process locking out many cele-
brants The
brants. The most poignant
denial involved Bucky Lasek
and his party of fifteen, who
A
in two
showed up on schedule
immense pearlescent white
stretch Lincoln Continentals.
After being denied entry, Lasek
and crew began a protracted
negotiation, which included
the histrionic politicking
ticking of
both Bucky's mother-in-law
and Jimmy
Fitz. Finally,
the Fitz.
after an hour of heated
debate,
Paul Schmitt and Tony
and Tony
Hawk were called on a cellu-
lar phone and located inside
the crowded premiere. The
pair eventually got everyone
in.
Tony then introduced the
show and disappeared into a
corner, where he discussed
philosophy with radio notable
Crackhead Bob.
Highlights:
•Somehow, a man named
"Crackhead Bob" was part of
the production.
The Pissdrunx making them-
selves hoarse and honorarily
inducting Tony Hawk into
their ranks.
Dustin "Demon Spawn"
Dollin seizing the mic for a
quick rendition of "My Way"
à la Sid Vicious.
•Team manager Jay
Strickland having so much
fun he lost the company digi-
tal camera.
Smolik making the scene
behind Smoky-and-the-
Bandit-style shades.
Brian Sumner's Amish-
farmer-gone-bad outfit.
Mister Anarchy Jeremy
Klein
the
freaking on
Pissdrunx' rude behavior.
A video unlike all others. No.
bullshit lines, wack-ass beats
or wasted space-just utter
and complete destruction.
The End will hopefully signal
the end of lackluster skate
video productions.
Ol' Dirty Smolik: Twenty
years to go.
NEW
Spawn: Where my dogs at?
Bucky: Even rock stars get
denied sometimes.
Sumner: Witness revisited.
128 THRASHER
129