trash
BAN THIS
Boston's skate spot Turtles is history. From
the '70s to the '90s, it saw it all. Vanik,
Robbie G, Barry Brown, and the Boston
crew will miss her for eternity.
In New York news, it looks like Andy
Kessler and Jim Murphy are workin' a
new line called Wounded Knee. Big boards.
for bad dudes.
Paul Sharpe, Jason Maxwell and some
others were a little bit frosted by Tony
Trujillo's hotel rearranging in their room.
The kid reportedly ripped the sink off the wall
and left many stylish items of clothing in need
of a clothesline.
Is Birdhouse going toward the 6th degree?
And is Jay Strickland the new papa?
SHUFFLED DECKS
Shoe shift: Crum, from Recs to DVS,
Hirata, from Dukes to Globe, and Kenny
Hughes, from Vita to DC.
XYZ Clothing has a new video featuring
Danny Way, Rick McCrank, Peter Hewitt,
Pat Duffy, and Pat Channita. Platinum is
still shining on, but Moses Itkonen made his
way to Powell, while super Finn Aarto Saari
was snatched up by Flip.
Charlie Wilkins has joined Leaf Boy
at Maple.
FTC was fabled to be contemplating the
acquisition of Mad Circle's team and holdings.
but appears to be content to remain as a
retailer at this time. Perhaps Cairo Foster's
defection to Real was a factor in this decision.
Flip's Geoff Rowley model design bears an
astonishing similarity to
certain well known
Dogtown skate graph-
ics. Its cross and wing.
layout are so close that
many in Venice wonder
THRASHER
as to its artistic prove-
Finally, real
proof of
intelligent
life on other
planets.
nance. Reportedly
Dogtown's
very
own Red Dog has
liscensed said.
graphics for wide
exploitation.
NAME DROPPER
Amidst a sea of
controversy, realign-
ments and changes in affiliation continue.
With such much debated switches and their
related blow-ups, rebounds in recent days as
Danny Way going to Alien or Colin McKay
going to Girl or Matt Hensley going to Black
Label or Dan Rogers going to 60/40 or
Ethan Fowler going to Foundation or Rick
McCrank going to Birdhouse or Ricky
Oyola going to New Deal or Jeremy
Wray going to Element or Vallely going to
Black Label etc., what else could occur to
elicit shock? Then again, the emergent alle-
gation that Tony Hawk is going to Fury to
design a new truck did start a shitstorm of
drama. Is Hawk extremely upset over the
apparently bizarre circumstances surround-
ing his old friend Bryan Ridgeway's "resig-
nation" from Tracker-Orion? Was Ridge, the
hardworking, well thought-of and loyal com-
pany man for over fifteen years, actually ter-
minated by management?
TALKIN' TURKEY
With skateboarding's 9.4 million United
States-based participants and the 20%-plus
growth of the market over the last year and
the overall 103 billion dollar disposable
income yearly of the "youth market," don't
expect to see any lessing of corporate
attacks and hard-ass tactics in the future. In
fact, one major industrialist was seen
attempting to properly register several
trademarks on the same day that he fired an
assortment of rider employees citing "mar-
ket reversals and lack of business."
Spike Jonze is in Arizona working on a
film with Ice Cube.
Rich Metiver's award winning ad series
featuring bile, blood, human excrement and
assorted bodily fluids has been most recent-
ly censored by certain mags for their "strong,
sexual content." One just-rejected advert
depicted a raggedy-ass dog. The blackballing
of the canine photo deeply disturbed
Metiver, who stated, "I guess one man's pup
is another man's pussy."
NO RULES
Following the example set by the boys in
Portland and Philly, Sacto skaters are said to
be pouring non-city-approved concrete.
Stevie Dread allegedly persists in the
practice of surfacing over vacant lots in
Chicago in order to turn them into skate
spots. Seemingly done without permis-
sion, permits or any authorization what-
soever, these impromptu construction
jobs are not well appreciated by
Chicago's law enforcement agents.
Dread deserves congratulations for his
recent tactic of showing the irate cops
photographs of his kids as proof of his,
proper citizenship.
CASHIN' CHECKS
Reef Brazil's ownership is still shaking fol-
lowing their recent encounter with Steve
Rocco at a historical surfing and skateboard
artifact auction. In demonstration of this
erratic behavior, they have just put Laban
Pheidias on their team as a combination pro,
juggling coach and skate translator. The
Brazilian braintrust that heads Reef have been
asking discreetly as to whether or not Rocco
POSERS
OF THE MONTH
Violators: Mike McKay and posse
Violation: Anti-gravity wallride
Punishment: Tag-team mud wrestling
cage match against the Backstreet Boys
drive-thru
Perpetrator: Richard Jolly
Perpetration: Corporate death burger 50-50
Punishment: Indigestion
will surface at upcoming auction house
events. Perhaps between their epic butt-floss
girls and the esoterically brilliant Laban they
will now be able to decode the antics of the
sport's other jugglers.
Tons of highbrow maneuvering surrounded
the South Side Skatepark in Houston, Texas at
the Make-A-Wish charity gig. Stellar
moments included Ken Fillion spinning.
some big McTwists, Vallely and Drehobl
attacking the mini ramp and Jason
Womack's, Cairo Foster's, and Tony Trujillo's
overall stunting. David Cain and Pat Duffy
held an all night pool tourney where the win-
ners won more Jack and Cokes.
The plush Arlington Theatre on SB's State
Street was the venue for that city's skatepark
benefit. Funds were raised due to the hard
work, generosity and perseverance of many
of the region's most notable characters. The
newest Skate Street and Powell videos were
premiered for throngs of appreciative riders
and several civicly responsible adults.
Chairman James Fitzpatrick's speech was
so motivational that the crowd spontaneous-
ly began chanting "Fitz for Senator." The
professional politicians in attendance duly
took note. Mike Furokawa, Scott Douglas
and Mike Taylor deserve much credit for
their efforts to help the Santa Barbara city
people develop a public park. The erudite.
and ever-watchful General George Powell
gave several extended discourses on his pas-
sion for fingerboarding and then proceeded
to interrogate several of his subordinates
about the suspected presence of agents from
a particular skate mag.
Mike Santarossa has remained on the
business tip fronting his own Diabolical
Brand despite the looming presence of a
couple of large corps in his Santa
Barbara neighborhood.
HYPE TYPE
Cultural perversions repeatedly assault
both our sport as well as our perception of
reality. ITT-Bell Atlantic television commer-
cials with actor James Earl Jones doing the
Darth Vader voice talkover while digiverse
aerialists skate over his head strain the limits
of credibility. Ditto for the fashionable GAP
skate spots and the evil Eve6 Rolling Stone
snow style fashion shoot. Some would say
that the Victoria's Secret Country Collection
catalogue depicting a silk and acrylic fur
swathed model doing obvious kook poses
"atop" a snowboard takes the cake for
obscene animal bestial acts.
LAST WORDS
"I don't care if you don't like my attitude.
It's not an attitude park." -Jim Greco, to
an employee of the new Vans park
"They told me they wanted input, then they
said I was too negative, so then I was gone and
that was pretty positive." -Mike Santarossa
MOLD SCHOOL
I couldn't help but notice that I was trashed in
October "98" issue
your ? ? As if you know about my lifel
Than
Relax Brother, maybe next time we can get in
some phat sessions.
I would like to thank Zack, Teauge, Finny,
Pillow, Stafford, Lenny, Jodi Mac, Roller Dave, and
everyone who contributed to my kick ass
vacation!
I had such a good time I purchased a paper
camera to capture the moment. So I'm sending
some photos of my, "Scum Line Carves".
Although it was intended in disrespect no one
has ever referred to me as "Mighty."
THANKS,
ALLEN LOSI
Return of the Combi-Pool
Periodically I stop by the mag to "keep in
touch with skateboarding." It's fun because
often Jake Phelps will pull out a photo or two.
of some God-forsaken cement pit somewhere
on this earth that he's either just visited or
intends to soon visit. This is accompanied by
a "Check it out, Curt, this one's for you."
Depending on my schedule and the proximi-
ty of said pit, who knows? Australia in October,
Of Sald
for example, was not a go. The grand opening
of the new Vans skatepark (read: Combi-Pool,
back from the dead) in November, now that
was a go.
"I skated it yesterday. It's like nothing I've ever
really skated before."-Salman Agah
"It's better than I could ever imagine. Old bear-
ings feel new. This ain't no usual park, that's for
sure."-Sam Hitz
Lately, my approach to skate trips is, bot-
tom line, to try to do my three little tricks at
any given spot at any given time, and to
avoid serious injury. Sometimes it works,
sometimes it doesn't..
"I think every skatepark should be built out of
cement."-Peter Hewitt
Luke and I flew into LAX on a Friday after-
noon and then drove to the park. The park is
located in some mega-mall from hell. You gotta
go into the mall to get to the park. It's a small
price to pay to skate this legendary pool.
"Far out, man. I used to skate this pool in Upland
when I was a kid. It's a flashback."
-Jake Piasecki
They let us in and at first it was pretty much
me, Eddie Alioto, Matt Moffett, and Texas Dan,
checking tranny, looking for lines.
"I'm dreaming. I used to watch this when I was
growing up in the shitsticks way in the Midwest.
I've been watching Upland videos all week."
-Texas Dan
Our little "get acquainted" session blew up to
epic proportions real quick. It was surreal.
Imagine fighting elbow to elbow for lines with
Salba, Eddie Alioto, Bailey, Belmar, Cab,
Chicken, Delgado, Duncan, Eddie
Elguera, Eric
Grisham, Grosso, Zac Grove, Hackett, Omar,
Peter Hewitt, Sam Hitz, Rick Howard, Chuck
Hults, Eric Jeuden, Jason Jessee, Maddog.
Preston, Markovich, Moffett, Lance Mountain,
Jen O'Brien, Olson, Partain, Jake Piasecki, Reul,
some guy named Ricky, Steve Saiz, Willy
Santos, Sash, Schroeder, Mike Smith, Remy,
Texas Dan, Brian Wainwright, Kevin Wilkins,
Paul Wysknewski, and Sergie Ventura. Trip out
on skateboard history, right?
"I'm numb. It's numbing." --Jason Jessee
Needless to say, it was hard to get runs in for
a while. The session ebbed and flowed and was
so insane. Salba did slob airs over the Vans guy,
Steve Caballero's
kinetic memory guides
him through this frontside
air in the square corner.
Gary Schoenfeld, who sat on the edge of the
round. He also did disasters and corner-to-cor-
ner figure-8 carves. Lance and Stevie did dou-
bles in the square. Cab also had some jousting
corner airs, hand flip Indys, and long slide-and-
rolls in the round. Lance did fastplants o easi-
ly, and nose grab grinders off the hip. Jake
Piasecki killed it with forever lines and the
biggest air of the evening. Reuler was Reuling.
The Hesh crew was in effect: Eddie Alioto,
Miller flip in the square, clean as fuck; Peter
Hewitt, barging grinds everywhere and fat 50-
50s to fakie in the round. Sam Hitz had nice
stand-ups into the corner and fat frontside
snaps in the round. Omar Hassan went demo
dog 5-0 to fakie through one corner, feeble to
fakie through the next corner, and fakie 50-50
through the last corner. He also did frontside
channel ollies to
through the shallow
to lipslide
end corner, a real crowd pleaser. Texas Dan laid
into some meaty frontsides in the round,
Grosso hung on to long 50-50s and boardslides
in the round and big backside airs. Bailey was
ripping no pads, and Mike Smith did Smithverts
in the fucking Combi-Pool for crissakes.
"It's fast and smooth. You keep thinking of
Upland, you know? So it throws you off. That shal-
low end is crazy. But it's cool."-Lance Mountain
"The shallow end bites."-Jeff Grosso
It was like a dream. After that it was lights out
and Luke and I flew home.
"I think the bowls are, in essence, better, but the
Pipeline had better lines. I'll probably change my
mind in a month."--Steve Alba
"It's incredible. You never get sessions like this."
-Dave Reul
So mark your calandars and your maps, grab
your bag of tricks, and bring 'em down to the
Vans skatepark. The Combi-Pool is back and
who knows how long it's going to last this time.
-Curtis Hsiang
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