Trash
GUT ISSUE
VEN with an all-star roster including
Steve
Olson, Rob Gonzalez,
Jesse Paez, and Ricky Oyola,
among others, Kastel shoes went to that
great shoe box in the sky.
After quitting Duffs shoes last month, Kris Markovich
has taken up negotiations with the folks at DVS.
You can't chain a mad dog, and thus, Chris Senn has
separated from Toy Machine and is, at present, tearing
around a free agent.
Despite the absence of his name from the print ads,
Shiloh Greathouse showed up with some sweet tricks
in Rodney vs. Daewon II, causing some speculation that
the book is far from closed on the bad man from LA.
Lavar McBride is off at Blind and on, along with his
brother Marcus, at Daewon's Deca.
Mike Crum and Rune Glifberg are rumored to be
starting their own video magazine with cronies Bill Weiss
and Donnie Diedrich as primary cinematographers.
VIDEO DAYS
As The Storm rains down across the world, many have
cast a curious eye towards the box cover, where,
through some sort of otherworldly magic, the visage of
Rodney Torres was replaced by a glowing, almost
angelic
image e of Scott Pazelt.
Following the release of his first video since the clev-
erly titled Bideo, Julio De La Cruz kicked everybody
except Spaniards Jesus Fernandez, Alfonso
Fernandez, and Daniel LeBron off Neighborhood.
After getting booted out of the big jeans at JNCO, ver-
tical vato Darren Navarrette found comfort in Serial
Killer
r gear and the loving arms of Mike Smith.
Wu-Tang Clan invaded New York's Riverside Park
to film a video. Huge RVs and massive craft services
banquet tables took up a lot of square footage. The
large security force kept most out, but a couple of
essentialists managed to slip in. Andy Kessler,
Shelter Serra, and Jocko Weyland skated and
watched Ol' Dirty Bastard and GZA stand atop the
160 THRASHER
ramp and lip sync while local rider.
Ivory went off for real. The heavily
edited production is up for Source-
MTV-Vibe vid awards.
SATAN LIVES
EL CORTEZ R.I.P.
A cool 12 years since Gator and Jason Jessee
slashed across the slippery spit gutter, San Diego
pool sharks got one last shot af downtown SD's
infamous El Cortez bowl. With a Japanese buy-out
and renovation in full swing, not even the ancient
letters were spared.
Following ten plus years of prohibition,
the Long Beach, CA, Unified School
District has issued a new edict.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the
"district advised students not to wear
Natas clothing because the name spelled
backward is Satan. The notice was
rescinded after school officials learned that
Natas was the first name of a famous skateboarder."
It had to happen eventually. The new GQ magazine
"Hollywood Style" issue featuring the noxious nugget head-
lined "Boards Beyond Belief" claims that the "dealmaking
meeting of the minute is a barefoot chance encounter at
Becker Surf/Skate in the Malibu Colony." This piece of
pulpy friction drops names like a saturation load of carpet
bombs. Chris Carter, Tom Hanks, Phil Becker, Dave
Hollander-hey, the boys are all here. According to this
fashion rag, another darling of the "new style" is direc-
tor/photographer Dewey Nicks. GQ goes into rapturous
detail describing Nicks' relationships with various boarders
like Stryder Wasilewski, Daisy Shane, Kelly Slater,
Veronica Kay, Tommy Adler, etc. Inside tipping hints
that Dewey is soon to document that rising new NY skater-
gone-model Jason Dill for Quiksilver.
And if that is too gay and trendy for you, closely examine
this season's Sports Illustrated NFL preview. Everyone knows
you cannot get harder core or more mid-American blue-col-
lar than the National Football League. In the preview's
Gallery of Greats, there is buddy photo of ex-Seattle
Seahawk Steve Largent and current Buffalo Bill Eric
Moulds in front of the US Capitol. To boost their manly
image, both are crouching upon skateboards sans griptape.
It may have been coincidental. But right after it was
revealed on network television that the movement of the
Tarzan character in the Disney Cartoon was animated
based on Tony Hawk's actual skate routine, Rick
RIP IN PEACE
Blaize Landon Blouin 12.02.69-09.09.99
The skateboard world lost a truly gifted brother
last month. Blaize recently moved back home to
Charleston, SC, where the truck he was driving
lost control and collided into a large pine tree.
Those e of f us who knew Blaize will never for-
get him. He had a way of affecting you, whether
You loved him or despised him. I call out to all
of you who knew him to have a brief moment of
reflection on all of
of the
good times spent. Then
go out and create more good memories, because
You never know when your time is up.
You'll be stoked to know that Blaize was
more at peace with himself and life than I
have ever seen. We've been brothers forever
and the times we have had in the past two
months were some of the best. And you prob-
ably know what times I have to compare them
to. He truly was happy. -Mike Thorvalson
McCrank decided to leave.
Birdhouse. Was it actually
said that the Birdman was
not "there" for his team?
JESUS RULES
OK, you're downtown
when suddenly, BAM! It's
Judgement Day. "Let's face
it, this would be a really
bad time to finally realize
Jesus is the Messiah." So
goes the dialogue in a cur-
rent nationally-placed ad
campaign. Just in case you
camp
miss the point, the Jews for
Jesus who created this sen-
sationalistic tripe have cho-
sen to depict a studio shot
of a "teen" model replete
with leopard-skin knee
pads obviously posing atop
a toy store skateboard. As
the Jesus Jews state: "Lord
knows we've got proof."
Sam Hitz pays his
final respects.
EL
HALL OF MEAT
Sick
Sequence
Jeff Edwards of Cedar City, UT
slipped out on a handrail and
got a rail in his hand. After
sleeping with it in half for one
night, he got twelve screws and
two plates in his arm.
Jimi Scott has replicated the
Winchester Skatepark of old in the
snow at the Mountain High resort.
HOW WHY
How far has the veneration of the
Birdman by middle America gone?
Internet toy providers such as Toys R
Us and eToys report brisk sales of the
product VERT RAMP featuring
"REAL METAL RAILS, REAL
SKATEPARK ACTION, REAL TONY
HAWK DESIGN." The mini table-top
skate enviornment is such a hot seller
that major metropolitan newspapers
available on both coasts have featured
photographs of it. Never forget:
"Clickable coupons offer $10 off your
first eToys
eloys purchase."
Worse yet would be the actual man-
ifestation of the well-placed rumor
that Volkswagen, Inc. is throwing
money at Stüssy to design a boarding-
oriented style bug. Shaun Stüssy
broke his collarbone unloading the
FIGHT NIGHT
Rodney vs. Daewon, Round II premiere
Without the year-long hype that seems to
precede most skate videos these days,
Rodney vs. Daewon, Round II premiered
September 9 at the famous Spreckels
Theatre in downtown San Diego.
All of the Dwindle Distribution companies
were represented: Deca, Tensor, Blind,
Speed Demons, City Stars and Axion, as well
as Droors clothing, and even the recently
SPRECKELS
DWINDLE DIST PRESENTS
ROONEY VS DAEWON ROUND 2
SER 4 658 PM 235-9500
Rodney and Daewon
sold World Industries, whose commercial seemed to be a passing of the torch
to the new Deca team.
Rodney's part began with past images of his long freestyle career, but
quickly fast-forwarded to a truly modern pace featuring almost every
variation of flip tricks out of crooked grinds [both frontside and back-
side], along with fast and varied lines, one of which even featured a
handstand fingerflip.
Daewon's part also left no one disappointed, as tables were stacked and
boundaries were broken. His part held some of the most amazing manual
tricks to date and peaked with some spectacular roof-gap action, including
a kickflip over the gap to 5-0 across an entire bench set on the other side.
Who cares who wins or loses when this video was such a success? Go get
the video, but be prepared to hit the rewind button a few hundred times.
before you figure out all the tricks. -Greg Harris
POSER OF
THE MONTH
Poser: Jesse Venticinque
Violation: Roof-top 5-0
Sentence: Reindeer poo shoes
trunk of a car shortly after receiving
this offer. Cause, effect, or neglect?
Why was Brian Schaeffer walking
around recently with the one and
only prototype Brian Howard shoe
from Duffs?
SO LA
Downhill outings in the hills of
Malibu attract a wide assortment of
veterans and neophytes. Old school
legends like David Hackett, Steve
Olson, Ned Evans, Arthur Lake,
Skip Engblom, Gary Swanson, and
Scott Andersen can usually be found
high atop the Tuna Canyon grade.
When a regular such as Olson misses
a session, people notice, particularly
when Steve passes on skating and
shows up in Beverly Hills at the chic
nightclub Trader Vic's in the vicinity of
Kato Kaelin, Faye Resnick, and
Robert Shapiro. The mere proximity
of so many OJ Simpson principals
again started gossip about Bulky
being the mysterious skater who sup-
posedly rolled past the Nicole Brown
Simpson crime scene on or about the
time of the infamous murder. LAPD
officers were never able to find this
allegedly key witness. Olson attempted
to pass it all off, saying he was a "guest
of billionaire hotel
magnate Baron
Hilton and his lovely family." On the
same evening Steve Olson was also
seen at Hilton's Holmby Hills mansion,
where he denied that he was participat-
ing in an obvious social register func-
tion. His claim? "Hey, I don't know any
of these people, I'm just a wedding pho-
tographer." He also appeared to be
making a video that was a remake of
the '60s, cult film Skater Dater starring
Duane Peters.
The sporting life: Louise Ravera
Balma, the beautifully pristine once
and future TWS heiress, was overheard
placing a wager with Fausto Vitello,
grimy leader of the industrial underbel-
ly. The energetic Ms. B apparently
called bullshit on V's loud
protestations.
that the slimy corporate investors of the
present would rapidly become history.
Translation: Vitello bet Louise that "all
of the corporate types will be gone
from the sport of skateboarding within
36 months." The bet was five thousand
dollars, according to witnesses.
Chad Knight livin' large
After a speech peppered
with equal parts urban ver-
nacular and praise for the
athletes who performed in
the film, the Osiris
spokesman crossed the
LET IT RAIN
The Storm premiere
Rodney Torres and Dave Mayhew
VIP. PRINCES
THE STORM
DOWNTOWN
SEPS THUR SEP S. 1999 7183
stage, pulled back a tarp, and unveiled
what only moments earlier had seemed to
be an amorphous lump: a giant cache of Bass
Cannon-style boom boxes. Glistening in front of the thousands of eyes
in the audience, each featured a shoulder strap and was emblazoned
with twin Osiris logos. One by one the team grabbed up their prizes
and hung them around their necks-giant medals for the survivors of
what has to be one of the most advertised and anticipated videos in
recent memory. After the many months of standing abreast in count-
less advertisements, the Osiris team was finally able to relax their
arms from the roof-raising position, put them around one another and
their new electronic awards, and relax-The Storm had finally arrived!
Exploding across the screen in no particular order were: Kanten Russell,
who taught the Silvergate stairs a lesson; Chad Knight, who is still the
finest mini-ramp skater around; Daxter Lussier, who may be Oceanside's
best kept secret; Scott Pazelt, the Ohio Ronnie Creager, Tyrone Olson,
fightin' back after an injury: Josh Kasper, clearing gaps and record
players in a single bound; Rodney Torres, showing some East Coast
flair, Dave Mayhew, the thinking man's skater, Lil' B and Smolik, who
shared a highly technical, Clairemont-style part; Jerry Hsu, who back-
side noseblunted San Marcos to rock music; Dave Coyne, San Diego's
smiling, laughing Leaf Boy: Mathias Ringstrom, kickflip 540's and
fakie hardflips; Chris Dobstaff, the most potent thing to come out of
East San Diego since methamphetamine; and last but never least,
"Bad" Chad Fernandez, who put a serious hurting on California's giant
handrail-skating community.
The sections floated together, with not a natural disaster theme,
but with highly fast-forwardable footage of the team stalking each
other on the field of paintball battle. The soundtrack included both
original hits and old time favorites. This video could easily become
the Hokus Pokus of the new millennium. Michael Burnett
PULL QUOTE
"Skateboard King Flips Out." -Fox Files
"There is no reason for me to go to contests. I could just stay home and
watch a tape and do the commentary from there."-Chris Miller
"Today's power leisure activity is surfing." -GQ Hollywood Style
"Donald Trump's way into skating. He owns some great spots."
"One of the people
responsible for our
sport can't pee and that
is a big problem."
-Jim Fitzpatrick
Julien Stranger aims to please.
-Mark Baker