TRASH
IN COMING
S HEATH KIRCHART'S FOOTAGE IN SUCH HIGH DEMAND
that he and J Strickland are literally auctioning it off to the highest
video-producing bidder? Is a UCI backside noseblunt really going for up
to $1000? How much is Strickland's cut? Perhaps a more complete price
list can be drafted, as Heath recovers from his recent collarbone break.
Although his first dismissal was more akin to
a board sponsor "time out," problem child
Jerry Fowler has been once again booted off
of Rhythm.
After smashing screen doors and giving his last
clothing sponsor's logo the bird in a recent video
commercial, Kristian Svitak switched over from
SMP
Innes. He also ceased wobbling around on
Tracker trucks to skate for Destructo.
In other truck news, Destructo has sprouted a
sub-brand, Destroyer, to its popular steering
line. Destroyer riders include Vallely, Barley,
and Markovich.
Jesse "Street" Fritsch has taken a shot of
Adrenalin and will be turning pro for them as soon
as he learns 540's and some backside revert
tricks. Adrenalin's parent company, Chapman, is
rumored to be hanging on to Danny Gonzalez
for dear life after he and Mathias Ringstrom got
generous offers from World Industries-an offer
Mathias readily took as he has always dreamed of
being on a team with a guy who has a weirder last
name than he does.
OUT GOING
After learning that they would never get ads or
be turned pro, New Deal ams Greg Harris and
Sean Mullendore jumped ship. Sean is report-
edly riding for Stereo, while Greg is a free agent.
Darren Navarrette has rejoined Sessions
clothing after being booted from JNCO and quit-
ting Serial Killer. His attempts to get on Vince
Neil's Outlaw Clothing were, apparently, in vain.
After nollie flipping to noseslide down Hubba,
Danny Garcia walked off the City Stars roster
and into an uncertain sponsorship future. In a
related story, City Stars has left the Dwindle dis-
tribution family.
Tony DaSilva has filled the amateur slot on Vans
left vacant when Jeff Lenoce switched to Lakai.
While skating a rail
recently, Arto Saari
hung up and
smacked his head
on the ground, scoring a major con-
cussion and a quick trip to the hos-
pital. The Finnish powerhouse has
already recovered and will be back
to forcing older pros into retirement
by the time you read this.
Mark Appleyard better get a
boom box, because he's the first am
on the Circa team, which also
includes pros Chad Muska and
Adrian Lopez. Two more big.
names are supposedly signed on as
well, with official announcements
coming in April.
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
STEREO
After tweaking his ankle, Chris Pastras ponders
expanding Stereo Manufacturing into Stereo
publishing, with an initial offering of My Way,
an autobiography by Team Pierre. Chris has
reportedly already given him a pencil.
The Toy Machine threw a rod
after Bam Margera and Mike
Maldonado both quit, leaving Ed
Templeton, Brad Staba, Elissa Steamer, and
the Skater of the Year, Brian Anderson, as the
remaining squad. The problem, reportedly, had lit-
tle to do with Ed, and everything to do with nego-
tiations for royalties between Tum Yeto higher-
ups and Bam for Bam's upcoming face-punching
bonanza Camp Kill Yourself 2K. After hearing that
Tum Yeto would no longer take Bam's calls,
Maldonado called them up pretending to be Bam
and was promptly sent to voicemail. Pissed at the
communication breaker, Mike put in his two
weeks. While gossip places Bam on Element, who
will distribute his new flick (for release in April),
Mike is reportedly a free agent.
Under the tattooed tutelage of Kris
Markovich, child prodigy Tosh Townsend has
joined up with Spitfire.
NEWS TO LOSE
HEADLINE: DATELINE OAHU: "Christian
Hosoi Nabbed With Drugs At Airport"
"According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, Christian
Hosoi was arrested at Honolulu Airport for carry-
ing nearly one pound of crystal methampheta-
mine. Hosoi, formerly of Lanikai and one of
America's top 10 ranked professional skateboard-
ers in the 1980s, was wearing a waist pack con-
"You only won 'cause
you're taller than me."
"I won 'cause I'm
from Bristol."
for life.
Element Skateboards
1099A Baker Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
160 THRASHER
SIDANNY WAINWRITE
Date February 06, 2000
$10,000
Dollars
taining the drugs when he walked off a flight from
Los Angeles, according to a criminal complaint
filed in US District Court.
The amount recovered, two wrapped bundles
weighing 690.5 grams, is consistent with distribu-
tion, according to a Drug Enforcement
Administration task force detective.
Although Hosoi did not consent to a pat-
down, he was arrested after a drug-sniffing dog
detected the scent of controlled substances
from his carry-on bags and because of the way
he was behaving. He appeared nervous, was
perspiring profusely, and appeared very pale,
according to the complaint."
In the aftermath of the event, a number of
Hosoi's friends and confidants have been attempt-
ing to sort the thing out and determine if there is
anything that can be done to aid Christian. Ivan
Hosoi has been gathering positive character rec-
ommendation letters from prominent individuals
in the skate industry. There has been some dis-
POSER OF THE MONTH
Poser: Gerald Schleitwiler
Crime: Vidiot
Sentence: Repetitive Stress Syndrome
cussion about a legal aid benefit
contest to be held in Venice.
HEADLINE: "Hard slams are
part of the job." VISUAL: portrait
of Jamie Thomas and Ed
Templeton with skates. TAGLINE:
"Tonight, make it vegetarian."
SPONSOR: Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine. DIS-
TRIBUTION: PETA, the love-ani-
mals-because-they-have-rights
organization. SYNOPSIS: You eat
what you are.
Participants in the Raleigh, North
Carolina, contest at the Utopia
skatepark are reporting that their
prize money checks are bouncing
like balls. Luckily for the winner,
Kyle Berard, he decided to waive
his prize money and stay amateur.
WASH OUT
Tim McKenney's fishing obses-
sion is flaring up again. Recently he
has resumed his fly rod safaris into
the toxic superfund site near
Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard. The
angler claims that the fish in these
parts are dramatically larger, and
he credits the miracles of pollution
for this wonderment. Apparently
fishing is excellent near pieces from
the hulk of Howard Hughes' old
500 million dollar salvage vessel
and CIA spy ship the Glomar
Explorer. The Explorer achieved
infamy when it raised the heavily
radioactive sunken Soviet nuclear
submarine K128.
Spike Jonze's outstanding per-
formance as the leering lunking
inbred hillbilly psychotic soldier in
the film Three Kings was overlooked
in the consideration for the Best
Supporting Actor category for the
2000 Academy Awards. The erst-
while filmmaker and skate com-
pany mogul fared far better with his
film Being John Malkovich, for
which he received a nomination for
Best Director.
MAGMA MAN
Statistically-oriented profiling
indicates that approximately
100,000 decks are produced each
month. Deck builders like Schmitt
are running production 24/7.
Foundries of truck companies such
a Thunder, Venture, and
Independent are open 24 hours a
day. There are believed to be 9.5
million skateboarders in the USA.
Last year's industry sales totaled
more than $720 million. More than
300 public skateboard parks are
presently under development and
construction in the United States.
Gonz has started showing up
around SF driving a new Mercedes.
His present preoccupation is mas-
tering the kickflip on a BMX bicycle.
Product-wise Gonzales has sug-
gested to Adidas that they incorpo-
rate wooden material into their
shoes.
The California Highway Patrol is
reputed to be investigating the
"unauthorized use of a CHP uni-
form" by Erik Estrada in a Hook
Ups video.
BLOWN OFF
And how are the established pub-
lishing houses reacting to the threat
of new media? Word has it that the
masters of E Map, the owners of
several hundred titles, are thinking
of separating out the Surfer group
that
Snowboarder, etc. from the rest of
includes Skateboarder,
Petersen Pub. Supposedly Surfer
Inc. may be again offered for sale.
Recall that Larry Balma's cartel is
believed to have offered 19 million
for the Surfer combine last time. Will
he again bid, offering more than the
approximately 24 mil that the group
reportedly fetched a couple of years
back? Old man Petersen, who sold
off his media holdings a while back,
is also fabled to be a potential cus-
tomer. He is reputed to have per-
sonally purchased Sports Afield. And
the Miller Freeman communica-
tions group, which owns the Action
Sports Retailer trade show organiza-
tion, amongst other things, is also
rumored to be for sale. Perhaps the
precarious nature of some of the
previous acts is helping to stimulate
the wholesale desertions of many
staff members from many of these
very same corporate rags. Even
TWS guru Brian Sellstrom has
moved to elsewhere in the Times
Mirror empire.
RICH KIDS
NBC's Gravity Games is soon to
offer an entire line of "Gravity Gear"
for sale in skate shops. This product
is being hyped around and the claim
is that Bob Burnquist will be the
lead endorser of same. For some
unexplainable reason, the gear is
apparently being conceived by for-
mer collegiate softball player Patty
Regan. Even more distressing is the
fact that pictures of the reportedly
non-affiliated Tony Hawk have been.
seen about advertising this official
merchandise. The boys at Mattel
toys, who engage Mr Hawk to pro-
mote a Hot Wheels model, did not
see the humor in this errant pairing.
Sample NBC rap: "We'll Grab your
audience... Switch your sales into
high gear... Kickflip your competi-
tors at retail... and Flipout your cus-
tomers." Will this refined prose
inspire record sales? Will success
spoil the act of skating? Ms Regan
was the genius responsible for both
the Dreamworks Antz promotion at
Target and the Austin Powers SHA-
GADELIC snow globe.
In a completely bizarre twist, Mike
Vallely has placed his future in the
camel clutch and will be appearing
in a number of professional
wrestling matches run by a less-
than-WWF-caliber franchise
around the country. Having
warmed up in recent years
with numerous grapples with
fun boxes and flat bars, Mike's
expected opponent is
skater-hating character who
will hopefully put up more of
a fight than the aforemen-
tioned inanimate objects.
Vallely 3:16 shirts are report-
edly available in an attempt to
cash in on the crossover mer-
chandising ops.
DOS DOSE
"Food can be powerful
medicine."
-Jamie Thomas
"Don't make me flex on your
ass, whitey."
-Mic-E Reyes
"Tonight, make it vegetarian."
-Ed Templeton
"Once something has started
it's hard to make it stop."
-Mark Gonzales
"Becoming a charac-
ter in a video game
is a dream come
true for me."
-Steve Caballero
HALL OF MEAT
Fifth-grader Michael Levin became
the latest Clipper Street casualty
when one of his friends double-
dog-dared him to bomb it.
Dirty result: two broken arms.
ASR gets the
one-two Ponch