March 2006
Monthly Archive
Fri 31 Mar 2006
Eddie and Fish have returned to the Austin area to build a concrete skatepark in nearby Lakeway. Between rain showers, concrete is being sprayed for the 6′ & 9′ bowl. I’ve been too busy with my job to visit the worksite, but I’ve dispatched a correspondent who says it’s going to be a really fast bowl and has shot these photos of the construction.
I bumped into Kessler during dinner last night at Jackalope. Turns out that Doug King and Steve are travelling to Las Vegas today to build a mega ramp at the Hard Rock Cafe. The concept is for Danny Way to jump off that big electric guitar sign (60′) and land on some ramp that’s only about 27′ tall. For those who hadn’t noticed, the "Keep Austin Weird" bumper stickers and t-shirts must be working because the Austin Hard Rock Cafe closed down earlier this year. Oh, and the Ritz is under renovation. According to one source, the owner wants to cater to a non-tattooed clientele.
I caught some free time last weekend and skated Mabel Davis with Kevin, Nathan, Hubba, Buford, and Zach. Here are just a few pics. lil’ moot learned standup grinds backside & frontside through the corners and also nailed 3 lien to tails in the deep. While it’s no neon sign in Vegas, I’m planning a MD session this weekend where I’ll settle a frontside boardslide bet that’s been running with Kinilau for a while now.
Milligan gave me some photos from SUAS 2006. I’ll probably get them online early next week.
UPDATE: A skatepark advocate in Portland, Oregon was seriously injured yesterday while skating. Without insurance, Sarah Burgess’ medical bills will likely cripple her financially and she could use the help of skaters everywhere. You can read about her situation here and make a donation via PayPal.
Wed 22 Mar 2006
Today I skated Mabel Davis on my lunch break with Tom and Shannon. Cool little session. I found out from Shannon that Chalba and Rhino showed up at the Banana Farm yesterday. If you hold your mouth right, you might just see some backside airs to disasters around town.
The Tekgnar contest was rained out on Saturday. The staff are still working on rescheduling it for a later date.
With zero advance warning, James Juneau married Lisa on Saturday. Congratulations!
Eddie from Grindline was sent to Lakeway to lead the public skatepark construction. Doug King’s Rex Ramps crew will be doing the heavy lifting, which probably began yesterday.
My camera was returned from the manufacturer 100% repaired. Photos should commence shortly. I also hope to sift through the SUAS 2006 photos that were given to me any day now. Still trying to dispatch all these cobras.
Mike Kelly called and left a voice mail inviting lil’ moot and me to the grand opening of Mike Crum’s new skate shop across the street from the Allen public skatepark. Billy Smith is Crumb’s partner in the business venture which opened its doors for the first time this past weekend.
Fri 17 Mar 2006
Posted by seth johnson under
street skating[2] Comments
As I’m typing this, I’m reminded of many epic battles I’ve witnessed. King Kong vs. Godzilla, the Gargantuans, that scene in the Matrix with all the guns, the end of Kung Fu Hustle where the main guy fights the "Beast" using Budda Palm. And for some reason, I especially remember the mortal combat of the mongoose named Riki Tiki Tavi vs. that cobra. The cobra has it’s tail securely coiled around the Riki Tiki and it starts to retreat down into its hole. The mother mongoose’s voice echoes in Riki’s head, "Don’t EVER let a cobra pull you into it’s hole. You will NEVER survive." Then the damn cartoon cuts to a commercial break as poor Riki is dragged underground by the snake.
This is an especially poignant struggle that accurately reflects my current dilemna. For the past two months, you have probably noticed a dearth of ASN postings. Beyond the lack of a camera to take photos with, I’ve literally had a cobra tail wrapped around my throat trying to choke me out. This morning, that sucker pulled me down into it’s hole. After the commercial was done, I clambered out of the hole bloodied, but unkilled enough to type this posting.
If you’ve got some casual time this saturday from 2 until 5, you might consider heading over to the skate contest Tekgnar is throwing in their parking lot on MLK & Guadalupe. Fear not the gargantuans like Jon Erik. Tekgnar’s contests are always more about fun and friends than crane techniques or sweeping the leg johnny.
Ok, back to killing these cobras.
Thu 9 Mar 2006
Posted by seth johnson under
General[5] Comments
Carjack just called to remind me that the Blue Tile Lounge will be screening several vintage skate video offerings at Beerland tonight mixed in with some new videos. According to Nathan, one of the key organizers, "Chris from Find and Grind said that he should have
the new Thrasher videos available to play tomorrow (new King of the Road and
Keg Killer). Pizza probably, and whatever other videos happen to show up
(hint, hint)." I’m intending to bring that 4 minute clip I edited down from my Mabel Davis and SPoA footage collected this weekend. Maybe I’ll even win another deck?
Gleaming the Cube at 7:00. Skate videos at 9:00. Free admission, cheap beer, free pizza. If a couple of Japanese garage bands show up, yell "baka-baka" at them between songs.
Tue 7 Mar 2006
The Real vs. Antihero demo at the Skatepark of Austin was a major blowout event. The huge crowd was treated to skating beyond anything witnessed in recent memory at SPoA. I actually didn’t see what was going on in the street area due to the standing-room only spectator area. I spent the entire time sitting by the bowl watching Frank Gerwer, Max Schaff, Dennis Busenitz, Tony Trujillo, Julien Stranger, Rene Beres, and Chaz Pineda performing all manner of stunts.
Chaz said he turned 17 and quit Black Label, so he’s currently looking for a board sponsor. The kid is definitely pro material: 20-ft stand-up grinds in the deep end to revert.
My camera is still in the shop, but I shot some video footage and have editied it into this 25mb download that’s hosted on a super-fast server. Check it out.
Notable Quote: "No matter what happens. No matter what they do to you. If you can grab a sixer and go to Burnside, YOU WIN." — Chad Balcom, Portland, Oregon.
Sat 4 Mar 2006
Posted by seth johnson under
General[8] Comments
According to an article in yesterday’s Austin American-Statesman, the Cedar Park city council voted to site their public skatepark outside of Cedar Park city limits. From the article it sounds as if the site selection process was driven not by the end-users of the facility, but instead by NIMBY residents fearing that a skatepark might attract ‘rowdy teenagers’ to their neighborhood parks.
This is extremely unfortunate. By yeilding to the NIMBYs ("Not In My Back Yard"), these leaders have chosen to marginalize children by declaring Cedar Park’s parks belong to older residents. The site selected for the public skatepark is the Williamson County Regional Park, which is one of those remote sports complexes filled with soccer and baseball fields that are accessible only by car. Usage of the skatepark will be severely impacted by this location. What’s worse, on weekends when soccer tournaments are taking place, there is a fee for parking.
What’s also frustrating about this decision is that Cedar Park is ramping up a public input process to determine the master plan for its Northwest Community Park. These meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on March 15th and April 3rd at the Public Library. If you are a Cedar Park skater who wants to get a public skatepark in your community, your attendance at these meetings is crucial.
The Real and Antihero teams will demo at Skatepark of Austin this weekend. This time, Tony Trujillo is promised to be in attendance.
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