April 2006
Monthly Archive
Sat 29 Apr 2006
Posted by seth johnson under
General[13] Comments
Jason Lee celebrates his 36th birthday (4/26) with friend Mark Gonzales
In the late 1970s, Japan’s leading scientists made a breakthrough discovery in the field of robotics. They found that if they built specialized average-sized robots, these machines could combine to form much larger robots that benefitted from the unique capabilities of the component robots. Since 1945, Japan’s constitution has forbidden the country from using nuclear weapons within its military, so these giant robots have proven invaluable for the island nation’s defense. Members of Austin’s art scene have leveraged this sophisticated technology and have combined several area galleries to form a new formidable art venue: Okay Mountain. Located in East Austin just off of Cesar Chavez and Navasoto, Okay Mountain celebrated its grand opening last night with an exhibit of work by Jason Villegas titled "Repressed Burial Fantasy." The new art viewing facility is very nice and received rave reviews from the many patrons in attendance. Here are some photos I shot at the opening.
Rush Limbaugh was arrested Friday on charges of ‘doctor-shopping’ for prescription drugs.
Carter Dennis stopped by the Lakeway public skatepark construction site yesterday and snapped a couple of pics of Grindline’s progress on the park. As it’s developing, I’m getting the impression that the skaters who complain that Mabel Davis’ street course lacks flow are going to love Lakeway’s street course. Those who like doing technical tricks on ledges and stairs at Mabel Davis are probably not going to like Lakeway’s street course.
Yesterday, Donylle Green’s Highland Lakes Skatepark advocacy group pitched their case in front of some Marble Falls power brokers. It was an impressive presentation led by four young Marble Falls skaters.
Local skatepark advocate, Jared Ficklin, left for New York City today to promote his new PBS reality television series, Texas Ranch House. The premier will air on Monday and run through the rest of next week. Check out the Texas Ranch House website for video clips. Here he’s featured with some Native Americans. Friend or foe? Watch the show to find out.
Tue 25 Apr 2006
Cary Jackson rides the escalator in the deep end
Over the weekend, Carjack, Kevin, and I ignored the high prices at the gas pumps and took a 4-hour roadtrip to Tyler. The first Texas city to build a municipal public skatepark back in 1998. The original wooden and steel structures have perservered through the elements and remain as an impressive example of city leaders recognizing the value of skateboarding. In late 2005, Tyler updated the facility with a new concrete bowl designed and constructed by Grindline of Seattle, Washington. This was the attraction that brought us up from Austin in my 1987 Ford Ranger.
From the single photo of the bowl posted on the Grindline site, we thought it would be easy to skate. The shallow trannies are mellow and the deep end looks like the gentle deep end at Mabel Davis. On the way up, we imagined that we’d be beating up our little brother skating the Tyler bowl. On our way home, Kevin commented that our little brother seemed to have tightened up at military boarding school. If you think Mabel Davis is unduly challenging, the Tyler bowl might not be for you. It does feature a range of elements, though. Some stuff is very accessible. Things like the over-vert pocket are extremely difficult to access. Like most Grindline parks, the mix of difficulty will keep Tyler’s skaters challenged for years to come.
Tyler, Texas bowl overview
It is not without problems, though. The soil surrounding the bowl is very sandy. Quite a lot of sand finds its way into the bowl, which makes the surface slick for your wheels but very gritty for your knee pads. A broom is a valuable item on a roadtrip to Tyler. There is a shade tree next to the bowl, but walking between the shade and the bowl will get your shoe soles sandy. If you’re picky about clean soles, you’ll want a towel on the platform. The bowl doesn’t have lights, so your session ends at sundown. Fortunately, the adjacent wooden and metal ramp facility is lighted, so you can just move over and skate the mini ramps. Although very enticing, the sheets of metal on the vert ramp are peeling up, so it’s really not safe to skate. I took a couple of short runs on it and could tell that in its day, it was a lot of fun. New wood for the flatbottom and some countersinking could get that thing in really good shape over a weekend.
We camped friday night at the nearby Tyler State Park. The park features a large lake, tall East Texas pines, and armies of racoons. Tyler is in a dry county, so if you’re planning on drinking beer, get it on your way there. Otherwise, you’ll have to drive 15 miles out of town to get a twelve pack.
Bottom line- great skate spot, great roadtrip.
Map to Tyler Public Skatepark.
Tyler weather forecast.
Thu 20 Apr 2006
Posted by seth johnson under
General[5] Comments
Reggie carefully regulates his son’s Monster Energy drink
consumption but is less than concerned about his own
airwalk-slobs-to-tails at Mabel Davis
Donnie McAllister, who many might know as the Vox rep from Portland, has culled the best of his footage and bundled it up in the form of a skate video called Sidewalk Chalk, which he’ll show friday evening at Wahoo’s. The flyer touts footage of Adam Young as well as a bunch of other Austin and Portland skaters. The screening starts at 8:30 pm and will be followed by an indoor (air conditioned) game of S.K.A.T.E. There’s more to read about this event at the Skatepark of Austin site.
I quit my job last monday. Suffice it to say that working for the state is as awesome as you might have imagined. Perhaps my relaxed schedule will result in more content posted to Austin Skate Notes… At a minimum, it’s already resulted in more sessions at Mabel Davis for me.
Irving, Texas, has held its final public input meeting regarding it’s first public skatepark. The input has largely resulted in a wide-open plaza concept put together by Site Design Group. The fourduos guys have a photo of the design in this forum thread.
Me, moot, and Carjack are planning to head up to Tyler this weekend for some camping and skateboarding. Photos should follow soon after.
Fri 14 Apr 2006
Joseph was in town last year with the Skatopia hillbilly tour.
Now he’s back helping to build the lakeway skatepark
The Grindline crew has finished the bowl at the Lakeway public skatepark. They’re skating the bowl in the evening each day after working on the street section. I went out there this afternoon to check the progress and shoot some photos of their session.
The bowl is quick. The dimensions lean more towards backyard pool than skatepark bowl. Very little flatbottom and every wall is round. Big Ryan says it’s his favorite concrete thing to skate in Texas. Darrell, of Dream Destroyer’s fame, was similarly impressed with the implementation. The pool coping makes grinds exciting.
Doug King was out there fresh back from erecting and demolishing the ramp landed on by Danny Way when he jumped off the Hard Rock Cafe sign in Vegas last week.
brilliant bachelor party idea
Doug told me Jon Erik and Grapes both dropped in on the 35′ quarterpipe opposing the landing ramp.
Last weekend a bachelor party was held for Andy Rihn. John Weiss scheduled lessons for Andy’s friends to learn how to throw knives and other sharp implements. It was an awesome afternoon. We learned how to throw axes, shovels, spikes, knives, and battleaxes into a stump hanging on the back of the Sharpist knife shop. Here are some photos I shot during our lesson.
Tue 11 Apr 2006
Posted by John under
General[48] Comments
Adam five-o to fakie across the gap @ Austin High ditch
Adam called me earlier today and told me that all the concrete at the Austin High ditch was demolished. I’m sorry to say that I don’t know anything else about it right now. I’ll find out more and let you know.
To see a sequence of Austinite Jake Nunn at the Austin High ditch, check out his Thrasher interview and click "Frontside noseblunt tranny to tranny."
Tue 4 Apr 2006
Posted by seth johnson under
General[3] Comments
Grindline employee, Eddie, rides his own creation.
I took a break saturday and sunday from my grindstone to skate at Mabel Davis. Eddie, Fish, Joseph, and some of the other Grindline cowboys working on the Lakeway skatepark stopped by. Eddie told me the bowl will be complete within the week, but the rest of the park will probably take another month.
The VoXX shoe team stopped by the Death Star on saturday evening for a barbecue. Alas, no photos because I had to go back to work.
I flaked. I’ve been so overwhelmed at my job that I forgot the public input meeting was this evening, April 3rd, for the Cedar Parks’ Master Plan of one of its parks. Hopefully someone showed up and said, "skatepark."
Here are some pics from the sessions at Mabel Davis this weekend.
London kicks a flip to the tune of his own iPod off the big three.
