austin skate notes

Duncanville is trying to get a public skatepark going up there in the DFW suburb. You can help their cause by signing the online petition set up by local skaters.

San Antonio skater, Carter Dennis, reports that San Angelo should open its public skatepark this weekend. Carter has an overview photo of the park on the SK8SA.ORG website.

This past Tuesday, famed Austin blues club owner, Clifford Antone, died in his apartment. I met him once at Guerros where he was employed as a greeter after his most recent release from prison. He seemed like a very nice person. Coincidentally, he served four years at the Bastrop Federal Correction Unit, which is just a stone’s throw from the Grinder Ledge pool. Afterwards he lived in a Town Lake Towers Condo, which is not far from where the Red River Slab was located. The Chronicle has some reflections on his passing.

For those who may have been especially inspired by Jared Ficklin’s performance in the Texas Ranch House reality TV show, the follow message may describe your perfect chance to test your reality TV meddle. This came as a note sent to me via the APSAC website. If you do trade out your wife for the show, please help a brother out and hook me up for the $1,000 finder fee.

Last week’s birthday party for Adam and Kevin was a blast. Attendees skated, swam, ate barbecue and drank beverages. Adam is now 32 while Kevin trails at 29.

Brett Roper bought a 1982 Honda CX 500 for $500. He hasn’t sent me a photo of the motorcycle yet, but he says it’s in great shape. He’s planning to take a motorcycle safety class before he rides it, which should be an invaluable introduction to riding. I took one of these courses in 1992 and can’t recommend it enough for people who have never ridden a motorcycle as well as seasoned riders.

Construction at the Lakeway public skatepark is finishing up. My estimate is that it will be open to the public mid-June.

The swimming pool at Mabel Davis is full of water and should be open soon for cooling off between runs and urinating. As in, there are permanent restrooms in the pool building that will be available for those who hate the current porta-potties @ Mabel Davis.

Brandon, aka ‘Kinilau,’ has been submitting skate photos and I’ve finally posted some of them in a gallery dedicated to his work. Keen observers may note the rare appearance of the ASN publisher in this collection of images.

Carjack and I will head up north later this week for a conference to be held at a location veiled in secrecy due to homeland security concerns. At a minimum, I should return with some cool photos and maybe even an interview or two.

Due to the summer heat, word is that construction on the Round Rock public skatepark will not begin until November. The city wants construction to begin in June, but the companies bidding the project prefer the cooler temperatures for getting the best concrete finish possible.

According to an article in last week’s Austin American-Statesman, the city of Round Rock was given $100,000 to add to the city’s $110,000 budget for building a public skatepark. This would have brought the total to approximately $210,000, a sum on par with the budgets that built Amarillo and San Angelo’s skateparks, but smaller than the Lakeway and San Marcos public skatepark budgets. Sadly, members of Round Rock Parks and Recreation Department convinced the philanthropist donating the money to the skatepark to allocate a portion of it to instead go towards a $2.7 million water park to be constructed in Old Settler’s Park. Although the article doesn’t give the figure, I’ve heard from Round Rock residents that the water park could receive as much as $25,000 from the $100,000 donation. This is for a facility that will be closed for the majority of the year and will present a hefty drain on Round Rock’s overhead and maintenance budget during the time that it is open.

Meanwhile, San Antonio has just completed it’s newest skatepark offering, which is already open to the public. Before you pack the family truckster and head down there for a session, you might want to examine these photos that Carter Dennis has posted. Mr. Dennis has already opened negotiiations with San Antonio PARD about discarding these prefab skate props and engaging a skater-led crew to pour some concrete ledges around the circular slab.

In the ‘getting-it-right’ department, San Marcos has skatepark plans in hand from Grindline. Big props to SPoSM for making this happen. The project should go out to bid soon.

I visited the Lakeway public skatepark construction site on Saturday and shot some pics of the progress. Kim Cherryholmes, of Galveston, shot some cool photos of the saturday skate session and posted them on her boyfriend’s website.

Past Banana Farm resident, Travis Burke, has returned in seasonal migration to Austin for some skateboarding and socializing. His return is premature as he was scheduled to be busy constructing the Velocity Games ramp in Corpus Christi up until the day of the event. Though uncomfirmed, the Velocity Games organizers are rumored to be using the same ramp from last year rather than footing the bill for a new ramp.

Kevin Mouton is celebrating his 29th birthday this wednesday. The celebration schedule is to meet at Mabel Davis around 6:00 pm, skate until dark, swim at Barton Springs from 9:00 to 10:00 during the free swim hour, then hit Jackalope for 1/2 price burgers, and finally visit the Alamo Drafthouse downtown for their free midnight screening of ‘Hells Angels on Wheels‘. All fans and friends are encouraged to attend.

A group of rollerskating insurgents from Seattle, WA calling themselves the Derby Liberation Front arrived in town over the weekend looking to defeat local 8-wheel champs, the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers. They were escorted by one Dan Barnett, who also happens to be a key figure in the Marginal Way DIY skatepark being constructed beneath a Seattle overpass. Dan and I connected and skated various Austin spots while his girlfriend and the rest of the liberators prepared for their bout on Sunday. Dan’s Pacific Northwest skating background was evidenced by his unique lines at Mabel Davis, while at the Jackalope, the Seattle visitors could be identified by the frequently asked question, "Is Lonestar like the Austin PBR?" The Liberators made a valiant effort, but came up short Sunday evening against the Honky Tonks. More details at the Rollergirls site.

Chris Smith deserves congrats on passing the Insurance Adjuster Certification Test. Rather timely considering all the storm damage that’s hit central Texas in the past week.

The Highland Lakes Skatepark Association is holding a skate contest this saturday in conjunction with the Marble Falls Rowdy Roo festival and parade. Visit the HL Skatepark website for details.

According to lil’ moot, the new Thrasher contains several pages of Death Star coverage, a new article by Michael Sieben about Ben Gilley, and documentary evidence that Chasoi is cranking the knob past 10.

This year’s Velocity Games will not benefit from the organizational efforts of Ben from Benjamin’s board shop(s) or Cary Jackson. It’s not clear who will take on the task of gathering sponsorship dollars to fund the annual skate contest or round up pros to compete. Travis Burke is working on the mini ramp and says it’s going to have a spine and no flat bottom on some part of it.

Eddie, the leader of the crew, working on the Lakeway Public Skatepark broke his ankle last week. It’s uncertain how much this injury might slow progress on the park.

Here are some photos I shot while hanging out with Dan Barnett this weekend.