austin skate notes

The other day I was driving through rural Oklahoma with my truck bed filled with moderately-valuable personal possessions. As I checked my rear-view mirror to identify the source of a noise, I saw a box of mischellany bouncing down the highway spilling its contents. Another vehicle hit the box and papers went everywhere.

I jumped out of the truck and ran back to recover what I could. As I neared the mess, cars veered around the debris into the shoulder and almost hit me, which created an even bigger challenge to collecting my stuff. Most of it turned out to be non-essentials like power cords and blank printer paper. But one thing that was worth a sprint into the road and back to the shoulder was a staple-bound collection of photocopied pages bearing the title “Shark Bait Magazine.”

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Contrary to what the cloud-filled skies were saying on Friday and Saturday, both the Round Rock Skatepark Grand Opening (Friday evening) and the Mabel Davis Skate Fest (Saturday afternoon) went off with strong attendance at both events. The crowd of skaters and spectators in Round Rock dwarfed the city staff’s anticipation. Those in attendance enjoyed free pizza, drinks, and a few blender-like runs in the bowl and street course without a drop of rain. Here are some photos I shot at the opening and from the night before.

Intermittent rain showers doused the Skate Fest at Mabel Davis, but the die-hards held out to compete in the free contest. I don’t have all the placings yet, but I can recall the bowl contest results: (more…)

Here’s a lesson I learned the other day:

Let’s say you need to borrow a knife in a hurry to cut some plastic sheeting to cover something before the rain sets in. Suppose the lender of said knife makes a living installing surveillence video cameras. Additionally, he’s wearing mirrored sunglasses on a cloudy day. Oh, and when he pulls the knife out of his pocket, the blade flicks open immediately. At this moment, it would be in the best interest of all your appendages if you were to recognize that the guy who just handed you the knife is REALLY into knives. Moreso, understand that the knife in your hand is the sharpest fucking knife you will ever encounter in your entire life. Be careful with it.

The City of Austin and Austin’s only authorized Nike SB dealer, Tekgnar, is hosting a free skate contest at Mabel Davis this weekend. In it’s second year at that venue, this fest will feature a bowl jam as well as a street competition. I don’t have a lot of time to hype this up, but I’m going to be judging, so if you might have yelled swear words at me out of a car window recently, perhaps you should have shown a bit more respect if you were hoping to make the cut.

 

The Sports Capital of Texas and Mustache Skateboards are hosting a gala grand opening event at what has become Round Rock’s most anticipated parks and recreation offering– the public skatepark behind the Clay Madsen Recreation Center. City crews are working overtime to finish the facility before the opening.

The lights have been installed and work extremely well. Minimal shadows in the bowl and the street course looks like broad daylight. Shade structures are being installed to shelter those burly enough to attempt afternoon summer sessions. The lights will run until 11:00 PM seven nights a week, however.

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Probably one of the most annoying and troublemaking writers for the famed magazine, Big Brother, is scheduled to throw a slideshow at the Lowbrow Emporium this Friday. Chris Nieratko will promote and sign his book, “Skinema” beginning @ 7:00 PM, and then demo some beer drinking skills.

I won’t be drinking a lot of beer the night of Friday the 13th… I’ve got to wake up early to hit Barton Springs at 8:00 AM for the Freestyle Diving Competition. It’s sponsored by Austin’s own Independence Brewery. As soon as we heard about it, Kevin and I pledged to sponsor Otis in the tourney. When Kevin called him to discuss it, the conversation went something like this:

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