austin skate notes

According to this article, the Tank’s previous owner was killed by burglars last month. He attempted to fend them off with a baseball bat, but was shot to death in his apartment. No suspects have been apprehended yet.

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I edited some video footage during the Angry Samoans show on Saturday and posted it on YouTube in HD. I also updated the Find and Grind photo collection with some pics shot by John Weiss.

Early voting is open in Travis County. Chris Riley is a city council candidate who is worth taking a look at. Early voting allows you to vote at any of these polling places regardless of where you live in Travis County and where you’re registered to vote within the county.

Here’s a little story on the BBC putting a skateboarding angle on the economic recession: more backyard pools to ride thanks to all the foreclosed homes.

Fans of the early 80’s LA punk scene flocked to Red 7 Saturday night where one of that city’s best bands of all time returned to perform all of their hits and a few by other bands. The $12 cover was a mere pittance compared to the value of the entertainment offered inside. Just like their set during 2008’s Fun!Fun!Fun! Fest, the Angry Samoans were in stunning, authentic form. $5.00 t-shirts and CD’s at the merch booth. The pit roared like a lion. People met the band. It was a great show. Metal Mike sported the same exact shirt(s) he wore at last year’s FFFFest. Here are some photos I shot at the Angry Samoans concert.

Another export from Los Angeles is heading to Austin. Tuesday @ 6:30 PM, KLRU will host a free screening of a new film by Stacy Peralta. It’s a documentary about the Blood & Crips gang wars, which is a little odd that the Bloods are still even considered a competitor to the Crips when that group claims tens of thousands more members. Perhaps the Dogtown & Z-Boys director was looking to give the movie a little color to contrast the sea of blue. Check the trailer below.

Find and Grind celebrated the opening of it’s newest location just a few blocks east of it’s previous location on North Loop. The new location sports a wooden mini-ramp and on Saturday bands played and both kegs and ollies were floated.

Lowbrow Emporium is closing in the next month or two. Check the Emporium website for details.

The SPoSM (Skatepark of San Marcos) group is gearing up for two events in south central next month. The fifth annual Broderick Memorial Contest will be held on November 15th at the San Marcos skatepark. Street and best trick competitions on that day will be followed by a ditch contest at CFAN the following day. Maybe Aaron will post some more details on the SPoSM site as they become available.

As I’ve been travelling around the country, big-time scene builders, Nathan Black and Jared Ficklin have picked up the Patterson Park revegetation responsibilities and achieved stunning results. This has required multiple visits every day to manage water sprinklers, repair broken hoses, replace stolen timers, and clean up remaining building materials. This amount of time and effort has been invested to give the grass the best chance possible of survival so the spot doesn’t turn into a dust pile like Mabel Davis. There will be some ongoing issues to address, such as keeping BMXers from doing airs off the sides of the ramp onto the grass berm, and hopefully visitors of the ramp will become good stewards of the skate spot so we can maintain a positive scene there and create more in other parks throughout Austin.

So when will the miniramp be open? Well, Jared has been working with Austin PARD to have them inspect and sign-off on the project, which will hopefully happen in the coming week. In the meantime, you can early-vote.

Galveston skater, Johnny Romano, recently lost his epic battle with cancer and passed away. In the spirit of the Cliff Burton Memorial SUAS contest at the original Skatepark of Houston (on Orange Grove), Houston skaters have organized a contest at Houston’s new public skatepark to raise funeral funds and help his parents cover medical expenses. The Skateboard Mag has an article about the new skatepark in its current (October) issue if you’d like to see a preview of the park with photos.

Rob Bufford’s band has a show coming up at 710 on the 25th and also 29th.

If you haven’t figured out who you’re going to vote for come November, you might want to consider this article about how Sarah Palin opposed a public skatepark when she was mayor of that small town in Alaska. Typical deal, “We don’t have the money to build a skatepark.” and then, “Oh, but we have millions to spend on team sports complexes.” Those high school students are visiting Austin today (10-18-2008) performing at Emo’s as the band, ‘Portugal. The man‘

The Broken Neck Ramp broke Dave Watigny’s spleen, and this Friday it has the opportunity to make amends by hosting a fundraising event planned to help defray his overwhelming medical debt stemming from the injury. Last I checked, it has exceeded $70,000.

On the roster for this Friday:

7:00 art auction
9:00 Video Premiere- Pray For Me: Jason Jessee

This is the first public screening of the Jason Jessee documentary in Austin. It’s a very interesting glimpse into the life of an colorful character. Many questions are answered. Many more are begging to be asked. Here’s the trailer. And here’s an odd follow-up interview with Jessee where he complains about a falling-out he’s had with the guy who made Pray for Me.

Broken Neck, 4701 Redbluff

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Patterson Park Mini Ramp is currently on lock-down in order to provide an opportunity for the grass to grow on the dirt berms and other disturbed areas. It’s doing well in spite of the heat. Trespassing on the site doesn’t help get the ramp opened any faster and in fact creates a real problem for the volunteers working to get the project completed and turned over to the city.

Due to staffing issues at the engineering firm creating the construction documents for Austin’s next full-blown public skatepark, the project has been slowed down a few months. It’s looking like an early-spring build now.

Those Michael Sieben shoes are hovering around $75. Ouch. That’s three pairs of Trujillos at the Round Rock outlet mall. I suppose Addidas isn’t doing anything different than the other shoe companies. Charge $80 for shoes it costs $5 to make in Asia.

Famed early-nineties pro, Justin Lynch, posted some comments on an old ASN story. Nice to get a clarification from him. I miss his alley-oop backside face-high ollies.

Tony Hawk stopped by the new public skatepark in Houston the other day.

People have been pretty respectful of the PPMR. I go out there a few times each day to water the grass seeds and people have been using the trash can and so forth. Thanks.