austin skate notes

Two weeks into the new year and a bunch of good things have already happened for me. The best of which came in the form of a phone call last week while I was driving. An old friend called asking what the contact info was for the Burnett store that teaches knife-throwing lessons. I’m glad to hear when anyone is trying to improve their knife-throwing skills, and especially when it’s a disaster-maker like Clint Formby. Keep on the lookout for Stetson’s brother- you’ll be able to identify him by the 3 ‘pro’ throwing-knife holsters he received for X-mas. If only two of them contain knives, you best jump.

On new year’s eve, a young man referred to this film as the ‘new’ Rambo. Perhaps as a contrast of our life perspectives, I called it the ‘last’ Rambo. The distributor seems to have really glammed-out the newer trailers, but Rambo is still Attacking January 25.

In downtown Austin, there’s a formidable stair set known as the Church Gap. Geoff Rowley was brought to survey the chasm and declined in favor of continued life. I know of only two humans who have survived a leap across it, and both of them did it using bicycles.  The first successful daredevil, Jimmy LeVan of Louisville, went on to further develop his colorful pro BMX career. Last year, however, he took an unhelmeted spill on a skateboard and suffered a head injury that netted him about $200,000 in medical bills. Sandy Carson organized a December benefit @ T1 that netted $2,000 in donations towards his bills.

 

With last year’s sad loss of both the Death Star and Banana Farm ramps, their legacy lives on in Kevin Trayhan’s backyard. The remains of these ramps have been assembled into a new permission-only ramp that carries on the unique character of it’s predecessors. Tip well at the Scoot Inn and you might get an invite.

Between and even during cold snaps, the sessions keep getting better in Round Rock. James has been working on a layback smith grind out of the cradle that he’s landed at least once. Gavin’s got some cool miller flips that have eluded my camera. Instead, I’ve got pics of his bonelesses and tuck knee airs over the hip.

The Deathstar ramp on Prather Lane survived many attacks from would-be heroic jedis including Chaz Pineda and Darren Navarette. Not even the Millenium State Farm could fire a torpedo up it’s exhaust port. Finally, rot and decay reached the core of the structure and Cary Jackson had to initiate the destruct sequence. What used to be mistaken for a small moon at a distance is no longer there. Even so, Lee Brooks continues to publish Prather Ramp Locals zine. New issue online now!

The ramp’s demise comes just as news that backyard super-destroyer, Clint Formby, is moving back to Austin… 

As August winds down, the deadline approaches for State Farm cancelling Cary Jackson’s homeowner’s insurance policy because of the skateboarding ramp in his backyard. Last week, Cary Jackson took strong defensive actions to protect his plywood and steel monstrosity, the Death Star. After skating his ramp with Dan Drehobel, Cary decided he couldn’t let State Farm succeed in its campaign to dismantle the ramp.

Cary had been worried that applying for coverage from a different company would result in a similar confrontation over his ramp. So he had originally planned to capitulate to State Farm’s demands and destroy the ramp. Then on a whim, he sent out a distress call over the internet.

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Cary Jackson, owner of the large south-Austin skate ramp, the Death Star, received a visit from an insurance adjuster a couple months ago. The storms Austin suffered in the spring sent a tree branch crashing into his roof and it caused enough damage that he was motivated to file an insurance claim. In addition to estimating the cost of repairing the roof damage, the insurance adjuster reported back to his State Farm insurance bosses that Cary’s backyard contained a skateboarding ramp.

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Doug King, the man who has done more for Central Texas Skateboarding than any single person I can think of, drove Cary Jackson and Jason Schmale down to the dilapidated ghost town formerly known as the Skatepark of Houston this morning.The three-man salvage crew found no ramps in skateable condition on Orange Grove, but a wealth of sheet metal.

Cary said he and Jason had travelled all over town yesterday shaking skaters down for cash to buy this used metal. Thanks to these generous donations, they arrived in North Houston with $750, which was enough to persuade Cliff to let them load 50 sheets of metal onto Doug King’s trailer, 47 of which are 4 X 12’s. Nice! These 12′ sheets will put the seams in the flatbottom instead of stealing speed on the transitions. They were also able to grab several 15′ lengths of pitted and aged 3" steel coping… some of this might have even provided grinds on the famed Kahuna ramp back in the mid eighties.

According to Carjack, work will begin ASAP to apply this metal to his ramp. If you happen to come across Doug King, be sure to give him big props for again stepping in and helping make something kick-ass happen for the skate scene in Austin.

I spent this evening skating with some of the Southern Star crew. Looks like Grapes has put together a pretty cool website for their operation. Check out the videos if you need something to click on and stare at. Andy Mac reported that there was a really strong turnout for the game of S.K.A.T.E a couple weeks ago in Peyton’s driveway. Competition was fierce with many disputes erupting over the judging. Dave said something like 5 guys probably want to kick his ass for being such a strict judge and disallowing toe drags and step-offs disguised as pushes. The next one will be April 8th, or next friday if numbers are bumming you out. I’ll have more details posted here as they become available.

In other Southern Star news, the tv station, A&E is filming (probably videoing to be precise) a reality tv show about the TX roller derby girls. Peyton said he stopped by Sarah’s house the other day to find Rafael running around in cowboy boots, a pink speedo, and a cowboy hat while an A&E dude video taped him. So now basic cable subscribers have that to look forward to.

Oh yeah, so the Make a Film in a Weekend festival was last night at the Real theater. It was the first opportunity for me, John, Adam, and Kevin to see our film, the LBJ Tapes, since we filmed it three weeks ago. We were incredibly relieved to see everything work out the way we wanted it to and even synch to the soundtrack in most of the critical spots. On top of that, it won top honors in the festival. We were way fucking stoked last night.

I received a flurry of phone calls yesterday evening on all forms of telecommunications devices that are piped into my house. Almost all of them were from Cary Jackson trying to get ahold of me, Kevin, and Adam. Suddenly, he’s located a source of precious metal with which to surface his monstrous South Austin ramp. Things are moving quickly and he needs to raise about $800.00 to purchase 50 sheets of metal. This is an unbelievable bargain because the going rate for metal right now is somewhere around $60 per sheet. The window of opportunity, he said, is narrow. He’s got to get his hands on the money for this metal by Tuesday of next week so that he, Doug King, and Jason Schmale can travel to pick up the materials. If you are interested in riding a monster mini-ramp this summer, you would do well by donating to this cause.Call Cary Jackson @ 512-689-3230. Here are photos of the ramp. You can mail money to Cary via this address– 2008 Prather Lane, Austin, TX 78704.

Also occurring next tuesday is a screening of the super-8 film I shot a couple of weeks ago. It’s part of the Make A Film In A Weekend (MAFIA) festival to be held at the Real Theater 7:30 pm Tuesday. Something’s wrong with the ASN skate calendar, so I’m posting this event here. It’ll probably cost $5.00 to get in, but that’s but a small price to pay for the information contained in my movie, "the LBJ tapes."

James Juneau is still injured and out of commission with a wrecked knee. His current plan is to save a bunch of money so that he can travel to Thailand to have some kind of orthopedic surgery performed. While explaining this to me last night, he was unclear as to whether his choice of locale was based on the cheapness of the procedure or the skill of the child prostitutes performing orthoscopic knee surgeries in Thailand’s dirt-and-feces covered alleyways.

He still is in (k)need of several thousands of dollars to get back on skateboard. To accomplish this, he’s working like a demon on people’s cars. If you’ve got some repair work you need done on your vehicle, I couldn’t give a better referral than Mr. Juneau. Call him @ 736-8729. The guy is fully ASE certified and the most reliable and trustworthy mechanic I’ve ever known.