austin skate notes

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.

No Comply has completed its move to its new location at 12th & Lamar anticipating the construction of a new public skatepark. Well, that’s still going to be several months away, but in the meantime, Jake Nunn & friends are hosting a party celebrating the release of Michael Sieben’s new signature Addidas shoe model. If you visit this link to the Addidas site supplied by Brete Anderson, you can watch the movie Michael shot in San Francisco about his shoes. (more…)

Following the successful footsteps of Mustache skate shop in Round Rock, it looks like some clever entrepreneurs executed on the opportunity and have leased retail space near the site of Austin’s next public skatepark. No idea if it will be open before the skatepark is built, but hopefully they’ll help cultivate a positive scene at the park. Did you know that Mustache Matt held a cigarette butt contest where he awarded a deck to the skater who picked up the most butts at the Round Rock skatepark?

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This mini-ramp is listed for free on craigslist.

The Statesman showed up on Thursday’s pour @ Patterson and shot photos. One of them made the online ‘photos of the day‘ feature.

The new Indiana Jones movie is absolute garbage. Lucas needs to have his Hollywood privileges revoked. After the Star Wars prequels and now this, I think that’s at least four or five strikes..

Thrasher has posted essential footage captured during last weekend’s event at Mabel Davis. Congrats to Schmale for getting some coverage out at Bastrop’s Grinder Ledge. 5-hip clip, too.

Mabel Davis’ Chili Bowl contest is likely to bring a spectacular collection of pros to Central Texas later this month, but the chili cook-off is just the warmup. The Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark opening in Houston the following weekend looks like it will be the pro skateboarding spectacle the likes of which hasn’t been seen in Texas since Shut Up and Skate 1988. I spoke with Jason and Jenny Espeseth this past weekend in Patterson Park where I heard the following list of names given as possible demo participants: Lance Mountain, Benji Galloway, Jeff Grosso, Ben Schroeder, and Christian Hosoi. A lot of these guys will arrive as particpants in the 30th Anniversary Independent Team Tour. Since the tour is scheduled to be in Phoenix the same weekend as the Chili Cook-off, it’s hard to say which of these pros will be in Austin for that contest.

Here’s a map to the behemoth public skatepark in Houston.
Here’s a listing of other stuff going on in Houston that day for traveling companions who don’t care to see Ben Schroeder do an alley-oop nose-pick grind.

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If you’re thinking you’ll skip the crowds on June 1st at the Houston Skatepark and are planning to wait a month to visit July 4th and maybe swing down to Galveston, forget it. The Numbskulls in Houston government are closing the skatepark for six days to turn the facility into a launchpad for the city’s July 4th fireworks display. No info on when Galveston’s skatepark will officially open, but it’s nearing completion.
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Think you know someone with a large skateboard collection? It’s nothing. Absolutely nothing compares to Warren McKinney’s collection. This evening and tomorrow you can see approximately half of Austin’s largest deck collection at the United States Art Authority gallery, which is conveniently located adjacent to the Spiderhouse Coffee shop and I Luv Video (2906 Fruth Street). I dropped by for a preview and was astonished at Warren’s holdings. He’s got an entire wall set up dedicated to band-issued decks.
There’s another wall covered in decks featuring photos of Drew Barrymore from when she was hot. And then there’s bunches of walls emblazoned with obscurities and collectibles I had never seen before.

Bands and videos will play at the opening friday and saturday boasts a demo by the Find-&-Grind skate team. The show is free on Friday from 6 until 9, and I think all day Saturday. There is a full bar on site.

Once you’ve browsed all the crazy permutations of Jason Lee’s decks mocking George Powell’s company, you might get a hankering to step over to I Luv Video to pick up that Steve Rocco documentary. It’ll probably be checked out, though. Another hot documentary that would be an excellent second choice is the recently-released “King of Kong: Fistfull of Quarters.” As a movie, it’s exponentially better than the Rocco flick. It’s a story filled with good guys, an evil villain, and a herculean challenge: score more than a million points on a classic Donkey Kong arcade machine. One of the top 5 films of last year, I’d wager.

Life’s many choices can be represented as forks and intersections in a long and winding road. Where you are on that road is always known by simply looking around. Where you’ll end up is as difficult to tell as the effect each turn will have on getting you to a desirable destination. People have many different and pointed opinions regarding Steve Rocco’s influence on the skateboarding industry. One thing is certain and undeniable. Rocco introduced myriad turns, branches, loops, and possible destinations for those trying to make a career of skateboarding. Before Rocco, a skateboarder’s future was dictated by George Powell, Brad Dorfman, Larry Balma, and Fausto V. After Rocco, it was a whole different ballgame.

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