eBay is like a yoyo. Prices were high in April, way down in May, but they completely rebounded in June. In a very big way. So let’s see. Tax rebates in April, nothing in May, Government Stimulus Checks in June. Is it really that obvious? Apparently yes. So if my reckoning is right, prices will tank again in July. Note to self, next year sell stuff in April.

Check out: eBay Watch - June 2008

This edition of Saturday Starrs is a 1978 California Free Former demo at something called Cal Jam II which was one of those outdoor mega concerts that purportedly had an attendance of 350,000 people. The skaters are legends Ty Page, Laura Thornhill and Brian Beardsley. Can someone be considered a legend if they aren’t well known? I’m certainly not up on all the 70’s pros, but who the heck is Brian Beardsley? (UPDATE: OK, Brian Beardsley) Right. There’s freestyle, highjump and halfpipe footage from one of the plexiglass Firestone Ramps. At least one of those Firestone ramps was still being carted across country for demos as late as 1988 or so.

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Peggy Sue is a painting by David Mann who used to do a lot of work for Easy Riders until shortly before his death in 2004. His first gig was illustrating posters for Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Choppers magazine. I poached this from Max Schaaf’s 4Q Conditioning. There’s a gallery of David Mann paintings online but this particular image is a bit larger. Wikipedia says his centerfolds started appearing in Easy Riders in 1973, so I’d date this picture from the mid to late 70’s.

Here’s two, one from the 80’s and one that would have been at home in the 80’s but just came out. On the left is a new Concrete Wave patch with Jim Phillips artwork that originally appeared on a Pocket Pistols deck, but has also recently appeared as a poster and cover of Concrete Wave magazine, not to mention a magnet as well. On the right is a patch from Monster Skateboard Magazine of Germany, from back in the late 80’s. I originally go this from a skateboarding friendof mine (Ray Johnson) who was in the Air Force who got stationed in West Germany. Yes, by all means, we are accepting scans of skate patches for a future gallery.

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Preparation S #4 is a big jump from #3, which was already quite good. The main difference is that instead of packing mostly photos of his local crew, Aaaron published a bunch of submissions from people across the country who he was trading zines with. Close enough proximity to the Clown Ramp doesn’t hurt either. Preparation S#4 features a bunch of the same photos Sonny Robertson provided us of the Flux ramp - see That Time, That Place, parts one and two. Prepartion S #4 also comes from the collection of Sonny Robertson, and features pictures of the same looking like little cherub faced boy…

Don’t forget, once you get to the thumbnails of each page, you can click on them to view the whole thing.

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Or at least the character he played as an actor. I’ll spill the beans after the jump.

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I found the Whamo-O Wheelie Bar in my quest to over-document anything with a tenuous or strange relationship to skateboarding. I couldn’t find a clear picture of the apparatus that appeared to be made out of a sissy bar with a skateboard truck attached to it. Fortunately for me, and you dear readers, John Drummond (aka Livmo) is obsessed with skateboards and old Schwinn bicycles. He had turned to that modern day equivalent of the Smithsonian known as old auctions on eBay. From his hard drive to mine, I bring you photographic evidence of the Wham-O Wheelie Bar, which is indeed made with Super Surfer wheels and Chicago trucks. Now there’s a brand name (Chicago Trucks) that someone ought to resurrect.

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I was checking out the Black Label web site (See, those promotional tours really work!) when I came across something I think I remember seeing in Transworld Business that I had meant to comment on. This is the Blackhole series of “anti-wheelbite construction” decks from Black Label, and if I’m not mistaken, those are a modern take on good old fashioned wheel wells. I don’t know about you, but I miss wheel wells. On every deck I ride I get little burn spots from wheel bite. I don’t really worry about slamming from wheel bite, I think it’s only happened to me once in the last five years. It’s more of an aesthetic thing really. I just like the way wheel wells look. This new version of wheel wells doesn’t quite do it for me though. A few longboard companies have been doing a more extreme version of this for years actually. The wells actually punch through the entire board resulting in a fully functional but goofy look. (Can’t find one the damned things online when I need it.) So actually, this post should have been titled “The return of the wheel well to contemporary skateboards.” I wonder how these are selling. I imagine the techy kids would be worried about the structural integrity.

Tracker has reissues of a couple decks stocked in new colorways. The GSD model and a Lester Kasai. That’s great and all, but what about Dan Wilkes? And while we’re at it, they should do a a proper Kent Watson model. Me, I’m waiting for the Tracker Man watch reissues.(No, I’m not.) Available at Tracker Trucks. I hope those boards turn… Yes, I’m phoning it in today.

Another installment of Saturday Starrs brings us a newsreel style skateboarding promotional film from 1965, featuring the the Hobie team. I’d like to know who commissioned this film. Newsreel stye films have certainly gone out of vogue. This has to be at the tail end of the genre. When did they start? Some time in the 20’s? I can’t imagine this kind of film today. In any case, The Hobie team is cruising through the tourist attraction in Florida called Cypress Gardens, which was literally at the time just a big garden. At some point in time they added water skiing shows as an attraction too. The visual quality of this film is beautiful. The colors are vibrant, right down to the goofy floppy. Why is the Hobie team all of 12 years old? They must have been hot off the set of Skater Dater. What a strange time in skateboarding.

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