Almost 11 minutes of Stacy Peralta being interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos. Well, 7 minutes once you get past the intro. Nothing earth shattering or new, for that matter, but not boring actually. Worth it just to watch the brief exchange about the Hollywood and the Lords of Dogtown at around 9:30. BTW, there’s another round of Bones Brigade memorabilia/paraphernalia, most of it is sold out.
[Source: Hypebeast]
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The cover of Photo News Canada, which should be subtitled “Your source for Canadian photoshopped photography.” Another Seismic sighting.
- Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.
Kevin Cann sent in some pictures of his nephew Tristan Rennie who came up from California to skate with his uncle in Quebec. Check him out in some spots in and around Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot, including Kevin’s back yard.
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Niche niche niche niche. Skateboarding is dead, so I’m going after the Nietzsche markets. Ba-dum-bump! But seriously folks… I can’t remember how I found Bitter Bushings, literally like 10 minutes ago. I did manually type in the web address so I must have read it somewhere. Then only thing skateboard related within arm’s length of my current location is a copy of Skate Slate (ahem) Longboarder magazine. Something compelled me to check out these bushings that are made for cold weather. Bitter Bushings hail from Canada, which makes sense. Does it seem like snake oil or another pointless “invention?” Owner Clint McLean certainly takes a no-nonsense approach in his demo vid. I doesn’t hurt that he looks like a lumberjack either. He takes two identical setups, popsicle sticks with Indy’s, and put’s them both in a giant freezer to simulate cold weather. One has Bitter Bushings and the other doesn’t. One turns afterwards and the other doesn’t. I’d like get more information on the development process he went through because the lack of detail or background makes it seem like the skateboarding equivalent of cobbler’s elves delivered them in the wee hours of the night. In case, if they actually work, I think these could actually, you know, take off, eh! Learn more aboot Bitter Bushings after the jump.
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It’s been around since 1976, skated heavily since then, and it even has a book dedicated to it. When Big O was in danger of being destroyed an expanding soccer stadium, locals banded together to try and save it. So what happened? Probably the most unlikely outcome, they dug it out, picked it up and set it on a trolley to move it out of harm’s way. That’s got to be a pretty satisfactory resolution, right? Now consider the fact that the relocation has already cost $100,000 (American or Canadian?) and it isn’t even in it’s final resting place. Weigh that $100,000+ against what they could have built with that money instead. They probably could have built two identical Big O’s side by side to the exact same specifications. Still, I can imagine the locals being skeptical of any new “skatepark” built on the location of such a historic spot. Imagine the city of Portland suggesting “We need to tear down Burnside under the bridge, but we’ll build you another spot across the street.” Look at the photo of Big O unearthed. There are no rough edges visible from where the concrete meets the dirt and everything looks completely uniform in thickness, almost as if it was precast and put in place. Interesting. For a more local perspective, check out CTV Montreal. UPDATE: Much better photos over at VICE and an interview with the man behind plan to save Big O, Barry Walsh.
[Photo and source: ESPN] - Thanks to Tim Pain and Michel Poulin for the tips.
This is no dam relic. This spot somewhere in Canada has been sessioned for 30+ years and is allegedly still a go. I found this picture while trolling Facebook, and the owner coincidentally happened to be a reader.
- Thanks to MIlo for the pic.
Nothing to do with religion, Highway Gospel is a documentary on the downhill and slalom race scene that has come of age (again) outside of and in spite of the mainstream skateboard industry. These types of underground skateboarding events harken back to the early years of Thrasher, if not before. Highway Gospel is part of the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, Canada which runs from April 28 – May 8. From there the film heads west to the DOXA film festival in Vancouver to premiere on May 13th. Trailer after the jump.
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Skull Skates founder PD appeared on a Vancouver-based TV show called Urban Rush. He had a ton of product and a couple dark silent types from Barrier Kult. I was hoping for more interaction with the Barrier Kult guys, they look so sinister standing on that set, like it’s a hostage situation. A large segment of the skateboarding population knows about Barrier Kult, but I’m sure their presence was shocking and a little disconcerting to the general viewing public, especially in the current political climate. It looks like a hostage situation.
- Thanks to Prickly Pete for the tip.
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Nardwuar the Human Serviette had a guest DJ Roger Allen on his radio show to present the history of Skate Rock. It’s was an entertaining show to be sure, but I think Roger confused Skate Rock with music that a lot of skateboarders listen to. He started off on a high note with a soundtrack clip from the 60′s film Skater Dater, and a few good skatesploitation tracks from the 70′s before getting derailed by Led Zepplin, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and a bunch of other bands that certainly were listened to by a lot of the skating population, but can hardly be considered authentic “skate rock,” Bad Brains included. It’s something I’d actually enjoy getting into a scholarly debate about with Allen. It’s a good listen anyway. 80′s centric but bookended by decades on both sides. Check out Nardwuar vs. Roger Allen. I love Nardwuar.
- Thanks to Dale Pidlisny for the tip. [Photo: William R. Jans]
Ryan Jones in Britannia Beach, British Columbia, as shot by his girlfriend Rebecca. Check out the Shot of the Week.
