Yesterday in Portland, Cal Skates sponsored a skate jam as part of the 6th Avenue Street Fair that seemed to be taking place in front of Cal’s and that’s about it. I’m always complaining about a lack of artsy fartsy ramps in the states, but we had some here for sure. The big quarter pipe was covered in tiles on the top third, tiles that continued to break and fly off through the course of the session. It looked like it was giving everyone a bit of trouble, but at the same time they seemed to enjoy the added challenge. Another cool feature were two launch ramps that had been done up rather nicely to make it look like they were split from a cross section of a giant Northwestern tree. Kudos to whoever it was who realized that concept. Well done.

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Here’s another post about ramps at work. Maybe I need to start a Fringe Benefits category. This is Bobcat at the massive Sleestak corporate headquarters, as shot by long time skater Scott Mosher, the guy behind Morrow / 5150 Snowboards. (Wait, shouldn’t his name be Morrow?) Actually, this ramp is at the K2 facility and used to reside at Mt Baker for Kamp K2. Want a job at K2?

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I tagged along on a trip to Pistols Skate Shop in Vancouver, Washington last week. I shot a few snaps while managing my kid, and managing to catch Cody Weaver four times in a row with his eyes closed. Of course, that could have had something to do with the flash, except nobody else had closed eyes in the photos. Makes sense though, cause Cody makes it look as easy as if he was asleep.

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I got a short email from a guy telling me how much he enjoyed Skate and Annoy. His signature included his own web site, DIY Skate. Was it just a cheap ploy to get me to feature his site here? I don’t know and I don’t care, because DIY Skate is pretty impressive. DIY Skate has a healthy amount of detailed ramp and obstacle plans, with more on the way. There are plans for making board presses and even board molds, with alternate methods. These plans are uniformly illustrated with the help of CAD-type renders. Terminology is explained and resources have been collected. Need glue, veneer, or a jack to build a board press? DIY Skate has the links and sometimes even knows what the minimum orders are. Projects feature a difficulty rating, average cost, materials list and tools list. Right now the resources of DIY Skate are concentrated on wooden skate terrain and skateboard construction. What’s missing is concrete terrain and some of the more artsy-fartsy stuff like screenprinting and zine making, but fortunately you can get some of that right here! The design of DIY Skate is no nonsense, and has minimal, non-intrusive advertising. Check out DIY Skate before you start your next skate related project.

Colin Bane over at Fuel TV has an argument against putting professional vert skating on life support. In his post titled Vert. Alive and thriving? Colin compiles some upcoming professional events and media exposure highlighting vert skating. I wouldn’t mention this, except I don’t want want to let anyone down, seeing as how we can’t shake the image that Skate and Annoy is for old men who like vert. Also, Colin has a shout out to Conahan and his H.O.M.O.S. comics. Hey, does MC know those guys over at Antigravity Press are ripping off his content and passing it off as their own? Image on top is from DC’s backside smith how-to video with Colin McKay.

Social Security tax withheld, health insurance, wages and tips, 401k, lunch break, overtime and staying late so some jerks can come in and make a pick up. Work sucks. Sometimes you get to work someplace where the fringe benefits are intangible, as far as the I.R.S. is concerned. You’re even luckier if you can get the benefits without actually working there anymore, as is the case with Nick and his smith grind. Click to enlarge.

Apparently there was a phantastamagical Roll Rampant and Free skate art ramp installation as part of the 2005 Three Rivers Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, and only one person seems to have documented it, artist Maya Hayuk. Not True. I just found some more. Artist Ali Calis did, and so did the curator, the Harry Krishna Groupe. Every city needs one of these.

- Thanks to Sarib Singh Khalsa for the tip.

This week’s Shot of the Week is an old photo from around 2000 or 2001. It’s Eugene Lardizabal at the now defunct vert ramp in Beaverton, Oregon. He was all about the vert ramp man. He was a driving force behind a group effort to rent a warehouse in Portland and build a private vert ramp. The project went as far as meeting realtors and looking at potential spaces, but it ultimately went nowhere. Recently I’ve heard unrelated parties with minor rumblings about building a vert ramp in Portland. Eugene moved to Kansas just when things were getting interesting around here. He might have gone back to Canada by now. Oh yeah, this is not a bail. Fingerflip lien to tail. Wahoo! Check it out.

Worst Elvis song ever. Andre’ Corbin sent in some pics of Ghetto Skateboards rider Chris Lehman. They are out of Zephyrhills, Florida, which is about an hour and a half south of where I’ll be in about three days. I don’t think I’ll make up there, though I do wan tto hit the Bro Bowl in Tampa. I’m going to try to hit Dunedin as well. I say “try” because you how it is with family vacations at the in-laws. If you don’t, let’s just say they can be trying times. Right. See what the kid in the lower right is gawking at after the jump.

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Some parents buy kits to assemble swing sets and sandboxes for their kids. Things in Oregon are a little different. I was at a BBQ this weekend where the dad had built a small mini ramp and a rock climbing wall on the outside of his wife’s studio almost entirely made from salvage lumber. This was a “Welcome Spring” BBQ in Oregon, so of course it rained, but dad had the possibility of bad weather covered. Alternate picture after the jump.

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