As folks in Mexico City set up the discarded refuse tax deductible ramps donated by the X Games, a couple of thoughts occurred to me. Who actually took possession of the ramps? What I’m getting at is will kids have to pay a private entity to skate these, or are they part of parks program now? More importantly, the X Games should have a highly visible foundation set up similar to Tony Hawk’s, whose primary goal is to facilitate the construction of free, public skateparks, either through financial contributions and/or arranged corporate sponsorships. Let the suits actually give back to the sport in some other way besides paying the salaries of a small group of competitors and propagating marketing stereotypes in commercials and advertisements. It looks like the vert is nearly completed, and they will begin setting up the “street course” very soon. Apparently there hasn’t been a decent skate park in Mexico City since 1993. – Thanks to John Aguilar for the tip. [Source: ReSkate]

One of the most visited areas on this site is House of Neil’s eBay Watch. You might say it’s beloved, actually. There are two main types of people who read his column; Those who just like seeing all the old and obscure boards, and those that use it as a tool for finding out how much something is worth. A few months back some people in “the collector’s community” got upset with Neil because he reported how much a board sold for at an auction, but the buyer never actually paid for it. Some people felt Neil was practicing irresponsible journalism that would somehow influence the outcome of future auctions. You can probably guess which forum that discussion took place on. As part of an ongoing campaign to keep people from getting their panties in a bunch, Neil does not comment on the value of skateboards that are currently in auction or otherwise for sale, or thinking about being sold. That means you should not ask us how much you think a particular board is worth. We won’t tell you. Not because we are elitist snobs or dicks, (well…) we just can’t do it without pissing someone off. And besides,…

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?

We mentioned Tom Fain in a piece about the defunct Skatepark Magazine since he was on the cover posing with his eight wheeled skateboard under the caption “Why every community could use a Tom Fain.” and I made the joke “Really? Every community could use a guy who is seemingly completely out of touch with skateboarding culture?” because he was on an 8 wheeler, and most kids can’t relate to a board that is wider than 8 inches, let alone an eight wheeler from the 70’s. Well Tom eventually saw the post and wrote to me. He’s got a good sense of humor and wasn’t annoyed by the post at all. He sent in a bunch of pictures of him not being out of touch with skateboarding culture, as well as some scans of the article about him in Skatepark magazine. Tom has a web site devoted to his ministry and skateboarding called SAP Skateboards if you are interested.

Coan Nichols and Rick Charnoski’s newest film Deathbowl to Downtown is a documentary on the history of skateboarding in the sprawling giant New York City. They are celebrating a screening of it with a photography (and art) show titled The Moving Image – A Photographic History of Skateboarding in New York at the Etnies Show Room (29 Greene St., NYC). The opening reception is invite only, but there is a public viewing on May 10th and 11th from 12-6pm and 12-5pm respectively. I don’t know if this means the film is has been released or not, but it must be getting close. If you’ve never seen their work, the word documentary doesn’t do them justice. May I suggest starting with Fruit of the Vine and then moving on to Northwest? It ought to be obvious to anyone that New York City has a rich history of skateboarding to draw from, so the NCP films treatment is essentially a guaranteed winner. And who knows, if you look real close in the credits you might see a certain web site mentioned. I contributed some commercials from the SnA archives that they had intended to use in painting the big picture. Of course…

Yes, that legendary haunt of the Dogtown Z-boys in the last heydays of the 70’s. Immortalized in the documentary, and romanticized in the Lords of Dogtown. Skate and Annoy is proud to be the first to publish this never-before-seen shot of The Dog Bowl.

These are from the Oregon Trifecta’s Battleground stop last year. Sometimes it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there in the ranks of the Portland non-professional skateboard media. Looks like that might be Rich from EPM, or possibly Mike from The Skateboard Archives, or even Dan from Northwest Skater. Don’t feel sorry for me, cause I’ve poached them all too.

The 30th anniversary Independent Trucks tour is coming to a skatepark, DVD, and Thrasher magazine near you. A great big list of the pros on the tour, but they are doing it in shifts, so it’s anyone’s guess who will be at what stops. Not true. The Indy tour site has the tentative roster for each stop. Let’s see… Lincoln City, Oregon on Sunday, June 29 from 2:00-5:00 pm, featuring Darren Navarrette, Jeff Grosso, Chet Childress, Slash, Peter Hewitt, Emmanuel Guzman, Steve Alba, Danny Way, Alex Horn, Sam Hitz, Tony Trujillo, Alex Olson, Grant Taylor, Tosh Townend, Spanky, Randy Colvin, Tommy Guerrero, John Cardiel, and Max Schaaf. How are those guys going to fit in one truck? Here’s a curious one, co-sponsored by RedBullSkateboarding.com.

Once more from the collection of John Drummond, I give you Convert zine #7 from Indianapolis, Indiana. Strangely, for a zine based out of Indiana, most of their coverage was from other states. Although this is the “street issue,” it features mostly ramp skating, aside from a page of Chuck Treece from McRad on a bank, and a ditch contest. The same contest features “Kendall’s mom” who brings everyone White Castle sliders. This issue came out in 83 or 84, so I don’t know if Jeff Kendall was still a local or not. There’s an interview with Paul “Gramps” Hugasian or Heugeson, they spell it two different ways. An interesting note, “Gramps” was only 23 years old, something that would not raise an eyebrow now. The accompanying photos document the highest ever air witnessed on an Uncle Wiggly argyle deck, one that we in the Skate and Annoy circles used to fondly call “The Lead Sled.” Convert #7 is one of those full, letter size zines where the pages are stacked up and stapled on the side with no folding. This was the easiest way to go, and although I scoffed at the unprofessionalism of this style zine, I always…

While the PowerBoard can be presented as a new type of skateboard, it’s attraction reaches beyond that of conventional skateboards. Adults, as well as children and teens are drawn to the PowerBoard’s high-tech/high-performance image. The PowerBoard is an exciting new exercise machine, a means of transportation, and a high performance sport vehicle all-in-one. The prototype looks pretty heavy to be “small and light enough to be picked up and carried indoors!”