Nice skate inspired lettering by Christian San Jose illustration over on Letter Cult. This was part of a roundup of exceptional lettering for the first half of 2009. This both inspires and depresses me just like skating with a bunch of young rippers.

I was digging around for more skateboard guitars and someone mentioned the Ben Harper video for Ground on Down, which led me to the SK8 lap guitar from Cole Clark Guitars on some sort of loosely affiliated Ben Harper web site that isn’t the official one. That lap guitar has the good sense to have Indy trucks coupled with a poor choice of World Industries wheels. And then there’s the Ben Harper longboard, with artwork created by someone you’d never guess… Winston Smith, the man behind the Dead Kennedy’s logo and accompanying photo collage artwork.

Thursday night July, 2nd, Chet Childress and Bryce Kanights are collaborating on Organized Chaos – an art/photo exhibit at the Hecklewood Gallery. A bit of Bryce’s organized effort and Chet’s maximized chaos. Free PBR and old punk tunes. The show opening rolls from 7-10pm and runs through the end of July.

Come for the free PBR stay for the art or is it the other way around? Check out a larger image of the flyer.

Well, the production values aren’t quite up to GVK standards, but it’s pretty good nonetheless. Not so much about Bryce, more like skateboarding with Bryce. This was put together by the folks who hosted the Burnside art benefit. (Way to shut off the beer with no notice for all the people waiting in line…) The show is still hanging at Nemo, 1875 SE Belmont in Portland until July 31. All proceeds benefit Burnside. Getting back to Bryce, Parts one and two. Three is still coming. Good stuff so far. Check it out after the jump.

It’s going on right now! Get the details for the contest over at the Department. NOTE: The finals are downtown Portland at Pioneer Square. The whole thing is part of Red Bull’s Manny Mania amateur contest series.

BURNSIDE ART SHOW BENEFIT after the contest. Opening at NEMO (1875 SE Belmont) from 7-11pm. Proceeds from the sales got to Burnside. Artists include, Bryce Kanights, Chet Childress, Rich Burton, JayMeer, Gus Van Sant(!), Rich Charnowski and more. Exhibit will be up from June 26-July 31.

Ron Cameron was the skater/artist who helped define the public identity of Blockhead Skateboards. His web site features his paintings, graphic design, and very meaty sections on his board design, skateboarding and advertisements for Blockhead Skateboards and other companies like Acme. For instance, his board gallery features Disposable type commentary on the background of the designs and what was going on in the industry. The same goes for the ads he designed and the coverage he received as a skateboarder. I especially enjoyed his hand painted boards. The image above is a Grant Brittain photo from a 1990 issue of TWS, with a couple of classic Blockhead designs superimposed. As you can see, Ron was in the vanguard of bringing narrow boards back to skating. Sure that’s a 70’s era deck, but he did actually produce some narrow boards in anticipation of changing times, but he was a little bit too early to make it stick. Definitely worth spending some time at, check out Roncameron.net. Ron says a major chunk of retro content is imminent for the Blockhead site.

…to vote for his entry in this Vans logo contest. If he wins, he promises to donate his $5000 prize to a children’s orphanage in Ghanna, Africa. Hang on, aren’t all orphanages for children? I can’t verify that he actually sent me the email, so maybe I’m the victim of an Internet hoax… In any case, here’s the link, click in the little box next to Steve’s name to vote for him.

Here’s a couple stills from episode one of a series called Gusto. It features Mark Hubbard and Grindline Skateparks, and will likely be shown Saturday, the 15th at the Skateboard FIlm Festival in Seattle, Washington on August 14-16. You can watch the abruptly ending trailer after the jump. Who is going to make the GVK documentary? I don’t know much about thee festival, like for instance, is it the first one? I do know they have a very nice Worpress theme!

I snatched this off Bonlessone.com a long time ago (2003), and big surprise, the site has a completely new structure, and I can’t find it anywhere. In any case, check out Bonelessone.com, …becasue you are old.

Yes, good advice indeed, found on the insides of these new Vans designed by a Dutch designer going by Parra. Now if someone could just write that on the tag of all those Indy t-shirts. There’s an interview with Parra and some pictures of his work over on Fecal Face.

[Source: Leased Ferrari Photo right: HighSnobiety]