There is going to be a photography exhibit and release party for the new book ‘Full Bleed’ this Saturday, October 2nd, at BAR, formerly PS 14. a book documenting the past 30 years of New York City skateboarding through they eyes of a camera lens of the best photographers in the skateboarding world, including Giovanni Reda, Jessica Bard, Ivory Serra, Tobin Yelland, Miki Vuckovich, Thomas Campbell, Larry Clark, Ed Templeton, Jerry Hsu, Atiba Jefferson, Bryce Knights, Angela Boatwright, Athena Currey, Kenneth Cappello, Charlie Samuels, Andy Kessler, Mike O’Meally, Sammy Glucksman, and Allen Ying. If you want to get the book now, get it the best place for New York City skateboarding, Shut.

This insipid marketing manufactured cartoon and toy line was created by the American Greeting company in 1983. According to Wikipedia, the cartoon’s creators were trying to appease television watchdog agencies crusade against cartoon violence by attempting to “reinforce the importance of group harmony over individualism.” The end result is, well.. as with any compromise of this nature, mediocrity at it’s finest.

But not the bad kind, like Joanie Loves Chachi, the good kind like… Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Grojack Industries is a joint venture from GVK and MC, and they’ve got a sharp looking first offering in the Roller Derby vein of 60’s era flatland competitions. Check out the official Errand Boy skateboard.

Well I’m really excited about the selection again this month. July was an awesome month for 80s decks, but I think that August was just as good. A little more varied perhaps, but still as good, and I hope you agree. I decided that I was going to go with quality and not quantity this month. I had probably another 20 items in the maybe pile, but I decided that I was just going to go with decks that I felt strongly about and not worry about how much they sold for. Not that there’s not some big hitters this month, because there is. There are lots of decks that break the $1000 barrier, and to me that’s the real dividing line. Overall I think things are looking up after a few down months there at the beginning of the summer. People were complaining back then that the pickings were getting pretty slim on eBay, but July and August have seen bunches of very desirable decks hitting the market. Some have gone high, and some have been pretty reasonable, but nobody can complain that there hasn’t been a great variety.

Somebody was questioning the usage of a Smokey Robinson and the Miracles tune for Rion Linderman’s recent video, but it made perfect sense. It was “My Girl” and Rion had just gotten married. Our Dutch office ( Thanks Matthijs ) turned up a picture of Smokey Robinson on an actual skateboard. It’s the cover of Going to a Go-Go, and it dates back to 1965. I can’t find a vinyl copy of this anywhere for less than $38 bucks, but it looks like it’s been released in an expanded edition on CD. Somewhere out there is a garage sale with this record and my name on it.

[Source: Flickr]

Two groups of dinosaurs in two Pacific Northwest cities are trying to scrape up enough DNA to clone respective skate facilities back from the dead. In Portland, our own GVK is trying to spearhead a grass roots movement to get a vert ramp built in Portland. Meanwhile, there’s a freestyle/flatground enthusiast in Seattle who is trying to get a wide, smooth, flat surface for practicing some sort of discipline known as “freestyle slalom.” So here is the petri dish, leave your lab results in the comments. The image for this post? It’s a Mark Teague illustration from a Jane Yolen children’s book titled How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends?

This site has been around for a while in one form another. I believe it started just selling DVD’s of old skate footage from the 80s. NOw it’s branched out to include more contlent like recent contest footage and interviews with noted Texans like Ken Fillion. Visit Texas Style Skateboarding and check out the trailers for Texas Style Two which seems to feature every notable Texan from back in the day as well as everyone who travelled through it.

Kelley Deal from The Breeders and Kristian Svitak sing a jingle for Landshark wheels. There was a cool band in Illinois circa 82-83 called the Breeders. They had (among other things) some really good songs like Zen Punk and Uncool Slamming. You can download mp3’s of their 7″ with the band’s blessing from this article on Maximum Rock and Roll.

Boy, my comments last month sparked a lot of discussion didn’t they? I want to thank Michael Brooke, the owner of Concrete Wave for taking the time to come on here and answer some of my criticisms. We might not agree on the quality of the content or the average age of his readership, but his passion for the magazine came through, and I really hope that the next few issues are as compelling as he says that they are, and that the magazine can find its way again. I think my final comment on the subject would be that you can’t appeal to everyone, and if you try to do that you will end up with a mediocre product that nobody feels excited about. I think you have to know your target audience, and the put out compelling content that will appeal to them and build a buzz. And thanks to everyone else that contributed comments too.

Check out eBay Watch: July 2010

Dang, we were supposed to help out with this. I started to get involved, had a couple email exchanges and a phone call, then they never followed through. It’s a conspiracy I tell ya… Oh well. No hard feelings. Check out the live musical version of Thrashin on stage at Dantes in Portland this Wednesday through Friday. There should be a ramp on stage and a live band too. The production company’s last effort was a gay version of Top Gun called Hot Gun, so this should be pretty fun. I mentioned it to real life Dagger Dave Duncan last week, and he said he’d be there for at least one performance, hinting that he may be a part of the production. Flyer after the Jump.