What good is having friends if you can’t post embarrassing photos of them? Check out the full size Shot of the Week. You know who you are man, and more importantly, what you are… Radical!

Mike Smith sent in these pictures of a recently acquired Sears Hot Dog skateboard from 1965. The reason I think is from 1965 is because it doesn’t appear in the 1964 or 1966 Sears catalog, and Scott Starr says 1965 was the big year for full page listings of skateboards in the toy catalogs. So was it the Mike Smith who sent the pictures in? I can’t say, because he didn’t answer. More, after the jump.

Poweredge just added some more back issues to the archives. I guess they are all back issues now. The image above is from an article about the closing and subsequent reopening of the Cedar Crest Ramp, which was a topic of discussion I overheard the other night while everyone was on deck watching Casey KC split his head open in the back bowl at DOS. Damned if that isn’t Portland’s favorite private bowl owner and former east-coaster Dave Tobin in the feature. Go to the Poweredge Magazine site and look for the link that says “MORE 9.88 .”

One of the highlights of ASR had to be Powells art exhibit celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the Ripper. 58 artists interpreted Vernon Courtlandt Johnson’s (VCJ) classic work that is arguably the most iconic skateboard graphic ever created. There are soem names you will know and some that you won’t. Two Northwest artists were among those whose work was commissioned, Jay Meer and Mark Sellman. I was going comment on how the collection seemed kind of weak until I took a look at the complete installation. The individual pieces as presented isolated in popups don’t really do them justice. If you take a look at the installation you’ll get a better appreciation of the works. Check out the Powell Peralta web site for the whole shebang, including pics from the reception and George Powell’s interesting recollections of the design process. And no, I wasn’t upset that I wasn’t asked to be included in the show. After all, there’s a fine line between tribute and copyright infringement, as you’ll see after the jump.

Pepsi ran a commercial during the Superbowl that featured a littel bit of skating and surfing. The idea was to contrast the old days and modern takes on different phenomenon. I think there’s even some footage of Gumby on skateboard. I know there is old and more recent episodes of Gumby riding a skateboard. It’s hard to tell because it looks like it’s been cropped at his front ankle.

Since we’re talking about Jake Phelps, I thought I’d put up this photo I found in the June 1980 issue of Skateboarder, just a few short months before it became Action Now. I’ve got a September 1980 issue of Action Now, but I don’t know if it was the first. The June issue of Skateboarder has an ad saying a new type of action magazine was coming soon. In any case, this is none other than Kevin Thatcher, the original editor of Thrasher Magazine, appearing in one of the last issues of a magazine whose demise would soon find him employed making a replacement. Kevin once gave me an invaluable photography tip scribbled on note with a batch of negatives he sent back to me: “Use a faster shutter speed and your shots won’t be so blurry. – K.T.” I think of him every time my shutter speed dial slips below 1/400. I’ve looked through a few 1980 issues of Skateboarder, and they all have BMX coverage in them at that point already. While I was searching for an image of the June 1980 cover, I stumbled on the web site of the original photographer, Ted Terrebonne. Ted has 144…

I swear there are less than five pictures of the

I don’t know what you call this kind of riding, half-ditch? Who cares, it’s rad. This is a closeup of a shot of John John Aguilar skating a ditch type situation in Mexico City, circa 1989. See that concrete halfpipe in the background? John said this was an old closed up skatepark called Dogtown. They had to hop a fence and barge it. The caretaker kept a small amount a sheep on the lot and occasionally skaters would have to dodge the males with horns who were intent on ramming intruders. John lives in Bellingham, Washington now, so the only thing he has to dodge is little kids. See the whole thing after the jump.

Bryce kind of looks like a thug in this still from Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. I snagged this image from Bordistan. This is just a reminder about his show at DOS on Friday the 30th, from 7-10pm. See you there!

I always thought Xeni Jardin seemed cool with that spiky while hair. Turns out she’s actually a punk rock survivor. She does an interview with Glen Friedman on Boing Boing TV. Looks like Glen Friedman had a show at Shepard Fairey’s gallery in LA. Fairey’s interview last week was pretty great too. I was wondering about the skate photos in the background. You tube version embedded after the jump.