Go Skate used to be one of the heavies in skateboarding mailorder. They had the coolest stickers and T-shirts that said Go Skate or Go Home!. I think this shop was out of San Francisco, and they used to carry a lot of rollerskating equipment primarily. (UPDATE: WRONG! I got my brain synapses crossed with Skates on Haight.) I looked it up onlne a year or so ago and they seemed to be focusing on inline skates. Jon Sheldon found an old Go Skate shop deck that I do not remember seeing before. Actually, I probably just ignored it at the time. Anyway, it’s a piece of skate history that isn’t as glamourous as some of the more well known boards, but still interesting enough to me at least. Check out a few pics after the jump.

October 2008. The economy is totally in the toilet. The stock market is plummeting by triple figures daily, people are being laid off, and stores are closing. Folks just don’t have the discretionary income that they had even a few months ago, and this is evident on eBay. I’ve never seen a month like this. I was hard pressed to find 40 decks to put on here because so many decks didn’t meet their reserve or had zero bids. Sellers, if you want to sell in this Market you’re going to have to lower your prices, be realistic or you’ll end up paying eBay fees for nothing. Buyers with a few hundred dollars in their pocket are suddenly able to afford decks that were totally out of their price range just 60 days ago. It’s a crazy time. Buckle up because October was a bumpy trip.

Check out eBay Watch: October 2008

Sneaker Freaker has a few skateboard shoe features that have some great paraphernalia shots aside from just the skate shoes. Part one is with Tony Hallam who was a pro skater from New Zealand in the late 70’s and early 80’s and reportedly has one of the best skateboarding collections in the world. I made a note to highlight his website before, but it seems to be in a state of disarray right now. Here’s the link for when he gets it fully functional again. There’s some shorter interviews with the likes of Bruce Walker, Stacy Peralta and others hidden towards the end.

It’s impossible for me to read read or type the words “Sick Boys” without instantly thinking of the Social Distortion tune. I’ve never actually seen the skate video titled “Sick Boys” but it was released in 1988, two years before the Social D. song was released, so who knows. The video Sick Boys was shot on Super 8mm film and released on VHS, and 20 years later it’s being rereleased on DVD. Watching the sequences of Natas will immediately bring to mind his Santa Cruz appearances, mostly because it’s at some of the same spots and the film quality is similar. There’s also that weird genre of Norcal acid rock music that you only hear in early Santa Cruz videos. It also features Tommy Guerrero, Mickey Reyes, Bryce Kanights, Mike Archimedes, Julien Stranger, Jim Thiebaud, Ron Allen, and Steve Caballero as well as shots of Christian Hosoi, Tony Magnusson, Eric Dressen, Danny Sargent, as well as other less famous names. It’s sounds like the skate video equivalent of unearthing King Tut’s tomb. That’s something I’d want to check into, or at the very least have sent to me for review. Opps. Did I say that out loud? It appears to be mostly street with a dash of vert. Every time I watch street skating form the late 80’s I’m reminded of how much fun it is.

You can watch the trailers after the jump plus a bonus video of Social Distortion playing Sick Boys live on a trailer at Cal State in 1990. And of course, check out the Sick Boys web site.

Whenever Jyme (Jymie?) George used to come in to travel with the Surf Ohio crew, he always had stacks of stickers and t-shirts to give away, printed by the guys at Graphics Lab, who were just starting out at the time. Jyme let me enter the first big amateur contest in Dayton even though I didn’t have a sponsor, under the condition that I had better not embarrass him. I actually made the first cut, but I basically blew my wad and didn’t have anything else left to show. Lacking any reserves in my bag of tricks, I decided to repeat my first run on a plastic toy skateboard. Needless to say, I didn’t advance again. I must have accumulated 5-10 different Surf Ohio shirts in a few short years. Instead of hoarding them all, I only hoarded half of them, and gave the rest away to a bunch of friends.

The Poweredge Magazine archives have been updated. That’s Lance Mountain in the Nude Bowl on the cover of the March 1990 issue. They’ve got an interesting interview about some of the pros private skate facilities from that time period. Including a certain someone from SkateDaily. On the right is an old Deathbox advert for Pete Dossett that you can find in the old ads section. i know we’ve got some O.G. Deathbox fans who are readers. At the risk of being over-redundant (?) we’re talking about the UK company that morphed into Flip, not Swanks short lived Tumyeto venture. Get some vintage Poweredge magazine.

After probably a 30 year gap, there’s another Skitch Hitichock model out. This model made by Skate Designs looks like a pretty nice cruiser, complete with wheel wells. I want to say that Skitch the guy who invented the gorrila grip, but I’m not sure. Proceeds from the model will help Skitch with some life threatening medical needs. Video and pics of vintage Skitch after the jump.

– Thanks to Craig Snyder for the tip.

September 2008. The economy is really starting to contract. The housing market has been sucking for ages, and now banks are failing and the economy is streaking towards recession. Skateboard prices are not immune. They are starting on a downward trend, which will continue for sometime I would imagine. It’s a really good time to buy, not so good if you are a seller.

Read eBay Watch: September 2008

Bogtown Boyz is a vintage slide show featuring 149 pictures of most if not all of the historic UK skatespots featured in the excellent documentary Rollin’ Through The Decades. OK, I haven’t fact checked this since I haven’t watched Rollin’ in a while, but the names are familiar, Meanwhile Gardens, Rolling Thunder, Romford. A rare construction photo as well. I still have to make it through all the shots. It’s a Flash player, so it’s a bit less responsive than straight HTML, but you can sit back and let it play. The only thing missing is volume control for that Tony Alva vs. Jay Adams song, which is great, but tedious after the third time in a row. That tune was a blind link on SkateDaily quite awhile back, I still haven’t been able to find out who the band is.

Remember the novelty Sneakers and Lace and the Skateboardin’ USA album? Jefferson Starship has a track called Skateboard on their 1976 album titled Earth. T.Rex had a demo track called Skateboard, but I don’t know the date of that one since it wasn’t released. I think I’d actually rather listen to Sneakers and Lace’ hokey skateboard songs than this serious track from Jefferson Starship. Lyrics and music after the jump. Conahan sent this to me a while ago. By rights this should be his post. Where did you find it MC? [Images – Vinyl Records Collectors Guide]