Hell, I think this is Art Steve Art. I can tell them apart now but back then… This was from an NSA sanctioned vert and street contest held outdoors in Indianapolis Indiana. It was either 1988 0r 1989, I can’t remember. The Godoys had a reputation for being trouble makers, so I thought it would be funny to pose a shot of Art getting choked by a security guard, who was only too happy to oblige. The effect is kind of ruined by the huge grin on the security guy’s face. Art didn’t seem to be into it, but agreed to play along, I think mostly to thank us for printing a long Godoy interview in a print issue. We were one of the few zines that wanted anything to do with them. Now I’m thinking this might have been Steve actually. Only one of the brothers was there. You know who was there though? Rich from EPM, although I didn’t find this out until last year some time. Anyway, any comedic/editorial brilliance on my part was wasted as I never used this shot for anything until now. Check it out.

I saw this video a few years ago on the web and completely forgot about it until it showed up again embedded in Kristian Svitak’s profile on the 1031 skates site. I don’t know who or when, but it’s good for a chuckle. The stunts are amazing!

A 17 year old girl scout named Kaitlin Fabich is leading a push to get a skatepark built in her town. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be about how more young girls are getting into skateboarding. You see, Kaitlin doesn’t skate, she’s just using the process to qualify for a Gold Award in Girl Scouting. It makes me doubt her long term commitment to the project, but if it helps in any way then it’s further proof that skateboarding has saturated popular culture. Aaack! Do we need more proof? I guess not. Boy Scouts have ranks, the highest being an Eagle Scout. One of the things you have to do to get that rank is to organize a community service project and log X amount of hours, as well as get X amount of volunteer hours from your peers. Girls Scouts don’t have ranks I guess, they just have awards. At 17, I think Kaitlin needs to get her ass in gear before she gets the boot for being to old. Of course, reading that she was 17 made me think of going a different direction with the post graphic, but I decided on a wholesome approach. The “Scouting” and skateboarding connection is not new. There was a division of Boy Scouts of America called Exploring that was open to older kids from around 14 -20 or so, both male and female. In the late 80’s it was not unheard of for Exploring Posts to form solely for the purpose of providing a place to skate. A private halfpipe facility that was run by an Explorer Post was covered by the Boy Scouts of America’s blanket insurance policy, at least that’s how I remember it being explained. Exploring seems to have been replaced by Venturing as far as the Boy Scouts go. Does anyone out there have any Exploring Post vert ramp stories to tell?

1987’s Skate or Die spawned an NES only sequel in 1990 that was imaginatively titled Skate or Die 2. No word yet on whether Nike has plans for a shoe based on Skate or Die 2. I don’t remember this game at all, but there’s probably a lot of info to sift through. Apparently, you accidentally run over the mayor’s wife’s dog on you skateboard, causing the mayor to ban skateboarding. Then you have to skate through the ghetto avoiding thugs and dragons, etc.. you know, normal skateboarding stuff. Unlike the other skateboard “simulators,” Skate or Die 2 looks more like a regular walking adventure game with skateboards pasted onto the feet of the characters. In some of the frames of the sprite animations (old 2D gaming terminology) the skateboard almost disappears. Oh yeah, you get to carry a gun too. Actually, it’s getting more and more realistic as time marches on. One thing that is worth checking out is the theme song, or at least the first 30 seconds of it. It’s got a very heavy Devo vibe. Check it out after the jump.

There once was a TV series called Brainchild on the Science Channel that seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. There are a few mentions on discussion boards dating back to 2003, but that’s about it. Each hour long episode had three or four different inventions and their history highlighted. This particular episode dealt with Extreme!™ sports and featured skateboards, snowboards, and jet boats. There’s about five minutes of footage in the skateboard section, so as you can imagine, it’s pretty vague. The thing that is most interesting is that it features interviews with Kevin Thatcher (I can’t beleive that I kind of have to explain that he was the first and most beloved editor of Thrasher…) as well as Frank Nasworthy, the “inventor” of the urethane skateboard wheel. I always scratch my head when he gets credited with inventing the urethane skateboard wheel, since they were actually invented and used on rollerskating wheels first, and in the 70’s there were still rollerskating companies involved in skateboarding, so it seems pretty much like an obvious thing to do, he just did it first I guess. As for the original date of the program, I didn’t catch the credits so there’s no copyright date visible. I think I recorded it some time between 2000 and 2003, but the board graphics shown in the piece suggest sometime around 1996 or 1997. There are Stereo decks from when they were still in business the first time, and the voiceover says that Thatcher owns a skate shop and still runs a skateboard magazine, but that’s got to be an error. He would have been at the helm of Juxtapoz in the late 90’s. Other than that, there’s a little bit of cool footage from the 60’s. Ironically, the snowboarding section of this episode was much more interesting overall, maybe because the snowboard can actually be traced to one guy. Check it out.

Jason Jesse has a few choice things to say about the “documentary” on his life (Pray for Me) and David from Shitbird who made it. First off, I don’t get the cult of Jason Jesse, but I don’t begrudge anyone of their right to identify with him. Jesse comes off as a bit unstable at times in this video appearances (come to think of it, maybe I’m just thinking about a trailer I saw for Pray for me…) Also, I’ve only had very minimal interaction with Dave, but I’ve heard some questionable stories and read a lot of unsubstantiated crap about him on the Interwebs™ – all hearsay, mind you. The video is made by some Japanese cats, and it’s basically Jason Jesse on camera stirring up a shit(bird) storm about Pray for Me and Dave Shitbird, who he accuses of admitting to being an informant for the FBI and in general just being a lying scumbag. Take this video with a grain of salt, and watch it for some pretty amusing quotes from Jesse as the interview gets going. He maintains that Shitbird has gotten some sort of revenge on Jesse just by infecting his life. Jesse has resigned himself to defeat at Shitbirds hands, and surprisingly enough, seems to think a pie to the face will be good payback. Well that, and bootlegging the film and giving it away for free. Or just not watching it because it is stupid and boring – his words, not mine! Jesse’s video rant is a bit slow for the first quarter or so, but stick with it. I haven’t seen Pray for me. Anyone?

OK, that’s a lie, there is some Rolling Stones. But by “Rock” they generally mean a heavier sound and have interestingly and thankfully avoided any mention of Elvis and the Beatles. VH1 Classics.com (Wait! dont go!) is running a series this week (and I’m sure it’ll rerun for a long time) produced by the BBC called 7 Ages of Rock. The fact that it was made by the BBC and not VH1/MTV means that it’s a level above the typical fare you find on the US channels. You know, where they play the same clips over and over again as teasers before the commercials so by the time they are actually highlighting the band or event you’re already numb to the footage. 7 Ages of Rock has seven hour long episodes: The Birth of Rock, Art Rock, Punk Rock, Stadium Rock, Heavy Metal, American Alternative and British Indie. On Monday the aired the Birth of Rock, which was quite interesting from the editorial skew of not considering Elvis ROCK, but still digging up the old bluesmen that fueled rock. Tuesday they aired the Art Rock episode (which includes psychedelic) which was also pretty good, but a little disappointing. Thankfully, you don’t have to sit through any Jefferson Airplane. Tonight is the Punk Rock episode so set your DVR’s. Did I mention they use the Damned in the opening of each episode?

Gentlemen, here is the link that I believe we spoke of earlier. Mostly interesting for the clay and steel wheel era pictures.

Now this, this was a month. Lots of really cool decks came and went on eBay in November. Oh sure there was the usual array of Hawks and McGills etc, but I found some really good tack, some stuff that hardly ever comes up. Some months can feel like a real chore, but I’m excited to do it this month!

This month the column is brought to you by the sounds of the Hollywood Blondes and the refreshing taste of Bombardier ale. Good stuff. If you are ever in Chicago, stop by the Globe pub on Irving Park. Lots of great English beers and the food isn’t bad either.

Check out: eBay Watch for November 2007.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a 1986 picture of Rob Washburn at the Cito ramp, taken by Doug Pennsinger. Check it out.