Rob React has a small set of “Old School Boston Skateboarding” pics up on Flickr. Turns out he was part of the old “Limozine” crew. The spot above was known as Turtles. I have two old copies of Limozine that I need to add to our 80’s Zine Archives. [Source: Drunken fist]

One of the things on my long list of “eventuallys” for this site is a gallery of dead skateboard magazines. I have a milk crate in my basement with some old skate rags, and I thought I had a few gems that would surprise people. Well I don’t have anything compared to Vintage Skateboard Magazines. It’s a work in progress without a lot of bells and whistles. What it does have are covers of skateboarding magazines from the 60’s to the 80’s from the US, UK, France, Australia and Japan. Some of the UK issues have scans of inside pages as well. There’s a lot of interesting documentation there, my only beef is that the scans aren’t larger. If it were up to me, every page would be available, but then again maybe it’s a good thing it isn’t up to me since our gallery isn’t even up yet. Check out the varied and often wacky past of skateboard magazine publishing at Vintage Skateboard Magazines.

These articles about old guys who are still skating are still being generated. The latest one from the San Francisco Chronicle it titled “Shredding Again: In which we chronicle midlife skateboarders and their return, to be schooled by 6-year-olds.” It’s a fairly lengthy article, and includes the now obligatory video piece and photo gallery, except this time they managed to get a decent action shot. See above – “Joey Vela, 38, pulls a giant backside air out of one of the giant bowls at Pacifica Skatepark. Chronicle photo by Mike Kepka.” OK, they call it a backside air instead of a frontside, but it’s still an above average photo for one of these pieces, and not bad in it’s own right. Highlights of the article/video include a 45 year old relating the story of being taught how to drop in by a 9 year old kid. Also amusing are the quotes from the young kids whose turf has been invaded by the old dudes: From the kids’ perspective, the old-schoolers are a welcomed addition to the parks. “They rock!” said Colin Dallara, 11, from Lagunitas. “They remind me of the Z-Boys; they’re really good at axle stalls.” Yes, axle stalls.…

Wow. What a totally shit month on eBay October was. I can’t remember covering a more generic month in the 5 years that I’ve been doing this. Guys that bought and sold in October, don’t take that as an insult, and admittedly there are a couple of beauties, but on the whole it was a blah month. If anything totally cool went off, then I missed it. Please, fill me in. Or am I totally wrong, and just getting burned out? Let me know. Any and all feedback is always welcome. Check out: eBay Watch: October 2007

The big question is why no skateboarding in two seasons of My Name is Earl, especially with all the flashback scenes? Above left is a still from Stereo’s Tincan Folklore which was released in 1996 but has some footage of Jason circa mid to late 80’s. Above right is from Blind’s Video Days, which was released in 1991. You can watch them both after the jump.

It looks like Jim Phiilips’ second book of skateboard related art is finally out. The first one was a very good collection, but had more than I cared to see of his early non-skateboard related pieces. I understand it’s good to get a larger sense of history and the context of his style, but I could have done with a little bit less of the overtly hippy stuff and other works with a religious overtone. This new one focuses on skateboard art only, and covers recent work with Pocket Pistols, so The Skateboard Art of Jim Phillips looks to be more than just a rehash of the skate section of the previous book. His publisher must really like him to put this out when his previous book already does a fine job of documenting the skate art. Phillips’ style is such a a standout. While I’m not a fan of most of the monster stuff, I love his style and I’m drawn to his logo design. Even the stuff I don’t like, I still can’t help but stare at and study. I’m looking forward to this one. [Source: Juxtapoz]

MAD Magazine and skateboarding. Two pleasures of my youth, one of which I eventually grew out of. I don’t think I’ve actually seen a recent copy of MAD Magazine in 10 years. Are they still in print? (I guess so.) Actually, I’m assuming this is from MAD, maybe it’s from Cracked… In any case I pilfered it from Concretins who are mum on the details. Click to enlarge.

I’ve mentioned the old Flyaway helmets once or twice before, mostly in the context of the re-issues, but without a lot of actual information. Concrete Disciples has a nice piece on the new Kanoa Flyaway helmets that is no so much product review as an endorsement. It does go in to some detail about the history of Flyaway which is interesting, including some good sized scans of original advertisements. They are the best looking helmet out there, but the new ones have no safety rating so I’m hesitant to shell out the extra cash (and it’s a lot) just to look marginally cooler if I am wearing a helmet, regardless of the amount of work that goes into making one. I know there is a lot of work required to make these. Grover made several prototypes a few years back, and it was quite involved. You can see the results of his efforts after the jump, or go onto the Concrete Disciples piece, which is where the photos above came from. Thanks to Rich for the tip.

Speaking of long awaited reissues, Van Halen is on tour with David Lee Roth. I love Van Halen. OK, I’m out of the closet now, in terms of rock and roll. Van Halen requires David Lee Roth to be considered the real Van Halen. Others need not apply. Are we on the same page here? Good. Now someone please tell me where this old picture of David Lee Roth on a skateboard came from. This is the largest size I have, and everyone knows Diamond Dave is larger than life. Actually, any larger and you might be able to see some brains peeking out. Nice sack, man! This is as good as an excuse as any to call for celebrity skateboarding photos. Send them in. [Photo: Right – Official Van Halen]

UPDATE: In the wake of the passing of Steve Schneer some 7 years after this post was written, I feel it’s important to point out the title of this post is a reference to his famous Ho Ho plants and how these magnet embedded skateboards would make it so much easier for kids to do this trick. There’s no disrespect intended towards Steve, and in fact in meeting him a few times in my capacity as editor at S&A he was always very friendly and never mentioned it.  My kid plays with these little toy figures that have magnets in their feet that stick to small skateboards. They are called Tech Deck Dudes and there are something like 60 of them now. They are fun to play with for both of us, although I can’t figure out why some of the guys have weapons too. They obviously call to mind the old Sky Hooks, which you can still actually buy from no less than three (Count ’em. 1, 2, 3.) manufacturers. Apparently there’s no current official trademark holder. But Sky Hooks are so 70’s, and magnets make for a more up to date dork session. Besides, you could just change shoes if…