The Express-Times has short interview with old Zorlac pro and current Syndrome Distribution honcho Rob Mertz. The article, titled “Skateboard to top not pipe dream” is a short fluff piece, but it does contain an amusing fact – the town mayor was the one who encouraged him to follow his dream of being a pro skateboarder. If like me, you’re still skating as grown man with a family of your own, you can probably relate to hearing this kind of thing from your extended family, and in this case, from Rob’s mom: All the years, miles and bruises later, Nancy Mertz still worries. “He skates every day on his lunch hour. You know he’s 41?” she sighed. “This is why they have hair dye; I turned gray early.” More Mertz links after the jump.

2007 got off with a bang. Now that tax refunds are starting to come in, purse strings are getting as loose as Paris Hilton’s knickers. This month I’m starting a reissue section. Why? Because I can. Seriously though, I’m putting it in because some of the reissues are starting to get up there in price. Ridiculous? Maybe, but that’s the reality, and I cover what’s hot. Also new to this month’s report is the ability to click on the thumbnails to see an enlarged version. Check it out

Get out your overpriced plastic watches and put on at least three of them RIGHT NOW!!! Swatch used to sponsor an extreme sports like tour before it was, you know, Extreme!â„¢ It was purely spectacle, no contest. There was BMX and roller skaters in addition to skateboards. Bands? Seems like it but I might be confusing it with one of the old Vision Street Wear tours. They also used Per Welinder, Rodney Mullen, and Lance Mountain in one of those in store promo videos. You might think it strange that I listed those Bones Brigaders in that order, but that’s representative of their respective footage totals. Apparently, someone at Swatch had a thing for Per. Mullens’ stuff is impossible, and Lance is barely in it. It’s three minutes and thirty seconds of pure 80’s synthesized drums and keyboard soundtrack. Odds are that Stacy Peralta was on the production team and Dennis Dragon did the soundtrack. Catch this video from 1987 after the jump.

Mike from Old Man Army sent us this interview with Dave Hackett. He said we could post it directly on Skate and Annoy, but it will be a better reading experience directly on their site. They did a good job they did withthe side illustrations adds to the atmosphere. It’s a long one too, compared to their recent ones with Lance Mountain and Russ Howell. Actually, the crew at Old Man Army are putting us to shame with all the old school interviews they’ve been getting.

Hello fans here’s an oldie the first interview I ever did (January 2004). See if you can find the mistakes, and when you do, go stuff it bitches. Art and Steve Godoy are still putting out skateboards with Factory 13. It was a pretty big deal for me to interview these guys. 20 years ago they were two guys in a magazine untouchable for a kid in Michigan. Fast forward 20 years. Post-meeting and interviewing them I realized they are just like me – skaters, just better. I feel the industry overlooked these guys. They were just to punk for the Tony Hawk and Ken Park era. Check out the H-Street video, and you will realize it was not skills that held these guys back. It was there inability to play the game of press darlings. When you see them next, just ask about Dave Swift’s old girlfriend at the Del-mar contest.

Skull Skates just posted a small gallery of 70’s skateboard images featuring Canadian skaters and/or Canadian skate spots. There is one shot from Olympia Washington plus wall rides and Russ Howell spinning 360’s (whee!) too. Check it out here. UPDATE: Looks like one of those pics is our own Mark Conahan. We swapped it out on the right side. Nice woody. Nice flowing locks man. Groovy. Full size here.

When I saw some of these pictures I thought, geez, for an exhibit on skateboarding, there sure does seem to be an overemphasis on shoes. maybe the source (kick-fiend.com) should have been the tip off. That’s when I realized it actually was an exhibit on skate shoes called Made For Skate put on by the volks at Skateboard Fieber. Translation: The folks at Skateboard Fever in Germany. They are the group that brought us the Claus Grabke Retrospektiv. It strikes me as kind of funny, the thought of people looking a t a bunch of old, worn out and smelly shoes just because people skate in them. That’s OK I guess. Some people are into shoes and some are into Claus Grabke.

A follow up to a follow up. First Boston Hospital, then Turtles, and now Metals. More pics from this local Boston spot shot circa 1987 after the jump.

Hey someone was asking about the spot Turtles in Boston. Here’s a shot from Bodyslam four photo by Glen Goldstein Check out the Town and Country surf shorts!

One of the stories being recycled on CNN (TV) today is footage of some guys at the winter X-Games doing back flips on Snowmobiles. Whatever. Get back to me when you do it in a pickup truck. In the mean time, in a case of life catching up to skateboarding, a 14 year old kid named Aaron Fotheringham has completed a backflip on his wheelchair. What do I mean by life catching up to skateboarding? I’m talking about the character known as Leeder O. Men from the 80’s skate zine known as Naughty Nomads. Although fictional, Leeder was the first guy to ride vert on a wheelchair. There have been admirable, but mostly tame videos on the web of guys in wheelchairs at skateparks. Aaron seems to be taking it to another level. A where-are-they-now for Leeder O. Men, Naughty Nomads and more on Aaron Fotheringham, including the video after the jump. [Source: News of Doom ]