Kanoa Flyaway helmets back in production. After seeing a couple of concussions happen while wearing old Flyaway helmets, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t think these were very useful for much besides satisfying a park’s helmet requirement. Someone left a comment that they were being made again, but it sounded like they weren’t being mass produced, and there were no pictures on the web. Well now there is, and no matter what I said about wanting to ditch my old one before, I think I want a new one now. Looks like you can get the OG airbrush action on these. I’m not too crazy about that, or the super wide stripes, but they are a custom option so modifying shouldn’t be a problem. Check it out. The Kanoa Flyaway helmet are now back in production, and co-sponsors the SMA team. These helmets are crafted from hand-laid surboard fiberglass with custom colored gel coat, custom paint, custom foam, D -rings and German vinyl. Most colors and stripe combinations including “aribrush “can be custom made to order. Currrently, they are only available at Rip City in Santa Monica. Three helmets will be in stock there most times. Specific colors…

This is a killer photo on the Cobb blog. Michael Cobb goes into detail about the skateboards in the photo and other he and his family had, above and beyond the plastic ones. Make sure you follow the link to see the full size version of the photo. Michael is/was the kid with the sly expression on the green board. Make sure you click the photo to enlarge because the preview cuts off one of the best parts, (shown here) the launcher for an Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle, obviously not one of the reissues. If you dig the 70’s x-mas, don’t forget to check out his 80’s x-mas post. It’s totally bitchin!

Search for Animal Chin from Powell Peralta, circa 1987. This is the third installment from the Bones Brigade Video Series. I figured since we are giving Tommy Guerrero some love, then we might as well show his “ripping style” from back when he was a kid. I think I’ve watched this video more times than any other skate video. It’s such a classic, with loads of awful synth music. I guess they just came out with the DVD which has a bunch of bonus footage on it. Featured Skaters: Steve Caballero, Skip Engblom, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Rodney Mullen, Jim Thiebaud, Ray Underhill, Mike Vallely run time: 1 hr 5 min 52 sec – Check it Out

Check out this 10 minute Tommy Guerrero interview on NPR. It’s pretty good and only has a minimal amount straight media kooking on skateboarding. I had 412 spam mails waiting for me in my junk mailbox this morning. Somehow, when sifting through them I managed to pick out one email as being potentially mislabeled. The red flag was a subject line reading Guerrero on NPR. So thanks for the tip Day Reah. This is a good place to mention that if you are contacting SnA try and stick something in the subject line that will help me fish it out of the junk mail if the spam filter catches it.

There once was an NSA contest in Louisville Kentucky called the Bluegrass Aggression Session, and nobody came to watch it. Somehow they let me on floor to take pictures during the practices and prelims. There were other guys from organizations like Lapper Magazine, Stuf, and even a certain GBJ. There was a monster vert ramp and a street course as well. On the left we have Eddie Reategui, and on the right we have the same obstacle, different viewpoint. Skater unknown. Full frame and enlargements after the jump.

15 questions for Lance Mountain compiled from the community over at Old Man Army. From the serious to the absurd, there’s a question in there (#14) that reminds me of something we would have asked in the early days of Skate And Annoy. Check it out.

This is a great shot. Beer drinking while skating a pool… but then factor in the bottle. The legendary Thrasher photog and Drunk Injun, MoFo is selling some prints like this 1983 shot of Jay Alabamy at Doris’ Pool. The prices are reasonable, plus it’s history. This is also a good place to mention his massive 28 page feature in the new issue (Vol. 5 No. 3,) of Concrete Wave. Six of these pages are available for download from the Concrete Wave web site. If the kiddies don’t know who he is, that’s a good place to start.

Between all the posts about BS involving skateboarding, I sometimes forget that most people just want to see pictures. Here’s a shot taken about this time of the year in 1997 at an indoor mini ramp at a skate shop in Iowa City, Iowa called “Smokin B’s.” I don’t think it’s around anymore. The only shop I found online was a place called The Full Kit. That’s Chris Swan on the coping with (future) Dr. Brad on deck. Bone Man was in town visiting his momma, so a couple of us converged from Illinois. Click the pic to see it enlarged. 1997 was 10 years ago. Does that count as back in the day?

Anybody that knows me knows that I’m a total wrestling mark. Actually, I’m a smart mark, so that makes me a smark. Anyway, you’re probably reading this wondering why is he writing about wrestling on a skateboard site? Well why not? I started this zine with Randy 20 years ago, and what made S&A unique was that we wrote about whatever we wanted, not worrying about what was “cool” in the skateboard world. Anyway, back to wrestling. Here’s a list of wrestlers from the last 20 years who are dead now. It’s actually pretty amazing that a “fake” sport has so many dead stars, most of whom were younger than me. Owen Hart (the Blue Blazer), Chris Candido, Eddie Guerrero, Davie Boy Smith (the British Bulldog), Crash Holly, John “Earthquake” Tenta, Miss Elizabeth, Curt “Mr Perfect” Hennig, David Von Erich, Kerry Von Erich (the texas tornado), Michael von Erich, Chris Von Erich, Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy, Chris Adams, “Flyin” Brian Pillman, Joey Maggs, Hercules Hernandez, Big Boss Man, Classy Freddy Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Andre the Giant, Big John Studd, Yokozuna, Gorilla Monsoon, Junkyard Dog, Dino Bravo. All dead. Pretty sad.

This spot has to be a mega-bust, if not skate-proofed by now. Boston City Hospital circa ’88. I spent about a week there ( in the city, not the hospital ) while on a road trip. It was a bust then but you could still get a session if you were smart about it. I think they used to mention it in Thrasher every once and while, so I made sure to check it out when I was there. More pics after the jump.