Lulu.com is an on-demand publisher. They will print copies of your book when someone wants to buy one. Kind of like a vanity press although no one has to pay unless they actually want the book. The Hopeless Old Men On Skateboards collections and Hugo and that Dumb Skateboard are available through Lulu and here’s another example. Otter Learns to Skateboard by Rhett Saugier is available as a soft-cover book for purchase or a free download. Although there are some good things about it, editing and art direction would have helped. Which illustrates how easy it is to get a book printed, even if you lack professional know-how.

Nooo! you could have sold those on Ebay! A crafty use for those old skate decks. There’s some math in there but also a bonehead version. How to make a skateboard frame on Instructables. Hmmm, maybe with some biscuit joinery you could make that thing strong enough to ride, or a non-skid toilet seat!

Joesf Heffner sent in a few pics of a backyard project he is working on. Looks like a concrete quarterpipe with a little run up. Hopefully he’ll chime in with the approximate costs and time involved. Enlarge those pics after the jump.

We’re looking forward to more progress at Brotherhood Plaza in Stockholm Sweden. I may have had a Swedish girlfriend for about 15 minutes once in the 90’s, although I ‘m not sure she’d agree. I’d like to see something like that here. (The DIY street plaza, not my Swedish pretend ex-girlfriend. She said she was some sort of youth sailing champion. Elena, where are you? No, don’t answer that, I’m married with kids.) I did hear back from David Krug, the man behind Brotherhood. He shed a little light on the D.I.Y. street plaza project. There’s a lot of photos on the official site, but not a lot of actual information. In fact I think his short email says more than the official site, at least in English.

One stop on the recent Bacon tour of Sweden was the Brotherhood Plaza (Skarpnäck?) in Stockholm. The big shot above is Tim Johnson as taken by David Krug. David has been the driving force behind the plaza for the past four years. It’s essentially a Burnside-style sanctioned D.I.Y. skatepark, except instead of being tranny-centric, it’s all street plaza. The place looks like a fertile spot for many fun sessions. This isn’t a plaza with existing obstacles being sanctioned for skating, it’s built from the ground up for skateboarding. You can’t get a good overview from the few pictures above, you really need to spend some time checking out the photos and video on the Brotherhood Plaza web site. Bonus: After the jump you’ll find three pictures from Bacon’s visit.

I’ve just about exhausted the collection of John Drummond. I was looking at my collection of skate zines, trying to decide how to proceed, but the decision has been made for me thanks to the generous loan of one Sonny Robertson, whose pictures have appeared once, twice , three times (…a lady). You can look forward to such titles as Preparation S, Dirt Rag, Pad Rot, EA Zine, The Abandon Manifesto and The Page. There’s also an issue of Underbelly that dates to the year 2000 thathas some interesting items in it. Don’t get you panties in a bunch. These zines were carefully placed for the photo above. Click to enlarge.

Skate Punk #4 is another from the collection of John Drummond, and the second one of this title. June 1982 is the date on this one, and it’s got a lot more pages than #2 which came out in January. Caballero must have been busy that year. Check out Skate Punk #4 UPDATE: Comments have been moved to the gallery.

Here’s a short documentary on the Burnside skatepark. I’ve heard rumors about multiple documentary projects dedicated to covering Burnside but this is the first one I’ve ever actually seen. It’s on Current, which is the web component of the TV network that features all user generated content. I haven’t watched the network in a long time, but it was pretty hit or miss the last time I checked it. This particular documentary is OK. It’s short, but it has some good footage and old pictures and a few amusing moments. I guess there’s a chance it could end up as one of the segments on TV if it hasn’t aired already. [Source: Europeskate]

This is a test of the DIY Skatepark Advocacy System. If this were an actual Marginal Way benefit you would be… Oh wait, it is! Art Show Benefit for Marginal Way Skatepark! Mission in West Seattle Thursday June 12th 8pm 21+ Raffle/DJs/Videos Silent auction featuring: Tait, Paul Fujita, Q. Quigg, Bruno, LJ, Jesse Edwards, Aaron Filion, Chris Adams, Ego, Roy Wonder, Bobcat, Manbeast, Curtis Alton Jr., Romero Taylor, Eric Holt, Caveman, Leon, Jay Meer, and Lafferty Brothers. DJs: VerseOmega, Treva, Hightower. Videos, Footage and Slide Show featuring Jay Meer’s Archive. Raffle: All the goods! 100% of proceeds goes to Marginal Way Skatepark! Where: Mission 2325 California Ave. SW Seattle, WA 98116 8pm 21 and over

The M.E.S.S. guys will tell you backyard contests are (were) what it’s all about. Are there any vert contests beside the televised marketing vehicles of the X-Games and the AST Dew Tour? Well, in the U.K. there is the, uhm, U.K. Independent Vert Series, that looks like it’s just an excuse for vert riders to get together and skate with other vert riders in different areas. There’s a point ranking and a paltry purse at the end of the year. The editor of Europeskate (Jonathan Young) says there’s a small but dedicated scene of vert riders, although he didn’t say whether or not they still make fun of freestylers. There’s some video from something called the Blackpool Seaside Session contest which was at some undisclosed date in 2008. Watch Sean Goff take some hard slams after the jump. [Source: Europeskate]