I love it when worlds collide. You’re looking at a picture of director John Waters and Iggy Pop, likely taken around 1990, possibly promoting the film Cry Baby. And, you’re looking at it on Skate and Annoy because I love both of these guys, and Iggy is wearing a Powell Peralta Mike McGill t-shirt. You have to wonder how Iggy got his hands on that. I would love to credit this photo but all I can find are reposts. It looks like it appeared in a newspaper or magazine at some point. If you know the original source please let me know. On the right: It’s the 40th anniversary of the McTwist? I guest was last year. If you’re going to buy a skateboard commemorating the event you might as well get it from Mike McGgill. Ask Mark Conahan about his Iggy Pop story…

Les Bidasses en Vadrouille is French movie made in 1979, and was the first of several starring the French band band Martin Circus. The title translates to “The Soldiers on the Move,”and it looks like they were “soldiers” in at least three titles. Here’s a translation of the plot synopsis: After the big maneuvers, four young soldiers, René, Sylvain, Gérard and Alain, arrive at the end of their military service and take a two hundred kilometer ride with a latest model AM17 assault tank nicknamed “the Invincible” in order to reach their base. Forced to clean the machine, the soldiers will cause panic in a market and involuntarily commit a hold-up. Part of this zany journey involves an extended skateboard (planche de skate) sequence. – Thanks to Doc Skaterock for the tip

Check out this 1989 CBS Records compilation titled “Skate Hard.” Nothing says “Skate Hard” in the 80’s like a skeleton shredding the wasteland, or a garbage can for that matter. The board may say early 80’s but the Rectors and fingerless gloves say… well, early to late 80’s as well. It’s got a curious lineup of bands, many that I know and sometimes love, and a few that I’ve never heard of. The vast majority of the acts hail from Australia. There are many that are comparatively well known like the Hard-Ons, Cosmic Psychos, Celibate Rifles, and Screaming Tribesmen. Then there are those that are more (globally) obscure, like Ratcat, Ya Ya Choral, Hitmen, Massappeal, Proton Energy Pills, Voodoo Lust, Hellmen, Psychotic Turnbuckles, Splatterheads, and the Kryptonics. Did the Kryptonics get their name from the wheels? I have not been able to discern this. This compilation seems like a great time capsule of a musical scene in Australia, except for the bands that aren’t only out-of-place geographically, but musically as well. Why include Ozzy Osbourne, Living Colour, The Godfathers, and 24-7 Spyz? Probably because the brass thought those names might expose fans to the Australian scene. Here’s a worthless tidbit…

CJ Ramone hanging out with celebrities in 1990, wearing a Vision, Mark “Gator” Rogowski t-shirt while one still could… May 5, 1990, the Ramones played the Mad Monk in Wilmington/North Carolina. In the audience that night were actors Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts, who both fell in love while filming “Flatliners” a few months prior. The hype around Roberts’ latest movie “Pretty Woman” had not started yet, still the couple was recognized by Ramones friend Rick Johnson, who made sure the two would get to meet the band. Soon after, Roberts and Sutherland were welcomed to the Ramones dressing room. As the band got ready for the show, the actress was „intrigued by the alien on my chest“, as CJ recalls, while Sutherland „was laid back and seemed to get a laugh out of he whole scene“. Head over to our reels to watch CJ remembering his short encounter with Julia Roberts, and learn more about one of his “How the heck did I get here moments”. Source: Ramones Museum Berlin Photo: Rick Johnson

Many moons ago (I think I had a different phone…) I worked out a deal with Doc SkateRock to import some of his books over to the states and sell them at a reasonable price, just to make it more attractive to buy here in the USA and Canada. Well I finally got everything sorted out on my end so now is the time for you to BUY THE BEST BOOK ON VINTAGE SKATEROCK! Sure, I prefer to call it skatesploitation, but I didn’t write the book. Because this required some bookkeeping I had to set up an actual store instead of a couple of PayPal buttons. I’d say that was the reason this took so long, but regular readers (and Doc) knows that isn’t true.

Classic surf music from the Hi Tide Recordings label and the The Volcanics latest release Concrete Carver. This is not an advertisement, I just happen to enjoy some surf music mixed into my library. During covid I discovered thier label mates the Surfrajettes and have been listening to surf music a little more than usual lately. Album art and music video after the jump.

There’s a lot of staged vintage celebrity skateboarding photos, but somehow this one was new to me. It’s a 1977 picture of Runaways drummer Sandy West taken by Michael Ochs. Sandy was known as the Runaways Wild Thing. She died in 2006 from lung cancer. An alternate shot, plus a bonus pic of bassist Jackie Fox on a balance board after the jump.

With sadness I learned that founding member of the Surf Punks, Drew Steele has passed away after a battle with cancer. Against all odds, the Surf Punks had a huge influence on me as a teenager growing up in the Midwest. I first heard them on the Dr. Demento show, and saw them briefly mentioned in a blurb about “violent surf culture punk music” in Time magazine of all places. The picture above is from Drew’s Instagram feed shortly after Dennis Dragon passed in 2017. Bonus shot of the making of the iconic cover of My Beach featuring the first (?) skateboard-as-guitar after the jump.

Australia’s beloved punk/metal/pop group the Hard-Ons (be careful when you google that kids!) just dumped hundreds of tracks on their Bandcamp page. Singles Collection, EP collections, expanded releases… many previously unpublished or only available on vintage vinyl, like this self titled EP shown in cassette form above. I believe this record (pictured above) was one you once had the option to select with your subscription to Thrasher, which was a thing they used to do. If that’s not how I got my copy, I’m pretty sure I bought it based purely on the cover. The punk purist in me had a hard time getting acclimated to metal aspects, but tracks like Girl in a Sweater and Then I Kissed Her definitely appealed to the Descendents and Simpletones fan in me. UPDATED 2-25-21: There’s a Hard-Ons documentary in the works.

You should check out episode 84 of the Punk Til I Die podcast. Episode 83 features an interview with Roxy Epoxy from Portland’s beloved Epoxies. Why? At one time I made an Epoxies skateboard and Skate and Annoy cofounder and former Ebay Watch author Neil McDougall is one half of this podcast, a little brother to the Punk News podcast that started because the actual Punk News podcast seemed to be lite on the actual Punk Rock. It started in early 2019 and they are already 83 (!!) episodes deep. Check it out.