So Guess what? It’s that time again; more of the same shitty photos of the same dudes at the same shitty park in nowhere Wyoming. I bet you’re so stoked. One thing you won’t confuse this zine with is Success. Not with all the guys going to prison, bloody fights and stepdads burning down houses… Excess is like COPS, only in skate zine form. Excess hails from Wyoming, but for some reason I was able to pick up issue #4 for free at our local indoor park in Portland. I couldn’t figure it out until I saw the fat Bacon advert spread, so now it makes sense. One of the jailbirds featured, Handsome Jack Mackeral (pictured above) also spent some time in Portland so there you have it. It’s actually a pretty good rag. Mixed in with all the depressing details of their local scene is some intelligent writing and a sense of humor. There’s a surprising feature on How to Fuck a Feminist. Instead of a bunch of crude jokes (don’t get me wrong, I like a good tasteless joke), it actually contains dating advice if there is a feminist whose pants you want to get into. I’m married…

Man, I had to get some actual skating up on this site today. Sonny Robertson sent in a few pictures a long time ago: …my favorite part of skating has always been that sense of identity in time, place, friends, music, etc. that comes from a scene, be it centered around a ditch, a ramp, skatepark, etc. We had a ramp in our small town YMCA – the Box Ramp – that was in a raquetball court, touching all four walls, and we would get people dropping in from all over the place and it was just so great to be a part of. And then to go to Dallas or Houston and see the scenes at places like the Clown Ramp, which was in a sketchy-ass section of town, was just the coolest. The whole Zorlac scene was just nuts. Wish I had been a little older at the time. I have plans to add a section that will roughly equate to “this is/was your scene” but you know how it goes with so-called plans. Rather than let them rot in my inbox (?) I’ve posted them here for your enjoyment. I’m holding out one of them for a…

Marek Litinski sent in some pics from his recent trip to his homeland, Czechoslovakia. This spot is located in Hrušovany nad Jevišovkou. They’ve got a web link for the skatepark complete with a history and construction photos. Of course I can’t read it, but it looks like it was built out in the middle of nowhere in an old government building, as evidenced by the official portraits various nefarious Russians above. Here’s what Marek had to say: About that wooden bowl… Scene sucked, to the extend of non-existence. Placed in very small village in an obscure Czech country side. Posiblly a Czech type Donald situation. So I wouldn’t be surprised if one day somebody ripped it a new one, which isn’t gonna be spectacular in any way because those trannys are like six feet tall. That bank wallride is around twelve, which makes it not so easy to skate so thats where you get your stoke on. What’s the meaning of the Donald reference? Donald Oregon and Putting hte cart before the horse. The city must have gotten a grant from somewhere and decided to build a park “for the kids” before there was any skateboarding to speak of. Now…

And this should be the last construction update from me. Next shots your gonna see is all the locals skating this new “Ego” bowl here in Hood River Oregon. I can assure you that this hard-working crew will have an undisturbed amount of time in the next 3 days, breaking in the coping for everyone to enjoy.

Jason Corley sent in a couple shots of Santa Ana California spots circa 1984: I was just cruising around the site and thought you might appreciate a photo of what was probably the best natural ditch in Orange County back in the day. This is/was Flower Street. Located at the end of Flower Street in Santa Ana, CA. I took this one morning back in 1985. This is what the main section of this amazing ditch looked like. Thing was that it split into a “Y” at one end and further down the ditch maybe 60 yards was a smaller height transition with a long roll in, about 8 feet of flat ground that when coming down the roll in you could carve the smaller bank and then have access to a natural extension that just reached vert. I feel so lucky to have been able to slate this gem from 1983 to around 1987. Santa Ana also was home to the killer Lloyd’s Bank about 1/2 mile away. I also attached a shot of Lloyd’s Bank, the front portion. Not my best trick but I was 13 years old…

Its going to better than a Charlie Brown Xmas for us skaters in Hood River, Oregon. Today I went down to the skatepark to drop a case of Red Bull on the hard working crew. I had to ask (Designers and Builders Graham and Mark) when the expected finish date was, they said they have stayed well within the budget, with no plans of stopping and took me on a walk around the skatepark.

Tom and Kathryn Inouye know how to throw a video premiere. First they put in phone calls to Corey Duffel (who is recovering from a fractured leg) and invited him up for a weekend party. When the “Duff-man” confirms he’s flying up with several Osiris team-mates to do a “meet and greet” autograph signing then its time to get the word out. The word got out ten-fold. PlanZ Skateshop from Kelso WA bussed in 18 amped up youth for the event. Skaters drove in from all directions. Even some conservative parents were overheard saying “what a blast this was” to us as they left to tuck in the little ones for the evening.

Tonight In Hood River!

Hood River Oregon’s small and dedicated group of young builders has accomplished allot of work in a short time. The team was headed by Mark Goddard of Benchmark Designs, but he recently departed and left in apparent puff over the design. I applaud the remaining crew for standing up for this communities local scene, hell, they skate it everyday and have serious pride in the outcome of this project. UPDATE: I got a call (!) from Mark who informed me this was never a Benchmark project, he was never the boss, and he was just hired on as an employee. He didn’t leave on bad terms with anyone. It was one of those “agree to disagree” situations. Our apologies to Mark Goddard. – K.ed

Here’s the progress (Note: Click On Pictures To See In True Form). News of the concrete being poured are the talk of the town, early next week they plan to trowel. Check out the plans, a slight change to the last post.