The news of the lawsuit against ARC seemed almost to good to be true, and maybe it is. The American Ramp Company has responded to the lawsuit online, and some of the details are about as sketchy as… well, an ARC ramp setup.

Riizoli New York is publishing a book containing every cover from the first 30 years of Thrasher Magazine called Maximum Rad: The Iconic Covers of Thrasher Magazine, with an introduction written by Craig Stecyk. There are 250 pages of covers, some full page, some are quarter page. It’s being released on February 21st, and Skate and Annoy has a copy for one lucky S&A reader. Just leave a comment in the post, deadline is February 21st at midnight. Don’t bother trying to butter up the editor, it’s random.

Here’s some pics of a soon to open Team Pain park in Brandon, Florida, on the outskirts of Tampa. Brandon is home to a few names you might have heard of, like Mike Frazier, and Anthony Furlong. None of these guys are in the pictures though. Ha. Despite the typical Florida high water table issue, they managed to get what looks like a really nice bowl (9″9′ Deep, 6″ shallow) in addition to the more street plaza-esque terrain. There’s colored concrete and a public arts grant to add some more color at a later date. The park is on track for a soft opening in March, so these guys must be doing some quality control.

Subscriptions Winners: Jeff (AKA Me! Me! Me!), Talentless Quitter, and Idahosk8gringo. Thanks again to the Skateboarder’s Journal.

Brooklyn Street Skate Spot Benefit on February 18th at Commonwealth, just about a week shy of Commonwealth’s 1 year anniversary. The BSSS benefit is from 7-10, with alleged bands (who?) raffles, food and beer. OK, I’m not going to argue. Flyer and video from Commonwealth’s grand opening after the jump.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a Mike Goetz photo of Tyler Martin skating the DOS bowl. OK. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Here goes. The DOS bowl is now a members only collective with a limited roster. What? Oh the other elephant. This was a make.

McBride skate plaza won a Tony Hawk Foundation grant. The grand opening is this Saturday, February 11. Pictures via park creators Spohn Ranch.

Amongst skateboarders that have actually been to more than one skatepark, American Ramp Company is easily one of, if not the most hated so-called skatepark companies. They’re basically a playground equipment manufacturer that has done really well for themselves with clueless park districts and municipalities across the country. Well enough that they’ve acquired other companies in order to break into the concrete market. They’ve used questionable financial logic in proselytizing their prefab metal ramp program, largely based on how durable they are and cheap to install. There are examples on the web of ARC projects that ended in disappointment. Someone noticed a pattern, because the law offices of Dermer Behrendt are bringing a law suit against the American Ramp Company on behalf of the United States and a long list of plaintiffs. Why the United States of America? Not because ARC is an offense to all skateboarders and skateboarding was invented in America (Damnit!), but because ARC installed a bunch of junk on some Air Force bases. Mission Accomplished! American pastimes? Lawsuits and Skateboarding. I’m not a fan of frivolous lawsuits, but this one gives me a warm fuzzy. Still, I am worried that this could somehow adversely affect other other skatepark builders.

UPDATE:  This post originally contained links to a web site with information about the lawsuit. Almost 4 years later, the domain name americanrampcompanylawsuit . com appears to have been hacked, or lapsed and was taken over by unscrupulous parties, and as of 5/4/16  is a suspected phishing site. The links have been removed.

– Thanks to Concretin Nik for the tip.

Near as I can tell, Tashkeel is like a health club for artists living the United Arab Emirates. I don’t mean an actual health club, but like a health club. You know, pay your dues and and you get to go the art club and use the facilities to make art. Pay some extra money and you get to take some fancy classes. What’s up for workshops now? Skateboarding. We’re all artists, every time we step on a board. What’s the skate terrain equivalent of one a Tippy the Turtle art test? Whatever the rationale, the end result looks fun. Check it out after the jump.

– Thanks to Boy Ipoh for the tip.
( Note, Boy is going to arm wrestle Matthijs for the King of Tips belt.)

These 100% cardboard skateboards from Bill Barminski are really cool. Not quite $1000 cool, but maybe he prices them that high so he doesn’t have to turn them over to anyone else.

[Source: BoingBoing] – Thanks to Seth Levy for the tip.