Jesse McDowell works a mean trowel and rides for Merde. Egbert had this to say: Jesse has been riding for us for about 5 months now, I think. Whenever he was in town, we’d try and get some filiming in, but he’s a pretty busy guy…building parks and what not. Either way, welcome aboard Mr. McDowell! We’re happy to have you as part of the family. Catch the sponsor luv after the jump.

The spot from yesterday’s Shot of the Week is in Salem, Oregon. Thanks to Ryan Hass for the picture.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a Gabe Stoltz photo by Adam Perez.I know nothing about this spot that I have to assume is DIY. Reader, enlighten us. Check out the Shot of the Week.

Too late for the opening, but the show is up through November 19th. S&A Readers might recognize one of the artists, Michel Skart Poulin. Thursday, 15 September 2011, 06:00pm – 08:00pm Organized by artist Rick Kreiger, this exhibit will explore the many diverse strands of skateboard culture featuring decorative ideas and ancillary art related to this popular, daredevil lifestyle. The show will include artwork produced specifically for skateboard decks, paintings, sculpture, photography and sticker art related to skateboarding. The intention of the show is to present the various ways the sport is depicted in these art forms, and the role art plays in this highly selfexpressive lifestyle. Location : Hudson Guild Gallery / 441 W. 26th Street / NY 10001

Gary Holl knows howto send out a press release, namely by including the flyer in addition to the same info in the body of the email, thus saving hapless web editors from the temptation of not bothering to type everything in themselves. 2nd Annual Board Rescue Skate Art Show Fundraiser September 16, 2011 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM The Santa Cruz Boardroom 825 41st Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95062 Featuring Artists: Steve Olson, Lance Mountain, Jason Adams, Steve Caballero, Justin Forbes, Duane Peters, Jason Jessee, Lucas Musgrave, Todd Francis, David Hackett, Keith Meek, Kevin Walsh, Bryce Kanights, Mark Whiteley, Pat Ngoho, Cindy Whitehead, Desiree Ronald Astorga, Christian Cooper, Danny Sun, Erik Fieber, Chris Sprouls, Eli Atkins, David Swift, Chris Pastras, and Angela Stucky DJ Ray Stevens II will be spinning tunes, check out the Artwork and purchase a Board Rescue T-shirt. Boards will be auctioned on Ebay all sales will go toward Board Rescue. Art Work will be In the window at the Santa Cruz Boardroom from September 16 – October 7th, Ebay Auction will end October 12th. More Details: boardrescue.org – Facebook – Twitter All Proceeds go to Board Rescue. Board Rescue’s mission is to provide skateboards and safety…

If you learned to rotate 90 degrees a year it would only take you eight years to master a 720, which works out fine for eight year old Evan Doherty. The video description says he landed the 720 on “vert” but he’s clearly way down by the seam on the transition. I’m clearly just kidding… This puts things like thefirst “street” backflip into perspective. This eight year old probably lives in Calif… what’s that? Oh yeah? Kansas… I wonder how long he’ll stick with it. Video after the jump.

This shot of Jeremy Tuffli taken by Garric Ray recently appeared in Skateboarder magazine: I shot the photo of Jeremy on January 2nd and he did the trick in 23 degree weather! I think I spent a couple hours with a weed wacker to clean up the spot so you can see the drop as well. I still trip out that he landed the blunt fakie in the first place. Not sure if you’ve been to the St. Johns quarter pipe under the bridge or not, but you can get really hurt skating that spot if things go wrong. You can check out the Shot of the Week, but I would stay here for enlarge-o-rama so you can see what’s happening. I need to get that incorporated into the SOTW.

This is a photo of the plexiglass cover of the Skate Ball ramp that resided at the Olympic Skateboard Arena in Crystal Lake, Illinois before it met it’s demise at the Rainbo Skatepark in Chicago, Illinois. David Dude was somehow able to rescue this at some point in time, even though he was a Dallas local that skated with the likes of Jeff Phillips, Craig Johnson, Dan Wilkes, Allen Guimond and Art & Steve Godoy. This looks awesome. Don’t forget to enlarge-o-rama.

This is a Grindline park in Laconner, Washington which is about a half an hour south of Bellingham. That’s Ted or possibly Fred on the backside boneless which was in fact a make, according to regular contributor John Aguilar. -Thanks! I saw pictures of a new Grindline park in Atlanta, GA (mainly in the street sections) that looked like it had some elements of a new direction for Grindline. Hard to tell from the tiny pictures though. Any of our Hotlanta readers want to scout it out?

These pictures of the Team Pain park in Arvada, Colorado are already a couple weeks old. Hell, it might even be done by now. Snake runs please me.