Paul Fujita over at Cal Skate was telling me about a kid in the shop who wanted to buy the “Mr D” board up on the wall. Turns out he was talking about the Merde board. This is technically the first “feature” I’ve posted for 2010, considering the last one was just leftover pictures from the 2009 Trifecta. Some things that used to be “features” now end up as blog posts, but then again I haven’t been doing a lot of the more in depth stuff this past year. On top of that, none of what I’m typing right now is very interesting. I think the only reason Egbert submitted this was because he heard me call out everyone out who professes a serious interest to contribute and then disappears after a month. Don’t let that stop you from checking out the Merde Summer 2010 roadtrip story.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder. Here’s a video from the guy who started the Trampskate company. It’s basically a funky set of trucks you can mount to a board and use to practice skateboard moves on the grind rail next to your specialliy inclined trampoline. On the one hand, it’s great to see someone chasing their dreams and making something where nothing existed before. On the other hand… WTF???? I thought it was a goof at first, but the the amount of effort spent precludes it from being an elaborate joke. I mean, he sells actual manufactured goods over at thetrampskatecompany.com. – Thanks to Eric from Rockford

Not much to add here, except to say, let’s not forget about saving the Turf skatepark. There has been some sort of development regarding the city’s decision to abandon their eminent domain claim on the land. It seems like potentially bad news since the city had planned to donate the land to the cause. I guess this means they won’t own it after all? I don’t know exactly. I wish they’d shed some light on the subject. One thin g I do know, it looks like they will have some fundraising t-shirts soon. Another Here’s funny one though. The local Fox affiliate has a video titled Tony Hawk admits to traveling to Greenfield’s the Turf skatepark., as if he was a presidential candidate who just admitted to some sort of shady dealings.

I got so excited that I had time to finish the last of the boards on Monday that I exposed the screen backwards, so I had to stick some risers in and mount it upside down. I spent too much time last night editing Egbert’s photos from his road trip, and so there is no real content on S&A today.

Selfish use of my own media outlet. Here it comes.

But not the bad kind, like Joanie Loves Chachi, the good kind like… Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Grojack Industries is a joint venture from GVK and MC, and they’ve got a sharp looking first offering in the Roller Derby vein of 60’s era flatland competitions. Check out the official Errand Boy skateboard.

If you think that’s radical, there’s a hot contest happening right now, 45 years ago in Virgina Beach, home of Mount Trashmore. Looks like these guys are following the jam session format, and it’s pretty hectic in there, what with all the windbreakers flying around and the buns being busted and what not…. A note from Judy Riggs: “The video was shot accross the street from W. T. Cooke Elementary on 15th street between Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues in Virginia Beach, VA.” ROSI = Al Roper & Tommy Simmons Comment on video or write directly to will@surf64.com – Virginia Beach Skateboard Contest – mid 60’s – By Buddy Riggs. Get your 8mm on after the jump. MC found this. He just finished his 900th comic. Go buy one of his books.

I’ve been formulating my own skateboarding parody of this show for a year or two now. It will be called “Ho Daddy-Yo!” Yo Gabba Gabba has quite a bunch of skateboarding on it, usually in the form of some of the short intermission animations, but it also appears in the beginning of the “Cool Tricks” segment. In fact, I believe Ray Barbee makes an appearance on “Cool Tricks.” This segment is a couple years old too. So old that they got around to posting it on the Yo Gabba Gabba Youtube channel before I got around to posting it. For some reason they made this part of the Dancey Dance segment. Dancey Dance usually features someone at usually at least marginally famous leading the gang in a dance. Tony Hawk can’t dancey dance. – Thanks to Michel Skart Poulin for the reminder.

Well I’m really excited about the selection again this month. July was an awesome month for 80s decks, but I think that August was just as good. A little more varied perhaps, but still as good, and I hope you agree. I decided that I was going to go with quality and not quantity this month. I had probably another 20 items in the maybe pile, but I decided that I was just going to go with decks that I felt strongly about and not worry about how much they sold for. Not that there’s not some big hitters this month, because there is. There are lots of decks that break the $1000 barrier, and to me that’s the real dividing line. Overall I think things are looking up after a few down months there at the beginning of the summer. People were complaining back then that the pickings were getting pretty slim on eBay, but July and August have seen bunches of very desirable decks hitting the market. Some have gone high, and some have been pretty reasonable, but nobody can complain that there hasn’t been a great variety.

Alright this is the second in a row – VERT is back. When I was in my skate hay-day I would spend part of the summers in Virginia Beach. There were about 6 city ramps in that town in the mid-80’s. Mt. Trashmore was the tallest and the first. I heard FUD (a.k.a. John Fudala) actually designed it. It was always a heavy session after 5 o’clock every night. Every session was a jam format and he who did not bail won the right to ride the whole ramp. My friend Bone Man and I came up with a plan to get runs after 5 pm – when one of us was going to fall, we would avoid falling in front of each other and make our bodies as big as we could on the flat to take up space so no one could drop in. This plan rarely worked. Mt. Trashmore produced great riders, everyone from Scary Larry to the Guitierrez trio (all three of which still ride). There were many more that were always nice and fun to watch skate. While there for my brief visit, I pulled up to the ramp where Allen Midget and Henry were…