Back in 2007 I wrote a short piece about Simon Woodstock, and it ended up being one of the more heavily trafficked posts on the site. Simon got in touch a couple of years later. Originally he wasn’t too keen on having his skateboarding past brought to the limelight again, but he’s since come to terms with it. I asked if he had anything he wanted to say to our readers and to my surprise he actually did.

[Left: Reprinted from The Skatebook. Right: Recent shot of Simon and his dog Scooter.]

Every once and a while I remember to put some actual skateboarding on this site. I’ve been sitting on these photos for a couple of years. This was in the land of the Swoosh, in fact, almost in it’s shadow.

I’m freely admitting to filling space here. Some of the things purchased with recent fundraising efforst include sand, gravel a generator, and of course concrete. They’ve got a plan. Make one of these in your neighborhood.

Mother nature wants you to skate launch ramps. Don’t ask me where it is, because it’s within a five block radius of my house.

At first I thought this was typical media stereotyping of skateboarders, until I watched the video of the guy who actually said it. A skateboarder foiled one of the nutjobs who was going to burn the Quaran in a public park in Amarillo, Texas. I applaud the positive vibes, although I also recognize the nutjob’s First Amendment right to burn the Quaran, or any other book or national flag, provided he does so in a safe manner. Maybe you should get a permit to do that, like the Nazi’s did in Skokie. Speaking of fire, I was at the Smokejumper visitor center in Missoula, Montana recently. I highly recommend it, fascinating stuff, but the point is, during the tour I observed that some smokejumpers, aside from being gnarly dudes (and gals) doing burley, dangerous work, they are also into street skating, the Misfits, and of course, longboards.

– Thanks to… everybody and their brother who sent this in.

[Photo: Amarillo Citizens Against Repent Amarillo]

And I’m not talking about a D&D monster. After seeing last week’s algebra ramp, Greg Baller sent this link over at the Death Science blog. There is absolutely no further information available about this art piece except for the rumor that it was skated before it flipped over. I swear someone once sent me a picture of a Thrasher tail light made by the folks at Death Science, but I can’t find it.

– Thanks to Greg Baller for the tip.

Howard Weiner of Calskate will be on Callin’ on Colin (online radio) today at 2pm LIVE, and archived here. Episodes 1-28 colin.pdx.fm

There are no photos of Howard online so I  snaked the previous post about Howard being on my show which was delayed.

Post your questions in the comments and we’ll fit them in!

Two groups of dinosaurs in two Pacific Northwest cities are trying to scrape up enough DNA to clone respective skate facilities back from the dead. In Portland, our own GVK is trying to spearhead a grass roots movement to get a vert ramp built in Portland. Meanwhile, there’s a freestyle/flatground enthusiast in Seattle who is trying to get a wide, smooth, flat surface for practicing some sort of discipline known as “freestyle slalom.” So here is the petri dish, leave your lab results in the comments. The image for this post? It’s a Mark Teague illustration from a Jane Yolen children’s book titled How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends?

Lots of interest in the new concrete at WIndells. You can hear about in a recent interview with Billy Coulon over on Callin on Colin. Hre’s some video footage of the park shot by KC. It looks like a heckuva lot of lines and possibilities. I need to drag my lazy ass out there. Oh yeah, also included, official Windells contest video from earlier this summer.

Two B-zines on the A-list. Born Ugly hits issue 7. Iove this zine/scene. too much metal for my personal tastes but the fun is so pervasive that I’m ready to roll with it, if not Rawk and Roll with it. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the globe, Bailgun hits issue #11, and it’s a phucking phat 114 pages. Definitely not your average slapped together affair, although you’ll need to get your German on to read some of it. If you can’t score a print issue, both of these are available for reading online.