Today’s guest on Callin on Colin is Howard Weiner, owner of one of the longest running skateshops on the West Coast, if not the entire world, Portland’s Cal Skates. Howard has been a fixture in Portland politics for a long time. The picture (above left) is Howard marching on City Hall in 1970. You might recall he briefly ran for Portland City Council. Howard might be the first actual adult that Colin has interviewed. Tune in live via the interwebs at 2pm Pacific, or download the show a couple hours later.

Portland based Above Coping was featured on Fuel TV’s web site. Where did you get that snazzy shirt MC? Mark did the logo and the board graphic for Michael Montgomery’s model, so it made sense to film a sequence at his bowl. The organization’s founder Heath Berg has written a few things here on S&A, and by golly, I think I’ve seen that Vice President in a few Santa Cruz videos from the golden age. I met Michael at the launch party. He seemed like he had a grip on things. Seeing him in this video makes it clear that he’s had to mature quickly. Vid after the jump.

Hey, we’re famous! Or at least we got mentioned in the Miami Dade Herald. Family members of relatives buried in the Miami City Cemetery are upset about the skatepark slated to be built next door, and it’s at this point that you can insert a noise violation joke about waking the dead. The article mentions Seth Levy’s post about the proposed park being under attack by local NIMBYs. The Miami Dade Herald article is not so subtly slanted against the skatepark. The photos all show mourning relatives in the cemetery and how historic it is, what with all the veterans (both sides) of the Civil War buried there. They feature quotes from people feel having a skatepark next door is somehow an affront to the people buried there. They make a point of how it’s easy to find (via the internet) incidents of trouble at skateparks around the country, including recent closures. Skate and Annoy is almost the positive voice in the article, and I have to say I’m suspicious that they only included it because of the negative connotations of the name. Read the article, but please remember you represent skateboarders. If you choose to comment on that site, think about whether your comments will help or hurt the cause of Miami skaters. Another bummer: The park will apparently have monitors and therefore restricted hours. I don’t know how we skate unsupervised in the rest of the world.

– Thanks to Chad Balcom for the tip.

Boy, my comments last month sparked a lot of discussion didn’t they? I want to thank Michael Brooke, the owner of Concrete Wave for taking the time to come on here and answer some of my criticisms. We might not agree on the quality of the content or the average age of his readership, but his passion for the magazine came through, and I really hope that the next few issues are as compelling as he says that they are, and that the magazine can find its way again. I think my final comment on the subject would be that you can’t appeal to everyone, and if you try to do that you will end up with a mediocre product that nobody feels excited about. I think you have to know your target audience, and the put out compelling content that will appeal to them and build a buzz. And thanks to everyone else that contributed comments too.

Check out eBay Watch: July 2010

July’s eBay Watch is a day later to post because Neil gave it to me on a Sunday, and there is too much good TV on Sunday night. Mad Men, Hung, and True Blood. This is Stephen Moyer, the actor who plays Vampire Bill. He got married to Sookie, I mean Anna Paquin over the weekend, and was spotted the next day on a skateboard. I would have thought he would have been too worn out, but that might explain his big grin. You know, because skateboarding makes you happy. New eBay Watch in about an hour.

– Thanks to Mrs Kilwag for the tip.

[Source: US Magazine]

Still some time to go in this charity auction of art boards. In case you are unfamiliar with Skateistan, it’s basically youth outreach and cultural exchange for some kids in one of the sketchiest part of the world. Peace through skateboarding.

You can watch the Oregon Trifecta live on the Go211 webcast, in theory at least. Every time I tried to watch yesterday it was down.

Kids everywhere know that JCPenney… wait, try this. Known for their extreme… errr, well. The JCPenney miniramp at the Dew Tour.

Not enough to put a raised ridge in the middle of the bank, they had to put a fence up too. Tennis courts next to Grant High School in Portland. The TMR crew wuz there.

This is actually almost two weeks old, but it’s still well worth mentioning. Hats off to the Tony Hawk Foundation, who has introduced a new requirement for skatepark grants; No more prefab wooden parks. Read the press release titled “If Not Concrete, Then Why?”