Fred’s family has a permission pool and has always gone out of their way to accommodate the skaters that session there. Unfortunately, their house was destroyed by fire recently. The skateboarding community is trying to give a little back this Saturday with a benefit bash at the bowl. Any money raised goes directly to Fred’s family. The location is 7385 Road 6, Firebaugh, California. Check out the flyer.

A few weekends ago I got a bee in my bonnet that resulted in wasting a lot of my time trying to duplicate the artwork on this Brand-X Weirdo board. I’m pretty sure Bernie Tostenson is my favorite skateboard artist. I loved those mid 80’s Weirdo boards, as well as the late 70’s and early 80’s Sims boards he did. I decided to try and replicate the Weirdo.

Tim Laidlaw made this skateboard sundial. Too bad he lives in the Pacific Northwest, Maybe a water-clock?

Well I’m really excited about the selection this month. April was tough, but I really enjoyed mining for decks in May. There were tons of interesting decks, some that went for big $, and some that didn’t, but were interesting nonetheless. And lots of cool colorways too! This was actually one of my favorite columns to write, and a lot of it was written while I was waiting to be called up while at jury duty! At least I put the 3-hour wait to good use!

The new iPhone has a nicer camera than the old ones. I have a 3G, and it’s truly an art to get a usable skate photo with it, but the prize is all that much sweeter if you manage to get one. I had an idea a few years ago to make a print edition of a skate zine made entirely with cell phone pictures. It was several years ago actually, because I was still gainfully employed. MC bought a cheap stick on wide angle adapter for his phone. I think Mark said someone ought to make a camera with a phone, instead of making a phone with a camera. Still, there’s something to be said for the aesthetic. You make the most with what you have, flaws and all. Crappy plastic film cameras are all the rage. The image above is from an iPhone camera review of sorts on Boing Boing. The new iPhone camera has a bump in the megapixels and possibly even a faster shutter mechanism with reduced lag. Pretty soon people are going to start hording vintage iPhones for the camera effects like Holgas. Maybe there will be a Hipstamatic flim/lens combo in the future that…

Fathers day gift from my offspring. I also got Rock Em Sock Em Robots, which look just like they used to. However, they have replaced the head mechanism with cheaper innards that make a barely audible noise when triggered, depriving todays youth and one middle aged dad of one of the main joys of playing the game. Im always calling my kids nerds, but as a term of affection. Come on nerds, lts time for dinner. Or Bye bye nerds, Im going to work. The other day my wife said she was pushing the kids through the grocery store when my oldest (4) called out to a passing cartload of kids Out of my way nerds! So, nerds on a skateboard. It isnt the first time. Theres a nerd on a skateboard on every bag of Nerds, I thought I posted it before, but the closest thing I could find was Buddy Bears Gummi Bears.

Go Skateboarding Day is here again and if you are one of those people who need an excuse like Go Skateboarding Day to actually skate, you are probably also too lazy to check out the events page on the official Go Skateboarding Day website, so here are the two official events going on in Miami.

Well, Father’s Day was pretty soggy here in Portland at least.

Just got this today, sorry for the late notice. Contest in Eugene, Oregon. – Thanks to Sam for the tip.

Third stop of the tour is tomorrow June 19th in Ripon, California. Visit the web site for details. – Thanks to Weirdo Tom for the tip.