This photo set of backwood gulch launch heavily reminds me of something you’d see on the always fun show Built to Shred, except for the gratuitous firearms. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to keep your spot from being poached. See what I mean at Skateboard Archives

Just got this image of the completed X Games superpark course made from concrete poured over a wood frame from an anonymous source. Thanks! Down the road there is another media event called the Converse Costal Carnage. Looks like they’ve got another crazy temporary bowl setup.

It’s a far cry from doing demos in the paring lot at Six Flags for a couple hundred bucks! That’s right, you can have your own private session with BONES BRIGADE members Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, and of course, Tony Hawk. It will cost you $75,000, but the money goes to the Tony Hawk Foundation, I assume after all the expenses are paid. That’s a buttload of cash for a vanity session, but if someone rich kid’s parents or middle aged lottery winner wants to shell out that kind of money to benefit skateparks, so much the better. They have cheaper packages at Tony Hawk Experience. Actually , it will cost you more to spend a day with Tony’s family (100k) than it will to skate with the Bones Brigade. Sure, it’s absurd, but I have to say I’m all for it, considering the the benefit. However, the prices make it seem like many of these packages may go unclaimed. They hired a special firm to set this up, so maybe they know what they are doing. For $2,000 you get a phone call from (Limit, 10 packages). So if our readers want to pony up for a $2000 interview with Tony, I’m game. On the opposite side of the scale, anyone with gas money can win a session with GVK!

– Thanks to Colin for the tip.

[Source: Skate Daily]

Friend of the site Weirdo Skateboards is also one of the sponsors of a contest series at Lake Cunningham skate park. More info at sjparks.org, or check the flier after the jump. I hear that Cab is a regular there. Sure would be a bummer to have to skate against him, huh?

Boardistan has a video interview with Brian Harper from California Skateparks talking about the cement on wood structure used in the Maloof Money Cup. I sort of assumed they were going with prefab concrete elements, but it looks like they used foam underneath and concrete on top, with no rebar. The concrete can be recycled, and I suppose the foam could be too. I still feel like they should build permanent skateparks and leave them, but that wouldn’t jive with the Maloof Money Cup sponsors and the X-Games need to have large amounts of spectator seating and controlled access by the media.

– Thanks to Brian Baade for the tip.

Just got a few pics of Bill Danforth from the gal who set up the (Ramp it Up) Smithsonian show for Native American Skaters. BTW, Here’s a link to a Washington Post article on the ramp jam. Here’s what she had to say:

God bless Danforth. I had the extreme privilege of taking a memorable road trip with the King of Hate in 2007 and snapped this picture of him hitting the pipes near the Pala reservation in CA. Takes the cigarette out of his mouth and says, “You ready? Cause I’m only gonna do this once…” then proceeds to kill it. Danforth spent the entire trip trying to convince me to hire Mini Kiss as the entertainment for my opening party at the Smithsonian. He also swore to me that he never dated girl skaters because “who wants to kiss someone who smells like a kneepad?” Good times…

Haw, haw! Good times indeed. Bonus tree in the face shot after the jump.

Check out the video for “I’m Over It” by Dinosaur Jr. Old Jay is engaged in some street skating in the vid, most likely with the help of a stunt double or two. Most music videos with skateboarding don’t go through the trouble of showing the band actually skating, even if they are posing tricks. He brought along one of his Alien Workshop Dinosaur Jr skateboards and a posse of BMX riders for the shoot. I like the vid, especially if it is posed.

– Thanks to Peter Brown for the tip.

[Source: The Village Voice]

While I was (supposed to be) in college, I lived in a house with a bunch of ne’er-do-wells, skateboarders and musicians. Actually, most of the guys ended up being do-wells after all. This particualr shot was the front yard of a house I lived in from 1987-1988. At least 14 people lived there. That’s my glorious 8 foot wide miniramp in the front yard. The platforms butted up against the front porch on one side and the sidewalk on the other. The chopper belongs to a roommate we called Mr. Grubby, who was otherwise known to the punk rock world as Doug “joe” Evans, the bass player for one of the top five most badass band to come out of Illinois, or the whole midwest for that matter, the Didjits. (OK, the rest of the list is Naked Raygun, Big Black, Cheap Trick, Husker Du…) Doug’s chopper had some sort of rebuilt BSA, or possibly Indian, engine on it. It wasn’t a Harley, I remember that much. He had the stereotypical, but awesome Iron Cross side view mirror. This thing was loud as fuck, a fact that did little to endear us to our rich, sorority girl neighbors, especially when Doug had to drive to work for his 6 am shift at a diner. He never spared the throttle. I got to drive it once, and it was impossible to steer. Not my scene all. I couldn’t pull it off, but Doug’s estranged father owned a pool hall in rural Illinois during the 50’s that was home base to a nefarious motorcycle club, so it fit him like a glove. Doug was also a skateboarder. What he lacked in skill, he made up for in enthusiasm. Eventually, he had to give it up due to an unrelated knee injury and all the touring he was doing. I just talked to him recently, he’s living in Texas and fronting a new band. He’s the guy in the back with the chrome plated German infantry helmet and the shark mouth tattoo covering his entire neck. I almost forgot, that’s House of Neil working the tranny in the background. Check out the Shot of the Week.

What to do if your favorite old board hasn’t been reissued yet? You could search it out on eBay, but then you might have to spend $255 to $1033 to relive your youth. If you are more of a sane individual with more time than money, you can grab your old album covers for reference and create your own out of a Moose blank. That’s what reader John Egertson did. It looks uncanny, compared to the original. Although I’d bet the original has a bigger wheelbase. There’s also the matter of the upturned nose, but you know, there’s a reason they don’t make them that way anymore. Actually, last time I checked, Factory 13 made a true, early to mid 80’s style single kick plank. Hang on, it looks like there may have been one iteration with an upturned nose.

Skull Skates has actually been available in the US for at least five years, but you had to go to one shop, Cal Skates in Portland, Oregon to find them. Blitz Distribution just signed on to distribute Skull Skates on a wider basis in the US, with the none other than Bill Danforth heading up the effort. You won’t find Skull Skates at Zumiez, as Bill and company will be screening the potential vendors down to limited group of core shops. The shot of Bill up top is actually from a Life’s a Beach ad in the June 1989 issue of Homeboy Magazine. Remember that one? In any case, you’ve got to see the whole shot, it was sent in by a friend of Bill’s for the sole purpose of annoying him. Some friend! Here’s the press release.