John Egertson sent in some pictures his friend Mike Alexander took of a day’s worth of ditch sessions in northern Virginia. While I certainly appreciate the photos, John and Mike could use an extra body or two in their crew. At the very least, John needs to pick up that camera every once and a while! Hey look, I spelled “Virginia” right this time!

I’ve been over there a couple times since the day of the pour, and I’m still in awe. So here’s way too many pictures of the bowl pour in Portland, Oregon. Believe me, I had to restrain myself from putting up more, but this is something most skatepark riders don’t get a chance to witness. The guys on the crew were craftsmen. I was blown away by what they accomplished. Check it out. UPDATE: If you’re still not sick of it, EPM has another large gallery.

The six companies bidding on Eugene, Oregon’s “destination” skatepark have been whittled down to two, Dreamland and Grindline, according to our source at Spohn Ranch, of all places. The field used to contain American Ramp Company, California Skateparks, Pillar Design Studios and Spohn Ranch. Did you know that “skate park work is specialized?” Well apparently I did, because they asked me a bunch of questions for the Daily Journal of Commerce. One of the many things they left out of the article was the notion that 18,000 square feet isn’t really large enough to be considered a destination park. That’s about two thirds of the size of Newberg, or Orcas Island if anyone is counting. In any case, the project should break ground some time in 2010 if all goes well, but i don’t think they’ve raise all the money yet, so we’ll have to see how that goes. – Thanks to Hays Hitzing for the tip.

Two benefits at opposite ends of the country this Saturday. In Portland there is a benefit bowl contest fro Taylor Appelo who was one of the two (Hey Clay!) skaters in PDX who were jumped by four jocks at a MAX station in Portland. Taylor’s got a broken jaw, missing teeth and a mountain of medical bills. The contest entry fee and the spectator fees all go to the medical bills, plus there’s a pirate’s chest of booty being raffled as part of your entry fee. This is a daytime event. Registration at 3pm, contest at 4pm. Details at the Department. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the private facility known as the Warehouse is having a fundraising bash to cover the costs of operation. Skate Rock legends McRad will be playing with a couple other bands and a DJ too, plus food, beer, etc…. Flyers and bonus vid of the Warehouse after the jump.

If you are in the Portland area on Friday, there are two video premiers going down. The first one is at Burnside, Shrunken Head will be showing Cancer Dust and the new Concussion video titled Straight to the Bottom. If that’s not enough, there’s a release party for issue #8 of the PDX zine Sauce. That’s 10pm Friday night at Burnside, and it’s free. Also that night, The Dept. will be premiering the new video “Debacle” from Nike SB on Friday June 12th @ 8PM. This vid focuses on the ams and includes full parts from Justin Brock, Daryl Angel, Shane O’Neill, David Clark and Grant Taylor. The whole thing was shot in HD and features some handiwork of The Dept.’s own Tyler Brown. Flyers for both events after the jump.

Sure, it looks fake, but that’s because it’s brand new and there is no frame of reference. The United States Ski and Snowboard Association has a training facility for Olympic athletes called, wait for it… The Center for Excellence. On the outside it looks like an outlet mall, but on the inside it’s got cross training equipment for snowboarders and skiers, including the bowl you see above, sent in by the folks at Skate Utah. From what I hear Charlie Wilkens designed and built the bowl with some input from asst. pipe coach Rick Bower. If you haven’t seen Bower skate during camps up in Hood, not only can he kill it in the snowtube, he can put a hurt on the cement. Super nice guy too. Back section is for boardercross crew to work on pumping rollers and carving corners; unfortunatley for the skicross guys, they’ll have to strap on the blades for same effect. This is one case where the Olympics and skating can work together. There’s a photo gallery at Universal Sports.

Traveling across the country in their van, the Pepsi-Cola skateboard team prepares to visit another city and show them what skateboarding is all about. Careening down the concrete; dodging in and out of man-made obstacles; letting it all hang out; pushing it tot the edge and back again… that’s skateboarding! It’s a fad that’s grown into a lifestyle for millions of young people nationwide. Pepsi-Cola has been instrumental in skateboarding’s growth, as their team of professionals have introduced skateboarding at cities everywhere across the United States. Well, how could I refuse this, even if it did come from an eBay auction put up by a member with the dubious name of “boneite?” Best part was, he turned out to be an S&A reader by the name of Tom, who also lives in Portland. Concretin Nik, this one is for you. 10 pictures of the Revell Models Pepsi Skateboard Van from 1979.

I snatched this off Bonlessone.com a long time ago (2003), and big surprise, the site has a completely new structure, and I can’t find it anywhere. In any case, check out Bonelessone.com, …becasue you are old.

Do you remember G&S Trucks? In my opinion, these things weren’t killed, rather delivered as a stillbirth. Everyone I knew who rode them always ended up breaking the weld that holds the hanger to the bushing casing, or bending the axle. They were not thought of fondly. Still, rather than continue my tradition on geeking out on minor notes of skateboard history, I thought I’d let someone else do it. After Prickly Pete raised the issue back in December of last year, Pete Brown graciously offered to research some obscure trucks and write it up. And I’m talking actual research. He got in touch with Henry Hester and Bill Danforth, two principals in the story. Job well done sir. You’ve just saved our readers from another 12 page photo spread on some old skateboard toy… for now at least. Check out Who Killed the Chromoloy truck?

This month’s Sponsor Luv post for Bacon Skateboards – Bacon has teamed up with the skateboard site Subpublic.com to give away a really freaking nice video camera, but you have to do some work. The Bacon team will name a trick and then you have to submit a video of yourself doing the trick, then everyone gets to vote on who makes it to the next round. Everyone that votes has a chance to win one of several decks though. Official details for the competition are here. Catch the first round challenge after the jump.